Bibliografía - percepciones de los profesores

Some challenges to intercultural communication prevent intercultural interactions altogether, while others can prevent effective and successful communication during an intercultural exchange. This article addresses a key challenge within intercultural interactions: cultural meaning-making. This is a process that requires both communicative and intercultural competence and encompasses the interdependent and ever-present relationships between language, culture, and worldviews. Considering the important role of language teachers in second language (L2) learners’ cultural meaning-making development in challenging interactions that may be faced by learners in the target language community, the current pilot study elicits teachers’ perceptions of linguistic and cultural resources required by their students to engage in challenging interactions and focuses on the pedagogical approaches employed by them to foster cultural meaning-making in challenging interactions. Three types of challenging situations were examined: difficult situations (uncomfortable or even hostile for the students); impolite situations (those that may be rude or impolite); and situations of imposition (those that involve imposition on the student or another person, e.g., requests, commands, favors). Results indicated teachers’ reliance on certain resources involved in cultural meaning-making and a general absence of a theoretical approach to intercultural communication.

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Existen desafíos inherentes a la comunicación intercultural que impiden totalmente las interacciones, mientras que otros representan un obstáculo para una comunicación efectiva. Este artículo aborda un desafío crucial de dichas interacciones: la construcción de significados culturalmente limitados, un proceso que requiere competencias comunicativas e interculturales, en el que se manifiestan las relaciones interdependientes entre lenguaje, cultura y visión del mundo. Considerando el papel de los profesores de lengua en cómo los estudiantes construyen significados culturalmente limitados al abordar interacciones complejas en la comunidad de la L2, el presente estudio piloto explora las percepciones docentes sobre los recursos lingüísticos y culturales necesarios para que los alumnos participen en interacciones desafiantes, así como enfoques pedagógicos para que estos sean capaces de construir significados. Se examinaron tres tipos de situaciones desafiantes: situaciones incómodas (difíciles de resolver e incluso hostiles para los alumnos); situaciones descorteses (aquellas que se pueden percibir como de poca educación); y situaciones de imposición (aquellas que implican imposición al estudiante o a otra persona, por ejemplo, peticiones, órdenes, favores). Los resultados sugieren que los docentes confían en recursos propios de la construcción de significados, pero también que no parten de un enfoque teórico para la comunicación intercultural.

En MarcoELE 36

El presente estudio de investigación recoge los datos y opiniones de profesionales dentro del campo del español como lengua de herencia en Alemania y de dos expertos sobre la existencia o falta de formación específica en la intersección existente entre la competencia comunicativa intercultural y la enseñanza del español como lengua de herencia. Primeramente, es necesario una contextualización del ELH en Alemania y unos conocimientos sobre diferentes modelos de competencia comunicativa intercultural. Seguidamente una primera fase de la investigación constituida por cuestionarios a profesionales del ELH en Alemania, una segunda fase de la investigación por entrevistas a profesionales del ELH en Alemania y se amplia la información con la entrevista a dos expertos: la Dra. Carmen Ramos Méndez-Sahlender y el Dr. Yeray González Plasencia, finalmente su triangulación.

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Most research on task-based language teaching (TBLT) has focused on specific factors that play a role in task-based performance and learning, whereas considerably fewer studies have paid attention to how TBLT curricula have been developed and delivered in second language (L2) teaching contexts. However, it has been argued that the latter type of evaluative inquiry is crucial in order to advance the educational significance of the approach. While more evaluation studies have been published in recent years, few of them adopt a multi-methodological, longitudinal and cyclical perspective. The current study examines the planning and implementation of task-based instruction in a university-level Spanish as a foreign language program over a five-year period, with a particular emphasis on instructors’ and students’ perceptions about the approach. Data sources consisted of notes from meetings with instructors, classroom observations, students’ perceptions collected through journals, focus groups and questionnaires, and instructors’ perceptions collected through a questionnaire. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of these data revealed critical aspects of the planning phase, positive and challenging components of the approach, modifications made in response to participants’ perceptions, as well as a gradual increase regarding the level of acceptance of task-based instruction throughout the implementation. Implications for the implementation and evaluation of TBLT in other second language educational contexts are discussed.

Despite substantial advances in the field of instructed second language acquisition (SLA) with regard to our understanding of second language (L2) pronunciation development and pedagogy, many language instructors continue to report a lack of confidence in incorporating pronunciation instruction (PI) into their classes. This survey study examined 100 Spanish instructors’ perceptions of the usefulness of various types of knowledge, skills, and approaches to PI, as well as their confidence in those domains, and the extent to which their previous training in teaching methods was related to their ratings of usefulness and confidence. After running principal components analyses to identify factors in the survey data, we fit mixed-effects models to each factor, then delved more deeply into some descriptive trends to offer recommendations for professional development opportunities. The latter results suggested that Spanish teachers might have greater appreciation for, as well as confidence in, focusing on segmentals over suprasegmentals, practice activities over assessment, perception assessment over production assessment, and implicit over explicit feedback. Consistent with previous research, some of the highest confidence levels were expressed regarding controlled techniques, alongside relatively low confidence in familiarity with research. Concerning metalinguistic tools, respondents seemed to value diagrams and descriptions over terminology and transcription, but they viewed these tools as less useful than perception, production, and communication practice. While greater training was often associated with higher perceptions of usefulness and confidence, there were cases where respondents with the least training showed the highest confidence. These results suggest some key priorities for teacher training.

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Multimodal input – which combines written, auditory, and/or visual modalities – is pervasive in everyday life and could serve as a source of rich input in language teaching. In recent years, research has determined that vocabulary learning is one of the clear benefits of being exposed to such input. Regrettably, only a handful of studies have investigated whether and how second language (L2) teachers approach multimodal input in teaching. To further contribute to the research–practice dialogue, we examined factors that influence L2 teachers’ use of multimodal input in L2 teaching. This qualitative case study presents an in-depth analysis of interview data derived from 21 practitioners in various L2 teaching contexts globally. Following three rounds of data analysis, 24 factors were identified and are presented in four themes. The results indicate that teachers: (1) paid close attention to their students’ needs and goals; (2) drew on their own learning and teaching experiences and training supported by research-based practices; (3) relied on sound pedagogical principles; and (4) faced a number of contextual challenges relevant to their curricula and teaching contexts.

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