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In this paper, we engaged in dialogue with a Gnöbe community leader, who was also a teacher of English, so to analyze how the Quinquennial Plan for Indigenous Peoples in Costa Rica (QPIP) caters to the needs and goals of the indigenous students enrolled in the Bachelor’s in English Teaching at Universidad Nacional, Coto Campus. The efforts made by the university authorities and the associate faculty during the implementation of the QPIP had previously been scrutinized—unraveling that the objectives of the plan have partially been met and that more courses of action are required to ensure successful outcomes (Fallas & Brand, forthcoming). By examining the interview conducted with the participant of the study, based on tenets of the Narrative Approach, we shed light on the hardships faced by Gnöbe students in the education system, the circulating discourses held by First Nation Communities regarding education and bilingualism, and the solutions proposed by the community stakeholder to alleviate the problems encountered by QPIP students in their college life. We finish this paper by translating the leader’s voice into applicable suggestions that may help professors of the English Department and the administration of the university retain indigenous students by promoting more culturally relevant pedagogies geared to their academic success and development of their cultural identity and affiliation.

This paper describes the implementation of different techniques in the English class. Those techniques are taken and adapted from the methodology of Toastmasters International Club. The authors have adapted this methodology in order to improve their students’ English performance, which has proven to be effective in the foreign language classroom. Therefore, this paper details Toastmasters techniques in two groups of the Pacific Regional Center of University of Costa Rica: freshmen from the Major of English with Business Management Training and juniors from the English Teaching Major. The authors developed different techniques depending on the students’ level and course objectives and have concluded that this methodology can provide valuable resources to improve English in the classroom.

In this paper, we scrutinize the extent to which authorities and professors from the Coto Campus, Brunca Extension, have orchestrated efforts to ensure the successful implementation of the Quinquennial Plan for the Indigenous Peoples in Costa Rica (QPIP). We focus on examining the experiences of three Gnöbe students enrolled in the B.A. in English Teaching offered at the Coto Campus and on analyzing the perceptions of professors and the administration regarding the implementation of the QPIP. Data collected by means of interviews, questionnaires and focus groups suggest that the objectives of the QPIP have been only partially met and that further efforts are needed to ensure its successful implementation. We finish this paper by translating the students’, professors’ and administration’s concerns into concrete suggestions geared towards securing the success of the QPIP.

This article concentrates on Rabindranath’s reception in a few Latin American countries. In the history of Latin America, early twentieth century was a crucial time when various Latin American countries were striving to come out of Europe’s grasp and establish an identity of their own. Yet, in the multifarious and multiracial society of Latin America it was difficult to define their ‘own’. At such a critical juncture of history, Rabindranath represented an alternative to various Latin American authors. He was, to them, a representative of a British colony who had been recognised and acknowledged by Europe, and thus symbolized a power/knowledge equivalent to that of Europe. This paper, divided in three parts, explores this reception and its impact, firstly by analyzing the history of the direct contact; then by focusing on the Latin American translations of Rabindranath’s works; and finally, by re-reading a few essays and critical-writings on Rabindranath. Among others, the paper alludes to Victoria Ocampo (1890-1979), the first and perhaps the only Latin American author who came in direct contact with Rabindranath; and some of the most important Nobel Laureates of Latin America, like Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) and Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), to show how these authors and poets received Rabindranath in their own contexts. Este artículo se concentra en la recepción de Rabindranath Tagore en algunos países de América Latina. En la historia de este continente, los primeros años del siglo XX fueron cruciales, porque muchos países de América Latina estaban esforzándose por destruir el control de Europa y establecer una identidad propia. Sin embargo, era difícil definir “lo propio” en una sociedad tan múltiple y multirracial. En un momento tan complejo de la historia, Tagore personificaba una alternativa para algunos autores de América Latina. Él era como un representante del “tercer mundo” que había ganado el reconocimiento de Europa, de los colonizadores; por tal motivo, su poder/sabiduría era tan fuerte como el de los británicos. Este artículo, dividido en tres partes, busca primero explorar la historia del contacto directo entre el poeta hindú y algunos escritores latinoamericanos; segundo, analizar varias traducciones de las obras de Tagore, hechas por latinoamericanos; y, finalmente, discutir unos ensayos y textos críticos realizados por estudiosos de América Latina sobre Tagore. El artículo se centra en Victoria Ocampo (1890-1979), la única autora del mundo hispano con quien Tagore tenía un contacto directo, y también en poetas de nombre mundial como Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) y Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), para explicar cómo ellos recibieron a Tagore.

Abstract Specialized Scientific historiography in Freemasonry is a recent development, starting in France in the 1950 and 1960’s, in Spain in the 80’s and in Latin America since 2000.This young scientific community currently needs a critical historiographical review. This movement is necessarily collective one and is essential in providing useful guidance for future researchers. This paper is part of this process. Since Freemasonry is the founding prototype of the international public opinion (or international public spaces), masonic networks rely on a global history, referring not only to the analysis of contemporary international relations but also to public opinion and civil society studies. How does general history academia –and, especially, “world history”- deal with the masonic question? What are their favorite perspectives and historical periods? The paper is the first in a series aimed at evaluating the position Freemasonry holds in general history, it focuses on some representative "world history” works: the History of Public Opinion by Jürgen Habermas, the English speaking World History, Eric J. Hobsbawm three volumes of the 19th and 20th Centuries and the General History of the Nineteenth Century by Robert Schnerb.

Speaking is a remarkable feature of human beings. People speak on a daily basis in order to communicate and exchange meaningful information. Therefore, the development of such ability in L2 students becomes very important. This study reflects upon the experience of using three speaking activities: 1- a role-play, 2- an interview and 3- speaking workstations to foster students’ oral production in the EFL class (English as a Foreign Language). Ad- ditionally, the methodology and the action plan are addressed. Facilitated by action research, this study reports on the use and subtleties of these speaking activities. The effectiveness and implementation of these activities are also discussed in this paper. The relevance of these activities to the teaching of speaking constitutes one of the main findings of this paper. Finally, this research project was especially useful as it heightened awareness of the re- searcher’s teaching beliefs.

Language teaching is a profession that requires specialized skills. Teachers need a high level of proficiency in the language that they teach in addition to knowledge of second language acquisition and language teaching methodology. However, language teaching is frequently undervalued and misunderstood. This paper examines the (lack of) professionalism in language teaching from two different perspectives. First, the author considers the status of English language teaching around the world, which is adversely affected by the frequent practice of hiring unqualified native speakers. The second section of the paper addresses the current status of foreign language teaching in the United States. In spite of a critical need for foreign language skills in the U.S., language programs are being eliminated at universities around the country, and in some cases classroom instruction is being replaced with self-study software programs.

Margaret Atwood’s famous work, The Handmaid’s Tale, offers innovative and intriguing perspectives on gender and gender roles, as they are dramatized and problematized in the context of a dystopian society that in many ways is a projection of our own. Particularly interesting in the novel are the roles on men, represented by the principal male characters: the Commander, Nick, and Luke. As Atwood employs these personae to describe at least three different manifestations of masculinity —all with their own conflicts and possibilities—, the first season of the television version of the novel, created by Bruce Miller and resealed in 2017, explores, expands, and exploits various visions of manhood that help understand not only the protagonist’s but also the reader’s/viewer’s world. This paper is an attempt to establish a dialogue of sorts between Atwood’s and Miller’s viewpoints on masculinity through their portrayals of these three characters and their interactions with their protagonist and their context.

The following essay is a literary critique of the patriarchal dominion present in The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, parallel to Joanna Russ’s feminist arguments in The Female Man and the prism of brand naming and patenting in Modest_Witness by Donna J. Haraway. Such analysis proposes a postmodernist reading which rejects metanarratives to exam- ine literature. Instead, this paper explores and evaluates the scientific and patriarchal power over the main character in The Wasp Factory by creating tropes inspired on The Female Man. The author suggests the reader to vanish the line which divides fiction and reality since the conflicts found in one plane are also seen on the other.

This article explores students’ perceptions on the use of certain mobile devices in an oral, English course. Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has not been widely used in language settings in the Costa Rican context. The main objective of this paper is to understand students’ ideas about activities that include MALL. Results were deduced from a 10-point survey answered by students enrolled in an oral course from a major in English. The quantitative data was gathered through a survey, following survey re- search methods. Based on these results, the writer concludes that students consider activities using MALL a valuable asset in the learning process.

This article examines the amount of academic vocabulary used by fourth year students in a B.A. in English and B.A. English Teaching. The writer explains how academic vocabulary can be measured and the benefits it provides. This article contains a brief analysis of academic vocabulary used in 46 final research papers. Based on these results, the writer explains that, although students display a good range of academic vocabulary, curriculum programs should incorporate a tangible and substantial vocabulary teaching component.

The historic importance of Theosophy within the realm of education is due to their presence in their reflexions and educational endeavours are at the origins of that nebulous movement called the New Education (éducation nouvelle). Their presence at the beginning of the organization of the New Education has been explored by several pioneering papers, but remains the blind spot in this area. In fact Theosophy’s influence has been felt but rarely analysed as the matrix of the nebulous international organization of new education. If the Theosophists’ influence were to be recognised, we think that their role, their persistent work that brought on not only the rise of new education, more specifically, the constitution of the International League of New Education but was also the making of educators of Theosophy teachings such as María Montessori and Rudolf Steiner who were not only the roots of the new education but also its main components.

This paper aims to discuss anthroposophy, which does not consider itself as a form of religion, but seems to suit some definitions of religion and spirituality prevailing within the academic studies of religion. Using Benthall’s methodology of analysis, it seeks to verify how far anthroposophy would deny its religious dimension, but nevertheless acts socially as a religion, which would characterize it as an implicit religion. Of the nineteen categories of analysis, fifteen were found distributed in the books we surveyed. This case is an example of the decline of the influence of religion in cultural spheres and can be seen as a possible pursuit for social legitimacy in response to a secular society, which treats knowledge derived from religious fields with suspicion.

Lodges founded by French, Italian and Spanish obediences in Eastern Mediterranean countries: Turkey, the Middle East and Magreb countries, started schools that were qualified as “masonic” “secular” o “Free secular”. These obediences were in conflict, in this regard, with Christian congregations, with moslem ones, and, in some cases, with the synagogues. This paper deals more specifically with some schools built by the French and Italian obediences in the Ottoman Empire, at the turn of the 19th century confronting them with the schools in the Middle East and the Magreb belonging to these same obediences as well as by the Grande Oriente Español. It is important for us to question the terms the freemasons used to refer to those schools. Whether it was common usage to present them, at the end of the 19th century, as “secular schools”, instead of calling them “masonic schools”, which was generally their first title/name, thus revealing that the educational Project should have elements of masonic morality and of masonic ideals.

The present paper focuses on the Italian Freemasonry’s engagement in the educational field. From 1868 to 1925, the lodges under the Grand Orient of Italy fostered and helped many educational establishments. The article considers the following three cities: Turin, Milan and Rome. These important urban centres were different but shared a large number of initiatives and were willing to experiment with new secular learning models (Boarding schools, institutes, leisure courses, evening classes and Popular Universities).

This article discusses the role the esoteric concept of secret had in the construction of encrypted communication methods. We seek to understand the concept that the world is full of secret signs of the message left by the Creator to help His men forge the se methods of secret communication. Furthermore , this secret communication helped them become aware of the secret dimension not only of language but also of human action. Thus this paper has been written whilst discussing the opus Polygraphia , written by a German abbot, Johannes Trithemius (1462 - 1516), it also maintains a dialogue with other relevant works.

The present paper explores the connections between the radical sexual behavior of the main female characters in the TV show Lost Girl and Octavia Butler’s novel Fledgling, Bo and Shori respectively. This analysis works from a queer-ecological feminist perspective that understands that science ction as a genre presents rich opportunities for the development of feminist-queer sexual identities in female characters that in turn construct anti-patriarchal queer family structures that can truly transform the world. Este artículo explora las conexiones entre el comportamiento sexual radical de los personajes femeninos principales del programa de televisión Lost Girl y la novela de Octavia Butler, Fledgling, Bo y Shori respectivamente. El presente análisis trabaja desde una perspectiva feminista queer-ecológica, la cual entiende que el género literario de ciencia cción presenta enormes oportunidades para el desarrollo de identidades queer feministas que construyen a su vez estructuras familiares queer antipa-triarcales que pueden verdaderamente transformar el mundo.

La teoría de la literatura fantástica, desde Todorov hasta nuestros días, se ha ocupado del género de lo maravilloso. Sin embargo, la aproximación es, por lo general, subordinada a lo fantástico. Este artículo busca una de nición precisa de lo que se ha dado en llamar lo maravilloso, así como determinar si es pertinente sostener dicha categoría frente a otras similares. A partir de la consideración de las propuestas de Todorov, Barrenechea, Roas y Tolkien, así como de la etimología de los términos “fantasía” y “maravilla”, se observa que la literatura maravillosa, en efecto, existe y que está compuesta por los textos en los que los fenómenos que violentan la noción de realidad son nalmente aceptados. Además, se propone una tipología de los textos maravillosos. Por tanto, se concluye que lo maravilloso es una categoría con sus propios parámetros y métodos narrativos. Fantastic literature theory, from Todorov to this day, has considered the marvelous. However, the approach generally is subordinated to the fantastic. This paper searches a precise de nition of the so called marvelous, as well as if it is worth to keep that category in front of similar ones. Considering Todorov, Barrenechea, Roas, and Tolkien’s works, as well as the etymology of “fantasy” and “wonder”, it is possible to see that marvelous literature exists and is composed by the texts in which the defying reality phenomena are nally accepted. Besides, a typology of the marvelous texts is proposed. So, the conclusion is that the marvelous is a category having its own parameters and narrative methods.

Este artículo plantea el diseño de recursos didácticos signi cativos en un entorno virtual amigable para dos cursos de la Escuela de Lenguas Modernas, Facultad de Letras, Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) y un curso de la Universidad de Kansas (KU), EUA (Bachillerato y Posgrado en la Enseñanza del Inglés y Posgrado en Educación), y sus bene cios para el aprendizaje colaborativo en línea. Se estudia la producción de nuevos procesos de formación y su puesta en marcha, que involucra a su vez la producción de nuevos materiales educativos, nuevas propuestas pedagógicas y nuevos roles de los docentes y estudiantes a nivel superior. Además, se presenta la plani cación adecuada que ayude a crear Ambientes o Entornos Virtuales de Aprendizaje (AVA/EVA), orientados al cumplimiento de objetivos de aprendizaje concretos. Se presenta una arquitectura de contenido exible y atractivo académicamente, que permite el diseño, desarrollo e implementación de contenidos didácticos multimediales en línea en programas a nivel superior de la UCR y de KU. Se presenta el desarrollo de lecciones de un curso en línea de la maestría en inglés de la UCR y una clase modelo de primer año de carrera en el Bachillerato de Inglés de la Escuela de Lenguas Modernas. This article deals with the design of meaningful didactic resources and their bene t for collaborative e Learning in a friendly virtual environment for two courses in the School of Modern Languages at the Faculty of Letters, University of Costa Rica (UCR) and the University of Kansas (KU): Bachelor of English, Postgraduate Program in the Teaching of English and Postgraduate in Education. Added to this, this paper presents the appropriate management that would allow creating a virtual learning environment (VLE) which is oriented towards the accomplishment of concrete learning objectives. The study displays an attractive and exible content architecture in academic terms that allows the design, development and implementation /application of online multimedia didactic resources in higher education programs at the UCR and KU. The development of an online lesson of the Master Program in English from the UCR is exhibited as well as a model class of a rst year course in the Bachelor Program of English.

El artículo propone un modelo de análisis argumentativo que combina elementos de la retórica griega, la lógica india y la teoría de la argu- mentación. Se postulan tres niveles de análisis, los cuales, a su vez, se subdividen en otros aspectos: 1) Contexto de la argumentación: pa- rámetros y referentes; 2) Método de la argumentación: técnicas y recursos; 3) Partes de la argumentación: categorías simples y complejas, esquemas simples y complejos. El modelo se aplica para el análisis del discurso de Aquiles (Ilíada IX, 308-429) y del discurso de Duryodhana (Mahābhārata V, 125.2-125.6). The paper proposes a model for argumentative analysis that combines elements from Greek Rhetoric, Indian Logic and Argumentation Theory. It postulates three levels of analysis, which, in turn, are subdivided into other aspects: 1) Context of the argumentation: parameters and referents; 2) Method of the argumentation: techniques and resources; 3) Parts of the argumentation: simple and complex categories, simple and complex schemes. The model is applied to the analysis of Achilles’ speech (Iliad IX, 308- 429) and to Duryodhana’s speech (Mahābhārata V, 125.2-125.6).

El presente análisis de la Andrómaca de Eurípides estudia el con icto del enfrentamiento femenino por el tálamo entre la esposa legítima y la concubina en relación con la violencia física y simbólica ejercida por los varones en el lecho marital. En el caso de la cautiva de Ilión, la violencia está presente no solo en la imposición física, sino en la internalización del sometimiento por su condición de inferioridad como miembro del colectivo femenino. The paper analyzes Euripide’s Andromache and the feminine con ict for the thalamus between the wife and the concubine, related to the physical and symbolic violence of the male actions in the marital bed. The slave of Ilion suffers not only the physical imposition but also the internalization of women submission as members of the feminine collective.

Este artículo evalúa las competencias pluriculturales e interculturales entre los estudiantes chinos y extranjeros de la Universidad Normal de Shanghái durante su primer semestre en el recinto. Una manera posible de evaluar dichas competencias es su reacción ante el choque cultural. La mayoría de los estudios se concentra principalmente en el choque sufrido por los extranjeros cuando se adaptan a vivir en un nuevo país. Sin embargo, en países grandes como China, compuestos por diferentes grupos étnicos, resulta también posible percibir diferencias signi cativas en términos de contextos culturales. Se adopta un enfoque cualitativo al tratar de responder la siguiente pregunta: ¿El choque cultural afecta en niveles diferentes a los estudiantes chinos y extranjeros cuando estudian en la Universidad Normal de Shanghái? Para responder a esta pregunta, se aplicó un cuestionario con la escala SCAS-R, Escala Revisada de Adaptación Sociocultural, a ocho estudiantes chinos y a ocho estudiantes extranjeros. Los resultados demostraron que ambas poblaciones experimentaron el choque cultural y se vieron afectadas en diferentes escalas, sobre todo en las subescalas de Comunicación Interpersonal, Rendimiento Académico y Laboral, Intereses Personales e Involucramiento con la Comunidad. Estudios adicionales podrían orientarse a investigar y replantear los modelos de choque cultural no solo de un país a otro, sino también dentro de un mismo país. This paper focuses on evaluating the plurilingual and intercultural competence between Chinese and Foreign Students at Shanghai Normal University during their rst semester on campus. One possible way to evaluate pro ciency in this competence is measuring cultural shock reaction. Most studies pay mainly attention to the shock suffered by foreigners when adapting to live in a new country. Nevertheless, in big countries like China, composed by different ethnic groups, it can be also possible to perceive meaningful differences in terms of cultural contexts. A qualitative approach is adopted when trying to answer the following question: Does cultural shock affect Chinese and foreign students at different levels when studying at Shanghai Normal University? To answer this question, a questionnaire survey using the SCAS-R, Revised Sociocultural Adaptation Scale, was applied to eight Chinese and eight foreign students. The results demonstrated that both populations underwent cultural shock; they were affected at different scales, especially in the Interpersonal Communication, Academic/Work Performance, and Personal Interests and Community Involvement subscales. Further studies could focused on researching and rethinking culture shock models not only from one country to another, but also within the same country.

En este artículo se discute la forma en que las novelas Salón de belleza, de Mario Bellatin, y Les particules élémentaires, de Michel Houellebecq, abordan la temática de la muerte. El diálogo entre ambas cciones per- mite examinar algunos alcances éticos, epistemológicos y antropológicos de los horizontes de expectativas que de nen lo que caracteriza o no a un ser humano frente a esta experiencia límite. Por una parte, se examina la ambivalencia de los espacios creados por los personajes, en donde se atribuye una forma especí ca de humanidad distinta a la que presuponen sus respectivos horizontes de expectativas presentes en las cciones. Por la otra, se aborda la di cultad que viven los personajes al afrontar la muerte, obligados como están a construirse una nueva visión del mundo que les permita conservar un sentido de humanidad sin perder la razón frente a la experiencia última del ser humano que escapa a toda explicación racional. This article discusses the way in which Mario Bellatin’s Salón de belleza and Michel Houellebecq’s Les particules élémentaires novels look at the subject of death. The dialogue between the two works of ction allows us to explore some of the ethical, epistemological and anthropological implications of the horizon of expectations that de ne a human being who is dealing with this ultimate experience. On the one hand, this work analyses the ambivalence of the spaces created by the characters where a speci c form of humanity is attributed, different than the one assumed in their horizon of expectations recreated in the novels. On the other hand, the paper addresses the dif cult time this characters go through when facing death, forced by their circumstances to build a new world vision, which will allow them to retain a sense of humanity without losing their minds during the ultimate experience of the hu- man being that escapes every rational explanation.

Este trabajo analiza la representación de la heroicidad femenina en las tragedias de Eurípides relacionadas con el ciclo troyano: Hécuba, Las Tro- yanas y Andrómaca, y el destino de las mujeres de la casa real de Ilión en la posguerra. La identidad femenina y la otredad en tiempos de guerra son presentadas en el drama ático desde una perspectiva de la heroína determinada en la tragedia por la ideología sexo-género. La presencia de la violencia contra las mujeres en los textos literarios se constituye en un referente performativo que muestra la vigencia y la permanencia en el dis- curso bélico como re ejo del imaginario social en la Grecia antigua. The paper analyzes the female heroic representation in Euripides’ Troyan cycle: Hecabe, Troyan Women and Andromaca and its heroic fe- male characters Adromaca, Cassandra, Hecabe, and Polixena in the af- termath of the Troyan War. Female identity and otherness during war times are portrayed in Attic drama from a perspective of the female hero determined in tragedy by the gender-sex ideology. The representation of symbolic and physical violence against women, in the literary text, constitutes a performative reference which depicts its permanence in the beligerant war discourse in the social imaginary of ancient Greece.

En este trabajo, se analizan los resultados del reemplazo y modi cación de los ejercicios originales de un curso comercial de enseñanza de inglés nivel A1, para universitarios, con otros ejercicios que para ser realizados requieren el uso de más tipos de inteligencias. El propósito de esta investigación es descubrir la posibilidad de elevar el nivel de aprendizaje del idioma inglés y disminuir el ausentismo a las clases. Mediante un estudio experimental, en la Universidad Vizcaya de las Américas, campus Mexicali, se aplicaron los ejercicios modi cados a un grupo de alumnos de primer cuatrimestre, y se descubrió que, al nalizar el ciclo escolar, el grupo de estudio obtuvo una cali cación x̄ 8.4, mientras que el grupo control obtuvo x̄ 7.5. This paper studies the results of modifying/replacing the exercises from an English course, level A1, for university students, with new ones that require more types of intelligences to complete. The purpose of this research is to study the possibility of improving the level of English pro ciency and reduce absenteeism in classes. Through an experimental study in Vizcaya University, Mexicali campus, the modi ed exercises were used in the rst quarter with one group of students. Results were analyzed through grades: the study group achieved x8̄ .4 while the control group got x̄7.5.

La Divina Comedia de Dante Alighieri es una enciclopedia de la cultura clásica, que demuestra la relevancia de la Antigüedad en la Edad Media. El artículo analiza intertextos clásicos y elementos mitológicos –con base en conceptos de Mircea Eliade– en el Canto XXVI, en el cual se relata una historia del héroe griego Ulises. Finalmente, se muestra la continuidad del mito con dos ejemplos de la narrativa moderna. Dante’s Divine Comedy is an encyclopedia of classical culture, which demonstrates the importance of Antiquity on the Middle Ages. The paper analyzes the classical intertexts and the mythological elements – based on Mircea Eliade’s concepts – on Canto XXVI, which tells the story of the Greek hero Ulysses. Finally, we show the continuity of the myth using two examples of modern narrative.

This paper examines the connection between student self-evaluation strategies and autonomy development in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. To this end, 18 students enrolled in a phonetics class participated in a constructivist-based action research plan. Using different autonomy-oriented instruments, students set their learning goals and self-assessment strategies to foster learner autonomy and evaluated their learning experiences at the end of the semester. The study adopted a triangulation mixed methods design, where quantitative results were used concurrently with the qualitative data. Findings suggest clear-cut connections between self-evaluation strategies and the development of learner autonomy in the context of EFL. El presente estudio explora la relación entre la autoevaluación del estudiante y el desarrollo de la autonomía en el aula de inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL, por sus siglas en inglés). Para este fin, 18 estudiantes matriculados en un curso de fonética del idioma inglés participaron en un proyecto de investigación-acción, el cual se basó en los principios de la pedagogía constructivista. Por medio de distintos instrumentos para potenciar la autonomía, los estudiantes se fijaron metas de aprendizaje y estrategias de autoevaluación, y evaluaron la experiencia de llevar un plan semanal y un diario mediante una lista de cotejo. Se utilizó el diseño de métodos mixtos de triangulación, en el cual se interpolaron datos cuantitativodescriptivos con información cuantitativo-explicativa. Los hallazgos revelan una clara relación entre las estrategias de autoevaluación como la aquí implementada y el desarrollo de la autonomía en el aprendizaje en EFL. Asimismo, estos sugieren implicaciones tanto teóricas como prácticas en la enseñanza-aprendizaje de lenguas extranjeras.

The present paper is the first in a series of publications that aim to share the results of an ongoing research project that explores the interconnection possibilities, both in theory and application, of the fields of ecofeminism and queer ecologies. This particular chapter offers a brief survey of the first of these fields: ecofeminism. The author tries to provide a brief critical look into the main tenets and evolution of the field. Este artículo es el primero en una serie de publicaciones que busca socializar los resultados de un proyecto de investigación en curso, el cual explora las posibilidades de interconexión (tanto en la teoría como en su aplicación) de los campos del ecofeminismo y las ecologías queer. Este capítulo en particular ofrece una vista panorámica del primero de estos campos: el ecofeminismo. La autora presenta una perspectiva corta y crítica de las principales propuestas y de la evolución del campo.

To complete the master’s program in Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the University of Costa Rica, the teachers designed and taught an ESP course for ten students enrolled in a master’s program in Disability Studies. Three learners have visual impairments, and one has hypoacusis. Different curricular accommodations were made for them to work autonomously, but the results show that some could not always do so. However, their attitude towards learning English improved. This paper presents the challenges and outcomes of the lessons and materials used to raise awareness about the importance of inclusive classes, as well as recommendations to work with this population.

In this paper, I question the practice of reducing L2 learning (emerging bilingualism) to the acquisition of monolingual-like competence in the target language and advocate for L2 users/learners’ language capacities to be understood from a holistic bilingual approach. Here, I discuss the implications of allowing this monolingual bias to operate unchallenged as I examine the experiences/opinions of language learners and instructors from the English Language Department at a public university in Costa Rica, regarding what it means to learn a foreign language and to become a bilingual speaker. Thereafter, I consider the challenge of ridding language education programs of this pervasive monolingual bias so that ways are found to allow L2 users/learners to stop characterizing themselves as deficient speakers of their additional language.

This paper proposes to present, although not unanimously recognised, the kind of masonic sociability designedby Hipólito José da Costa, editor of theCorreio Braziliense(1808-1822), pioneer of the Brazilian press. Thus,inorder to analyse the Masonic sociability defended and transmitted by Hipólito da Costa, I will studynot only theeditor’s discourse in the Correio, but also in theDiário da minha viagempara Filadélfia, the Diary of myjourney to Philadelphia, the Narrative of a PersecutionNarrativa da Perseguiçãoand in Letter aboutFreemasonryCartas sobre a Framaçonariaall works that reveal Hipolito’s concept of Freemasonry as asociety of virtuous men, whose purpose is to do good for families in need.

This research aims to evaluate the position of Freemasonry in Brazil’s political, economic and socialrealms,from 1960 to 1989 which is the period of planning and initiation of a military coup. We researched theBrazilianFreemason’s position towards the military dictatorship, through interviews and documentary searches innewspapers. In this paper we present a summary of the political events that took place under the Brazilianmilitary dictatorship to explain our theoretical framework establishing a division which interfered briefly in thehistory of Freemasonry. Following our research analysis, evaluations and comparisons, it was established thatFreemasonry officially supported the military dictatorship, but several Freemasons were opposed to theinstitution’s guidelines. .

English for Specific Purposes was born in the 1960s as a technical texts-analysis area. The study of language use over language form strengthened at the end of the decade and materials development became a popular trend. The 1970s and 1980s witnessed the consolidation of the movement in the emphasis on language skills and booming research. Central concepts such as genre, rhetorical moves and expert consultant were introduced. Research has boomed in the last 20 years, specially in the international context, where new journals and vast submission of papers have shown the increased importance of ESP. The evolution ESP and its definitions have developed hand by hand. Seen as an approach by some and a dis- cipline by others and displaying changing characteristics of variables, ESP has and will always shape itself to meet learners’ specific professional or vocational language needs and thus possesses immediate relevance and validity, for as stat- ed by Harding (2007), ESP teaches “the language for getting things done” (p. 6).

Recently, the way languages are learned has been greatly influenced by technology. Both learners and professors are exposed to the Internet daily, so they can take advantage of it to teach and learn a foreign language. For this reason, it has become necessary to find ways to blend technology with language instruction. This paper presents the findings of a study carried out with students who have been exposed to the use of Facebook in their English courses. It emphasizes the ways Facebook can be used as a means to promote learners’ autonomy, and summarizes the results of the implementation of this experience.

This paper will study some historical issues in the development of adver- tising and Spanglish, how they came to be related and how they are ar- ticulated. The significance of this research lies in the fact that although Spanglish is now a common occurrence in Latin American Spanish, es- pecially in advertising, the dynamics of these two fields has rarely been analyzed. Thus, this study can give us important insights into the ever- changing Spanish language, the role that English plays in these changes, and how advertising capitalizes on language for commercial profit.

This paper analyzes Shakespeare’s Hamlet as an interwoven drama between desire and death. Hamlet takes his desire as an enigma because he does not know what to do with it nor when to act accordingly. For Lacan, Hamlet is trapped in the alienated webs of the capitalized Other who, unconsciously, points him what and how to desire. At this crossroads, Hamlet appropriates his (M)other Gertrude and his beloved Ophelia in order to place them as the objects of his desire, that is, as his signified phallus. Therefore, for Lacan, Hamlet is the tragedy of desire.

This paper provides a state of matter on the study of Latin American Freemasonry from the U.S. academy. In general there has been no interest for this study because the focus has been on Freemasonry of the United States, the United Kingdom and continental Europe, mainly France. This is because some scholars have regarded Freemasonry in Latin America as different, displaying it with the lens of otherness and providing a cultural otherness based on the difference. However, in the last two decades, a generation of scholars, already established in their respective universities, began to venture to publish on Freemasonry, directing thesis and promoting the study of this organization from the university halls. This has allowed the development of new trends for the study of Freemasonry in Latin America as well as creating opportunities for exchange and dialogue between Latin American scholars and scholars from the United States.

The aim of this paper is to analyze Masonic sociability in Portuguese America focusing on the city of Rio de Janeiro at the turn of the eighteenth century and the first two decades of the nineteenth century. It seeks to identify the representations created by the Luso-Brazilian society and their affiliation with the Masonic order. It also aims to visualize the manner in which the sociability engendered by the Freemason lodges eventually contributed to the construction of a political culture, in which the practice of debate, criticism, and representation were essential elements allowing us to have a better understanding of the final years of Portuguese colonial rule in the American continent.

This paper deals with the relationship between Freemasonry, Spiritualism, and urban workers in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 1877 when the spiritual doctrine was introduced in the city by two professionals in Spain. In 1937, when, according to the installation of the Estado Novo in Brazil, the dictatorial regime implemented by President Getulio Vargas, began to restrict Spiritualism and Freemasonry in Pelotas. The regime even started to use force, since Masons were suspected of harboring Communist meetings and of being opponents of the system deployed by Vargas. Based on a literature review, we analyzed this relationship, trying to understand the role played by both Freemasonry and Spiritualism, along with the urban workers of that historical period.

For a long period of time, the slow modernization of social history characterized the masonic historiography and the Napolean period. This paper was presented on the bicentenary of the Grand Orient of Italy in Milan in May 200 and it aims to show the need to target a different perspective on this period. In this regard, several recent studies on this topic show that far from the canonical view, the study of the practices of the Masonic lodges initiated between 1804 and 1815 gave birth to new types of diverse social and political behavior, showing in fact that the Napoleonic period should rather be seen as a time when Masonic national identities were established rather than as a period of manipulation.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the consolidation of Anti-Masonic narrative in Brazil occurred from the episode known as "Religious Question". In this sense, huge volumes of texts were produced against Freemasonry around the world. Also, we can see that the presence of the Roman condemnation of Masonery was elemental in the transformations present in the analyzed texts.

The Catholic Church began its long history of public condemnation of Freemasonry on April 28 th , 1738, when Pope Clement XII (1730-1740) interdicted Catholics from becoming members of Masonic lodges, through the bull In Eminenti Apostolatus Specula , which pointed out the incompatibility between the vow and secrecy of Masonic obedience and the condition of Christianity in the Roman Catholic Church. The announcement of September 28 th , 1738, published in convents and parishes of the kingdom and empire, summarizes the role of the Portuguese Inquisition, in which Catholics living in Portugal were admonished to confess and denounce to the Holy Office the existence of Masonic meetings. The Inqu isition also prohibited the participation of Catholics in freemasonry meetings, and ordered bishops, prelates and inquisitors to identify the offenders. Despite these historical facts, this paper intends to show that ther e are records of the involvem ent of Catholic priests and bishops in portuguese Freemasonary since the mid eighteenth century.

After a first paper about the importance of the presence of the French Masons in Santiago de Cuba, between 1798 and 1808, this new work presents a second stage of the history of the Cuban Freemasonry in Santiago de Cuba. It begins in 1821, when the Frenchmen of Santiago de Cuba founded the lodge Humanité . This institution might have been created because of the comeback of the 1812 Spanish Constitution. This stage, during the trienio liberal , is very important. First, in this case, the founda tion of a lodge became legal, at the opposite of the first French lodges that were being displaced of the French colony towards another territory, meeting in secret. Some of the brothers were still French, but the new circ umstances and the best integration of the Frenchmen in Santiago de Cuba involved a major change with the introduction for the first time of Hispanic Cuban brothers. This phase is essential for the Cuban Freemasonry.

This article reflects upon the usage of oral encouragement as an extrinsic affective strategy in an English for specific purposes course for chemists and chemistry students in a university setting. Facilitated by action research as a case study, this paper reports on how oral encouragement increases motivation and thus, oral participation in the classroom for a low-intermediate student. As a side effect, oral encouragement in the form of praise also fostered the student’s self -confidence. Finally, it was found that classroom management played an important role along with oral encouragement and self-confidence in order to increase oral participation.

This article aims to present the results of an investigation which seeks to determine whether experience plays an important role in increasing intra-rater reliability. The paper also provides an analysis that is carried out to determine if factors such as gender or rubric development affect raters’ reliability. Finally, a list of practical implications drawn from this investigation is provided.

For a substantial period of time, researchers have studied the effects of spaced learning on memory, and numerous studies show the benefits of distributed learning in the classroom. However, despite the ubiquitous presence of evidence in literature and the overwhelming number of empirical learning experiences, both students and professors often fail to acknowledge what scientific investigations have shown. The aim of this review paper is to synthesize information about cognitive memory and how the research findings in this field can benefit the learning process if applied both to content distribution and to revisiting this content after a period of time.

This paper analyzes the benefits of inquiry-based learning as an action model for an English as a Foreign Language Class (EFL). Nowadays, thanks to digital technologies, students have more access to native speakers of English and to information on the web that can become great allies in the acquisition of a foreign language. Teachers, on the other hand, want to know new methodologies to keep students motivated, and at the same time, offer them more opportunities to construct knowledge. Through inquiry-based learning and the integration of technology into the curriculum, students can improve linguistic skills, and at the same time they can learn different perspectives on a topic, different cultural aspects, and develop social skills.

The current university systems demands that teachers adapt and implement their teaching processes to encourage the proper use of technology resources. These technological tools help teachers and learners make effective group work, promote social activities, exchange ideas, have a quick access to information, encourage student-teacher interactions in real time and get access to forums, chats, Web 2.0, among others. This new vision helps teachers interact with their students, plan effective lessons and design learning environments with the use of the communication tools currently available. The innovative combination of technology and the use of traditional and communicative teaching techniques of a particular subject matter will encourage teachers to change their traditional ways of teaching using just lectures, practical classes, and seminars, among others. Through this new perspective, the teacher becomes a facilitator and a guide, and the student will assume a more active role in their learning process. The aim of this paper is to analyze how the teachers at Escuela de Literatura y Ciencias del Lenguage at the Universidad Nacional integrate ICTs into their teaching processes. A questionnaire will be used to get teachers’ experiences in the use or the lack of usage of the ICTs Finally, some updated trainings on the use of technology resources will be recommended to all those teachers who do not use them in the classroom activities, and the exchange of ideas by those who use them will be taken into account to promote class planning and interactive activities as part of their teaching strategies.

The present article stems from a research study aimed at analyzing the Spanish acquired naturally by four Chinese immigrants in Costa Rica, from the standpoint of Schumann’s Pidginization Hypothesis. In this paper, the degree of phonological pidginization in the informants’ Spanish is determined through the identification of deviant features and the establishment of percentages of segmental retention and loss.

This research study intends to explore the importance of teaching phrasal verbs in the English classroom, as well as to identify the effects that teaching phrasal verbs following an explicit approach has on their acquisition as evidenced by the students’ oral performance. The paper will also point out the importance of engaging students in different systematic classroom activities to be able to determine whether their phrasal verbs acquisition becomes significant and improves their oral performance. Finally, the research intends to understand if there is a correlation between the acquisition of phrasal verbs through explicit and systematic activities used in the classroom, and the students’ performance and proceduralization of phrasal verbs; and if they when presented and studied explicitly in class, can help the students to incorporate them in their oral performance.