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In a global context increasingly prone to e-learning formats at all levels of education, especially in and after the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the acquisition of skills in distance learning programmes should not differ from the ones in onsite learning programmes. The main objective of this study is to analyse the perception that master's in translation and interpreting (TIS) graduates have of the competences acquired during their studies offered by higher education institutions in Spain. This will be done by means of a questionnaire that uses a 4-point Likert scale to collect evaluations of different issues related to the translation skills of 256 graduates. Our results indicate that the mode of study (face-to-face or distance) does not influence graduates' perceptions. Finally, we conclude that the graduates' perception is positive.

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master's Degrees (EMJMD) offer a unique opportunity to jointly design and deliver an integrated curriculum of excellence in an international context. This study analyses the case of a Master's Degree specialised in Education: PETaL "Play, Education, Toys and Languages". This is the first EMJMD obtained by the University of Cordoba (Spain) within the framework of the Erasmus+ Program (2014-2020), in coordination with the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon (Portugal) and Marmara University (Turkey). Through the design, validation and distribution of an online questionnaire, this research aims to examine teachers' opinions on the place of integration in their teaching, as well as on the level of interdisciplinarity in the programme based on Harden's model (2000). This pioneering course represents a favourable context in which to evaluate the "jointness" in the curriculum and other aspects of the teaching-learning process, little explored so far in this context. The results reveal that, foreseeably, the conditions for greater integration in the successive editions are in place. Thus, it is necessary to continue strengthening teaching coordination and the aspects leading to further curricular integration. The study also serves as a reflection on teaching practice and the possibilities for interdisciplinarity in postgraduate education.

Emergency Remote Language Teaching is a new term coined after the concept of Emergency Remote Teaching (Hodges, et al., 2020), which emphasizes that teaching that is being done during emergencies and crises, as the pandemic caused by COVID-19, is neither distance nor online teaching properly. This paper explores the attitudes and perceptions of pre-service bilingual primary teachers at the University of Córdoba (Spain) regarding the design of socially and culturally responsive learning materials in a real Emergency Remote Language Teaching context. Due to the nature of this exploratory research, this study was designed to perform a qualitative analysis. To analyze the data, the grounded-theory scheme was followed to establish different categories and topics, then content analysis was applied, and finally, a manual SWOT analysis was created. Participants showed positive attitudes towards the design of materials for Emergency Remote Language Teaching, emphasizing the feeling of real teachers, the design of resources with a meaningful purpose, and the importance of 'thinking outside the box.' They also found challenges derived from the new, complex situation, and the lack of experience designing materials for distance teaching. Recommendations are proposed for teacher training and materials design in Emergency Remote Language Teaching contexts.

Background:. The umbilicus significantly contributes to abdominal aesthetics, with its reconstruction often necessary after certain procedures like umbilical herniorrhaphy, laparotomies, and abdominoplasty. Neoumbilicoplasty techniques have evolved, addressing various issues through approaches like skin and cartilage grafts, and local flaps. We are reporting our technique for neoumbilicoplasty. Methods:. This study describes a novel neoumbilicoplasty technique implemented in 90 patients (88 women, two men) who underwent lipoabdominoplasty between February 2021 and June 2023. Exclusion criteria included procedures unrelated to neoumbilicoplasty. Surgical steps involved precise marking, dissection, and suturing to create a natural umbilical hood. Patient satisfaction was measured using the Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale. Results:. The mean age was 37.7 years, with pre- and postoperative anatomics of 24.9 kg per m² and 24.2 kg per m², respectively. The average surgery duration was 84 minutes. No major complications occurred, but minor complications included dehiscence (6%), granuloma (5%), superficial infection (2%), bruising (1%), seroma (1%), and flattening (8%). Most complications were resolved with minor interventions. Patient satisfaction was high, with 96% of patients and the surgeon expressing significant satisfaction. Conclusions:. House-roof neoumbilicoplasty is an innovative technique designed to effectively restore abdominal aesthetics through straightforward steps and timing, combined with high-definition lipoabdominoplasty.

Bilingual programs have become more common in higher education around the world in an attempt to provide learners with the education they need to face today's world. These programs can provide academic, linguistic, intercultural, and professional benefits to students. Consequently, countries like Spain have developed bilingual education to help students become proficient in foreign languages and develop essential competences for their professional futures. Research has analysed how Spanish bilingual education is implemented, and how teachers are trained. However, few studies examine how bilingual programs impact graduates' employability, mobility, and intercultural awareness, and how graduates perceive their skill development. Moreover, little has been studied about bilingual graduates' work situation and whether participating in these programs has helped them find work abroad. This paper analyses whether a combination of participation in Spanish bilingual programs, employment, and experiences working abroad affects bilingual education graduates' self-perceived employability, mobility, and intercultural awareness. This study adopts a quantitative approach, in which 741 respondents participated. Findings show that bilingual graduates who are currently working have higher self-perceived employability and better perceptions of their mobility and employability competences than those who followed monolingual studies, even when they have not worked abroad.

The profound evolution that Spanish language education has experienced since the passing of the first modern educational law in 1970 has led to improved students' proficiency. In this sense, traditional foreign language teaching has been gradually substituted by Bilingual Education in the country to promote language learning, intercultural competence, and mobility; however, reviews in the field have not examined language education in all the Spanish regions but rather they have only considered isolated regions or compared some of them. This paper provides a historical analysis of Spanish language education, reviewing its evolution since 1970, and comparing the country's bilingual and monolingual regions. Findings show that differences among territories mainly concern the areas and number of hours devoted to foreign language teaching and teacher linguistic requirements. Content and Language Integrated Learning is the main approach to Bilingual Education followed, whereas English is the main language of instruction in all regions.

The use of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) is crucial in industries, such as aerospace, automotive, and marine, due to their excellent strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance. However, machining CFRP is challenging due to its abrasive nature, which can cause premature tool wear. Some of the commonly used processes for machining these materials are dry milling and abrasive water jet machining (AWJM), which offer the best alternatives from an environmental point of view. This article presents an analysis of the defects and surface quality obtained in CFRP after machining by AWJM and milling. For this purpose, combinations of relevant parameters have been chosen for each process: cutting speed and tool wear in milling and traverse feed rate and hydraulic pressure in AWJM. The results obtained have been evaluated from two points of view: macroscopically, through the evaluation of delamination, and microscopically, through the study of the roughness in terms of Ra. Furthermore, a discussion on functional, environmental, economic, and social terms has been made between both processes. In summary, each machining process generates a specific type of delamination: Type II in milling and Type I in AWJM. In addition, the best Ra results are obtained for pressures of 1200 bar in AWJM.

The usefulness of ICT in language learning is unquestionable nowadays. There are many digital educational resources available for foreign and second language teachers, materials which are progressively acquiring an important role in the teaching-learning process. In order to respond to the increasing presence of such technologies in the classroom, teachers need to acquire digital and media competences, two key elements for lifelong training process. However, these are superficially addressed in teacher education. In this light, both in-training and in-service educators demand more skills and specific training to be able to teach students how to use technologies and, ultimately, help them develop their own digital and media competences. Following an exhaustive bibliographical revision of scientific literature in the field, this theoretical paper seeks to revise the concepts of digital and media competences as well as to reflect on how superficially they are addressed at universities and teacher-training centres. After this, the importance of both competences as key elements for teachers is brought to light, as well as some useful suggestions to help foreign and second language teachers acquire and develop them and, simultaneously, teach them to their students.

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)--endorsed by the European Commission since 1996--constitutes the official approach to bilingual education in Spain. Intercultural learning (IL) is one of the four defining Cs in CLIL, though the literature has consistently described it as the weakest implementation area. This paper analyses the opinions of 76 Spanish secondary education students about IL through their bilingual curriculum. Their viewpoints clearly suggest that IL comes from two main sources: native assistants; and exchange programmes. These data were contrasted with the views of school principals and bilingual coordinators, who declared that both of these valuable 'resources' for IL are scarce due to administrative difficulties and lack of budget. Our conclusions reveal how improving these areas can lead not only to improved scores but also to a better implementation of the intercultural axis in CLIL, if the goal consists in educating 21st century citizens.

As in other countries, bilingual/multilingual education has become widespread in Spain. However, research either focuses on Spanish programs' implementation, students' performance or teacher training, but not on their contribution to graduates' self-perceived linguistic success (understood as a combination of intercultural competence, international mobility and employability). Therefore, this paper studies whether Spanish bilingual education results in higher self-perceived competences. An instrument examining these three elements is applied, and Facebook Audience Insights is used for sample targeting. Findings prove that Spanish bilingual education graduates have higher self-perceived intercultural competence and international mobility. In terms of gender, women who have participated in Spanish bilingual education show higher self-perceived intercultural competence, whereas men who have studied in these programs consider themselves more interculturally competent and mobile. Conversely, there is no evidence of more positive self-perceived employability than in monolingual education. All in all, participation in a Spanish bilingual program is demonstrated to be an influential factor in self-perceived global linguistic success, employability, and intercultural competence.

The purpose of this study was to compare the attitude of Iranian and non-Iranian English language students' attitudes towards Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Furthermore, the relations of gender, education level, and age to their attitude are investigated. A convergent mixed methods design was used for analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data. In the data collection procedure, an online 44-item web-based questionnaire was applied in order to collect data from 415 students. In the data analysis phase, both descriptive and non-parametric analyses were performed. The findings of the study revealed that there is no difference between the attitudes of Iranian and non-Iranian towards CALL. Finally, pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research are presented.

European countries and their regions are trying to develop quality foreign language policies to help citizens become communicatively competent. The Spanish region of Andalusia has implemented Bilingual Education since 2005, whereas in the United Kingdom the take-up rates of languages in schools are low despite the linguistic demands that Brexit will pose to citizens. Scotland, however, seems keen on promoting the inclusion of languages into curricula. Analysing language policies may help understand differences between both contexts and, ultimately, build synergies between the educational administrations of these countries. Considering that corpus linguistic analysis of language policies allows identifying political ideologies permeating language policy and planning, this article studies and compares the use of language in Scottish and Andalusian language teaching policies. Although differences are identified in terms of the focus of the instruction and the language approach followed, findings show the efforts of Andalusia and Scotland to foster plurilingualism.

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degrees (EMJMD) offer a unique opportunity to jointly design and deliver an integrated curriculum of excellence in an international context. This study analyses the case of a Master's Degree specialised in Education: PETaL “Play, Education, Toys and Languagesˮ. This is the first EMJMD obtained by the University of Cordoba (Spain) within the framework of the Erasmus+ Program (2014-2020), in coordination with the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon (Portugal) and Marmara University (Turkey). Through the design, validation and distribution of an online questionnaire, this research aims to examine teachers’ opinions on the place of integration in their teaching, as well as on the level of interdisciplinarity in the programme based on Harden’s model ($). This pioneering course represents a favourable context in which to evaluate the “jointnessˮ in the curriculum and other aspects of the teaching-learning process, little explored so far in this context. The results reveal that, foreseeably, the conditions for greater integration in the successive editions are in place. Thus, it is necessary to continue strengthening teaching coordination and the aspects leading to further curricular integration. The study also serves as a reflection on teaching practice and the possibilities for interdisciplinarity in postgraduate education.

Nowadays, learning and teaching processes cannot be understood without technology. Among all digital resources available for education, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) stand as great online tools that can facilitate the learning process of any type of content. In this sense, literature about MOOCs' implications in education has increased exponentially in recent years. This paper presents the results of a systematic literature review on MOOCs' origins and definition, their typologies and platforms, their strengths and limitations, the concept of specialization courses, and their didactic applications for Foreign Language Learning. The review followed a four-stage methodology for the analysis and synthesis of a total of 55 studies published between the years 2012 and 2019. Findings revealed that, although MOOCs have great potential for education, few studies have addressed neither the possibilities of these courses for Foreign Language Learning nor the potential of specialization courses. Main conclusions entail the need to face MOOCs' limitations to get the most out of them as well as more research on their potential for Foreign Language Learning and the possibilities of brand-new typologies such as nanoMOOCs.

Research on bilingual education has looked mainly at the benefits bilingual programs offer learners with regard to cognition, education, and language. Fewer studies have explored the effect of bilingualism on mobility, employability, and intercultural competence, and even fewer have centered on these three dimensions at once. Considering the wide range of skills required to be a 21st-century global citizen, it is crucial to achieve a more balanced portrait of bilingualism. This study, part of a large-scale research project, seeks to contribute to expanding the body of research that examines mobility, employability, and intercultural competence together. A total of 417 participants living in Colombia filled out an online fourteen-item questionnaire and a background questionnaire designed by the members of the research project EDU2017-84800-R. Spearman correlations were computed between the three dimensions and a strong interrelation was revealed among the three of them. Data were analysed in terms of the differences between former bilingual education learners and mainstream learners as well as across gender. Statistical analyses revealed a strong interrelation among the three dimensions and higher scores for former bilinguals in all three dimensions. No differences across gender were identified. The findings support the crucial role of bilingual education in fostering the development of these three aspects in students’ perception. The originality of the study lies in the fact that the study has former bilingual education learners as participants instead of students who were in receipt of bilingual education at the time of completing the questionnaire, which had usually been the case in previous studies.

Bilingual education (BE) is widely recognised as a complex phenomenon, which constitutes a priority for key educational institutions and organisations. However, further research is needed to uproot common beliefs such as that bilingual students can easily interact with two or more cultures. The literature affirms that BE students need specific school training to improve intercultural competence. The main aim of this study is to describe the design and validation of a questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions of intercultural practices at bilingual schools. The validity of content and comprehension was carried out through the Delphi method, for which three methodological phases were established. The reliability of the scale (internal consistency) was measured through the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Factorial analysis was used to check the validity of the construct. The psychometric parameters of the scale were obtained from a pilot sample of 40 students, and later from a sample of 213 students from bilingual secondary schools in several European countries (i.e., The Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, France, England, among others). As a major conclusion, we can state that this questionnaire can be used as a tool for two research goals: the identification of good intercultural school practices in BE, and the development of relevant guidelines for the incorporation of intercultural education into BE.

This study analyses the complexities of implementing trilingual education in the context of Kazakhstan. Trilingualism has been gaining both supporters and opponents among teachers, students and parents. The main objective of this paper is to identify the educational characteristics in the implementation process of trilingual policies in Kazakhstan by analysing the opinion of six Kazakh teachers from two different types of schools (NIS and general secondary schools) through online interviews. The qualitative analysis of the data follows a grounded theory scheme in order to establish the different categories, through which we carry out content analysis. Results show that trilingual education is necessary in Kazakhstan. Specific drawbacks are also identified (e.g. lack of qualified teaching staff or level of language competence of students). Our conclusions suggest that trilingual education is beneficial for the Kazakh system though the differences identified (NIS and general secondary) may jeopardise successful implementation.

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) benefits from undeniable steps forward such as the use of authentic materials, real communicative contexts and the ubiquity of learning. However, to discriminate the quality of digital resources for autonomous language learning from a critical perspective is not an easy task due to its diversity. This article offers the evaluation of a selected set of open-access and institutional websites for the learning of English as a Second Language (ESL) as the result of a research project for which expert-validated tools have been used. The statistical analyses carried out offer interesting data on the highest- and lowest-ranked ESL sites from both technical and academic viewpoints related to the quality of the resources offered. The conclusions address at a valuable contribution to the orientation of autonomous learning as an inherently human activity, but which nowadays still needs professional guidance and support.

Despite its numerous advantages, globalization, information society and the emergence of information and communication technologies (ICT) have caused quick changes in society, provoking the rapid obsolescence of knowledge and the appearance of new concepts. In this context, new professional demands for teachers are required to help students develop necessary competences for the 21st century. At this juncture, ICT, e-learning tools, and MOOCs have arisen as remarkable training resources for teacher lifelong learning with an undeniable potential; however, it seems relevant to study whether teachers agree in the usefulness of such tools. In this light, this article investigates and compares the perceptions of Spanish pre-service and in-service EFL teachers about ICT, e-learning and MOOCs, and the uses of these technologies. The results obtained allow the researchers to analyze whether the possibilities of these resources correspond to the real necessities of EFL teachers.

Language learning, as a means to promote intercultural awareness and communication as well as to help citizens prosper professionally, is one of today’s main goals of educational systems around the world. In Europe, several guidelines have been published, and significant efforts have been devoted to encouraging the development of the quality of foreign and bilingual language education to improve citizens’ communicative skills. Although there were attempts to foster foreign language proficiency in some parts of the United Kingdom between the 1990s and the early 2000s, the country has not traditionally considered languages among its educational priorities. Nonetheless, Brexit seems to have increased the need to learn languages in the country. In some other European countries, however, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), an additive bilingual approach, has been implemented since the early 2000. Considering that the nations in the United Kingdom and the regions in Spain have the freedom to organise educational affairs, an analysis of the provision of foreign and bilingual language education in the United Kingdom and Spain appears relevant. This paper presents the results of a systematic review of 2012-2020 literature in the field of foreign and bilingual language education in both contexts. The differences that exist within the United Kingdom concerning foreign language teaching are discussed, and information in relation to the provision of CLIL in some Spanish regions is also examined. The findings show that foreign language teaching is provided across the United Kingdom, whereas bilingual education is offered in the form of Welsh-, Irish-, and Gaelic-medium education mainly, although CLIL is also implemented in England.

The use of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) is crucial in industries, such as aerospace, automotive, and marine, due to their excellent strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance. However, machining CFRP is challenging due to its abrasive nature, which can cause premature tool wear. Some of the commonly used processes for machining these materials are dry milling and abrasive water jet machining (AWJM), which offer the best alternatives from an environmental point of view. This article presents an analysis of the defects and surface quality obtained in CFRP after machining by AWJM and milling. For this purpose, combinations of relevant parameters have been chosen for each process: cutting speed and tool wear in milling and traverse feed rate and hydraulic pressure in AWJM. The results obtained have been evaluated from two points of view: macroscopically, through the evaluation of delamination, and microscopically, through the study of the roughness in terms of Ra. Furthermore, a discussion on functional, environmental, economic, and social terms has been made between both processes. In summary, each machining process generates a specific type of delamination: Type II in milling and Type I in AWJM. In addition, the best Ra results are obtained for pressures of 1200 bar in AWJM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the classroom, writing as a learning strategy is essential for quality training of basic education students, which must be tailored to their needs. This article presents a quantitative and descriptive research in which 173 teachers and 4,618 fourth-year students of basic education from the districts of El Carmen, Jipijapa-Puerto López, Portoviejo, Manta-Montecristi- Jaramijó and Chone-Flavio Alfaro, in the province of Manabí, have participated. On the one hand, it investigates the perception that teachers attribute to the teaching of written production and, on the other, it asks students what kind of methodological implementation is followed when writing. The analysis of the data has made it possible to identify numerous practices that have been organized around two major variables: teacher profiles with cognitivist, constructivist, and behavioral approaches, and the dimensions for teaching writing, according to the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE for its acronym in Spanish): discursive, textual, and readability conventions. The results show that the average scores given by teachers are higher than those given by students. Variability in responses determined significant differences in the results of the study conducted. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the teacher of Basic General Education attributes a moderate value to the development of the written ability in the students, but he is not implementing methodological strategies according to the development of the written ability in the students of Basic General Education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymer additive manufacturing has advanced from prototyping to producing essential parts with improved precision and versatility. Despite challenges like surface finish and wear resistance, new materials and metallic reinforcements in polymers have expanded its applications, enabling stronger, more durable parts for demanding industries like aerospace and structural engineering. This research investigates the tribological behaviour of FFF surfaces by integrating copper and aluminium reinforcement particles into a PLA (polylactic acid) matrix. Pin-on-disc tests were conducted to evaluate friction coefficients and wear rates. Statistical analysis was performed to study the correlation of the main process variables. The results confirmed that reinforced materials offer interesting characteristics despite their complex use, with the roughness of the fabricated parts increasing by more than 300%. This leads to an increase in the coefficient of friction, which is related to the variation in the material's mechanical properties, as the hardness increases by more than 75% for materials reinforced with Al. Despite this, their performance is more stable, and the volume of material lost due to wear is reduced by half. These results highlight the potential of reinforced polymers to improve the performance and durability of components manufactured through additive processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between physiological responses to anxiety and gender variable in second language oral performance. This research project investigates the conceptualization of second language anxiety in the context of oral production, considering physiological responses to anxiety and differences derived from gender on foreign language speaking anxiety. There were 371 participants in the study, 185 female and 186 male participants. Among the participants there were 313 students at the University of Cordoba, Spain, studying ESP, 23 teachers at the University of Cordoba taking an ESP course and 8 administration and services staff. A questionnaire (CAEX) was administered to participants. Results of the quantitative data in this research show that female learners demonstrated higher levels of anxiety than male learners. The results of this study help teachers to select their teaching and testing strategies more effectively according to the gender of learners.

This study stems from a research and teaching innovation project entitled iPlay School of Music and Languages, in collaboration with the HUM-1006 Research Group, Trinity College Spain-Portugal, and the Territorial Delegation of Education, Sport, Equality and Social Policies of Cordoba, which provides for the teaching of theoretical and instrumental music classes in English. The aim of this study is to find out whether exists a relationship between music learning and second languages learning by means of a questionnaire distributed among 32 students aged between 7 and 9 years old on the participants’ taste for these two disciplines, their practice and study habits and their skills and abilities in both areas. The results confirm the existence of such a relationship and our conclusions indicate that further research is desirable to discover how the two processes can benefit from each other, with the aim of enhancing both music and second language learning.

Bilingual education has become widespread in Spain due to its potential for language learning. However, few studies examine bilingual education graduates’ perceptions of their linguistic success (in terms of intercultural competence, employability, and mobility) and whether participation in training courses abroad contributes to it. This paper analyses whether participation both in Spanish bilingual programs and training courses abroad affects bilingual education graduates’ perceptions of linguistic success. A web-based survey is used for data gathering through Facebook Audience Insights for sample selection. 19.2% of respondents claim having participated in bilingual programs, whereas 38.6% declare having taken part in training courses abroad. Findings reveal that participants in Spanish bilingual education and training courses abroad consider themselves more linguistically successful than their counterparts. This encourages further research on the potential of both Spanish bilingual programs and study abroad experiences.