Search

Lecturers' abilities to use semiotic resources to construct meaning and to create engagement play an important role in university classrooms where English is the medium of instruction (EMI). The main focus of this study is on how EMI lecturers enrolled in a professional development program use semiotic and interpersonal resources to engage students through pair work activities. Two analyses were conducted on a dataset of twelve micro-teaching sessions extracted from an EMI teacher training corpus. The first analysis identified the moves and pedagogical functions lecturers instantiated while carrying out engagement episodes (EEs). The findings of this analysis served to design the “Pair work engagement episodes framework”, which includes five basic moves: 1) contextualizing, 2) setting up, 3) monitoring, 4) eliciting, and 5) summarizing. The second analysis illustrated how the pedagogical functions found in each move of four EEs were constructed multimodally through verbal and non-verbal communicative modes (i.e., spoken, written, non-verbal materials, space, and posture). The pair work EEs framework and the multimodal analysis lend support to strategies that may be implemented in EMI professional development programs to enhance lecturers’ multimodal interactional competence.

espanolBuena parte de los estudios que abordan la metafora conceptual en el ambito docente describen propuestas pedagogicas centradas en la ensenanza de vocabulario (por ejemplo, Boers, 2000, 2013; Littlemore, 2009; Cortes de los Rios and Sanchez, 2017). Estas propuestas aportan contribuciones significativas al campo de la ensenanza y aprendizaje del ingles. A pesar de interes que suscitan en el campo, no se ha prestado suficiente atencion a los efectos de la instruccion de vocabulario basada en metaforas conceptuales (Boers, 2013). Este estudio trata de contribuir a esta linea de investigacion explorando los efectos de una propuesta pedagogica centrada en la ensenanza de vocabulario metaforico relativo a dos emociones basicas (alegria y tristeza). El estudio se enmarca en el contexto de la educacion superior en Espana, concretamente en una asignatura de ingles para fines especificos impartida en un grado universitario de psicologia. Para evaluar el conocimiento previo de los participantes y su progreso tras la instruccion recibida se adopto un diseno pre-experimental basado en medidas pre y post-test. Para analizar el rendimiento de los estudiantes se utilizo una prueba de T y se calculo la magnitud del efecto con la d de Cohen. Los resultados muestran efectos significativos del enfoque pedagogico empleado y una gran magnitud del efecto, indicando de este modo eficacia de la instruccion. Los resultados de este estudio desvelan el potencial de esta area, asi como la necesidad de llevar a cabo futuras investigaciones con disenos experimentales. EnglishThe bulk of studies dealing with conceptual metaphors in the language classroom describe conceptual metaphor-based pedagogical proposals to teach vocabulary (e.g., Boers, 2000, 2013; Littlemore, 2009; Cortes de los Rios and Sanchez, 2017). All these are substantial contributions to the field of English language teaching and learning. Despite the growing interest in the field, the effects of conceptual metaphor-based vocabulary instruction on learners still require further attention (Boers, 2013). This paper is an attempt to advance this line of research by exploring the effects of instruction of a pedagogical proposal to teach metaphorical vocabulary belonging to two basic emotions (happiness and sadness). The study is set in a Spanish higher education context, particularly in an English for Specific Purposes subject offered in the Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. A pre-experimental design consisting of pre-test and post-test measures was adopted to gauge participants’ previous knowledge and progress after instruction. In order to analyse participants’ performance, a paired-sample T-test was used, and effect size was calculated by applying Cohen’s d. Results show statistically significant effects of the pedagogical approach as well as a large size effect, which reveals the efficacy of the instruction. This exploratory study suggests that this area deserves further investigation and its findings set the ground for future research involving experimental designs.

English-medium instruction (EMI) is a relatively new phenomenon that has come to the fore in most higher education institutions (Dafouz and Smit 2019). It is spreading in an unprecedented manner and increasingly gaining ground globally. At the micro-level, lecturers are key stakeholders since they are the driving force in implementing EMI in the classroom. EMI lecturing involves more than delivering content through English; it is a complex process that requires pedagogical and methodological attention (Cots 2013; Fortanet-Gómez 2013; Morell 2018). Thus, to lecture successfully in EMI contexts, it is important to provide lecturers with specific training. Against this backdrop, the present study addresses EMI lecturers’ training needs, a relatively unexplored aspect (Fenton-Smith et al. 2017; Macaro 2018; Beaumont 2020). This study reports on the adequacy of a survey to explore lecturers’ EMI training needs and on the preliminary results derived from its administration to a group of EMI lecturers at a Spanish university. Findings revealed the suitability of the survey items to identify EMI lecturers’ training needs. Specifically, the findings indicated that, in general, EMI training courses should deal mainly with communication and language use, and pedagogy. This research has been supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [grant number PGC2018-094823-B-I00].

Book review: Sánchez-Pérez, María del Mar, ed. 2020. Teacher Training for English-Medium Instruction in Higher Education. IGI Global. 447 pp. ISBN: 9781799823186.

Role-play tasks have been widely used in pragmatic research to explore spoken interaction. This instrument consists of situational scenarios purposefully designed to make participants elicit specific pragmatic data in controlled situations (Kasper & Youn 2017, Félix-Brasdefer 2018). Notwithstanding the widespread use of role-plays, some drawbacks have been identified concerning design (Hudson et al. 1995, Trosborg 1995, Youn 2015) and real-life consequences (Al-Gahtani & Roever 2012). Against this backdrop, this study presents a learner-centred approach to design situational scenarios based on participants’ examples of complaint situations. Specifically, an exemplar generation task and a likelihood questionnaire (Jianda 2006a, 2006b) were used to elaborate the role-play task. The study reports on the implementation of the learner-centred approach and its effectiveness to construct a role-play task. Furthermore, using retrospective verbal reports, this study discusses whether participants’ engagement in the design of the role-play task encouraged them to act out the situations, as they would do it in real-life contexts. The study evidences the usefulness of adopting a learner-centred approach to design the role-play task. In terms of performance, it seems that, in general, the participants would exhibit similar pragmatic behaviour in a real context. However, they were aware of the lack of real consequences role-play tasks carry. Las tareas de role-play se han utilizado ampliamente en la investigación pragmática para explorar la interacción hablada. Este instrumento se compone de escenarios situacionales diseñados a propósito para que los participantes produzcan datos pragmáticos específicos en situaciones controladas (Kasper y Youn 2017, Félix-Brasdefer 2018). A pesar de su uso generalizado, se han identificado algunos inconvenientes con respecto al diseño (Hudson et al. 1995, Trosborg 1995, Youn 2015) y a las implicaciones en la vida real (Al-Gahtani y Roever 2012). Frente a esto, este estudio presenta un enfoque centrado en el alumno para diseñar escenarios situacionales basados en ejemplos de situaciones de queja generadas por los participantes. Concretamente, se utilizó una tarea de generación de ejemplos y un cuestionario de probabilidad (Jianda 2006a, 2006b) para elaborar la tarea. El estudio informa sobre la implementación del enfoque centrado en el alumno y su efectividad para construir una tarea de role-play. Además, utilizando informes verbales retrospectivos, este estudio analiza si la colaboración de los participantes en el diseño de una tarea de role-play centrada en el alumno facilitó que estos representaran las situaciones como lo harían en la vida real. El estudio demuestra el potencial que supone adoptar un enfoque centrado en el alumno para diseñar la tarea. En términos de producción, parece que, en general los participantes mostrarían un comportamiento pragmático similar en un contexto auténtico. Sin embargo, eran conscientes de la falta de consecuencias reales que conllevan las situaciones de role-play.

From the Editors TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY: INTEGRATING NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN THE LANGUAGE SKILLS Over the last decades, we have witnessed a rapid development of technology in the arena of education in general, and more particularly in the area of second/foreign language (SL/FL) teaching, which is the major concern of the present volume. Although it might be logical to state that technology has influenced education and SL/FL teaching practices, perhaps we are just at the very beginning of the integration of new technologies in the context of language education. The interest in technology and its implementation in the SL/FL classroom is not new. Indeed, several researchers, and especially in recent years, have drawn their attention to the potential of technology in the language teaching and learning context (e.g. Beltrán-Palanques 2013, 2014, Chapelle 2013, Taguchi and Sykes 2013, González-Lloret and Ortega 2014, Carrió-Pastor 2016, Martín-Monje et al. 2016). A range of technologies are available for SL/FL teaching, the use of which will be somehow determined by language teachers’ readiness, interest and knowledge. However, it is also true that, on some occasions, access to technology is somehow constrained by external factors that impede teachers’ use of technology in the FL/SL classroom.

Technology-Enhanced Language Learning for Specialized Domains provides an exploration of the latest developments in technology-enhanced learning and the processing of languages for specific purposes. It combines theoretical and applied research from an interdisciplinary angle, covering general issues related to learning languages with computers, assessment, mobile-assisted language learning, the new language massive open online courses, corpus-based research and computer-assisted aspects of translation. The chapters in this collection include contributions from a number of international experts in the field with a wide range of experience in the use of technologies to enhance the language learning process. The essays have been brought together precisely in recognition of the demand for this kind of specialised tuition, offering state-of-the-art technological and methodological innovation and practical applications. The topics covered revolve around the practical consequences of the current possibilites of mobility for both learners and teachers, as well as the applicability of updated technological advances to language learning and teaching, particularly in specialized domains. This is achieved through the description and discussion of practical examples of those applications in a variety of educational contexts. At the beginning of each thematic section, readers will find an introductory chapter which contextualises the topic and links the different examples discussed. Drawing together rich primary research and empirical studies related to specialized tuition and the processing of languages, Technology-Enhanced Language Learning for Specialized Domains will be an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of education, computer assisted language learning, languages and linguistics, and language teaching.

The growing global phenomenon of English-medium instruction (EMI) has led to the need for teacher training in higher education. Engagement and multimodality should lie at the heart of this EMI training. For the purpose of this study, we analyse the multimodal and interactive discourse in episodes of classroom engagement found within 8 mini-lessons given by participants of the University of Alicante EMI workshops. These video-recorded mini-lessons, extracted from the “AcqUA EMI microteaching corpus”, are used first to examine the verbal discourse, and then the multimodal discourse of the episodes of engagement. Findings from the verbal analysis reveal that the EMI trained lecturers make use of elicitations, questions and negotiation of meaning to engage their audiences. On the other hand, the multimodal analysis provides evidence of the varied use of semiotic resources (e.g. gaze, gesture, and written language). This orchestration of communicative modes constitutes multimodal ensembles that serve to foster engagement in the classroom. Consequently, these outcomes contribute to understanding how interaction is shaped in EMI discourse, and how this can be beneficial for both EMI teacher training courses and research.

With the Covid-19 outbreak, many universities worldwide have been forced to undertake some changes to continue with the academic commitment, giving rise to a range of adaptations that pivoted around online teaching delivery and the use of technology and audiovisual materials. Against this background, this study discusses an adaptive response from face-to-face to live online lectures for ESP and EMI classrooms. These two settings are deliberately chosen as a way to best prepare ESP learners for EMI courses. For this purpose, the spoken genre of PechaKucha has been selected, which is characterized as a multimodal (e.g., language, visuals, images) and engaging presentation type. To deal with this genre and promote learners’ multimodal communicative competence and multimodal literacy, we drawn on a multimodal-centered genre-based pedagogy. This proposal explains the pedagogical adaptation from face-to-face to online lectures and discusses the challenges confronted when moving from one setting to the other. We also argue for a team-teaching approach. In addition, this study points to the need to train teachers to develop their multimodal interactional competence to equip them to cope with live online delivery.