Ensayo acerca de fundamentos en enseñanza de idiomas

Adequacy of the Foreign Language Licenciatura Program at Universidad del Atlántico to take an international exam

Foreign Languages are an important part of the actual globalized world; that means that foreign languages teaching has become a practical career option with a wise variety in the professional field. However, results of the national exam of superior education, SABER PRO, show that university language programs have to improve most of the aspects that they evaluate. In that sense, if the national exam does not have good results, the most probable thing is that the international ones will not have good results either. But it is programs’ responsibility? A comparison between the Foreign Language Licenciatura program of the Universidad del Atlántico and the ETS English to Speakers of Other languages, demonstrate that the program has almost all of the tools to have a good score in national and international exams. That is why it is possible to say that programs provides the tools, but are the students who should make the most of their career and develop the competences to become good professionals.

According to the mentioned before we can number the categories that ESOL test evaluate and at the same time mention the subjects that the Foreign Language Licenciatura program have, to develop the competences related to each test aspect. The test categories are: I. Foundations of Linguistics and Language Learning, II. Planning, Implementing and Managing Instruction, III. Assessment and IV. Cultural and Professional Aspects of the Job. The first category has two sections, section 1 has part A and B and they are about oral grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation; the Foreign Language program has an optional subject of English phonetic that helps to develop these competences; additionally, subjects such as all the levels of Taller de Lengua y Cultura Inglesa, Fundamentos de la Enseñanza y Aprendizaje de las Lenguas Extranjeras and Taller de Lengua Castellana explain the items related to the topics of section 2 that are Linguistic theory, Language and culture, Second language learning and Literacy.

The topics of the second category are Instructional theory, Teaching techniques, Materials, Managing the classroom and students and the subjects of the Licenciatura Programs that involve them are Fundamentos de la Enseñanza y Aprendizaje de las Lenguas Extranjeras, lingüística aplicada, Diseño de materiales, Investigación y práctica, Educación y Contexto, Historia y Epistemología de la Pedagogía, Modelos Pedagógicos y Currículo and Procesos Curriculares y Evaluativos. About the Assessment category, all the topics are developed in the courses of Seminario Preparatorio de Exámenes Inglés.

Finally the topics of the Cultural and professional aspects of the job category are taken into account in Legislación y Gestión Educativa, Fundamentos de la Enseñanza y Aprendizaje de las Lenguas Extranjeras, and the different levels of the Taller de Lengua y Cultura Inglesa.

To sum up, the Licenciatura program has most of the necessary subjects to have a good score in the national and international exams, however there are some optional subjects that should be mandatory such as English phonetics and material design because the content is an aid to develop the language learning and teaching competences. In the other hand, the student attitude plays an important role in the success of exams, therefore, it depends of them to take advantage of the elements and aids that the program offer to have a good academic and professional performance.

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