Lenguas Modernas

English teachers are usually asked which one is better whether British or American English. There seems to be a perceived idea that only those two varieties are representative of the English language given that they are traditionally the ones taught in schools and university programmes in Latin America. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to know and understand the attitudes and perceptions a group of 12 EFL university teachers from Chile have towards British and American dialects as models for teaching pronunciation. It also focuses on the perception and beliefs they have about including other less popular English dialects in their teaching practice, and the instructional approach used when teaching pronunciation in a remote classroom as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that even though world Englishes are considered an important element to bear in mind, there is still a strong tendency to remain in the lane of British vs American English. The study also reveals that relying on technology as a forced methodology during the pandemic has had a positive impact as it has helped enhancing students’ autonomy and metacognition.

El libro de Moure, que se divide en tres partes, revisa las distintas contribuciones que mujeres invisibilizadas han hecho en el campo de la Lingüística. Además, propone que esta ciencia tenga un enfoque con perspectiva de género para que la mirada masculina (también eurocéntrica), que ha predominado hasta ahora, no sea la única manera de realizar los estudios.

Assessment is an essential tool to measure students’ progress. It is paramount for teachers to understand their classroom assessment practices to make informed educational decisions. This study seeks to identify in-service and pre-service teachers’ understanding of knowledge and affective dispositions towards language assessment through two instruments: theEnglish Language Assessment Literacy Inventory (ELALI) and the Affective Disposition Scale (ADS). 78 in-service teachers and 132 pre-service teachers participated in the study. The findings revealed differences between in-service and pre-service teachers’ responses to the ELALI, yet overall both groups demonstrated deficiencies. The results of the ADS showed that both groups had a similar perception of language assessment. The analysis of the data obtained helped to identify that, although in-service and pre-service teachers have a weak understanding of English language assessments, they regard assessment positively and focus on students’ learning process rather than the grading of a final product.

The present study analyses the vocabulary learning strategies used by a group of undergraduates studying EFL as part of their university Primary and Pre-Primary teacher training degree, and those strategies contained in the two EFL coursebooks used by those students. Coursebooks were analyzed according to seven types of vocabulary learning strategies: metacognition, inference, dictionary use, note taking, practicing, codifying and activation. Likewise, participants were asked to rank these seven strategies from the most used to the least used in their L2 vocabulary learning process. The results reveal that only four of the seven strategies, namely, codifying, practicing, activation, and inference are promoted by the coursebooks. They show a very similar line opting particularly for the development of practice and codifying. This contrasts with the EFL learners, who tend to adopt inference in the first place, followed by dictionary use and note taking, the last two being absent in the coursebooks. Therefore, in the light of these results, we can suggest that the way students monitor their vocabulary learning significantly differs from the strategies promoted by the teaching materials they use.

Este escrito presenta una investigación sobre la relación entre el género y los niveles motivacionales en el aprendizaje de italiano como lengua extranjera en estudiantes ecuatorianos. La investigación se desarrolló en la Unidad Educativa “Giuseppe Garibaldi”, en el cantón Guayaquil, provincia de Guayas, República del Ecuador. La muestra estuvo conformada por 120 estudiantes del nivel de Educación General Básica. Tanto del Sub-nivel 3 de Básica Media, que corresponde a 5º, 6º, y 7º grados con edades comprendidas entre los 9 y 12 años, así como estudiantes cursantes del Sub-nivel 4 de Básica Superior que corresponde a 8º, 9º y 10º grados con edades entre los 12 y 15 años. El instrumento aplicado es una versión del Test de Actitud/Motivación (AMTB Attitude/Motivation Test Battery), diseñado por Gardner (1972) para evaluar el aprendizaje de inglés como una lengua extranjera. Esta versión presenta cada ítem con una serie Likert de cinco puntos, variando desde totalmente de acuerdo (TA) hasta totalmente en desacuerdo (TD), a fin de identificar el nivel de motivación por sub-nivel y género, en función de una escala para medir los niveles de motivación en los estudiantes.