Cómo citar este artículo
(APA, 6ta ed.): Camargo Gil, M., & Bellanger, V. (2017).
Editorial. Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras, 0(11). https://doi.org/10.15446/male.n11.73610
This issue of Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras presents
eight academic and scientific articles on unpublished research in the teaching
of second and foreign languages. Some of
this work takes into account factors that impact motivation in the
teaching/learning of a language (as a second language or a foreign language)
while other work analyzes how socio-linguistic aspects determine a communitys
cultural integration or alienation or the degree of language comprehension in
endolingual contexts. These contributions
can be considered multilingual and multicultural as they are written in
English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
The first article looks at research done in Portugal
on teacher training. The work aims to understand why elementary and secondary
school teachers of French as a foreign language underemphasize the development
of writing skills. To do so, the author
carried out mixed research by collecting data through statistically analyzed
questionnaires (in particular, non-parametric analysis) and by interviews to
which the content analysis technique was applied. A comprehensive analysis of
this data indicates that the main factors mentioned by the subjects referred to
extrinsic contexts, not dependent on the action of the teachers involved.
The second article presents research done with
students from public universities in Colombia. The research is qualitative and
employs action research methodology to determine how the use of an educational
virtual platform and writing circles favors the development writing
competencies in English as a second language in pre-intermediate level
students. An analysis of the data showed
that the implementation of these resources increased students interest,
confidence, enthusiasm, mastery and comprehension of English. Through these, the
students had more time to think, rethink, review, edit and incorporate feedback
on their writing production.
The third article is a qualitative case study done on
a public higher education institution in the United States. It looks at an
innovative experience carried out with undergraduate students of Spanish as a
foreign language. The purpose of the study was to determine to what degree
students would be motivated to produce written texts using the interactive
diary and the impact on the quality and quantity of their written production.
For this, the author used the interactive diary as a pedagogic strategy. The results demonstrated that the students
improved the organization of their thinking and of their ideas by writing in
their diaries. Additionally, they developed a positive attitude towards writing
in Spanish and used the interactive diary to generate topics and produce more
extensive compositions in Spanish.
The next article is an action research report carried
out in Mexico on task based learning.
The purpose was to examine the impact of video self-recordings of task
based activities for the improvement of English speaking skills of a group of
beginner students at a private upper education institution. The date compiled
from the analysis of the videos, the structured interviews and the reflections
of students led to the conclusion that students improved their English
vocabulary level, their self-confidence, motivation and oral production. Additionally, this provided tools to the
teacher to give significant feedback to the students.
The fifth article looks at a private university in
Argentina. It aims to first present a definition of indirectness from a
strategic-functional and multimodal perspective and then, based on this
conceptualization, sustain the relevance of its didactic application in the
Spanish as a second and foreign language class. The research was carried out
students with B2/C1 level in accordance with the European common reference. For
this, the author analyzed from the artifact perspective a corpus of
conversations extracted from six Argentine films of the last fifteen years. The
results showed the signification process is indirect according to the degree of
interactionality analyzed (0,1 and 2) because they are negotiated by specific
conditions of realization.
The sixth article is also a descriptive
research report analyzing a phoneme as determinant of cultural interaction or
alienation. The work looks at the
production of the phoneme /r/ of Anglo- English and bilingual Punjabi-English
teenagers in West Yorkshire. The data
was collected in urban secondary schools in Bradford and Leeds. The results of
the study show that Punjabi speakers' preference for Punjabi rhotics or British
rhotics depends on whether they identify themselves as culturally integrated
"Asian British" or as alienated Asians. Additionally, the study looks at how the
communities that speak English as a second language develop pronunciation.
The next to last article is a descriptive-interpretive
case report on an undergraduate English program in a public university in
Colombia. It presents the impact of the context for learning English as a
second language (ESL) based on content and critical pedagogy in relation to the
cultural capital of students in the undergraduate ESL course which last two
semesters. The analysis and
interpretation of the data collected from interviews with the participants,
from their writings and from the observations of the teacher show that their
cultural capital increased with the teaching in ESL of the history of the
western world and of the artistic expressions related with this topic, which
positively impacted their socio-political awareness.
The last article is a case report from Japan which
applied questionnaires to first and second year students of Italian at the
University of Kyoto Sangyo to determine their perceptions on aspects that
motivated them to study Italian. The studys results showed that both the
institutional and socio-cultural environment of the students as well as the
active learning of the language influenced their motivation to learn
Italian. Additionally, the study found
that the connection of these three factors improved the students retention of
knowledge.
Undoubtedly, the contents of these articles from Asia,
Latin America, Europe and North America will contribute to a permanent
discussion about the research and reflection that takes place in the field of
teaching and learning foreign languages.
Martha I. Camargo Gil
Guest Editor
Véronique Bellanger
Editor