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Enseñar lenguas en el siglo veintiuno implica prestar atención a las demandas pedagógicas multimodales de un mundo digital global. Para alcanzar este objetivo, la enseñanza efectiva del inglés requiere una preparación de los instructores para guiar de manera consciente el desarrollo de la literacidad de los alumnos e integrar las distintas maneras de construir significado que van mucho más allá del mero uso de la lengua. Este artículo suscribe la noción de literacidad como un concepto multidimensional y propone un conjunto de herramientas multimodales como medio para que los maestros de inglés como lengua extranjera (ILE) trabajen con elementos literarios y visuales clave. Centrándonos en la lectura de The Snow Lion (Helmore and Jones 2017), analizamos la relación característica entre palabras e imágenes que define el álbum ilustrado e implementamos la pedagogía de las multiliteracidades, que consta de cuatro procesos de conocimiento, esto es, experimentar, conceptualizar, analizar y aplicar. El objetivo final es guiar a jóvenes estudiantes en la producción de significados y en el pensamiento crítico en el marco del aula de ILE a través del análisis e interpretación de los álbumes ilustrados. Palabras clave: multimodalidad; multiliteracidades; enseñanza de ILE; álbum ilustrado Twenty-first-century language education involves paying attention to the multimodal pedagogical demands of a global digital world. To this end, effective English language teaching (ELT) requires preparation on the part of instructors in terms of consciously guiding learners' literacy development and integrating multiple modes of creating meaning that are broader than language alone. This article supports the notion of literacy as a multidimensional concept and proposes a multimodal toolkit as a means for teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) to work with key literary and visual elements. Focusing on the reading of The Snow Lion (Helmore and Jones 2017), we discuss the meaningful interaction between words and images that defines picturebooks and implement the multiliteracies pedagogy approach, which is comprised of four knowledge processes, i.e., experiencing, conceptualizing, analyzing and applying. The final objective is to guide young students to produce meaning and think critically in the EFL classroom through the analysis and interpretation of picturebooks. Keywords: multimodality; multiliteracies; EFL teaching; picturebooks, Multimodal Approach to Foster the Multiliteracies Pedagogy in the Teaching of EFL through Picturebooks: The Snow Lion Our challenge is to teach our students to read not only the word [...]

Guided by activity theory, this study examines the major contradictions in an English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher professional learning community (PLC) established in China through a university-district-school partnership. Multiple sources of data were collected, including interviews, observations, and documents. Data analyses revealed four levels of contradictions: the primary contradiction between the university researcher and school teachers, the secondary contradiction between imparting theory and teacher learning, the tertiary contradiction between existing practice and new design, and the quaternary contradiction between practical engagement and academic research. The community members took a series of strategic actions, including questioning and observation, analysis and proposal, examination and implementation, and reflection and resolution. The study may offer insights about nurturing language teacher PLCs and overcoming contradictions in similar joint activities. Keywords contradictions, professional development, English teacher education, professional learning communities, activity theory, Introduction Over the past three decades, the conceptualizations of teacher education have shifted from a positivistic paradigm to an interpretive and situated paradigm, in line with the epistemological changes in [...]

Purpose: The general aim of this study is to enhance our understanding of the patterns of language growth in Spanish and English during the school years. In this study, we used a longitudinal retrospective approach to explore the growth of the percentage of grammatical utterances (PGU) in both Spanish and English in 2 groups of English learners (ELs): ELs attending English-only instruction and ELs attending Spanish-English bilingual instruction. Method: The participants included 1,080 ELs. ELs produced at least 3 story retells in both Spanish and English between kindergarten and 2nd grade. All stories were transcribed and coded for errors, and PGU was calculated for each story. Results: At the onset of the study, children showed higher PGU in Spanish and lower PGU in English. Growth curve analysis indicated that PGU in English improved over time, whereas PGU in Spanish declined in both instructional groups. However, those children who were in bilingual programs showed a slower rate of decline in Spanish PGU and a slower rate of improvement in English PGU. By the age of 9 years, children in English-only programs had approximately a Spanish PGU of 65% in Spanish, whereas children in bilingual instruction had an average Spanish PGU of 80%. The improvement in English PGU was steady with a small difference in the rate of growth benefiting children in English-only programs. Conclusion: The results of this study document a shift in language proficiency from Spanish to English during the school years. This study offers evidence of a temporary period of relatively low grammaticality in both languages that seems to be the result of a shift in proficiency from Spanish to English., Hispanics are currently the fastest growing population in the United States, and the projections indicate that this ethnic group will continue to grow in the years to come (U.S. Census [...]

Bilingual education programs, which consist of doing a substantial part of the instruction in a language different from the native language of the students, exist in several countries like the United States, India, and Spain. While the economic benefits of knowing a second language are well established, the potential effects over the learning of other subjects have received much less attention. We evaluate a program that introduced bilingual education (in English and Spanish) in primary education in a group of public schools of the Madrid region in 2004. Under this program, students not only study English as a foreign language but also some other subjects (at least Science, History, and Geography) are taught in English. In order to evaluate the program, a standardized test for all sixth grade students in Madrid on the skills considered 'indispensable' at that age is our measure of the outcome of primary education. Our results indicate that there is a clearly negative effect on the exam results for the subject taught in English, for children whose parents have less than upper secondary education. This negative effect is a composite of two phenomena: the effect of the program on the student's knowledge of the subject and a reflection of the student ability to do the test in their native language when English is the medium of instruction. Although we are not able to separate quantitatively these two effects, the composite effect has a relevant interest, because the results for exams taken in Spanish are the measures that determine academic progression in the Spanish system. In contrast with the previous result, there is no significant effect for anyone on mathematical and reading skills, which were taught in Spanish. (JEL H40, 121, 128), I. INTRODUCTION Knowledge of a second language is widely believed to be essential for workers to succeed in an increasingly interconnected business world, and researchers tend to agree. Ginsburgh and [...]

Female educational attainment in Iran has been increasing since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran. This study investigated whether this female superiority is reflected or supported in Iranian textbooks. The study investigated how gender roles are represented in Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) and AFL (Arabic as a Foreign Language) textbooks. 'Criteria for Analysis of the Equality of Gender Representation' by Rifkin, was used for content analysis. These criteria are grouped into two main categories of 'pictorial' and 'verbal'. The results showed that with no exception and in all criteria, males were represented significantly more than females. This indicates that males were the central point of most sentences, either as the subject of actions, or as the main figure in sentences and pictures. Significant differences were observed between AFL and EFL textbooks. Key Words: Gender, Textbooks, Stereotypes, Equality, EFL, Content Analysis, Introduction Official statistics from several resources in Iran indicate that female enrollment and achievement in Iranian universities has recently exceeded that of male students (Rezaei, 2012). Is this phenomenon (females' [...]