Tertiary Didactics

Adult learners’ perceptions on inductive and deductive teaching approaches for English grammar were examined. The written performance of two student groups taught via an inductive and deductive approach, respectively, and created by random allocation was also contrasted. Specifically, the form, meaning and use of the past perfect were assessed on the day of explanation, and ten days later, using a reading text and practice and production exercises. Learners overwhelmingly preferred the deductive approach, but minimal differences between the inductive and deductive groups’ performance were found, probably related to the underpinning use of local cultural contextualization while language teaching both groups. The study shows a deductive approach with terse explanations, and aided by the systematic use of concrete, meaningful examples during the procedure, particularly when drawn from a familiar local cultural context, is both successful and relates to learners’ expectations. Teachers ...

Since its founding in 1997, the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Unibz) has looked beyond English medium instruction (EMI) as the preferred pathway to internationalisation, opting for a unique trilingual model of higher education with academic programmes delivered through modules taught in German, Italian and English. Additionally, the Faculty of Education offers subjects in a fourth language, Ladin, an ancient Romance language that enjoys a minority status in the Dolomite area. Through its plurilingual policy, Unibz seeks to put into practice a glocal vision: promoting interaction and intercultural exchange in the diverse languages and cultures of South Tyrol, while
simultaneously consolidating its role as a multilingual Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Europe.

The challenge of delivering multilingual curricula to heterogeneous classes through innovative and effective teaching methodologies that integrate content and language (ICL) puts pressure on continually updating Unibz’s language policy and practices to respond to the shifting needs of students, professors, and other stakeholders. Two critical points have emerged that reveal a gap between the multilingual mission of the university
and the implemenation of language policy: first, the need to support students through an embedded approach to multilingualism across the curriculum in order for
them to achieve the advanced-level competences in all three main languages required for graduation; second, the need to provide training to professors teaching in their L1
or L2 to classes with mixed linguistic competences, especially in terms of using language for specific and academic purposes (LSP/LAP).

This article analyses the effectiveness of the Unibz language-in-education policy (LEP) by examining some critical challenges of integrating content and language in multilingual teaching across academic disciplines. It suggests that constructive alignment can help bridge the policy-practice gap by merging pedagogical, didactic, and linguistic learning aims for multilingual education contexts. An example of this alignment process in the design of a Unibz training programme for professors, “Excellence in Multilingual Teaching in Higher Education”, serves to illustrate how EMI support, embedded in a broader multilingual strategy, can encourage cross-curricular critical language awareness.

Reflective practice is held to be a means of practitioner development; however the range of models of reflection do not seem to suit practitioners working in the Post‐Compulsory Education and Training (PCET) sector. Current models ignore the contextuality and specificality of PCET practice and do not consider its unique practitioner–student and intra‐practitioner dynamic. Accordingly, I have sought to address some of the issues regarding reflection in the PCET sector. This was done by reviewing what a model of reflection in PCET needs to address and through analysing the reflections of 12 further education practitioners. The results suggest that reflection in PCET is not balanced and that practitioners mainly focus on the cognitive and psychomotor aspects of practice. A model of reflection is proposed that seeks to offer a more proportionate and balanced system of reflection that embraces the cognitive, psychomotor, affective and conative aspects of practice.

Mit dem Referenzrahmen für Plurale Ansätze zu Sprachen und Kulturen im Fremdsprachenunterricht (REPA) liegt ein Instrument vor, das für die Unterrichtskonzeption und Un-terrichtsplanung wichtige Hilfestellungen bietet. Im Unter-schied zu anderen europäischen Ländern wurde der REPA in Deutschland bisher eher zögerlich rezipiert – dem versucht die vorliegende Veröffentlichung entgegenzuwirken, indem sie in zentrale Konzepte der " Pluralen Ansätze " für den Fremdsprachenunterricht einführt und die Instrumente und Datenbanken des REPA vorstellt und untersucht.

Die von Linyan Fan vorgelegte Monographie (zugleich Dissertation an der TU Darmstadt, 2015) Deutsch nach Englisch in China befasst sich mit der Tertiärsprachenforschung und ist der aktuellste Band (Bd. 8) in der von Britta Hufeisen (Darmstadt) und Beate Lindemann (Tromsø) herausgegebenen Reihe „Tertiärsprachen. Drei- und Mehrsprachigkeit/Tertiary Languages and Multilingualism“. Die Erforschung des Deutschen als zweite Fremdsprache nach Englisch (DaFnE) hat ihre Wurzeln insbesondere im europäischen Raum, wo grundlegende Forschungsarbeiten seit den 1990er entstanden und so eine adäquate Basis für die theoretische, empirische, methodische und praktische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Themenfeld ermöglichen (vgl. L3-Bibliographie der TU Darmstadt im Anhang). Fans Arbeit stellt insofern eine wichtige Ergänzung zur L3-Forschung dar, weil sie in ihrer qualitativen Studie auf den „subjektiven Vorstellungen Lehrender über das Deutsch-als-L3-Lehren“ basierend auf die Sprachenkonstellation Hochchinesisch (L1), Englisch (L2) und Deutsch (L3) in der Volksrepublik China fokussiert und damit zur Erweiterung der empirischen Basis und Diskussion beiträgt. Die vorgelegte Arbeit ist daher auch als Anstoß zu einem konstruktiven Austausch in einem chinesisch geprägten Lehr- und Lernumfeld zu verstehen.

In this modern era, the traditional approach to learning and teaching, which may engage students, does not lend itself to diversity. Since this approach is viewed as a barrier to significant learning experiences, teachers, educators, and other stakeholders have been calling for improved pedagogical practices in educational institutions. Since the dawn of technology, the continued use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has created the path for elearning. Elearning facilitates the learning-teaching process with an array of channels and technologies, and has the potential to revolutionise instructional practices in educational institutions in both developed and developing countries, including the University of Guyana. Considering the aforesaid, this study surrounds teaching faculty’s perception about implementing elearning practices at the University of Guyana. Through a mixed methods approach, teaching faculty from the University was sampled purposively, facilitated by the design and implementation of an online survey, with the objective of finding out their perception about the adoption of elearning practices at the institution. By means of empirical analysis, the results show that teaching faculty is generally prepared to upgrade their teaching methods and embrace elearning as a viable alternative. It is recommended that elearning practices be integrated into the pedagogical practices of the University’s teaching faculty. 
       
Keywords: elearning; elearning practices; technology; ICT/ICTs; teaching faculty; technology-based education; higher education.

This study presents and attempts to validate the Triplet Model of Content-based Second Language (L2) Instruction. The model has been developed over a few years by a team of English instructors as a set of instructional responses to a number of contextual variables. Its implementation is based on the Principles of Limited Flexibility , Critical Literacy, and Feedback-situated Experience. The first principle promotes adoption of educational philosophies and teaching styles which rest on the partly predictable dynamics; they oscillate across alternatives between the traditional and progressive forms. The second principle imposes particular forms of L2 experience which deliberately utilize tasks and materials that stimulate reflection on intercultural values, build intercultural competence, and provide personal growth. The third principle conditions the instructor to utilize individualized feedback sessions and techniques to facilitate the mastery of L2 using. The adoption of these three principles has been explored in the context of English for Academic Purposes courses which were offered in the Fall Semester 2019 at the International University of Sarajevo. Four instructors were interviewed about their practices. The interviews have confirmed the legitimacy of the principles.

Since the genesis of technology, some decades ago, the use of information and communication technologies in educational practices has been steadily increasing. In educational institutions, some form of elearning has been adopted. All over the world, in both developed and developing countries, many universities have embraced this alternative and exciting form of education delivery to enhance the pedagogical practices of their institutions, in order to cater for student learning diversity, and to bridge the geographical gap, making education accessible to all. Since elearning seems to be the catalyst to promote revolutionary instructional practices, the University of Guyana, still largely adopting a traditional approach to learning and teaching, finds itself in a peculiar situation. Taking into consideration the afore-mentioned, this study is based on the perception of the University of Guyana’s administrative body about the feasibility of elearning practices at that institution. Using a mixed methods approach, the University’s administrators were sampled purposively, by means of an online survey. The data were analysed empirically and the results show that while there is room for development, regarding educational practices, the University’s administration generally believes that elearning practices are feasible and should be embraced, once key issues for their adoption are addressed. Recommendation is made for university-wide incorporation of elearning practices.

Keywords: elearning; elearning practices; technology; ICT/ICTs; administrators; administration; technology-based education; higher education.

Digital literacy is viewed by many governments as an educational priority area, resulting in policies and curricula aimed at developing students' digital literacy skills. This can present many challenges, including lacking teacher professional development, uneven digital infrastructure across school districts or unequal access to digital media among students. In this article, I focus on a different challenge that stems from differing definitions of digital literacy among educational researchers, teachers, and educational policy makers and the tensions that can arise from these differences for teachers who are tasked with developing learners' digital literacy. Specifically, I discuss how I have merged a curricular mandate for a skills-heavy digital literacy policy with my theoretical conviction of literacy as social practice in my teaching of a tertiary course on digital literacy. To do so, I first critically examine Singapore's recent digital literacy curriculum reform with reference to a larger divide between conceptualizations of digital literacy as technical, decontextualized skills related to employability on the one hand and as social practice rooted in students' lived experiences on the other. Second, I discuss my efforts at combining these two perspectives in teaching digital media literacy, highlighting how we can foster digital 'skills' and critical engagement with digital media while providing space for playful and creative communicative practice.

Esta comunicación fue presentada el 4 de noviembre de 2015 en el II Congreso Nacional Historia Moderna y Enseñanza Secundaria: Perspectivas Didácticas y de Investigación, celebrado en la Universidad de Murcia con organización a cargo del grupo DICSO de dicha universidad y la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.
La guerra es una constante en los temarios de la asignatura de Historia en todo el período de Secundaria y un elemento recurrente en otras asignaturas de Ciencias Sociales de ESO y Bachillerato. Ello no es más que un síntoma de una realidad devastadora para las sociedades de todas las épocas y, especialmente, las de la Edad Moderna. Sirva como ejemplo el dato señalado por Geoffrey Parker en su obra El siglo maldito: entre 1618 y 1678, España estuvo en paz sólo 3 años. Por tanto, vale la pena utilizar esta omnipresencia de lo bélico como eje vertebrador de los contenidos. Pero no en el sentido tradicional basado en la transmisión de fechas y hechos por parte del profesor de manera unidireccional, sino como pretexto para, desde la guerra, hablar del conjunto de factores que componen el estudio de una época histórica concreta o de una realidad objeto de análisis: estructuras de gobierno y poder, sociedad, economía, cultura, personajes, arte e incluso legado y memoria.
El tratamiento de la guerra en la didáctica ha vivido, grosso modo, los mismos vaivenes que la historia militar de la Edad Moderna en el conjunto de la historia general: tradicionalmente estaba omnipresente y era utilizada como medio para inculcar en los jóvenes los valores considerados nacionales por las respectivas autoridades o gobiernos, luego fue condenada al ostracismo, y en las últimas décadas ha vivido un resurgimiento, dominando la investigación histórica actual junto a la historia política y cultural. No obstante, cabe plantearse si estas nuevas perspectivas han calado suficientemente en la didáctica de las Ciencias Sociales en España.
Esta comunicación analiza las tendencias actuales en didáctica de la guerra y asimismo realiza propuestas de aplicación práctica en docencia inspiradas en éstas para los temarios que atañen al período de los siglos XV al XIX en ESO y Bachillerato. La perspectiva de la investigación es situar al alumno en el centro del proceso de aprendizaje, reivindicando la importancia clave de la guerra para entender los procesos históricos y los contextos del presente, para lo que buscamos conocer sus propias impresiones sobre los conflictos pretéritos y actuales, evitando así la unidireccionalidad y relacionando el pasado histórico y el presente a través de recursos didácticos diversos, entre los que destacan los innovadores usos recientes de la cartografía. Pretendemos establecer un proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje significativo en el que el alumno construya su propio discurso con la ayuda del docente. En última instancia, se trataría de inculcar en el discente la consciencia de valores como la paz, haciendo hincapié en los conceptos de memoria y legado y analizando cómo vemos los conflictos históricos desde la perspectiva de nuestros días. No obstante, no estamos realizando un ejercicio de “educación para la paz”. Diferimos parcialmente de los planteamientos de esta corriente pedagógica, aunque reconocemos el carácter renovador que ha aportado a la relación de la guerra con el conjunto de los contenidos de los currículums. Es este un terreno en el que, además, puede desarrollarse plenamente la inteligencia emocional.
En síntesis, esta comunicación busca ayudar a reforzar un perfil docente que trasciende la mera transmisión de datos y adquiera el papel de guía para la adquisición de competencias por parte del alumnado, estimulando en éste último la consolidación de un espíritu crítico que propicie una gestión óptima de la información. Al mismo tiempo, esta comunicación busca poner en valor el estudio de la guerra como campo de conocimiento y debate.

Since its founding in 1997, the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Unibz) has looked beyond English medium instruction (EMI) as the preferred pathway to internationalisation, opting for a unique trilingual model of higher education with academic programmes delivered through modules taught in German, Italian and English. Additionally, the Faculty of Education offers subjects in a fourth language, Ladin, an ancient Romance language that enjoys a minority status in the Dolomite area. Through its plurilingual policy, Unibz seeks to put into practice a glocal vision: promoting interaction and intercultural exchange in the diverse languages and cultures of South Tyrol, while simultaneously consolidating its role as a multilingual Higher Education Institution