Presentation

The main aim of this subject is to teach students the theoretical background of the different bilingual programs and its historical evolution up to the XXI century so they become fully aware of the tradition upholding the bilingual educational systems implemented in the national territory, Spain. In order to achieve these premises, one of the main focuses of the subject will be the maturation and transformation of the distinct methodologies and approaches to second and foreign language teaching.

The theoretical background encompasses the psychological and cognitive foundations together with the social basics that have contributed to the progress of bilingualism, moreover special emphasis will be made on the different linguistic policies that take place along the various autonomous regions that make up the country. The legislation concerning foreign language teaching and its role on the development of the curriculum will be analyzed as well.

As a consequence of all that, at the end of the course students will be able to distinguish the divergent teaching methods that originated the contemporary bilingual situation, as well as the bases of the European and national linguistic policies, their institutions, law and objectives. They will also be able to understand the differences that may emerge in teaching practice in regard to theory.

Competences

Competencias generales

• Conocer los problemas concretos de la enseñanza en lengua extranjera, tanto lingüísticos como culturales, en un entorno de enseñanza bilingüe.
• Desarrollar habilidades para fomentar un clima que facilite el aprendizaje e interacción de los alumnos.
• Conocer la legislación y normativa referente a la ordenación y organización de los centros bilingües..
• Ser usuarios competentes de la L2 en todas las destrezas necesarias para la enseñanza.

Competencias específicas

• Incorporar nuevas estrategias docentes y nuevas tecnologías de la información a la enseñanza bilingüe para el diseño de nuevos entornos de aprendizaje dentro del aula.
• Desarrollar y aplicar metodologías didácticas adaptadas a la diversidad del alumnado en un entorno bilingüe.
• Ser capaz de estimular la aplicación de distintas técnicas y procedimientos para el desarrollo de las capacidades del alumnado.
• Conocer y saber aplicar las ventajas del enfoque comunicativo y el aprendizaje por tareas para la interacción lingüística dos lenguas.
• Integrar la formación en comunicación audiovisual y multimedia en el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje.

Competencias transversales

• Analizar de forma reflexiva y crítica las cuestiones más relevantes de la sociedad actual para una toma de decisiones coherente.
• Identificar las nuevas tecnologías como herramientas didácticas para el intercambio comunicacional en el desarrollo de procesos de indagación y de aprendizaje grupal.
• Aplicar los conocimientos y capacidades aportados por los estudios a casos reales y en un entorno de grupos de trabajo en empresas u organizaciones.
• Adquirir la capacidad de trabajo independiente, impulsando la organización y favoreciendo el aprendizaje autónomo.

Program

Unit 1. Introduction to Bilingualism
Definitions and classifications of bilingualism
Second language learning and measurement
Common European Framework of Reference
Bibliographical references

Unit 2. Basics of Bilingualism Education
Introduction to bilingual education
Main dichotomies in bilingual education
Schmidt’s “Noticing Hypothesis”
Bibliographical references

Unit 3. The bilingual speaker
Bilingual competence
Bilingual speech
Similarities and differences between L1 and L2 learning

Unit 4. Psychological foundations of bilingualism
The role of brain
Nativist and connectionist theories
Chomsky’s Universal Grammar and L.A.D
C.P.H and the role of age in language learning
The threshold theory

Unit 5. Sociocultural aspects of bilingualism
Language as a social semiotic system
The role of context in SFL
Systemic Functional Linguistics and education

Unit 6. Methods and approaches to bilingual teaching: twentieth century
History of language teaching
Oral approach
Audiolingual method

Unit 7. Methods and approaches to bilingual teaching: alternative approaches
Total Physical Response
Silent way
Suggestopedia

Unit 8. Methods and approaches to bilingual teaching: current communicative methods
Content-based instruction
Task-based language teaching
CLIL

Unit 9. Bilingualism in practice: the case of North America
Multilingual societies
Canada and the United States

Unit 10. Bilingualism in practice: the case of Europe
Eurydice reports
Case studies

Unit 11. Bilingualism in Spain
Multilingual societies
Canada and the United States
Current perspectives on bilingualism in Spain

Unit 12. Bilingual legislation in Spain and the bilingual department
Bilingual Spanish legislation
The bilingual department

Methodology

The different tasks and activities programmed during the semester have been developed with the goal of adapting the learning process to the different capabilities, necessities and interests of the students.

The activities included in the subject are:

• Assignments.In your weekly program you will see the different kind of tasks designed for the course such as practice cases, research, critical thinking and, also, you will find information about how to complete them and when to send them to your teacher.
• Participation in events. During the course you will be participating in different events. Some of those events are attendance to online classes, forums, self-evaluation tests.

In the weekly program you can find the specific tasks you need to complete in this subject.

These activities are combined with the following aspects:

• Personal Study
• Tutoring
• Mandatory on-site final exam

Bibliography

Basic bibliography

The necessary texts for the study of this subject had been elaborated by UNIR and are available in a digital format for consultation, download and print in the virtual classroom.

Unit 1

• Hoffman. C. (1997). Individual Bilingualism. In Author, An Introduction to Bilingualism. London: Longman.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license.

• Council of Europe. (2001).Common European Framework of Reference: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (pp. 1-3). Strasbourg: Language Policy Division. Retrieved from: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf 

 Unit 2

• Dörnvei, Z. (2009).Pshycological processes in language acquisition II: explicit vs. implicit learning. In Author, The psychology of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO license.

• Baker, C. (1997). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license.

Unit 3

• Hoffman. C. (1997). Individual Bilingualism. In Author, An Introduction to Bilingualism. London: Longman.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license.

 Unit 4

• Dörnyei. Z. (2010). Psychological processes in language acquisition I: symbolic vs. connectionist accounts. In Author, The Psychology of Second Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license.

• Schouten, A. (2009). Critical Period Hypothesis: Support, Challenge, and Reconceptualization. Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics, 9(1), 1-16. Retrieved from: http://journals.tc-library.org/index.php/tesol/article/view/462

 Unit 5

• Painter, C. (2009). Language Development. In J. Webster & M.A.K. Halliday (Eds.), Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics. Londres: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license.

Unit 6

• Richards, J.C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). A brief history of early development in language teaching. In Authors, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license

Unit 7

• Richards, J.C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Total Physical Response. In Authors, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license

 Unit 8

• Ellis, R. (2009). Task-based language teaching: sorting out the misunderstanding. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 3 (19), 223-237.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license

• Arribas, M. (2010). Looking at CLIL: Teacher’s views, learners’ attitudes and vocabulary outcomes (Master’s thesis). Universidad de La Rioja.

 Unit 9

• Mackey, W. F. (2006). Bilingualism in North America. In T. J. Bathia & W. C. Ritchie (Eds), The Handbook of Bilingualism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license

Unit 10

• Eurydice (2012). Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe 2012. Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/key_data_series/143EN_HI.pdf

• Tabouret-Keller, A. (2006). Bilingualism in Europe. In T. J. Bathia. & W. C. Ritchie, The Handbook of Bilingualism. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Available at the virtual campus with a CEDRO* license

 Unit 11

• Consejería de Educación de Madrid (2010). Los Programas Bilingües en la Comunidad de Madrid. Un Estudio Comparado. Madrid: Consejería de Educación. Retrieved from: http://www.madrid.org/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadervalue1=filename%3DProgramasEBiling%C3%BCe_Madrid_Publicacion_web.pdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1271811481322&ssbinary=true

• Dobson, A., Pérez Murillo, M. D., & Johnstone, R. (2010). Bilingual Education Project. Spain. Evaluation Report. British Council and Ministerio de Educación. Retrieved from: http://englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/books-resource-packs/bilingual-education-project-spain-evaluation-report  

Unit 12

• Cano, W. (2013). Manual CLIL para Centros Bilingües. Logroño: Universidad Internacional de La Rioja.        

* This work is protected by copyright and its reproduction and public communication, in the available modality, have been authorized by CEDRO. It is forbidden its subsequent reproduction, distribution and public communication in any form or by any means, except one printed reproduction by each authorized user.

Additional bibliography

You can also find useful information in these reference books.

Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. New York: Holt.

Diebold, A.R. (1964). Incipient Bilingualism. In D. Hymes, et al. Language in Culture and Society. New York: Harper and Row.

Hansegard, N. E. (1975). Tvasprakighet eller halvsprakighet? Stockholm: Aldus.

Meara, P. (1983). Word Associations in a Foreign Language. Retrieved from: http://www.lognostics.co.uk/vlibrary/meara1983.pdf  

Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (1981). Bilingualism or Not: The Education of Minorities. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Mackey, W. F. (1978). The importation of bilingual education models. In J. Alatis (ed.) Georgetown University Roundtable: International Dimensions of Education. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.

Evaluation and assessment

The evaluation system is based on the following numerical chart:

The grade is made up of two components:

On-site final exam (60%). At the end of the semester, you need to assist a mandatory on-site final exam. You need to pass the final exam so the grade obtained from the assignments (continuous assessment) is summed up to the final grade of the subject. 

Continuous assessment (40%): this type of assessment will be measured through the different assignments you need to complete during the course:

• Active participation and involvement in forums, online classes.
• Tasks. The completion of the different activities the students need to send through our virtual classroom such as research, critical thinking, practice cases.
• Self-evaluation tests. At the end of each unit, students will find a short quiz which will help the students to check the knowledge acquired during the course.

Remember that you can check the points (value) of each assignment in the weekly program.

Take into account that the sum of the grades of the assignments included in the continuous assessment is 6 points. You can fulfil as many as you want to a maximun of 4 points (which is the max. grade that you could acomplish in the continuous assessment).In the weekly program, you can find the grade of each assignment. .

Tips

Studying online means you can organize your study as you wish, as long as you meet the due dates of the different assignments (activities, tasks and tests). In order to help you, we propose the following steps:

1. From our online platform you will have access to each of the subjects you are enrolled. Apart from this, the virtual classroom of Lo que necesitas saber antes de empezar (All you need to know before starting). In this section, you have available all the documents on how to use the different tools included in the virtual classroom, how a subject is organized and you will also have the possibility to organize your study plan with the tutor.
2. Do not forget to check the weekly program. You will see which part of the content of the course you have to work on every week.
3. After knowing your work for the week, go to Temas in your virtual classroom. There, you will have access to the study material (theory and practice) from the unit you need to study throughout the week.
4. Start by reading the Key ideas of each unit, there you will find the specific study material and it will help you understand the most important points of the unit. Afterwards, check out the sections Specially Recommended and More Information where you will find more resources in order to deepen on the topic of the unit. .
5. Devote some time to the practical cases and tasks in the subject (assignments and test). Remember that in your weekly program you find all the information related to the schedule for each assignment and the maximum grade you can obtain in each of them.
6. We strongly recommend you to participate in the Events of the course (online classes, forums….). To know the precise schedule of the events, you need to check the communications tools in the virtual platform. Your teacher and tutor will inform you on the updates of the course.

Remember that in Lo que necesitas saber antes de empezar (All you need to know before starting) you can check how the different tools of the virtual classroom work: email, forum, online classes, sending the tasks, etc.