La enseñanza y el aprendizaje del inglés como lengua extranjera: una perspectiva internacional

  1. Mirman Flores, Ana María
Supervised by:
  1. Eduardo García Jiménez Director

Defence university: Universidad de Sevilla

Fecha de defensa: 10 December 2018

Committee:
  1. Ana Ponce de León Elizondo Chair
  2. M. Teresa Padilla-Carmona Secretary
  3. Antonio Manuel Bernardo Lopes Committee member
  4. María Luisa Carrió Pastor Committee member
  5. Soledad Romero Rodríguez Committee member

Type: Thesis

Teseo: 575540 DIALNET lock_openIdus editor

Abstract

In the last few years, education has been undergoing a process of internationalisation, becoming one of the main aims of today’s society. Hence, more than ever, the knowledge of languages is not merely an alternative but an essential requirement to achieve a more complete development of the individual in multiple fields of life. The aim of this research is to analyse the status of the teaching and learning of English as a Foreign Language in two European contexts (Spain and Greece). Thus, the findings of the European Survey on Language Competences (ESLC) of 2012 have been taken as a starting point since the performance of Spanish secondary students in the three skills assessed in English as a Foreign Language was lower than the results obtained by Greek students. In addition to the analysis of academic variables related to language learning, the ESLC briefly includes the study of some contextual variables in-volved in the learning process, although it does provide enough information. This is the reason why we considered it necessary to analyse and deepen in the study of those varia-bles outside the school environment that seemed to play an important role in how English is learnt. Only then, it would be possible to raise awareness of their importance and give them the significance they deserve. In order to detect the contextual variables related to the student’s social life and family, and the personal and educational ones that play an important role in the process of teach-ing and learning English as a Foreign Language in Spain and Greece, a total of eight Secondary Education schools were chosen. These schools, located in two monolingual contexts (Seville and Athens) and one bilingual context (Valencia), make up the sample of this study. This sample includes the students (N=565) and their opinion about the ex-tramural exposure practices carried out by their families. In addition, 25 teachers of Eng-lish as a Foreign Language and non-linguistic areas (only in the case of bilingual schools) also participated. The research methodology of this study includes a quantitative approach based on multiple cases. In order to achieve the stated aims, a total of three questionnaires were used to collect and analyse the information. Among the main analyses, descriptive studies have been carried out based on frequency distributions and crossed tables, among others; and contrast studies that include bivariate correlations, analysis of non-parametric variance (Mann-Whitney’s U and Kruskal Wallis’ H) and ANOVA, two-step cluster anal-ysis, a predictive study and a multilevel analysis. Among the main results obtained, we highlight the impact of some variables surrounding the learning and teaching of English as a Foreign Language. These variables are mainly related to the type of context/city (monolingual and/or bilingual) and to the type of school (monolingual and/or bilingual). Furthermore, significant results have been obtained in reference to the impact of the extramural exposure of students and their families in the learning of English, and in relation to some of the students’ attitudes towards the lan-guage, the ability/easiness perceived by these students to learn English and their behav-iour in class. In general, the conclusions of this study highlight the presence of statistically significant relationships between certain variables and they show how Greek students take greater advantage of the opportunities offered by extramural exposure to English in comparison to the Spanish ones.