Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura (CECC)
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Browsing Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura (CECC) by Author "Albuquerque, Ana"
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- Am I aware of my level of english? — comparing students’ perceptions of CEFR levels and diagnostic test resultsPublication . Albuquerque, AnaUniversity students in Portugal are often required to certify their level of English before, after or during their course of studies, either as a degree or international studies program requirement. Consequently, at the Catholic University in Lisbon, students are often asked to take writing and speaking diagnostic tests in order to assess their proficiency in the foreign language and place them into the right Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level. Although students in Portugal are generally aware of the different levels, they seldom lack specific knowledge concerning the objectives or descriptors that the reference involves and hesitate when asked what is their level of English as a Foreign Language. This lack of knowledge constrains one of the advantages of the CEFR for learners which would be”to encourage practitioners in the language field to reflect on their current practice, particularly in relation to learners’ practical language learning needs, the setting of suitable objectives and the tracking of learner progress” (North, 2006). It would be desirable that such framework, which seems to offer such clear guidance for teachers, would also be beneficial for the students, particularly at tertiary level, given that most graduate and post-graduate course requirements around the world are now aligned with the CEFR standards. This study compares students’ diagnostic test results to their perception of their own CEFR levels. The data include a speaking interview to assess oral skills, a written diagnostic test to assess grammar, vocabulary and writing and a questionnaire based on the CEFR self-assessment grid. Two undergraduate classes enrolled in the Media Studies course participated in the study which main goal was to achieve a better understanding of students’ perception of the CEFR levels and, ultimately, to help increase student’s awareness of the language learning process.
- Beyond “pancakes for breakfast” - assessing Cultural awareness in the EFL classroomPublication . Albuquerque, AnaCulture is an inseparable part of language and has always played a role the EFL classroom, however, perspectives on how to deal with the cultural aspects of the foreign language differ among teachers and researchers. On the other hand, in the globalized internet world we live in today, further issues arise concerning which aspects of culture should be brought into the classroom to enhance students’ awareness of the anglophone cultures they may engage with in their professional and personal lives. Drawing from Hymes notion of communicative competence (1972) and Moran’s “five elements of culture” (2001), the study focuses on the notion that, although embedded in language, the teaching of the target culture requires explicit approaches and teaching strategies, which should go beyond the surface-level information about “pancakes for breakfast” or “talking about the weather.” According to Gonzalez (2018): “Moran explains that culture learning outcomes can be varied and can tackle different learner’s needs,” however teachers are not always aware of such needs or how to address them in class. Ultimately aiming at clarifying the purpose of incorporating culture into language instruction in the current globalized world, the study uses questionnaires to analyze teachers and learners perspectives of culture in EFL teaching and learning in the era of globalization. The survey will be administered to a small community of teachers and students at a higher education institution and, hopefully, it will bring light into how the teaching of culture should integrate EFL courses and syllabi in the future.
- Can ICT help overcome L1 interference in L2 writing? — implications and challenges for the EFL classroomPublication . Albuquerque, Ana; Duarte, JaneLearning English as a foreign language can posit a number of difficulties to students whose native language is Latin-based and therefore ethymologically different from a Germanic language such as English. Despite the abundance of Latin vocabulary in the English language, syntax and morphology may be difficult to master for a speaker of a Latin language, namely Portuguese students. A number of studies (Silva 1993, Picard 2002, Bhela 1999, for example) have already highlighted how L1 can deeply interfere with the learning of L2 and how some processes of transfer are regularly applied by speakers of a foreign language. The aim of this paper is to identify the most common processes of L1 interference and transfer based on a corpus of 1st year Portuguese university students who are taking English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at a B1/ B2 level. The processes of interference and transfer that constitute mistakes in the target language will be coded for syntax, morphology and/or lexicon and remedial procedures to overcome these difficulties will then be set up for two different control groups. One group of students will be subjected to the flipped approach (Huba & Freed 2000, Crouch & Mazur 2001), whereby they will be given full autonomy to work on the technology-based activities posted on the Moodle platform and which will be designed to help them overcome their specific linguistic short comings, be it syntax, morphology or vocabulary. The second group of students will be exposed to a traditional approach, mostly teacher-centered and will have to submit print handouts to their teacher based on the most common syntax and grammar mistakes they have made. This paper will thus examine the following: the most common mistakes in the target language that may result from L1 interference in the context of tertiary EFL teaching in Portugal; and whether the highly acclaimed flipped approach is an efficient remedial, pedagogic method to help students improve their learning experience and mastering of English as a foreign language. Namely, this paper aims at testing the "flipped" approach to hopefully derive meaningful conclusions as to which it is efficient in terms of empowering students, boosting learning autonomy and develop language awareness.