Improving Teachers' Digital Competence to Bridge the Language Gap

This chapter aims to examine the digital skills that foreign language teachers must have in our global interconnected society and the ways in which they can acquire them. Pedagogical and digital innovation has been traveling along the same lines for some time. In recent years, however, in all fields of education—and more specifically in the didactic of foreign languages—several methods and techniques that increase the use of digital technology have been developed. Consequently, all teachers must keep up with the times. In this light, the objective of this chapter is to reflect on the pedagogical scenario that the digital age has set up, as well as on the ideal portrait that teachers must have. Then, the authors will focus on the specific digital skills that teachers who want to “flip” their teaching process should have: What are the basic knowledge and skills that a teacher must master if they wish to rethink their practices and embark on a flipped classroom approach?

CLIL, Bilingual Education, and Pluriliteracies

The so-called language gap is not a modern invention, since language is power and a form of taking dominion over the world in humans' intellectual confrontation with reality. Historically, there has been inequality in language learning and mastery as a way to access knowledge and to achieve self-fulfillment in both the public and private spheres. This chapter explores the concept of language gap from a diachronic perspective and the way in which the Andalusian education system has taken actions emanating from European language policies, aimed at bridging the language gap among young people through initiatives of great impact on content and language education, such as the consolidation of bilingual education programmes through the CLIL approach and pedagogical tools like the Integrated Language Curriculum, the European Language Portfolio, and the School Language Project.

English as a Lingua Franca

English has occupied a unique place in today's interconnected world. The emergence of ELF opens questions revolving around the change of the teaching and learning habitus. Researchers point to the disparity between theory and practice in this new paradigm and the need for bridging gap between them. The suggested study tries to explore this problem. Its purpose is to reflect on new approaches, which go hand in hand with how English is currently being used, and how it can also be integrated in classrooms. It first presents the development of ELF. The monolingual view of language and language use and the plurilingual view are also highlighted. Then, the discussion will be turned to the central topic of the study. It focuses on approaches to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Language Gap

The language gap is one of the most widely cited explanations for existing socioeconomic disparities in educational performance. Since Hart and Risley's 1995 publication on the socioeconomic differences in language input among children living in the United States, the language gap has permeated research, education, policy, and public awareness both in the United States and abroad. Since then, critiques have emerged that question the validity of the language gap as a concept and as means to close educational disparities. In this chapter, the authors build upon existing critiques by highlighting the cultural assumptions and ideologies that underpin the language gap and challenging these assumptions by drawing upon cross-cultural research on human development. Future directions are discussed on ways to move research forward using methodology that attends to cultural variability, builds on families' funds of knowledge, and recognizes societal contexts and structures that address systemic inequities.

Beyond the English Divide in South Korea

The knowledge of English in South Korea is considered to be an important asset, such that it is an indispensable skill when applying for admission into the top universities in the country or finding good jobs. The investment of families in making sure their offspring learn the language has been consistently increasing in recent years. However, not all families have access to the same private resources, thus creating a division (also known as ‘English Divide') between the richer families, who can provide their children with good private education, and poorer families, who cannot do it. This chapter provides a detailed account of the current economic situation of South Korea, emphasizing the importance given to English education. Moreover, the authors outline the work done by nonprofit organizations (such as Beyond the English Divide) to stop this English Divide.

Making Language Learning More Inclusive

This chapter presents the results of a study conducted in a language classroom in Galicia (Spain). The course was sponsored by the local administration and addressed to unemployed students (n = 14; average age 47). The education in foreign languages of the participants in the ‘80s and ‘90s had been held back due to curricular needs to promote the use of the second official language, Galician. The extrinsic motivation for English language learning of the participants was their need to improve linguistic skills to re-gain access to the job market. It was observed that they were consistently underperforming during writing exam preparation tasks. In order to meet the needs of these students, it was decided to study the impact that the explanation of the assessment rubric had on learners' written production. Results of their performance in a pre-test were compared to the results in a post-test. The implementation of this strategy proved to be effective. By allowing the students to have knowledge of the rubric for the assessment of their writings, their fear was significantly reduced.

The Spelling Gap in English

Spelling is a major item on the topic of language gap. Since the 1950s, English spelling has been an attraction to scholars. What this implies is that there is need for increased research on rules of spelling in the language. This chapter examines how the rule for choosing between -tion and -sion works in a bid to render it more economical as one way of bridging the language gap. Specifically, it is demonstrated that base-words that take the t-form have a smaller set of conditions that can more easily be mastered than do those that take the s-form, thus forestalling the latter.

An Approach for Providing LGBTI+ Education and Bridging the Language Gap

Intercultural education is acquiring great importance in today's education; among its considered elements, it is also starting to address gender/sexual identity as a way to counterattack prejudices and intolerant attitudes towards LGTBI+ people. However, it is still necessary to reconsider how to deal with these concepts from teacher training in an effective way so as to prepare these professionals to develop their work in an inclusive way. Teachers of English as a Foreign Language are ideal for addressing such concepts as the area allows relationships with several dimensions of life (e.g., literature, art, television). These teachers have to face the necessity to include LGTBI+ in their teaching practice, and to fight the language gap caused by social and economic disparities. This chapter revises how including the ESoPC approach in English teacher training helps integrate LGBTI+ issues to educate future generations in respect towards gender/sexual diversity and bridge the language gap.

TELL, CALL, and MALL

Language learning has become a key objective for providing new generations with competences that allow them to cope with the challenges of the 21st century. However, the socio-economic changes affecting the world have provoked the development of what has been called “language gap,” which implies that not everybody has the means to access language learning. In this situation, new educational approaches characterized by the use of technology have emerged making language learning more accessible than ever before. Among the possibilities, TELL (technology-enhanced language learning) and more particularly CALL (computer-assisted language learning) and MALL (mobile-assisted language learning), offer a great potential for this purpose. Thus, this chapter aims to revise the concepts of TELL, CALL, and MALL and explore their possibilities for language learning and, ultimately, examine their potential for bridging the language gap.

Bridging the Language Gap With Emergent Technologies

The use of technology in language instruction revolutionized the way and the feel education was provided. Several modes helped students with their language gap. Nowadays, emergent technologies including the Web 2.0, gamification and game-based learning, and immersive technologies has taken language education by storm benefitting and bridging the language gap. This chapter provides an overview of how emerging technologies are changing the paradigm and contributing positively as a bridge to confront the language gap.