Teaching English as a Foreign Language International Iberoamerican University

Overview

In the Teaching English as a Foreign Language program at the International Iberoamerican University the type of training is developed to encourage the learner’s autonomy without losing sight of elements of constant but flexible interaction, tailored to the specific needs of teachers in professional development.

Graduates with Teaching English as a Foreign Language from International Iberoamerican University will:

• Analyze, articulate and evaluate learning and second language acquisition theories, and the methodological trends in the teaching of foreign languages essential for both effective teaching and successful learning.

• Analyze how the individual factors (cognitive, affective, social and cultural) affect foreign language learning and, accordingly, design instructional strategies to address the learning needs of students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

• Manage the EFL classroom so that group processes guarantee the learning of all students creation of a safe space in which all students participate and work collaboratively; Use of a discourse that encourages the construction of knowledge; selection of activities of greater and lesser cognitive effort; choosing the type of grouping most appropriate for each activity; attention to learning opportunities that may arise, among other aspects.

• Integrate the development of the language skills in the EFL classroom so it promotes a realistic and meaningful language use.

• Analyze, evaluate, select, adapt and design appropriate materials for the teaching of EFL.

• Critically and reflectively interpret and implement the cultural, pragmatic and linguistic knowledge acquired on the use of English language in context, in the planning of the teaching and learning process of EFL.

• Analyze the implications that the current role played by English as the language of global communication may have for teaching English as foreign/second language.

• Design didactic proposals for the EFL classroom that integrate the acquired knowledge on the concepts of inter-language and interaction in a foreign language classroom.

• Plan and evaluate the teaching-learning process of English in the short and long term, considering current linguistic pedagogical trends; the context of education; the methodological approach; lesson plans; the interests, needs and styles of the student's learning; and technology advances.

• Integrate ICT in a meaningful way, and not arbitrarily, in the activities of the teaching and learning process for English as a foreign language, and critically analyze the digital materials that are generated in this field.

• Introduce specific training in learning strategies in the objectives and contents of the program and units, wherever necessary and according to the needs of the students, and work on the necessary learning to learn tools.

• Evaluate the usefulness of using a translation-based method for teaching English and design translation activities within the framework of communicative language teaching as a complementary tool to improve the EFL learning process.

• Analyze and evaluate its teaching and professional development through such instruments as self-observation, diary, self-assessment, the teaching portfolio, etc.; identify the aspects that can be improved; and plan and implement a personal plan of improvement and life-long learning.

• Access and properly use the academic literature related to Language Pedagogy and Linguistics Applied to the Teaching of Foreign Languages, especially English-language related literature.

• Design and evaluate methodological procedures specific to research in the fields of Language Pedagogy and Linguistics Applied to the Teaching of Foreign Languages, especially English-language related research.