During the last decades, global interest in learning English as a foreign language has increased, encouraging countries to include it in school education. This trend was followed by the Chilean Ministry of Education, which suggests teaching English based on a communicative approach starting in early childhood education. To foster students'…

Action research is characteristically used to provide research experience for late-stage, pre-service teachers as a means of breaching the perceived divide between theoretical knowledge and contexts of practice. However, aside from the considerable methodological challenges of enacting action research itself, pre-service teachers also enter…

As learning and teaching theory experts, university educators are constantly asked to review and reflect on their methodologies and to co-generate them with all members of the educational community. Teachers understand that students constantly shape the object of study, and thus embrace differences among individuals. In this context, a dialogic…

Teaching professional practice and thesis development are usually two independent and unrelated processes. However, some concerns arose at Universidad SEK (USEK) Chile Department of English. Students declared to be overloaded and that working on their theses did not contribute to solving real in-class problems. Professors considered that training…

Action research methodology is commonly used in initial teacher education programmes as a pedagogical strategy to enhance student teacher learning. Action research is most often used in tandem with school-based practicum components in the latter stage of programmes as a means of bridging the theory-practice divide. It is also frequently used as a…

This book innovatively connects the two fields of oracy and practice-oriented empirical research in English language education. It creates synergies and proposes innovative approaches to the study of oracy in the context of learning and teaching English as a second, additional or foreign language. The book also develops a contemporary and holistic…

Conducted in a semi-public school in Chile, this action research study aims at determining the change in 18 English as a foreign language young learners' performance regarding their understanding of instructions after being exposed to an audiovisual materials-based teaching strategy. With the use of a lesson observation report for assessing the…

This action research study aims to explore the contribution of the use of points of improvement as a reflective strategy to support eleven Chilean EFL pre-service teachers' ability to plan communicative-oriented lessons. Through questionnaires and a focus group, participants' responses were examined using thematic analysis. Findings yielded that…

One of the current challenges facing many universities is how to support teachers in becoming researchers. This article discusses the experiences at a small private Chilean university of a new action research programme that was developed as a vehicle for helping teachers to become involved in research and write a research publication for…

This article reports on the results of an action research study that aimed to determine the effect of a thinking routine in the development of coherence in speaking interactions. The study was carried out with two groups of second year business students in an English as a foreign language program at a university in southern Chile. A mixed methods…

For learners of English as a foreign language (EFL), fluency is one of the most difficult aspects to develop within the speaking skills. The Chilean teaching context has witnessed a gradual shift from the traditional grammar-translation approach to a more communicative one, thereby making it necessary to discover new strategies to develop…

This article examines the intervention, through the design and pedagogical implementation of two rubrics based on theory from the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach, to assess the oral competences in English of a group of sophomores in a content subject. The data collection and subsequent analysis included both quantitative…

The following article reports the results of an action research project conducted in a public university in Chile. The project consisted of exposing ten undergraduate students from an English pedagogy program to a genre-based approach to writing expository essays. During eight weeks the three stages of the genre-based approach, namely:…

Teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) encourage students to take a more active role in the oral activities in the classroom through different strategies. This study examines the use of picture descriptions as a strategy to develop and enhance communication skills among the eighth-grade students attending a private English school in…

Quality education is undoubtedly a global concern, tied closely to preoccupations with economic and social development. Increasingly, the adoption and effective use of current technology tools are being recognized as visible signs of that quality. Scholars are providing increasing evidence of the kinds of empowered teacher identities that will…