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ReCLes.pt – the Association of Language Centres in Higher Education in Portugal – was honoured to host the ReCLes.pt 2014 International Conference on Languages and the Market: Competitiveness and Employability at the Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (ESHTE – Escola Superior de Hotelaria e Turismo de Portugal). This topic is pivotal for the development and improvement of specific language skills that serve different areas in the labour market. Indeed, according to the report Languages for Jobs: Providing multilingual communication skills for the labour market, a report set up under the Education and Training 2020 framework, language learning should be “better geared to professional contexts and the needs” of the job market since doing so will then benefit not only learners but also “those seeking to employ people who are well-trained and properly qualified to assume their professional responsibilities” (2011: 4). Although the working group did include representatives from Italy and Ireland, it did not include Spain or Portugal, meaning that only two of the five most troubled countries in terms of their employment and economic situations contributed to the final report. This lack of representation motivated, in part, the conference theme for the ReCLes.pt 2014 International Conference, with the dual need for ever-improving research results for language teaching and the increasing relevance of language learning at a time of staggering austerity and rising rates of youth unemployment. Indeed, the ability to speak a number of foreign languages not only generates economic benefits and fosters employability but also promotes the mobility of professionals and diverse business activities, enabling companies to perform successfully on the global stage. From the confluence of educators, researchers and representatives from the business world debating languages as competitive assets in professional contexts, a selection of authors were invited to publish their papers in this volume. The collection comprises eleven relevant papers in Portuguese and in English divided in five topics: Languages, Culture and Employability; Languages and Technology; Languages and New Technologies; Languages for Tourism Purposes; and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). On the topic of Languages, Culture and Employability, Monika Hrebackova’s article on “Intercultural Communicative Competence and the Management Dimension of Culture” explores the impact of intercultural contexts on communication competencies in a foreign language, specifically English. The author describes the clear competitive advantage of intercultural competence in the corporate sector, covering perceptions of stereotypes, time and negotiating as well as issues of hierarchy, individualism and indulgency, among others. She brings her personal experience as a Czech to her outline of Czech cultural values to determine sources of cultural clashes and suggest some strategies for applying intercultural competence in management situations. On the same topic, Abdelaziz Kesbi’s “Foreign Language Mastery and Glocal Employability” reflects on the linguistic map of Morocco and the functional specializations of each language of the country’s patent multilingualism to determine the economic relevance of teaching their various foreign languages for the global market. This analysis is made within the context Moroccan language planning policies, concerning Arabization, Arabic and Amazigh as well as the status of French and English. Kesbi concludes with the proposal of English as a lingua franca to support the country’s most recent progressive free trade agreements. On the topic Languages and Technologies, the volume offers five articles, the first of which is “The Status of EFL Teaching in Moroccan Vocational Schools: A case study at the Meknès School of Technology”, Mohamed El Kandoussi argues the inadequacy of the linguistic competence of recent graduates and their challenges in the labour market. His research is based on a case study of local English language courses to ascertain the compatibility of the course content with the students’ vocational orientations while uncovering teachers’ attitudes and opinions towards a number of pedagogical practices, including the corporate culture of their school, course material, the students’ needs for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) versus general English and the perceived need for further teacher training. In line with technical concerns for future Engineers, Milan Smutny’s article on “The Language of Science and Technology: Linguistics as a part of a multidisciplinary study program” examines terminology, especially the formation of adjectives using premodification to effectively and precisely communicate within a specific discourse community. The author provides examples of the shared profession knowledge as part of the language of Science and Technology so that English language teachers can better understand the ways specific terminology is created as a precise description of reality in the daily professional lives of Electrical Engineers. Another contribution involving new technologies is by Maria de Lurdes Martins, Gillian Moreira and António Moreira on “Aprendizagem dialógica, dialética e autêntica da língua inglesa com recurso à Web 2.0”, where the authors discuss the open, participatory and social nature of Web 2.0 and the challenges it brings to foreign language classes. This paper, which describes the design and implementation of an action research project in English language courses, focuses on the interactional tasks that were implemented using Web 2.0 tools and their results, which led to the creation and maintenance of dialogic processes for the production of collaborative outputs through an active involvement of students in solving authentic activities, while developing their capabilities to manage individual and collaborative learning processes. Luisa Salvati and Luana Cosenza’s article on “Teaching Foreign Languages for Specific Purposes in Mobile Learning for the Internationalization of SMEs” reflects on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as enablers of foreign language learning and facilitators of internationalization. Their paper focuses specifically on the results of LSECON, a project that dealt with the implementation of language courses to support SMEs in the Tuscany region of Italy. To conclude the technologies section, the volume offers the results of a joint project that has dealt with working across cultures in tandem-learning situations albeit in a readily available online source, presented in Regina Mügge and María del Carmen Arau Ribeiro’s article on “Language Learning with the SEAGULL Tandem Database”, which delves into this rich European Union-funded project, an acronym for Smart Educational Autonomy by Guided Language Learning. The result of collaboration between 18 partner institutes from 11 countries, SEAGULL provides language learning material for 13 languages with a number of special online features. This tool for tandem partners who aim to continue working together after their first exchange offers linguistic support, suggested issues for discussion and a myriad of cultural information about the countries involved in the SEAGULL project. The authors provide a guided visit of the wealth of material available at http://SEAGULL-tandem.eu/ that can be easily accessed by teachers and students alike. On the topic of Languages for Tourism Purposes, Gisela Soares and Teresa Pataco examine the specificities of language learning in the hospitality sector, namely in the areas of catering and restaurant service. In “‘Eu nem sei o que é um badejo em Português!’: um projeto de desenvolvimento de vocabulário específico em língua inglesa para a indústria hoteleira”, the authors reflect on the teaching methodologies and results of an interdisciplinary project developed by higher education students in TV Cooking Show, an English language course that aims to develop the specific vocabulary of students through research and task-based activities which enhance learner autonomy. In the following article by María del Carmen Arau Ribeiro and Florbela Rodrigues, these researchers consider the plethora of materials available from Tourism Marketing as an authentic source for teaching English, Spanish, Portuguese and French in higher education, drawing on commercial goods and promotional material on the respective countries to enhance intercultural awareness and to practice language skills based on maximizing communication and theories of visualization. The relevant and timely teaching strategies in their article, “Making Tourism Marketing Work for You in the FL Classroom” cover, among others, the value of fostering positive attitudes toward error in foreign language use, problem-centeredness, and motivation. The authors find that, while simultaneously promoting student strategies for developing skills in global effectiveness in their future professions, discerning teachers can take steps to ensure that language users are immersed in a graphic and semiotic richness of cultural and linguistic messages. The final topic in the volume is dedicated to Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), beginning with an article by Margarida Coelho on “Scaffolding Strategies in CLIL Classes – supporting learners towards autonomy”, in which she deftly attributes scaffolding and scaffolding strategies the key roles in CLIL teaching. She presents a brief overview of the origin of the concept as a teaching strategy, focusing on some recent studies, and systematizes the most relevant approaches and conceptual frameworks to scaffolding presented in those studies. As a conclusion, she argues for a broader, more extensive, continuous and innovative use of different scaffolding strategies in CLIL classes as an effective means to foster learner autonomy and progressively build their confidence in using a FL language for effectively dealing with content. The volume then concludes with “The State of the ReCLes.pt CLIL Training Project”, by María del Carmen Arau Ribeiro, Ana Gonçalves, Manuel Moreira da Silva, Margarida Morgado and Margarida Coelho, which provides an update to the developments in research and publications in the national project, from a collaboratively written book to numerous articles, presentations and posters, culminating in first place at the friendly competition in the strand From research to practice at the XIV CercleS International Conference on Enhancing Learners' Creative and Critical Thinking: The Role of University Language Centres in September 2016. |
