Recursos

The main purpose of this article is to describe the interaction process that took place in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom at a public high school in the province of Alajuela, Costa Rica. This article examines some theoretical background knowledge in regards to the interaction in the language classroom. The ethnographic method, which belongs to the qualitative paradigm, was used to conduct this study. Some of the techniques and the instruments used were the non-participant observations, the use of a questionnaire, interviews, and personal diaries. Triangulation was applied in order to make valid the interpretation, results, and recommendations. The study determined that the teacher- student interaction and student-student interaction is based on a question and answer pattern. The teacher regulates and limits students` participation through the use of different activities which do not stimulate meaningful learning. Students interact among themselves by using Spanish. The study also suggests to varying the classroom activities to enhance students` learning.

This study reports evidence of cross-linguistic influence in the speech of an English-Spanish simultaneous bilingual child between ages 2;3 and 5;6. in extraction constructions involving the object of a preposition (i.e., pied-piping and preposition stranding). Relevant data by 11 English monolingual children revealed no instances of pied-piping constructions despite the fact that these are grammatical in adult English speech; in contrast, 46% of the relevant constructions in the bilingual child’s speech contained pied-piping. Similarly, whereas the data by 14 Spanish monolingual children never evidenced preposition stranding, which is never a grammatical option in Spanish, the bilingual child data did so in 26% of his relevant constructions. These qualitative differences between the monolingual and the bilingual child data strongly suggest cross-linguistic influence

This study examines future teachers’ theoretical reflections on Critical Incidents and how these link to Costa Rica’s English teaching system. Participants included 30 senior college students from an English teaching program. Using narrative research techniques, the authors have concluded that: (1) spaces for reflection must be created in EFL so that students’ voices are heard; (2) both instruction and assessment need to be tackled not from the native speaker angle but from the learner language perspective; and (3) because mistakes are both inherent to foreign language learning and an indicator of language development, more tolerance to learner errors needs to be exercised. The study proves relevant for language pedagogy and Applied Linguistics (AL) since it paves the way for further research, opens room for reflection and dialogue, and enhances our understanding of the issue at stake from a future-teacher standpoint.

This article analyzes Anancy’s cognitive and sociohistorical identity beyond the moralistic approach of the western philosophy of being. Instead, Anancy stories are studied as a decolonized expression of an afrodescendant Caribbeanness that struggles to survive in an imperial context. There is placed special emphasis on Anancy and his relationship with other animals of the forest present in the stories collected by a group of Costa Rican researchers. Walter Mignolo’s concept of colonial and imperial differences, the notion of the trickster, Mikael Bakhtin’s carnival, the psychological theories of the id and humor are used to support the analysis. Finally, it is concluded that Anancy stories are the result of resistance but more importantly, they reveal a nontraditional subversion that guarantees hope in a hopeless system. In this sense, Anancy does not accept fatalism as a cognitive structure of his identity; even though, he lives in a fatalistic society.

This study reports evidence of cross-linguistic influence in possessive constructions in the speech of an EnglishSpanish simultaneous bilingual child between ages 2;3 and 5;6. Although in English possessives might be prenominal (‘-s), they might also be post-nominal (of possessives); the latter realization of the possessive is restricted to certain semantic contexts. In contrast, possession is always post-nominal in Spanish. Unlike the monolingual child English data and the English parental speech which revealed mostly instances of the pre-nominal possessive (only 3% in the child data), the bilingual child produced post-nominal possessives in 33% of his English possessives. Similarly, though the monolingual child Spanish data revealed no non-target-like forms, the bilingual child produced a significant number of pre-nominal possessives (e.g.’de las cabritas mamá’), which is never grammatical in Spanish. The non-target-like forms found in the bilingual child data strongly suggest evidence of influence of Spanish onto English as well as influence of English onto Spanish.

This research paper discusses the benefits and implications of bringing authentic assessment into listening comprehension classes. The study was run in 2016 based on a mixed-methods model to research and included 38 college students enrolled in a listening comprehension class at an English Teaching Major (ETM) from the University of Costa Rica (UCR). Data collection instruments included plans of improvement, portfolios, self-assessment forms, teacher-student conferences, verbal calls, and impromptu reflections. Data were validated through several procedures (e.g., triangulation and reflexivity) and analyzed in the form of emerging themes from the information collected. Findings are that authentic assessment can and should be used more in listening comprehension classes to bring assessment and instruction together, as well as to provide opportunities for skills integration. The study yields implications for theory and practice, and it constitutes a proposal to move from traditional to process evaluation, and from norm-referenced testing towards more criterion-referenced assessment. Nonetheless, the aim should not necessarily be a radical ‘no’ to paperand-pencil tests, but a more balanced use in combination with other strategies so that assessment becomes more reliable, valid, fair, and authentic for all EFL actors involved.

This article presents the most relevant results found in the “Licenciatura” graduation research project for 
the BA in Teaching English offered by the University of Costa Rica, Campus Occidente. The work, entitled 
“Strengths and Weaknesses in Teaching English Literature in Experimental Bilingual High Schools of the 
Western Educational Region of Costa Rica: A Study from the Teachers’ Perspectives”, was conducted in 
2012 and 2013. 36 EFL teachers participated. This paper presents results on the strengths and weaknesses 
of teachers’ academic and professional training in light of the implementation of the English literature 
syllabus of the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Education (known by the acronym MEP in Spanish). 
Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used. Interviews were conducted with participants and 
English advisors and an online survey was also used. Results show that most EFL teachers do not feel 
trained to deal with the English literature syllabus because teaching literature is not their major, but the 
MEP has assumed that mastering the language is sufficient for an English teacher to teach literature. Most 
teachers reject this presupposition as they think that the MEP’S English literature syllabus focuses on 
literary content rather than using literature to teach and learn English. Teachers assert that there is a 
discrepancy between their academic training and what the MEP expects them to do.

Even though before the 1960’s bilingualism was generally blamed for detrimental effects on cognitive development, various researchers have argued that studies carried out before that date included unbalanced bilinguals or bilinguals from minority groups; their results were hence unreliable. In contrast, many contemporary studies have reported positive cognitive effects of balanced bilingualism, especially regarding metalinguistic skills (i.e., the ability to look at language rather than through it to the intended meaning). By and large, studies that have administered metalinguistic tasks such as grammaticality judgment tasks, word awareness tasks, phoneme segmentation tasks, and Appearance-Reality tasks to groups of balanced bilingual and monolingual children of comparable ages report superior performance by the bilingual children; the latter group shows greater levels of control and analysis, which are fundamentally metalinguistic skills. Based on the meta-cognitive advantage argued for bilingual children, the author stresses the need to design true bilingual programs accessible to all children so these can have the same cognitive advantages as balanced bilingual children appear to have.

This research paper discusses the benefits and implications of bringing authentic assessment into listening comprehension classes. The study was run in 2016 based on a QUAL-Quan model to research and included 38 college students enrolled in a listening comprehension class at an English Teaching Major (ETM) from the University of Costa Rica (UCR). Data collection instruments included plans of improvement, portfolios, self-assessment forms, teacher-student conferences, verbal calls, and impromptu reflections. Data were validated through several procedures and analyzed in the form of emerging themes from the information collected. Findings are that authentic assessment can and should be used more in listening comprehension classes to bring assessment and instruction together, as well as to provide opportunities for skills integration. The study yields implications for theory and practice, and it constitutes a proposal to move from traditional to process evaluation, and from norm-referenced testing towards more criterion-referenced assessment. Nonetheless, the aim should not necessarily be a radical ‘no’ to paper-and-pencil tests, but a more balanced use in combination with other strategies so that assessment becomes more reliable, valid, fair, and authentic for all EFL actors involved.