Gloria Sánchez

The present study explored the writing development of 134 second-year high school students of English as a foreign language(EFL) in Spain over one academic year. In order to assess students’ writing performance from a communicative perspective (Usó-Juan and Martínez-Flor, 2006), their essays were examined by means of an analytic rubric especially designed for this investigation in terms of these dimensions: content, task requirement, coherence and cohesion, grammar and vocabulary. In addition, we sought to examine whether proficiency level had an impact on the dimensions in the rubric.

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in language learning and teaching has greatly increased in the last decade. Among the different technological tools used in the learning process, virtual worlds have gained popularity among educators and students (e.g. Warburton, 2009; Wang & Burton, 2012; Zhang, 2012; Duncan et al., 2012). This article explores the different possibilities the virtual world Second Life (SL) offers in the language learning process.

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in language learning and teaching has greatly increased in the last decade. Among the different technological tools used in the learning process, blogs have gained popularity among educators and students (Trajtemberg & Yiakoumetti, 2011; Lai & Chen, 2010). This article focuses on how blogs can be incorporated into a communicative classroom through a Task-based Language Teaching approach (TBLT) (Ellis & Shintani, 2014; Willis 1996). This paper offers a theoretical study about the potential of blogs in TBLT instruction.

This paper focuses on new trends for teaching English through a communicative approach. It mainly focuses on how to apply a Task- Based Language Teaching (TBLT) methodology to an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), especially blogs. This paper starts focusing on the main features of TBLT. Then, it explores how new technology and especially blogs can be embedded into this methodology. Special attention is paid to its potential in EFL contexts.

The present study explores teachers’ and learners’ language attitudes in a Spanish bilingual community where two official languages (Spanish and Catalan) and a foreign language (English) coexist. It also analyses the impact produced by teachers’ beliefs on their students’ language attitudes. Data was collected in a private secondary education centre in Castelló de la Plana, Spain. Twenty-four students in their last year of compulsory secondary education and a total of 15 language instructors participated in this investigation.