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Higher Education English Language
Teaching and Research in Mexico
Edited by: Patricia Grounds and Caroline Moore
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Table of Contents
Page
Chapter 1 Contextualising Teacher Development in English language
Teaching in Higher Education in Mexico: Moving towards the PhD.
Patricia Grounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 2 Developing Autonomous and Communicative Skills in Groups of
Beginner English Language Learners at a Mexican University
Ma. de Lourdes Rico Cruz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Chapter 3 The Emerging Identity of Pre-service Teachers during the
Practicum Component of a Second Language Teacher Education
Programme at a Mexican State University
Ana María Elisa Díaz de la Garza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Chapter 4 The Challenge of EFL Writing Assessment in Mexican
Higher Education
Elsa Fernanda González . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Chapter 5 Researching Attitudes towards English in Higher Education
Gandy Griselda Quijano Zavala . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Chapter 6 Current Trends in English Language Teaching in Mexico
Caroline Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
iii ◗

Chapter 1
Contextualising Teacher Development in English Language

Teaching in Higher Education in Mexico:
Moving Towards the PhD
Patricia Grounds
The British Council/University of Southampton
Online MA in ELT: Founding e-tutor
Introduction
The aim of this introductory chapter is to provide a context that underlines
the significance of the research projects included in this volume. Four of
the five studies are original PhD research projects by Mexican doctoral
students who were supervised by the University of Southampton. The studies
were presented at the foreign language seminar at the 2015 Guadalajara
International Book Fair. The significance of these research projects can
be partly appreciated through an understanding of the importance of this
international event. However, by retracing some of the key steps in the
gradual construction of a career path for English teachers in Mexican public
higher education (HE) institutions over more than twenty-five years, I hope to
emphasize the value and the implications of current doctoral research being
undertaken in Mexican universities.
It can take decades to plan and implement changes in English
language policies at a national level, and to develop a parallel training and
professionalization process for the teachers who have to put the innovations
into practice. The research which is going on at PhD level in Mexico today
proves that the days when simply speaking English well was enough to earn
a place as a university English language teacher are over. It has been a long
1◗

Higher Education English Language Teaching and Research in Mexico
journey, involving many international collaborations; however, I will only refer

to those in which specific UK and Mexican organizations have had a part to
play. At university level, this began with the introduction of initial pre- and in-
service courses in English language teaching (ELT), then undergraduate and
MA courses. Now, some 25 years later, an MA in ELT is coming to be seen
as the minimum professional requirement for university English teachers
in Mexico. Many aspire to earn their PhD and beyond. For members of the
many different institutions who have in some way participated in this journey,
reading about research at this level is quite edifying. It is also important for
research that is going on in Mexico to be shared with other professionals
in the field, in order for these contributions to reach the wider local and
international academic discussion on ELT.
This chapter sets out to very simply describe some of the major teacher
training and development projects that have been jointly planned by
Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP (Mexican ministry of education) and the
British Council, together with UK and Mexican HE specialists and institutions.
This will show the process through which the professional profiles of English
teachers at Mexican HE establishments have developed over the past 25
years. It will also provide a context for the papers on PhD research projects
that were presented by Mexican HE teachers at the FIL 2015. I will conclude
the chapter by briefly introducing the researchers. They all have taken part
in this process in some way, in addition to their respective research projects.
Starting in the present: The year of the UK in Mexico and

the Guadalajara International Book Fair
2015, The Year of the UK in Mexico, heralded a program of special projects
to further existing links and create new connections between the two
countries. In short, the overarching aim of The Year of the UK in Mexico was
to reposition each of the two countries in the perceptions of their people
and enrich relationships at all levels of society. This was done through
numerous activities in culture, education and business. Much of this work
has been the focus of the British Embassy and the British Council office in
Mexico City. Both institutions work to strengthen cultural relations between
the UK and Mexico through building links between UK people and institutions
and their Mexican counterparts.
◗2

Patricia Grounds ◗ Chapter 1
The Guadalajara International Book Fair, second in the world only to

the book fair held in Frankfurt, is hosted by the University of Guadalajara.
In 2015 the FIL chose to invite the UK as its Guest of Honour. Every year,
since 1993, this privilege has fallen to a different country and is an essential
facet of the event. It underscores the international and multicultural vision
of the fair. In 2015, this honour provided an opportunity for the United
Kingdom to showcase the best of the British publishing industry and present
current trends in literature, culture and education. No fewer than 1 983
publishers from 44 different countries exhibited at the fair. According to
the official FIL website, 787 435 members of the public attended in person.
Some 607 books were presented. Alongside these presentations, there were
a further 124 literary fora and 94 other cultural events. A selection of the
rich and diverse cultural life associated with the United Kingdom, including
performing and visual arts, music and cinema, were brought to Mexico at
the FIL.
Running parallel to the activities already mentioned were fora in
education. The subjects covered in the FIL academic programme are
always wide ranging. This year, some 21 separate academic events took
place and attracted outstanding academics from institutions all over
Mexico and the world.
It was this academic programme that the six authors of this volume
participated in, and which inspired this publication. English teachers
who have worked, and most of whom are still working full time, in English
language departments at Mexican public universities, wrote the chapters
here. Four of the authors, Ana Maria Elisa Díaz de la Garza, Elsa Fernanda
González Quintero, Gandy Griselda Quijano Zavala and Maria de Lourdes
Rico Cruz, are currently completing their PhD studies at the University
of Southampton, UK. For over a decade, the University of Southampton
has played a key role in the development of on-going teacher education
opportunities for Mexican university teachers. This volume provides a
snapshot of the range of University of Southampton PhD research projects
that are currently being carried out in Mexican public HE institutions.
Each of the four articles provides an example of the quality and impact that
current collaboration between the UK and Mexican governments and HE
institutions is making in public university English language teaching. These
3◗

collaborations also strengthen important internationalization policies.

The other two contributors to the volume, Patricia Grounds and Caroline
Moore, as well as participating with the University of Southampton online
MA in ELT from its earliest beginnings, have both been involved in other
British Council and Mexican Government teacher training projects for English
language teaching at different levels. Since the 1990s they have participated
on panels, along with other experts from the University of Southampton
and the British Council (UK), in the academic programme at the FIL. Here,
Grounds and Moore each share their perspectives on the professionalization
of English language teaching across Mexico and the direction in which ELT
has been moving since the end of the last century.
Over twenty-five years of UK collaboration with Mexican HE institutions

Ever since the British Councils’ establishment in Mexico in 1943, it has
collaborated with the SEP and other UK and Mexican institutions to provide
different types of teacher training support for English teachers. They have
run large and smaller-scale projects in both the public and private sectors
and at all levels of education. These have included conventional, distance
and online training. As the demand has grown and changed in nature,
technology development has stimulated continuous innovation. The point of
focus of this book, however, is principally the public HE sector.
Intense and on-going discussions of English language policy in HE
between the SEP, the British Council and Mexican HE institutions go back
to the early nineties, when political and other events suddenly put English
language teaching and learning into the spotlight in Mexico. Work towards
the accomplishment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA,
signed in December 1992 and instigated in January 1993) was well under
way by then. Those with a vision of the future could see an inevitable
increase in demand for Spanish/English bilingual Mexican professionals
in all fields, in the imminent and continuing future. The NAFTA agreement,
conceived to stimulate growth in trade and international relations
among the participating countries, justified a significant investment in
the improvement of English language teaching and learning policies and
practices. Additionally, experiments in using educational technology and a
growing awareness of the probable benefits of autonomous learning were
◗4

already burgeoning in public education systems in other parts of the world.

The Mexican government began to see possibilities for combining these
developments in their education policies in general, and more specifically in
the development of new approaches to English language teaching at their
public universities.
In 1990, SEP set up an initial scheme—with the help of the British
Council Mexico and the University of Cambridge, UK—to provide training
for university teachers of ELT in each of the 32 states of the country. This
was through the Certificate for Overseas Teachers of English or COTE, now
updated and entitled the In-service Certificate in English Language Teaching
or ICELT. In Mexico today, this qualification is officially recognised by the SEP
as a minimum professional requirement for teachers in public schools and
universities all over the country. It is also acknowledged as one of the key
requirements (in combination with qualifications, tests and experience) to
earn a BA in ELT offered by the SEP.
A year later, in 1991, the Mexican Advanced Professionalization
Programme or MAPP project, for the upgrading of training and qualifications
among English teachers at Mexican public universities was formally
introduced. The idea of this project was to build on the initial training made
available through COTE/ICELT courses and certificates, and provide access
to BAs in ELT. This capacity-building project became possible thanks to the
strengthening relationship between the British Council, Mexico, the Mexican
government (SEP) and the British government, as well as through the
support of the Overseas Development Organization (later restructured as the
Department for International Development). Five British Universities and 31
Mexican public universities took part.
All five BA courses were given by UK university specialists and held at
different locations in Mexico; the success rate of these early international
BA courses was calculated at 75 per cent (Treffgarne 1999). Teachers from
all 31 public universities participated and many graduated successfully.
Later, research was carried out in all the universities that had allowed
teachers to participate in the BA programmes, to measure the impact of
the training and capacity building they had received (ibidem). A summary
of anticipated and non-anticipated benefits for institutions whose teachers
participated (Aguilar 1997: 197) included such elements as:
5◗

“greater professionalism, better problem management/identification, better

job opportunities for women, having more women in key positions in language
departments/schools, enhanced interest in teacher training and education,
interest in postgraduate education, more academic dialogue, decision making
that results in learner benefits, awareness of teachers’ role in the education
system, awareness of change, a new conceptualization of teaching, learning
and language, interest in learning how to learn and autonomous learning,
more learner-centred decision making, more reflective/analytical teachers, an
interest in research and better management of change.”
Not only had there clearly been positive outcomes from these initial training
activities, the demand for qualified English teachers continued to grow.
Universities began to include English in the wider undergraduate curriculum
on a massive scale and the numbers of young people being admitted to HE
institutions snowballed with national population growth, especially of this
age group. The existing capacity to offer English classes in the faculties and
language centres was not able to supply this new, nationwide and rapidly
increasing demand for English. Only a few of the existing teachers from each
of the 31 public universities had been able to participate in the UK/Mexican
BA programmes; only a small number of local universities were in a position
to offer their own undergraduate programmes in ELT. COTE/ICELT courses
continued in different parts of the country, but urgent measures had to be
taken immediately to create greater access to English language learning
facilities. It was thought that educational technology and autonomous
learning facilities, made available to motivated students in new or renovated
spaces equipped for independent learning, could perhaps help to fill this
gap. This would also require the training of staff and the development of
context-sensitive learning to learn programmes. The aim of these programs
would be to stimulate greater initiative and autonomy in the teachers and
learners, and help them to use the proposed new resources to the best
advantage.
In 1993, teacher graduates from the UK/Mexican BA in English language
teaching (ELT) programmes were either putting their new knowledge
and skills into effect at their local universities or going on to study MAs
in ELT abroad with government grants. The Mexican National Self-access
◗6

Centres (SAC) Project was conceived and inaugurated. Thanks to a series

of continuing agreements signed by the SEP, the British Council Mexico and
the chancellors of 34 Mexican public HE institutions, this project lasted from
November 1993 until the end of 1997. Courses that developed teachers’
understanding of the theory and skills underlying successful autonomous
learning, and learning to learn strategies were implemented. Other courses
in designing, setting-up and running SACs, took place both in Mexico City
and in other regions over these four years. British Council national and
international training specialists visited the participating Mexican universities
to give on-site training and consultancy. These specialists always stressed
the importance of adapting theory and experience, developed and derived
from other contexts, to the needs of local institutions, teachers and students.
The SAC facilities’ equipment and resources were jointly funded the by the
institution and the SEP. Each of the 34 higher education institutions found
or built a new space for their SAC and appointed staff to set-up and run
them. Selected SAC staff received more specialised training in academic
management and administrative skills and competences. This included the
development of strategies for sustainability, to ensure the dynamic durability
(Grounds, 2008) of their SAC. It was hoped that further specialised training
for SAC administrators and tutor/counsellors would increase the chances of
survival of the SACs.
Networking activities across the country and with UK institutions
had increased since the beginning of the MAPP project, supporting the
continuation of ELT and specialised SAC training. Gradually, both federal
and state institutions realized that an ICELT/COTE certificate, a BA in ELT
and specialized training in theories and practices surrounding SAC learning
were still only steps in the creation of a more complete career structure.
This was especially the case if an operational professional body of English
language teachers was to be created and expanded as an on-going process.
Consequently, in 1997, joint funding was found for a number of SAC staff to
participate in a Distance MA in Educational Technology run by the University
of Manchester. Gradually, SEP grant awarding bodies began to make it
possible for increasing numbers of teachers to go to the UK and other
English speaking countries to study an MA in ELT.
7◗

The urgent demand for properly qualified English teachers in other sectors
of education in Mexico continued to grow. New educational reforms at the
beginning of the 21st century brought English language learning to sixth
form colleges, secondary and primary schools, and even pre-schools.
More Mexican university English language departments had to prepare
themselves to become trainers of English teachers to supply the demand
for qualified teachers in their own states. A body of more specialized ELT
professionals was also needed to guide policy dialogue and decisions in
the future. The demand for qualified English language teachers at all levels
of education could not be supplied by providing grants for teachers to
study MAs and PhDs in other countries alone. This demand is still growing
today, as the number of undergraduate students continues to boom, and
the establishment of specific levels of English as an undergraduate exit
requirement becomes increasingly generalized across HE institutions. At
the time of writing, in an effort to train teachers for their own communities
increasing numbers of Mexican private and public universities are creating
or consolidating their own BA–or MA–in ELT.
As the nineties progressed, SAC facilities continued to complement
English courses and support the growing demand for English in HE. Many
universities set-up more centres on each of their campuses, and some even
installed a centre in every faculty, school or institute. Innovations in ICT
and their increased use for the enrichment of learning continued to inspire
new options for learning in general, and likewise for language learning.
Unfortunately, it seemed that many SACs had not updated their learning
resources and approaches over almost a decade. In 2002, the British Council
funded a piece of research with the purpose of collecting and analysing data
to show how the SACs were working as part of English language teaching
programmes at universities. The findings (recorded in an internal document)
suggested that further training/updating of SAC staff was advisable. This was
aimed at to stimulating and supporting the development of an on-going and
never-to-end process of innovation for the future. So from 2003–2007, the
British Council worked together with the SEP, UK and Mexican institutions
on a new SAC project. This time, the focus was on training activities to help
SAC staff to actively engage with online learning resources. A repository for
products of this training was set up through a new project, in the form of a
◗8

national, shared, online bank of practice materials for independent study

in English for specific purposes (ESP). Undergraduates in health sciences,
business administration, TEFL and tourism would be able to study English
using materials related to their studies.
Through the same project, an exchange programme was set up
among a number of UK and Mexican universities. This project built upon
internationalization policies, promoted professional networking, and
improved knowledge and skills through international experience. A second
aim of this project was to provide in-country experience for SAC staff and
students. Through this programme, each participating Mexican university
sent at least one member of its SAC staff to a UK university. There they
worked with UK colleagues in a SAC for a three-month attachment period.
At the same time, each Mexican university received a UK undergraduate in
foreign languages to work as an assistant counsellor in their SACs. In this
way, Mexican SAC staff were able to familiarize themselves with other ways of
working in SACs in the UK. At the same time, Mexican undergraduates, often
located in towns where there were very few opportunities for interaction
with native English speakers, had the chance to get to know a young Briton
from their own age group. They built academic and often social relationships,
using English as the tool for communication.
From the early nineties on, and much more intensively after the year
2000, traditional opportunities for state-funded HE in each state have been
extended by rapidly expanding “sub-systems”. Technological universities
have grown in strength and number, with over a hundred spread across
the country at the time of writing. In the year 2000, the new system of
polytechnic universities was established, and by 2015, over 60 of these were
already offering a wide range of BA and some MA course in subjects related
to administration, industry and commerce. All of these institutions include
English in their broader curriculum, and a certain level of English, which
varies from one institution to another, has become an exit requirement for
all subject areas. Added to these 160-plus newer universities are the over
30 autonomous public universities, some with ten or more campuses across
their state.
Since these new institutions also included English as a curricular
subject, some technological and polytechnic universities participated in
9◗

the new 2003–2007 SAC project. Some of the original public universities
did not. Over 70 self-access counsellors across the country participated
in training sessions to improve their knowledge and skills in developing
computer-based and online English learning resources. The aim of this
was to make these digital tools an integral part of the self-access learning
experience. It was hoped that these teacher/counsellors would, in turn, go
on to train their colleagues in their respective universities. The repository
of materials on which course participants collaborated was found at the
public website English for universities, E4U <www.e4uenglish.org.mx>.
Towards the end of the project period, in 2006, the Universidad Veracruzana,
UV (university of Veracruz) took over the general coordination of the E4U
website, having hosted the platform since its inception.
All 32 universities participated in the SAC exchange programme. The
greatest number of exchanges was made possible through the initiative
and support of Professor Clare Mar-Molinero and her team at the University
of Southampton. The Universities of Leeds and Nottingham Trent also
participated actively. All 39 Mexican SAC counsellors who were sent
on attachments to UK universities were invited to attend professional
development courses during their work attachment periods in England.
Building on this opportunity, several decided to enrol on an MA in ELT. Some
stayed on at their UK host university, while others came back to Mexico to
find ways of funding their postgraduate studies.
According to research carried out by Dr Rod Bolitho, of the University
College of St. Mark and St. John, UK (2006), based on data from all the
Mexican universities who had participated, the second SAC project was
successful in many ways. The report comprised a data-driven description of
Bolitho’s evaluation and perception of the quality of training and exchange
activities. It included examples of good practice, emphasized possible
risks to the innovations and made a number of strong recommendations
in relation to project sustainability and future development. At the time
of writing, some universities are still taking advantage of continuing
opportunities to send their SAC staff to the University of Southampton for
work attachments. However, many public universities in Mexico have been
experiencing a high staff turnover rate. Just as was the case after the first
SAC project, it is difficult to ensure that staff who receive specialized training
◗ 10

will stay in their posts indefinitely. It is not even sure that they will share their
new knowledge and experience with their colleagues in order to strengthen
the impact of the innovations.
Equally serious, it is becoming hard to predict how much longer the
SACs will continue to exist. Unless they continue to innovate and offer new
services to learners that cannot be accessed anywhere else, there will very
soon be little point in going to the SAC to access online materials. These are
now widely available through smart phones, laptops and home computers.
Many universities, whether autonomous (for example, the autonomous
university of the State of Hidalgo, or the Juarez university of the State of
Durango) or technological (for example, Universidad Tecnológica de Sonora)
are currently experimenting with custom-made teaching materials. These
include blended and online English courses. In the future, students will not
necessarily need to go to conventional classes, or even to the SAC. We have
reported what learners would like to see in their SACs and made suggestions
for possible changes in the future (Moore and Grounds 2016a).
While these national projects were developing, individual public
universities, such as the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatan, the Universidad
de Colima, the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, among others,
were contracting different kinds of training for their staff. These included
further online courses in e-tutoring, training in the design of online courses,
training the trainers courses (to develop cadres of trainers within individual
institutions who could develop counselling skills and plan research projects),
among other things). A major project to develop affordable standardized
English proficiency tests at the University of Veracruz, with consultancy
from the University of Cambridge local examinations syndicate research and
validation team and a specialist from Surrey Roehampton University set a
precedent for high-quality test development in Mexico. Several publications
have emerged from this endeavour, and the EXAVER exams today are
officially acknowledged by the SEP for accreditation of English proficiency.
This is alongside international exams such as those awarded by Cambridge
English Language Assessment and Trinity College.
One area of English language teaching professionalization, which is
rapidly gaining momentum amongst English language teachers not only
within HE in Mexico but also around the world, is the development and
11 ◗

certification of teachers via virtual learning environments. I will go on to

examine this trend in the following section.
Opening up opportunities for online study

The British Council Mexico, began to develop online training
opportunities for English language teachers and set up its own open and
distance learning unit at the beginning of the 21st century. The unit aimed
to develop on-line training courses for English teachers and consultancy
services for schools and universities at a time when many were already
contemplating integrating e-learning into their curricula. The first Online
Course in E-tutoring was developed at the request of SEP, and aimed to
train teachers at public universities. After the initial project was completed
in 2005, there was a continuing demand from universities to train more
teachers in e-tutoring skills, as well as in the development of online learning
materials and courses. The University of Colima, in the west of Mexico, at
the vanguard of virtual learning in Mexico, received a substantial number of
trainings from the unit, as did others, over the following years.
At the same time, an Online ICELT and an Online Diploma in the
Development of ESP Materials were developed, and specialists from the
University of Southampton carried out an external evaluation of the diploma
course in 2007. Dr. Vicky Wright (then Director, Centre for Language Study)
and Professor Clare Mar-Molinero (then Head of Modern Languages), found
the course to be a well-run, well-organised course with exemplary content
and pedagogical underpinning. They congratulated the course leader, Dr.
Simon Harris, on the management, organisation and delivery of the course.
As a result of these evaluation activities, discussions began between the
British Council Mexico and the University of Southampton regarding the joint
development of a postgraduate certificate that would include and build on
this existing diploma.
In 2008, the Postgraduate Certificate in English Language Teaching
(PGCert)—a new online English language teacher education qualification
leading to a University of Southampton award—was delivered to teachers
working at the public universities of Baja California, Campeche, Carmen,
Colima, Durango, Hidalgo, Michoacán, and Nayarit by the British Council
Mexico. This was made possible through a number of strengthening
◗ 12

partnerships. First, the University of Southampton provided academic

consultancy, assessment and validation of the postgraduate certificate
course, lending it recognition on the international stage. Then the SEP
supported the project, encouraging universities throughout Mexico to enrol
English teachers. It provided funding for them through a grant-awarding
body known as the Programa de Mejoramiento del Profesorado PROMEP
(programme for the professional development of teachers) currently
restructured and entitled Programa para el Desarrollo Profesional Docente,
PRODEP. Last but not least, the public universities already mentioned
by name above, whose teachers comprised the first cohort of students,
facilitated the coordination of activities to allow teachers to participate
in the course.
Mexican teachers now had access to an online English language teacher
education qualification. This was awarded by the University of Southampton
and run in collaboration with the British Council, using the Moodle course
management system. The postgraduate certificate consisted of four units of
course work, each worth 15 postgraduate credits. Participants completing
the first two units (two semesters) of the certificate, would obtain the
British Council Diploma in Teaching ESP, recognised by SEP as equivalent
to an especialidad, and by the University of Southampton as a full 30
postgraduate credits. To earn the full postgraduate certificate, equivalent
to 60 postgraduate credits with the University of Southampton, two further
semesters would need to be completed. A successful candidate could then
apply for an MA in ELT, which would consist of a further 60 coursework
credits and a dissertation (also worth 60 credits).
After piloting, partly funded by SEP, and regular updating and
improvement of materials and affordances on the basis of data collected
through course evaluations every semester, the MA in ELT: Online was
developed. This has now become a joint global project shared internationally
between The British Council and the University of Southampton and currently
offers access to online MA studies.
Of the 63 students who received Mexican government grants to
complete the PGCert (later, the MA in ELT: Online), ten have already gone on
to continue with PhD studies at the University of Southampton. Others have
been accepted to PhD programs in Mexico and abroad. In the new global
13 ◗

cohort, that includes students from different contexts, from all over the
world, many self-funded, there are currently 85 participants working on the
various courses. Some 50 of these are Mexican university teachers funded
by the Mexican government, while the remainder are mainly self-funded. The
45 Mexican teachers currently at some stage of the distance PhD process
run by the University of Southampton also receive funding from the SEP.
Before concluding, it is important to underline the important
contributions to teacher education and development also made by
other UK institutions over the years of work covered in this paper. As
mentioned before, it is natural to have focused on those teams with whom
I worked most closely, as a colleague. Nonetheless, simply by looking
at the qualifications of Mexican academic staff working on the BA and
MA programmes now running at Mexican universities, the Universities
of Manchester, Kent, Warwick, Aston, Canterbury Christ Church and the
University College of St Mark and St John all stand out as key contributors to
the process of professionalization supported by UK/Mexican collaboration.
By reading the work of Ana Maria Elisa Díaz de la Garza, Elsa Fernanda
González Quintero, Gandy Griselda Quijano Zavala and Maria de Lourdes
Rico Cruz, presented at the FIL 2015, it is clear that tremendous progress
has been made in teacher education at public universities in Mexico over
the last 25 years. It is no longer a distant dream to think of English teachers
as researchers. Joint projects such as those developed by the British
Council with the SEP and UK and Mexican universities have gradually raised
expectations of employers and English teachers. Emerging from a non-
existent professional career structure, a vision of an on-going progress that
begins with basic pre- or in-service training in the form of COTE/ICELT, and
moves on to a BA in ELT and MAs in ELT is becoming more readily accessible
to Mexican university English teachers. There is already a palpable demand
for PhD options.
Introduction to the authors and their research

Here, I will introduce the writers and briefly mention the nature of their
contributions to this book.
◗ 14

Ma. de Lourdes Rico Cruz works at Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro,

UAQ (the autonomous university of Queretaro). She was one of the
participants in the initial SAC project from (1993–1997). She went to the
UK for a work placement during the period of the second SAC project
(2003–2007). She went on to complete her MA in ELT and now she has just
successfully finished her PhD at the University of Southampton. During her
20 years of professional experience, she has been involved in teaching
English, teacher training and the design and implementation of numerous
ELT projects. These include setting up and coordinating SACs at the different
campuses of the UAQ, setting up and coordinating different language centres,
and the joint administration of the National English Programme for English
in Basic Education (NEPBE) for the State of Queretaro. Her general research
interests include the cognitive, affective and social domains of collaborative
foreign language learning, teacher and learner autonomy and second
language acquisition. In Chapter 2, Rico Cruz writes about her research into
self-regulation as a support for English language learning among groups of
Mexican undergraduate students working in a SAC. She reports on her mixed-
method research concerning the regulatory mechanisms of 16 beginner
English language learners interacting in groups while completing language-
learning tasks.
Ana Maria Elisa Díaz de la Garza is a teacher trainer at Universidad

Autónoma de Chiapas (autonomous university of Chiapas). She has
successfully completed the COTE and has earned a M.Ed. in Teacher Training
of English Language Teachers from the University of Exeter, UK. She is
a member of a research group investigating professional development
and language teaching and has carried out various research projects
and published articles. In Chapter 3, she writes about her doctoral thesis
Emerging Pre-service: Teacher Identity Throughout the Practicum Component
of Second Language Teacher Education, with which she has just successfully
finished her PhD at the University of Southampton. The focus of her study
is to examine how the practicum influences early professional identity
construction; how personal- and school-related factors influence early
identity construction; and how reflective practice in the practicum influences
PST and professional identity development.
15 ◗

Elsa Fernanda González works at Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas

(the autonomous university of Tamaulipas) where she is the coordinator
of the BA in Applied Linguistics. Her main research interests are testing
and writing in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). She was awarded the
British Council Prize for Research in Testing in 2015. In Chapter 4, she writes
about her PhD research project, describing the preliminary results of an
on-going study, funded by the British Council and carried out under the
2015 Assessment Research Awards and Grants (ARAGs) program. The study
explores the difficulties that EFL teachers face when assessing writing in their
classrooms; Gonzalez starkly contrasts these difficulties with the constraints
decision makers face when managing an EFL program in Mexican universities.
Gandy Griselda Quijano Zavala has an MA in Linguistics from the University

of Ohio. She began her teaching career by giving English lessons to
adolescents and later she taught adults who were working for oil companies
in the State of Campeche. She has been working for the Universidad
Autónoma del Carmen (autonomous university of Carmen) for 15 years. She
first taught English at the language centre and later became part of the
academic staff of the Department of Education. She continues to work as a
teacher trainer on courses for future English language teachers. Some of
her main interests include: motivation in language learning, testing, teaching
methodology and sociolinguistics. In Chapter 5, she describes her quest
for deeper understanding of the process of English language learning and
factors that favour or hinder the learning of a foreign language. She is now
close to finish her PhD at the University of Southampton.
All credit for Chapters 2–5 in this volume must go exclusively to the PhD
candidates themselves, and their PhD supervisors, at the University of
Southampton.
Caroline Moore has an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Essex,

UK, and PhD in Language Studies from the University of Kent. She has been
involved in ELT and teacher education since the 1990s. She has worked
with the University of Guadalajara as a full-time lecturer and for the British
Council as an academic consultant. She is a senior tutor at the Southampton
◗ 16

online MA in ELT, in collaboration with the British Council, Mexico. In the final
chapter, she describes tendencies in ELT that have become apparent in
Mexico as we have moved out of the 20th and into the 21st century. She goes
on to describe trends that seem to be gathering strength in ELT in the various
sectors of education. She discusses market needs, the national curriculum
for preschool, primary and secondary schools, the relevance of ELF and
CLIL approaches, the advantages of the Common European Framework of
Reference (CEFR) as a national benchmarking tool, the appropriateness of
current English language achievement and proficiency standards, and current
developments in self-directed learning in Mexico.
Pat Grounds holds a PhD from Canterbury Christ Church University, an MA

in Applied Linguistics from UKC, Canterbury and a BA in German and Russian
from the University of Reading. She worked as a full time member of British
Council Mexico’s ELT department for 16 years and has been involved in
various projects for teacher development in HE in Mexico, including COTE/s.
She participated as tutor on the BA in ELT from Thames Valley University,
and has coordinated two national SAC projects, the British Council/University
of Veracruz EXAVER project, and other major projects in ELT in Mexico and
Cuba. She is currently an independent consultant, while continuing to work
as senior e-tutor for the British Council/University of Southampton’s online
MA in ELT. Her involvement in the numerous projects described in sections
3 and 4 above places her in an excellent position from which to reflect back
on the process of teacher development in Mexico since the early 1990s. The
lessons learned from these decades of fruitful collaboration and partnerships
with the Mexican government, its higher education (HE) department, and
major UK and Mexican HE institutions and their staff, have contributed to the
professionalization of ELT in Mexico. In the public sector of HE in particular,
this is a process that benefits from collaborative efforts and stakeholders with
a strong commitment to achieving change. It is hoped that through on-going
policy dialogues and international discussion, UK/Mexican collaboration in
providing quality ELT services for teachers and learners will continue.
17 ◗

Concluding remarks
The purpose of this first chapter has been to situate the research projects
presented at the 2015 FIL Guadalajara by Mexican university teachers
and leading academics from the Autonomous University of Queretaro,
Autonomous University of Chiapas, Autonomous University of Tamaulipas and
the Autonomous University of Carmen. There has also been an examination
of the wider context of the development of a sound career structure for
English teachers in Mexican HE through international collaborative projects.
The focus on what has been happening in HE, as described in this chapter
and in the four research projects presented hereafter, feeds into our closing
chapter. This takes a step back from the sector of HE to look at trends in ELT
from a broader educational context within Mexico.
I began by describing something of the nature and importance of the
FIL and then retraced some of the key events in the development of a
career path for English teachers in Mexican public higher education (HE)
institutions. Any emphasis that may be perceived is more to do, first, with
the specific roles I played myself, and second, with the project documents to
which I still have access, rather than any intention to imply that some stages
of development have been more important than others.
What I have tried to underline is how the existing professional
development opportunities for English teachers in HE in our context, which
now include the whole range of education opportunities from pre-service
training to PhD research, are the result of a solid history of collaboration
between Mexican and international organizations. Again, it is important
to stress that other countries and other organizations have also intensely
engaged in this process, but I have recalled only major undertakings which
were jointly planned by SEP and the British Council, together with a number
of UK and Mexican HE specialists and institutions. There is also some
emphasis on support received from the University of Southampton, from
whose PhD programme the four research articles are derived (Chapters 2–5).
The profiles of the researchers and their respective research projects
speak for themselves. The ELT departments and schools in Mexican public
universities are achieving a better understanding of the English language
learning process than ever before and their academics are able to contribute
to international discussion in our field.
◗ 18

Those who have participated in the creation of this publication hope that it
will serve to inspire those involved in ELT in institutions all over Mexico and
in other countries across the globe. It is necessary to provide the conditions
for English teachers to continue with their education as a lifelong project.
It is equally important to understand that it takes years of consistent and
concerted effort to create appropriately qualified bodies of professionals,
on a national scale, at any level of education. We hope that employers and
employees will increasingly come to see research as an essential part of
the lifelong-learning process of English teachers in higher education. By
engaging in this process, teachers will not only participate in international
projects and exchanges, but also instigate them. They will not only become
better implementers of policy and curriculum decisions, but also achieve the
status of decision makers themselves. This authority will come not just from
taking courses, but also from a solid background of accumulated experience
in practical investigation for the improvement of the quality of learning.
References
Aguilar, J. (1997), ‘Determining the Unanticipated Outcomes and Using These as
Benchmarks for Future Projects’, in McKay, V. and K. Treffgarne (1999) (eds.)
Evaluating Impact. Education Research Paper No. 35. DFID.
Bolitho, R. (2006), ‘External Evaluation Report: Inglés Virtual en tu Centro’,
internal document of the British Council Mexico.
Grounds, P. E. (2004), ‘Ten Years of Collaboration in ELT: Accounts from Mexico’
[CD], Chapter 18 (Mexico: British Council).
McKay, V. and K. Treffgarne (1999) (eds.) Evaluating Impact. Education Research
Paper No. 35. DFID.
Moore, C. and Grounds, P.E. (2016) ‘The Evolution of the Self-Access Centre in
Mexican Higher Education Institutions: Listening to the Student’s Voices’.
(211–240 ), in R. Espinoza Sánchez and M. Vargas Aceves (eds.) Encuentros
y Desencuentros Disciplinares en Investigacion: Estudios Sociales y
Económicos (México: Universidad de Guadalajara).
19 ◗

Chapter 2
Developing Autonomous and Communicative Skills in

Groups of Beginner English Language Learners at a
Mexican University
Ma. de Lourdes Rico Cruz

Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México
Abstract
Over the last few decades, researchers in applied linguistics have shown
interest in developing a better understanding of self-regulated learning
and its association with success and autonomy. Sociocultural theory claims
that self-regulation initially emerges from a dynamic social mediation that
serves to gain control of strategic actions towards learning—a process
that cannot be separated from the act of receiving assistance from others
(Lantolf and Thorne 2007). However, very little has been done to understand
group regulation mechanisms in education; that is, the degree of control the
learners have over their learning, while interacting in groups, without the
guidance of a teacher.
For the purposes of this study, a mixed method research model was
designed and included a detailed analysis of forty hours of conversations
among students engaged in group activities. Sixteen adult learners of
English at a beginning level of proficiency (A1-A2 in the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages, CEFR) participated by interacting
in groups of four people. They were audio and video recorded during their
weekly learning meetings in a self-access centre at a Mexican university over
a nine-week period.
21 ◗

The findings reveal that beginner learners interacting in group-work face

the challenge of finding solutions to problems by negotiating and sharing
meaning. Under favourable circumstances, English learners can improve
their communicative skills and practise their autonomy in such activities.
Key words: group work, autonomy, communication, beginners
Introduction
Current trends in global education policy have introduced a discourse
oriented towards actions for the development of autonomous citizens. Much
has been said about the importance of helping learners to develop learning
to learn skills. These skills aid lifelong learning, help learners become more
autonomous and thus create a more democratic world. For instance, The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
has emphasized the necessity to foster self-regulated learning and skills
for collaboration and teamwork as well. Similarly, The Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has placed their focus on
the relevance of learner-centred education; that is to say, aligned with the
learners’ needs and interests.
English language learning has not been excluded from the discourse
used in general education. For example, The Council of Europe proposes
through the CEFRL the use of portfolios (Goullier 2007) as a strategic action
to help learners to develop autonomy. In the document Common European
Framework and Portfolios (2007), Goullier suggests that autonomy could be
fostered in language learners through self-assessment, their control over the
decisions of their learning pathways and reflection on the process.
Autonomy, self-assessment and learner-centredness in English language
learning still seem far beyond the realities of the Mexican context. According
to published statistics in the last decade, teachers are more professionally
equipped and cognizant of the discourse of new pedagogical trends than
in the early 1990s, when important efforts to train teachers were made by
SEP (Nieto 2009). Despite this fact, it is still common to observe practices
of teacher-centred instruction, which do not seem to have an effective
impact on students’ learning results (Nieto 2009). Some studies (Ramírez-
Romero and Pamplón 2012) have pointed out that English classes in Mexican
institutions are mainly grammar focused rather than centred on the learner’s
◗ 22

Ma. de Lourdes Rico Cruz ◗ Chapter 2
needs. Correspondingly, there is a lack of exposure to communicative

practices because the time assigned during the language class is often
consumed by the excessive practice and completion of grammatical
exercises in textbooks. Additionally, the situation becomes more complex
when involving beginner English language learners, as it is believed that they
do not have enough linguistic resources to communicate effectively in the
target language. There are still few opportunities given to English language
learners for communication through activities where they could exert some
level of control over the learning situation.
Since the sustainability of the philosophy of autonomy in English
language learning depends greatly on the degree of control that language
learners take over the decisions regarding their learning (Clandfield 2014),
learners need to be provided with opportunities to communicate and
engage in the process (Little 2013).
Context of the study

The inclusion of learner autonomy in English language education in Mexico
presents a series of opportunities and challenges due to some specific
features of the context. In order to meet the learners’ needs and foster
autonomous skills, more than 64 self-access centres (hereinafter SACs),
were implemented in public universities in Mexico (Chávez 1999) from
1993 to 1997. These centres emerged from a British Council initiative, in
collaboration with Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP (Mexican ministry
of education) and public universities in the country. The purpose was the
inclusion of the philosophy of learner-centredness in tertiary education,
which definitely implied the promotion of autonomy and an active role from
the students (Gardner and Miller 1999).
The creation of SACs started as an innovative alternative for learners
(Espinoza and Grounds 2004) to access facilities with resources, equipment,
materials and tutoring support in their language learning (Lázaro, Reinders,
and Burns 2008; Morrison 2008). At the same time, SACs intended to
encompass a variety of materials for experiencing new ways of language
learning, according to the learners’ needs, styles and learning assets as
individuals. Among the expected benefits were the stimulation of learning,
leading to increased motivation, self-responsibility and autonomy. This was
23 ◗

due to the fact that the learners could have some control over the content,
pace and method of their learning (Reinders 2012). On the whole, these
resource centres afforded opportunities to their users in their development
of both English proficiency and independent learning skills.
Each self-access centre created practical models that put into practice
their conception of autonomy as it was perceived differently from one
context to another. What was common in all of them was that learning
seemed to be understood as an individual and isolated process, where the
learner “takes charge” of their own learning (Holec 1981:3). This definition
of autonomy demands a certain level of self-regulation from the learners.
The ability “whereby learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to
monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior. This
is guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features in the
environment” (Pintrich 2000: 453).
Under the circumstances mentioned, the SACs in Mexico tended to offer
a large number of “learning to learn” courses to language learners. The
teaching was focused on strategies to plan, monitor, control and evaluate
their own learning. This means courses for teaching learners about how
to learn better, which does not necessarily lead to the experience of
learning as a result. This is analogous to the fact that learning about the
use of language does not necessarily mean that learners will be able to
communicate effectively (Swain and Lapkin 2002). The way to learn to speak
a language is by speaking (Daniels, 2008). It is therefore in the provision
of learning opportunities that learners can experience the use of the
knowledge they have.
Continuing with the same argument, English language learners need
to be provided with learning situations where they regain control of their
own learning process in formal education settings. An alternative for this is
through the promotion of collaborative work in groups. It is in group work
that learners put their individual differences in learning styles, interests,
motivations and personalities to the service of a common purpose: the
solution to a problem.
◗ 24

Theoretical background
Autonomy in language learning has become a subject of interest in the field
of applied linguistics in recent decades (Benson and Voller 1997; Benson
2007; Pemberton, Toogood, and Barfield 2009). This has perhaps been
generated from a special emphasis on the development of life-long learning.
This skill is expected to prepare individuals to contribute effectively to our
modern and global society (Hoskins and Fredricksson 2008).
At the same time, one of the most attractive phenomena in the eyes of
scholars in education is self-regulated learning as it has been associated
with the development of autonomy. This interest has transcended the field
of applied linguistics and the concept of self-regulation has been explored
in pursuit of finding ways to help language learners to become more
strategic, reflective and successful in their L2 learning. Furthermore, this
concept involves learners taking control of diverse aspects of their learning
(Baumeister and Vohs 2004; Forgas, Baumeister, and Tice 2011; Oxford
1989), which in the end is the main purpose of autonomy in learning.
In this respect, a wealth of literature in applied linguistics has focused
on the individual characteristics of “successful” learners to understand
how they learn (Dörnyei 2005; Oxford and Schram 2007). Consequently,
researchers have invested their efforts in tracing the strategies that these
language learners use. Many of the studies on strategies have focused on
the cognitive processes that learners go through. Cognitive studies tend
to be approached by looking at the psychological dimension of language
learning (Hsiao and Oxford 2002; O’Malley and Chamot 1990; Oxford 1989;
Oxford and Schram 2007; Rubin 2001).
Following the psychological perspective of language learning processes,
self-regulation is defined as an individual process whereby learners manage
their own learning. In other words, language learners take control of the
different actions that could lead them to successful learning, guided by
their own motivation and the goals that they set for themselves (Forgas,
Baumeister, and Tice 2011; Pintrich 1995; Schunk and Zimmerman 1994).
The latest current learning approaches accentuate the inclusion of
the social and cultural components in learning as essential to the
development of cognitive activity. Since the mid-1990s, Lantolf and
his colleagues (Lantolf 2000; Lantolf and Appel 1994), have integrated
25 ◗

sociocultural theory (SCT) into the discipline of applied linguistics in
language learning, basing its principles on the work of the developmental
psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1980, 1997). Researchers with this standpoint
claim that learning occurs during social interaction rather than individually.
That is, interaction with others supports the development of higher
mental functions (such as analysing, classifying and defining, among other
functions), thought and knowledge (Wertsch 1985).
Within this process of learning during social interaction, it is essential to
acknowledge the function of regulatory processes, not from an individualistic
view but from social mediation (Lantolf and Thorne 2007). Regulation or
mediation, for the purposes of this chapter, is defined as the different
mechanisms of organization and control that learners exert over the different
elements of learning while interacting with others. These mechanisms go
through several stages, from object-regulation to other-regulation and ends
in self-regulation (Lantolf and Thorne 2007; Vygotsky 1980; Wertsch 1985),
which can be identified in terms of subordination. For instance, learners
tend to subordinate to objects such as dictionaries and computers to
approach their learning. They rely on the assistance coming from others
(parents, peers and so on) and they end up attempting “to accomplish
activities with minimal or no external support” (Lantolf and Thorne 2007:
200). As the process seems to be developed during social activity, a
sociocultural view of regulation needs to be oriented towards the promotion
of dialogue in collaboration, which in most of the cases involves solving
a problem in a task (DiCamilla and Antón 2004).
Still very little has been researched with regard to the interactions
that groups of learners shape in collaboration, looking at how they
make decisions in relation to their learning while they are engaged in
group work. This study attempts to offer a wider understanding of the
regulatory mechanisms evidenced in interactions and conversations from
a sociocultural perspective. The results lead to a discussion of cognitive,
affective and social regulatory processes, with a special interest in groups
of beginning English learners. The research takes into consideration the
participants’ own reflections and the support that they give to each other.
◗ 26

This is manifested in their ability to co-regulate their learning as they interact
and communicate.
Since the 1990s, interaction in L2 has attracted the attention of
researchers. Studies in the field have caused debate with regard to the
benefits and drawbacks of communicative-based learning, in terms of
competence and proficiency. It is important to highlight that sociocultural
researchers emphasize interaction, taking into consideration the learners’
communication needs rather than individual levels of proficiency in their
language production or output. Therefore, social mediation/regulation
(these two terms are used indistinctively in this study) play a fundamental
role in language learning and hence deserve deeper investigation. The
study of how regulation takes place in complex social interaction, such as
group work, and what its characteristics are, has the potential to make an
important contribution to our understanding of the processes related to
communicative and autonomous skills in language learning and the means
learners use to develop them.
The interaction undertaken in language learning activities, whether in
dyads, triads or groups, generates a common environment of regulation of
actions that lead the learners to the achievement of their learning goals. In
the process of the interactions, they regulate each other’s cognitive activity;
in other words, while the subjects interact, the activation of the internal
mental cognitive dimension of the subjects takes place. The inter-mental
activity in the group leads to the intra-mental appropriation of knowledge
(Kim 2001; Lantolf and Thorne 2006).
The regulation that comes from other people occurs in communication,
when another person regulates or controls the learning activity. Individuals
share thinking, social practices and tools in groups, communities or
societies. When people work together, they do not only interact, but also
think together, and remember collectively (Hadwin and Oshige 2011). The
participants of a group mix their knowledge and ways of doing things as
essential resources in the pursuit of completing a task. The learners, in this
case, support each other to achieve a common goal, they explain, imitate,
support, and encourage each other to learn.
The activity of collaboration leads to the sharing of common tasks and
goals through interpersonal interactions. This regulatory process relies on
27 ◗

the inter-subjectivity within the members of the teams. It involves sharing

facts, ideas and explanations around a common task (Hadwin et al, 2005). In
collaborative groups, there is a collective regulation in which groups develop
shared awareness of progress, and individuals share regulation processes
together as a collective process. At the same time, they develop self-
regulatory behaviour to promote future performance without mediation.
In collaborative learning tasks, learners get involved in interactivity. In the
process, one learner provides assistance to help another to accomplish a
specific part of the task (Pifarre and Cobos 2010) by prompting or discussing
a possible solution. Sometimes, the help is provided to encourage other
learners to move forward in the process. This intentional help provided by
the “others” implies that this “other” has a better understanding of a certain
topic or has qualities that might assist another group member to improve
his/her performance (Swain et al. 2002).
When learners share responsibilities in the completion of a task in social
mediation, they also share strategic actions that shape the performance
in the group. Once mediation is not needed, the individuals become more
independent (Frawley 1997). Once again, it is important to highlight that
a sociocultural perspective differs from a cognitive perspective of group
regulation. The former is oriented towards the understanding of group
processes, not individual and isolated achievement.
Although extensive research has been carried out in attempts to
understand cognitive, affective and social regulation as separated elements,
there has been little discussion about the overall process of group
regulation. Concerning group interactions, a large quantity of dialogues has
been analysed, through both the micro and macro analysis of discourse
(Hadwin et al. 2011; Swain et al. 2010; Swain and Lapkin 2002). Some findings
concerning language in collaboration has afforded remarkable results with
reference to dialogues among basic and intermediate English language
learners. For example, it has been found that beginner learners use elliptical
utterances or short, economical forms to say things and answer questions.
This is because of a lack of vocabulary or grammatical resources. In other
words, beginner learners of English generally tackle problems in the use of
appropriate syntax of the language (Wells 1999). This phenomenon causes
the learners to search for strategic ways to communicate more meaningfully
◗ 28

and negotiate either in L1 or the target language when doing collaborative

work. It is therefore important to say that in this study language use in
dialogues is submitted to analysis for evidence of group mediation rather
than attempting to analyse the structure of the language.
Methodology
a. Research questions
Most of the research which has already been carried out with regard to
strategic actions that learners develop in autonomous learning situations
involves the participation of intermediate and advanced learners of English
as a second language. The fact that beginner-level English language learners
have not been included in these studies is worth noting. Some results in
these studies suggest that the more proficient the learners are, the more
independent they become (Lantolf and Thorne 2006); this might be a
reason for the lack of research using beginner-level learners as participants.
Considering the above, the present study poses the following questions:
1. Are beginner-level English language learners able to take control of
their own language learning when interacting in groups in order to
complete communicative tasks?
2. What kinds of autonomous manifestations can be observed when
beginner language learners interact in group-work?
These questions were formulated to explore the strategies that learners
used to solve the problems they faced within their groups.
b. The participants
This study was conducted at a self-access centre in a Mexican public
university. 16 beginner English language learners participated, grouped into
fours.
The sampling strategy used to select the participants for the purposes of
this study was non-probabilistic, convenient captive sampling (Teddlie and Yu
2007). They were part of a group of 49 teachers who were taking an English
course at an elementary level at a Mexican university. They were asked if
they would like to volunteer to participate in collaborative learning activities
in conversation clubs in the SAC.
29 ◗

After the call for participation had been opened for this specific group of
learners, 16 of them volunteered. All of them were in-service teachers of
basic education (primary and/or secondary school), who worked for SEP and
taught general subjects in Spanish to children from 6 to 12 years of age. All
of the participants worked at elementary public schools in Mexico. All of the
participants were adults, six men and ten women whose ages varied from
21 to 35. All of them shared the same demographic characteristics; they
were Mexicans born in the centre of the country, so they were Spanish native
speakers and they were studying English as a foreign language. Pseudonyms
are used to protect the identities of the participants and preserve the
confidentiality of the information presented below, bearing in mind the
ethical issues surrounding this type of research.
The subjects of the study were taking three English classes of one hour
per class, weekly. Additionally, and as a requirement to achieve official
accreditation for the course, the learners had to study at least one extra
hour at the SAC. This requirement was twofold: first, to practise the contents
that they had already learned during the course, and second to develop
their independent study skills.
Concerning the level of language, all the participants were false
beginners; that is, they had studied English before in high school or even at
a language centre. Their level of English varied from A1 to A2. They took a
basic level A2 course, according to the CEFRL. The objectives of this course
are based on the development of the four major linguistic skills (reading,
writing, listening and speaking). During classes, learners were introduced to
the linguistic skills of the English language with an emphasis on grammatical
and lexical aspects of the language at a basic level.
The factors that motivated the learners to participate in the study were
a) to practice their English (44 per cent), b) to improve their communicative
skills (31 per cent) and c) to increase their self-confidence and meet people
with the same level of English proficiency (25 per cent). It is important to
mention that, prior to these sessions learners had not met each other,
since they were taking courses at different times with different language
instructors.
◗ 30

c. The study
Each participant was assigned to a specific group and each group consisted
of four members. Every group was given three tasks to complete, each to
be done over three sessions. Each group met for one hour every week at
the SAC to organize their activity and to discuss and complete the task. The
conversations were audio and video recorded, with the participants’ written
consent. Special emphasis was placed on the kinds of interactions and
dialogues that emerged. Participants were also given a diary format to be
completed individually, after each group session. This format was designed
to help these learners to write down their reflections and impressions about
their learning. This provided a further data set for analysis. Triangulation with
results of the analysis of other sets of data provided stronger validation of
possible research findings.
During their interactions, the learners decided how to arrange their
seats to work; they normally formed circles or semi-circles. They read the
instructions and started the conversation. After they had completed the
task, participants were given a new worksheet with the task to perform. It
was meant to be completed after three sessions. There was no intervention
from teachers or tutors in the session at all. However, the session was
wrapped-up with some feedback from a tutor. This feedback was related to
the correction of mistakes, with an emphasis on common problems in the
students language use.
After the completion of a task, each team was given a group assessment
rubric. An evaluation format with prompts to help learners discuss how they
felt, what they noticed about their knowledge or performance as a group,
and, finally to self-assess their progress and interactions.
In summary, there was a set of three tasks to be performed in a nine-week
period. The groups met one hour per week to solve the problems contained
in the tasks. In general, the tasks followed the same sequence of steps
(see Figure 1); a) learners were randomly assigned a group; b) a worksheet
describing the task to be carried out was given to each group; c) participants
completed the task; d) participants reflected on their learning during the
session and reported on their reflections through the completion of a
diary format; e) a tutor wrapped up the session with feedback on any
repeated mistakes made during the session. After they had finished one
31 ◗

7. Data analysis
6. The
1. The group is (transcriptions,
conversations
given the task diaries and
are transcribed
rubrics)
5. The groups 8. Quantitative

2. The interactions
assessed their and qualitative
are observed and
performance data are
video recorded
with a rubric triangulated
3. The
4. The learners
conversations
complete a 9. Interpretation
are audio
diary format
recorded
Figure 1: Data collection and interpretation

complete task, on average every three weeks, the teams assessed their
performance as a group using a rubric designed by the researcher.
It is important to bear in mind that learners were encouraged to
complete the self-assessment stage of this specific study in groups.
They were able to use their L1 (Spanish) to compensate for their low level
of English.
This was a descriptive, mixed method mode of research (Creswell and
Clark 2011) in which learners’ interactions, participation and discourses
were video- and audio-recorded during their dialogues. The function of the
tutor was limited to the role of an observer who provided some feedback on
specific language points at the end of the task.
d. The tasks
A communicative task is generally focused on meaning rather than form or
accuracy (Nunan 1989), and is structured to solve a problem through the
interaction of participants (Ellis 2003; Lee 2000). An extensive amount of
applied linguistics research has used communicative tasks to understand
language and the second-language teaching process (Lee 2000; Samuda
and Bygate 2008; Swain and Lapkin 2000). Tasks are used in that sense, to
provide learning opportunities that encourage learners to communicate and
express their ideas and viewpoints.
◗ 32

Due to the need for collecting samples of the inter-language (or whatever
language learners produced) and for analysing learning processes, three
concrete learning tasks were designed for this study. Tasks were used
as mediating resources, to provide the learners with opportunities to
experience communication using meaning-focused language (see Appendix).
The tasks were meaning oriented and even when they were principally
designed for oral production, they included the practice of other linguistic
skills such as reading, listening and writing.
Every worksheet consisted of a pre-activity (to warm up and prepare
the learners to be ready to work on the topic), several main tasks (they
normally had two or three activities to complete) and a follow up activity
(this was to close the discussion on that topic). Even when the tasks were
communicative, they were challenging to learners. The tasks required
using the knowledge they had been taught during their language courses
to communicate at their basic level. Before designing the tasks, a review
of the contents of the course program was done. The purpose of this was
to interconnect form and function through practicing language they had
already learned in their course.
Every task was directed towards four main purposes: a) to engage
learners in the discussion of a topic and prompt them to give their points
of view, b) to solve a problem, c) to stimulate learners to take control of
their learning (Gánem 2008; Swain and Lapkin 2000), and d) to develop and
practice their communicative competences.
For the purposes of this paper, one activity from task 1 will be presented.
The complete task 1 was named “successful people” and was composed
of nine activities. All of the activities related to physical descriptions and
general information about successful people. The purpose of this activity
was to generate basic communication through simple questions and
answers. Questions such as: “What is his/her name?”, “Where is he/she
from?”, “When was he/she born?” and “Why is he/she successful?” were the
target language (see Table 1).
33 ◗

Table 1: Activity 1 Task 1

Profession / Where is When was Why is he/she
Name
Occupation he/she from? he/she born? successful?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
On the one hand, the learners would discuss who the successful people
were and they would have to search for specific personal information about
them. On the other hand, they were directed to use some specific grammar,
such as the verb “to be.” A wide range of lexical and semantic groups such
as nationalities, professions, dates, and adjectives was also part of the target
language.
e. Research instruments
Using diverse methods of data collection enables the researcher to explore
the complexity of the elements involved in the learning processes. Using
multiple methods to collect data, followed by triangulation of findings can
help to validate research (Creswell and Clark 2011). For this reason, data
was collected through audio and video recordings of the interactions that
the learners had during their completion of problem-solving tasks. Additional
data came from the researcher’s observations, entries made by learners in
their diary formats, and a group assessment and evaluation comment sheet
(following a suggested rubric).
Observation notes made by the researcher are used systematically as a
technique to gain rich data from the interactions of the participants (Marshall
and Rossman 2006). In this study, these were expected to complement
information emerging from analysis and interpretation of the transcripts.
They were mainly collected through video recordings.
The written diary was used as a complementary means of capturing
participants’ personal insights into their own actions, thoughts and feelings. Here,
they reflected on the day-to-day activity of learning (Jacelon and Imperio 2005).
◗ 34

Considering that for some of these learners, this was the first time they had
ever used such diaries, a format was designed to help scaffold the reflection
process. This provided them with some ideas on what to focus on during
their writing.
The group assessment rubric was designed with the purpose of eliciting
group insights into the performance of the group during group work.
The parameters included descriptors; these were included so that the
learners could assess the nature and effects of their respective roles and
collaboration in their group.
The main body of data was comprised of the conversations that were
recorded in the groups. Segments of the conversations generated were
transcribed, analysed and categorized.
f. Data analysis
In all, 36 sessions were recorded, transcribed and transferred to the
software data manager NVIVO 10. The dialogues were analysed and
interpreted, then put into categories according to the repeated features
that emerged in them. The process of coding took several stages, visiting
and revisiting the data and going through a meticulous analysis of emerging
patterns.
g. Ethical considerations
The research protocol of the study, the participant information sheet,
consent form and the risk assessment formats were submitted to, and
gained approval from, the Ethics and Research Governance Online (ERGO)
at the University of Southampton. Once the application to conduct research
had been authorised by the ethics committee, the authorities of the SAC in
the public university selected for the study granted permission to implement
the research with volunteer adult beginner-level English language learners.
Additionally, it was important to guarantee the recognition of participants’
right to feel safe and respected at all times. To that end, each volunteer
participant also signed a consent form, granting permission for the
researcher to observe and record them. This was to avoid any possible
complaint with regard to their being observed and recorded during data
collection activities. As a way of further gaining the participants’ trust, the
35 ◗

use of pseudonyms was promised and implemented, to protect their identity

and to keep the information they provided strictly anonymous.
Discussion of the results

The analysis of segments of conversation was focused especially on the
three main dimensions of learning: cognitive, affective and social (Forga et
al. 2011; Hadwin et al. 2011; Vauras et al. 2003). In these interactions, the
learners were expected to put their cognitive, affective and social resources
into the achievement of common group objectives. The cognitive domain
includes all comprehension efforts and learning strategies the learners use
to solve the problems they faced in the conversations. The affective domain
refers to the emotional control and motivation that the learners exerted
in the completion of the tasks. The last domain points out the social skills
that language learners in this study developed while engaging in the task.
The research questions attempted to explore any evidence of autonomous
actions within any of these domains. Analysing what actions the groups
employed in order to overcome learning difficulties arising during these
conversations.
In the analysis of conversations, it was expected to find evidence of the
groups of beginner level English language learners gaining control over their
own learning process. Learners would face challenges in communicative
situations, making learning a dynamic activity. They would exert a level of
control over the interactions during the conversation. This was in order to
find a solution to each problem. It is important to note, the emphasis of
the study falls less on the individual than on the development of cognitive
activity in group interactions.
The learners in the groups first read the task and identified the problem
or the activity to complete. This was an important stage in the process of
learning. Once the learners had identified that they were going to solve a
problem, it was then, that they understood that the activity required them
to get engaged in the conversation, negotiate and agree with the other
learners to complete the task. They also interacted with the learning objects
they had around them: dictionaries, computers, the Internet, cell phones, and
pictures. Learners had these tools readily at hand and could rely on them
for assistance in solving a problem.
◗ 36

The second level of interaction was the interpersonal. As they were working
in groups, the learners had to rely on either implicit or explicit mediation or
assistance from the other people in their group (Lantolf and Thorne 2007).
This guidance, feedback or scaffolding was immediate. Communication
was what mattered most in the completion of these specific tasks and the
members of the teams demonstrated continuous mutual support throughout
the task stages.
In the transcripts of the group interactions, it was possible to see that
the cognitive, affective and social domains of the learners dynamically
intertwined in the conversations. The participants seemed to be developing
skills to manage their language use in the pursuit of completing the tasks.
Some specific characteristics in beginner English language learners were
noted. At this level, what is discussed in the groups went beyond the
grammar and vocabulary of L2. The interactions encompassed the control
that beginner level learners of English are able to exert, in conversation
management, mediation and negotiation.
In order to illustrate the effects of the developing levels of control that
the learners manifested in their interactions, an extract of one conversation
produced by a group engaged in the completion of Activity 1, Task 1,
“Successful lives”, is presented below. (See Task 1 and Appendix). The
analysis of the transcript will serve to show how the findings of this research
became apparent.
The snippet of conversation in the appendix demonstrates several
levels of control of the learning situation. It provides some evidence of the
capacity of the group to take charge and direct their actions towards the
accomplishment of their objective. In Line 1, Paco started to organize the
activity, by eliciting the name of the “next” successful person. Nelly then took
the floor in the conversation and proposed “Walt Disney” (Line 3). Lalo wrote
the answer and asked the others for confirmation (Line 5).
Additionally, whenever the group faced a lexical problem, that is, when
they did not know how to say a given word in English (see Lines 8, 12, 15,
16), they followed certain strategies, such as looking up the word in the
dictionary (Lines 13 and 23).
When the learners did not find the correct word to express themselves
they used their creativity to find other ways to solve their immediate
37 ◗

problem of communication (see Lines 16, 17, 19 and 21). These learners,
to solve vocabulary problems, used creativity. This is a skill that also
requires collaborative work, where members of a group agree upon the
understanding of the emergent modes of communication.
Repetition of the same word or phrase, or the use of words related to
the same semantic field is another common strategy used by beginner
learners of English (see Lines 23–26, 29–37 and 39–52). This strategy starts
when one learner models a sentence or a word, and another continues by
repeating and using the same words from the previous learner’s intervention.
In doing this, they show that they are capable of negotiating meaning and
understanding each other.
In the segment of conversation analysed in this document, there
is evidence that suggests learners were in control when making decisions
during group-work. It is here, in the cognitive domain of the group,
where the main objective was met: to achieve the goal and solve the
emerging obstacles.
Similarly, there is a simple example of affective control of the work. In
Line 53, Paco sighed and made a comment, gave a positive assessment and
expressed a note of relief at having completed the task. Laughs (Lines 17,
19 and 22) are included in the study as regulators of affective participation.
However, it should be noted that these non-verbal characteristics in the
conversation have not been deeply studied, as paralinguistic elements are
not the immediate focus of this piece of research.
In general, the analysis undertaken shows that beginner learners of
English develop strategies through mutual cognitive, affective and social
support when they are working in independent groups. When looking at
Figure 2, we can see an example of the learners making decisions related to
the organization of work (Lines 1 and 7). Members of the group also took the
initiative to use dictionaries to look up a word and were creative with their
limited linguistic resources.
On the whole, during group discussions, the participant’s employed all
their resources to support to each other. This was guided by the final aim
of completing the task. They developed communicative skills by negotiating
meaning through the creative use the language and the repetition of words
and phrases (as seen in Figure 2). In terms of affective support, they used
◗ 38

Cognitive,
Group Task
affective and
discussion completion
social support
• Negotiation (through creativity,

Communicative
repetition of words and phrases)
skills
• Remarks of support
• Organization of the task and turns

• Learning to learn skills, such as looking
Autonomous up in the dictionary and other resources.
skills • Taking decisions over their learning
enviroment such as changing the
positions of the chairs
Figure 2: The group regulation work
a series of evaluative remarks such as “good”, “fine” and “excellent”. There

is also evidence that they were able to take control of their actions towards
the achievement of their learning goals; they organized the tasks, their turns,
the activities, and their environment, as well as using their resources for the
completion of the task. In the end, the learners were empowered to regulate
their learning. They used this opportunity to communicate effectively using
the target language.
What is especially valuable is that their conversation became meaningful
and the target language was used for real communication and negotiation.
The learners engaged socially with one another through collaboration,
completing the task and taking the responsibility for their learning.
Furthermore, they made decisions concerning the activity itself.
Conclusions
Investigating how a group of beginner level English language learners
managed their learning provided an important insight into the process of
39 ◗

English language learning. Language teachers tend to focus on grammar and

vocabulary. Teachers decide what the learners have to do, and when and
how they are to do it. This seems inevitable in formal education. However,
giving the learners the opportunity to work independently with peers, may
let them take control of, and responsibility for, their own learning.
The findings of the study show that regulation in beginner-level group
work is noticeable and can be developed. Essentially, it is a dynamic process
where learners negotiate meaning in order to communicate in the target
language. The activity of solving problems together can make the learners
optimize situational learning. This can lead them to develop autonomous
skills, like the ability to take control and make decisions about the resources
they have at hand. This regulatory activity in groups also fosters friendship,
support, empathy and positive attitudes in language learning. The
participants of the teams played an important supportive role in each other’s
development, which is ideal for social mediation.
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◗ 44

Appendix: Sample of conversation

Transcription conventions
! indicates surprise or shock
… indicates an unfinished idea
[ represents overlapping simultaneous speech or
interruption
boldface transcription in L1 (Spanish)
(unclear) incomprehensible talk
--- a section not transcribed
[ ] indicates a note from the transcriber/researcher
/now/ translation into the target language (English)
((laugh)) indicates non-linguistic features in the dialogues such as
laughter and sighs
° ° lowered volume ((whispering))
(0.2) silence (minutes. seconds)
Sample of a segment of conversation

1 Paco Next, next Organisation of the work
2 All (unclear) ((laughs))
3 Nelly Walt Disney Takes the floor of the conversation
4 Paco Walt Disney. Walter Elias Disney
5 Lalo Walter, ¿así? /like that?/ Ask for confirmation while
writing
6 Paco Walter Elias Disney, full name
7 Lalo Profession?
Ah, how do you say inventor in English? They face a lexical
8 Paco
problem
9 Lalo Inventor?
10 Nelly Inventor,
11 Paco Inventor? of the… (0.3) the Walt Disney Company
12 Tita How do you say empresario /businessman/? In English
I don’t know [takes the dictionary and
13 Lalo
searches the word] uses resources
14 Paco °¿Y esto? ° °/and this?/ °
15 Tita How do you say?
45 ◗

How do you say? (0.4) mmmm, father

16 Paco
of Mickey Mouse
((laugh)) …. and creator, creator They give a
17 Tita
of Mickey Mouse creative
18 Paco Yes solution to
And father ((laugh)), and father the lexical
19 Nelly
de/of/ princess problem
20 Paco Yes
21 Tita And father de Pepe Grillo [Jiminy Cricket]
22 All ((laugh))
Businessman, busi-ness-man finds the word
23 Lalo
in the dictionary
24 Nelly business
25 Lalo businessman and in-[ven-tor repetition
26 Tita [inventor, inventor
27 Lalo where from?
28 Tita Where from? Es de… /He is from…./
29 Nelly USA,
30 Tita USA, the USA y /and/ was from
31 Paco Chicago
32 Nelly Chicago, Illinois.
33 Paco [Illinois
34 Nelly [Illinois Chicago, Illinois, repetition
35 Tita °°Illinois?°°
36 Nelly Illinois
37 Paco Illinois, ok.
38 Lalo Why successful?
◗ 46

39 Nelly Co-fundator de/of/ Walt Disney Company

40 Lalo Cofundador/cofounder/
41 Tita Inventor, inventor de Walt Disney Company
42 Paco (unclear) Yes
43 All ((laughs))
Because he co-founder, co-funder, co- fundator,
44 Nelly
co-fundador
How do you say cofundador/cofounder/ repetition
45 Tita
in English?
46 Lalo Co-funder (mispronounced), co-funder?, uhmmm,
47 Tita Cofunder?
48 Lalo Cofounder?
49 Paco I don't know.
50 Nelly Co funder? (.08) The Walt Disney Company
51 Tita The Walt Disney Company
52 Lalo Because he was cofounder (.05)
53 Paco Very good, ahh, [sighs in satisfaction] Affective domain
54 Lalo OK
47 ◗

Chapter 3
The Emerging Identity of Pre-service Teachers during the

Practicum Component of a Second Language Teacher
Education Programme at a Mexican Public University
Ana María Elisa Díaz de la Garza

Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas
Abstract
This paper reports on the design, implementation and findings of a doctoral
study that was carried out at a public university in the State of Chiapas,
Mexico, in the spring of 2014. The study included 10 pre-service teachers
(PST), all participants in a second language teacher education (SLTE)
programme. The theoretical framework draws on sociocultural theories of
learning (Freeman and Johnson 1998; Johnson 2009), more specifically those
of identity formation (Beijaard, Paulien, Meijer, and Verloop 2004) and situated
learning theory (Lave and Wenger 1991) within communities of practise (CoP)
(Wenger 1998). The aims were to examine: 1) how the practicum influences
early professional identity construction; 2) how personal and school related
factors influence early teacher identity construction and 3) how reflective
practice in the practicum influences PST professional identity development.
To this end, I invited pre-service teachers to reflect upon the challenges
they faced during the practicum component of their SLTE programme within
resource-poor environments. I then asked how their experiences had shaped
their notions of professional identity. In sum, this investigation aimed to
enhance understanding of the various problems confronting PSTs during their
practicum activities, such as the impact of social, institutional and personal
obstacles on the construction of participants’ professional identity.
49 ◗

The findings illustrate that the practicum enriched PST learning and aided
identity formation. This occurred as they worked out how to navigate the
different school contexts where they were placed, found opportunities to link
theory and practice, and developed coping strategies.
Key words: second language teacher education, pre-service teacher
identity, teacher agency, teacher learning, disadvantaged schools.
Introduction
Second Language Teacher Education has evolved greatly in recent decades.
This has had a considerable impact upon the formulation of theory regarding
pre-service teacher learning. Currently, there is a lack of information
regarding pre-service teacher education in Mexico, especially in resource-
poor contexts. To address this gap, the larger project this report draws from
consisted of following a group of 10 English as a foreign language (EFL)
pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a second language teacher education (SLTE)
programme throughout the 480 hour, eighth semester practicum component
of their B.Ed. degree. This is a required and recognized period of social
service, during which PSTs are placed in schools in different parts of the
state where they live (Chiapas, Mexico). Employing a variety of information
gathering instruments, my goal was to examine the challenges which
beginning teachers face and how the practicum experience in resource-poor
schools shaped PST identity. The data was collected during the spring term
of 2014.
As the practicum teacher educator and coordinator, I had identified the
need to examine teacher learning in practicum. Previous practicum cohorts
had commented that they had felt discouraged and isolated. They had
difficulties coping with the complexities they encountered in their eighth
semester practicum.
Such issues are probably influenced by an individual’s perception of what
makes a good teacher. According to Korthagen (2004: 80), multiple factors
such as the environment, an individual’s behaviour, their competencies,
beliefs, identity and mission, all work together to shape an individual’s theory
about what makes a good teacher and how an individual views herself as an
educator. This is illustrated in Figure 1:
◗ 50

Ana María Elisa Díaz de la Garza ◗ Chapter 3
environment
behaviour
competencies
beliefs
identity
mission
Figure 1: The onion (Korthagen, 2004:80)
A teacher’s conception of self can be understood as being influenced by

social, cultural and political contexts. Findings by Borko (2004), Farrell
(2012); de Ibarrola Nicolin (2012) and Wright (2010) regarding teacher
development, note the influence of social, political, economic, institutional,
and cultural factors in SLTE. It is to be expected that PSTs’ experiences,
values, attitudes and beliefs will shape their professional development
(Freeman and Johnson 1998; Johnson 2009).
Disadvantaged or ‘resource-poor’ schools are those where students
usually come from culturally diverse and low socio-economic backgrounds
(Martinez 2014). Many learners in vulnerable schools lack basic skills,
51 ◗

quality nutrition, health care, resources and housing. As a result, structural,

environmental, communal, economic, educational and organisational
challenges, as well as the lack of parental involvement, have an influence on
learning outcomes. These contextual factors will impact the way those who
experience them perceive themselves and those around them.
The aim of this study was to explore the construction of identity in
student teachers as they went through their practicum in resource-poor
contexts in Chiapas. I noticed that PSTs were struggling once they were
placed in institutions for their practicum. Many commented that they
felt there was no connection between what they had learned in the SLTE
programme and the knowledge, awareness and skills which they needed
to successfully teach English as a foreign language in the schools where
they were placed for their social service. In addition, many commented that
they felt isolated and required greater support to succeed. It was apparent
that due to these contextual factors, the PSTs were undergoing conflicting
processes of construction, related to their identity as emerging teachers.
It is important to understand that teacher identity is a ‘socially
constructed, contextually situated and continually emerging (and changing)
sense of self which is shaped by a variety of factors’ (Cheung, Said, and
Park 2015: xii). It is associated with teacher learning and professional
engagement. Given that teacher learning is complex, dynamic and
continuous, it is crucial to comprehend that professional development
is linked to PSTs’ personal histories and future aspirations (Freeman and
Johnson 1998; Johnson 2009).
According to Smith and Sparkes (2008), teacher identity formation
may be examined from various perspectives. These include a focus on
an individual’s inner world from a psychosocial perspective, a focus on
individual and social aspects from an inter-subjective perspective, a focus
on social and cultural contexts from a storied resource perspective, and a
focus on social and relational processes from a performative perspective.
Finally, there is a dialogical perspective. This last perspective focuses on
how identity develops within a discourse and on-going dialogues, which are
bound to socio-political and cultural contexts. This investigation employed a
dialogical perspective.
◗ 52

In addition, situated learning (Lave and Wenger 1991) and sociocultural

perspectives (Freeman and Johnson 1998; Johnson 2009) were employed
in this study, given that identity is constructed through participation in
‘communities of practice’ (CoP) (Wenger 1998) through interactions between
people, discourses and contexts. Furthermore, It is a fluid process, given
that an individual will never finish constructing their identity as they seek to
develop their personal theory about teaching.
This paper identifies a thriving identity research culture in SLTE but
argues that more research is required to determine the extent to which
identity formation guides SLTE practice (Wright 2010), especially in
disadvantaged contexts, since context impacts educational practices
(Kelchtermans 2014).
Context of the study

The context of the study was the Licenciatura en la Enseñanza del Inglés
(B. Ed in Teaching English as a Foreign Language) programme at the Tuxtla
Faculty of the Autonomous University of Chiapas, Mexico. This is a nine-
semester study programme, including the 480-hour practicum component,
which course participants have to complete in public schools in the state of
Chiapas as part of their social service programme.
The state of Chiapas is located in south-eastern Mexico and is considered
one of the poorest states in the entire country.
Figure 1: Geographical location of Chiapas, Mexico
According to Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI),

at least 25 per cent of the population in Chiapas is considered to live in
extreme poverty. This area, like most of the rest of the country, has been
53 ◗

severely affected by the general global economic crisis, record levels of

unemployment, an educational crisis and drug-related violence.
It is considered significantly underdeveloped in comparison to the rest of the
country (INEGI 2011).
Teaching underprivileged students presents student teachers with unique
challenges that will ultimately affect their learning and identity development
as teachers.
Recent studies regarding professional development in initial teacher
education highlight the significance of student teaching in teacher education
programs (Cody 2010; Merc 2010). Practicum components provide learners
with opportunities to obtain workplace experience, to develop their
knowledge, awareness and skills (KAS), and to develop employability skills.
However, follow-up studies conducted by the ‘Professional Development and
Assessment in Language Teaching’ academic body at the Tuxtla Language
School in Chiapas, Mexico from 2005–2012, have provided evidence that a
great number of student teachers feel that they have not been adequately
prepared to meet the requirements of teaching in a real classroom
environment by the teacher education programme. Student teachers
admitted that they sometimes feel discouraged and unable to cope with the
challenges that they face during the eighth semester practicum segment
of their nine-semester teacher education programme. This is the only time
during the B.Ed. programme that students participate in a practicum, or what
is called Service Learning (SL).
Problems identified during the practicum by the Tuxtla Language School
from 2005–2010 include difficulties with classroom management, dealing
with individual learner differences, dealing with unmotivated learners, the
lack of teaching resources, and adapting to school cultures (Diaz de la Garza
and Serrano Vila 2010). All these issues will impact the kinds of experiences
that student teachers have and the images of themselves as ‘teachers’ that
will emerge, as identity is shaped and re-shaped during the practicum.
Becoming a second language teacher involves the development of a
professional identity as well as the construction of a specific self–image
(Feiman-Nemser 2003). The embodiment of identity varies depending on
◗ 54

individual capabilities as well as access to social and material resources. In
recent decades, there has been an increasing interest in teacher identity
research. While teacher identity has been interpreted in a variety of ways
(Beijaard et al. 2004; Sutherland, Howard, and Markauskaite 2010), it is
frequently referred to as a continuous complex process that is influenced by
social, affective, and cognitive factors (Korthagen 2004; Schön 1983). Identity
work allows researchers to examine how individuals affiliate with or distance
themselves from specific communities as they co-construct representations of
self and other through discourse (Zotzmann and O’Regan 2016).
As Beijaard et al. (2004) point out, professional identity is influenced by
the context in which a teacher is placed, their personal background, beliefs,
and motivation as well as by prior learning experiences. Teacher identity
thus includes an individual’s vision of who they are, what kind of a teacher
they are, how they see their role as teachers, what kind of teacher others
perceive them to be, what kind of a teacher they must be in order to survive
in each unique context, as well as what kind of teacher they wish to be in
the future. This complex construction of a professional sense of self is what
this study looks at as it assesses the ways in which experiences within a
resource-poor environment shape professional identity.
In addition to Beijaard et al. (2004), it is helpful to look at Wenger’s (1998)
conceptualisation of professional identity as evolving from membership in
communities of practice (CoP). His concept of the process whereby novices
become included in CoP is through ‘legitimate peripheral participation’
(Wenger 1998:100). This is challenging for PSTs, since they are newcomers
in the institutions where they are placed for their practicum and often feel
isolated from their peers. In-service teachers (INSETs) often ignore them and
expect them to silently follow the set curriculum and deal effectively with
classroom management. Lacking input from knowledgeable others has a
negative effect on the construction of professional identity and may cause
PSTs to experience a sense of isolation. Researchers, therefore, need to
examine PSTs’ practicum experiences and how they make sense of them, as
they disentangle agency and existing educational contexts (Kelchtermans,
2014). It is through reflective practices that PSTs will be able to understand
and direct their behaviour more effectively.
This notion of self-direction is centred in the construct of agency. Agency
55 ◗

is the belief that an individual is able to make appropriate instructional

decisions, knows how to obtain and utilize educational resources, and
demonstrates confidence regarding constructing and maintaining an
effective learning environment (Adams and Gupta 2015). Unless an individual
believes that she has the power to obtain results from her efforts, she will
not be motivated to take action. As a result, agency involves both personal
and positional power. Social structures, power relations and access to
resources influence the agency of individuals. What PSTs perceive and
believe, and what they do, is a key issue in the discussion of agency and
how individuals are enabled and constrained by their social and material
environments.
PSTs must learn to critically reflect on their learning experiences in order
to understand what it means to be an agent, in an effort to actively engage
in their professional development. Reflection is the springboard for making
decisions about what one may and may not do in each context and will lead
to a sense of belonging in the world of teaching English to speakers of other
languages (TESOL) (Kiely and Askham 2012; Korthagen 2004). Essentially,
being reflective informs teachers’ continuous professional development,
and enables them to evaluate teaching and make better-informed teaching
decisions (Burton 2009).
As a beginning teacher, it is challenging to determine how to adhere
to personal ideas of what makes a good teacher, whilst at the same time
meeting the demands of the context and expectations of the host school
where individuals are placed for the practicum (Flores and Day, 2006). As
PSTs try to make sense of their roles and responsibilities as educators, their
teacher identity is influenced by how they assert their individual agency.
This is done as they align their professional vision with the demands of
the workforce. They continuously construct and reconstruct their teacher
identity, depending on their perception of who they are or should be, and
on their idea of who they aspire to become in each context. This, in turn,
informs teaching practices and affects how they interact with learners
and colleagues, as well as how they utilize available resources. PSTs need
to confront challenges by reflecting both in and on practice. They must
employ available resources as effectively as possible by externalizing and
articulating their values, attitudes and beliefs about teaching, depending on
◗ 56

their practical and theoretical knowledge (Flores and Day 2006).

Issues generally encountered by student teachers in the setting of
their practicum in Chiapas include adjusting to specific school cultures and
learning to handle relations with students, colleagues, principals, and school
staff. Most Mexican schools work within complex, isolationist, competitive
institutional cultures where there is a great ‘resistance to change’. There
is also a culture of ‘simulation’ (Flores Pacheco 2009), whereby individuals
simulate learning when in reality many individuals are just going through
the motions. In addition, it is a common occurrence for beginning teachers
to be placed in disadvantaged schools. This implies mixed ability groups,
underprivileged, low achieving students and resource-poor economic
environments. In these schools there is often a lack of resources and a lack
of motivation from students to learn an L2. Furthermore, it may be necessary
to develop classroom management and teaching strategies for teaching
large groups (45–55 students per group) or special needs students. This
is challenging for a beginning teacher who must often address feelings of
isolation and incompetence (Santibañez 2007; Martinez 2014).
These challenges which PSTs face in the practicum are similar to the
problems that novice teachers face in schools all over the world (Martinez
2014). However, what makes the challenges significant are that PSTs must
address the manner in which problems are shaped by each institution’s
cultural, social, academic and economic context. For example, problems
related to the lack of parental supervision are much more significant in the
foster home where learners have limited support from adults. In the case of
the PST placed at the high school located in a farming community, there is a
lack of parental involvement when parents are illiterate. In these cases, it is
important to contextualize PSTs’ identity formation within a teaching practice
that is shaped by a context of disadvantaged schools (Martinez 2014).
There is a lack of literature regarding research on identity formation in
underdeveloped and developing countries (Izadinia 2014). As Borko (2004)
notes, social interaction must be studied from a situative perspective, taking
into account the social systems as well as the context in which the learning
takes place. In this respect, a teacher’s identity is understood as being
developed through social interaction and influenced by an individual’s past,
present and future. In the context of this study, it is understood that PSTs’
57 ◗

own history as learners (apprenticeship of observation), second language

teacher education programmes, classroom-based experiences and their
expectations for the future, will all influence the construction of their
professional identities. For this reason, it is necessary to further examine the
sociocultural contexts in which learning to teach takes place. This is in order
to improve our understanding of how PSTs develop professional knowledge
and develop as teachers (Freeman and Johnson 1998).
Participants
Ten volunteer Mexican pre-service teachers (three males and seven
females) took part in this study. One PST was teaching English as a foreign
language (EFL) to young learners in a day care centre; two in a special pilot
programme for 11–13 year old learners; four were placed in technical high
schools and two were placed at a foster home (casa hogar).
PST placement is illustrated in the following table.
PST Practicum Significant Contextual Information

Alicia EFL at a public high Students are in danger of failing EFL.
school in the capital. Most do not like L2 at all. Average group
size: 40 students.
Andrea EYL special programme Pilot program; team teaching with
at a university in the Julieta. Group size: 21 students.
capital.
Elena Public secondary Students are unmotivated to learn EFL.
school located in a They see no relevance for their lives.
small town 30 minutes Group size: 30 students each.
from the capital. Worked
with 7th graders.
Isabel EFL a at public high Students are in danger of failing EFL.
school in the capital. Most do not like L2 at all. Group size: 40
students.
Julieta EYL special programme Pilot program; team teaching with
at a university in the Andrea. Group size: 21 students.
capital.
Karla EFL at a public high Students are in danger of failing EFL.
students.
◗ 58

Leonardo EFL at a public high Students are in danger of failing EFL.

students.
Otto EFL for teens at a foster Students have dysfunctional families,
home (casa hogar) troubled pasts. Group size: 12 students.
located in the capital.
Patty EYL for university day Very young learners (3 years old).
care centre. Parents are studying and many hold
part-time jobs to support their families.
Group size: 8 students.
Vicente EFL for YL at a foster Students have dysfunctional families,
home (casa hogar) troubled pasts. Group size: 11 students.
located in the capital.
All participants were assigned teaching responsibilities and were responsible

for organizing instruction, creating didactic resources and managing
discipline problems in the classroom.
Research questions and methodology

The larger qualitative investigation this paper draws from was guided by the
following research questions:
1. How do PSTs’ personal experiences in schools during the practicum
influence early professional identity construction?
2. How do school related factors influence early identity construction?
3. How does reflective practice in the practicum influence PSTs’
professional identity development?
Given the scope of these research questions and the substantial amount of
data that was collected for this study, in this paper I shall focus on the first
two questions only.
The transformation of teacher identity becomes apparent through
narrative discourse (Kiely and Askham 2012), and for this reason I selected
narratives as a way to look into the particular constructions that PSTs were
developing through their practicum. I was interested in examining the socio-
cognitive processes through which PSTs reflected upon prior and current
practicum learning experiences. Narrative is a useful lens for examining how
peer dialogue fosters interpersonal and emotional support as well as teacher
learning.
59 ◗

The framework for the study is essentially ‘interpretive research’. An

interpretivist approach aims to explore participants’ culturally derived and
historically situated interpretations of the social world. From this stance,
through participants’ interpretations of the world, theory emerges from
specific situations and is grounded in data generated by research. This
enables understanding of individuals’ behaviour (Cohen et al. 2011). By using
narratives and employing an interpretivist approach to research I was able
to identify and examine the factors that have an impact on PSTs’ professional
learning and identity.
Data collection
In order to explore the socio-cognitive processes of professional identity
formation of PSTs through their reflection on current practicum learning
experiences and how they coped with personal, class, school, and contextual
issues, I used the following data collection techniques:
• Teaching portfolios consisting of personal collections of written
reflections and critical incidents
• Significant data obtained from asynchronous discussion forum
transcripts
• Individual semi-structured face-to-face interviews
• A focus group interview
Data analysis was an on-going process, employing an interpretative case
study focus (Bromley 1986 in Duff 2008). The study utilized narrative content
and critical discourse analysis to draw conclusions relating to the personal
and professional dimensions of PST development (agency, identity, readiness
for entering the workforce) (Block 2008).
Teaching practice portfolios were collected through the use of EDMODO,
which is a virtual social network, often referred to as a Facebook for schools.
To track the impact of the practicum, PSTs were asked to compile a virtual
portfolio with guiding questions in which they recorded their perceptions
of the practicum. They were also encouraged to share their experiences
with each other in an asynchronous discussion forum and comment on the
experiences shared there. This was encouraged, as identity work emphasizes
performance and social interaction (Wenger 1998; Kiely and Askham 2012).
Reflections were posted online after 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 16 weeks into
◗ 60

the practicum for peers to read and comment on. In addition, critical
learning incidents were also reported in online reflections, highlighting the
significance of these events and how they influenced identity construction.
Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted to obtain insight
into PSTs’ perceptions of self throughout their practicum experiences, as
they conceptualized their personal theories, attitudes, and beliefs (Beijaard
et al. 2004). This was done because capturing authentic teacher voices is
central to this research. Semi-structured interviews ‘enable participants
to discuss their interpretations of the world and to express how they
regard situations from their own point of view’ (Cohen et al. 2011: 409),
and they allow the researcher to adapt questions according to the flow of
the conversation. This lends a greater deal of flexibility to the researcher,
when interacting with participants, than a structured interview would. The
interviews were conducted post-practicum, were audio recorded (with PSTs’
written consent) and transcribed. The data was visited and revisited to
identify significant portions for data analysis.
PSTs also took part in an 80-minute focus group session six weeks after
having concluded the practicum. This was done to allow PSTs to distance
themselves from the practicum experience and become more emotionally
detached. The focus group was conducted in Spanish, PSTs’ native language,
in an effort to allow them to express themselves freely. The interaction in a
group discussion was also a source of data. It acknowledged the researcher’s
active role as moderator in creating the group discussion for data collection
purposes. Focus groups enable participants to listen to others and formulate
their views when they are ready (Kruger and Casey 2009).
The aim of the face-to-face interviews and the focus group session was
to examine the impact of the practicum experience on PST learning and
teacher identity construction.
Ethical considerations
The University of Southampton ethics committee approved the study. PSTs,
who were provided with details of the study, participated in the investigation
voluntarily. All PSTs provided written consent for their participation as well
as granted permission for written reflections and recording of interviews and
the focus group session.
61 ◗

Identifiers have been eliminated from the data and pseudonyms have been
employed to protect participants’ privacy.
Discussion of results
Before initiating the practicum, 80 per cent of PSTs had enthusiastic
expectations regarding what teaching in disadvantaged schools would be
about. Most had no previous experience. On completing their practicum, all
PSTs commented that they gained valuable learning experiences from their
teaching practice and felt that, despite occasional setbacks, the experience
had been rewarding. The two PSTs placed in the casa hogar identified the
challenge of working with learners who lack resources such as textbooks
as challenging, and attributed these problems to the resource-poor
environment. They obtained a better understanding of dealing with a lack of
resources and developed their creativity. Otto, who was placed in the high
school of the casa hogar commented:
They didn’t have an English section in their library. But the INSET that was
there, tried to bring material. They just had, like five books in English, but no
material. No listening, no verb list, vocabulary.... I made a book with many
activities and with material for them, so they could study verbs, vocabulary of
the house, of their classroom and things like that.
Patty, who was placed in the day care centre, also dealt with the reality of
adapting resources, which were designed for older students, to fit the needs
of her learners:
I have to adapt a lot of the materials, the resources, the procedures and the
approaches, for [my students], because they are really, they are just like babies
between two and three years old.
Thus, it is evident that becoming a teacher may be an uncertain process that

is focused upon their learning as well as their students’ learning.
Peer discussion within communities of practice (CoP) appeared to
enhance teacher learning through joint discussion as PSTs developed
their understanding of ‘self’ in context. When confronted with challenges,
◗ 62

participants expressed anxiety and apprehension about classroom

management, especially when working with younger learners.
This was not surprising, given that the practicum is recognised as a
potentially stressful stage of teacher education (Farrell 2007; Gebhard 2009;
Trent 2013). In the case of disadvantaged schools, matters are complicated
further by the lack of teaching resources. This is likely to have a negative
impact on learning outcomes.
Themes in this study are drawn from sociocultural theories of learning,
specifically identity formation and situated learning theory within CoPs. A
number of themes emerged from the data regarding how PSTs perceived
their identity construction. They included:
Conflict between expectations and reality: Most PSTs believed that the
practicum would be easy: they were then confronted with a demanding
environment. Most participants mentioned having issues addressing
classroom management.
Lack of teaching resources: The socio-economic situation prevalent in
the state of Chiapas meant that most schools were poorly equipped (lack
of equipment and didactic resources, especially in the case of the two PSTs
placed at the casa hogar). For example, Otto, who was placed in the high
school of the foster-home commented upon the situation in the following
excerpt from the focus group session:
Before [my social service] I think that I was a normal teacher, the ones that just
use the book and check homework and exams and no more. Now I, I know that
I can use different things, different methods, to teach English. Teaching was
challenging. Now I’m more flexible.
Another example of this is provided by Patty who was placed at a day

care centre at a public university. She identifies a gap between theory and
practice in working with toddlers:
I have found out the hardest part is putting into practice what I have learned
during the seven semesters of the course of study [in the practicum] because
I contrasted my own beliefs of children’s second language learning and the
real conditions and attitudes of my young students. According to me, the
63 ◗

theory only gives us a little hint of what teaching means. When I am in front of
the group I have to use not only what I know about methods and approaches
but also all my creativity, patience and the different opinions of other teachers.
Readiness for work as EFL teachers: The following section looks at each
PST’s vision of what makes a good teacher and their personal perception of
their roles as EFL teachers (i.e. having to finish the textbook and abide by
institutional policies).
Karla, who was placed in a technical high school (COBACH),
acknowledged an awareness of how she was developing professionally:
I noticed that I changed, because when I got there my colleague mentioned

I was too nice. I would say yes to anything and when I had to control them it
was difficult. I would tell them to be quiet and they wouldn’t listen and keep
talking, or they wouldn’t pay attention to me or they didn’t care about the
class. But in time I saw that I was being too flexible, so I stopped being nice
and began to be more strict. The other teacher asked me if I had realized how
I was changing and that I did it on my own because no one was going to tell
me how the students were going to be and it was something I had to learn.
That helped me a lot.
In response to Research Question 1 (RQ1): How does PSTs’ experience in

schools in the practicum influence early professional identity construction?,
PSTs acknowledged that they were in a vulnerable position and that their
past, present and future selves were crucial in the process of identity
construction. It was necessary for them to confront the theory/practice gap,
which produced shifts in participants’ personal and professional concerns.
As a result, they developed multiple, frequently conflicting identities that
existed in unstable states of construction and reconstruction, reformation or
erosion, and addition or expansion.
An example of this is Otto who was placed at the elementary school of
a private foster home (casa hogar) for abandoned and mistreated children.
He envisions himself as a future change agent. When asked to reflect online
about why he had decided to become a teacher he responded:
◗ 64

I decided to become a teacher because, in my opinion, a student’s education is

very important and this is a way I can try to change Mexican education.
Here the PST envisions his role as helping to improve educational

perspectives for his learners. In addition, Otto felt overwhelmed by the
students’ academic and socio-emotional needs. Originally believing that
all learners were the same, he became aware of the differences between
students who had a strong support system and more vulnerable students
who lack a family.
I know now that there are other types of students like them, who have no
parents, family or resources to succeed in life, but I was able to see that they
are really interested in doing something for themselves on their own.
This demonstrates how Otto had undergone a change in the way he

understood his students’ situation. Kiley (2009) and Meyer and Land
(2005) refer to this as crossing a threshold. As a result, PSTs shift their
understanding and reposition the ‘self’ in their emerging identity. They must
develop coping strategies as is illustrated here:
‘My practicum was a challenge because they were children, students between
twelve, fourteen and even sixteen. I would think how grown up they were to be
in elementary school, but... they had suffered a lot growing up without a father,
or mother, so they are very difficult to control, they need a lot of discipline. At
first I had trouble because I am too kind, so they took advantage of that. It was
terrible for me when I had to be strict, but they began to improve.’
I [had] to be proactive. In the sense that you have to see the problems that
some might have and resolve them before they happen, this was because
there were a lot of problems where I was. If I did any activity that could cause
any trouble I preferred not to do it, and so on. So I would have to decide which
activities to do… to be able to learn something.
Now I know that I have another identity, First, I was a very kind teacher but
then I became very strict in that school. So I changed because I was teaching
young learners. I had troublemakers. They belong to an orphanage so I had to
be very firm with them.’ (Focus group August 2014)
65 ◗

In response to Research Question 2 (RQ2): How do personal and school

related factors influence early identity construction?, PSTs’ commented that
their personal backgrounds and dispositions influenced how they socialized
within a CoP. They felt that institutional and social constraints in the schools
where they were placed imposed norms, values and common practices
of the school upon their teaching practices. However, by discussing their
experiences with each other, they recognized that different contexts require
different approaches for effective handling of poor student behaviour. They
perceived moments of success and failure around the development of
coping strategies.
PSTs are transitioning from being students of teaching to becoming
teachers of students. This experience may be filled with apprehension
and fosters the use of coping strategies as is illustrated in the following
excerpt from Julieta, who taught young learners in a pilot programme at the
university:
In my opinion what I have to do is to talk with my partners about their

experiences as teachers, especially those who are working with children. I
have done that with some of them when I have had the chance. I realized that
they have very similar insecurities and situations, thus I can infer that fear and
doubts are normal in the process of becoming an English teacher.
Thus, cognitive, motivational and affective processes enabled participating

PSTs to exercise a certain degree of agency over environmental conditions,
depending on how motivated they were. PSTs shared that coping responses
also included admitting that they were facing problems, discussing issues
with others to initiate change and taking responsibility for addressing
challenges such as feeling threatened, alienated and powerless. Alicia, who
was placed in a public technical high school, with an average of 40 students
per classroom, noted that at the beginning of the practicum she felt ill
prepared for teaching teenagers. She admitted that the practicum was a
reality check:
[My practicum has] taught me that the real world is not in fact, what we saw in
class. We have to deal with many different situations and I want to be honest,
◗ 66

I am sure I am not totally prepared to face that. I need more experience. It

is a huge challenge to teach teenagers, they are noisy, talkative and their
behaviour is always out of control, but I am learning.
Recognizing her weaknesses she is open to learn how to better manage her
classes.
Elena, who worked in a technical junior high school located in a farming
community thirty minutes from the capital, noted that poor study habits and
low motivation take a toll on the quality of education. She attempts to be a
role model for her female students and in her EDMODO reflection admits:
‘I try very hard to be a good example for these children, students of that
age see me as a person who is still studying, because, I hope in some
way they would feel motivated to continue studying. It is very common
that girls leave the school to get married at a young age, this is why I tell
them how important is to finish this level.’ (EDMODO March 2014)
She comments:
My perspective on teaching and learning to teach changed a lot. Firstly,

I will never judge the teacher’s work again, now I admire their effort. It is
very hard to work with youngsters and I never thought about it until
I stood in front of the classroom.
This transformation in values, attitudes and beliefs demonstrates awareness

that teaching is a challenging career.
Following Kiely and Askham (2012), identity work is seen in this study as
a process that involves making sense of new knowledge and practices, and
enabling PSTs to feel comfortable with their emerging identity.
Conclusions
The main aim of this study was to take a critical look at some of the
challenges that PSTs faced during the practicum component of SLTE in
resource poor environments. Additionally, It was also an aim to look at how
these challenges contributed to the shaping of the PSTs’ emerging teacher
identity. This study joins the growing body of research regarding second
language teacher identity as a means of understanding why teachers act
67 ◗

as they do and how they learn and progress (Kiely and Askham 2012). It
demonstrates the crucial role of the practicum in the identity construction of
PSTs. Both prior experiences, as learners and practicum teachers, enabled
PSTs to bridge the theory practice gap and develop practical theories about
teaching. These theories shape teacher identity and allow PSTs to identify
what makes a good teacher. However, dealing with the complexities present
in disadvantaged schools in Mexico is challenging, especially for novice
teachers (Sandoval Flores 2009; Martínez 2014). As Beijaard et al. (2004)
note, teacher identity is not a single identity but a collection of sub-identities
that reflects how a teacher sees herself, how others see her and how she
would like to see herself in the future (ideal self).
This study also recognized that complex sociocultural and institutional
forces shape identity construction. The lack of resources forced PSTs to
exert agency and develop reflective skills to cope with the challenges they
faced. By sharing experiences and reflections with peers within the CoP,
PSTs were offered emotional support and alternatives of practice for each
other. These had the potential to enhance reflective skills and self-agency.
The small scale of the sample employed in the current study means it is
impossible, for now, to apply the data to other resource-poor environments.
Nonetheless, it represents the first attempt in Mexico to draw on data about
how EFL PSTs construct their identity in the practicum, and it is hoped
that these findings will serve to enrich the theory and experience of SLTE
practice.
Currently teacher education programmes in Mexico operate on a one-
size fits all approach which does not take into consideration the differences
in different school contexts and geographic regions. The implications for
the planning and implementation of the practicum in Mexico, and possibly
similar contexts in Latin America and other resource-poor areas, are for PSTs
to be placed in more schools with vulnerable learners in an effort for them
to learn to adapt to the particularities of context. That way they would be
better prepared for job opportunities available in disadvantaged schools. It
is hoped that the insights reported in this paper contribute to the literature
regarding PST identity in resource-poor environments.
◗ 68

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◗ 72

Chapter 4
The challenge of EFL Writing Assessment in Mexican

Higher Education
Elsa Fernanda González

Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas
Abstract
The assessment of writing, whether in classroom or in large-scale contexts,
is a difficult activity that requires time and knowledge of the nature of
assessment and the use of available assessment tools. Different variables
may have an important role in an assessment’s validity and reliability:
human judgment, subjectivity, the writing task, scoring procedures, scorers’
linguistic background, gender, academic background and previous training
experience (Weigle 1994, 1998; Bacha 2001; Barkaoui 2007, 2010; Knoch
2009, 2011). This study examines the difficulties that EFL teachers face when
assessing writing in their classrooms and contrasts it with the perceived
constraints of EFL programme managers when including writing assessment
in a language program. It also sets out to explore the perceptions that
participants have of EFL writing assessment and its inclusion in the university
EFL curriculum. Following a qualitative approach to data collection and
analysis, information obtained from a background questionnaire and
semi-structured interviews carried out with teacher participants and EFL
programme managers revealed that most teachers have difficulties coping
with the scoring rubric used; the correspondence of their teaching purposes
with the overall objectives of the English program; and the lack of time
available to dedicate to the teaching and assessment of writing. Language
managers considered that the large amounts of time required, lack of trained
73 ◗

teachers and intimidation among teachers and managers were the main
difficulties to overcome when considering the assessment of writing in the
language program. Both groups of participants agreed that the inclusion of
writing is necessary in an EFL programme and that its assessment promotes
its teaching in the classroom. However, different perceptions were obtained
from both groups concerning the best specific procedures to follow to
assess this skill.
Keywords: EFL writing, EFL writing assessment, writing assessment training
Introduction
The assessment of students’ language performance is a complex activity that
teachers are required to do as part of their regular teaching practice. In the
Mexican English as a foreign language (EFL) context, as in many other parts
of the world, language instructors need to select an assessment method
that corresponds to their assessment purposes; develop the assessment
tool to use in the classroom or cope with one provided by the programme
manager; administer the tool, score the tool, interpret the score and make
appropriate decisions; communicate the results to the administrative offices;
and finally be aware and cope with the consequences that assessment may
bring (Crusan 2014; Fulcher 2012; Stoynoff and Coomb 2012; Weigle 2007).
However, EFL teachers may not have the necessary theoretical and practical
skills to assess their students accurately and effectively.
The level of difficulty may be even greater in the case of the assessment
of written performance. White (1990) emphasizes that writing instructors and
writing assessors should be conscious of the differences between distinct
writing programmes, as individual discourse communities that have specific
assessing purposes. In other words, fair assessment of students’ writing
needs to take into account the local practices and purposes of the people
involved in the production of written text (Pearson 2004). This implies that
classroom assessment of writing is highly complex and that context is a
determining factor in the search for valid and reliable procedures to assess
writing. Additionally, the assessment of written communication will always
be subject to human judgment (Ghanbari, Barati, and Moinzadeh 2012);
this subjective element means that providing fair and accurate scores for
students’ written texts may be quite difficult to accomplish (Pearson 2004).
◗ 74

Elsa Fernanda González ◗ Chapter 4
On the other hand, decision makers who design EFL programmes in Mexico
face a number of constraints with regard to the inclusion of the assessment
of writing in the EFL curriculum in their institutions. According to Ghanbari,
Barati and Moinzadeh (2012: 84) one of the challenges that decision makers
face, is the complexity and dangers of using writing assessment without
a ‘rigorous assessment plan’. In other words, a plan that establishes clear
learning, teaching, and assessment goals that could lead to valid and reliable
assessment of students’ language abilities. Additionally, the ability to make
decisions about learners’ writing abilities that may result in negative or
positive wash-back and affect future learner achievement is not an easy task;
both decision makers and teachers need to take such decisions seriously, on
the basis of clear and shared criteria.
In the state of Tamaulipas (north-eastern Mexico), undergraduate EFL
students are provided with English lessons during at least six semesters of
their studies in the case of private universities, or in three semesters for
public universities. Learners are assessed monthly or bimonthly depending
on the programme they follow. Then, upon graduation, students are
expected to provide proof of their English language proficiency by obtaining
specific test scores on examinations that are composed of items that assess
the four language skills, giving reading and written expression a greater
weight in the final score. (Some private universities require 500 points or
more on the institutional TOEFL while public universities require 450 points
or more).
However, the English language programmes of these universities are
usually autonomous from the English language testing board and as such
do not tend to share specific criteria for learning, testing or standardized
assessment processes. In these cases there tend to be weak connections
between classroom assessment and the large-scale tests students are
required to comply with. This often results in candidates obtaining low
proficiency scores on tests and large numbers of students who do not meet
the necessary English requirement to obtain their undergraduate degree.
One of the various reasons for this disparity between teaching and
testing objectives is the lack of teacher training. When teachers are not
confident in their ability to teach a skill, such as writing, in ways that will
lead to effective outcomes, this often results in this component of the
75 ◗

course being avoided and teachers and learners feeling intimidated by the
testing process. Even when teachers do address writing in their classrooms,
a lack of appropriate teacher assessment training may lead to invalid
and unreliable assessment of students’ writing skills, resulting in false
expectations on the part of the learner as to their ability to pass the English-
language exit exam.
This scenario suggests that in this complex Mexican EFL university
context the appropriate teaching and assessment of writing is crucial for
the successful language development of Mexican EFL students. This is
both in terms of enhancing language competency by providing opportunities
to develop written communication skills and in enabling them to pass the
university English exit exam and successfully graduate from their
degree course.
Considering the vital importance of assessment in higher education
and the problematic nature of teaching and assessing writing, the present
study set out to examine the perceptions that nine EFL teacher participants
(TP) and four language programme coordinators (PM) have towards writing
assessment and the issues that they face in their everyday practice with its
inclusion in the EFL curriculum. The following section intends to provide
a critical overview of some of the major ideas in the existing literature
in this field.
As noted above, the difficulties that the assessment of EFL writing presents
to teachers can result in the omission of writing assessment from regular
assessment activities. According to Pearson (2004) and Hamp-Lyons (2003),
two of the main difficulties faced in the assessment of writing are, first, the
fact that a single writer may produce inconsistent pieces of writing and,
second, that different assessors or classroom teachers may assess a single
piece of writing in different ways. Additionally, scoring procedures rely on
human judgment, which can be subjective, therefore putting at risk the
validity and reliability of scores awarded.
This subjectivity of writing assessment may be subject to additional
constraints when the assessment of written language is included as a
requirement in EFL programmes. For instance, Butler (2009:418) considers
◗ 76

that EFL teachers deal with internal stress in their regular assessment
practice, as they try to achieve a balance among ‘pedagogical needs of
students while at the same time meeting the accountability requirements
that are often based on prescribed standards and criteria’ of the educational
institution they work for.
Another issue faced is the fact that current language teaching practices
tend not to emphasize the importance of assessment sufficiently. Therefore,
connection between classroom assessment and everyday teaching practice
is lost (Stoynoff and Coomb 2012; Crusan 2014; Weigle 2007). In this sense
Weigle comments that:
One of the fundamental lessons about assessment is that decisions about

assessment should not be left until the end of instruction, but rather should be
taken into account from the very beginning, preferably, in the earliest planning
stages of a course (Weigle 2007:196)
On the other hand, there also exist issues related to teacher training
programmes. Weigle (ibid.) considers that there is a lack of assessment
courses in language education in most undergraduate and graduate
programmes. This leads to a serious lack of assessment literacy in teachers.
‘…For these teachers, their only exposure to the concepts and practices of
educational assessment might have been a few sessions in their educational
psychology classes or, perhaps, a unit in a methods class’ (Popham 2009: 5).
In the Mexican context, specifically in Tamaulipas, the scenario is
quite similar to that described above. Undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes in language teaching tend not to include a specific module on
language assessment; instead, lecturers who consider it important to include
language assessment in the content of the course they are developing are at
liberty to do so.
One of the main issues and difficulties teachers face during their writing
assessment practice is the lack of appropriate training, resulting in what we
might call a teachers’ lack of assessment literacy. The notion of assessment
literacy embodies the knowledge that teachers have of assessment theory,
application and interpretation of assessment. As Stiggins (1995) and Mertler
(2003) state, this notion of assessment literacy is not only important in the
77 ◗

field of education, but also for other fields. Stiggins (1995: 40), referring to
teachers in the USA, emphasized: ‘…assessment literates know the difference
between sound and unsound assessment. They are not intimidated by the
sometimes mysterious and always daunting technical world of assessment’.
However, becoming assessment literate, and being capable of assessing
writing or any language skills reliably and validly, may not be as easy to
achieve as some believe. A greater emphasis needs to be placed on the
benefits of investing in teacher training in the area of assessment.
Assessment training is an area of study that has been approached from
different angles. Studies such as those led by Elder, Knoch, Barkhuizen
and von Randow (2005, 2007), Weigle (1994, 1998), Contreras, Gonzalez,
and Urias (2009), Shohamy, Gordon and Kraemer (1992), Knoch (2011),
Hasselgreen, Carlsen and Helness (2004), Nier, Donnovan and Malone
(2013) and Fulcher (2012), examine how different modes of training impact
teachers’ needs, assessment issues and their assessment of writing in large-
scale testing and classroom assessment contexts.
Hasselgreen, Carlsen and Helness (2004) examined the training
needs of language teachers, teacher trainers and assessment experts
in thirty-seven European countries and fifty non-European countries. A
background questionnaire and a survey that focused on three main areas;
a) classroom-based activities, 2) purpose of assessment and 3) content
of assessment, was used as instrumentation. Data collected revealed that
teachers and teacher trainers had very similar needs, which included the
creation of assessment tools, the use of portfolios, peer/self-assessment,
the interpretation of results, the establishing of validity and reliability
throughout statistics and the rating of student performance in productive
skills, among others. The assessment experts, assessors who had experience
assessing language skills, considered that they needed more training in
creating and developing items, making assessment-based decisions, using
and considering the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference
for Languages) as both the basis and support for the creation of tests and
testing processes at different levels of achievement.
In an attempt to study the perspective of an online teacher training
programme and participants’ assessment needs, Nier, Donnovan and
Malone (2013) presented a study that focused on assessment literacy
◗ 78

and the impact of online training for EFL teachers in this area. Fifty-eight
participants (mainly teachers who taught English or Spanish) were recruited
through digital media and answered an online questionnaire prior to and
post receiving online assessment training. Fourteen of these participants
specified how training had impacted their assessment practice and their
assessment perceptions. Teachers stated they had the opportunity to
reflect on the importance of assessment and its complexity while others
considered radically changing their assessment practices by providing
innovation proposals to their programme supervisors. The researchers
stated that all fourteen participants who answered the post-training survey
believed that issues with national assessment standards in the United States
needed to be addressed in assessment teacher training Finally, thirteen
participants believed that they encountered more problematic issues with
oral proficiency assessment than written assessment.
In another study that focused on the needs of language teachers
(Fulcher 2012), 278 participants (the majority females, mostly from Europe
and the Far East) answered a survey. The results indicate that it is necessary
to understand the role that testing and assessment have in today’s society, in
order to provide teachers with tools that can allow them to understand the
principles and essence of classroom assessment. Fulcher states:
…language teachers are very much aware of a variety of assessment needs

that are not currently catered for in existing materials designed to improve
assessment literacy. The answers to the constructed-response questions in
particular are indicative of changes in our understanding of the role of testing
in society and a desire to understand more of the ‘principles’ as well as the
‘how-to’… (2012: 125).
With this assertion, the researcher identifies the need to consider a

procedural approach to language assessment. This approach combines
theoretical principles and contextual factors to link practice in large-scale
assessment to the actual regular classroom-assessment practice teachers
carry out.
A large number of studies that examine assessment training (AT) focus on
the contents of AT or teachers’ perceived needs in an AT course. Research
79 ◗

has yet to clarify the actual difficulty that EFL teachers and programme
decision makers face when assessing students’ written skills (in their
classrooms) as a means to structure AT content. This is what this paper
intends to address. By acknowledging these difficulties and considering
feasible solutions through AT, writing assessment may be given a more
important role in English programmes while students may be awarded more
reliable and valid scores when assessed and/or tested. Extensive amounts
of research have focused on the difficulties or needs of language teachers
in English as a second language or English as a first language contexts,
therefore leaving the EFL context under-examined or unexplored. Therefore,
the intention of this study is to contribute to the existing body of research
by providing some insight into the Mexican EFL context by answering the
following research questions.
1. What issues do participant teachers face when assessing writing in
the EFL classroom?
2. What particular issues do language programme managers
face when making decisions regarding the inclusion of writing
assessment in the language programme they administer?
This study set out to explore perceived difficulties with EFL writing
assessment experienced by nine EFL teachers and four EFL programme
managers from one specific setting in Mexican higher education (HE).
Therefore, the interpretations of data provided in this paper should be
understood as providing an insight into this specific phenomenon and its
evolution within the context the study was carried out in. In this vein, this
research does not seek to provide generalizations regarding the phenomena
under investigation, but to identify, describe and, perhaps, account for
its characteristics in a single context. This may inspire others to carry out
similar studies in their own contexts. The following section describes the
research approach and methodology followed to fulfil the purposes of
this study.
Methodology
The project design was based on a qualitative approach, which from an
interpretative, constructivist perspective, seeks to provide the researchers’
interpretations of the realities observed and obtain a deeper understanding
◗ 80

of the phenomenon under analysis. ‘The intent is to explore the general,

complex set of factors surrounding the central phenomenon and present
the broad, varied perspectives or meanings that participants hold’ (Creswell
2014: 140). Throughout the study, teacher participants (TPs) and programme
managers (PMs) provided their views and perspectives (participants’ social
constructs) in relation to the difficulties of assessing writing. As a researcher,
I relied on these social constructs to build my interpretation of the context
and educational surroundings of these teachers. This was in an attempt to
understand the situation under analysis: the difficulties of assessing EFL
writing in the HE context in the north-eastern part of Mexico.
The purpose of the study is to examine the perceptions that the
participant teachers have related to writing assessment, and the issues that
they face in their everyday assessment practice. Additionally, it seeks to
compare the perceptions that language programme coordinators have of
the role of writing skills in English language curriculum and how it should be
assessed with those of the classroom teachers. The following data-collection
instruments were employed:
a) a background questionnaire administered to both teacher participants
(TPs) and programme managers (PMs)
b) semi-structured interviews with TPs
c) semi-structured interviews with PMs.
Analysis of data followed an inductive approach (Cohen, Manion, and
Morrison 2011; Creswell 2014) by working with emerging themes and
categorizations in the transcriptions of interview data. Then, deductively,
the themes identified were further analysed in order to identify common
patterns and/or to add more categories.
Finally, it is crucial to mention that my role as the main researcher and
data collector/analyser may have implied a degree of researcher bias in
the interpretation of data, especially because the TP and PM participants
of the study had been, at some point in the course of my own professional
development, my co-workers. However, during the period when the study
took place, none of the participants were my work colleagues. During the
orientation, before beginning my data collection activities, we talked about
my developing role as a researcher, in which I was making an honest effort
to collect and interpret data as rigorously as possible. Technically, three
81 ◗

different strategies were used to assure data accuracy, in other words, result
validity (Creswell 2014),
a) the triangulation of results from the analysis and interpretation of
three data sets;
b) the development of a comprehensive description of the study, which
allows the reader to project him/herself into the specific context
under analysis and critically evaluate instruments and procedures;
c) the review of the project and the results by an external, experienced
researcher.
Participants
The teacher participants (TPs) were nine Mexican EFL teachers. Eight
working in a public university and one working in a private university in the
state of Tamaulipas, in the north-eastern part of Mexico; four were males
and five were females. Their ages ranged from 24 to 52 years old. TP315
and TP312 had less than a year of teaching experience, while TP31 had the
most experience, with a full 20 years of service. Regarding their academic
background, at the time the data was collected three TPs had a bachelor’s
degree in Applied Linguistics, one a BA in combination with a teaching
certification (the In-Service Certificate of English Language Teaching,
ICELT), and two TPs were still completing their undergraduate studies while
working as EFL teachers. Two of the participants held a Master’s degree in
combination with the Certificate for Overseas Teachers of English (COTE),
while one had obtained a Master’s degree in Administration. Information
regarding the professional background of TPs is outlined in Table 1.
Table 1: TPs’ background

Academic Years of
TP Age / Gender
background experience
A16 41/M BA 7
C20 24/F BA 1
F313 23/M BA 2
G315 24/F BA student less than 1
◗ 82

H312 22/M BA student less than 1
E22 28/M BA/teaching 7

certification
B52 26/F MA 8
D31 52/F MA/teaching 20

certification
I316 36/F MA/teaching 15
certification
The language programme managers (PMs) were all female Mexicans; three
were older than 50 years old, while the remaining PM was in her 30s. Three
of the PMs were experienced EFL teachers with twenty or more years of
teaching experience, while one had less than five years of experience. The
three most experienced PMs were heads of English programmes at public
universities. The fourth and the least experienced, was the main decision
maker regarding an EFL programme in a private university. The PMs were,
at the time of the study, the chief decision makers in the programmes at
which the TPs were working. Table 2 provides a summary of background
information related to PMs.
Table 2: PMs’ background

Academic Teaching
LPM Age / Gender
background experience
1 F/26 MA 5
2 F/58 MA/COTE 23
3 F/56 MA 28
4 F/52 BA/ COTE 20
The background questionnaire

The purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain richer information about the
participants, in terms of their teaching experience, academic background,
age, views on writing and how to assess this skill. With the purpose of
providing participants an opportunity to express their ideas freely, without
overloading them, the background questionnaire included three open-
ended questions. In addition to providing space for TPs to express their
83 ◗

ideas, eight multiple-choice statements were included, to facilitate the data

collection and analysis processes (Nunan 1992). In the interest of improving
validity (Dörnyei 2007), before it was used with the research participants,
the instrument was piloted with a group of teachers foreign to the study. The
final version of the background questionnaire is included as Appendix A.
Semi-structured interview with teacher participants

TPs took part in a face-to-face semi-structured interview, the intention of
which was to achieve a better understanding of the context in which the
teacher was giving his/her EFL lessons at the time of the study. Above all,
the purpose was to collect data that could lead to a better understanding
of the teachers’ perspectives on writing as part of their courses and the
difficulties they had experienced regarding the assessment of writing. The
interview included 13 questions in Spanish, the TPs’ mother tongue. The use
of the participants’ first language (L1) combined with the semi-structured
format of the interview was intended to create a comfortable environment
for interviewees. In this milieu, the researcher could interact and further
explore any emerging information, while at the same time providing direction
and guidance through the interview outline (Dörnyei 2007). Each interview
with the TPs lasted for 20-25 minutes. Before its actual use, the interview
was also piloted with a non-participant teacher, to assure the usefulness
and validity of the instrument for collecting the type of data needed. The
interview outline is included as Appendix B.
Semi-structured interviews with language programme managers

Language programme coordinators or managers (PMs) were the decision
makers regarding the design and development of the English language
programmes in which the TPs were working at the time of the study. The
intention of the interview was to further explore the managers’ professional
background and their opinions and perceptions of the language programmes
with which they were working. Secondly, it sought to explore the issues that
PMs had encountered when including writing, and the assessment of writing,
as components in their EFL programmes. This interview followed a semi-
structured format, including 12 open questions that had been designed
previously in an interview protocol (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison 2011) and
◗ 84

which were carried out in the native language of the PMs. A piloting phase
was also carried out with this interview protocol; changes to word order and
minor edits were made to the first version of the protocol as a result.
Data from the three data collection instruments was analysed following
specific research procedures, which are described in the following sections.
Data collection and analysis procedures

First, and before conducting the corresponding interviews, I explained
to the TPs and PMs my vision for their participation in the project; each
participant signed an informed consent document in which they stated (in
print) their desire to take part in the study. They then filled-in the background
questionnaire in Spanish. Semi-structured interviews are thought to allow for
more flexibility in terms of question structure and the follow-up responses
of the interviewee (McDonough and McDonough 1997; Nunan 1992).
During the interviews, as TPs and PMs provided their answers, I adapted
the sequence of questions and follow-up questions appropriately, thus
supporting the natural flow of the interaction. All participants were first
contacted via email or Facebook message, to set a date and time for the
interview at their convenience. The researcher personally conducted all the
participant interviews. The recording of interviews was discussed with each
participant prior to the first steps of data collection, during the signing of
the informed consent document. Interview recordings were transcribed for
further analysis.
Data obtained from the three instruments: 1) background questionnaire,
2) TP interviews, and 3) PM interviews were analysed following a qualitative
approach. In the interests of strengthening the potential validity of any
findings, a triangulation technique (Creswell 2014) was used. In other words,
rather than relying on a single source of data, two instruments were used to
confirm information. Participants’ perceptions and difficulties were elicited in
both the background questionnaire and the interviews that were carried out.
Transcripts of each interview were examined following an interpretative
approach to analysis. The information obtained from the interviews
was considered as a holistic narrative of the participants’ views of the
phenomenon under analysis. Information was visited and revisited, and
certain ideas or themes were gradually identified in each interview. These
85 ◗

ideas were then clustered into categories, with the purpose of noting
relationships among variables and the context in which participants were
immersed. Each category was then coded and frequencies for each code
obtained (Creswell 2015). Finally, once unique themes for each participant
had been identified, they were compared to those of the rest of the
interviewees, to discover common themes. Considering that a code is a
label provided for a piece of data, either decided in advance or in response
to data collected, (Cohen, Manion, and Morrison 2011) possible answers
to closed questions were pre-coded (i.e. given a code before participants
answered the background questionnaire) and recorded in a statistical
analysis software program, specifically SPSS V.21. Descriptive analysis
calculations, such as frequencies, means and modes of the responses to the
categories of gender, age, and years of experience, were run to find patterns
among the answers and to compare them to each other.
To answer Research Question 1 (RQ1), ‘What issues do participants face
when assessing writing in the EFL classroom?’ teacher participants (TP)
answered a background questionnaire and engaged in a 20- to 30-minute
semi-structured interview. Data revealed that participants encountered
different issues, mostly related to the goals and content of the EFL
programme and the lack of time in the classroom to dedicate to writing.
For instance, TP22 was a male, in-service EFL teacher working at a public
university, and he believed that the English programme he was teaching in
did not consider writing to be an essential skill to be taught or assessed.
Therefore, very little time was available to dedicate to writing. In other
words, this TP perceived that the programme he was working for treated
other skills and language aspects as more important (vocabulary, grammar,
speaking and listening) and consequently devoted more time to these areas.
This diminished the teaching and assessment of writing in the classroom.
This male teacher personally believed that teaching and assessing writing
is important for the development of students’ language skills. Therefore, he
tried to compensate for the lack of a writing focus in the EFL programme by
providing feedback to students’ texts occasionally, and without scoring them.
TP322, who was in a very similar situation to that encountered by TP316,
◗ 86

said she used feedback as an important tool in her teaching and assessment
practices. This teacher was also in service at a public university and stated
that she considered writing an integral part of her lessons. She stated:
Almost all my classes include writing, at least a little. For instance, with my 9
and 10 level students (high intermediate) now we are working with essays,
different types of essays. But if we do not work with complete essays because
we don’t have time, we work on at least the process of writing, if not planning…
if we have enough time (we) prepare a complete paper and revise it and give
each other feedback, and then I give them more specific feedback.
Four of the interviewed participants, TP31, TP312, TP313 and TP315, said
that they included a minimal amount of writing in their lessons because their
institutions did not require them to assess writing and the time they had
to complete the contents and objectives of the programme was very tight.
TP313 mentioned
For evaluating, the thing is that the programme that we’re following there, it
doesn’t require evaluating writing from them. It depends on the level that they
are (in). If they’re in intermediate English, they do not need to do a writing
test…But, when they’re in an advanced level or intermediate/advanced level, I
think it is when they start taking a writing exam.
TP315 mentioned that she was aware that the language curriculum she
was working with did not include writing at low levels of proficiency, but
required students to complete a whole level or course in developing writing
skills towards the end of the curriculum and before beginning the TOEFL
preparation course. She stated: ‘I think they should do that for every level.
Like add maybe an hour in each level and you need someone who knows
how to write and how to teach writing and there’s not enough people with
those skills.’ From this comment, it seems quite clear that the issue of
the inclusion of writing in the EFL programme is mainly due to the lack of
appropriately trained staff.
TP22 and TP52 mentioned another issue in their EFL practice, that
writing was not part of the ultimate learning and teaching goals of the
87 ◗

program. Students were not required to take the TOEFL ITP until they were
ready to graduate. Since no immediate need for writing was perceived,
listening, grammar and reading were given more importance during their
teaching practice. Finally, TP312 mentioned that he was teaching English
without any official programme or textbook at all, therefore excluding the
need to specifically cover the skill of writing, or any other. Table 3, below,
outlines the information described in this section.
Table 3: Teacher participants’ perspectives and issues

TP31
TP312 Time is a determining factor. Teaching and assessing writing
TP313 is time-consuming.
TP315
TP16 Too much content in the course as a whole, not enough time.
TP31 Lack of time limits the amount of time devoted to writing
TP312 in the classroom.
TP313 Too little time given to the skill in the programme
TP315 and the classroom.
Regarding Research Question 2 (RQ2), ‘What particular issues do language

programme managers face when including the assessment of writing in
the language programme they administer?’ information obtained from the
questionnaire and the PMs interviews portrayed the perspectives of the
decision makers from the programmes in which TPs were working at the
time. When asked about the issues surrounding the inclusion of writing in
the EFL program, the four interviewees stated that time needed to teach and
assess writing was among the biggest issues, therefore agreeing with TP16
and TP313. The interviewees also mentioned other issues, which seemed to
fall into the following categories:
a) Assessment issues
b) Teacher/student issues
c) EFL programme issues
PM1 believed the main issues encountered were assessment issues. More
specifically, those faced when teachers assess writing and the subjectivity
that these assessments may entail. She said, ‘when checking the writing,
we teachers have different points of view,’ therefore acknowledging the
role that individuality has in the assessment of writing. She added that the
◗ 88

lack of teacher training represented a constraint on the inclusion of writing

assessment in the EFL program.
PM2 and PM3 considered teacher issues as most important. PM2, in
agreement with PM1, mentioned that one important issue was the lack of
teacher training in the teaching and assessment of EFL writing. PM3 believed
that a lack of teachers who enjoy writing is a constraint, as well as the lack
of teacher training. She mentioned that ‘for the teacher...the problem is they
don’t write. If you as a teacher do not write and nobody ever taught you how
to write, you will not teach how to write either’. In an additional comment,
PM3 added that another difficulty faced in language programmes is students’
poor writing skills. PM3 mentioned that, most of the time, students did not
know how to write in Spanish and this made it more difficult for them to write
in English. Therefore, ‘the teacher wastes a lot of time explaining things that
students do not know about writing’. PM4 agrees with this comment and
states that ‘students have poor writing skills, they do not manage to connect
their ideas’. These participants considered constraints on the inclusion of
writing in the programme to be mainly teacher/student issues.
In terms of language programme issues, the constraints most referred to
were the lack of time for investing in writing and the overall objectives of the
respective EFL programme as being incompatible with a focus on writing.
PM4 stated ‘…one of the main issues would be grading the papers because
we all have different points of view… writing skills are not one of our priorities
because we focus on the TOEFL ITP.’ In other words, the teaching of EFL was
focused on the academic skills tested in the TOEFL ITP: listening, structure,
written expression and reading. Although section two of this test focuses
on testing written skills indirectly by having candidates choose the correct
word in the text, this PM did not see this section as one that allows students
to develop written communication. This PM considered developing text level
skills such as coherence and organization, among others, to not be a priority
for students. Therefore, the programme only focused on teaching students
test-taking strategies that could allow them to successfully answer the
questions in the section on ‘written expression.’ This was done rather than
developing communicative writing abilities. The PM explained that students
needed to pass a language proficiency test as a graduation requirement and
therefore their EFL lessons focused on teaching the skills to successfully
89 ◗

acquire 500 points on the TOEFL ITP. Table 4, below, summarizes the PMs’
perspectives.
Table 4: Language programme managers’ perspectives and issues

LPM 1
Language programmes do not include writing as part of the
LPM 2
curriculum.
LPM 3
No language programme to follow was available, teacher left alone.
LPM 4
Assessment issues: Problems with assessor subjectivity and
LPM1 reliability when assessing writing and including writing in the
language curriculum.
Teacher Issues: Mainly a lack of training and lack of writing
habits in teachers.
LPM 2
If teachers do not write, how can they teach writing?
LPM 3
Student issues: Student writers have very poor writing abilities
LPM 4
and struggle when writing is taught in the classroom.
Students’ writing abilities are underdeveloped in their L1 and FL.
In conclusion, and as an answer to RQ1 and RQ2, teacher participants and

EFL programme managers agreed that writing is an important skill that
needs to be assessed in the classroom. They also agreed that lack of time
to include the teaching and assessment of writing in the EFL language
curriculum and the EFL classroom is the biggest constraint they face
regarding this issue. The TPs stated that they preferred to give priority
to what was assessed and what corresponded to students’ graduation
requirements, therefore leaving writing as second priority. In other words,
teachers are teaching for exams. Only one PM’s answer was consistent with
these teaching practices; PM1 stated that writing was a secondary aim in
their program, since they required their students to obtain 500 points in the
TOEFL ITP. However, the other PMs identified other difficulties that were not
included in TPs answers. These include difficulties related to teacher training,
teachers’ own background and competence in writing and students’ low
proficiency in writing.
This research project set out to examine the perspectives and issues faced
by two important stakeholder groups in the assessment of writing: classroom
teachers and language programme managers. It intended to do so by having
◗ 90

participants answer a background questionnaire and participate in semi-

structured interviews with the researcher. Data obtained suggested that
both groups of participants agreed that one of the main issues faced was the
lack of time teachers have in their classroom to assess writing. On the other
hand, those that were in service at a public university acknowledged that
their programme focused on having students successfully obtain a specific
score on a large-scale proficiency test rather than further developing their
writing skills. PMs considered the lack of teacher training and professors’
lack of interest in writing to be additional issues. TPs stated that they had
little time in their regular day-to-day practice to dedicate to assessing
writing, due to the large number of students they have in their classes.
The results obtained in this study echo those ideas expressed by
Butler (2009: 418); EFL teachers deal with internal stress in their regular
assessment practice while trying to find a balance between supportive
feedback for students and the results they need to hand in to their
institutions. The requirement is to comply with administrative procedures
rather than to assess in ways which benefit students’ development. Likewise,
in this study, TPs stated they preferred to give greater importance to the
content that was included in large-scale testing because of the overall goals
of the program. This leads to the second major finding of this study, which
agrees with Stoynoff and Coomb (2012) and Weigle (2007); assessment
is not given the importance it should be given in ESL/EFL programmes.
Awareness needs to be raised among EFL programme decision makers and
EFL teachers about the need to include writing and its assessment in the
EFL curriculum. Teachers often underestimate the relationship between
writing skills and students’ language development. In the context of this
study, the development of EFL writing skills may bring benefits such as the
availability of a wider repertoire of language tools that can lead learners to
greater success in language proficiency tests. Specifically, in the context of
higher education in Tamaulipas, having success in these language tests not
only allows students to graduate but also provides access to opportunities
for academic development, especially for those who wish to pursue
postgraduate education.
On the other hand, the results of this project match those found in the
study by Nier, Donnovan and Malone (2013), in which it was concluded
91 ◗

that teacher participants needed to be provided with more training that

could help them comply with the national assessment standards in the USA.
In other words, results suggest that the decision makers at educational
institutions need to reconsider the importance of assessment training. In the
study described in this paper, it was found that teachers felt that they did
not have enough training in the design and implementation of assessment
procedures. They also concluded that more training needed to be provided
by decision makers and their institutions, so as to unify assessment criteria
within each institution. However, one difference found in this research that
was not mentioned by Nier et al is the factor of time. All the TPs and PMs
stated that the large amount of time that writing assessment required was
one of the biggest constraints to its inclusion in the program. If perspectives
from classroom teachers and those of decision makers are combined, it may
be possible to find a feasible solution.
Considering that classroom teachers are those who have direct contact
with students, the language program, and the assessment that is carried
out in the classroom, their voices need to be heard. This is especially true
when it comes to assessing productive skills because of the subjectivity
that these skills entail. Group discussions among classroom EFL teachers
and their decision makers can allow ‘…both groups of teachers… to make
mutual efforts to negotiate criteria while paying close attention to their local
contexts and allowing for various accommodations to such contexts’ (Butler
2009: 442). These negotiations can allow co-constructed solutions to the
difficulties and issues that are faced when assessing writing.
Finally, a strong connection should be made between teacher
perceptions, classroom assessment practices and decisions made by
the language programme management team. Even though teachers
are conscious of the importance of the assessment of writing for the
development of proficiency in a language and ‘are very much aware of a
variety of assessment needs that are not currently catered for …’ (Fulcher
2012: 125) in their EFL programmes, more needs to be done. Providing
assessment literacy to teachers and decision makers will foster a stronger
connection between the aforementioned aspects, all the while addressing
the context of assessment, assessment validity and reliability.
◗ 92

Implications of the study

The results of this study have led me to conclude, in relation to the
teaching and assessment of writing in an EFL program, that the issues and
perspectives of TPs and PMs need to be considered together. The data
suggests that one of the major deficits that teachers and managers perceive
is the lack of assessment training. There is an urgent need to empower EFL
teachers with the necessary tools to provide valid and reliable teaching and
assessment for their students.
Findings from this study highlight the importance of establishing context-
specific assessment standards within and between institutions, around
which assessment training could evolve. Clearly, it is important to consider
the teaching and learning goals of each EFL programme so as to establish
assessment standards that correspond to these goals. By being directly
involved in establishing EFL programme goals and assessment objectives,
teachers may have the opportunity to avoid teaching only for exams. They
could then encourage teaching for language skills development and overall
proficiency. These standards would allow teachers to assess more reliably
and avoid, as much as possible, negative wash back (Weigle 2007) for
students, teachers and language institutions.
Acknowledgement
This article draws upon a research project funded by the British Council,
and carried out under the ARAGs 2015 programme. Any opinions,
findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the British
Council, its related bodies or its partners.
The author would like to specially thank the British Council, the
Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas and the Programa para el
Desarrollo Profesional Docente for their support of this project.
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95 ◗

Weigle, S. C. (1994), ‘Effects of Training on Raters of ESL Compositions’, Language

Testing, 11: 97–223.
——— (1998), ‘Using FACETS to Model Rater Training Effects’, Language Testing,
15: 263–287.
——— (2007), ‘Teaching Writing Teachers About Assessment’, Journal of Second
Language Writing, 16/3: 194–209.
White, E.M., (1990), ‘Language and Reality in Writing Assessment’, College
Composition and Communication, 41/2: 187–200.
◗ 96

Appendices
Appendix A: Background questionnaire

This questionnaire is part of a research project that seeks to analyse the
assessment strategies of EFL writing in distinct public universities in Ciudad
Victoria Tamaulipas, Mexico. This instrument has the purpose of finding out
more about you and your experience evaluating writing in the EFL setting.
Please be so kind as to honestly answer the following questions. Check the
option that most suits your opinion or experience. There is no correct or
incorrect answer, only experiences to share. The information you share on
this questionnaire is anonymous and confidential. It will only be used for
research purposes. If you need any assistance with this questionnaire or
have any questions regarding your participation in this research project, feel
free to contact the researcher via email: e.fernandagonzalez@gmail.com.
Participant ID: ______________ Age: ________ Sex: a) M ❒ b) F ❒

Faculty at which you work: ______________________________________
Amount of EFL teaching experience (time) __________________________
Academic preparation _________________________________________
1. I evaluate my students’ writing, as part of their academic progress,
throughout the course.
❒ Always ❒ Often ❒ Sometimes ❒ Rarely ❒ Hardly ever ❒ Never
2. I use evaluation tools such as scoring rubrics to evaluate my
students’ writing.
3. Using a scoring rubric makes it easier to differentiate among
students’ levels of writing.
4. Using a scoring rubric makes my evaluation of written texts
more objective.
5. Using a scoring rubric makes my evaluation of written texts
more efficient.
97 ◗

6. When evaluating my students’ texts, I read the text several times

and score different aspects.
7. When evaluating my students’ texts, I read the text once and give it
a single general score.
8. When I am not sure about the paper I scored, I ask a colleague or
friend for their opinion about the text that is being evaluated.
9. When I am not sure about the score I gave, I ask a colleague or
friend for their opinion.
10. Before today’s session, I have received specific training on the
evaluation of writing. If yes, please describe this experience. If
no, do you think it could improve your usual evaluation activities?
Please comment on your answer.
❒ Yes ❒ No
11. Before today’s session, I have participated in teacher seminars
or workshops that address the use of rubrics and other scoring
tools. If yes, please describe this experience. If no, do you think
it could improve your usual evaluation activities? Please comment
on your answer.
❒ Yes ❒ No
12. Please make any additional comments you consider necessary to
describe your current practice of evaluating writing or your
marking process.
Thank you very much for your valuable information.
◗ 98

Appendix B: Teacher participant interview outline

Questions about the teaching and assessment of writing
1. Do you consider writing an important skill to develop in a language
student? Why?
2. Do you teach writing in your classroom? How regularly? Do you
consider it as a part of students’ bimonthly or semestral assessment
and evaluation? Why or why not?
3. Is writing considered an important part of the language programme
at the school where you work? Why or why not?
Questions about participants’ use of rubrics
4. Do you consider that using rubrics in the assessment of EFL writing
is important? Why?
5. Do you use rubrics to give a score to your students? What type of
rubric? Why?
6. Which rubric do you prefer to use, holistic or analytic? Why?
7. Do you consider that rubrics improved your scoring of
writing samples?
Questions about the training session
8. Do you think training is necessary to be able to score writing? Why?
9. Do you think that the training provided may improve your future
assessments? Why?
10. Do you consider it necessary to take training courses to be able to
assess students’ written work? Why? Why not?
11. What aspects of the training session can be improved?
Questions about participants’ experience scoring the sample papers.
12. How did you feel while scoring the papers before taking part in the
training session? What difficulties did you have? Did training help
you solve these issues?
13. Do you think your scoring of the 10 written samples improved after
taking part in the training? Why or why not? How did it help?
99 ◗

Appendix C: Language programme manager interview outline

1. What are the teaching goals in this EFL program? What are the
learning goals?
2. Is teaching writing to students a part of those teaching and learning
goals? Why or why not?
3. What issues are faced when including the teaching of writing in this
EFL program?
4. How do you believe these issues can be solved?
5. Is providing teachers with appropriate training to teach writing
necessary? Why or why not?
6. Did the training provided by the researcher help the management
of the language program? If it helped, please explain how.
7. Did the training provided by the researcher help the teachers from
the language programme better assess their students? If it helped,
please explain how.
8. What issues are faced when including writing assessment in this
EFL program?
9. How do you believe these issues can be solved?
To conclude, state your opinion about the following.

Our EFL teachers know that writing is important, they know that teaching
writing will have beneficial results for students and that by assessing writing
in the classroom they give it the importance it should have. Even so, in some
institutions, the teaching and assessment of writing is not happening in the
EFL classroom.
◗ 100

Chapter 5
Researching Attitudes Towards English in Higher Education
Gandy Griselda Quijano Zavala

Universidad Autonoma del Carmen
Online PhD in ELT
Abstract
Attitudes and motivation in language learning have remained a widely
researched topic around the world. Results confirm the importance of
looking at learners’ attitudes and the possible factors that lead to their
success or failure in learning a second language. These factors can be either
similar or different in a variety of learning contexts. Unfortunately, in Mexico,
little research has been done that looks at the attitudes of students towards
learning English in higher education (HE). This is despite decades of English
being taught in Mexico. The present paper reports on an extensive mixed-
method research study (in progress), which explores the attitudes towards
learning English of freshman Mexican university students. The emphasis here
is on describing the preliminary stage of research, reporting only on some
of the data collection and results of this research project. The perspectives
expressed in this paper are of the English ltasanguage teacher/researcher.
A quantitative approach was used with data collected from 882 participants.
The main instrument, at this early stage in the wider research project, was
a 6 point Likert-scale. This scale was based on the English Learning Survey
(Clément, Dörnyei, and Noels 1994) and the English Learner Questionnaire
(Taguchi, Magid, and Mostafa 2009). Analysis was performed using SPSS
descriptive statistics. The results indicated that the attitude of most students
towards learning English are positive and that they recognize its importance.
101 ◗

This is despite the fact that learners have different reasons for learning the
target language, diverse previous English learning experience, and limited
contact with the target language. The article concludes by discussing the
implications of the study for continuing research.
Key words: attitudes, motivation, English language, Mexico,
higher education.
Introduction
English language learning in Mexico has continued to expand in recent
decades. This is due to a number of reasons, although one of the reasons
most commonly mentioned is the fact that English has become a global
language (Jenkins 2015). Learning English as a foreign language involves
different emotions, as language learning involves not only linguistic but
cultural aspects, from both the mother tongue and the target language.
Thus, the language classroom becomes a place where emotions gather;
many times they appear to be visible at first sight. In reality, ‘power
differentials, cultural identity, and students’ perceptions of English can
negatively manifest themselves, impacting the EFL classroom in both
observable and imperceptible ways’ (Graham 2006: 36). Because of this,
researching attitudes towards learning English becomes of paramount
importance. This is in contrast to simply attributing ‘certain attitudes’ to
students, according to their class behaviour and reactions towards certain
class activities.
The term ‘attitude’ has been widely researched (Baker 1992, and Bohner
and Wänke 2002). Its definition is complex, much more than just, ’behaviour’.
A brief review of recent literature on attitudes and language learning will
be provided, before I go on to describe the methodology and results of this
preliminary quantitative stage of my study. I will conclude the article
by considering the implications of the study for teaching and possible
future research.
In the literature, the term ‘attitude’ usually includes three components: 1) an
affective component, comprising positive or negative feelings, 2) a cognitive
component describing perceptions of worth or value, and 3) a behavioural
◗ 102

Gandy Griselda Quijano Zavala ◗ Chapter 5
component indicating a willingness or desire to engage in specific actions

(Baker 1992). These three components compose the single construct
of attitude at a ‘higher level of abstraction’ (Ajzen 1988). Certainly, the
construct of attitude can be abstract, as it refers to the instant evaluation of
‘an object of thought’. Attitude can refer to something concrete or abstract
and be directed towards inanimate things or persons and groups (Bohner
and Wänke 2002). ‘Attitude’ is more than a cluster of elements that can
simply be observed or perceived by the language teacher in the classroom.
In fact, a ‘language attitude is more than an attitude towards the language
only, the language attitude reflects a learner’s attitude towards a particular
cultural group’ (Roos 1990: 26). Attitude has become an important area of
study, as part of the exploration of the wider field of motivation in second
language acquisition.
In this regard, Gardner’s Theory (1985) explained the language learner’s
reasons for learning the language using the term of instrumentality. This
focused on assessing the practical reasons for foreign language learning.
This study also used the term integrativeness to assess possible reasons for
interaction with the target language community. For example, a learner who
is instrumentally motivated probably has a language-learning goal related to
earning a better salary or getting promoted at work, while an integratively
motivated learner probably has the goal of learning the language in order to
find out more about the culture(s) of native English speakers. Pursuing this
line of research, empirical studies show that EFL undergraduate students
usually have higher instrumental orientation, but in some cases both emerge.
For instance, in a study with Yemeni undergraduates, Al-Tamimi and Shuib
(2009) found that students were mostly instrumentally motivated. Tahaineh
and Daana (2013) explored Jordanian undergraduates’ attitudes and found
both types of orientations. On the other hand, Sandoval-Pineda (2011) found
Mexican university students to show good levels of integrativeness, but high
levels of instrumentality.
However, Dörnyei (1998) argues that the English as a Foreign Language
(EFL) context differs from other L2 learning settings. In the case of
instrumentality, he makes two main distinctions: 1) for promotion and 2) for
prevention. Some students are motivated to learn English to obtain some
type of promotion, for example at work, while others only do it to prevent
103 ◗

a negative outcome, such as not failing the course. Dörnyei (2005) also
suggests studying motivation through the study of the L2 motivational
self system, where he posits that the ‘ideal’ L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and
L2 learning experience are the main components. The ‘ideal’ L2 self refers
to the learner’s image of herself. That is, if the learner envisions herself
using the target language in the future. Unlike the L2 ‘ideal’ self, the ought-
to self refers to the qualities the learner believes she needs to display to
satisfy others’ expectations, rather than her own. On the other hand, the L2
learning experience refers to the positive learning environment the language
learner has experienced. Kormos and Csizér (2008) found that for Hungarian
university students the ‘ideal’ L2-self obtained a high mean value, but did not
find identify dimensions of the ought-to L2 self. With regard to classroom
experience, Tsuda (2003) found that Japanese undergraduates considered
their low proficiency in English to be due to bad experiences while learning
English. A study performed in a wider context (Japan, China and Iran) by
Taguchi, Magid and Papi (2009), showed that instrumentality can be divided
between the perspectives of the ‘ideal’ L2 self and the ought-to L2 self. That
is, instrumentality can be promotional for students who study English to go
abroad and want to continue studying abroad, but it can be preventative for
students who might be sent on a work commission.
Whatever the differences between Gardner’s and Dörnyei’s models,
the fact is that they both, directly or indirectly, construct attitude from
the perspective of the three dimensions described in attitude research:
cognition, affect and behaviour. However, to more fully understand what the
construct of attitude comprises and how attitude affects language learning
in different contexts, further studies are needed.
Unfortunately, there has been little research on attitudes towards learning
English in higher education in Mexico; to date, there have been only a few
studies that highlight the importance of attitudes in language learning in the
Mexican EFL setting. However, it is useful to look at what has been done in
order to compare and contrast existing findings from the Mexican context
with other studies, as well as to provide a point of comparison for the results
from my own research into attitudes in HE in Mexico.
◗ 104

For instance, in a paper by Despagne (2010), 300 students from a private

university were surveyed, and it was found that 60.3 per cent reported
that they did not like American culture. Despite this, 89.72 per cent
accept that English is important, 58 per cent think that English will help
them in ‘everything’ and 45 per cent consider English a difficult language.
Additionally, in a study by Chasan and Ryan (1995) carried out with students
from the biggest public university in Mexico, negative perceptions were
found towards English in relation to political, cultural, and economic matters.
This was despite the fact that respondents accepted the importance of
English for economic growth. They concluded that the students interviewed
for the study still resisted learning the language, even after acknowledging
its importance. On the other hand, Mora Vázquez, Trejo Guzmán, and Roux
Rodríguez (2010) conducted a qualitative study, in a university language
centre in northeast Mexico, with three undergraduate males and three
females. They found that the students they interviewed believed that their
teacher’s attitude influenced their levels of motivation. All students agreed
on the importance of English for economic and professional growth.
However, they did not find learning English to be a pleasurable activity,
though they saw ‘English as necessary to overcome the difficulties that the
current socio-economic status of Mexico presents to them’ (ibidem: 12).
In a different study, Sandoval Pineda (2011) explored the attitudes of 227
Mexican students in a university located in the north of Mexico. She found
that most students generally uphold positive attitudes towards learning
English, but that these attitudes can be negatively affected by the structure
of the English programme.
The results drawn from these studies suggest that it is important to
explore these factors to better understand what causes students’ attitudes.
However, before further exploration of such factors are considered in my
own study, it is indispensable to identify and describe students’ existing
attitudes. For this reason, as an English teacher and researcher, I pose the
following study question as an opening query for my research project: What
are freshman students’ attitudes towards learning English at a university in
southeast Mexico?
105 ◗

Methodology
It was necessary to review the literature to learn what methodology has
been used to date for carrying out research into attitudes towards learning
English. It was interesting to note that studies on attitudes have mostly
been based on a quantitative approach (Tahaineh and Daana 2013; Sung
and Tsai 2014; Tatsuya, Magid, and Mostafa 2009), and have used the
survey as the main data collection instrument. In my own study, since the
sample population consisted of 882 undergraduate freshman students at a
university in southeast Mexico, I decided to build on previous research and
also use a quantitative approach for data collection and analysis.
I designed a survey based on a combination of elements drawn from
Clément, Noels, and Dörnyei, (1994) and Tatsuya, Magid and Mostafa
(2009). From Clément, et al. (1994) the aspects that were borrowed were
items related to: attitudes towards learning English, Americans and the
British; perceived group cohesion in the students; self-evaluation of English
competence; evaluation of the English teacher’s work and evaluation
of the English course. From Taguchi, et al. (2009) the aspects that were
borrowed were those pertaining to: the ‘ideal’ L2 self; the ‘ought-to’ L2
self; parental encouragement/family influence, instrumentality promotion
and prevention, and ethnocentrism. Additionally, I designed some original
items, which I included in the category of inter-ethnic contact. The survey
comprised two main sections: 1) A 70-item Likert-scale survey from ‘1’
being ‘Totally disagree’, to ‘6’ being ‘Totally agree’ and 2) a background
and general information section. The use of closed items is very practical
for the researcher, and also for the respondents. Closed item surveys can
reach a large sample of participants and respondents only need to select
from provided answers, This greatly facilitates the research process as it is
easy and fast (Nunan and Bailey 2009). The 70-item survey was placed first
in the sequence of questions so that students could focus on answering
the 70 items, without the distraction of having to first provide background
information. The background information section asked participants for
information such as their age, type of high school, city of origin. This had the
purpose of further exploring their attitudes. Descriptive statistical analysis
was carried out using SPSS 21.
◗ 106

Preliminary findings
To create a more detailed picture of the background and setting of the
participants, I will first present results from the background and general
information section. This is followed by an account and discussion of the
results from the 70-item Likert-scale survey. Since this is very much a
preliminary study, I have narrowed down the item analysis to those items
which specifically pertain to the categories borrowed from previous studies
on attitude and motivation (see section 2 above).
a. Background and general information section

The average age of participating students was 18. Spanish was mentioned
as the native language of 859 students out of 882. The Mexican participants
who mentioned a different native language were: one speaker of Mayan and
one speaker of Chol; there were 19 participants who omitted a response
to the question. There were also 2 participants who were French nationals.
Regarding the type of high school education they had received, the majority
(73 per cent of the students), reported that they had studied in public high
schools and 13.7 per cent in private high schools, while 4.2 per cent had
received a mix of public and private high school education.
Students were enrolled in different undergraduate programs and the
majority came from the area (southeast Mexico).
b. Descriptive statistics
In order to investigate the university students’ attitudes towards learning
English, descriptive statistics, including means and standard deviations,
were calculated and analysed. The survey scored a Cronbach’s Alpha of .89,
indicating a good level of reliability and consistency. See Appendix 1 for
the complete detailed representation of students’ attitudes toward learning
English. The figures are arranged in a descending order, according to the
mean scores given by the students. For this preliminary study, I present a
summary of the most salient items from the survey. I have borrowed, from
previous research into attitude and motivation, categories to structure the
analysis (see Section 2 above):
i. Attitudes towards English and its importance
ii. Integrative and instrumental orientation (prevention and promotion)
107 ◗

iii. L2 selves, ought-to L2 selves and classroom experience

iv. Self-evaluation of English and exposure to English
For the purposes of this paper, the Likert scale has been summarized into
two categories, Agree and Disagree.
i. Attitudes towards English, English speakers, and the
importance of English
The survey included items that surveyed students about their
attitudes towards learning English, English speakers, and
importance of the language. Table 1 highlights the items pertaining
to this category.
Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards English and English speakers

Number Agree Disagree Means SD
Item Statement of res-
pondents Per cent
English is an important
10 subject in the school 880 97.6 2.1 5.58 .72
program.
Mexico can develop
11 thanks to Mexicans who 874 91.9 7.1 5.05 1.00
speak English.
I would like to have
25 870 85.1 13.6 4.47 1.27
American friends.
It is an advantage
for Mexico to have
an English-speaking
49 882 80.4 19.6 4.44 1.34
neighboring country
such as the United States
of America.
7 The British are friendly. 879 84.1 15.7 4.39 1.05
44 I believe the British are
878 58.7 40.8 3.64 1.20
reliable.
51 I like the way the
875 50.7 48.4 3.45 1.24
Americans behave.
34 I would like to learn
English to be like 879 36.3 63.3 3.0 1.60
Americans.
29 I consider Americans are
877 78.7 20.7 4.29 1.20
friendly.
◗ 108

As can be observed from Table 1 above, Item 10, ‘English is an

important subject in the school program’, was answered by almost
all respondents and achieved the highest mean score. The majority
of students agreed with this item. Similarly, most participants agree
that as well as it being important to learn English at school; English
represents an opportunity for Mexico to develop. Although to a lesser
extent, students also consider it an advantage to be a neighbour of
the United States of America.
On the other hand, regarding their opinions about certain cultural
groups and specific features of these groups, the students show
a slight difference in attitudes. For instance, their attitude towards
Americans, as shown in Items 25, 29, 34, 51 indicate that they
agree on wanting to have American friends, and on their perception
of the friendliness of Americans. But they do not quite agree on
their behaviour.
In the case of attitudes towards the British, most students consider
them to be friendly. Item 44 showed a low mean score, indicating
the students are not so sure about British reliability. However, most
students are open to getting to know more British people. It also
seems, from looking at Item 36 (see Appendix 1), that we can say
the vast majority of students are proud of their Mexican heritage
(French nationals were omitted from this sample) and that the
students are open to learning from other cultures. These items seem
to suggest that learners view English as a vehicle for international
communication but that they are heavily rooted in their home culture.
ii. Instrumental and integrative orientation
Participants expressed the degree to which they agreed with reasons
for learning the language, under two categories; instrumental reasons
(prevention and promotion) and integrative reasons (see Table 2).
Items 61, 31, and 8 correspond to prevention. Most students believe
that they must study English to graduate and be successful in their
career, but only 62.7 per cent of students believe that they must
study the language to avoid failing the English course. Regarding
promotion, items 12, 28, and 5 show that most participants study
English to obtain a good job or to continue their studies, as well as
109 ◗

to live abroad to study or work. On the other hand, items 67, 34, 57
look at integrative reasons for learning English. Most students agree
that learning about other English speaking cultures is a good thing,
but most of them do not want to learn the language ‘to be like the
Americans or British’. This correlates with results found for Item 36
above (proud of their national heritage). Overall, students show high
instrumental orientation for prevention and promotion, but lower
integrative orientation.
Table 2: Students’ reasons for learning English

pondents Per cent
Studying English is
important to me because
28 879 97.9 1.8 5.67 .70
I may need it later for a
job/studies.
I need to know English to
12 881 95.3 4.6 5.34 .95
get a good job.
I have to study English
because I don’t want to
31 878 62.7 35.7 5.31 1.03
get bad marks in it at
university.
I have to learn English
because without passing
61 the English course I 870 90.6 8 5.25 1.12
cannot graduate/ get my
degree.
8 I have to study English;
otherwise, I think I cannot
879 89.1 10.6 5.03 1.20
be successful in my
future career.
5 Studying English is
important because I am
880 85.6 14.1 4.85 1.30
planning to live abroad
(studying or working).
67 I want to learn English to
learn about the life and
behaviour of people who 879 83.4 16.3 4.73 1.32
live in English-speaking
countries.
◗ 110

34 I would like to learn 879 36.3 63.3 3.00 1.60

English to be like the
Americans.
57 I would like to learn 876 29.8 69.5 2.68 1.53
English to be like the
British.
iii. L2 selves, ought-to L2 selves and classroom experience

This last section presents the items that sought to explore L2 selves,
ought-to L2 selves, and classroom experience. As can be seen in
Table 3, most students see themselves using English, being abroad
and communicating in English, which indicates their ‘ideal’ L2 selves.
Their ‘ought-to’ L2 selves show low mean scores, indicating that they
do not feel they have to study English purely in order to satisfy the
expectations of others.
Table 3: Students’ L2 selves, ought-to selves

and classroom experience
pondents Per cent
It is good to learn English
27 882 97.9 2 5.72 .71
as a child
I have a good attitude
2 881 94.7 5.3 5.15 .97
about learning English.
I really enjoy learning
19 875 89.9 9.4 4.83 1.06
English.
My high school English
teachers showed interest
in helping me learn
26 882 72.6 27.4 4.23 1.47
the language and had
a disposition that was
helpful.
16 Learning English is
necessary because
875 66.4 32.9 4.00 1.44
people surrounding me
expect me to do so.
4 I am afraid of sounding
stupid in English because 879 66 33.8 3.97 1.56
of the mistakes I make.
111 ◗

23 It’s hard for me to learn 879 50.8 48.9 3.38 1.53

English because it’s a
difficult language.
39 Students look down on 880 22.4 77.3 2.34 1.49
those who do not speak
English well
The interpretation now turns to the students’ experience of learning

English in the classroom. As can be observed in Item 27 above, ‘It is
good to learn English as a child’, was answered by all respondents
and achieved the highest mean score in terms of agreement with
the statement. Most participants agree that they have a very good
attitude towards English, and that they enjoy learning English.
However, half the participants believe they have difficulties learning
the target language. The results here indicate that although learning
English is difficult to do, it brings positive outcomes and the earlier
you start the better.
The majority of students agreed that their English teachers in high
school were professionally trained, showed fairness in the classroom,
and that they were aware of the required forms of evaluation. Yet,
only 72.6 per cent , as Table 3 shows, considered that their teachers
showed an interest and a disposition that helped the students learn
the target language. On the other hand, 66 per cent of the students
felt afraid of making mistakes and sounding stupid when using
English. On a positive note, most students reported that they did not
look down on students who did not speak English well.
iv. Self-evaluation of English and exposure to English
Other salient aspects worth mentioning that came from Part 2 of the
survey are those related to students’ self-evaluation of their current
language skills in English and their exposure to the target language.
Students agree, to a certain extent, on being able to communicate in
English. For instance, most students claimed to understand written
and spoken English. Also, most (62.7 per cent), mentioned that they
can write in English. Yet, only 43 per cent consider themselves able
to speak English. Not surprisingly, 62.9 per cent of students do not
feel satisfied with their proficiency in English. On the other hand,
◗ 112

when questioned about their exposure to English, many students

reported having generally more exposure to visual media such as T.V.
They did not report regularly engaging in the other activities listed,
such as reading magazines or listening to music. Despite the fact that
some participants reported some interaction in English, either with
nationals or foreigners in different situations, these students generally
reported that they received little exposure to the English language
outside the classroom.
The descriptive results described above provide a general idea of the
freshman students’ attitudes towards learning English at a Mexican university.
From these results I can pinpoint the students’ attitudes towards English and
English speakers; the importance they place on the English language; the
reasons these students learn English; their L2 selves and ought-to L2 selves,
high school classroom experience; their self-evaluation of their English skills
and their exposure to English. I address each of these categories or themes
in the sections below.
a. Attitudes towards the importance of English similar to the findings
of earlier studies in Mexican contexts (Despagane 2010; Chasan and
Ryan 1995; Mora Vázquez, Trejo Guzmán, and Roux Rodríguez 2010;
Sandoval-Pineda 2011), students showed positive attitudes towards
learning English. They recognize the importance of learning English
at an early age, to achieve adequate advancement in their future
careers. Similarly, they are aware that those who speak English have
an advantage over those who do not and are likely to occupy better
positions at work. They realize that these people will help improve the
state of the economy of Mexico. In fact, most students also consider
that it is an advantage to have the United States of America as a
neighbouring country. In short, the students seem to be aware of the
importance of English.
b. Attitudes towards culture
Participant learners’ attitudes towards Americans suggest that
they may have their reservations regarding their friendliness and
behaviour. In the case of attitudes towards the British, the students
113 ◗

also have their reservations towards the friendliness of Britons, as

only half the sample of students agreed with the statement that
British people are friendly. Many believe that the British are reliable,
yet many do not identify with British culture. However, most admit
they are open to getting to know more British people. Students are
aware that their own use of English is limited; therefore they need to
engage in more interaction in English. In short, students seem to have
a high sense of their own cultural identity, but they also recognize the
importance of other cultures and are willing, to a certain extent, to
embrace another culture through language learning.
c. Types of orientation: instrumental and integrative
Based on Gardner’s (1985) theory, students expressed both
instrumental and integrative orientation towards learning English.
Students showed themselves to be instrumentally motivated, for
reasons relating to both promotion and prevention. They recognize
the importance of English in gaining access to better opportunities
for themselves and for the improvement of their economy. Following
the same line of thought, students are instrumentally motivated for
prevention too. They want to learn English to avoid failing the course,
and, as a result, experiencing problems with their graduation process.
On the other hand, with regard to integrative orientation, most
students are not interested in learning English to be like Americans.
A point which corroborates Despagne’s (2010) findings regarding
students not being very fond of American culture. Similarly, the
students do not want to learn English to be like the British either.
However, students also show a degree of integrative motivation when
they agree that they want to learn about cultural aspects of English
speaking countries and travel around the world.
The results in this Mexican EFL setting very much concur with
Dörnyei’s (1998) findings concerning the co-existence of different
types of orientations. They also concur with the findings from
other EFL settings, where both types of orientations are perceived
(Tahaineh and Daana 2013). This is even true in settings where
students are mostly instrumentally motivated (Al-Tamimi and Shuib
2009). In the Mexican context, the results from this study are also in
◗ 114

line with those of Sandoval-Pineda (2011) where students

showed high levels of integrative oriented learning, but higher
levels of instrumentality.
d. L2 selves and ought to selves
It was found that most students are able to imagine themselves living
abroad (perhaps for postgraduate studies) and communicating in
English, points which suggest something about the nature of their
‘ideal’ L2 selves. The results of our study mirror the findings of
Kormos and Csizér (2008); they found that the students’ ideal L2-
self obtained a high mean value. On the contrary, their ‘ought to’
L2 self is reflected in the fact that students do not feel that much
pressure to study English as a result of other people’s expectations.
They considered the influence of their parents as positive, since they
encouraged them to study the target language.
e. Classroom experience
Although students highlighted positive aspects of their experience
in high school--students being supportive of each other, their
teachers mostly being fair and professional in their teaching, and
understanding the class evaluation system they expressed the
opinion that their lessons were not very interesting. Despite the fact
that most students actually enjoy learning the target language, their
evaluation of their own language skills also reveals that students are
not content with their level of proficiency. This is similar to the result
of Tsuda (2003), who found that most of the undergraduates in the
study felt they had a low level of proficiency in English.
Conclusion
In sum, within this study, affective, cognitive and behavioural (Baker 1992)
aspects have been analysed. Categories or themes from the research into
attitudes of EFL learners towards English have been used to structure the
discussion. The findings from my study show that students’ attitudes
towards learning English are in many ways positive. They show both
instrumental (promotion and prevention) and integrative motivations for
learning English. They have images of themselves using English (L2 selves),
and most students do not feel they have to learn English (‘ought to’ selves)
115 ◗

for reasons other than their own.

Furthermore, the participant learners show interest in learning the
language. This is despite the fact that their previous English learning
experience in high school was not very interesting and despite their lack
of confidence regarding their language skills. Lack of confidence probably
results from students not engaging in situations where they can interact
using English, either with locals or foreigners in their community. However,
their interest in other cultures drives them to use and practice their English
through different means. For example, entertainment media. It is important
that decisions made in the classroom sustain this attitude. Fostering an
optimal environment for engaging with cultural aspects related to English,
in such a way that students come to engage in learning through language
practice both inside and outside the language classroom, is of paramount
importance. The Internet (e.g. social networking, Skype) provides a vast array
of tools which can be used to enhance English learning. This is especially
true for students who do not have the opportunity to travel abroad, but who
none the less need to communicate in the target language, mostly for work
related reasons.
The importance of considering students’ attitudes when planning lessons
or the overall programme structure is also in line with Salvador-Pineda’s
(2011) findings, which suggest that programme structure can affect students’
attitudes. This highlights, once again, the need to embark on further
research in this area.
In conclusion, this initial study of English language learners’ attitudes in
a particular community in Mexico reveals a number of areas ripe for further
research. The data here, as in other studies into attitude, indicate that
perceptions of English, its purposes, the learning process, cultural aspects
and perceptions of self, can all have an impact on the EFL classroom. It is
only through expanding on current research into these motivational aspects,
in different teaching/learning contexts, that deeper understanding of the
role of attitude in language learning can be reached.
References
Ajzen, I. (1988), Attitudes, personality, and behaviour (Chicago: Dorsey Press).
Baker, C. (1992), Attitude and languages (Clevedon: Multilingual Matters).
◗ 116

Bohner, G. and Wänke, M. (2002), Attitudes and Attitude Change. (New York:
Psychology Press).
Chasan, M. and Phyllis, R. (1995), ‘Actitudes de alumnos de inglés hacia la
cultura de los nativohablantes del inglés’, Estudios de Lingüística
Aplicada, 21/22: 11–26.
Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z., and Noels, K. (1994), ‘Motivation, self-confidence and
group cohesion in the foreign language classroom’, Language Learning,
44: 417–48.
Despagne, C. (2010), The Difficulties of Learning English: Perceptions and
Attitudes in Mexico. Canadian and International Education/Education
Canadienne et Internationale, 39/2: 55–74.
Dörnyei, Z. (1998), ‘Motivation in Second and Foreign Language Learning’,
Language Teaching, 31/3: 117–35.
——— (2005), ‘The Effects of Intercultural Contact and Tourism on Language
Attitudes and Language Learning Motivation’, Journal of Language and
Social Psychology, 24/4: 327–57.
Gardner, R. (1985), Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The Role of
Attitudes and Motivation (London: Edward Arnold).
Graham, L. S. (2006), ‘English Language Learning in Mexico: A Case Study of
Implementing Problem Based Learning into a Technology Enhanced Writing
Curriculum’ (unpublished thesis).
Jenkins, J. (2015), Global Englishes: A Resource Book for Students (3rd edition)
(London: Routledge).
Kormos, J. C. and Csizér, K. (2008), ‘Age-Related Differences in the Motivation of
Learning English as a Foreign Language: Attitudes, Selves, and Motivated
Learning Behavior’, Language Learning, 58/2: 327–55.
Mora Vázquez, A., Trejo Guzmán, N. P., and Roux Rodriguez, R. (2010), ‘A Small
Scale Investigation Into Mexican University Students’ Language Learning
Motivation’, Actualidades Investigativas en Educación, 10/1: 1–15.
Nunan, D. and Bailey, K. (2009), Exploring Second Language Classroom Research:
A Comprehensive Guide (Boston: Heinle)
Roos, R. (1990), ‘Language Attitudes in the Second Language Situation’, Per
Linguam, 6/2: 25–30.
Sandoval Pineda, A. (2011), ‘Attitude, Motivation, and English Language Learning
in a Mexican College Context’ (unpublished thesis).
117 ◗

Sung, K. Y. and Tsai, H. (2014), ‘Motivation and Learner Variables: Group

Differences in College Foreign Laguage Learners’ Motivations’, International
Journal of Research Studies in Language Learning, 43–54.
Tahaineh, Y. and Daana, H. (2013), ‘Jordanian Undergraduates’ Motivations and
Attitudes towards Learning English in EFL Context’, International Review of
Social Sciences and Humanities, 4/2: 159–180.
Tatsuya, T., Magid, M. and Mostafa, P. (2009), ‘The L2 Motivational Self System
among Japanese, Chinese and Iranian Learners of English: A Comparative
Study’, in Z. D. Ushioda, Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self
(Clevedon: Multinlingual Matters), 67–89.
Tsuda, S. (2003), ‘Attitudes toward English Language Learning in Higher Education
in Japan (2): Raising Awareness of the Notion of Global English’, Intercultural
Communication Studies, 12/3: 61–75.
◗ 118

Appendix 1: Students’ attitudes towards English

(mean scores at item ievel)
Number
Item Statement of res- Percent Mean SD
pondents
It is good to learn English as
27 882 100 5.72 .71
a child.
Studying English is important to
28 me because I may need it later 879 99.7 5.67 .70
on for a job/studies.
36 I am proud to be Mexican. 881 99.9 5.64 .86
If I make more of an effort,
69 I am sure I will be able to 879 99.7 5.59 .80
master English.
10 English is an important subject 880 99.8 5.58 .72
in the school program.
59 I can imagine myself as 872 98.9 5.43 .90
someone who is able to
speak English.
12 I need to know English to get a 881 99.9 5.34 .95
good job.
63 If my teacher wanted me to do 878 99.5 5.33 .95
an extra English assignment,
I would certainly volunteer.
31 I have to study English because 878 99.5 5.31 1.03
I don´t want to get bad marks in
it at university.
35 I am interested in learning 878 99.5 5.27 1.12
English because I want to travel
around the world.
61 I have to learn English because 870 98.6 5.25 1.12
without passing the English
course I cannot graduate/ get
my degree.
45 The things I want to do in the 878 99.5 5.22 1.08
future require me to use English.
2 I have a good attitude when 881 99.9 5.15 .97
learning English.
21 I am sure I have the ability to 871 98.8 5.14 .98
learn English.
119 ◗

56 I enjoy making my best effort 878 99.5 5.08 1.07

when learning English.
11 Mexico can develop thanks to 874 99.1 5.05 1.00
Mexicans who speak English.
47 When I watch T.V. programmes 873 99.0 5.04 1.10
or movies in English, I try to
understand the language.
8 I have to study English; 879 99.7 5.03 1.20
otherwise, I think I cannot be
successful in my future career.
1 I am very interested in 874 99.1 4.96 .92
the values and customs of
other cultures.
53 I have Mexican friends who 880 99.8 4.86 1.38
speak English.
5 Studying English is important 880 99.8 4.85 1.30
to me because I am planning
to live abroad (e.g., studying
and working).
19 I really enjoy learning English. 875 99.2 4.83 1.06
25 I would like to have American 870 98.6 4.77 1.27

friends.
20 My parents encourage me to 874 99.1 4.77 1.32
study English.
13 I can imagine myself living 870 98.6 4.75 1.36
abroad and having a discussion
in English.
32 I would like to know more British 871 98.8 4.74 1.25
people.
67 I want to learn English to learn 879 99.7 4.73 1.32
about the life and behaviour
of people who live in English-
speaking countries.
48 I do activities where I have 880 99.8 4.67 1.47
to use English (e.g. reading
magazines, listening to music,
speaking or writing in English)
50 I get nervous when I need to 882 100 4.54 1.41
speak in my English class.
◗ 120

49 It is an advantage for Mexico 882 100 4.44 1.34

to have an English-speaking
neighbouring country, such as
the United States of America.
7 The British are friendly. 879 99.7 4.39 1.05
52 My high school classmates and 881 99.9 4.37 1.39

I supported each other in our
English class.
58 I knew how my English 881 99.9 4.37 1.34
performance would be
evaluated in high school.
54 My high school English teachers 879 99.7 4.29 1.39
were professionally prepared to
teach their lessons.
29 I consider Americans 877 99.4 4.29 1.20
to be friendly.
60 The activities my teachers 881 99.9 4.28 1.36
evaluated were relevant/
significant for learning the
language.
were always fair.
26 My high school English teachers 882 100 4.23 1.47
had a helpful disposition and
showed an interest in helping us
learn English.
9 I am satisfied with the 878 99.5 4.15 1.32
work I have done in my
English course.
64 Considering how I study English, 871 98.8 4.14 1.35
I can honestly say that I do very
little work.
22 I am able to read in English. 877 99.4 4.12 1.42
15 The content evaluation of my 876 99.3 4.09 1.28

English class was clear.
16 Learning English is necessary 875 99.2 4.00 1.44
because the people that
surround me expect me to
do so.
43 If I don’t learn English, I won’t be 881 99.9 3.98 1.72
able to travel to other countries.
121 ◗

4 I am afraid of sounding stupid 879 99.7 3.97 1.56

in English because of the
mistakes I make.
made their classes interesting.
40 I have foreign friends or 880 99.8 3.95 1.88
acquaintances who speak
English.
38 In my family there are people 869 98.5 3.88 1.82
who speak English.
33 I can write in English. 868 98.4 3.84 1.40
18 I think I would be happy if other 875 99.2 3.77 1.48

cultures were more similar to
Mexican culture.
24 I speak English with my Spanish- 876 99.3 3.71 1.52
speaking friends.
68 I can understand what I hear 877 99.4 3.70 1.38
in English.
17 In my English lessons, I seldom 875 99.2 3.68 1.34
do more than is necessary.
44 I believe the British are reliable. 878 99.5 3.64 1.20
14 I have interacted in English with 877 99.4 3.56 1.86

at least one foreigner on the
internet or the phone.
62 I think the cultural and 880 99.8 3.50 1.48
artistic values of English are
promoted at the expense of
Mexican values.
55 Studying English is important 878 99.5 3.49 1.50
to me because other people
will respect me more if I have
knowledge of English.
51 I like the way the 875 99.2 3.45 1.24
Americans behave.
23 It’s hard for me to learn English 879 99.7 3.38 1.53
because it’s a difficult language.
42 I do not particularly like the 874 99.1 3.34 1.78
process of learning English and
I do it only because I may need
the language.
◗ 122

65 I have interacted in English, 873 99.0 3.27 1.90

face to face with at least one
foreigner in my community,
city or country.
6 I can communicate orally in 876 99.3 3.19 1.43
English.
70 Because of the influence of 877 99.4 3.16 1.47
English speaking countries,
I think the morals of Mexican
people are becoming worse.
34 I would like to learn English 879 99.7 3.00 1.60
to be like Americans.
37 I have to study English because, 874 99.1 2.97 1.53
if I don´t do it, my parents will be
disappointed with me.
66 I am satisfied with my English 878 99.5 2.93 1.69
proficiency at this moment.
41 Because of the influence of the 871 98.8 2.92 1.55
English language, I think the
Spanish language is corrupt.
46 I have interacted in English 879 99.7 2.84 1.87
with at least one foreigner in a
foreign country.
57 I would like to learn English to 876 99.3 2.68 1.53
be like the British.
39 My high school classmates 880 99.8 2.34 1.49
looked down on those in class
who did not speak English well.
123 ◗

Chapter 6
Current Trends in English Language Teaching in Mexico
Caroline Moore
University of Guadalajara, Mexico
Abstract
This chapter compiles perspectives on the current trends in English
language teaching across Mexico over the last 25 years. It addresses both
the public and the private sector, educational contexts ranging from the
third grade of preschool to university, and includes commercial language
institutions and self-directed learning. The discussion examines what goes on
in English language teaching in terms of its coherency within both national
and international policy trends. The study is centred around five cornerstone
questions concerning: who we teach, what we teach, how we organize what
we teach, how we teach, and how we evaluate learning.
Looking at populations of learners, as well as the kinds of content,
skills and standards we are aiming for in our English programmes, allows
us to ascertain the extent to which Mexico is able to meet its current
and projected English needs. This is essential for staying competitive in
the global market and for evaluating the appropriateness of the current
language planning to do so. We would expect to find coherency between
how English is conceptualized in national language policy and how the goals
and content for teaching are organized in the national language programme.
Adopting a common framework of reference, to organize teaching and
learning content, establishes a sense of continuity between programmes at
the different levels of education in Mexico.
125 ◗

From the discussion of these five cornerstone questions, nine conclusions

are drawn as to Mexico’s ability to meet the market demands for English.
Concrete measures, to strengthen the future of English language teaching
in Mexico, are also suggested.
Key words: Mexico, language policy, English as a lingua franca, global
English language teaching
Introduction
The present chapter is a compilation of perspectives on the current trends
in English language teaching (ELT) across Mexico. It was inspired by a panel
discussion at the Foreign Language Education Seminar at the International
Book Fair (Feria International del Libro 2015), in Guadalajara. It weaves
together perspectives on English language teaching from both the public
and the private sector, in educational contexts ranging from the 3rd grade
of preschool to university, and includes commercial language institutions
and self-directed learning. The aim of this chapter is to document the current
state of affairs in ELT in Mexico as we have moved out of the twentieth
century and into the early twenty first century. In doing so, we hope to point
towards the different directions which ELT may be taking in the next fifteen
years.
The discussion is structured around five cornerstone questions:
How do we assess/test what we teach?
How do we teach?
How do we organize what we teach?
What do we teach?
Who do we teach?
◗ 126

Caroline Moore ◗ Chapter 6
An examination of the data, which documents the different populations of

English language learners in Mexico, is a useful way to begin the chapter.
This allows us to understand the ways in which English language learning
and teaching is spread across the country. This, in turn, facilitates informed
decision making at the level of national and local policy and programme
administration. This will result in more effective educational planning and
more appropriate allocation of resources. It also shows us where the
‘holes’ are and where action is needed in order to ensure that access to
English instruction is extended and diversified to meet the different needs
for English within Mexico. It also aims to help in reducing inequalities of
opportunity among different social groups. Looking at who it is that is
learning English is a first step in ascertaining where Mexico stands vis-à-vis
its ability to meet its different English language needs.
A second step in establishing a panorama of English language teaching
across Mexico involves the question of what it is we teach, in terms of
language knowledge and language skills. By looking at current national
language policy, at how English is conceptualized within this policy, and
then comparing this with the current end uses for English, we are able to
assess the appropriateness of current language planning. In other words, an
assessment of the kinds of content, skills and standards we are aiming for
in our language programmes allows us to evaluate whether or not we are
preparing English language learners to meet the needs of the current and
emerging market.
The question of what it is we teach leads to other questions: how do
we characterise the goals we seek to achieve and how do we organize
learning content into language programmes or syllabi? We would expect
to find coherency between how English is conceptualized in the national
language policy and how the goals and content for teaching are organized
in the national language programme. Further, clearly stated goals and
appropriately organized language content provides us with the means to talk
about what we are teaching and what we are aiming for as ELT professionals,
in both the national and local arena. Above all, we will see that adopting a
common framework of reference to organize teaching and learning content
facilitates discussion about the ways different programmes compare with
each other, in terms of both goals and content. This is particularly useful
127 ◗

if we are to establish a sense of continuity between programmes at the

different levels of education in Mexico.
The classroom approach we take to teaching and learning is closely
linked to language policy, planning content, and identifying the skills the
current market demands from its English language users. Looking at how
we teach, in terms of the predominant methodologies implemented in
the classroom and the learning materials we use, gives us an indication
of where our focus lies in terms of knowledge base and skill-building. An
understanding of how we go about our teaching informs the expectations
we may reasonably have of the linguistic strengths and weaknesses of our
learners. This, in turn, helps us to ascertain the extent to which current
English language needs are being met through our current classroom
practices.
Finally, hand in hand with approaches to teaching, are the ways in which
we evaluate learning. Testing and other assessment practices should reflect
both the content and goals of the language syllabus and the methodological
framework within which learning has taken place. The standards used to
measure learning also need to be linked to a common reference system, so
as to establish and maintain continuity across the educational system and
among different sectors of the market. Looking at assessment practices
provides us with a good indication of the degree to which we are working
towards common goals and standards of practice. Additionally, it gives us
insight into the extent to which these goals and practices are truly reflective
of the market’s needs.
In order to build up a coherent panorama of the tendencies in English
language teaching across the public and private educational sectors, we
shall go on to examine each of the cornerstone questions posed above. This
will allow us to understand the development of English language teaching
across Mexico in the last 25 years and to draw some conclusions as to
where ELT currently stands vis-à-vis current market demands. Lastly, we
make some predictions as to directions that may be taken in the early part of
the twenty first century.
◗ 128

a. Who do we teach?
It was estimated in 2014 that in Mexico City, out of a population of 23.9
million people, approximately 21 per cent are actively learning English
through various channels (The British Council 2015: 23). Whilst precise
figures are difficult to come by, the general distribution of English language
learners may be roughly depicted as follows:
Figure 1: The Distribution of English Language Learning in Mexico City
ners
Lear
e
u ag ca
tion:
Preschoo
l-Te
ng
u 13.5% r ti
ed Private
La
sector
ar
l
ma
y
h
86.5%
For
li s
Public sector
E ng
23.9 m
e rnet users 70
+
Int
m
Co
mm
2
er
Pote tial 51.
Oth
ercial in
Young
8% Other Learners
g
n
11% e Trainin 5.15 yrs

n 81% Adults
Onli
sti
Recreational 25–35 yrs tu

& Information
tes
Public education here includes basic education (ages 4–15), high school
education (ages 15–18) and tertiary education provided by federal or
state-funded institutions.
Private education here includes basic education (ages 4–15), high school
education (ages 15–18) and tertiary education provided by institutions funded
by individuals but accountable to federal or state ministries of education (SEP).
‘Potential Internet users,’ refers to the use of online resources for
self-directed learning.
Language institutes refer to commercial English language classes, taken
either alongside schooling or beyond schooling.
Source: English in Mexico: An examination of policy, perceptions and influencing

factors, British Council Educational Intelligence, 2015.
129 ◗

The graph in the previous page shows that it is the public sector of
education, (where English is a mandatory subject in the curriculum from
the third grade of preschool until high school), that dominates the English
language learning market. However, with regards to overall achievement in
terms of proficiency, it is in fact the private sector that leads. Some further
background may be helpful in understanding this inequity.
Traditionally, the teaching of English in Mexico has taken place in the
public sector of education from the age of 12 or 13, when children began
their secondary education. In the private sector, exposure to English has
commonly begun at a much earlier age, starting in preschool. In the private
sector, pupils have been exposed to English for 50 per cent or more of
their school day. English in both the private and public sector is offered in
high school (Preparatoria) and often, but not always, at the tertiary level
too. In addition, those enjoying sufficient income will often supplement
current or previous English classes at school with study at a commercial
(private) language institute in order to achieve higher levels of fluency and
proficiency, normally for employment or study purposes.
Clearly, with this state of affairs, those who can afford a private education
or classes at a language institute –approximately 13.5 per cent of the
secondary population and 23 per cent of the high school population (British
Council 2015: 12–24) achieve higher levels of English language proficiency.
This has resulted in greater employability, higher income levels and more
opportunities in terms of further study for this already privileged sector of
society, placing those who have only had access to English through public
education at a considerable disadvantage.
Indeed, this situation highlights the need to broaden the range of
educational opportunities in order to reduce inequalities between privileged
and less-privileged social groups. This was the driving force behind the
educational reforms of 2006 and the National Development Plan of 2007–
2012 (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo). In this era of educational transformation,
the Sub-Secretariat of Basic Education acknowledged the value of extending
the scope of English, already an integral part of the national secondary
school curriculum, to the preschool and primary school curricula.
◗ 130

The plan aimed to increase hours of exposure to the language in childhood

and consequently raise proficiency levels to approach or equal those already
being achieved in the private sector.
After an initial run of pilot programmes in some states, in 2009 the
Secretariat of Public Education launched the National English Programme in
Basic Education (PNIEB, its acronym in Spanish). According to the program,
English classes would be delivered to all pupils from the third grade of
preschool to the third grade of secondary (ages 4 to 15) as a mandatory
subject in the curricula. Although it was always foreseen that this would be
a gradual process, to date only about 27 per cent of public schools have
actually fulfilled this requirement at the earlier ages of 4 to 11. The principle
barrier to the implementation of English across these stipulated levels
of basic education has been the insufficient provision of teachers. At the
present time, approximately 80 000 trained English teachers are needed
(Valladares Castro 2013).
It is not always clear that starting foreign language learning at an early
age results in more effective learning, but it is generally acknowledged that
the number of hours of exposure to the language does count. What we are
seeing, as we move into the twenty first century, is the persistence of the
significant gap between the proficiency of persons with access to the private
sectors and those who only have access to the public sector.
For instance, during basic education in the public sector, a pupil will
typically receive no more than 3 hours of English class per week; in contrast,
in the private sector, a pupil may receive an average of 15 hours of English
per week. At the high school level, again, three hours of English is the norm
per week in the public sector, in the private sector there may be significantly
more exposure. In the case of tertiary education, there is far more variation
between models. Some universities offer several semesters of language
classes, either as compulsory or optional courses. Other universities expect
their alumni to have taken some content classes in English (mainly the
private sector). Lastly, some universities require a specified level of English
proficiency as a mandatory requirement for graduation, but leave it up to the
students to find their own way of achieving this level of proficiency.
In sum, we can say that the main shift in the number of consumers of
English language teaching in the early twenty first century has been in the
131 ◗

young learner market. This has been due to the introduction of compulsory
English classes into public preschool and primary schools. Less obviously
and less well-documented, there has also been an increase in English
language learning through less formal channels of self-access learning,
namely through the use of apps, platforms for online learning and the
exposure to English that is accessible via the Internet. However, statistics
released by AMIPCI (the Mexican Association for the Internet) indicate that:
in 2013 only 30 per cent of Mexican households had access to Internet
resources, with access being economically and geographically linked
(http://www.amipci.org.mx/). In the present economic climate, it is not
expected that there will be any significant shifts in English language learning
behaviours in this particular area.
The above discussion on the distribution of English language learning
across the different types of learner populations can be more meaningfully
understood if we give a brief overview of the ways in which English is likely
to be used by these individuals. Traditionally, the dominant perception in
Mexico of the purpose of learning English has been as a tool for enhancing
experiences and seeking better opportunities outside the country. However,
with Mexico’s increasing global competitiveness, this perception is shifting
towards an understanding of the role of English as a medium for international
communication. With tourism and the service industry high on the economic
agenda, as well as the increasing global competitiveness of Mexico as
a place to invest in, English is now beginning to be seen as a skill that
facilitates international trade and allows the wider international community
to establish businesses and industry within Mexico. The perception that
English can contribute to Mexico’s ability to compete globally, and that it
thus has a key role to play in both national and personal economic growth,
is beginning to create an environment where English is valued as a skill for
employment within the national territory. In the interest of offering equal
opportunities, it becomes expedient that all sectors of society have access
to quality English instruction.
Since the principal needs that Mexico has for English are linked to its
ability to be globally competitive, we might conclude that proficient language
skills are becoming a key element in the country’s profile. This suggests that
English language learning should continue to play an increasingly important
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role on the national agenda. This is true, not only within education, but
also alongside and beyond education, if targets of proficiency that meet
the market’s demands are to be met. In the following sections, we closely
examine what exactly is implied by: ‘targets of proficiency that meet the
market’s demands.’
b. What do we teach?
The second rubric to be addressed in this overview of current trends in
English language teaching in Mexico is the question of how English is
conceptualized as a subject to be taught. Under this rubric we seek to
answer questions such as ‘How does English, and English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) teaching, fit into the national language policy?’, and ‘How
closely do language content, skills and standards we are aiming for, meet
the needs of today’s market?’. We frame the discussion by looking at
how tendencies in what we teach in ELT in Mexico compare with current
conceptualizations of the role of English as a global language. These
concepts come from the study of applied linguistics. Furthermore, in order to
understand what targets for proficiency in English might reflect the current
economic climate in Mexico, it will be useful to briefly examine international
perspectives on the role of English within a framework of globalization. This
discussion will provide a scaffold, against which we can compare current
conceptualizations of the role of English in Mexico.
i. International Perspectives on the Role of English
Under the theme of globalization, the academic literature in applied
linguistics points persistently towards what has been coined
‘Global English’ and global English language teaching. As its name
suggests, at the centre of a global English approach to language
teaching (GELT) is the conceptualisation of English as a means for
communication between peoples of different mother tongues. What
makes it different from traditional ELT is its conceptualisation of
‘normative.’ Essentially, a GELT approach places the native English
speaker on an equal footing with the non-native English speaker,
thereby emancipating the user of Global English from the norms of
a minority group of mother tongue English users. It closely reflects
a conceptualisation of English as essentially a tool for international,
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transcultural communication.
Within a GELT framework, we might understand two major shifts as
having taken place:
1. Firstly, that the purpose of learning English has changed; no longer
is the primary purpose to affiliate in some way with a native speaking
community. In other words, rather than aiming to acquire skills that
will allow them to travel or study in an English-speaking country,
current learners of English expect to participate in a wide range of
communities of practice from all over the globe without having to
leave their homes.
2. Secondly, the understanding of what ‘appropriate language forms’
consist of has also changed (Pennycook 2007); this idea includes
the validation of multiple types of Englishes (Black English, Carribean
English, etc.) Furthermore, it is understood that treating language
as ‘a self-standing product’ (Canagarajah 2013: 7) distorts the way in
which meaning is co-created dynamically in communication. Thus the
notion that we can define and characterize a single ‘standard’ form
of English is viewed as problematic. A view of language as an organic
system, capable of changing and adapting to its surroundings is
preferred (Galloway and Rose 2015).
This idea of GELT fits in snugly with a conceptualization of English
as an international Lingua Franca (ELF). We predict that we are likely
to see a continuous morphing of English as described by Galloway
and Rose (2015) above, as both commerce and technology brings
speakers together in new domains, thus sustaining an ever-changing
environment.
However, at a grassroots level around the world, a number of barriers
exist to the adoption of a GELT conceptualisation of what English
language teaching should be about. These include, an attachment to
‘standard’ English and the prevalence of standardized language tests.
Mexico is no exception in this respect. We go on to examine how it
stands vis-à-vis this construction of English as a lingua franca and the
purposes of ELT as a tool for international communication. From here,
we will be able to look at the fit between national language policy and
local content.
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ii) National Language Policy and the Role of the Teaching of English
as a Foreign Language.
Any government policy is a statement of ambition, ascertaining
exactly what language policy is can be a notoriously difficult thing to
do. The details of policy may not be clearly articulated or easily
accessible, and the relationship between statements of policy and
their interpretation by institutions or individuals is highly complex.
Although the role that English has around the globe, as a language for
international communication, is widely accepted in Mexico, it does not
mean that what we teach in the English classroom necessarily
revolves around this particular conceptualization of English.
If we examine national language policy in Mexico, we can find that the
2007–2012 National Development Plan (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo)
articulates six general objectives for regulating education. Two of
these are particularly pertinent to the conceptualization that English
is a tool for global competitiveness through transcultural and
international communication: objective one and objective five.
1. Increase the quality of education so that students improve their
level of educational achievement, have a means of acquiring better
welfare and make a greater contribution to national development.
5. Offer quality educational services that produce individuals who are
aware of their social responsibilities and who participate in the labour
market in a productive and competitive way.
In order to deliver on this, the Secretariat for Public Education (SEP)
specifies that the aim of English language teaching should be to
develop ‘the pluri-lingual and pluri-cultural competencies necessary
to successfully handle the communication challenges of the
globalised world, and at the same time respect their own culture as
well as others’ (http://basica.sep.gob.mx/). Likewise, the language
programme for English (Programas de Estudio 2006: Lengua
Extranjera: Inglés) developed by the Sub-Secretariat for Basic
Education, tells us that the goal for an English language class is: to
develop the linguistic competencies which will allow pupils to
participate effectively in the social practices of the language in
different environments. Importantly, the programme acknowledges
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that ‘spoken practices used in dialogue vary and are established

according to social and communicative conventions of the culture
where the exchanges take place’ (http://basica.sep.gob.mx/).
When placed alongside one another, these policy statements appear
to indicate that the conceptualization of English, at the level of
national policy, can be interpreted as being largely coherent within a
global English framework (as discussed in section b. i above).
However, if we step beyond the language programme, towards the
classroom, and examine the kinds of goals and content we find in the
materials typically used in the ELT market in Mexico, it becomes
apparent that language policy has not necessarily been carried
through to practice. Indeed, the goals and content we find in ELT
materials are some way off from mirroring this construction of
English as a tool for global, transcultural communication.
In the largest sector of English language learning, that of public
education, typical content at the level of basic education is
organized around the goals set out in the English programme
(within the national curriculum). The content focuses primarily on
social practices of the language and the construction of everyday,
academic and literary texts. Under each of these rubrics, the main
focus is on normative language and contexts for communication that
are characterized largely by the kinds of texts produced to achieve
these social practices. While the program does specify the strategic
competences to be developed under each social practice, what is
not seen here is a GELT approach to the language. A GELT approach
exposes pupils to varieties of language and permits non-normative
forms, at the same time as it encourages negotiated meanings,
all of which are key features of transcultural communication
(Jenkins 2013).
At the level of high school education (Preparatoria), the drawing up
of policy documents lies with the state, rather than the federal
Secretariat of Education, and varies from one state to another.
However, as evidenced in the kinds of materials used at this level of
education, English language learning at high school in the public
sector tends to be a continuation of the same approach found at the
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basic level in public schools.

The private sector, in basic education, can be characterized as
consisting largely of ‘bilingual schools’. Here, pupils are exposed to
English during approximately 50 per cent of the school day. (Often at
preschool pupils will be fully immersed in English, and in secondary
school English is reduced to about a third of the school day). Over the
past 25 years, in the bilingual schools market, there has been a
marked shift away from the language arts programmes that were
popular during the 1990s. In these programs, English as a Second
Language (ESL) materials (produced for the growing immigrant
market in mainstream education in the United States) were adopted
by bilingual schools. They were often adopted at one grade level
below the students’ actual grade level. This was in order to
compensate for the difference in exposure to English between an ESL
and an EFL environment. The challenges that these ESL materials
presented teachers and pupils in the Mexican private sector led many
bilingual schools to move towards the use of different materials. On
the one hand, materials for learning through English, where subjects
such as ‘History’ were now taught in English (though in addition to,
rather than in place of the history class taught in Spanish). On the
other, EFL materials which had a syllabus that focused on preparation
for international exams, such as the Cambridge English Assessment or
Trinity College Oxford portfolios exams. However, whilst materials
developed for English medium instruction (EMI) or content and
language integrated learning (CLIL) can lead pupils towards high
levels of proficiency in English, they do not, for the most part,
contemplate either features of language, or processes and strategies
of communication which reflect a view of English as a lingua franca
for global transcultural communication. Much the same can be said
of materials developed with a strong exam-preparation syllabus; as
one might predict, the focus in terms of language content tends
towards standard language forms and normative processes in
communication. In this respect, a mismatch with national language
policy can again be identified.
Likewise, at the level of high school in the private sector, we find that
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these dominant tendencies towards standardisation remain much the

same. English–medium instruction and/or EFL exam preparation
materials prevail over materials that expose pupils to varieties of
language which facilitate skills in transcultural communication.
Similar to the case of high school, where there is no national policy
statement for English language teaching, at the tertiary level a lack of
uniformity in English language policy also exists. Each higher
education (HE) institution forms its own policies. In some cases,
English is offered as an integral part of the undergraduate curriculum;
in others, general English courses may be offered as an optional
subject. Some HE institutions include a specified level of English as
part of their entrance requirement; others insist that their students
pass an English language proficiency test in order to graduate. In the
public sector, at the tertiary level, it is not uncommon to find spaces
for self-directed learning of English (Self-access centres), for the
student community at large. Occasionally, at this level we may also
see courses offered in English for specific purposes. Here, the
content may be specifically honed to lexis and discourse practices
specific to a particular profession, the element of international
communication is still largely absent.
Despite the fact that there is no uniform policy as to the role of
English in higher education, it is apparent that English is a highly
valued commodity. Internationalisation programmes can be found
across the board in HE, involving anything from student exchanges to
the presence of international campuses. Visiting professorships are
encouraged. In their absence, Mexican teaching staff, on Mexican
university campuses, are encouraged to offer lectures to their
students in English. In the area of postgraduate and research work,
researchers are encouraged to publish and present their studies in
English to enhance the impact of their work. Academia however, is
the one field that has been particularly persistent in insisting on
native speaker norms for academic discourse. Conventions in
academic writing are highly standardized and safeguarded by
publishers of scholarly work. This places non-native speaker
academics at a disadvantage in publishing, which has a negative
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impact on their institution’s internationalization (Ingvarsdóttir and

Arnbjörnsdóttir 2013).
It would seem that, for the future of academic writing, it might be
desirable to remove this level of gatekeeping. Tolerance in the
academic community for textual characteristics that are more
reflective of communication between speakers of other languages
who use English as a lingua franca, could be fostered.
Despite the fact that the wider national policy appears to be
accommodating a GELT approach within its policy statement, where
communication is seen as a series of primarily spoken practices
which vary and are established according to social and
communicative conventions of the culture where the exchanges take
place, neither the public sector nor the private sector of education in
Mexico has seen their way past the barriers of a dominant normative
discourse. They have failed to expose pupils to communication
contexts where English is used as a lingua franca for transcultural
exchange. Teachers feel insecure about accepting a view of language
as fluid and permissive, and EFL materials that promote standard
language forms dominate the market. In this environment, it is
unlikely that the mismatch between language policy and teaching
content is going to change. Having said this, there are in fact two
spaces in Mexico which hold some potential for facilitating a GELT
approach; those of the commercial language institute and of self-
directed learning.
The commercial language institute, while not well documented, is the
sector of English language learning which holds most potential for
facilitating a GELT approach and providing opportunities for learners
to build up skills for effective transcultural communication. As an
independent and commercial entity, these institutions are at liberty to
modify and update the goals and content of learning based on the
specific needs of its clients. Likewise, they are at liberty to adopt
international EFL textbooks produced within a framework of global
English, or English as a lingua franca. The smaller group sizes of the
language institute also facilitate the building up of communication
strategies and transcultural communication skills.
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In addition to the commercial sector of English language learning, the

area of self-directed learning also holds significant potential for
achieving the plurilingual and pluricultural competence that is
necessary to successfully handle the communication challenges of
the globalised world. This self-directed sector of learning is inherently
propitious in terms of allowing for the market needs of individual
learners to be met. Desired learning outcomes and the processes
necessary to achieve these outcomes are set by the learner. In this
respect, a learner using a self–access centre, the Internet or specific
language learning apps to develop his language skills, can be guided
by the immediate uses he has for the language. He can then adopt
routes for learning which best meet his long and short term needs.
Under this second cornerstone of trends in English language teaching
over the past 25 years, we have seen how English is currently
conceptualized across the international discourse community
surrounding English language teaching. This is as a process closely
linked to the demands of globalization. This discussion frames the way
in which we interpret Mexico´s national language policy, and then
assess the fit between national language policy and the way it is
implemented in local contexts. In this area we noted a considerable
disparity between national goals (as articulated by the government’s
2007–2012 National Development Plan, the Secretariat for Public
Education, and the Sub-Secretariat for Basic Education) and the way
English is presented in learning content in the public and private
sectors of education. It would seem to be only in the commercial and
self-directed markets of ELT that there is the potential for the
development of the plurilingual and pluricultural competencies
necessary to successfully handle the communication challenges of
the globalised world.
An examination of the related area of language syllabi (and how
English language content is organized) will provide further insight into
the directions we have been taking in ELT over the past two decades.
We shall go on to examine current trends in this area in the following
section. It addresses the question of how we organize what we teach.
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c. How do we organize what we teach?

In examining the ways in which the goals and content of the language class
are organized into a language syllabus, two general approaches can be
identified in Mexico; a ‘goals-based syllabus’ and a ‘book-based syllabus’.
The former is generally found in the public sector, whilst the latter approach
is more common in the private sector. In addition to the different approaches
towards syllabus design, in the latter part of the twentieth century, a
common frame for the describing of goals and content in language
programmes or syllabi was often lacking. Without a coherent framework,
it was difficult to perceive continuity between programmes at the different
levels of education. This has now been rectified to some extent.
The public sector in mainstream education follows a national curriculum
(Plan y Programas de Estudio, SEP), where English is one of a number of
required subjects to be taught. The aims and content areas are laid out in a
3-year syllabus. The materials that are used to teach this syllabus are written
specifically for it by competing publishers. The private sector, as a basis for
their English syllabi, generally uses an English course book series that they
select from the open market. (Although the private sector in mainstream
education is obliged to follow the national curriculum, in the case of pupils
who had started classes during preschool or primary, they had usually
surpassed the proficiency level the national curriculum set out to achieve. It
was therefore appropriate, in these cases, to adopt a more advanced course
book series). Using a course book series as the basis for an English language
programme is an inverse, but fairly common approach to organizing what
we teach. It is an approach to programme design currently found in many
different parts of the world (Fester 2014).
In the case of high school (Preparatoria), state entities are responsible
for specifying the syllabus for English, hence considerable variation exists in
terms of programme design between one state and another. Here too, the
division holds between the state sector and the private sector, with private
high schools also tending to base their English courses on the textbook
series they use.
At the tertiary level, no common curriculum has existed to date. Each
institution has been responsible for specifying the desired proficiency
levels and the content of syllabuses for the different programmes offered
141 ◗

in its various faculties. In some cases, syllabuses have been drawn up

independently from the course books used; in other cases it has been the
course book that constitutes the language syllabus. These two approaches
to syllabus design are both still very much apparent in the educational
market in Mexico today.
In terms of specifying goals and content, in the 15 years or so prior to
2006, regardless of whether the syllabus was drawn up independently from a
course book series or not, the organization of the English language content
consisted largely of the co-existence of a situational-based syllabus with a
grammatical syllabus. In other words, a unit of work would typically involve a
situational context, which would generate certain functional expressions to
be initially presented as ‘chunks’, and then, later in the unit, they would be
analysed for their grammatical make-up. There was considerable uniformity
between different course book syllabi and between programme syllabi.
This should not surprise us, at this time, ELT in Mexico was influenced by
an internationally dominant discourse in applied linguistics. This discourse
advocated a communicative approach to language teaching; what could be
observed during the 1990s was a transitioning from a dominant pedagogical
framework based on grammar towards the trending communicative
approach. It was this vision of English language teaching, as essentially
‘communication-based’, using functional language that is situated within
a context that moulded and drew together language programmers from
different sectors in Mexico. This resulted in a certain uniformity in teaching
goals and content.
Parallel to the trending discourse of communicative language teaching
in Mexico, in the 1990s we find another trend that was fast gaining ground,
originating in the area of industry. This was a discourse of quality control
and standardization. It was the ELT exams market which was the first to take
this discourse fully on board. This was prompted by the increasing demand
for certification, to accredit internationally recognized standards of English
language proficiency. In order to frame the understanding of what different
levels of proficiency were comprised of, it was seen as convenient to adopt
the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR), drawn up by the
Council of Europe in 1996. With evidence of an expanding exam market,
publishers of ELT materials across the board were quick to adopt the CEFR
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as a tool to conceptualise the content and goals of their textbook series.

This was done in order to link their products more closely to the growing
market of international standardized exams. It was this move on the part of
the publishers that contributed to the formalization of the common language
that we now share in Mexico, and across the world, to talk about the goals of
English language teaching and the levels of learning.
Essentially, the CEFR framework conceptualizes language ability in terms
of competences, or what is commonly referred to as ‘can do’ statements. Its
discourse coincides with the shift in education in Mexico at the beginning of
the twenty first century towards competency-based learning. Coincidentally,
this strengthens its applicability to national language programmes. In Mexico,
regardless of whether a ‘goals-based’ or a book-based’ approach to syllabus
design is taken, this rush towards a competency-based model of learning
has propelled the use of the CEFR as a tool with which to frame the setting
of intermediary and end-goals in language proficiency, namely in the use of
‘can-do’ statements. Current trends in Mexico are clearly uniform in the move
towards conceptualising end goals and the abilities that constitute these
end goals. It has become widely accepted that the goals and content areas
of the language class are stated in syllabi using the CEFR (as in the 2006
language programme) and its Mexican derivative for benchmarking language
achievement, the ‘CENNI’ (as in the 2009 language programme for basic
education).
One of the principal advantages that this common discourse has given
us is that it is now much more straightforward to perceive how different
programmes compare with each other, in terms of goals and content. This,
in turn, helps to establish a sense of continuity in English language learning
between the different levels of education within Mexico. It enables us to
ensure that as learners progress from primary to secondary school, or from
high school to university, they are moving forward in their learning, rather
than sideways or even backwards. More than this, the common framework
provides us with the means to talk about what we are teaching and what we
are aiming for as ELT professionals, in both the national and the international
arena.
Moving on from language policy and the way language teaching is
conceptualized across different sectors in terms of goals and content, we go
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on to examine methodological trends. Looking at how we teach helps us to

ascertain the extent to which current English language policy and planning
is actually being implemented in our classrooms. This, in turn, can inform our
expectations of Mexico’s ability to meet current market needs for English
language learning.
d. How do we teach?
Looking at how we teach (in terms of the predominant methodologies of
the classroom and the learning materials used) gives us an indication of
where our focus lies in terms of a knowledge base and skill building. The
question of methodology is usually foremost in teachers’ minds and often
provides the window through which they come to understand the theoretical
framework on which an educational approach is based.
The ELT discourse in Mexico entered this century under the umbrella
term ‘communicative approach’, which aimed above all to prepare learners
to interact with some fluency using all the linguistic resources at their
disposal. In reality, the teaching circumstances (i.e. large classes, a shared
mother tongue, lack of access to authentic input) as well as the teachers’
experience and their training, meant that for the most part, the approach
adopted was ‘quasi-communicative’. In other words, typically teachers
entering this century tended to combine a structural approach to teaching
(explicit grammar teaching, often in the pupils’ mother tongue) with some
communicative activities (pairwork/groupwork, information-gap or role play),
(Ramírez-Romero and Pamplón 2012).
In a quasi-communicative class in the public sector, a proportionally
larger amount of lesson time would be assigned to explicit presentation of
new language items. This would be followed by controlled or semi-controlled
practice of these items, and possibly, but not always, with some time at the
end of the class for freer production (a communicative activity). How exactly
this quasi-communicative approach was linked to the general approach to
education expressed in the national curriculum at that time (constructivist/
learner-centred), is not altogether clear, though learner-centeredness is
recognised as one of the requirements for an activity to be labelled as
‘communicative’ (Wesche and Skehan 2002).
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In the private sector at this time, in the bilingual schools market, language
arts textbook series, produced originally as ESL material to support
immigrant sectors of the education market in the USA, were common.
Language arts series can be characterized as a blend of English medium
instruction (EMI) and a content and language integrated approach to
learning (CLIL) – the difference being that EMI materials do not integrate
strategies for second language support as an integral part of the content.
Teachers following these language arts programmes in the EFL context of
Mexico usually found themselves having to produce support materials for
language development and adding extra stages to their lessons in order
to introduce new lexis and language forms. This resulted in an eclectic
methodology.
Alongside the quasi-communicative approach found in the classroom
at this time, we can also find the beginnings of the massive movement to
use communication technology for learning purposes (coined as
TICs – Tecnologias para la Información y Comunicación). The rapid rise of the
computer and the Internet during the 1990s influenced educational policy
and all subject areas. Basic and high school educators were encouraged
to incorporate technological tools for learning. However, due to practical
considerations linked to weak infrastructure and lack of teacher training, the
public sector made little significant progress in the use of TICs for learning.
Similarly, but for methodological reasons, the situation was not much
different in the private sector in basic education.
However, the panorama was markedly different in higher education. The
introduction of the National Self-access Project in 1993, described in detail
by Grounds in the preface to this volume, hoped to support learners achieve
greater autonomy. Essentially, autonomous learning involves a shift in focus
from teaching to a focus on learning, with the responsibilities for learning
being transferred from the teacher to the learner (Benson and Voller 1997).
Technology--in the mid 1990s this was primarily videos and computer
software--was initially conceived as being one of many options through
which English could be learnt in the SAC. Other options, including tutor-
supported skills workshops, conversation circles and individual counselling
on how to self-direct one’s learning, were also considered. However, since
there were often insufficient resources to pay teachers as support staff
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for the SACs, these centres often turned into spaces where students used
the reference books or the computer to do their homework, as if in a
conventional library.
In terms of its success, the SAC project has had mixed results; more
often than not the problem has been one of methodology (Grounds and
Moore 2016). The number of SACs on public university campuses has
grown exponentially – from an initial 36 to a number running into the low
hundreds. However, placing language counsellors in these learning centres
often remains a problem. Methodologically, learners are often unconvinced
about the value of autonomous learning in itself or unsure of how to go
about directing their own learning. Consequently, in many cases, the SAC
has been included as a compulsory element of the language programme,
where students attend for extended practice of skills learned in the
language classroom. In this respect, we can conclude that self-access
learning, as it was initially conceived, is largely not taking place with some
important exceptions. One such example is at the University of the Caribe
(Universidad del Caribe), in the State of Quintana Roo and in some centres
belonging to the University of Veracruz (Universidad Veracruzana). That
said, the characteristics of undergraduate students have changed markedly
since the 1990s; today’s young undergraduate tends to have high levels of
digital competency and this has resulted in computer-based learning now
dominating much of what goes on in a SAC. In addition, this familiarity with
digital technology has facilitated the gradual adoption of ‘blended learning’ -
an approach where the use of technology (usually online learning platforms
and social media) is combined with face-to-face classroom contact. It is
not only in language programmes where blended learning is catching on;
rather, it is an approach that is being steadily incorporated across the wider
curriculum in tertiary education.
Stepping beyond the confines of education, to society at large, one last
trend in technology affects the way we learn. This has been the growing
popularity of apps for mobile technology. With a large proportion of these
apps being available at no cost, opportunities for self-directed language
learning are being extended beyond formal education and are accessible to
anyone who has a digital device.
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The British Council reports that, between April 2013 and March 2014 alone,
more than 68 000 free apps for language learning were downloaded from
their LearnEnglish website (The British Council 2015: 27)
Moving back chronologically to the topic of classroom methodology, we
have seen how Mexico entered this century under a quasi-communicative
approach to language teaching, combining a structural and situational
approach to language. However, in 2006, Mexico entered a period of
educational reform that had been in movement since 2001. At the centre
of this reform was a competency-based model of education that places the
learner at the centre of the educational process, focuses on mastering skills,
and is based on learning outcomes. This model supports a way forward in
developing learners’ abilities to engage more effectively in the diverse social
practices of the language. Teachers across all sectors and all subject areas,
from pre-school all the way up to tertiary programmes, were faced with a
shift in pedagogical approach, not only to teaching but also to assessment
and testing.
In the area of ELT, this re-conceptualisation of language content from
a structural/ situational perspective to a competency-based perspective
was largely facilitated by the increasing fluency of the ELT community
in Mexico in the discourse surrounding the CEFR. The national language
syllabus, as well as the ELT textbook series being produced at that time,
tended mainly to be written in terms of ‘can-do’ statements. This framing of
goals and of content for teaching and learning greatly facilitated teachers’
conceptualizations of how to go about achieving these competencies. The
area where most difficulties have been encountered is that of assessment;
drawing up valid testing instruments which test what a learner can do
through the language, rather than what a learner knows about the language,
involves a considerable shift from one conceptual framework to another. It
also involves the inclusion of more open test items where learners produce
language themselves. Subjectivity in testing design can be problematic in
terms of marking, large class sizes, and the reliability and validity of scores
and grades. Indeed, we go on in the following section to look more closely at
trends in testing.
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We said at the outset of this section that looking at how we teach (in terms
of the predominant methodologies of the classroom and the learning
materials used) gives us an indication of where our focus lies in terms of
a knowledge base and skill-building. It informs the expectations we may
reasonably have of the linguistic strengths of our learners, and this, in turn,
helps us to ascertain the extent to which current English language needs are
being met through our classroom practices. A competency-based approach
to language teaching, in which learners build knowledge and skills through
engaging in social practices in the language, would seem to be a productive
path to take if what Mexico needs is people who know how to use English
to achieve particular communicative outcomes. Whether or not this is
being achieved is best ascertained through the assessment of learning and
testing of learners’ achievement and proficiency, in terms of the particular
language competencies they are able to demonstrate. However, as we
shall see in the next section, there is still much disparity between the ways
in which content is conceptualised and taught. This is true at all levels, in
schools across the country, and applicable to describe the ways in which
this learning is assessed.
e. How do we assess/test what we teach?

Hand in hand with approaches to teaching, are the ways in which we
assess learning and evaluate performance. Assessment practices should
be expected to reflect both the content and goals of the language syllabus
and the methodological framework within which learning has taken place.
Furthermore, testing instruments should be linked to the market needs of
the end users, in order to assess their ability to participate effectively in
communities of practice. In addition, it is convenient if the standards used
to measure learning are linked to a reference system that is common to the
different sectors of ELT, so as to provide continuity across the educational
system and between different sectors of the market. Looking at assessment
practices will then provide a good indication of the degree to which we are
working towards common goals and standards of practice and the extent to
which these goals and practices are truly reflective of the market needs.
During the quasi-communicative era of the 1990s to around 2006, it was
common in Mexico to find teachers placing most emphasis on assessing
◗ 148

learners grammatical competence, with perhaps some assessment of

receptive skills work (listening and reading); it was relatively rare to come
across a writing component and even rarer to encounter a speaking
component (Ramírez-Romero and Pamplón 2012). This incongruence is
easily explained in terms of the practicalities of carrying out frequent
assessments with numerous learners; with large classes and limited class
time, it was often not considered feasible to assess learners’ communicative
skills. Furthermore, teachers often felt unsure about how to assess the
productive skills (speaking and writing) reliably or validly. Consequently, a
written test assessing language knowledge (preferably consisting of multiple
choice items) was viewed as much easier to handle administratively and
less time consuming to mark for the often over-worked, and sometimes
under-trained, teacher.
In the private bilingual school market, as well as the commercial
language institute, the situation was somewhat different. These teaching/
learning contexts, characterized by smaller class sizes and more contact
hours, allowed for more continuous assessment to take place. Skills in oral
and written production could be progressively evaluated, in addition to
the periodic progress tests focusing on lexical and grammatical
knowledge and the receptive skills of listening and reading. In these sectors
of ELT, the means of evaluation were more congruent with the teaching/
learning process.
Since 2006, with a competency-based model of education at the
forefront of language teaching across sectors and levels in Mexico, and the
presence of a common framework (CEFR) which facilitated more precise
and focused discussion of language goals and content, it might be assumed
that the assessment of learners would become more coherent. Indeed, in
the private market there is some evidence of this, with the international
exams market strongly driving the change. Since much of the commercial
ELT market uses EFL textbooks written within the CEFR framework and
benchmarks the levels they offer with the CEFR, it eventually becomes
natural for teachers to think about evaluation in these ‘can do’ terms. Often,
textbook series now include testing packages which have been modelled
on question types found in international standardized examinations of
English language proficiency, (such as the Cambridge English Assessment
149 ◗

or Trinity College Oxford Portfolios). In these cases, it can be expected

that the assessment of learning will take place within a competency-based
framework. This washback effect of international standardized exams,
where the means of evaluation are constructive to the teaching/learning
process, can also be seen in the bilingual schools market which has taken
on the discourse of ‘quality control’ and standardization mentioned in
section c) above. To compete in the educational market, private schools are
increasingly benchmarking their achievements using these internationally
recognized certifications. In order to facilitate the preparation of students
for these exams, it is common for schools to introduce question types
which mirror those found in the international proficiency exams into their
own periodic in-house progress tests. In all probability, while the market
demand for international certification is strong, this washback effect that
standardized language proficiency exams is having on in-house evaluation
will grow.
It is the public sector that is still struggling to adapt its testing practices
to its teaching practices. Despite following a competency-based syllabus for
teaching, a structural linguistic syllabus still seems to dominate the in-house
bimonthly evaluation instruments designed by the teachers in public school
education (basic to high school). This is unsurprising, since the contextual
factors since the 1990s have not changed; teachers are still facing large
class sizes, a tight time frame in which to complete the syllabus, as well as
limited class hours (3 hours a week at best). Training of teachers in valid test-
writing and reliable scoring and grading is notoriously difficult to do. This
is because of practical constraints on finding time and space for teams of
teachers to work together on what should be a high priority. For now, there
prevails a sense of uncertainty about how to go about the evaluation of what
learners can do by using the language. It is easier and more practical to
assess what they know about English.
If an examination of assessment practices can tell us how close we are to
meeting the market needs of Mexico, producing competent users of English
in international communication, we might conclude that competency-based
testing that looks at what learners can do through the language would be an
appropriate direction to take.
◗ 150

At least in the private market, where classroom conditions are more

favourable and allow for testing practices that reflect teaching practices,
we are able to gather evidence of the extent to which English language
learners will have the skills to perform competently in the language in ways
that meet the market’s needs. It is difficult to ascertain to what extent this
is also true of the public sector; although the contextual conditions of the
classroom do not favour the testing of learners’ competencies in the public
sector of education. This does not necessarily mean that the public sector of
education is failing to produce competent users for the current market.
It is simply the case that current testing practices do not provide evidence
of this.
It is evident that in both the private and public sectors of education,
there is not a focus on teaching or testing the plurilingual and pluricultural
competencies necessary to successfully handle the communication
challenges of the globalised world. We saw in section b) above that this
encompasses a language user’s ability to engage in the negotiation of
meanings, use, and varieties of language which permit non-normative
forms. This is a fundamental skill in transcultural communication (Pennycook
2007). This understanding of the role of English as a lingua franca between
speakers of different mother tongues, as a tool for international, transcultural
communication, does not seem to have achieved prominence in either
teaching or testing practices in the public or private sectors of education.
We have already mentioned that if the standards used to measure
learning are linked to a common reference system across the whole of
the ELT community in Mexico, this will provide coherence to the national
picture of English language teaching and learning. Having a clear frame
of reference helps policy makers, teachers and learners understand what
we are working towards. If we are all working along the same model for
benchmarking learning achievements, it may be possible to improve
continuity between basic education, high school and tertiary levels. While
the 2009 reconstruction of the national curriculum (SEP 2009) rearticulated
the link between the goals for primary and secondary English syllabi, it is still
too early to assess how far we have come in providing continuity across the
educational system and between different sectors of the market. Achieving
the minimum benchmark set by the SEP, of a level 8 on the CENNI, equivalent
151 ◗

to B1 on the CEFR, from English language learners in both the private and
the public sectors was the goal that was set across these diverse settings.
Concluding remarks
This chapter set out to describe the tendencies in English language teaching
apparent in Mexico as we have moved out of the twentieth and into the early
twenty first century. As part of the discussion we have also pointed towards
the direction that ELT seems to be taking as we move towards the end of the
first quarter of the twenty first century. Several conclusions can be drawn
from this overview of trends in ELT in Mexico over the past 25 years:
1. The current market needs for ELT in Mexico are linked to Mexico´s
ability to be globally competitive. This situation is unlikely to change
in the near future. If targets of proficiency that meet the market
demands are to be met then English language learning should
continue to play an increasingly important role on the national
agenda. This is true not only within education agenda, but also
alongside education and beyond education.
2. The national curriculum, with its competency-based model of
education and its formulation of English language learning goals in
terms of ‘can do’ statements, is congruent with a conceptual model
of English as a tool for global, transcultural communication (i.e.
GELT). A competency-based model facilitates a shift away from the
earlier quasi-communicative approach, which largely managed to
provide learners with knowledge about the language. The approach
adopted since 2006 has the potential to produce learners who can
do things through the language.
3. For market needs to be squarely met, a focus on English as a lingua
franca (ELF) needs to be brought in, encompassing a language
user’s ability to engage in the negotiation of meanings, perhaps
using varieties of language that permit non-normative forms,
a fundamental skill in transcultural communication. At present,
language content and skills development tends towards standard
language forms and normative processes in communication. Neither
the public sector nor the private sector of education has seen their
way past the barriers of a dominant normative discourse to expose
◗ 152

pupils to communication contexts where English is used as a lingua

franca for transcultural exchange. In this respect, a mismatch
between national language policy and market needs can be
identified. While teachers feel insecure about accepting a fluid and
permissive view of the nature of language, and EFL materials that
promote a view of standard language forms dominate the market, it
is unlikely that this mismatch between language policy and teaching
content will change.
4. The two sectors of the ELT market in Mexico which show greater
potential for developing a focus on the characteristics of English
used as a lingua franca, (ELF) within a GELT approach, are the
commercial language institute and the sector of the population
which engages in self-directed learning. As independent and
commercial entities, English language institutions are at liberty
to continuously modify and update the goals and content of
learning, based on the specific needs of their clients. Likewise,
they are at liberty to adopt international EFL textbooks produced
within a framework of global English, or English as a lingua franca.
The smaller group sizes of the language institute also facilitate
the building up of communication strategies and transcultural
communication skills. The sector of self-directed learning also shows
significant potential to achieve the plurilingual and pluricultural
competencies necessary to successfully handle the communication
challenges of the globalised world. This is because desired learning
outcomes and the processes to achieve these outcomes are set by
the learner.
5. Benchmarking standards have been internationally accepted and
this is being taken on board in education. In order to benchmark
language proficiency, the Mexican ministry of education (SEP)
has adopted the Common European Farmework of Reference for
languages (CEFR) from which was generated the National English
Certificate Bands (CENNI). This common framework provides us
with the means to talk about what we are teaching and what we
are aiming for as ELT professionals, in both the national and the
international arena. The market for international exams amongst
153 ◗

school pupils (for private schools) and teachers (in public schools)
has risen considerably in the last 15 years, with British Council exam
centres established in no fewer than 13 states throughout Mexico.
6. This trend towards international certification in Mexico is driving a
swing away from an EMI or CLIL approach teaching, back towards
an EFL approach in the private bilingual schools sector. This seems
to be because textbooks produced for the EFL market are better
suited to exam preparation for international certification than
materials produced for teaching content in English (EMI) or through
English (CLIL).
7. The strengthening presence of the CEFR, and its Mexican derivative
the CENNI, as a framework in common to talk about our goals
for teaching provides the means to establish continuity across
different levels and between sectors in the ELT market in Mexico.
When a common discourse exists, it is much more straightforward
to perceive how different programmes compare with each other,
in terms of goals and content, and to establish coherent links
between programmes to ensure that learners are moving forward
in their learning, rather than sideways or even backwards. The re-
articulation of the 2006 national language curriculum in 2009
(PNIEB) was an exercise in this, a coherent transition between
primary and secondary English programme was established.
8. Assessment practices are the weak link in the chain. Testing
practices which are coherent with a competency-based model of
ELT and a GELT / ELF approach to language need to be developed
and validated. While the presence of the CEFR as a scaffold for
syllabus and material design has had a positive washback effect
on teaching practices, the contextual factors, in the public sector
especially, continue to be an obstacle to the development of
coherent testing procedures and practices. Teachers, who are
overloaded with teaching hours, face large class sizes and are
under a tight time frame in which to complete the syllabus, are
uncertain about how to go about the assessment of what learners
can do through the language. These teachers are resorting to
designing tests that measure what learners know about (standard)
◗ 154

English. More teacher training and expert support is required in the

development of appropriate assessment and testing instruments
within a competency-based model, especially under difficult
teaching circumstances.
9. Self-directed leaning seems to be on the increase. However, it is
beyond current means to evaluate the quality of this learning or the
appropriateness of the content and skills studied (in terms of the
market’s needs). It is worth noting that statistics released by AMIPCI
(the Mexican Association for Internet) indicate that in 2013 only 30
per cent of Mexican households had access to Internet resources,
with access being economically and geographically linked. In view
of the current downward direction of the economy in Mexico, it
is not expected that there will be any significant increase in the
number of users of self-directed English language learning in the
foreseeable future. Nevertheless, we might expect to see current
consumers of self-directed language learning increase their activity
in this particular area as more apps and opportunities for self-
directed learning are made freely available.
In conclusion, it would seem from this assessment of current trends in
ELT that essential frameworks are now in place in order to allow Mexico
to meet the linguistic demands of the market and to function as a globally
competitive player. The details, however, still urgently need refining. This
is especially true at the grassroots level of the classroom, where a much
sharper focus on real teaching conditions and the provision of on-going
teacher development is needed to create a more robust future for ELT
in Mexico. There are clear ways forward, clear ways to prepare a
population that can contribute equitably and effectively to national and
personal growth.
References
AMIPCI Asociacion Mexicana de Internet, <http://www.amipci.org.mx/>,
accessed 10 Feb. 2017.
Benson, P. and Voller, P. (eds.) (1997), Autonomy and Independence in Language
Learning (London: Longman).
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British Council (2017), ‘English in Mexico: An examination of policy, perceptions

and influencing factors’, British Council Education Intelligence, published
online <https://ei.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/.../English%20in%20
Mexico.pdf>, accessed 10 Feb. 2017.
Canagarajah, S. (2013), Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan
Relations (New York: Routledge).
Council of Europe (2017), ‘Common European Framework for Languages,
Language Policy Unit, Strasbourg’, published online <www.coe.int/lang-
CEFR>, accessed 10 Feb. 2017.
Fester, A. (2017), ‘Changing perspectives on syllabus design in ELT: Textbook
trends and tertiary teacher decision-making’, University of Waikato, 2014
<http://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/handle/10289/8858>,
accessed 10 Feb. 2017.
Galloway, N. and Rose, H. (2015), Introducing Global Englishes (Routledge).
Jenkins, J. (2011), English as a Lingua Franca in the International University: The
Politics of Academic English Language Policy (Abingdon: Routledge).
——— ‘Accommodating (to) ELF in the International University’, The Journal of
Pragmatics, 43/4: 926–36.
Ingvarsdóttir, H. and Arnbjörnsdóttir, B. (2013), ‘ELF and academic writing: a
perspective from the expanding circle’, Journal of English as a Lingua
Franca, 2/1: 123–45.
Moore, C. and Grounds P. E. (2015), ‘The Evolution of the Self-Access Centre
in Mexican Higher Education Institutions: Listening to the Students’
Voices’, in R. Espinoza Sánchez and M. Vargas Aceves (eds.), Encuentros
y desencuentros disciplinares en investigacion: Estudios sociales y
económicos (Mexico: Universidad de Guadalajara), 211–40.
Pennycook, A. (2015), Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows (New York:
Routledge).
Ramírez-Romero, J.L. and Pamplón, N. (2012), ‘Research on FLT in Mexico: Main
Findings’, in R. Roux, A-Mora, and Paulina Trejo (eds.), Research in English
Language Teaching: Mexican Perspectives (Bloomington: Palibrio).
Secretaría de Educación Pública (2006), Programas de Estudio 2006: Lengua
Extranjera: Inglés, published online <http://www.curriculobasica.sep.gob.
mx/pdf/pnieb/pe_ingles_2006.pdf>, accessed 10 Feb. 2017.
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——— (2009), Programa Nacional de Inglés en Educación Básica: Programa de

Estudio 2009. Etapa piloto, published online <http://basica.sep.gob.mx/>.
Vazquez, A., Guzmán, N., and Roux, R. (2013), ‘Can ELT in Higher Education be
Successful? The Current Status of ELT in Mexico’, The Electronic Journal for
English as a Second Language, 17/1.
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published online <http://pnd.calderon.presidencia.gob.mx/pdf/PND_2007-
2012.pdf>, accessed 10 Feb. 2017.
Valladares and Castro (2013), ‘The Challenge of Teaching English in Public
Schools: Beyond Academic Factors’, MEXTESOL Journal, 37/3.
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Instruction, and Task-based Learning’, in R. Kaplan (ed.), The Oxford
Handbook of Applied Linguistics, (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
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Chapter 3 The Emerging Identity of Pre-service Teachers during the

Chapter · March 2017

Ana Maria Elisa Diaz de la Garza

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded ﬁle.

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Contextualising Teacher Development in English Language

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journey, involving many international collaborations; however, I will only refer

Starting in the present: The year of the UK in Mexico and

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The Guadalajara International Book Fair, second in the world only to

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collaborations also strengthen important internationalization policies.

Over twenty-five years of UK collaboration with Mexican HE institutions

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already burgeoning in public education systems in other parts of the world.

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“greater professionalism, better problem management/identification, better

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Centres (SAC) Project was conceived and inaugurated. Thanks to a series

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national, shared, online bank of practice materials for independent study

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certification of teachers via virtual learning environments. I will go on to

Opening up opportunities for online study

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partnerships. First, the University of Southampton provided academic

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Introduction to the authors and their research

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Ma. de Lourdes Rico Cruz works at Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro,

Ana Maria Elisa Díaz de la Garza is a teacher trainer at Universidad

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Elsa Fernanda González works at Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas

Gandy Griselda Quijano Zavala has an MA in Linguistics from the University

Caroline Moore has an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Essex,

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Pat Grounds holds a PhD from Canterbury Christ Church University, an MA

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Developing Autonomous and Communicative Skills in

Ma. de Lourdes Rico Cruz

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The findings reveal that beginner learners interacting in group-work face

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needs. Correspondingly, there is a lack of exposure to communicative

Context of the study

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the inter-subjectivity within the members of the teams. It involves sharing

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and negotiate either in L1 or the target language when doing collaborative

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• Negotiation (through creativity,

• Organization of the task and turns