3 October, 2019

SS03 – Special Session on the Role of English in Transnational Education and Teacher Training

Abstract

The role of English as a tool for transnational education is paramount. It is the most common used medium for instruction in Higher Education, and it has proved an essential tool for student and teacher mobility (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2015). These facts refer to the importance of mastering English to receive a transnational education as well as to the need to tailor high-quality English teacher training. These two areas of study address convergence challenges that imply policy measures within the European Area.

The main aim of this section is twofold. First, to bring together researchers, practitioners, experts and policy makers who are pioneering new methods and policies in the implementation of English as a tool for transnational education. Second, to explore the problems and advancement of foreign language teacher training convergence for high-quality teacher training formats. In both fields, this section seeks to identify new issues, and to shape future directions for research.

Topics

The list of possible topics includes, but is not limited to:

  • Case studies of the use of English in transnational education.
  • The role of English in teacher and student mobility.
  • English and new technologies for transnational education.
  • Coherent and convergent policy design for English language teacher training.

Session Chairs

  • María Amor Barros del Río. Universidad de Burgos (Spain)
  • Concetta Maria Sigona. Universidad de Burgos (Spain)
  • Ana Cunha, Universidade Lusófona (Portugal)
  • Alina Doroch, Collegium Balticum (Poland)
  • Onorina Botezat, Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University (Romania)

Contact

Prof. María Amor Barros del Río

Department of English, Faculty of Humanities and Communication, University of Burgos

Paseo de Comendadores, s/n (Hospital Militar),09001, Burgos (Spain)

e-mail abarros@ubu.es

Additional Information

The session is endorsed by the VIR-Teach project (http://virteachproject.eu ), an Erasmus+ funded project to create a digital tool to improve the postgraduate certificates on Masters on Education (Foreign Languages) and to provide teachers, researchers, student teachers and policy-makers with open-source tools and resources (Project Reference: 2018-1-ES01-KA203-050045).