English Language and its Didactics in the Early Childhood Education Degree: from Theory to Practice

Abstract

As a result of the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), Higher Education in Europe has had to adapt itself to the agreed measures and in this new context the quality of teaching and learning of second languages becomes especially important. The current undergraduate studies introduce the possibility of including external internships to enrich the training of students, as well as to improve their employability. The Practicum offers future teachers the opportunity to put into practice the skills acquired during the degree and to get to know the reality of the Early Childhood Education classroom. Ad hoc questionnaires have been designed and administered before and after the Practicum, in order to know the perception of the third- and fourth-year students of the degree in Early Childhood Education on the usefulness of what they have learned in the subject of English Language and its Didactics during the Practicum and to have data for, in the future, and if necessary, bringing theory and practice closer in the training of future teachers. The results show that the students reaffirm their perception of their level of English and that throughout the Practicum they become aware of the value of the didactic contents of the subject. The conclusions indicate that the training in English Language and its Didactics is perceived positively by the students, that offers relevant content, enough resources and updates their communicative competence, aspects that are necessary for a good performance in their external internship.