The digital revolution of recent years has led to new ways of learning by combining innovative and traditional methods. In order to engage the students in these new methods, a pilot project called the Communicative English Language Skills Improvement Programme (CELSIP) has been designed. Thus the learners will be able to achieve a higher level of communication in English through a wide range of multimedia resources, such as audio-books, learning apps, educational websites, TV series, films, board games, and music. These multimodal tools are of easy access to students since the vast majority are user-friendly. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to analyse and verify the feasibility of the CELSIP using a SWOT framework analysis to show the self-learning potential regarding English as a foreign language. In order to do so, we shall first describe the characteristics of the project named CELSIP. It is hoped that the SWOT analysis will provide an objective and critical perspective of the Programme's usefulness and effectiveness as a whole. Also, this analysis could offer prompts involved in the analysis of what is effective and less effective in the programme sections and procedures.

This article examines how technology-enhanced inquiry-based learning (IBL) affected students’ language acquisition and the evolution of motivation in the subject of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Furthermore, this study presents a proposal for the collaboration of the subjects of Spanish and English, using translanguaging to establish connections between students’ L1 and L2 and reducing curricular duplications. EFL presents itself as an opportunity for learners to engage with a broader scope of authentic resources, using Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) as the main driving force of problem-solving situations. Thus, the investigation used Tolkien’s literary world as the main theme and topic of research, and robotics (Ozobot), IBL and a gamified learning management system (Classcraft) as the main methodologies. Through a series of diagnostic and proficiency tests (which included a robotic-supported storytelling activity and an ARCS motivation test), quantitative data were gathered concerning the two analysed variables. Results indicated improved language acquisition and motivation in all four parameters. Furthermore, Ozobot showed to have a quick adaptation period for student use at basic levels of functioning, as well as aiding in creative storytelling. Results will contribute to closing the knowledge gap detected in EFL learning since has been mostly used for scientific learning.

The purpose of this article is to carry out a corpus-based study on the presence of violence in a selection of eight tales by the Grimm's Brothers by looking at the terms which can be said to relate to the semantic field of violence. More specifically, this study will analyse a selection of eight tales in which the frequency of the words cut, dead and blood will be studied in detail. These words have been chosen due to their possible connection to violence after carrying out a quantitative analysis of the frequency of the whole main corpus. My initial hypothesis is that the corpus-based study of those eight tales would support my intuition regarding the high percentage of violence in the Brothers Grimm collection as opposed to the content of violence in a wider variety of texts. The study initially involved the analysis of frequencies of the lexical units in the Brothers' Grimm corpus and, secondly, a comparison of the results obtained in the frequency test to two reference corpora: the British National Corpus and the Cobuild Concordancer. The comparison and its results seem to indicate that there was a higher than average percentage of the use of words related directly or indirectly to violence.

Este artículo describe una propuesta de innovación docente basada en la corriente educativa de la Educación para el Desarrollo, así como la mejora de Competencia Comunicativa en L2 y de las Competencias Literarias e Interculturales por medio de un taller diseñado para tal fin. El propósito de este artículo es doble: por un lado mostrar las posibilidades que ofrece el Taller de Escritura e Ilustración Creativa para el desarrollo de las Competencias Literaria, Intercultural y Comunicativa en L2. Se muestra cómo el taller cumple con las directrices marcadas por la Educación para el Desarrollo que se describe en el marco teórico. El segundo objetivo es narrar cómo se han organizado, coordinado e implementado el Taller de Escritura e Ilustración Creativa en la Universidade Federal do Amazonas en Manaos (Brasil), basándose en la metodología del aprendizaje basado en tareas, y cómo se ha conseguido (i) promover la creación de puentes para la consolidación de las relaciones bilaterales entre universidades; (ii) motivar la colaboración científica con los centros brasileños que cuentan con un departamento de español, y (iii) emplear y crear herramientas que permitan incluir la Educación para el Desarrollo.

This article presents the design and evaluation processes of a new inclusive and technology-and-autonomous mediated tool named the Communicative English Language Skills Improvement Programme (CELSIP). This project was originally designed to help all kinds of learners to achieve better communicative competencies in English. An empirical mixed-method data collection process was conducted involving 49 students in their fourth year of the Teaching of English in Primary Education Degree. To this end, a semi-structured questionnaire and participants’ one-course-work self-assessment written testimony were analysed in depth. The findings were significant in that the levels of motivation reported by the students were reflected in their English language oral skills, since the use of technology affected their stimulus in multifaceted ways. This endeavour provided an enhanced version of the CELSIP, a more fitted to different learners online didactic toolset, based on the gathered data. The CELSIP has proven to be a useful source of materials for online learning and could play an important role in addressing the issue of how technology can be used to overcome the existing problems derived from diversity in regard to different types of learning styles. The pedagogical implications suggest that these students could “learn to learn” following the 21st Century Education long-life-learning guidelines after having used the CELSIP.