University English Learners Designing Digital Multimodal Texts about the Academic Community

This qualitative case study explores university students’ perceptions of mandatory English language courses as a degree requirement at a public university in southern Colombia. Drawing on decolonial theory and cultural capital, we analyzed 86 students’ responses to examine how they navigate the tension between recognizing English’s instrumental value and resisting its imposition as a graduation barrier. Data were collected via online questionnaires containing open- and closed-ended items. While 84% of students recognized English’s employment value, 62% viewed non-credit required courses as problematic, and many desired alternative language options. The study reveals how mandatory English requirements function as mechanisms of coloniality. These requirements function as gatekeeping devices creating differential barriers across socioeconomic backgrounds. We argue for flexible policies that value plurilingualism and student agency.

Four Virtual Learning Objects (VLO) were designed to incorporate English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learning at a public university in Colombia. Each VLO comprised a series of Virtual Learning Scenarios (VLS), including a vocabulary bank, a set of activities related to the six linguistic competencies (listening comprehension, oral interaction, oral production, reading comprehension, writing production, writing interaction), and an assessment and feedback sections. The impact of the VLO on students' perceptions of their progress was measured through entry and exit surveys composed of a 5-point Likert scale, multiple choice and open-ended questions. 139 students from Software Engineering (18), Journalism (22), Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences (50) and Nursing (49) enrolled in the University English Courses (UEC) and five teachers participated. The results reveal that students' perceptions of the VLS are positive, as each VLO is innovative and motivates learning strategies. Additionally, each VLO improved students listening and speaking skills. Therefore, the researchers recommend that teachers who design and implement VLOs focus on providing their students with skills and knowledge necessary to their specific study fields.

Background/aimOrofacial and dental injuries in athletes, both amateur and professional, are highly prevalent. Mouthguards are devices to prevent this type of injury; however, athletes believe that the mouthguard limits their performance in the game and decreases their confidence. This study analyzed the perception that some basketball, rugby and soccer players from a public university in Colombia have about the use of mouthguards.Material and MethodsComprehensive qualitative study with ethnographic approach. Twenty-nine players participated. Three data collection tools were used: semi-structured interviews, field diary and discussion groups. Content analysis was carried out using a categorical matrix and triangulation of sources.ResultsParticipants perceive the mouthguard as a device to prevent orofacial and dental injuries, but unattractive to wear during competitions. Factors that determine the use or non-use of the mouthguard are player comfort and adaptability, communication and economic cost.ConclusionsPlayers’ perception of mouthguards in soccer, basketball and rugby is multifactorial, and is mediated by the idea of contact risk during sports practice, prevention of orofacial injuries, influence on sports performance, comfort and adaptability to the mouthguard.

El artículo presenta algunos de los resultados derivados del macroproyecto “Estudio internacional sobre calidad de vida laboral en organizaciones de servicios humanos- WONPUM”, liderado por el profesor Joseph María Blanch de la Universidad de Barcelona. Específicamente se publica el resultado correspondiente a la percepción que tienen los docentes de las universidades públicas de Colombia en torno a su quehacer en las dimensiones de la virtud, la felicidad y la autonomía. Como resultado, se encontró qué en la actual organización del trabajo en la universidad pública de Colombia, los docentes perciben un alto nivel de virtud en su labor que les proporciona identidad y que concuerda con sus valores propios. Se encuentra, también que los docentes perciben que la virtud no necesariamente les facilita que sus méritos sean valorados con justicia. En cuanto a la felicidad perciben que sus instituciones les hacen sentirse útiles, trabajar a gusto y crecer como personas. Perciben también poco nivel de autonomía.

The present study explores the sense of awareness and perceptions that a group of teacher educators and pre-service teachers held about English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and its implications for English teacher education programs in Colombia. Guided by the theoretical framework of Global Englishes and ELF scholarship (Jenkins, J. 2015a. Repositioning English and multilingualism in English as a Lingua Franca. Englishes in Practice 2(3). 49–85; Sifakis, N. 2014. ELF awareness as an opportunity for change: A transformative perspective for ESOL teacher education. JELF 3(2). 317–335), which informed both data analysis and interpretation, the research adopted a qualitative descriptive design. Data were gathered through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The study involved the participation of 12 teacher educators and 15 pre-service teachers, all members of an English teacher education program at a public university in Colombia. The findings suggest that both groups of participants had a clear understanding of ELF from various yet convergent perspectives, and acknowledged its relevance for the field of ELT. In terms of implications of an eventual incorporation of ELF in formal English teacher education programs, participants point to the need to break away from a dominant orthodoxy, and a readjustment of materials and teaching approaches leading to the inclusion of ELF in traditional EFL settings.

The study of musculoskeletal symptoms in dental professionals has been a topic of interest for several years. However, few studies have focused on student populations, even though they are exposed to similar professional dentists’ conditions during their clinical practices. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in a population of dental students at a public university in Colombia. Cross-sectional study, where 106 dental students who were studying between the fifth and tenth semester of a public university in Colombia were randomly selected. Students answered a questionnaire composed of 22 questions and structured in three sections: (1) sociodemographic characteristics, (2) clinical practice data, and (3) musculoskeletal symptoms. Students spend an average of 10.5 h per week (SD = 4.1 h) in clinical practice. 27.4% reported that musculoskeletal pain had interfered with their daily activities. Also, students reported other symptoms such as tiredness (60.4%), muscle fatigue (41.5%), numbness in wrist hands (21.7%), and (17.9%) weakness in the grip of instruments and muscle spasms. The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in the student population was 82.1%, being significantly greater prevalence in women (89.7%) than in men (68.4%) (p = 0.0133) and CI (95%: 2.8%–4.0%). A greater proportion of pain prevalence was also found in women than in men by body region. The body regions most affected, both by frequency and severity of pain, were the lower and upper back, neck, hands-wrists, and shoulders. Findings show university authorities the need for a systemic ergonomic analysis of clinical practices to improve students’ well-being and health.

Acknowledging the need for pre-service teachers to learn about language structures, many teacher preparation programs have incorporated grammar courses into their curriculum. Recently, there has been a push from Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) scholars to switch to more functional views of grammar in these courses. Such a switch, scholars claim, can better prepare pre-service teachers (PST) for writing across the curriculum and for teaching writing to their prospective students. Despite the potential benefits, many efl teacher preparation programs are still cautious about providing instruction on SFL. This has created a gap in terms of how pre-service teachers would respond to this type of instruction. Considering this gap, scholars from a university in Medellín, Colombia implemented a three-month pedagogical unit within a grammar course, which intended to move pre-service teachers from traditional to functional views of grammar. As they did this, they conducted a case study which explored how psts responded to the implementation of this unit. Data analysis shows that psts’ responses do not always move in a straight line, that is, from resistance, to caution, to openness, but may very well vary depending on the sfl concept or premise that is being taught. The results suggest that English grammar courses offered in teacher preparation programs can have traditional grammar as a starting point and then move PSTs towards more functional and critical views. They also suggest the need to identify some strategies that could be used with PSTs who show either caution or resistance.

Who should take college-level courses? impact findings from an evaluation of a multiple measures assessment strategy

The remote education modality inherited from the global pandemic in early 2020 and the emergence of online schools worldwide led different universities in Colombia to establish pedagogical practicum online as a permanent option. These shifts impact the delivery of FL education and the positioning and self-perception of pre-service teachers as online educators in the post-pandemic landscape. Some previous research has examined how graduate and college in-service teachers developed their identities as online instructors during the global pandemic in early 2020, graduate and college in-service teachers’ construction of their transitional identities as online instructors and compared such newly-constructed roles with their already-established identities in face-to-face (f2f) scenarios; overlooking thus a complete examination of the experiences and factors that shape student-teachers online teacher identity in planned remote training settings in post-pandemic realities. This qualitative case study intended to address the research gap by unveiling the online teacher identities that 16 EFL pre-service teachers constructed throughout their online pedagogical practicum at a public university in Colombia. Data were collected employing whole-class discussions, recorded class observations, focus groups, teacher’s journals, and surveys. The results showed that the student-teachers constructed multiple online teacher identities based on their experiences as technology users and educational software course students. The pre-service teachers also drew on their recent experiences and interactions with their students and the online factors and events themselves present during the synchronous EFL classes in their pedagogical practicum. These results posed noteworthy implications for FL teacher education programs, practicum supervisors, and teacher development. The study's limitations entailed the relatively short timeframe of data collection and the selection of participants not based on a carefully designed and checked test on ICT and software-specific skills that could have played a role in the resulting online teacher identities.

Objective. To explore the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing student education in one public university in Medellin, Colombia.Methods. This descriptive qualitative study used content analysis to address the following questions: (1) How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted nursing education at the University of Antioquia? (2) What were the most important challenges experienced by nursing students? (3) What was most supportive for the students during the pandemic? and (4) What were the potential opportunities and lessons learned related to nursing education? Data were collected virtually through individual online interviews with 14 undergraduate nursing students and analysed using qualitative content analysis with constant comparisons.Results. Four main categories of findings related to the experience of undergraduate nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic were identified: (1) transitioning to online learning, (2) managing the digital world, (3) impacts on clinical training, and (4) work-related stressors. Key challenges included home environments that were not conducive to learning, reduced social interactions with peers and faculty, accessing technology required for online education and insufficient preparation for clinical practice. Family members and university-provided resources were important sources of student support. Whereas the pandemic limited opportunities for hands-on clinical training, the shift to online learning allowed for the development of skills related to informational technologies and telehealth.Conclusion. Undergraduate students at the University of Antioquia identified significant barriers to learning during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and transition to online learning, as well as new opportunities for the development of digital skills among both students and faculty.

The following pedagogical proposal seeks to understand what types of reflections Modern Languages students reveal about educational issues when analyzing artwork within their context. We worked with twelve Modern Languages students in their fifth and sixth semester at a public university in Colombia. The students began by analyzing four murals located within the university. Then, they created their own artwork and provided reflections on each other’s pieces of art. The findings showed that the students first began analyzing visual aspects of the murals and artwork, followed by the educational issues represented in each piece. As a common theme, the students reflected on the idea that working together yields a diversity of solutions. Finally, the students demonstrated that they could benefit from reflective practices despite not having started their teaching practicum.

The article addresses research on cognitive biases and dissonance in professional teachers in a faculty of education from a public university in Colombia. The effects of these phenomena on the decision-making and professional development of these teachers are examined. Teachers in other professions may lack professional educational training and this leads to errors in them, which affects their ability to teach effectively. The presence of cognitive biases can influence teachers' perception and decision-making, which affects the quality of teaching. Cognitive dissonance can arise when teachers face contradictions between what they teach and what they believe, which can create tensions and affect their performance. This study seeks to identify how these phenomena affect non-preservice teachers in a college of education, providing valuable information to improve training and support for novice educators.

This paper constitutes an analysis of the internationalization initiatives that higher education institutions are considering to enhance intercultural and international competences. A literature review was conducted in 50 published research articles between 2015 and 2023. The selected articles foundation was the internationalization process in higher education, specifically the internationalization at home towards a more comprehensive internationalization of the curriculum. This literature review evidences how higher education have changed and what strategies have been widely used to adapt education to current issues. In this vein, this literature exploration serves as a guide to bridge the gaps found to promote a comprehensive curriculum internationalization in public universities in Colombia. Key words: internationalization, curriculum internationalization, mobility, intercultural competences.

This case study sought to understand how 17 undergraduate students in the humanities and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors positioned themselves in terms of gender in relation to their leadership and risk-taking skills. For this study, I used students’ artifacts, semistructured interviews, and focus group discussions, which tied into the objectives of the Academic Writing for Professional Development course that the participants signed up for at a public university in Colombia. To analyze the data, I used aspects of the grounded theory method. The results revealed that the division of labor and social gender roles supersede the students’ initial positions. Because of this, women’s leadership and risk-taking abilities are invisible, an assertion which continues to perpetuate social gender roles, gender stereotypes, and the patriarchy.

El concepto de literacidad ha sido usualmente asociado como la habilidad de leer y escribir, y en particular aquellos textos que son impresos. Sin embargo, entre los más jóvenes ha surgido una nueva generación de lectores y escritores quienes fuera del aula de clase mantienen “nuevas prácticas letradas a través de nuevos medios y tecnologías” (Wilber, 2008, p. 59). Específicamente, este estudio describe la experiencia de un grupo de futuros docentes en un Programa de licenciatura en idiomas extranjeros inglés en una universidad pública del Caribe Colombiano, quienes a través de nuevas prácticas letradas como las redes sociales, los videojuegos y los blogs, interpretan y crean significado a través de los textos que leen y escriben, los cuales son construidos a partir de elementos lingüísticos, orales o visuales. Los resultados describen que leer y escribir fuera del aula como prácticas sociales fortalecen las interacciones sociales con quienes están geográficamente distantes y asimismo ofrecen nuevas oportunidades de aprendizaje. Sin embargo, si bien las prácticas letradas se destacan por lo novedoso de su carácter “técnico” también lo hacen por su carácter “distintivo” (Lankashear y Knobel, 2011, p. 184), lo que las hace más colaborativas, participativas y permiten negociar significados (Knobel & Lankshear, 2014, p. 98). Estas prácticas como se describen son más centradas en los estudiantes, es decir en sus intereses y necesidades a diferencia de las prácticas letradas convencionales.