Foreign Language Area Programming: Programming Units

Introduction to Foreign Language Area Programming

TOPIC 21 FOREIGN LANGUAGE AREA PROGRAMMING: PROGRAMMING UNITS. CRITERIA FOR THE SEQUENCING AND TIMING OF CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES. METHODOLOGY TO BE USED IN LEARNING AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.

1. INTRODUCTION
2. PLANNING OF DIDACTIC UNITS (EFL AREA): definition D.U.
3. Planning Principles
4. Our Profession, Students and Teaching Environment
5. Didactic Units' Curricular Elements (Same T20)
6. Lesson Structures PPP, ESA, ARC, OHE + EXAMPLES
7. CRITERIA FOR SEQUENCING AND TIMING:
8. Basic Knowledge Criteria (Content)
9. Objectives Criteria
10. METHODOLOGY (Same T20) + EXAMPLES
11. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (Same T20)
12. CONCLUSION
13. REFERENCES

Overview of Didactic Units in EFL

1 of 81. INTRODUCTION Over the past decades, the English language has become vital to communicate and interact with other people. Hence why, English teachers must focus mainly on developing students' communicative skills through different strategies so that they become communicative competent and know how to use the language in various contexts.

To ensure the achievement of the aforementioned, the present essay aims to study the planning principles of the EFL Didactic Units within the 3rd level of concretion, focusing on integrating the curricular elements, sequencing and timing criteria, methodology, and assessment that illustrate the procedures that guarantee the success of these units in language learning.

I will begin by analyzing the Didactic Units planning.

Didactic Units Planning in EFL Area

2. DIDACTIC UNITS PLANNING (EFL AREA) First and foremost, a Didactic Unit is a unit of work, a structured teaching plan designed for a specific class group that contains every element that will be illustrated in this topic.

The following section will explore the essential principles related to this process.

Planning Principles for EFL Didactic Units

2.1. PLANNING PRINCIPLES Before lesson-planning, teachers must consider 2 key principles:

• Variety: Which involves using diverse activities and materials to maintain students' interest.
• Flexibility: Be able to adapt the lesson plan on the go.

Additionally, we should be aware of the following 3 essential factors.

Profession, Students, and Teaching Environment

2.2. OUR PROFESSION, OUR STUDENTS AND THE TEACHING ENVIRONMENT

• Our profession: we must be familiar with educational legislation, including the Organic Law of Education 2/2006, 3rd May, modified by the Organic Law 3/2020, 29th December, alongside our curriculum in force, Royal Decree 157/2022, 1st March, which establishes the Organization and Minimum Teaching for Primary Education, and the regional adaptation, Decree 81/2022, 12th July, that outlines the Planning and Curriculum for Primary Education in CLM.
• Our students: understanding their cognitive and psychological development is essential for effective teaching. Jean Piaget's (1976) theory of Childhood Cognitive Development 2 of 8highlights that children between 7-11 transition from the Preoperational stage to the Concrete Operational one.
• Teaching environment: we must consider students' cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, which significantly influence their attitudes toward education and access to resources, being crucial the adaptation of the DDUU to address these gaps to ensure an equitable education, as proclaimed in Article 16 of LOE.

In the same line, how do we adapt the Didactic Units to guarantee their effectiveness?

Curricular Elements of Didactic Units

2.3. DIDACTIC UNITS' CURRICULAR ELEMENTS The EFL area in the curriculum is assembled by the following essential elements that must be developed during the DDUU:

Stage Objectives in EFL

2.3.1. STAGE OBJECTIVES They are the achievements that students must have reached at the end of the stage, all of which are linked to the acquisition of the Key Competences and must be developed in an integrated way. LOMLOE includes 14 objectives and Decree 81/2022 15, one related to FLT:

f) Acquire at least one Foreign Language, the basic communicative competence that allows them to express and understand simple messages and function in everyday situations, approaching the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages A1 level.

Exit Profile Definition

2.3.2. EXIT PROFILE Defined in Decree 81/2022, Annex I. It identifies and defines, in connection with the 21st Century Challenges, the key Competences students should have developed by the end of Basic Education, and provides guidelines on the expected level of performance at the end of Primary Education.

Key Competences and Operational Descriptors

2.3.3. KEY COMPETENCES AND OPERATIONAL DESCRIPTORS The KC are the set of necessary performances that guarantee students' success in their education and prepare them to tackle global and local challenges. These abide by the Recommendation of the European Parliament and the Council, 22nd May, 2018, on key Competences for lifelong learning that are also listed in Decree 81/2022 as 8 Key Competences: LCC, PC, STEM, DC, PSLLC, CC, EC, CCEC.

3 of 8All of them must be developed in an integrated way, bearing in mind the Operational Descriptors, which are detailed explanations of how to develop each Key Competence through the subjects.

Specific Competences in English Subject

2.3.4. SPECIFIC COMPETENCES These are the expected performances from students during activities or situations that require the usage of the Basic Knowledge of an area. On one hand, they are linked to the Exit Profile and, on the other, to the Basic Knowledge of an area and the Assessment Criteria.

The English subject counts with 6 Specific Competences: Production, Comprehension, Interaction, Mediation, Language use, and Language appreciation.

Basic Knowledge in EFL Area

2.3.5. BASIC KNOWLEDGE It refers to the content of the area (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) that are needed to acquire the Specific Competences. Decree 81/2022 divides the Basic Knowledge of the EFL area into 3 blocks: Communication, Plurilingualism, and Interculturality.

Methodology Selection

2.3.6. METHODOLOGY The selection of methodologies will be thoroughly explained in its corresponding section below.

Activities Design Principles

2.3.7. ACTIVITIES The activities within a lesson should be carefully designed, following the principles of the DDUU's planning, considering all curricular elements and the lesson stages that will be explained later.

Assessment Criteria for DDUU

2.3.8. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA The DDUU's assessment process will be explained afterwards.

Last but not least, I shall explain the concept of Learning Situations.

Learning Situations Concept

2.3.9. LEARNING SITUATIONS Annex III of Decree 81/2022 describes it as a set of meaningful activities based on real-life situations that address UNESCO's 21st Century Challenges and the UN's 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals). Being the main goal to develop students' key and Specific Competences of the EFL area, fostering their cognitive, affective, and emotional actions.

Finally, how do we structure the lessons within the Didactic Units?

Lesson Structures in Didactic Units

4 of 82.4. LESSON STRUCTURES Based on Neorueducation, students' attention span lasts for about 30 minutes, which is why experts suggest dividing lessons into 3 parts: a warm-up, then work on content, and lastly a reflection time. Some lesson structures are:

• PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production): This is the traditional structure.

1. Presentation: Introduce the target language (e.g. teach daily routines).
2. Practice: Reinforce it through controlled activities (e.g. fill-in-the-gaps activities).
3. Production: Students apply it more freely (e.g. write a simple story).

• ESA (Engage, Study, Activate): Developed by Harmer, similar to PPP but less rigid and allows the straight arrow or boomerang approach:

1. Engage: Students are engaged through motivating activities (e.g. routines TPR song).
2. Study: Focusing on language rules (e.g. explain how to use this vocabulary).
3. Activate: Using the language more creatively (e.g. use it playing mimic).

• ARC (Authentic, Restricted, Clarification): Created by Scrivener.

1. Authentic: Real-life usage (e.g. read and discuss a newspaper article).
2. Restricted: Structured practice (e.g. drill activities).
3. Clarification: Explain them (e.g. analyze the grammatical patterns).

• OHE (Observe, Hypothesize, Experiment): Introduced by Lewis.

1. Observe: Students observe authentic language examples (e.g. read and listen to a dialogue with simple idioms).
2. Hypothesize: They form hypotheses of its structure (e.g. guess their meanings cooperatively).
3. Experiment: They test their hypothesis (e.g. create sentences using them).

Once the EFL DDUU planning has been exposed, I will illustrate the following criteria.

Criteria for Sequencing and Timing of Contents and Objectives

3. CRITERIA FOR SEQUENCING AND TIMING (CONTENTS AND OBJECTIVES) Firstly, as the foundation for planning the DDUU, we must define the sequence as the order in which the EFL Basic Knowledge will be introduced, while timing is the amount of time required to achieve the selected objectives and teach the basic knowledge effectively.

Consequently, I will focus on the criteria for sequencing and timing both, the Basic Knowledge and Objectives:

Basic Knowledge Criteria for Sequencing

5 of 83.1. BASIC KNOWLEDGE CRITERIA When planning lessons, we must sequence Basic Knowledge to align with the EFL Specific Competences we aim to develop, which should be introduced in a contextualized and engaging manner (Learning Situations and the Common Thread). In the EFL area, oral skills are prioritized over written skills, and receptive skills are highlited more than productive skills.

Some key factors for sequencing include:

• Task difficulty.
• Students' maturity.
• Previous knowledge.
• Gradual introduction of concepts (Vygotsky's scaffolding approach).
• Real-life vocabulary.

Objectives Criteria for Timing

3.2. OBJECTIVES CRITERIA As outlined in Article 7, Decree 81/2022, the 15 Stage Objectives must be developed in an integrated way throughout the school year, along with the development and acquisition of the 8 Key Competences.

Moving on to the next section, it is essential to establish how to select the best methodologies for language learning.

Methodology for Language Learning

4. METHODOLOGY LOE/LOMLOE describes it as the set of strategies, procedures, and actions that teachers carefully and consciously structure and plan to guarantee the achievement of the selected objectives and competences to make the learning process accessible to all.

Furthermore, Articles 16 and 19 of LOE outline the integration of students' learning experiences, paces, and needs, using flexible and active methodologies. Besides, Article 5 of Decree 81/2022, corroborates that all methodological, organizational, and curricular measures must abide by the Universal Design for Learning.

Regarding FLT, Decree 81/2022 Anexx I describes the main procedures for selecting methodologies and highlights the need to integrate:

• Communicative Approach: It is an approach that means to create a welcoming and meaningful environment to learn the language. Taking into account the 5 sub-competences by Canale and 6 of 8