Foreign Language Planning and Programming: Units and Methodologies

Introduction and Justification

Foreign languages (FL) are so important that many regulations consider them as a core subject in their curriculum (Organic Act on Education, of 3 May (LOE, 2006) and the Organic Act of Modification of the LOE 3/2020, of 29 December (LOMLOE, 2020, henceforward), as we see in Art. 6.1, the curriculum is defined as "the regulation of the elements in the teaching and learning processes", or even a new key competence, the multilingual/plurilingual; and one of the teachers' functions programming (Art. 91). So, we will see FL Planning (O. 30/5/23) through the development of tasks and projects in an interdisciplinary way in the learning situations (LS) of the programming/didactic units (DU), following the criteria for the sequence and timing of contents/essential knowledge and objectives together with the selection of methodology and evaluation activities. To explain it clearly, we can use the book 'Miss Butterfly' by Ben Gundersheimer (Mister G). This story - in the form of a song - gives love to a pretty Monarch butterfly's migration, as we see in our classrooms. Developing different tasks within the LS, Order 30/5/23 art. 3, through a competence-based methodology grounded on the UDL (CAST, 2018), the key competences will go up, working with words, forms, and functions to comprehend, produce, interact, mediate, use repertoires, and respect diversity. Without forgetting our laws, LOE 2/2006, LOMLOE 3/2020, LEA 17/2007, and the RD 157/22 art. 7 and D 101/23 art. 5 to get the primary aims and the can-do descriptors of the key competences of the exit profile through the 3 blocks of essential knowledge being taught with other areas and the CIMA programme, with inclusion, creativity, imagination, and love.

Foreign Language Planning and Programming

Units of Work and Programming Units

The curriculum of the FL has been designed to guarantee that pupils acquire Communicative Competence (CC) openly and flexibly, as we can see with the levels of specification/concretion to the real context, the class. In Andalusia, Decree 101/23, Art. 8.1, stipulates that EFL will be part of the block of specific subjects. This 1st level of curricular concretion is compulsory and has the function of being part of every Autonomous Community in Spain. The 2nd level of specification is reflected in the School Educational Project. It implies adapting to pupils' contexts, characteristics, and necessities within the School Project. The 3rd level of concretion corresponds to the teaching teams through their integrated units of work/programming/didactic (DU) units to adjust the curriculum to the class group. Art. 27.1. Decree 328/2010 defines those units as specific tools to plan, develop, and evaluate each field of the curriculum in LS established by the legislation in force. So, a classroom is a formal interactive environment where teachers and pupils engage in the process of teaching and learning being the quality of teaching and learning process influenced by the teachers' ability to ensure effective classroom management (Brophy, 2006). Following Cabrerizo, Rubio and Castillo (2007), we can consider a 4th level of concretisation, with specific measures of attention to diversity, regulated in the RD 157/22 Art. from 16 to 20; D 101/23 Art 17-18; and O. 30/5/23, from Art. 27 to 37. Educational administrations will encourage schools to establish flexibility measures in the organisation of areas to personalise and improve the learning capacity and results of all students, considering their different paces, learning styles, and multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983), as stated in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles (Art. 6 D. 101/2023).

Didactic Programming of Foreign Languages

The teaching staff of the different cycle teams will develop the didactic programmes, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 27 of Decree 328/2010 of 13 July, specifying specific skills, assessment criteria, adequacy of basic knowledge and the link with these assessment criteria, and the establishment of learning situations that incorporate these elements and contribute to the acquisition of skills, in compliance with the educational principles regulated in Article 6 of Decree 101/2023 of 9 May. The Didactic Programmes are defined as "the specific instruments for planning, developing and evaluating each area of the curriculum established by the legislation in force" (D.328/2010). We can say that a didactic program is the main tool for rationally organizing the work of the teacher, allowing to use time and resources efficiently in order to improve the quality of the teaching process. It consists of various elements:

• Objectives ; Key competences ; Specific skills ; Evaluation criteria ; Essential knowledge ; Learning situations ; Output profile ; can-do descriptors ; methodology ; evaluation.

Any programming must include a series of programming units, that is to say didactic units, learning situations, tasks or projects. In short, designing a learning situation requires good consistency in the choice of all elements of the curriculum, Based on the general and pedagogical principles of the stage, to propose a correct development of skills through the execution of meaningful and motivating tasks and activities that are adapted to needs, the characteristics and different paces, learning styles and multiple intelligences of pupils (Gardner, 1983), as stated in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles (Art. 6 D. 101/2023).

Units of Work/Programming/Didactic Units (DU)

Viciana (2002) defines the programming/didactic units (DU) as "the minimal unit of the curriculum that has its sense, although it contains smallest sessions". In Decree 101/2023, Art. 7, and Order 30/5/23, Art. 3, the DU will contemplate LS, where curricular elements are integrated to carry out a set of articulated tasks/activities that teachers will develop to ensure that students acquire in EFL 6 specific skills (comprehension, production, interaction, mediation, linguistic repertoires, and cultural diversity) that include the different essential knowledge structured in 3 blocks (communication, plurilingualism, and interculturality) and related to the evaluation criteria that reflect the level of acquisition of the different can-do descriptors of the 8 key competences (KC). So, teachers will promote the UDL to guarantee an effective inclusive education in their LS (RD 157/22 & D 101/23, Art. 6). The methodology will have an active, motivating, and participatory character, starting from pupils' interests, favouring individual, cooperative work and peer learning, using approaches oriented to gender perspective, respecting individual differences, inclusion and non-discriminatory treatment, and integrating references to daily life and their immediate environment. In the approach to the different LS, the coordinated work of the teaching teams will be guaranteed to provide an interdisciplinary, integrating and holistic approach. Brewster et al. (1992) distinguish 5 stages in a lesson plan: warming-up, presentation, practice (controlled and guided), production and review/wrap-up. Art. 7 of the D 101/23 establishes a framework for LS:

• identification of a study theme; justification of the theme; description of the final task; curricular concretion; didactic sequence; methodology; measures for inclusion; evaluation of the teaching and learning process.

Criteria for Sequence and Timing of Content and Objectives

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, 2001, 2018) establishes the progressive development of the CC. As it happens, the RD 157/2022, annexe I, the Exit Profile identifies and defines, in connection with the 21st_ century challenges and the 2030 Agenda SDG, the 8 KC that students must have developed and introduces guidelines on the level of performance can-do descriptors expected at the end of Primary Education (PE).

Criteria for Sequence and Timing of Essential Knowledge

The contents/ essential knowledge are defined in RD157/2022, Art 2, as the knowledge (to know), the skills (to know how to do) and the attitudes (to know how to be) necessary for the acquisition of the specific skills of the area and favours the evaluation of learning through the criteria. They are structured in three blocks (A, B, and C). The D 101/23 pays special attention to the knowledge and respect of Human and Child Rights, to the principles and values contained in the Spanish Constitution and in the Statute of Autonomy, to education for sustainable development and global citizenship, the social role of taxes and tax justice, equality between gender and the value of respect for diversity, the environment and animals, the critical spirit, the culture of peace and non- violence, and emotional education, and the knowledge of the natural, artistic and cultural heritage of Andalusia. To sequence essential knowledge, Halliday (1989) and RD 157/22 recommend introducing oral before written; CEFR (2001, 2018) considers receptive skills to precede productive ones.