Abstract
Modern foreign languages and digital literacy are essential in today's education systems to ensure the development of fully prepared citizens. Among the languages learned in schools, English is certainly the most studied in Europe. Consequently, it is not surprising that educational initiatives are being developed to enhance the learning of this language. Such is the case of ‘English for Social Purposes and Cooperation', which aims to foster English language learning through relevant social and cultural topics and the use of educational technology so that learners develop their competences. Although relatively new, the potential of this approach for language learning, raising awareness of social and cultural issues and developing digital skills is undeniable. This chapter explores the potential of ‘English for Social Purposes and Cooperation' for developing teachers' digital literacy, empowering students, and fostering educational technology integration. Moreover, it presents a proposal of technology-based tasks that can help develop learners' digital literacy, equity, and inclusion.
TopIntroduction
In recent years, distance education has experienced a growth in relevance (Clark, 2020) as a result of the increasing number of digital technologies that have been developed in different areas of society (Hilbert, 2020) as well as its support to secure the continuity of learning processes in the worst moments of the health emergency provoked of COVID-19 (European Commission, 2020; UNESCO, 2020). As technology plays a key role in all spheres of human life, it makes sense to affirm that teachers have to ensure the development of students’ digital literacy so that these new generations are able to fully participate in the 21st-century world (Redecker, 2017).
Similarly, being able to communicate in languages other than one’s mother tongue has become essential for individuals, at least in the European context (Council of Europe, 1998). These languages (commonly modern foreign languages) are in turn seen as requirements in the labor market (Damari et al., 2017; Mazzacani, 2019), which makes proficiency in them even more important today. At this juncture, and as expected, modern foreign languages and digital literacy have become key objectives of today’s education systems (Council of Europe, 2018; Vuorikari et al., 2022).
Among the different modern foreign languages learned in schools across the globe, English is certainly the most studied both in Europe (Eurostat, 2022) and around the world (Statista, 2021), mainly because of its power as the modern lingua franca (Jenkins, 2015). It is thus not surprising that powerful, innovative initiatives are being increasingly developed on the educational scene to improve and enhance the learning and teaching of this language. Such is the case of English for Social Purposes and Cooperation (ESoPC), a technology-friendly approach that aims at fostering the learning of English through topics of social and cultural relevance (such as environmental problems, gender equality, food production policies or immigration and refugees) and the use of educational technology so that learners develop their communicative competence in the language as well as their critical thinking and a wide range of other skills, such as teamwork, negotiation,, leadership, critical and creative thinking or decision making (Huertas-Abril, 2018a). Although it is a relatively new teaching approach, the potential of ESoPC for learning English and raising awareness of social and cultural issues is undeniable. This is evidenced by research that has been carried out on this educational idea in recent years, which, although limited due to the novelty of the approach, has tried to demonstrate its possibilities for bridging the language gap and providing inclusive education (Palacios-Hidalgo, 2020), designing learning materials (Huertas-Abril & Palacios-Hidalgo, 2021), and teaching English during a pandemic (Palacios-Hidalgo & Huertas-Abril, 2021).
Among other aspects, ESoPC is built upon the idea of using technologies to enhance the learning process of students as well as to raise their empowerment and awareness of social and cultural issues. It is precisely this that makes ESoPC the perfect approach to work and develop the digital literacy of both students and teachers.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Culturally-Responsive Language Learning: A type of student-centered language learning environment that relies on the use of cultural referents accessible to the learners to enhance the learning of the language, and that promotes the appreciation of linguistic, cultural, ethnic, racial, gender, sexual and any other kinds of diversity.
Soft Skills: Personal attributes of a social and emotional nature that allow individuals to perform well in their environment, work well with others, and achieve their goals. Some of them are cooperation and collaboration, teamwork, leadership, critical and creative thinking, active listening, and decision making.
Emergency Remote Language Teaching: Language teaching mode that is temporarily developed online, either partially or totally, due to situations of crisis until this has abated.
Socially-Responsive Language Learning: A type of student-centered language learning environment that not only promotes the inclusion and active participation of all learners but also the learning and awareness-raising of current social issues.
Technologies for Empowerment and Participation (TEP): They entail the use of technology to raise citizens’ empowerment and social awareness.
TPACK Model: Model of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, initially formulated by Mishra and Koehler (2006) , and later revised by Koehler et al. (2014) . It proposes that teachers need a combination of technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge in order to use educational technology correctly.
ESoPC: English for Social Purposes and Cooperation.
Learning and Knowledge Technologies (LKT): They entail orienting technology towards educational uses in order to enhance the learning process.