Learning Process

T HE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
A EUROPEAN PERSPECTTVE

JOSÉ MANUEL VEZ* (GUEST EDITOR)

University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain

This volume is a contribution to the European perception of EFL
-language, literature, culture, curricular development and teachers' pro* José Manuel Vez is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Foreign Language
Teaching in the Faculty ofEducation at the University of Santiago de Compostela
(Spain). He has been closed involved with the Ministry of Education of Xunta de Galicia since 1993 as an external assessor and consultant for INSET. He was deputy Dean
of the Faculty of Education, an active member of COMPARE-TE European Network and
Co-ordinator of Subnetworks and member of the Steering Coinmittee of the TNTEE
(ThematicNetwork on Teacher Education in Europe). At present he holds the post of
Director of Foreign Matters and European Programmes at the ICE (Institute of Education) of the University of Santiago. He has given guest lectures, courses, workshops,
seminars and readings in various European and Latin American countries. He has published sume twenty books and more than one hundred anieles and chapters in otherbooks. They all deal with a wide range of subjeets under the general scope of applied
linguistics and curricular and professional development in foreign languages.
His most recent books indude English Language Modular Packs for ESO,
vols. I-VII, MEC-Edelvives, 1995,- Life-I.ong Learning in European Teacber Education (ed.
with Th. Sander), Ruck-Zuck-Druck, Osnabrück, 1996; Current Changes andChallenges
in European Teacher Education: Galicia (ed. with L. Montero), Ruck-Zuck-Druck, Osnabrück, 1997; Didáctica del E./LE.: Teoría y práctica de su dimensión comunicativa,
GEU, 1998; Eundamentos lingüísticos en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras, Ariel,
2000; Eormación en Didáctica de las Lenguas Extranjeras, Homo Sapiens (Argentina)
2001; Didáctica de la lengua Extranjera para laEducación Infantil y Primaria (with
C. Guillen and C. Alario), Síntesis, 2002; Políticas Educativas na Dimensión Europea.
Interrogantes e reflexións no umbral do terceiro milenio. Foro Europeo Terceiro Milenio,
University of Santiago, 2002; Competencia Comunicativa Oral en Lenguas Extranjeras.
Investigación sobre logros del alumnado gallego de Inglés y Francés al finalizar la ESO,
(ed. with E.Martínez), University of Santiago, 2002. Other recent works include:
Processes of professionalisation and deprofessionalisation of teachers in Spain; Discussion
of New l'lexihilities in Teacher Education; TEFL as a learning profession; Argumentos
favorables a un pacto curricular en las áreas lingüísticas; El valor de la lengua como
fuerza social de la comunicación. Aspectos profesionalizadores; Elfactor sociocultural
en la apropiación de lenguas añadidas. Aplicaciones a la dimensión europea; Repensar
la formación de maestros en DLL para la cultura de la profesionalización; Materiales
curriculares en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras. Estudio de caso; As aprendizaxes

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CAUCE. Núm. 25. VEZ, José Manuel (Spain).The teaching of English as a foreign ...

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fessional development at different educational levéis- and how we read
the European dimensión of foreign language education. The essays have
been grouped under three headings: Theoretical issues; Country studies;
Applied Research. The intention is to trace a progress line from authors' theoretical reflections to the practicalresults of applied research
work, passing through a variety of samples that give account of the
present situation of foreign language teaching and learning in different
European countries including Spain.
In today's Europe as soon as our occupations or our curiosity lead
us beyond the confining limits of our own national community, we find
out very quickly that English is the one lingua franca...