Researchers from the University of Deusto and the University of Barcelona have carried out an action at the Jesuitak Indautxu school in Bilbao that improves the oral competence in Basque of ESO students. It is a methodology, which is called Dialogic Literary Gatherings, which consists of a continuous conversation among schoolchildren about a work of universal classical literature. The project has been published in the prestigious international scientific journal ‘SAGE Open’.
This initiative, also endorsed by the European Commission, seeks to improve the development of communication skills. According to sources from the academic institution, it is already being applied in more than ten thousand centers in different parts of the world and this is the first time that it has been tried “as a formula for success” for learning the Basque language.
For decades, international research has shown the need to promote oral communication skills, since they are essential for students to function successfully in the academic, social and work spheres. In the case in which learning is carried out through a second language, several studies point to the benefits of broadening the students’ exposure to this second language, not only to assimilate content, but also to make their contributions. Even so, today, the organizational model that prevails in the classroom is the monological one, in which the discourse of the teaching staff has the greatest role, thus limiting the opportunities for interaction between students.
Interactive learning environments, increasingly widespread in European classrooms and throughout the world, propose a paradigm shift that promotes equal dialogue in classrooms. In this sense, the successful educational actions endorsed by the European Commission from the European INCLUD-ED project, such as Dialogic Literary Gatherings (TLD), have achieved hopeful results in the acquisition of skills in students with different profiles and very different contexts. diverse. Among the main benefits, the improvement of reading comprehension, the acquisition of new vocabulary and also the development of academic language, among others, have been identified.
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