English as a Foreign Language in Secondary Education: Language Level Requirements

Abstract

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) can be defined as the study of English by people who live in places in which English is not used as the first language for communication (Amini Herman, 2016). EFL at Secondary Education, deals with content focusing on the comprehension and production of the language, where students have to get an A1 level of English as the Valencian Linguistic Model states. On the other hand, the Communicative Approach (CA) consist in adapting the language teaching to the real-word situation. That is, “Grammar learning is emphasized by communication through the approaches of ‘learning by doing’, through students’ participation or co-operative completion of teaching tasks [...]then grammar can be acquired naturally by learners.” (Chang, 2010, p. 14). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify if the English level of students in the last year of Secondary Education corresponds to the one established by the autonomous language policy. The students observed are twenty-five 4th year ESO students at IES Serra D’Espadà. In order to develop the study an English level test was used to measure the level of EFL: The students were also asked to answer a Survey with 4 open questions about the four skills, the methodology used in class and the importance of English in their everyday lives. The statistical analysis reveals that 1) the majority of students reach the A1 level required or even a higher level, and 2) the students seem to produce better at writing and reading than at speaking and listening. These results are discussed, and suggestions for further research are given.