Legislation

- Real Order February 8th 1913

- Decree September the 24th 1964

- Law April 8th 1967

- Order May 30th 1967

- Resolution October 11th 1967

- General Law of Education 1970 BOE August 6th

- Ministry Order March 10th

- Decree 959/1988 September 2nd (BOE September 8 1988)

- Decree 967/89 September 2nd (BOE September 10 1989)

- Decree 1523/89 December 1st (BOE December 18 1989)

- LOGSE Law 1/1990 October 3rd (BOE October 4 1990)

- Order November 2nd 1993 (BOE November 13)

- Circular of the General Board of Educative Centres August 30th 1995 BOMEC
As we begin a new century and a new millennium, it seems
natural to look back over the past several years to see what we
have accomplished and at the same time, look forward to see
what challenges lie ahead. In the language teaching profession,
we have been both blessed and challenged by the substantial
growth of knowledge that has taken place in our field in the past
few decades.
In the Official Schools of Languages we have been
revitalized by the excitement generated as we pursue new
directions in research and in Curriculum development to generate
more creative ways to enhance learning in the classroom. At the
same time, all of us need to be willing to be open to new ideas
that lead to professional growth and positive change.
In the Official Schools of Languages, an extraordinary
consensus has formed around the national Standards approved
by The Decree 1523/1989 of the first of December and published
in the Spanish Official State Journal on the 18th of December. As
evidence of this consensus we have the wide endorsement and
the almost total adoption of the standards into each school’s
document, often published on the Internet.
The Standards presented in this Decree are based on
theoretical and instructional models that can inform us on how to
develop a well articulated curriculum program.
 In a strong foreign language program today, “to know” a
foreign language means being able “to do” something in that
language and therefore “knowing how, when, and why to say what
to whom”
As increased opportunities in our global society encourage
communication across and within cultures, language
performance, or proficiency-oriented language learning assumes
an immediate relevance for learners and for their teachers.
Today, the goals for language learning are tightly bound to
reality, to the context in which learners may reasonably be
expected to function. Knowing is doing. Knowing is sharing
information about oneself and family; knowing is finding one’s
way in a new place; knowing is corresponding by electronic mail
with a peer in another culture.
Since context plays such an essential role in
communication, the context in which languages are learned will
inevitably shape language learning and influence Curriculum
writing. In our Official school of Languages we need to consider
not only the system itself but also the type of students who
attend, their motivations, expectations and needs.
 Apart from the use of context another principle of effective
curriculum is a clear articulation, alignment, integration and
interaction of curriculum, instruction and assessment.
Indeed, we need to have a clear idea of what students should
know and be able to do at the end of the whole process, design
those assessment instruments that will give us the information
and design backwards. By working from assessment to
instruction, teachers are more aware of the effect of their
instruction on learners as they teach.
At the same time the Curriculum should have a high degree
of connection to the delivery of curriculum. It has to be, therefore,
visible, usable and descriptive as though it had been written for a
new teacher.
 All curricula have one objective and this is to create
students’ literacy.
The Standards outline goals for learning that should help
students become proficient users of the language beyond the
limit of the classroom, as well as help them learn about the
culture(s) of the people whose language they are learning and
how culture and language are intertwined.
The main objective of the Official School of Languages is
that the students achieve a degree of linguistic and
communicative competence in English similar to the one they
have in their native language. The students will be able to achieve
a mastery of contemporary standard English in the four skills of
reading, writing, listening and speaking.
In this presentation we will discuss a curriculum document
addressed to the third year.

The general objective of the third year and end of

Elementary Cycle is that students develop their communicative
competence to an acceptable basic level to communicate in
authentic social situations.
This implies the consolidation and development of their
linguistic competence. On one hand, the students will reinforce
the acquired concepts from previous years broadening their
expressive functions, acquiring new linguistic and lexical forms
and deepening their understanding of the English phonetic
system. On the other hand, they will improve the four skills of
Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking.
 At the same time, the student will acquire a basic cultural
knowledge about the countries where English is spoken so that
communication will take place with adequacy in relation to the
context, purpose, attitudes of the speakers…
The general objectives are further developed in specific
objectives. They are organized into the two goal areas of
communicative competence and grammatical competence that
describe the essential dimensions of foreign language learning.
They cannot stand alone, they are interwoven.
In the area of Communicative competence we will
distinguish three fields: oral communication, written
communication and social interaction.
For decades, foreign language learning has involved a “four-
skills” approach. Teachers and textbooks organized curriculums
in terms of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In more
recent years, the orientation toward proficiency and functional
language led to an emphasis on developing real-world skills. This
meant that learners would, for example, listen to authentic texts
such as advertisements or documentaries, or role-plays in
simulated situations such as shopping or using transportation.
As described in the standards, the communication goal
focuses on the contexts in which communication occurs in
addition to skills development. In essence, these standards
remind us that there is no pure “listening” or “speaking”, but that
learning to communicate requires consideration of the situation in
which each of the skills is used. Listening or speaking in an
interpersonal setting in social interaction requires a whole
different set of strategies and competencies for the learner than
does listening to a television report.
The methodological implications of this set of standards is
that when we create our activities we need to mention three
elements: the task (what we require our students to do) The
audience (who the listener or reader is going to be) and the
purpose (what our intentions are). For example we may ask the
students to imagine they have just had an accident and that they
have to write some letters explaining what happened to: a friend,
the parents, the police and the insurance company. Depending on
the audience, the purpose will be different. The purpose of writing
to the insurance company is to deny responsibilities for example.
Another methodological implication will be the enhancement
of communication in classrooms (speaking) so that students
acquire language competence through meaningful interaction
with the teacher and other learners. The dynamic of classroom
instruction will need to switch from one dominated by display
questions (e.g. “What time is it?” “ten o’clock” “good that’s
correct”) to one where the information gap is consistently
present. The content of the communication can be conversational,
observational, or analytical. Most important, for acquisition to
occur the language practice must engage the student cognitively
and affectively.
 Two of the objectives make reference to the presentational
mode. Students have to learn to write or speak to an audience
differently than they do when writing notes or conversing using
the discourse rules required. Moreover, they must learn these
rules within the context of another culture.
Students find multiple opportunities to develop these skills
through newspaper writing, taping broadcasts, and creating story
books.
Another objective in our curriculum makes reference to
communication with English speakers. Today’s world provides
many opportunities for students to use the language skills and
cultural information they have acquired to communicate with
English speakers. Perhaps at one time, foreign languages could
be studied for purely linguistic or academic purposes. But with
advances in technological communication, increased travel, and
diverse communities in Spain, students have a practical use for
language skills.
This goal implies that if the purpose of learning a language
is to equip students for situations they are most likely to
encounter, in our classes we need to think of activities that will
make students use the language beyond the context of the
classroom either literally or abstractly. Many students can use
English in their own community; others can create an
electronically linked communication, or simply interact through
print. If such activities are well integrated into curriculum design
and implementation, it is also reasonable that assessment of
students should reflect language use outside the classroom.
 The standards include technology in the curricular weave.
Technology connects people all over the world making
communication just a keyboard away. E-mail, chat rooms and two
way audio and video exchanges permit regular interactions on a
variety of topics.
Technology also provides abundant authentic materials for
learners to interpret. Today, the World Wide Web offers ready
access to a variety of materials that teach students language,
content and culture.
The standards include the skills of listening and reading but
they take learners beyond listening or reading comprehension
exercises and seek to engage them with materials that not only
require an understanding of words and facts but also contain
content worth exploring.
Consistent with constructivist theory, foreign language
learning is strengthened when students are able to relate their
language skills to their background knowledge and their lives.
Their search for meaning, therefore, will depend not only on text
and language but also on prior knowledge and experience.
At the end of the Elementary cycle students will understand
non-specialized newspaper articles, adapted versions of literary
sources as well as other common sources. These goals also
emphasize the necessity for the curriculum to encourage
students to acquire new information about their world through
English.
A related trend concerns the issue of extensive versus
intensive reading and listening. After Brain research Krashen
gave us 5 hypotheses stating that students need plenty of
comprehensible and interesting input both in reading and
listening. Therefore, students in foreign language classes should
work with a wide variety of materials and teachers will need a
range of authentic or semiauthentic materials to suit the disparate
interests and background of students.
The greatest instructional challenge in this area will be
locating materials that appeal to learners and that are
linguistically and culturally accessible. On one hand, it is
impossible to please everybody all the time. However, we can try
and include texts that have a “timeless” feel to them. On the other
hand, the texts need to be challenging but comprehensible, only
one step above the students’ current level of ability, this is what
Krashen called input+1. If texts contain language way above the
student’s comprehension, teachers might stop attempting
fluency-based activities, and have only language-oriented
lessons, where students have little or no opportunity to behave as
real language users.
Following this guidelines in the resources section of this
curriculum document we have listed a wide variety of readings for
students to choose.
In sum, the framework of the communicative competence
standards adjust instruction in ways that better prepare students
both to learn and to use language effectively. By understanding
the demands of the different standards and by learning which
strategies advance them, students increase their acquisition of
new language.
 The other goal area is grammatical Competence. The
standards explicitly state that the information given on the
language will be creative rather than analytic or descriptive.
Teachers will emphasize the practical use of language rather than
the mere understanding of the structural forms.
Students will use grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary to
help convey and interpret meanings; they will be means, not
ends.
In today’s classroom, grammar, vocabulary, and
pronunciation are taught as important tools of communication.
When students work with grammar, vocabulary, and
pronunciation they should be participating in activities that use
the structures or words in meaningful contexts.
To practice using past tenses, for example, students might
create a story about a past event or they might learn vocabulary
in the context of planning a meal.
With these standards in mind pronunciation is not likely to
be taught as illustrated in the film My Fair Lady where it matters
less what one said than how well one said it.
The standards acknowledge that vocabulary, pronunciation
and grammar are integral parts of communication and that
accuracy is important…indeed “a very fluent person making a lot
of mistakes won’t be taken seriously”.
 By the end of the elementary cycle students will therefore
master the sounds, stress, rhythm and spelling of words both in
isolation and in connected discourse.
One of the objectives emphasizes the use of strategies to
infer the meaning of lexical items.
Indeed, an effective curriculum for foreign language
students should include therefore a classroom where
communicative and learning strategies are explicitly taught.
Because students are being asked to venture into communicative
tasks that often demand words or structures beyond their level of
mastery, they need to be able to compensate for linguistic or
culture inadequacies. Effective strategies help them convey their
messages, and understand messages from others.
The objectives also deal with the use of language in
connected discourse.
Much language teaching has always been devoted to
sentences. Yet we all know that there is more to using language
and communicating successfully with other people, than being
able to produce correct sentences. People do not always speak in
complete sentences, yet they still communicate. It is necessary,
therefore, to go beyond sentences. We need to look at language in
context rather than isolated sentences. We must consider the
nature of discourse. Language does not occur in stray words or
sentences but in connected discourse. According to Guy Cook,
“discourse analysis examines how stretches of language,
considered in their full textual, social and psychological context,
become meaningful and unified for their users.”
 The two goal areas of Communicative and grammatical
competence include the general content. The purpose of the
general content is to define what students should know and be
able to do in order to achieve the goals.
The Intentions and Speech Acts content focus on what
students can do with what they know: excuse, wish, apologize...
The goal is for students to use language in real-life
situations; authentic communications have a purpose: advice,
agree and disagree…As in real life, language should be used to
get something done.
The methodological implications of this content is that the
language used in our classes has to be basically functional. In the
simplest sense, the word “function” can be thought as a synonym
for the word “use” so that when we talk about functions of
language, we may mean no more than the way people use their
language to achieve a large number of different aims and different
purposes.

The pronunciation content aims at a mastery of the English

sound system in the three fields of vowels and consonants,
intonation and stress in communication.
The methodological implication of this content is that
students need to be given practice in the manipulation of the
phonological elements of the language both in isolation and in
connected discourse to produce meaningful messages.
 When we teach English we need to be sure that our students
can be understood when they speak. They need to be able to say
what they want to say. This means that their pronunciation should
be at least adequate for that purpose.
At the end of the third year we will want to be sure that the
students can make the various sounds that occur in the English
language. We will help them to differentiate between these
sounds, especially where such distinction change meaning, as for
example “live” with a short vowel and “leave” with a long vowel.
And we will also help them to understand and use certain sound
rules- for example the different pronunciations of the –ed past
tense endings.
Students need to use rhythm and stress correctly if they are
to be understood. We will make sure that when they learn new
words they know where they are stressed.
Indeed the way words are stressed is vital if students are to
be able to understand and use words in speech. Stress in certain
words changes when their grammatical function is different- as
with nouns and verbs like “export” and “import”, for example.
We will make sure that they are able to speak English with
appropriate stress and we will show them how stress can be used
to change the meaning of questions, sentences and phrases. For
example, the difference between “a black’bird” and “a ‘blackbird”.
“A black’bird” is a combination of an adjective plus noun whereas
“a ‘blackbird” is a noun.
 Students need to be able to recognize intonation; at the very
least they need to recognize whether the tune of someone’s voice
suggests that the speaker is sure or uncertain.
They also need to understand the relationship between
communicative function and intonation. When we teach language
we will try and ensure that students use it with intonation which is
appropriate. For example, when we want to really thank
somebody the intonation should go down at the end as in “thank
you” ^. If the intonation goes up is like saying “next” in a place
like McDonalds “thank you” = “next”
Therefore it is clear that part of learning a word is learning
its written and spoken form.
As for the lexical content we must remember that the goals
emphasize the importance of promoting the students’ ability to
cope with new and unfamiliar vocabulary items, and to refine their
ability to make intelligent guesses.
Words can change their shape and their grammatical value,

students need to know facts about word formation and how to

twist words to fit different grammatical contexts. Thus the verb

“run” has the participles “running” and “run”. The present

participle “running” can be used as an adjective and “run” can

also be a noun. Students should also notice things like the clear

relationship between the words “death”, “dead”, “dying” and

“die”.
 Students also need to know how suffixes and prefixes work.

How we make the words “potent” and “expensive” opposite in

meaning. Why we preface one with im- and the other with in-.

We need to introduce our students therefore to the systems

of vocabulary. There are patterns to vocabulary just as there are

patterns, or structures, to grammar. Examples of these systems

are collocation, derivation, conversion, synonyms, antonyms,

homonyms, homophones.

The general content distinguishes active from passive

vocabulary. Active vocabulary is possibly new vocabulary that

students will have to use in exercises, activities, or role plays,

while passive vocabulary is vocabulary that students are only

expected to understand in context.

In organizing school learning, therefore, we have to select

vocabulary carefully to ensure that high priority items are

included and used. These are mainly words that are frequently

used and cover more meanings.

Finally, the lexical content also emphasizes the use of lexical

items in different contexts, registers, speaking styles and levels

of formality. In addition to prepare students for a variety of

experiences this varied language also keep up the students’

interest level since different types of situations and language

appeal to different people. For example, while one student may be

more interested in the topic of education another one may be

more interested in the topic of entertainment.

According to the Cultural content: culture will be integrated in the

language class as a means for acquiring a communicative
competence, particularly the culture of the English speaking
world and it will be introduced through the use of technology.
However, culture cannot be separated from language, since
language itself in its social context of use represents the cultural
realities we live by. In fact we can only understand language if we
understand more than language and that is culture.
Over the years, culture has remained at the periphery of
instruction, frequently referred to as a fifth skill, a capsule, a
cultural note at the bottom of a textbook page.
Foreign language educators have long insisted that learning
another language means learning another culture.
This is why the new framework for culture in the content
standards leads us to integrate culture and language in teaching
and learning. The intent is that as students encounter examples of
how different languages organize and convey meaning, they will
be able to describe the interaction of language, culture, and
meaning. Teachers will have to integrate therefore the three fields
of experience of language, knowledge and culture.
 For example, in Eskimo there are 50 words for snow.
Knowing which is the right word to use at the right time may be a
condition for survival.
In effective foreign language instruction, therefore, culture
will be a natural component of language use in all activities.
The methodological implication of this approach to culture is
that teachers and students will work not only on what a society
produces or how it behaves but also on the values and
perspectives that influence such products and practices. They
will also analyze how these three aspects of Perspectives,
Products and Practices relate to one another.
For example, in US culture “time is money”. This perspective
has influenced meal habits and customs (practices) as
technology has made meals available faster than ever before
(products).
This approach will lead students toward more critical
thinking and more accepting attitudes toward other cultures.
Students may come to understand that all human beings live
in a culture and that all of us shape and are shaped by our
cultures.
While it is certainly true that the teaching of culture must go
beyond the presentation of facts alone, it is also true that cultural
instruction is not fact-free. The problem, however, lies on
deciding what aspects of culture to teach. In our curriculum
document for the third year the cultural fields of interest are:
- Geographical aspects.
- Politics and economy.
- Society.
- Means of social communication.
- Cultural manifestations.
The teacher’s role is not to impart facts, but to help students
attain the skills that are necessary to make sense out of the
facts they themselves discover in their study of the target
language, the objectives that are to be achieved involve
processes rather than facts. Indeed, a facts only approach to
culture for which the only goal is to amass bits of information
is destined to be ineffective for several reasons. One being that
Facts are in a constant state of flux, especially when they relate
to current life-style. Specific data may not hold true across
time, location, and social strata.
Another reason for not using a facts only approach is that
an “information-only” approach to culture may actually
establish stereotypes rather than diminish them, since such an
approach provides no means of accounting for cultural
variation.
And the third reason for avoiding a facts only approach is
that amassing facts leaves students unprepared when they
face cultural situations not previously studied. If no problem-
solving contextually based approach to culture has been used,
the students have acquired no tools for processing new
phenomena in a way that will facilitate understanding.
 The fifth content area is the morphological content.
Language items are not learned accumulatively but
acquired through a process of exposure, understanding, and
practice over a period of time.
There is no simple choice between the deliberate practice
and study of grammatical forms and the intuitive acquisition of
these forms through use in real-life contexts. Both processes
come into play and should be encouraged in a teaching
program.
That means that we still need to create drills to give
students confidence. However, we need to create a context so
that they become meaningful. Learners should have plenty of
experience of “doing it right”. Practice is most effective if it is
based on successful performance.
Krashen’s insistence on the primacy of acquisition has
tended to down-play the value of deliberate study and practice.
On the other hand, Paulston and Bruder consider that formal
practice and grammatical explanation are absolutely essential
to induce learning.
What is clear is that a knowledge of grammatical rules is
essential for the mastery of a language. You cannot use words
unless you know how they should be put together. Obviously,
for example, students need to know that in indirect speech
certain changes of verb forms occur. They also need to know
that certain verbs are followed by infinitive and others by a
 gerund, so that they can eventually avoid making mistakes like
*I would avoid to speak in public… instead of: I would avoid
speaking in public.
They also need to know that certain adjectives can only
be used in a predicative function as in I am alone, or He is
alive.
Grammar is cumulative, there are many complex
items which presuppose previous knowledge and it is vital that
we recognize such prerequisites when writing the
morphological content for the third year.
There is a need for regular revision of grammatical items,
but what is more important is that items are not merely
repeated; they are taken up again in a new context and
expanded so that the treatment in the syllabus encourages the
gradual development of a network of associations. For
example, some relative pronouns are introduced in the first two
years. In the third year they are reintroduced together with new
ones and with further work on defining and non-defining
relative clauses. Therefore, no item in the syllabus that has
once been introduced should ever be lost sight of. The two
features of interest and repetition are by no means mutually
exclusive.
At the same time as students are studying grammar,
vocabulary and language functions we can encourage them to
work on the way they organise what they say and write.
Discourse competence involves the ability to combine ideas
to achieve cohesion in form and coherence in thought. A person
who has a highly developed degree of discourse competence will
know how to use cohesive devices, such as pronouns and
grammatical connectors like conjunctions, adverbs, and
transitional phrases, to achieve unity of thought and continuity in
a text.
We can help them to see how other speakers and writers
structure their discourse and thus help them to understand better.
For students of English organising written discourse is
extremely important. This involves not only the ordering of
sentences, but also the use of cohesive devices, that is language
that is used to join sentences together: although, that’s why…
They also need to know what some words refer to.
In order to test and practice discourse competence in
conjunction with grammatical competence, we can design
activities in which students are asked to transform the discourse
in some way. For example, students might be asked to modify a
passage by replacing any repeated nouns with pronouns or
repeated verbs with auxiliaries, to show that they know both the
form and the function of these cohesive elements.
Now that we have looked at the general content for the third
year we need to mention that we will include the basic elements of
this content in the evaluation criteria and in the basic content,
which students will have to master to pass the course.
The implication of this curriculum document for the
resources will be that students and teachers are not text-bound
during instructional time. It is obvious that the text is a tool, not
the curriculum.
 Students and teachers use a variety of print and non print
materials including authentic target language sources, like
menus, magazines, newspapers, leaflets, forms, videos...
Technology, as available, is used by students and teachers
to facilitate learning and teaching. Electronic communications
bring the language to the classroom, whether through “keypal”
interactions, via e-mail or through exploring the World Wide Web.
Satellites provide students with broadcasts from countries
where English is spoken; students can also access broadcasts on
the internet, allowing them to pursue the objectives.
Where such technology is not yet accessible, even video
and film can help bring the outside world to the classroom. They
have plenty of culturally rich visual information and they also give
students opportunities to achieve the specific objectives of
understanding the language as spoken in a range of countries by
speakers of different ages and social classes.
Assessment will be inextricably linked with curriculum and
instruction.
Assessment will be ongoing. Students will be assessed
formally and informally on how well they are able to meet the
objectives of the lessons. Continuous self-assessments will be
also encouraged.
Assessment should indicate how effectively students are
communicating. It is not possible to assess communication solely
through paper-and-pencil tests. The ability to communicate in the
language in culturally appropriate ways has to be assessed
through face-to face interaction. Similarly, the ability to interpret
meaning must be assessed through reading and listening texts.
Writing skills cannot be assessed solely with multiple-choice
or fill in the blanks tasks. We need to evaluate texts written by the
students themselves.
Grammar will be tested in a communicative context
developing testing tasks that examine how the grammar item is
used in real life communication; focussing on its meaning, not its
form in isolation.
Teachers will share the evaluation criteria with the students
so they know what they are expected to know and be able to do.
Assessment instruments will integrate several standards.
They also need to be engaging, transparent and geared toward
the reflection on, and improvement of instruction.
EOI
1) Objective: The purpose of the official school of languages in Spain is the
teaching of modern languages.
2) Teaching:
a) Types of teaching:
- Official with attendance (internal students): to enrol for these
courses students need to be 14 and have the Certificate of
Studies.
- Official distance learning ( That’s English):
Only the three first years of English can be done
through this modality.
Each year is divided in three modules. Each lasting for
a period of 8 weeks, at the end of which students will take a
test to assess their progress.
 To register students have to be 18 and need to have
the Certificate of Studies.
Students will follow the programs of the Spanish
Television, they will have a textbook with activities, exercises
and assessment instruments and a cassette. They can meet
with a tutor once a week.
- Non-attending (external students), exam only: Students need
to be at least 14 and have the Certificate of Studies. They
can take the third and fifth year exams only. To take the fifth
year exam students should have passed the third year first.
Only the official students have the right to attend classes and other
activities at the centre.
For the same course a student cannot be simultaneously enrolled in
the official and non-attending modalities of the same language.
b) Organization of studies:
- The courses are organized in academic years.
- They consist of an ELEMENTARY CYCLE (360 hours
divided in three academic years) and an ADVANCED CYCLE
(240 hours divided in two academic years).
- When the Elementary Level has been completed the
students are given an Academic certification, and when the
advanced level has been completed, a Certificate of
Achievement.
3) Validity of the certifications.
a) Validity of the Certificate of Achievement for Teaching:
- The Certificate of Achievement together with an
undergraduate degree in elementary education allows
teaching the language at private elementary schools.
- The Certificate of Achievement together with a degree
allows teaching the language at private secondary schools,
vocational centres, and official schools of languages.
b) Obtaining a position in public education.
- For the public competitive examinations to get a position
through the open modality, the certificates will count as
follows:
Elementary Cycle: 0,5 points
Advanced Cycle: 0,5 points