Abstract:

This paper presents the partial results of a broader research project on the teaching of the Competence of Linguistic Communication (henceforth CLC). It is an R&D project named Improvement of the Competence of Linguistic Communication in Pupils of Preschool and Elementary Education (henceforth COMPLICE) (Ref. EDU2013-44176-P funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. The universities at Cordoba, Granada, Oviedo and Seville participated in this study. The COMPLICE project centers on the improvement of the CLC of pupils of Preschool Education and Elementary Education, using, with this goal in mind, an intervention strategy based on the training of teachers and the use of digital resources for instruction and assessment.

At an early stage of the COMPLICE project, the main objective is to gather information regarding the teaching-learning processes of CLC which are carried out in schools of preschool and elementary education. This present study examines the results derived from the diagnosis done at five centers of Preschool education in the province of Cordoba, including its capital city. Precisely, the following objectives are proposed:
a) Determine which elements of the school curriculum and program are used to develop CLC.
b) Describe which learning tasks are used in the classroom of the second cycle of Preschool Education (3-6 years of age) for developing CLC.
c) Identify how the process of CLC assessment is carried out and which are the instruments used for this purpose.

In order to respond to these proposed goals, we have employed the following information gathering instruments:
a) Analysis of the documentation of the school and the classroom.
b) Analysis of the students’ activities and productions. This section has differentiated amongst: b.1) activities of expression and oral comprehension; b.2) specific writing activities, and b.3.) reading activities.
c) Group interview of the participating teachers.

The diverse sources used allow us to perform information complementation and triangulation. With this is mind, we have begun by analyzing the documentation of the schools involved in order to contextualize the analysis of the CLC to the socio-cultural characteristics of the chosen schools. The productions done by the children allow us to look carefully at the specific activities which are used in the classrooms analyzed Lastly, we completed the data with input from the teachers themselves, given that they were able to help us to clarify and better interpret the available information.

In the Preschool schools and classrooms analyzed, a blanket planning developed in which CLC is understood in a transversal manner, one that is present and lends support to all the other areas of the school curriculum at this stage. The creation of a communicative context in the classroom is promoted, one which encourages children to express themselves, turning reading, writing, speaking and listening into the base of a systemic and relational learning.

The results show that the play-based component present in the different activities strengthen the enjoyment and emotional involvement of young boys and girls, where they approach the learning of reading and writing as a necessity to respond to their interests, more than as a process of literacy imposed externally and in a decontextualized manner.

Keywords:

Linguistic Competence, Preschool Education, Multi-case study.