Abstract:

Currently, University institutions are conscious that the internationalization of higher education in a globalized world has become essential to improve the quality of the education system and student learning process. Consequently, institutional documents, mission statements and strategic policies give more emphasis than ever to the international dimension, whose incorporation into the University environment provides a value added to the quality of the higher education system. This process demands new strategies regarding organizational and academic procedures. In this context, internationalization is also concerned with teaching-learning initiatives. Thus, the international dimension involves acquiring new knowledge, skills and attitudes among academic staff. These challenges require a significant transformation with innovative tools leading to positive outcomes in the teaching-learning process, such as the development of bilingual materials for laboratory classes.

The University CEU Cardenal Herrera (CEU-UCH), a Spanish private higher institution, is in this line, in which internationalization has become a priority axis of University educational policies. Therefore, it has started to implement multilingual plans, mainly in English. This implementation requires the design of resources and strategies to develop proactive teaching in the bilingual classes. Our purpose is to promote linguistic immersion and integration of international students of the CEU-UCH. Accordingly, bilingual (Spanish-English) lab materials (booklets and audio-visual materials) have been developed for the subjects Organic Chemistry, Human Structure and Function (both taught in the Pharmacy degree) and Food Chemistry and Biochemistry (Gastronomy degree). The dual language teaching materials are available for the students in the virtual classroom/campus in Spanish as well English. The introduction of bilingualism will provide the students both Spanish scientific language instruction to develop knowledge of their Spanish equivalent and grade-appropriated subject content. Students´ perception on weaknesses and strengths of this teaching strategy and their satisfaction degree are assessed by a valuation survey. The results show that using bilingual teaching is feasible to improve learning results and language immersion of international students.

In conclusion, the implementation of this teaching tool means guaranteeing quality education in an international educational context and a challenge to contribute to excellence in higher education.

Keywords:

Internationalization, Bilingual materials, Higher Education, Didactic materials, Virtual teaching resources, Laboratory.