Abstract:

Bacherlor's Final Projects (Trabajos de Fin de Grado-TFGs) in the field of humanities in Spain often involve tasks like bibliographical revision of literature about a particular topic or the application of a theory to a particular object of study (Garazi Sastre, 2019). The connection of these projects with the professional areas to which the degree offers access is usually overlooked. This paper describes the results of a teaching innovation project carried out during the academic year 2020-21 at the University of La Rioja and which had as its main objective to make final year students reflect on potential applications of their curriculum to the professional areas associated with their English Studies degree.

In particular, the project focuses on the professional field of teaching English as a foreign language and explores the benefits of integrating:
(1) the knowledge acquired throughout the degree,
(2) the use of Augmented Reality, and
(3) the aim of implementing both in the design of activities for the teaching of conceptual metaphor to Spanish students of English as a Second Language (ESL) at the primary school level (Pérez-Hernández and Lozano, 2021; Pérez-Hernández and Sobrino, 2021).

The project examines the process and results obtained from the supervision of a Bachelor's Final Project in the area of English Studies in which the student was asked not only to make a critical review of the literature and to consider the application of a theory to a particular topic, but also to establish a link with a professional area related to their degree, and to explore ways in which a cutting edge educational software of Augmented Reality (AugmentedClass@) could be used to implement their academic knowledge on the field of ESL teaching. It considers the experience from the point of view of both the lecturers and the students in an attempt to reveal the difficulties found along the academic year and the benefits that can be obtained from including a professional perspective in the realization of final degree projects. The paper is organized as follows. First, we offer an overview on the thematic nature of Bachelor's Final Projects (TFGs), as well as on the use of augmented reality in ESL teaching practice and the need to teach conceptual metaphor in primary education. Second, we establish the methodology of the research based on a case study and the qualitative analysis of the experiences reported both by the student and the supervisor involved. Third, we report on the results of the research and discuss their theoretical and practical implications in the context of TFG design and conceptual metaphor teaching. Finally, we summarize the conclusions of the study and establish some lines for further research.

References:
[1] Garazi Sastre, N. 2019. Las normativas de los TFGs. Universidad de Salamanca.
[2] Pérez-Hernández, L. and I. Lozano Palacio. 2021. Creación de materiales para la enseñanza de la pragmática en niveles avanzados mediante el uso de Realidad Aumentada. Edunovatic 2020 Conference Proceedings, 336-341.
[3] Pérez-Hernández, L. and P. Pérez Sobrino. 2021. La Realidad Aumentada como recurso para la enseñanza/aprendizaje de los actos de habla en las clases de primaria. Edunovatic 2020 Conference Proceedings, 1104-1108.

Keywords:

Metaphor, ESL, Augmented Reality, Bachelor's Final Projects.