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Ítem La aplicación del crédito europeo a la titulación de Filología Inglesa en la Universidad de Jaén: Análisis de debilidades y fortalezas(Universidad de Granada, 2009) Pérez Cañado, María Luisa; Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Ráez Padilla, Juan; Rascón Moreno, DiegoLa presente comunicación presenta los resultados obtenidos en un estudio cualitativo etnográfico con más de 200 sujetos para diagnosticar el funcionamiento del sistema ECTS en la Licenciatura en Filología Inglesa de la Universidad de Jaén. La investigación ha estado motivada por tres grandes factores: la necesidad de realizar un diagnóstico profundo del funcionamiento del sistema ECTS en dicha titulación, dado que no se había realizado un estudio general del mismo desde 2004-2005; la idoneidad en la aplicación del nuevo sistema de créditos, tras la graduación de la primera promoción de egresados ECTS e inmediatamente antes de la implantación de los nuevos títulos de grado; y la situación privilegiada de la Universidad de Jaén, que permite la comparación del funcionamiento del sistema ECTS en Filología Inglesa con el tradicional en Filología Inglesa + Turismo (al estarse impartiendo la misma licenciatura con dos metodologías diferentes). Tras una breve introducción, se detallan los objetivos del estudio, sus variables, la muestra con la que se ha trabajado, el método y los materiales utilizados y el procedimiento seguido. Se ofrecen, a continuación, los resultados del diagnóstico, clasificándolos en términos de debilidades y fortalezas y contrastándolos con la metodología tradicional. Tras extraer las principales conclusiones, se realizan importantes propuestas de mejora y se señalan futuras líneas de actuación. La finalidad de todo ello es garantizar que las decisiones tomadas en relación con las nuevas enseñanzas universitarias oficiales se basen en datos empíricos y contribuir a mejorar el funcionamiento del sistema ECTS para que, en el año que resta para su implantación en Europa, se puedan detectar y subsanar potenciales dificultades en su desarrollo.Ítem Using VLE and CMC to enhance the lexical competence of pre-service English teachers in the European Higher Education Area(Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, 2008) Pérez Cañado, María Luisa; Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Lancaster, Nina Karen; Ráez Padilla, JuanThis paper reports on a quasi-experimental investigation with a pre-test/post-test control group design carried out in the second semester of the academic year 2006-2007 with Spanish pre-service English teachers at the University of Jaén in Spain. Its aim was to determine whether the use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) and computer-mediated communication (CMC) within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) could improve the teacher trainees’ lexical competence. The investigation was motivated, on the one hand, by the extremely poor results ascertained in the vocabulary acquisition of preservice teachers at the University of Jaén in the past four academic years (cf. Pérez Cañado et al., in press) and, on the other, by the new methodological options advocated within the EHEA.Ítem Las TIC en el ECTS: el desarrollo de la competencia léxica a través de la enseñanza virtual(Comisión EEES de Universidades Andaluzas, 2007) Pérez Cañado, María Luisa; Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Ráez Padilla, Juan; Lancaster, Nina KarenEl pilotaje del sistema ECTS está potenciando la aplicación de las últimas tendencias metodológicas en la enseñanza de la lengua inglesa. Como exponente de ello, la asignatura de Inglés Instrumental Intermedio (Licenciatura en Filología Inglesa, Universidad de Jaén) ha incorporado, en estos tres últimos años de pilotaje, corrientes pedagógicas tan recientes como CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning), VLE (Virtual Learning Environmenrj, CMC ( Computer-Mediated Communication), blended learning, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), MIT (Multiple lntelligence Theory, el Lexical Approach (enfoque léxico) o el llamado Cooperative Learning (aprendizaje cooperativo) (véase Pérez Cañado, en prensa). Un claro ejemplo de éste último es el proyecto de innovación docente que se está desarrollando en el presente curso académico entre las asignaturas de Inglés Instrumental Intermedio (1°), Iniciación a la Lingüística Inglesa (2º) e Inglés Instrumental Avanzado (2º) en la Licenciatura en Filología Inglesa y la doble titulación en Filología Inglesa+Turismo de la Universidad de Jaén. Mediante esta experiencia, se ha establecido un sistema de tutorización que pretende reforzar los contenidos gramaticales que se abordan en las tres materias en cuestión. Los alumnos de las asignaturas de 2º curso tutorizan a un alumno de 1° (en el caso de Filología Inglesa) o a un grupo de ellos (en el caso de la doble titulación), con el fin de asistirlos en su tarea de elaborar y presentar una exposición oral en PowerPoint sobre un aspecto gramatical del programa. El tutor y los tutorizados han de trabajar de modo cooperativo en un mínimo de 5 sesiones, que pueden ser, por un lado, presenciales o virtuales y, por otro, sincrónicas o asincrónicas, beneficiándose para ello de las herramientas tecnológicas disponibles en la plataforma de docencia virtual ILIAS, tales como el foro o el chat. Por medio de las mismas, habrán de producir un resultado final: una presentación gramatical correcta y completa (tanto desde el punto de vista formal como en lo que se refiere a contenido), con una bibliografía extensa y con ejercicios variados que habrá de exponer ante sus compañeros el alumno de primer curso. Tras cada sesión de trabajo cooperativo, ambos implicados han de cumplimentar y entregar una Activity Feedback Form (ficha de retroalimentación sobre la actividad) donde reflejen por escrito y con total sinceridad el procedimiento seguido, el trabajo acometido y pendiente, los resultados obtenidos y una valoración personal. Los beneficios para todos los participantes en el proceso son patentes. En primer lugar, todos los implicados experimentan las ventajas del aprendizaje cooperativo, tan destacadas en el informe CIDUA (2005: 26, 29, 31 ). Además, el alumno de primer curso recibe un apoyo inestimable (basado principalmente en la experiencia previa de su tutor) a la hora de realizar una de las actividades que más novedosas y complejas les resultan del programa de Inglés Instrumental Intermedio. El tutor, a su vez, consigue afianzar y ampliar, mediante la consulta bibliográfica y la verbalización explícita en sus explicaciones, los conocimientos gramaticales que ya ha tratado en Inglés Instrumental Intermedio y que está completando en Iniciación a la Lingüística Inglesa e Inglés Instrumental Avanzado, favoreciendo así el proceso de Lite Long Learning que tanto se valora en el CIDUA (2005: 23, 27, 31). De este modo, los estudiantes de las tres asignaturas se conciencian de la necesidad de adquirir determinadas competencias y de la relevancia de sus aplicaciones tanto durante su etapa universitaria como en su futura incorporación al mercado laboral. No menos valiosa es la aportación que este proyecto hace al profesorado implicado en dichas asignaturas: favorece el desarrollo de las competencias transversales mencionadas en las guías ECTS; fomenta la coordinación entre asignaturas, tan necesaria para el correcto desarrollo de las experiencias piloto; y permite la incorporación de elementos de innovación pedagógica, con su consiguiente repercusión en la motivación de los dos agentes implicados en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje.Ítem Las TIC en el ECTS: el desarrollo de la competencia léxica a través de la enseñanza virtual(Universidad de Extremadura, 2007) Pérez Cañado, María Luisa; Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Lancaster, Nina Karen; Ráez Padilla, JuanEsta comunicación presenta un proyecto de innovación docente concedido por la Junta de Andalucía y desarrollado en el segundo cuatrimestre del curso académico 2006-2007 con estudiantes de primer curso de Filología Inglesa en la Universidad de Jaén. Su principal objetivo ha sido utilizar la enseñanza virtual y la telecolaboración para contribuir a mejorar el aprendizaje de la competencia léxica en inglés, fomentando al mismo tiempo el aprendizaje autónomo y cooperativo dentro de la metodología ECTS . Se describirá el procedimiento seguido, que ha supuesto la creación de un banco de materiales que aplica las TIC y el VLE (virtual learning environment) - a través de las plataformas virtuales ILIAS y Blackboard - a la enseñanza del vocabulario. Asimismo, se han diseñado actividades léxicas utilizando sitcoms y series de televisión recientes, que han contribuido a reforzar los bloques temáticos de las asignatura, a familiarizar al alumnado con el vocabulario que se utiliza actualmente en países anglófonos y a aumentar la motivación de éste en el aprendizaje léxico. También se detallarán las modalidades organizativas empleadas - principalmente, el "blended learning", al combinarse la actividad on-line con periodos tradicionales de interacción y contacto cara a cara en seminarios y tutorías individuales -, así como los métodos de enseñanza utilizados - todos ellos muy en la línea de los recomendados en el Informe CIDUA (2005): aprendizaje cooperativo, metacognitivo y autónomo (Life-Long Learning), telecolaboración y enseñanza virtual. Los hallazgos obtenidos están encaminados a establecer un sistema de enseñanza del léxico a través de sitcoms en un entorno virtual en todas las asignaturas de inglés instrumental de la Licenciatura en Filología Inglesa. Igualmente parecen indicar que la implementación de nuevas metodologías docentes asociadas al EEES, como son las TIC aplicadas a la enseñanza, produce resultados positivos en el caso del alumnado de primer curso de Filología Inglesa.Ítem Using peer tutoring and assessment to develop generic and specific competencies(Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 2008) Pérez Cañado, María Luisa; Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Ráez Padilla, JuanThis paper is framed within the European Credit Transfer System scheme which is currently being piloted at the University of Jaén in Spain. lt reports on a study which is currently in progress and involves nearly 150 pre-service English teachers studying English Philology and English Philology + Tourism. lts aim is to determine whether the use of peer tutoring and assessment can help develop a set of generic and specific competencias in the students participating in the piloting of the European Credit Transfer System. The paper will begin by framing the study within the broader context of the European Higher Education Area and of the project. lt will then go on to report on the investigation, offering a detailed description of the sample of subjects who have integrated the study, its chief objectives, the variables and instruments employed, the procedure followed, and the methodology used. The acquisition of the competencies on which the study focuses will be determined by quantitatively measuring the groups' performance on the specific aspects in which the afore-mentioned competencias have been operationalized. The quantitative data will be complemented with qualitative surveys which provide interesting insights into the students' perceptions of the implementation of the experience and of their self-awareness of the development of the targeted competencies. The results and implications will be discussed in a final section, which will highlight the benefits of using peer tutoring to develop competencies and foster life-long learning, to enhance coordination among clusters of teachers and subjects, and, all in all, to promote pedagogical innovation at University.Ítem Introducing ESECS: English Studies in the European Credit System(Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, 2008) Pérez Cañado, María Luisa; Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Ráez Padilla, JuanThis poster reports on a pan-European quantitative and qualitative study to determine the effectiveness of the new European Credit Transfer System in English language teaching, the effects it is exerting on teachers and students, and the difficulties it is encountering, all with a view to introducing the necessary adjustments to meet Bologna standards in full by the year 2010.Ítem Otra forma de acercarse a los Derechos Humanos(Cooperación Internacional, 1998) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Viera Huertas, Rosa María; Lechuga Pérez, María José; Muñoz Molina, Jesús VicenteEl objetivo de esta comunicación no. ha sido otro que el de proponer una nueva redacción de los Derechos Humanos teniendo en cuenta al público al que están dirigidos. Entendemos, que debido al lenguaje jurídico en el que están redactados, es difícil su comprensión por parte de personas no familiarizadas con este tipo de lenguaje. Por eso, hemos propuesto el uso de un lenguaje más sencillo, gracias al cual hagamos el texto más accesible y, al mismo tiempo, estimulemos su lectura. El método empleado en la nueva redacción que proponemos ha sido la sustitución de algunas palabras cuyo significado no estaba claro. También hemos reducido la longitud de las frases y hemos utilizado la primera persona. Los objetivos perseguidos han sido facilitar la lectura del texto y presentar su contenido de forma más directa, personal y humana, de modo que el lector se sienta más cómodo, y a la vez afectado por lo que los Derechos Humanos suponen. Esperamos haber alcanzado tales objetivos y que nuestra comunicación contribuya a una nueva redacción del texto que implique no sólo su entendimiento, sino también el respeto de los artículos que presenta; algo que consideramos necesario, pero inexistente hasta ahora.Ítem Symbolic numbers in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight revisited(SELIM, 2024) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at analyzing the presence of certain symbolic numbers in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Borrof, 1967; in Abrams, 19936: 202-254), as well as their function. Before the analysis of these numbers, information will be provided about the poem itself, its historical context and other key concepts for the theoretical framework of the paper, such as “numerology”, as well as a summary of some of the main findings concerning numbers 2 and 3. Although attention was already paid to those figures (Casas Pedrosa, 2007), the numbers under study now are four (e.g. the number of days that the feast at Bertilak's castle lasted), five (for example, connected with the pentangle and its strong religious connotations), fifteen (for instance, the duration in days of Arthur's feast), and twenty-five (the square of a “perfect” number and the date when Christ was born in December, according to the Holy Bible), among others. Once again, readers may realise that the choice of some numbers in some passages of the poem was not done at random, but rather is the result of a more complex process. Thus the author could have carefully selected these numbers because they were meaningful, that is to say, they could be used throughout the poem to play a given role. Therefore, they could reinforce a given idea, illustrate a concept by providing an example, underline a fact, remind readers of another event they could be familiar with due to its presence in oral tradition, etc. Finally, this analysis will allow us to draw a number of conclusions such as the fact that the above-mentioned numbers are not simple ones, but were considered to be symbolic. Thus, the poet would have chosen them for giving cohesion to its structure, among other reasons.Ítem Implementing learning stations in the 4th year of CSE English classroom: A comparative study on its effectiveness(Octaedro, 2024) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Rodríguez Marcilla, MaríaThis proposal is aimed at considering the topic of active methodologies within the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Spanish secondary schools. Close attention is paid to the learning stations methodology, which is applied to promote active learning experiences among learners. Although its implementation in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom is still scarce, this paper compares results from two groups of students (i.e. control vs experimental group) who received instruction on conditionals following two different methodologies, namely the presentation-practice-production (PPP) approach, on the one hand, and learning stations, on the other. In fact, the participants in this project are two groups of 15-16 years old students in the 4th year of Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE), with an average of an A2-B1 level according to the CEFRL. Indeed, the main purpose of this research is to assess the effects of learning stations on the EFL classroom. More precisely, the first objective is to observe if there is any statistically significant difference between instruction by means of learning stations as opposed to traditional strategies in terms of the academic performance of the students in each of the aforementioned groups. In turn, the second goal is to study whether learning stations help students get better academic results, and, finally, the third aim is to focus on the hypothesis according to which CSE students may be more motivated to learn through learning stations. In the current context and bearing in mind the wide range of teaching resources available, new methods fostering more active learning are incorporated into the educational paradigm. Particularly, in language subjects, which enhance the acquisition of communicative skills, new paths to interact and relate with others have been brought to the classroom. Active methodologies are usually understood as requiring a focus on the learner rather than the teacher. That is to say, the aim is no longer for students to become mere content-specialists in a particular area of study, but for them to develop a set of abilities, skills, and attitudes which will allow them to succeed in their future chosen professions. Therefore, changes in education include more critical, meaning-based approaches, student-centred models, collaborative and cooperative techniques, and active learning models, among others. More specifically, in this paper learning stations have been implemented to practise a particular grammar point from the EFL curriculum of the 4th year of CSE. Therefore, some previous research on grammar learning and teaching has been necessary to contextualise this experiment. Parallel to that, these resources imply some management issues which should be considered when utilizing them in the classroom. Indeed, the success of this methodology is firmly linked to the frequency of their implementation, the quality of the activities and materials designed, the heterogeneity of the groups of students, the appropriate classroom layout, and the subsequent evaluation of the process. To conclude, the results from two different groups of students were analysed and compared to draw the following conclusions. After two different teaching methodologies were used (namely, PPP and learning stations) to work on conditional sentences in the EFL classroom, results showed that the students who received grammar instruction based on the latter performed better in their post-tests. In addition, according to empirical evidence, it can be stated that there is a favourable effect on students’ academic results when they receive grammar instruction based on active methodologies, such as learning stations. Finally, these resources also foster students’ motivation when working on conditional sentences, as well as make them have a more positive perception after receiving the grammar instruction.Ítem A preliminary overview of ellipsis in English predicative prepositional phrases(Sociedad Española de Lingüística, 2024) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper focuses on the analysis of ellipsis in predicative prepositional phrases (PPPs) in English. Although their syntax can be complex, scholars have not paid enough attention to some of their features yet. Different examples illustrating the main types of ellipsis and their characteristics will be obtained from various corpora, grammars, and dictionaries. First, they can be described as those phrases which are headed by a preposition whose Complement (C) is a Noun Phrase (NP) and which act as Subject Complement (Cs) at clause level. Such is the case of “of value” in [1]: [1] It can be concluded that Adomnan's life of Columba is of value for the structure of society which seems not to have changed greatly between Columba's time and Adomnan (ICE-GB:W1A-002 #115:1). Therefore, an intensive relationship is established between the Subject (S) and this unit since the latter predicates something of the S, thus conveying a condition, feature, quality, or state which is attached to the S. Secondly, a distinction should be drawn between textual and structural ellipsis (Quirk et al., 1985: 900). In the former, the omitted word(s) can be retrieved from the immediate context, whereas that is not the case in the latter. Examples [2] and [3] illustrate these phenomena, respectively. Thus, the words omitted after the copulative verb “is” in [2] are “an aspect”, but “speaking” or “talking” is missing after “was” in [3]: [2] And uh o one particular aspect <,> o of the delays uh i is uh uh of considerable relevance uh on this occasion <,> (ICE-GB:S2A-063 #7:1:A). [3] I was on the phone for over 2 hrs (ICE-GB:W1B-005 #43:3). A concept closely related to that of “structural ellipsis” is the so-called “structural recoverability”, which can be defined as the cases in which “the full form is recoverable not through knowledge of context, but simply through knowledge of grammatical structure” (op. cit.: 861). Finally, a third group of PPPs consists of those which are the result of a more complex process since they are subsequently retrieved from a longer PPP. Therefore, they are obtained after a double ellipsis. Thus, the words “left” and “a state of” have been omitted after “and are” and “in” in [4] and [5]: [4] If it is not, then they are asked to leave for a year and are in a state of limbo, unable to play on the Tour and unable to play in amateur events (BNC:G2C 747). [5] I felt as if I was in limbo (BNC:CDS 833). The study of further examples lets us draw different conclusions. It can be highlighted, among others, that in some cases the omission of “a state of” may involve a change in the preposition heading the PPP (e.g. “in” is replaced by “under”), as can be seen in [6] and [7]: [6] Chicago was in a state of siege in the aftermath of the Haymarket trial (BNC:A0U 2482). [7] Is it to be wondered that the parrots which depend upon such places are under siege? (ICE-GB:W2B-028 #68:1).Ítem A preliminary overview of English vocabulary learning and teaching. The case of collocations and idioms in CSE in Andalusia(Octaedro, 2023) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio Vicente; Lendínez Carrillo de Albornoz, MartaThe present proposal aims to reflect on the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language in Andalusian secondary schools. More specifically, attention is paid to vocabulary learning and teaching from a communicative approach as opposed to other possibilities, such as the Grammar Translation method. For the development of this topic, the context in which English is studied has been considered (namely, a public bilingual high school in the province of Málaga). Students’ profiles and their socio-cultural context are contemplated too. In fact, this project is aimed at 4th year of Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) students, with an average of a B1 level according to the CEFRL, who are 15-16 years old. Thus, this paper is aimed at various objectives. Firstly, its main intent is to cover effective methods to enhance students’ communicative competence in English and help them expand their vocabulary in the target language by fostering their involvement in different communicative situations in class. Another crucial purpose is to research on activities, routines, and techniques to be promoted in class to improve learners’ motivation, a key element in CSE. One more goal is to suggest general measures and a suitable method to cater for mixed abilities and respond to the learners’ real needs and interests. Each of them will be discussed in the literature review, together with semantic relationships such as “antonymy”, “homonymy”, and "synonymy”, which play a relevant role in vocabulary learning and teaching. In addition, for the sake of clarity, an analysis of the context in which English is studied in this project will be provided. Moreover, other ideas, such as the fact that words do not have to be treated and taught in an isolated way when learning/teaching any foreign language, will be considered. Furthermore, it is also taken into account that the meaning of words depends on their relationships with other words and that they also group together to belong to more complex structures, such as collocations and idioms. Thus, in vocabulary learning and teaching it seems essential not only to work with words and the relationships established between each other, but also to focus on how they collocate and group to form meaning, instead of studying the meaning of lexical items separately. Taking this idea as a starting point, a wide range of approaches and techniques to teach vocabulary in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context will be detailed. Therefore, some of the main activities, resources, routines, and tools that can improve these intermediate level students’ motivation and willingness to participate in all the tasks will be included, as well. To conclude, vocabulary is not just a matter of writing down in a notebook a long list of words with their translation into the students’ mother tongue. Vocabulary learning will be achieved through experiencing situations in which they will see how native speakers use the language. What is more, students need to learn both collocations and idioms because they will help them speak and write English more accurately and naturally. Learning them will help them increase their range of English vocabulary, too. Dialogues seem to be the optimal method for mastering vocabulary, as learners will find themselves in such a communicative situation in the future. Since EFL teachers often face large multilevel classes which are as varied as the students in them, it appears to be necessary to integrate all the aforementioned resources and tools to facilitate learners’ comprehension of oral and written texts. Those should also encourage their active involvement as well as their inclusion and participation, thus allowing students to work and cooperate with each other and learn from one another.Ítem #GameIsNotOver: Gamification applied to Technology, Programming, and Robotics. A CLIL proposal(AFOE, 2022) Ballesteros Aceituno, Beatriz; Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteNowadays teachers face difficulties to motivate and stimulate students in the classroom. New tendencies such as student-centered methodologies have arisen in order to confront these difficulties. In addition, European countries and especially Spain, have bet for an improvement in foreign language teaching. CLIL has invaded Spanish schools, but it may be complicated to teach through this approach, at least at the beginning. Probably, hundreds of teachers are wondering how to develop a lesson plan that not only motivates, but also stimulates their students, in which students are the protagonists of their own learning process and in which both content and a foreign language are integrated. This paper is aimed at trying to answer those questions by developing a gamification project for a CLIL class of the subject “Technology, Programming and Robotics” designed for 2nd CSE students in Madrid (Spain) called “#GameIsNotOver”.Ítem Meaning of prepositions in English predicative prepositional phrases in ICE-GB(Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, 2020) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at analyzing the meaning of prepositions in English predicative prepositional phrases (henceforth, PPP). After introducing different concepts, the polysemous nature of prepositions will be underlined, which is described as “a very challenging, but necessary task” (Saint-Dizier, 2005: 163). Different scholars propose a variety of types of meanings that can be conveyed by prepositions. Thus, for example, whereas Schibsbye (19692: 302) draws a distinction between three types of content (“distinctive, reduced, or all but lost”), Cruse (2000: 199) mentions “literal” and “nonliteral” meanings and Lindstromberg (20102: 20) classifies them into “prototypical” (also called “primary” or “representative”) and “secondary” (or extended). Another possibility is to refer to the existence of literal (locative) as opposed to metaphorical (abstract) meanings. Thus, for instance, Quirk et al. (1985: 685-7) include examples such as “to be in danger” and “The bridge is under construction”. In the former, the preposition does not express a location but a state or condition, whereas in the latter “under” conveys a process rather than vertical direction. Attention should also be paid to the fact that the same preposition in the same PP may express either a literal or a metaphorical meaning depending on the immediate context where a given example is found. That would be the case, for example, of “on the shelf” in “The torch was still on the shelf where he'd put it when he came in” (BNC:ABX 3408) and “I am clearly not good enough for them because I'm on the SHELF” (ICEGB:W1B-005 #86:4)” (the meaning of the latter is defined as “unlikely to find a partner or get married, usually because of being too old” in MEDAL3). The analysis of different structures will help us draw the conclusion that, rather than using just two labels, the use of gradations in the meaning conveyed by prepositions would allow for greater flexibility, moving from purely literal meanings to metaphorical ones, as stated by Quirk et al. (1985: 685).Ítem Main syntactic features of English predicative prepositional phrases(Universidad de Valencia, 2019) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at analyzing the main syntactic features of predicative prepositional phrases (henceforth, PPPs) in English. Little attention has been paid to them so far since neither their relevance nor their frequency are supposed to be enough. Different examples illustrating those syntactic characteristics will be obtained from the BNC and the ICE-GB as well as from various grammars and monolingual dictionaries. First of all, they can be described as those phrases which are headed by a preposition whose Complement (C) is a Noun Phrase (NP) and which perform the function of Subject Complement (Cs) at clause level. Such is the case of “of value” in [1]: [1] It can be concluded that Adomnan's life of Columba is of value for the structure of society which seems not to have changed greatly between Columba's time and Adomnan (ICE-GB:W1A-002 #115:1). Thus, there is an intensive relationship between the Subject (S) and this unit since the latter predicates something of the S, thus conveying a condition, feature, quality, or state which is attached to the S. Secondly, depending on the nature of the meaning they express, the examples in italics below can be replaced by the Adjective Phrases, Verb Phrases, and clauses included between square brackets: [2] If you do not listen your responses may be "off beam" [wrong] and you may appear to others to be rather stupid (BNC:EEB 603). [3] Mary then came to see me and was at this point in tears [crying] over the incident and her treatment by Mr Smith (ICE-GB:W1B-021 #72:5). [4] He was a little out of breath [breathing fast and with difficulty], having hurried to the town meeting (BNC:CFJ 311). Moreover, it is possible to find examples of PPPs in coordination, what is an argument proving the similarities between them and Adjective Phrases: [5] Doctors at the hospital say Mr Crowther is continuing to show signs of slight improvement although he's still in intensive care and in a critical condition (BNC:K22 1981). [6] She is young and in good health (Quirk et alii, 1985, p. 732). Many examples of PPPs are the result of a previous process of ellipsis (whereby some words have been omitted from a given structure; e.g. “an aspect” after the copulative verb “is” in [7]) or fronting (for instance, [8]): [7] And uh o one particular aspect <,> o of the delays uh i is uh uh of considerable relevance uh on this occasion <,> (ICE-GB:S2A-063 #7:1:A). [8] At odds with the mayor remain the rendents of the condos, who are willing to fight a long battle over the additional taxes (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002, p. 1389). In addition, there are examples of stranded prepositions in exclamative, interrogative, and relative clauses, as shown in sentences [9]-[11]: [9] What a mess she was in […] (ICE-GB:W2F-003 #107:1). [10] What stature is she of? (Jespersen, 1909-49, vol. III, p. 398). [11] But I think Heseltine's got what it takes to win the next election and get us out of this mess that we are in (ICE-GB:S2B-003 #77:1:M). Finally different conclusions will be drawn on the previous analysis. It can be highlighted, among others, that the syntactic behaviour of PPPs is very similar to that of Adjective Phrases.Ítem New terms for a new time: Vocabulary teaching and how society shapes the English lexicon(Universidad de Almería, 2018) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at focusing on the issue of the creation of new words to provide new concepts with a linguistic shape in genres such as mass media. More often than not, English vocabulary, since this is a lingua franca, will be the starting point for the naming of gadgets in the case of new technologies, for example. For that reason, many concepts such as “Internet”, “software”, “wi-fi”, etc. are not translated into other languages (e.g. Spanish). However, nowadays other languages also provide certain social phenomena with a word which is later being translated and incorporated into English. Such is the case, for instance, of the Spanish noun “austericidio”. The English counterpart is “austericide” and it can be briefly defined as “economic self-destruction”. According to Google, “austericidio” was used 102,000 times on the Internet in 2014, whereas the number of hits retrieved for “austericide” is 60,100 (now the figures have been reduced to 42,000 and 2,140, respectively). Due to the impact of the current crisis on many countries, governments have adopted new measures whose implementation is provoking new situations which require new vocabulary. For that reason, new words are being coined as a reply to this context. A good English example illustrating this phenomenon could be the noun “staycation”, which, in fact, has not been included in some dictionaries yet. It is now also possible to check that a given word is being used with a specific meaning which did not use to be the most frequent one. Such is the case of the Spanish verb “desahuciar”. Many examples (mainly from both English and Spanish) will be provided and classified into different groups. Some of these instances illustrate word formation processes such as blending and borrowings, and they all should be taken into account for vocabulary teaching.Ítem Substitution of English predicative prepositional phrases by other structures(Universidad de Jaén, 2017) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at analyzing the different units which can replace predicative prepositional phrases (henceforth, PPPs) in English, a group of structures which have received little attention so far since neither their relevance nor their frequency are supposed to be enough. They can be defined as those phrases which are headed by a preposition whose Complement (C) is a Noun Phrase (NP) and which perform the function of Subject Complement (Cs) at clause level. Such is the case of “under arrest” in [1]: [1] The vessel remained under arrest from September the twenty-sixth until October the nineteenth (ICE-GB:S2A-065 #18:1:A). Therefore, there is an intensive relationship between the subject and this unit since the latter predicates something of the subject, thus expressing a quality, condition, state, or feature which is attached to the subject. However, this does not imply that they should always be substituted by adjectives. Depending on the nature of the meaning they convey, the examples in italics in the following sentences can be replaced by the adjective phrases, verb phrases and clauses included between square brackets: [2] Again, supplier's catalogues will be of help [helpful] when determining distances and pinouts (BNC:C91 1000). [3] My Lord <,,> as far as his credit and the importance of his credit is concerned it also [sic] is of relevance [relevant] when considering the evidence given by Mr Holt <,> because there is a clear conflict between the two of them (ICE-GB:S2A-068 #40:1:A). [4] Mary then came to see me and was at this point in tears [crying] over the incident and her treatment by Mr Smith (ICE-GB:W1B-021 #72:5). [5] When officers arrived he had climbed into the back yard and the Volvo was seen to be on fire [burning] (BNC:K47 313). [6] But before my brain got into gear [started working in an efficient way] after finding you'd cleared the wardrobe in the lobby of your belongings and I realised you'd gone, I went through half a dozen possibilities before I rang Reception (BNC:JYF 2472). [7] He was a little out of breath [breathing fast and with difficulty], having hurried to the town meeting (BNC:CFJ 311). Many more examples will be included and they will also be classified according to other morphological, syntactic and semantic criteria which will be underlined. These examples will be obtained from the BNC and the ICE-GB as well as from different monolingual dictionaries whose descriptions of the structures under study will also provide us with more information for further research. Finally different conclusions will be drawn on the previous analysis. Some of them are closely related to the economy principle, that is to say, certain examples prove that PPPs are chosen by speakers because they allow them to convey a given idea by means of a more reduced number of words.Ítem The economy principle and English predicative prepositional phrases(Universidad de Valladolid, 2015) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at analysing the relationship between the economy principle and English Predicative Prepositional Phrases (henceforth, PPPs). These can be defined as those phrases which are headed by a preposition whose Complement (C) is a Noun Phrase (NP) and which perform the function of Subject Complement (Cs). Such is the case of “under arrest” in [1]: [1] The vessel remained under arrest from September the twenty-sixth until October the nineteenth (ICE-GB:S2A-065 #18:1:A). As for the economy principle and the principle of the least effort, Vicentini (2003) studied the origin of these theoretical notions. Different examples obtained from the BNC and ICE-GB corpora and from various dictionaries confirm the hypothesis according to which the selection of certain PPPs will allow speakers to convey a given meaning by means of a more reduced number of words. Thus, the PPPs “in clover” and “in hand” are defined as “to have enough money to be able to live a very comfortable life” (Turnbull, 20108: 278) and “receiving attention and being dealt with” (Crowther, 19955: 537), respectively: [2] "As I was saying," Patrick Milligan continued, once his youngest was out of the house, "if the best came to the best, and your sister married the old codger, we could be in clover" (BNC:EEW 2057). [3] In fact the repairs were already in hand <,,> (ICE-GB:S1B-069 #163:1:B). These sentences clearly show that PPPs which are formally simple can express complex ideas. In fact, “in clover” and “in hand” illustrate the smallest structure of a PP, just consisting of a preposition and a NP as its C. However, on some occasions certain PPPs are chosen to avoid redundant structures such as “be being”. In fact, the use of “at issue” and “under construction” in [4] and [5] prevents speakers from saying “may be being dealt with” and “which will be being built”, respectively: [4] Again, the meaning of `necessary´ may be at issue but the important factor is that the presumption can be and, in many cases, probably will be cancelled out by express terms (BNC:HXD 175). [5] One of the major features is a timber-framed house which will be under construction throughout the show, allowing visitors to see the various elements and skills involved (BNC:A16 61). Furthermore, there are other reasons why PPPs are selected in certain communicative contexts. Thus, “in the club” is defined as “pregnant” (Rundell, 20072: 273; Turnbull, 20108: 279) and “off your chump” as “crazy” (Rundell, 20072: 240), but these PPPs also convey some other subtle nuances. For that reason they are labelled as “British informal old-fashioned” (Rundell, 20072: 273 and 240, respectively). Therefore, it can be concluded that these are counter-examples since in some cases speakers will opt for more complex structures (“pregnant” and “crazy” are one-word adjectives, whereas the PPs “in the club” and “off your chump”, on the contrary, consist of 3). To this last group of examples belong some PPPs which can be classified as euphemisms. Rees (2006: v) defined them as follows: “[...] the word or phrase has the specific function of concealing something of the nature and meaning of what it describes”. Such is the case of the PPP “in Abraham's bosom” in [6], which could be replaced by the adjective “dead”: [6] The child was in Abraham's bosom (Simpson, 2014).Ítem Differences between spoken and written English: The case of the predicative prepositional phrases in the ICE-GB(Universidad de Valladolid, 2015) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at describing the main differences between spoken and written English. More specifically, attention is paid to the different examples which are classified as predicative Prepositional Phrases (PPs) in the International Corpus of English-Great Britain (ICE-GB) and their frequency in spoken and written texts. These units can be defined as those phrases which are introduced by a preposition and followed by a Noun Phrase (NP) acting as its complement. Furthermore, they perform the function of Subject Complement (Cs) at clause level. Such is the case of “She first fell in love with Will when she was eighteen, and she adores him still” (ICE‐GB:W2F‐019#47:1). Although in terms of frequency this is not the syntactic function PPs more often perform, they are taken into account because of their complexity and due to the lack of detailed analyses. In most cases they are described as isolated examples and this phenomenon is not considered to be a very productive one. After introducing some basic notions, these structures are analyzed focusing on their presence in both spoken and oral texts within the ICE-GB. This is a one-million-word corpus which is both morphologically tagged and syntactically parsed. Moreover, it was compiled in the nineties and consists of both spoken (60%) and written material (40%). The ICECUP (ICE Corpus Utility Program) software retrieved 3307 examples from 3223 sentences. These instances were then filtered since some of them were later classified as “noise” (in some cases the PPs were performing other functions either at phrase or at clause level and in others the element acting as the complement of the preposition was not a NP). For these reasons the final subcorpus consists of 1332 examples. 67.49% of these instances (899) are found in oral texts whereas 32.51% of them (433) belong to written texts. All these examples have been classified into different groups and subgroups corresponding to the different text categories available in this corpus (Nelson, Wallis and Aarts, 2002: 307-8). The results are presented in charts by means of both figures and percentages and different conclusions are later drawn based on the analysis of these charts. Thus, for example, it can be noticed that, although it was expected that the amount of structures under study would be higher in spoken than in written texts because of the structure of the corpus itself, the relative frequency (which takes into account the relationship between the number of examples and the number of words) proves so, too: 0.1410% in spoken texts as opposed to 0.1022% in written texts, with an average of 0.1255% in the whole corpus. Moreover, there are more examples in dialogues (581) than in monologues (318) and in printed texts (332) than in non-printed ones (101). This information proves especially relevant for non-native speakers of English since it allows them to become aware of the differences between speaking and writing. According to the evidence, some units are used more often in spoken language than in written English. Therefore, when producing any kind of text, students will feel more confident for they will be able to choose the appropriate structures bearing in mind these issues.Ítem Pedagogical innovation through the ILIAS virtual platform in the area of English Studies(IATED, 2013) Ráez Padilla, Juan; Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis proposal presents the results of a qualitative study about a pedagogical innovation with the ILIAS virtual platform in the subject “Advanced English” of the second year of the joint degree in English Philology and Tourism at the University of Jaén (Spain). The study will endeavour to outline and comment on the different resources and online teaching materials implemented within this virtual environment for its exploitation in the area of English Studies, with a view to meeting the needs of autonomous and collaborative learning in the new European Higher Education Area and to assisting students with materials specifically designed for self-work, considering that the second year of the aforementioned degree went extinct, as for face-to-face teaching, in the academic year 2010-11, and students will only have the right to sit the final exam in the next three academic years (2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14). Finally, it will offer the results of a student survey on the usefulness of this platform for the subject, and some other teaching action will be suggested to make up for the deficiencies pointed out by students.Ítem Similarities between English predicative prepositional phrases and adjective phrases(Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, 2013) Casas Pedrosa, Antonio VicenteThis paper is aimed at identifying which are the main similarities between English predicative prepositional phrases and adjective phrases. First of all, predicative PPs are defined as those groups of words which are headed by a preposition and which perform the function of subject complement; such is the case of “She first fell in love with Will when she was eighteen, and she adores him still” (ICE-GB:W2F-019 #47:1). These structures will be described from the morphological, syntactic, semantic, and socio-pragmatic points of view and examples will be provided highlighting the similarities between these two types of phrases. Morphologically speaking, rather than classifying different words as “adjectives” as opposed to other word classes, a gradation should be established so that certain units are “central adjectives” whereas others are considered as “peripheral”, depending on the number of characteristics they share. It is also possible to describe different predicative prepositional phrases along that continuum. From the syntactic point of view, many adjective phrases as well as some prepositional phrases can occur in both attributive and predicative positions, thus performing the functions of subject complements and premodifiers of the head of a noun phrase, respectively. As far as semantics is concerned, the fact that certain prepositional phrases can act as subject and object complements, among other functions, proves that they convey meanings which are similar to those of adjectives. Thus “in the doldrums” and “on cloud nine” can be replaced by “depressed” and “very happy”, respectively. As for socio-pragmatics, sometimes the prepositional structures are selected because they allow speakers to express subtle nuances which may not be conveyed by the adjective phrases available for those meanings. This is the case of “in La La Land”, defined as “silly or unreasonable” but also labelled as “informal”.