Development and assessment of communicative competence in initial teacher training

Abstract

The education of future teachers must necessarily include the development of communicative competence because of its fundamental character as an instrument of communication, of the production and transformation of knowledge and for the improvement of the quality of learning, as well as to favor the development of critical thinking, both in relation to one's own studies and to one's subsequent professional performance. In spite of this, there are few studies and researches dedicated to it. The purpose of this article is to contribute to filling this void by presenting the results of a study whose objective is to improve the construction of argumentative oral texts and metalinguistic reflection on their elements, through the development and introduction of teaching strategies and instruments. A mixed method was used, which includes quantitative and qualitative analyses. The instruments used were the evaloe or Escala de Evaluación de la Lengua Oral en Contexto Escolar (i. e. Oral Language Assessment Scale in a School Context) (Gràcia et al., 2015a) and a rubric constructed for this purpose. The results show that if adjusted teaching strategies and instruments are introduced, students learn to construct texts in which one or more interlocutors are involved and to reflect on them.