New education models for teachers of English: the case of Castile and León

Resumen

English language teacher education has recently undergone substantial changes in Europe mainly due to the role of English as a lingua franca and to the European Space for Higher Education. The article seeks to study, through a comparative research analysis, these new trends as they are reflected in the eleven Modern Foreign Language Degrees and six Postgraduate programmes offered by the four public universities of Castile and León. Their cross-examination makes it evident that, even if there remain serious deficiencies such as the disparity between the student teachers’ curriculum and the labour market demands, the lack of mobility programmes as a qualification prerequisite, and the scarcity of other academic subjects taught in English, some important European recommendations have already been assumed; these concern the European standards of linguistic competence as accreditation criteria, a more practice-oriented curriculum, the requirement of Master and End-of-Degree Theses, the spread of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and the teaching of English to Young Learners