Análisis de la implantación de la educación física bilingüe en Castilla y León

Resumen

In last ten years there has been an exponential increase of bilingualism in schools. Physical education (PE) has been one of the selected subjects to be taught in English. This study has three objectives: 1- Analyzing the perception of bilingual coordinators about the program, structure and training possibilities; 2- Analyzing the perception of the PE teachers about the methodological and evaluative aspects used; 3- Studying in depth the way in which they plan and organize contents in bilingual groups throughout a school year. The study is carried out with all public secondary schools in Castilla y León where PE was one of the subjects taught in English, i.e. 26 schools are participating in the study. This study uses a mixed methodology beginning with quantitative analyses and followed with qualitative analyses. The quantitative part discusses the perception of bilingual coordinators and PE teachers about the implementation of bilingualism in school and methodology applied. In the qualitative phase a case study is conducted in one of the selected schools. The instruments for collecting data on the quantitative part have been two questionnaires validated by a group of experts, with proven reliability. One of them is directed to bilingual coordinators and the other one to PE teachers. Descriptive data (frequencies and percentages) as well as inferential data were obtained. On the qualitative part a unique case study was made involving a follow-up of PE lessons during a school year. Four groups were analysed (1st ESO bilingual, 1st ESO not bilingual, 4th ESO bilingual and 4th ESO not bilingual). The instruments used in the qualitative phase have been: initial interview with the teacher, daily records and discussion groups. Evidences show that the implementation of bilingualism in Castilla y León differs among centres, basically in terms of continuity between stages, monitoring and evaluation of the programme and involvement to students and families. It is showed that schools antiquity as a bilingual section is not a factor that will ensure better implementation. However, coordination among members of bilingual teams is presented as a determinant factor that gives best performance level of bilingual programmes in schools. Generally, teachers have a positive perception about possibilities of PE in English learning. They highlight the experiential character of the subject which promotes possitive attitude towards learning among students. Moreover, it enables a functional, meaningful and contextualized use of language. It is concluded that comprehension and oral expression skills are more used than comprehension and written expression in PE. In addition, English is not a factor which implies lower subject learning, but it is a factor that increases difficulty perceived by students for developing and overcoming it. Further research is required on everything that allows defining the methodological aspects that make PE a subject with potential to be taught in English.