The The non-verbal component in Spanish as a foreign language

Considerations for significant and intercultural learning from WebQuest

Abstract

Current curricular programs consider that teaching non-verbal communication is essential for the acquisition of foreign languages. In the Hispanic studies, it has developed a stable methodology in recent years to include non-verbal signals in the Spanish classroom (Cestero 2004; Poyatos 2006). However, the new contexts of teaching and learning, in favour of multilingualism and multiculturalism, require finding new ways to integrate the non-verbal component in the language classroom. In this paper, we propose to teach non-verbal signs following an intercultural approach, the precepts of significant learning and the digital learning. From this approach, it is proposed to contrast the signs of different cultures and to transmit new knowledge of a foreign language from the previous experience and knowledge of the student from TICs. The learner must readjust the new language information to their cognitive system and its prior knowledge of other languages and the teacher should give new information understandable and meaningful, consistent with the knowledge that the learner already has. The proposal presented in this paper suggests the use of WebQuest.