As a motivational teaching practice, gamification does not always work as expected. This paper supports these findings and adds the factor of online teaching analyzing the results of an experiment carried out in an online higher education context to test the relevance and motivational efficacy of ludic methodologies using learning and knowledge technology. Three groups of students (n=78, n=64, and n=74) participated in gamified experiences in the same subject. These groups were offered different approaches to the experiences, only one of which included a reward. Neither of the gamified experiences was compulsory. The results show how the use of technologies and gamification is not as appealing as it may seem and how other aspects-such as teacher-student relationship and interaction, rewards, and the sense of alienation generated by online teaching-influence student participation. The low rate of participation indicates that teachers must consider not only those students who participate but also those who do not. The main conclusion is that not only the methodology is important, but also the performance and the fact that student-teacher relationship in online education is more demanding, affectively speaking. Thus, those students who were in direct contact with the teacher during the execution of the gamified experience present a higher level of involvement. This is a factor to consider for the motivational needs of online university students where intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and direct interaction play essential roles.

Abstract. The main objective of this study is to highlight the need to advise students to revise their online written productions to avoid the incorrect use of forms which differ from their L1. In order to do so, this paper explores a specific error: misuse of the initialism 'ICT'. Even though the analysis deals with this term, the conclusion can be applied to similar cases. The subjects are university students who use English as a vehicular language in the classroom but who have very different levels of proficiency. After analysing their written productions in an online forum it was observed that misuse of 'ICT' could be either an error, due to a gap in knowledge, or a mistake, due to interlingual transfer. Taking Selinker's (1972) and Corder's (1981) theories as a starting point, we then explore what to do in these cases considering the specific form of instruction that these students receive. Consequently, explicit teaching of the term in the classroom is proposed taking into account the learners' age factor and the revised theories.

This article presents the stance taken by José Ortega y Gasset in the debate that took place in early-twentieth-century Spain regarding the convenience of reading Don Quixote in schools. To this end, we start by describing, albeit briefly, the state of Ortega y Gasset’s thought in 1920, when he writes Biología y pedagogía, the essay with which we shall concern ourselves. According to Ortega y Gasset, Don Quixote must not be read in the classroom because it does not contribute to the development of the students’ spontaneous life, or natura naturans. In order to foster this development, Ortega y Gasset suggests leaving Don Quixote aside and resort to myths such as Odysseus or Heracles because their exploits would excite the students’ vital pulse. However, we suggest several reasons why the aim stated by Ortega y Gasset —and several other highly valuable educational benefits— could be reached resorting to the reading of selected passages of Don Quixote instead of the feats of Odysseus and Heracles.

This paper looks at some of the manifestations of camp in two very different novels from the 1920s: Ronald Firbank’s Concerning the Eccentricities of Cardinal Pirelli and Ivy Compton-Burnett’s Pastors and Masters. Emphasis is placed on those elements which derive from camp’s detachment, theatricalization and fixation on the surface. Two specific aspects are examined in both novels: their use of dialogue (particularly its discontinuity) and their use of static, tableau-like plots. The final considerations address the relationship between camp and irony as seen in camp’s rejection of moral judgement.

No abstract