Audiovisual platforms like YouTube facilitate the introduction of informal learning practices for their pedagogical exploitation both in class and online. One such practice is the creation of a BookTuber community for recommending books, thus making it possible for students to engage in an out-of-class community where common interests can be shared. In this innovations in practice article, we present a project carried out with two English for Specific Purposes (ESP) groups of Media Studies of the University of Barcelona. The aim of this project was to determine features that make a BookTuber a good communicator so students could apply these features to their own BookTube video practice. Students could then use these features as a guideline for peer-review comments published on YouTube and the creation of an online BookTuber community. Students were first introduced to the concept of intertextuality in order to understand how it fosters connections among audiovisual consumers. The BookTuber community was then presented and the students viewed and analysed several BookTube videos with the objective of creating an evaluation rubric identifying the key aspects of a good BookTuber. The students then created their own BookTube video and uploaded it onto YouTube. They were also required to watch at least two videos created by their peers, post comments that considered key aspects included in the evaluation rubric and express their personal reactions to and opinions of the videos. In addition, an extended version of the peer-review was also required to achieve subject credits. This twofold feedback allowed for the practice of two discourse styles for the same content: informal (for YouTube) and formal (for the teacher). As a result, students had firsthand experience of becoming a BookTuber while developing their critical thinking skills for peer evaluation and academic and professional purposes of career development.

Pre-service training of language teachers requires tools that foster the development of teaching competences, and the construction of their teacher identities. One crucial tool in that respect is the e-portfolio. Thus, in the framework of the proPIC Europa project, the e-portfolio is a dynamic artefact in which students collate learning evidence that helps to construct their teacher identity. In this chapter, we present the concept of the e-portfolio as it has been applied in the proPIC project, together with the associated learning objectives and constituent elements. In the sections that follow, we look at the e-portfolio from the perspective of the common formative actions carried out across the participating Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the specific actions implemented in each context, which were based in the context of the overall study programme (see Hoinke & Clausen, 2022, Chapter 3 this volume). We will also present some of the outcomes, showcasing a number of e-portfolios that were constructed by the pre-service teachers participating in the project.

Favorecer la creación de una identidad docente desde la formación inicial y desde los procesos de construcción de conocimiento que los programas de formación facilitan, resulta crucial para el futuro profesor y su desarrollo profesional continuo. El presente artículo analiza la evolución de la identidad docente de 22 profesores de Español como Lengua Extranjera en formación inicial, y el rol que la construcción del conocimiento del profesor tiene en dicho proceso durante una secuencia de actividades reflexivas basadas en el microteaching o microenseñanza. La investigación presentada en este texto es de índole cualitativo y de enfoque etnográfico, basándose en el análisis de 44 reflexiones escritas y 161 intervenciones de los participantes en foros de discusión, las cuales giran alrededor de las grabaciones llevadas a cabo en la secuencia de microenseñanza. Los resultados apuntan a que dicha secuencia favorece la reflexión individual y compartida en los futuros profesores, además de un proceso de evolución de las autopercepciones como profesionales. El conocimiento pedagógico es el que tiene el mayor peso en el desarrollo de estas primeras construcciones de identidad docente, mientras que el conocimiento práctico y el de la materia pierden importancia a medida que los profesores comienzan a experimentar en el aula.

En este trabajo se presenta una revisión al marco teórico en el que surgen los portafolios desde su origen hasta llegar a diferentes propuestas de implementación en el Estado español, con el objetivo de establecer cuáles son las ventajas y los inconvenientes de su uso por parte de la comunidad docente. Se ha partido de una muestra de portafolios de diferentes tipos. Los resultados permiten afirmar que para los usuarios el portafolio es una herramienta muy potente de formación, pero también presenta grandes inconvenientes. Parece pues necesario continuar indagando y revisando sobre cómo se está llevando a cabo su implementación para así poder obtener mejores resultados.

Gamification is a methodological strategy that has been applied for several years in the field of modern language learning. It is employed primarily to increase students’ motivation by incorporating game elements into an otherwise didactic context. Research into the use of gamification in language teaching has focused largely on characterizing the specific practices involved and on determining the degree of motivation elicited in students. There has been little examination of students’ perceptions of gamification or their assessment of its effectiveness for learning a modern language. This study analyses learner perception and motivation among a group of sixteen university students of Spanish as a modern foreign language following participation in a gamified learning experience. Analysis of the information gathered from student perception questionnaires and non-participant observation indicates that the students perceive progress in vocabulary learning but not in grammatical knowledge. The students also report a high level of motivation for the proposed learning activities due to the possibility of working collaboratively with their classmates. The article concludes with reflections on the relevance and didactic implications of gamification as a methodological strategy in modern foreign language teaching at higher education level.