This book seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice by identifying the main challenges which the implementation of the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) is posing in language teaching. It reports on the outcomes yielded by prominent European research projects and thematic networks and presents the insights of a prestigious set of scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers from different parts of Europe.

The book is divided into four main parts. The first section examines the coordination of language studies in the European Higher Education Area, from general language policy development, to the practicalities of coordinating whole degrees or drawing up ECTS study guides. The second part analyses the concept of competencies within the Bologna process. Methodological aspects are broached in the third thematic block by sharing practical accounts and experiences across Europe. The final part seeks to clarify the most important aspects with regard to evaluating language learning in the new credit system, and examines learning outcomes, student work hours, or ECTS credits.

Contents:

Francisco Michavila: Preface - María Luisa Pérez Cañado: Introduction and Overview - Ian Tudor/Wolfgang Mackiewicz: Bologna and Languages: Reference Points for Higher Education Language Policy Development - Antonio Bueno González/Jesús M. Nieto García: English Language Teaching in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA): Towards Uniformity or Diversity? - Mike Fleming: Perspectives on the Use of Competence Statements in the Teaching of the English Language - Jesús Pérez González: Competencies in Language Teaching: From their Conceptualisation to their Concretion in the Curriculum - María Luisa Pérez Cañado/Paige D. Ware: Why CMC and VLE are Especially Suited to the ECTS: The Case of Telecollaboration in English Studies - Alfonso Ceballos Muñoz/Carmen Fernández Martín: Across the Curriculum: English Transverse Activities in ECTS - Barry Pennock-Speck: European Convergence and the Role of ICT in English Studies at the Universitat de València: Lessons Learned and Prospects for the Future - Rubén Chacón-Beltrán: Learner Autonomy and Lifelong Learning: Technological Solutions in the European Higher Education Area - James Lawley: An EFL Grammar Checker that Really Works: Making Bologna Come True - Kent Löfgren/Terence Karran: Using Assessment with ECTS: Untangling the Knots - Daniel Madrid/Stephen Hughes: The Implementation of the European Credit Transfer System in Initial Foreign Language Teacher Training.