Second language acquisition theories: their application in Ministry of Educaction's Curriculum and their expected impact on teacher training programs from three chilean universities

Abstract

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Language Planning and Policy (LPP) play a fundamental role in the design of public policies concerning the teaching of a second language. Thus, the present study focuses on the analysis of SLA theories in the teaching of the English language in the country, as well as their implementation in the curriculum proposed by the Ministry of Education and the curricula from three selected teaching programs created by the following institutions: Universidad de Chile, Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación and Universidad de Santiago de Chile. The gap this investigation aims at filling is the current limited research in education and, particularly, regarding the teaching of the subject. The major findings indicate a lack of an explicit theory proposed by any of the aforementioned institutions, except by the program from Departamento de Estudios Pedagógicos of Universidad de Chile. The implications concerning these results are mainly related to the proposition of improving the policies that are functioning today in order to have a more homogeneous approach to the teaching of English in Chile.