Resumen

This paper describes a free yearly course taught by research team J033 at Comahue University during 2019 for primary- and secondary-school teachers of English and some insights gained through its formative and summative assessment (Brown, 2004). The course aimed to equip participants with theoretical-practical knowledge on how to teach contextualised formulaic sequences (Wray, 2002) (FSs) through authentic songs, legends and myths, and motivate them to engage in a future pilot experience teaching formulaic language in their own EFL settings.
The paper first discusses some theoretical issues related to formulaic sequences and their teaching in EFL contexts. Then it describes the course in terms of its aims and content, while also considering the different tasks completed by participants for formative and summative assessment. As instances of formative assessment (Brown, 2004), there were face-to-face and virtual group discussions in which teachers discussed key concepts in the bibliography on FS instruction, and oral presentations in which participants described sets of tasks designed for the introduction of FSs in their teaching contexts. Formal summative assessment consisted of three real-life tasks involving the implementation of central content in the course, which were meant to provide an insight into teachers’ grasp of the underlying principles of FS teaching (Lindstromberg & Boers, 2008) and their application in EFL classrooms and, by extension, into the extent to which the workshops’ objectives may have been accomplished.
The paper analyses some common features in the practical assignments submitted by participants for the assessment of the course. Tasks like summarising the theory to justify decisions on the sequences to teach and relating this to the aims of the tasks they designed posed some challenges to trainees. These challenges are examined and some implications are also discussed in terms of teaching FSs in in-service teachers’ contexts.