BASIC STANDARS OF COMPETENCES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES: ENGLISH

KEY CONCEPTS:
BILINGUISM: It refers to different levels that someone achieves to communicate in a foreign or second
language.
SECOND LANGUAGE: it is indispensible for official, business, social and educative activities. This refers
to the language uses between citizens from a country.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE: it is not use in a local environment because of the social conditions (speakers
only use the first language).

Colombian context requires the use of the foreign language according to the proposal of the
Ministerio de Educacin Nacional. El Ministerio de Educacion Nacional chose el Marco Comn
Europeo de Referencia para Lenguas: Aprendizaje, Enseanza y Evaluacin (Passbook N 22, p. 6).
This document was developed by European Council. It describes the performance levels that students
achieve in a language.

NIVELES SEGN EL NOMBRE COMN DEL NIVEL EDUCATIVO EN METAS PARA EL SECTOR EDUCATIVO A
MARCO COMN NIVEL EN COLOMBIA EL QUE SE ESPERA 2019
EUROPEO DESARROLLAR CADA
NIVEL DE LENGUA

A1 Principiante Grados 1 a 3

A2 Bsico Grados 4 a 7

B1 Pre intermedio Grados 8 a 11 Nivel mnimo para el 100% de los

egresados de Educacin Media.

B2 Intermedio Educacin Superior Nivel mnimo para docentes de

ingls.

Nivel mnimo para profesionales

de otras carreras.

C1 Pre avanzado Nivel mnimo para los nuevos

egresados de licenciaturas en
idiomas.

C2 Avanzado

WHY DO WE TEACH ENGLISH IN COLOMBIA?

The present world is distinguished for intercultural communication, for that reason, people need to
use a common language in which people know other cultures. One of the goals of the Ley General de
Educacin is el estudio de la compresin critica de la cultura nacional y de la diversidad tnica y
cultural del pas, como fundamento de la unidad nacional y de su identidad (Passbook N 22, p. 7).
In this law, there is an objective for elementary and high school education: La adquisicin de
elementos de conversacin y de lectura, al menos en una lengua extranjera and la compresin y
capacidad de expresarse en una lengua extranjera (Passbook N 22, p. 7).

Learning of a foreign language in relation to personal development

Students should learn a foreign language because it is an opportunity to develop the social, cultural
and cognitive aspects, because:
Foreign Language Learning promotes the respect towards other cultures and it accepts their
differences of them.
To help students interact with other people and interchange their experiences.
Students acquire the consciousness about what they learn during their learning process.
Students develop more linguistic and metalinguistic consciousness.
Through the foreign language learning, students extend their higher mental abilities such as short
memory, logical thoughts and consciousness.
Students confront different real situations both national and international facts.
Students develop their artistic and cognitive fields in foreign language learning.
 Reasons to learn English:
English is the most known language around the world.
Through the foreign language learning, students motivate to open their mind and know cultures.
Let students to travel other countries by means of study scholarships.
Offer biggest and best opportunities to work.
Facilitate to interchange the knowledge among people from different countries.

PRINCIPLES FROM STANDARS ORGANIZATION

GRUPOS DE NIVELES
GRADOS MCE

Dcimo a B 1.2 Pre intermedio

Undcimo 2
B1
Octavo a
Noveno

B 1.1 Pre intermedio

1

Sexto a Sptimo A 2.2 Bsico 2

Cuarto a Quinto
A2

A 2.1 Bsico 1

Primero a A1 A1 Principiante
Tercero

El Ministerio de Educacion Nacional has established students have to know and know what to do with
the language at the end of the process.

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE:
The Standards of English let people (students, teachers, families, institutions, etc) know what students
must learn.

Competences are the knowledge, abilities and individual characteristics which are used by people in
order to act into a context. In foreign language, it is important to develop the communicative
competence.

Communicative Competence includes:

Linguistic Competence: is concerned with knowledge of the language itself, its form and meaning. (A
framework for teaching and learning, p. 46).
Pragmatic Competence: it means knowing how to use language in order to achieve certain
communicative goals or intentions (.) Pragmatic competence knows how to perform a particular
function or express an intention clearly. In order for communication to be successful, however, spoken
and written messages must also be appropriate to the social context in which they are produced. (A
framework for teaching and learning, p. 48).
Sociolinguistic Competence: It is the knowledge of social and cultural conditions imply in the use of the
language.