Abstract

JUAREZ DIAZ, Catalina  and  PERALES ESCUDERO, Moisés Damián. Experiences in English language learning in higher education. Leng. [online]. 2019, vol.47, n.2, pp.358-378. ISSN 0120-3479.  https://doi.org/10.25100/lenguaje.v47i2.6734.

This documentary study reviews studies on the experiences of learners of English as a foreign language in higher education. Our goal was to identify the theoretical perspectives, findings and methodological approaches with which the learning experiences of English as a foreign language have been addressed from 2004 to 2018. Twenty-one studies that were found in five databases were systematically reviewed. Based on a deductive procedure the meaning of the studies was extracted. The findings reflect the students’ positive experiences in learning English as a foreign language. These experiences are related to the teachers’ personality, the use of technology and teaching methods. On the other hand, negative experiences were identified, which occur due to the students’ perception that their emotional component is being ignored, the teacher’s input and working with an unfamiliar teaching approach. Likewise, it was found that in only 20% of the studies a theoretical model was adopted and that the 83.33% of the empirical work was from the qualitative paradigm. The literature indicates that there is still a need to explore the experiences that students live in the foreign language learning process.

Keywords : experiences; foreign language; higher education.

        · abstract in Spanish | French     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )