The Integration and Development of Socio-Emotional Competencies in the English Classroom/Curriculum

Abstract

[eng] Social and emotional competences are basic and crucial in people’s lives. In fact, being competent emotionally and socially plays an essential role in personal and social performance. Considering the importance of socio-emotional command, it can be argued that it is vital to acquire related abilities and skills during adolescence – a period of time when students face behavioural, emotional, cognitive and social challenges. It has been demonstrated that developing socio-emotional competences is crucial for the integral development of students. It is an important factor, not only because it conditions their future, but because there is a relation between emotion and cognition that impacts and conditions students’ motivation, their results, academic performance and the overall learning process. Therefore, overall, this thesis explores and proposes a way to incorporate social and emotional learning competences into the English classroom and support compulsory secondary students' well-being, interpersonal skills, and academic success, taking into account the methodological possibilities, the curriculum and teachers’ role. The didactic proposal consists of an extended Learning Situation designed to be carried out throughout the second term of the academic year, in the context of the Balearic Islands. The Learning Situation is entitled: Lights, Emotions, Action: How can theatre help us understand and express our emotions?, since it implements Social and Emotional Learning through the literary genre of theatre. As a matter of fact, the genre has been selected because its characteristics allow it to easily deal with emotional and social competences in different levels, since dramatic activities foster empathy, perception of self and others, and point towards a process of group dynamics. In the Learning Situation students will get “stage objectives” covered regarding the theoretical aspects of the literary style. Besides, students will also receive explicit content about social and emotional competences, i.e. self-knowledge, motivation, emotional regulation, emotional awareness, etc. In the final product students are expected to reflect the skills and knowledge they have acquired in the theatrical as well as in the socio-emotional area. Even though the proposal is designed to suit the curriculum of English as a Foreign Language for a fourth year of Compulsory Secondary Education level, it could be adapted to any other level within the area of language; or since it can acquire a transversal nature, with some adjustments, it could be brought into other subjects