Presentation

Pluralism is the key to this year’s APIGA Xornadas: a fine word, but as Kenneth Clark says, “fine words butter no parsnips”. What do we mean by this lofty term?

When we first start teaching, we assume that there is an ideal methodology, a set routine of activities for each level and a definitive answer to grammatical or lexical issues. We also tend to view our students as a uniform mass. Later, as we grow in confidence and experience, we dare to experiment or even improvise. We also have the wisdom and courage to admit that issues are not just black and white.  We take diversity into account, acknowledging not only that our students may have different learning styles, but also that various kinds of teaching styles and teacher personalities may fall under the banner of good practice.  And we recognise that there are multiple perspectives in many fields, including Pedagogy, Applied Linguistics and Literary Studies. This is the message we wish to convey with these Xornadas; valuing the contributions made by all of us, across the sectors, and embracing practical as well as more theoretical approaches.

Like individuals, organisations also evolve and move in new directions, reaching out to other institutions.  In short, we at APIGA hope to acquire a more considered outlook as we enter our third decade and continue our collaboration with the Universidade da Coruña.