Students' perceptions of their communicative competence in initial teacher training: an interdisciplinary experience

Abstract

Communicative competence is one of the key competences in initial teacher training, and the development of this competence is made more significant by coordinated planning across several subjects. Since communication is fundamental to the teaching and learning process, care must be taken to enhance its written, oral and non-verbal aspects. In this study we analyze university students’ self-perception of their communicative competence after they have completed an interdisciplinary project that integrated various communication skills through active and coordinated teaching-learning methodologies in academic-professional collaboration, theoretical sessions and workshops with experts. To do so, we implemented a longitudinal training program with 53 students from the Degree in Primary Education in which the students created a written story in the first year before transforming the story into oral and scenic formats in later courses. Based on the rubrics of the generic competences of the University of , we designed an mixed questionnaire. After the questionnaire had been validated by experts, the data were collected. Our results show a generally positive and critically constructive assessment. They also indicate an increase in student motivation, since the workshops help students better understand the contents of the subjects, thus underlining their practical nature. Interdisciplinary collaborative work that implements comprehensive and inclusive learning experiences should therefore be encouraged in initial teacher training programs.