Introduction

Teaching and learning English as a foreign language to adolescents is always a challenge not only for students but also for teachers. According to Bordignon (2005), dozens of emotional, social, educational and even political factors exert profound influence in the way learners acquire knowledge in this respect. In 2017, after several failed attempts to improve the educational system, the government of the Province of Cordoba created a special program for secondary schools called Programa Avanzado de Educación (ProA) which has the objective of emphasizing the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICTs) in all areas of instruction. However, nothing has been previously said about the tools that may contribute to improve students’ performances and motivation in relation to foreign language acquisition.

For this reason, it is of paramount importance to provide answers to questions like How can Social-Emotional Education and Neuroscience help teachers of English as a foreign language of public schools in Villa Nueva Cordoba belonging to the Programa Avanzado de Educación (ProA) boost their secondary students’ motivation? or Which educational strategies can efficiently increase the motivation to learn a foreign language in the previously mentioned individuals?

Furthermore, it seems necessary to conduct some research in order to be able to describe the educational role of Social-Emotional Education and Neuroscience in motivating public secondary school students belonging to the Programa Avanzado de Educación (ProA) schools in Villa Nueva Cordoba to learn English as a foreign language.

Literature Review

Bordignon, Nelso Antonio (2005). El desarrollo psicosocial de Eric Erikson. El diagrama epigenético del adulto. Revista Lasallista de Investigación, 2(2), 50-63 https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=69520210

Summarizes the psychosocial development theory of Erik Erikson, and the epigenetic diagram of young people. Gives a brief account of the content of each psychosocial stage according to the VIII stages of the whole life cycle proposed by Erikson.

Cefai, C., Regester, D., & Dirani, L. A. (2020). Social and emotional learning in the Mediterranean: Cross cultural perspectives and approaches. BRILL.

Characterizes how the rise of social and emotional learning (SEL) is an essential requirement in positive human development and meaningful education. Describes the consequences of adverse educational practices in the Mediterranean region.

Gotlieb, R., Hyde, E., Immordino-Yang, M. H., & Kaufman, S. B. (2016). Cultivating the social-emotional imagination in gifted education: Insights from educational neuroscience. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1377(1), 22-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13165

Gives an account of evidences from education, psychology, and neuroscience about development of the social–emotional imagination in educational contexts in Sierra Leone. Introduces the term giftedness to refer to the general intelligence students have to acquire language.

Sklad, M., Diekstra, R., Ritter, M. D., Ben, J., & Gravesteijn, C. (2012). Effectiveness of school-based universal social, emotional, and behavioral programs: Do they enhance students’ development in the area of skill, behavior, and adjustment? Psychology in the Schools, 49(9), 892-909. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21641.

Attempts to answer the question of whether teaching social and emotional skills to foster social–emotional development can help schools extend their role beyond the transfer of knowledge through 75 recently published studies.

Van Lancker Sidtis, D. (2008). The Relation of Human Language to Human Emotion. In Handbook of the Neuroscience of Language (pp. 199-207). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-045352-1.00019-7.

Provides a clear overview of how neuroscience has grown as an auxiliary educational science over the last few decades. Discusses methods and techniques such as clinical assessment approaches, and methods of mapping the human brain.