Investigación docente en los grupos de Alto Rendimiento Académico II

Abstract

To promote teaching in English, the Conselleria d’Educació, Cultura i Esport of the Generalitat Valenciana, in collaboration with public universities, created the High Academic Performance (Alto Rendimiento Académico; ARA) groups in the academic year 2010/2011. This program aims to enhance the performance of outstanding students via small groups and teaching in English since the beginning of their university studies. The main objective of the present study is to know the opinions of both students and professors, as well as the degree of diffusion of ARA groups and the English level considering respondents related and unrelated to these groups. To do so, we conducted surveys at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Alicante, which has an ARA group in the Biology degree. Respondents unrelated to these groups showed a considerable lack of knowledge about them, although Biology students are getting more aware of them. As expected, the English level is higher in ARA groups compared to non-ARA groups, but the level is increasing in both cases. It is still necessary to work on improving the dissemination of ARA groups so students are aware of their existence and can take advantage of their benefits.