ABSTRACT
The official syllabuses for instruction in additional languages in Spain—as well as in other European countries—are strongly influenced by the principles of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Although these principles are theoretically well established, most current language teaching practices fail to apply them appropriately. The main reason is that the CEFR has been presented to pre- and in-service teachers as a mere list of contents based on the transmission of explicit knowledge about language and its teaching. For teachers to appropriate the principles of the CEFR adequately, it is necessary to help them understand language learning and teaching through a new lens. Among other issues, this new perspective, reflected in principles of concept-based instruction (CBI), involves adopting a kind of language instruction that overcomes the use of oversimplified rules of thumb. In order to help teachers to re-conceptualize the teaching and learning of language in accordance with CBI-based language pedagogy, a new formative model has been developed and implemented in teacher education programs, the Barcelona Formative Model (BFM). The BFM encourages teachers as active agents to bring about transformations in their own teaching practice by confronting their pre-understanding and everyday concepts with the scientific concepts underlying the CBI-based communicative-driven perspective of language instruction: CBI for CBI. The formative process promoted by the BFM has proven to be exceptionally efficient, in that teachers are empowered not only to reshape their teaching practices in line with CBI communicative language instruction but also to become truly transformative practitioners.
