secondary and high school foreign language situation is that, at preparatory level, the foreign
language is not a "new" subject for the students already experienced it at the secondary
school. Besides, it has been noticed that the content of the specific programs, elaborated by
the teachers and schools, is fairly similar, if not identical, to the one of the secondary school
national curriculum.
The background of the preparatory teachers is very different. They do not usually
have any pre-service general education. Their command of the target language ranges from
good to poor because their competence in the foreign language was acquired in different
circumstances. Some of the teachers are native speakers. There are in-service training
courses run by the institutions that try to cope with the methodological aspect of teaching.
At the university level, the case is very different and changes from place to place
since state universities are autonomous and make decisions on their own. In few universities,
a foreign language is compulsory, either as a taught subject or as an exam that may be a
requisite to graduate or to enrol into a postgraduate course. In most of these cases, the
objective is the comprehension of written academic texts. In general, these courses and
exams are run by universities' specific departments or centres generally known as foreign
language centres.
For most university students, however, to study a language is not compulsory. Most
of them enrol in language courses because they want to, their motivation is very high and, in
this respect, the foreign language may have a better status than at lower levels. However, it
cannot be said that students consider their foreign language studies as important as their
university courses.
In most of the cases at this level, the syllabus and textbook are determined by the
language centre. Each teacher has to follow the former and use the latter, however she has
the possibility to use supplementary materials of her own choice.
It is difficult to generalise about teacher’s backgrounds. It all depends on the
regulations of the university and the characteristics of the state. However, it is at this level
where most native-speakers teachers are. Although some of them do not have any language
teaching background, there are some that have both language education and teaching
experience in foreign languages. Apart from providing a background on foreign language
teaching in the Mexican educational system, I consider that this information is relevant for
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