Resumen de Biolinguistics and its impact on language teaching: achievements and prospects

Pablo Cano López, Isabel Fernández López

• The main purpose of this chapter is to contrast two different fields of knowledge: biolinguistics and language teaching. The aim is to find points of contact between the two, since the distance at which they are usually situated does not prevent them from having areas of common interest. In order to carry out this task, we will first of all look at the past of both disciplines. A historical overview will be made with the aim of highlighting those concepts of a theoretical or practical nature that reflect the existence of possible connections. In this section, the Chomskyan concept of competence will be of particular relevance, as will the usual classifications of the different language skills. In the second part of the paper the focus will be on the present and future of the disciplines. It will look at which lines of research are already being pursued at present and which show the greatest potential for future projection. It will highlight the influence that certain contributions from biolinguistics may have on one of the central themes of language teaching: reading and writing methods applied in the classroom. The aim is to recognise the influence that biolinguistics already has on language teaching, but also to demonstrate the need for these connections to be increased.