Specialized corpora on the base of teaching innovation in ESP.

The implementation of the Bologna Reform at Spanish universities has brought about major changes amongst which the use of foreign languages has become a key issue within the concept of a European area of higher education.Moreover, the idea of internationalisation is one of the fundamental goals of the "Campus Mare Nostrum" integrated by the Universities of Murcia and Cartagena.Henceforth, a language of communication is required to develop such concept in INTRODUCTIONThe arrival of the Bologna reform at Higher Education in Spain has marked a radical turn in the way of managing university teaching and learning.The whole university community has been impelled to shift its attitudes towards a European concept of 'university' according to the present society's needs and demands.Some results of the convergence to European standards are already plain to see at several levels, whereas some other actions seem to be still in progress, such as the integration of teaching through the medium of a foreign language and the adequate language training for students.The Bologna Declaration of 19 June 1999, signed jointly by the European Ministers of Education, stresses the importance of a European area of higher education "as a key to promote citizens' mobility and employability and the Continent's overall development".Hence, a common language for international communication becomes essential so that speakers with different first languages could communicate with each other through a vehicular language, that is, a lingua franca.In addition, the Campus Mare Nostrum project sets internationalization as the primary immediate goal that the university shall strive for.The programme for innovation, quality teaching and language training is one of the subtargets constituting the CMN3.1 objective: teaching excellence (http://www.campusmarenostrum.es).Moreover, such objective is further developed as follows: "New resources that encourage innovation and teaching quality for European Higher Education Area will be developed, (...) Additionally, education in an international context will be bolstered, and research will be promoted as a structural part of the educational system.A specific formation system will be established for Professional Development technicians and an International Postgraduate School and a Personnel Education Centre will be created in coordination with other international institutions, thus promoting continuous learning and student mobility."The projection of the institution on an international scale requires a language of communication likewise capable of reaching education, research, training and mobility scopes on an international scale as well.Nowadays, there is no doubt that such lingua franca role is certainly played by English, which is being used as the working language of twelve major international domains (Graddol, 1997:8): Working language of international organizations and conferences; Scientific publication; International banking, economic affairs and trade; Advertising for global brands; Audio-visual cultural products, e.g.tv,