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MEMORIAS
MAY 9th 2018
 Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana – ÚNICA

MEMORIAS
CONGRESO DE INVESTIGACIÓN RESEARCH IN ACTION
Versión XIV
Mayo 09 de 2018

Sala Tayrona

Centro Colombo Americano

Bogotá D.C.

Julio de 2018
 Facultad de Educación

Programa de Licenciatura en Bilingüismo con Énfasis en español e Inglés

Reg. SNIES: 106242

Vigilada MinEducación

Bogotá D.C.

2018

Memorias Congreso de Investigación Research in Action XIII

Realizado en Bogotá el 09 de mayo de 2018

Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana – ÚNICA

Dirección de Investigaciones

Calle 19 No. 2ª-49 Segundo Piso

Teléfono: 2811777 Ext. 1291

[email protected]

www.unica.edu.co

ISSN: 2619-4775 (En línea)

Apoyo en Edición: Ximena Romero, Jasmín Alfonso, Carlos Arias, Carolina

Rodríguez y Constanza Amézquita.

Prohibida la reproducción parcial o total de esta obra sin autorización de la

Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana – ÚNICA.
 ÍNDICE

PRESENTACIÓN …………………………………………………………………….… 4

DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LISTENING COMPREHENSION

THROUGH METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES AND PODCASTS
Diana Echavarría Lopera
Universidad de Antioquia………………………………………………………………. 7

FLIPPING THE GRAMMAR COMPONENT TO BOOST ORAL PRODUCTION

Juliana Andrea Díaz
Universidad de la Sabana………………………………………………………..…… 24

ENGLISH LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY TEACHERS´ PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES

IN RELATION WITH THEIR GENDERED IDENTITIES CONSTRUCTION
Ángela Milena Rodriguez
Universidad de Boyacá……………………………………………………………….. 34

AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

Ximena Romero y Jasmin Alfonso
Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana - ÚNICA…………………………….. 50

APRENDIZAJE INTEGRADO DE CONTENIDOS Y LENGUA EXTRANJERA

(AICLE) Y ESTRATEGIAS DE LECTURA EN CIENCIAS NATURALES
Deisy Gomez
Colegio Buenavista Calasanz- IED ………………………………………………….. 58

MEANINGFUL STRATEGIES FOR THE TEACHING HISTORY IN BILINGUAL

PROGRAMS
Julio Bernal
Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana - ÚNICA……………………………. 69

AN INSIGHT INTO MULTICULTURALISM: A PROPOSAL FOR CONFLICT

RESOLUTION IN EFL CLASSES
Danna Ávila y Daniel Sánchez
Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas………………………………….… 77
 PRESENTACIÓN

Para la Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana - ÚNICA la investigación

constituye uno de los pilares más importantes en el desarrollo del proceso de
formación de docentes, junto con la práctica pedagógica y los contenidos curriculares.
En virtud de ello y partiendo del axioma que señala que, “para ser un buen educador,
se debe ser un buen investigador”, en ÚNICA existe un compromiso institucional con
la formación en investigación.

La investigación en ÚNICA se concibe desde las siguientes modalidades:

Investigación formativa, investigación propiamente dicha y actividades de
investigación, extensión y proyección social.

La investigación se asume como una actividad organizada y rigurosa, a través de la

cual el estudiante dispone de las herramientas conceptuales y metodológicas que le
permitirán asimilar, transferir, aplicar y producir el conocimiento y, proponer y llevar a
cabo acciones que contribuyan a la solución de los problemas que se afrontan en la
realidad del ejercicio de la docencia.

En consecuencia, los proyectos de investigación desarrollados en la institución se

inscriben en el campo de los saberes pedagógicos, lo que permite adelantar la
reflexión sobre la planeación, la organización y el desarrollo de los procesos
curriculares en los diferentes niveles y ámbitos educativos. Así, se pretende construir,
ampliar o re-significar el saber pedagógico en relación con las prácticas formativas y
las interacciones que se generan en los procesos de construcción y apropiación del
conocimiento, las estrategias de enseñanza, las dinámicas, ritmos y estilos de
aprendizaje, los modelos, enfoques y procesos curriculares mayoritariamente
aplicados a entornos bilingües o de la enseñanza del inglés como segunda lengua.

Con la intención de contribuir a la reflexión y solución de los problemas educativos

del país, las políticas de investigación de la Institución Universitaria Colombo
Americana - ÚNICA han sido formuladas de manera coherente con el marco
normativo y legal colombiano; así que parten del reconocimiento del valor que le
imprime a una sociedad la generación de saber, acorde con el Sistema Nacional de
Ciencia y Tecnología que asume que: “el conocimiento y sus múltiples aplicaciones
son elementos centrales para el desarrollo económico y social de las sociedades
contemporáneas” (CONPES, 2000).

4
A partir de la idea anterior, los lineamientos para las políticas de investigación
institucionales se enuncian de la siguiente manera:

1. La investigación se reconoce como una de las bases fundamentales para el

conocimiento, por lo que es competencia de la Institución Universitaria Colombo
Americana- ÚNICA, a través del Departamento de investigaciones, promover la
producción, formación y participación en investigación de los distintos actores
de su sistema, así como su dialogo abierto y permanente con los escenarios de
la docencia y la proyección social.
2. La investigación en ÚNICA está concebida para fortalecer el desarrollo
académico de los programas, así como la identidad de la institución en materia
de pedagogía.
3. La Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana - ÚNICA desarrolla acciones
enfocadas a la articulación de la producción científica con el campo de la
pedagogía y actividades relacionadas con la Responsabilidad Social, que es el
contexto en el cual está inmersa.
4. ÚNICA apoya la creación de grupos, proyectos y participación en redes de
investigación de diversa índole, basándose en las problemáticas educativas en
un contexto nacional e internacional.
5. ÚNICA vela por el desarrollo ético y responsable de la investigación en todos
los sentidos; a su vez que garantiza la propiedad intelectual de los productos
de investigación relacionados en sus procesos.

Como muestra del compromiso de ÚNICA con dichos lineamientos, la Institución

Universitaria Colombo Americana ha logrado consolidar un grupo de investigación
denominado Innovation on Bilingual Education – INNOBED reconocido por
Colciencias en categoría B1. Su misión es contribuir al mejoramiento cualitativo de la
educación en Colombia a través de la generación de conocimiento en las áreas
relacionadas con el bilingüismo, la formación docente, el desarrollo y uso de
tecnologías de información y comunicación en el sector educativo, el desarrollo,
aplicación y evaluación de innovaciones del proceso enseñanza aprendizaje, la
relación de la ética y los valores en el sistema escolar y la generación de propuestas
que agreguen valor en la administración y el liderazgo educativos.

ÚNICA también ha logrado posicionar el Congreso semestral de investigación en el

área de educación bilingüe titulado Research in Action como un escenario para la
interacción de investigadores en el área de la educación bilingüe a nivel nacional y la
socialización de los resultados de sus proyectos de investigación. Este Congreso se
lleva a cabo en la Sala Tairona del Centro Colombo Americano, sede centro. A éste
asisten investigadores consagrados y en formación vinculados a diversas
universidades del país entre las cuales están la Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, la
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas,
la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, la Universidad de la Salle, la Universidad
Antonio Nariño y la Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios – Uniminuto.

1 De acuerdo con los resultados de la convocatoria de Colciencias para la medición de grupos de

investigación, desarrollo tecnológico o de innovación y de reconocimiento de investigadores del sistema
nacional de ciencia, tecnología e innovación, año 2017.

5
En estas memorias se recopilan las ponencias presentadas en la versión XIV del
Congreso semestral de investigación Research in Action, organizado por la Institución
Universitaria Colombo Americana –ÚNICA el 09 de mayo de 2018. Se destacan las
instituciones a las que están vinculados los ponentes incluidos en estas memorias:
Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad de Boyacá, Universidad de la Sabana, Colegio
Buenavista Calasanz -IED y Universidad Gran Colombia. Cabe señalar que se
compilan los documentos orginales presentados por los ponentes y, en este sentido,
lo expresado por los autores no representa la posición de la institución Universitaria
Colombo Americana – ÚNICA.

MARIA LUCÍA CASAS PARDO

Rectora

CONSTANZA AMÉZQUITA QUINTANA

Directora de Investigaciones

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 DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LISTENING COMPREHENSION
THROUGH METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES AND PODCASTS

Diana Echavarría Lopera

Universidad de Antioquia

INTRODUCTION

Walker, (2014) suggests that listening comprehension is one of the most

challenging skills to teach and learn in a second language (p. 167). The teaching of
listening has been traditionally focused on testing the understanding of meaning rather
than on fostering the process of comprehension. In those classroom situations,
listening tasks may increase students’ anxiety (Al Qasim & Fadda, 2013; Chan & Lee
cited in Dale, 2007; Hasan & Hoon, 2013). There are several factors that might
contribute to the occurrence of these product-oriented teaching approaches. Some of
these factors are the absence of proper devices for students to listen comfortably to
the audio in the classroom, and the teachers’ lack of adequate listening strategies to
help students to accomplish the comprehension tasks. Additionally, the fact that
teachers favor group activities over individual ones, and use very mechanical and
repetitive listening tasks, all of that demonstrating the teachers’ lack of training to
foster listening comprehension (Bedoya, 2012; Fox, 2008; Vandergrift & Goh, 2012).
However, in Colombia, the context in which this research project was developed, the
situation is not very different. Besides the difficulties mentioned above, most public
schools usually have very large groups, which makes it very difficult for teachers and
students effectively achieve tasks and to implement strategies for listening
comprehension in classrooms.

Technology offers a great potential to develop listening comprehension, and it

plays a key role in second language acquisition (SLA). According to Vandergrift and
Goh (2012), “listening comprehension enables language learners to receive and
interact with language input and facilitates the emergence of other language skills” (p.
4). How to implement the tasks with metacognitive strategies was a concern for the
researcher in this study, but the revision of the literature led her to use podcasts and
players as a means of delivery of the audio texts.

The proliferation of very cheap media players and the availability of free and
varied authentic podcasts on the web provide an excellent variety of listening materials
for the development of this project. Podcasts have proven to be effective tools in
teaching and learning listening comprehension in an L2. According to Hasan and Hoon
(2013), podcasts have been used to help students increase motivation, understand
the L2 and enhance listening comprehension.

The traditional practices of teaching listening for an L2 and the difficulties the
students face when undergoing listening activities affect their comprehension. For
instance, vocabulary, pronunciation vs printed text and the speed of the audio diminish
learners’ comprehension. This study is a pedagogical implementation of a

7
metacognitive strategy model and the use of podcasts to help students develop their
L2 listening comprehension by taking advantage of the conditions of mobility and
autonomous work offered by media player devices. This intervention obeyed the
author’s desire to gain further theoretical and practical knowledge in order to improve
her listening comprehension teaching practices as well as the development of
student’s listening comprehension.

That is why this study intends to answer the following research question: How
may the use of metacognitive strategies-based tasks and podcasts help EFL
adolescent learners develop their L2 listening comprehension in the conditions of
mobility and autonomous work offered by portable media players?

REFERENTIAL FRAMEWORK

In the Colombian context, studies concerning the use of metacognitive

strategies in the field of listening comprehension are limited. Most studies are related
to the use of metacognitive strategies to enhance reading or writing. However, below
are presented the results of two studies that evaluated the effects of metacognitive
strategies in listening comprehension.

A study conducted by Barbosa (2012), implemented the Metacognitive Model of

Strategic Learning, proposed by Chamot, Barnhardt, El-Dinary and Robbins (1999),
through the use of electronic activities. The researcher collected evidence by means
of questionnaires, the teacher‘s journal, learners’ journals and artifacts.
The findings suggest that participants improved their selective listening
comprehension by applying direct attention strategies, and by completing a
disciplined listening process. Moreover, it was found that this process provoked
different feelings towards the development of electronic activities, and learners
engaged in strategic behaviors to develop linguistic awareness (Barbosa, 2012, p.
4).

Finally, this researcher suggested that the implementation of metacognitive strategies

for online listening might bring positive outcomes in learning autonomy.
Similarly, a study related to Metacognitive Strategy Training, carried out by Quijano
(2016), reports on the effects of metacognitive strategies to teach listening
comprehension. The participants were 15 pre-intermediate undergraduate students
who followed a sequence of pre, during and after listening tasks.
Data were collected from a mock exam, listening strategies questionnaires,
individual reflective exercises and think-aloud records that were analyzed through
the grounded theory method. The results proved that the use of metacognitive
strategies had a positive impact on the students’ listening comprehension skill and
the use of listening strategies modified the learners’ thoughts on their listening
process (p. 5).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This section of the paper gives account of the theoretical and conceptual
aspects that framed this project. First, the socio-cognitive approach and the
Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework are presented,

8
then, key concepts such as listening, metacognition, metacognitive instruction,
podcasts, mobile learning, and autonomous work are introduced.

The Socio Cognitive Approach

The field of second language acquisition has been traditionally dominated by

the cognitive approach, which explains language learning as a mental activity. “Its
development is therefore first and foremost a cognitive process” (Atkinson, 2011, p.
1).

The cognitive processes such as information processing, mental

representations, predictions, and expectations are central to the cognitive
interpretation of learning. In the view of the cognitive approach, Second Language
Acquisition (SLA) is seen as a mental and thinking process in an individual’s internal
mental state (Atkinson, 2011).

Recently, some alternative approaches that emphasize on social aspects have

appeared. These approaches try to explain the learning process from the interaction
between the individuals and the social environment (Atkinson, 2013). One of these
approaches, the socio-cognitive approach, tries to conciliate two points of view: the
cognitive and the social.

The socio-cognitive approach is the view of learning chosen in this project

because the participants learnt how to use mental processes called metacognitive
strategies in order to improve L2 listening comprehension and they learnt through the
interaction in the context. For that reason, this view of learning was helpful in the
understanding of the learning processes in the development of listening
comprehension.

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework (TPACK)

Traditional teaching models referred to pedagogical knowledge and content

knowledge separately (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). This project includes the integration
of technology as a means for students to learn and apply metacognitive strategies for
the development of L2 listening comprehension. For that reason, this project needs an
approach that considers the integration and dynamic interaction between
technological, pedagogical and content knowledge. The technological pedagogical
content knowledge approach (TPACK) is a framework in which language teachers
incorporate in a dynamic way three essentials aspects of knowledge: pedagogical
knowledge, content knowledge, and technological knowledge to achieve an effective
integration of technology into the language curriculum (Mishra & Koehler, 2006).

Listening Comprehension

Listening comprehension is a complex process and therefore, it is difficult to

encapsulate it in a single definition. Many authors have tried to explain it from different
perspectives. What follows is an account of some of those definitions, chosen because
of their closeness to the purposes of this project.

9
 Fifty percent of the operational time learners spend in interaction in a foreign
language is dedicated to listening (Bingol, Celik, Yildiz & Mart, 2014, p. 1).

Steinberg (2007) suggests that listening is not just merely hearing, but rather a
complex process that involves four stages, such as sensing and attending,
understanding and interpreting, remembering and responding. She also highlights that
we are not generally aware of those stages we go through.

To sum up, it is widely accepted that listening comprehension is not only a

unidirectional process of receiving of audible symbols, but also an interactive process.
That is why this study considered the above-mentioned definitions, so listening
comprehension is viewed in this study as a process that includes reception,
understanding, interpretation and interaction with a message.
It is necessary to describe the processes an individual should goes through to get that
comprehension. The description includes top-down, bottom-up, controlled perception,
parsing and utilization processes.

Metacognition

The term metacognition is often simplified as thinking about thinking. Flavell

(1976) first coined the term metacognition and defined it as “knowledge concerning
one’s own cognitive processes and products or anything related to them” (p. 232). It
includes knowledge about the factors relating to task, person, and strategy that come
into play during any cognitive activity. As Kuhn and Dean (2004) explain,
metacognition is what enables a student who has been taught a particular strategy in
a particular problem context to retrieve and deploy that strategy in a similar but new
context.

Metacognition has two constituent parts: knowledge about cognition and

monitoring of cognition (Flavell, 1979; Schraw, Crippen & Hartley, 2006). For example,
Flavell (1979) defines cognitive knowledge as knowledge about one’s own cognitive
strengths and limitations, including the factors (both internal and external) that may
interact to affect cognition. Schraw et al. (2006) portray declarative cognitive
knowledge as knowledge about oneself as a learner and what factors might influence
one’s performance.

On the other hand, procedural knowledge involves awareness and

management of cognition, including knowledge about strategies (Kuhn & Dean, 2004;
Schraw et al., 2006). Schraw et al. (2006) also distinguish conditional cognitive
knowledge, which is knowledge of why and when to use a given strategy.

With regard to listening comprehension, some authors who have studied the
topic (Vandergrift and Goh, 2012; Buck, 2001; Rost, 2011; ) suggest that the control
dimension of metacognition involves the use of metacognitive processes such as
planning, monitoring, problem-solving, and evaluating to effectively regulate listening
comprehension. In her study, Li (2013) states that “Metacognitive awareness in
listening refers to the adoption of appropriate strategies and ideal allocation of
resources” (p. 504). Metacognition plays an important role in each phase of listening
comprehension.

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Metacognitive awareness

A metacognitive concept that is necessary to take into account is metacognitive

awareness, which can be defined as “the learners cognitive appraisal or the
metacognitive knowledge of their perceptions about themselves, their understanding
of listening demands, their cognitive goals, and their approach to the task and their
strategies” (Rahimi & Katal, 2012, p. 84). These strategies include five types of
processes, i.e., problem-solving, planning and evaluation, mental translation, person
knowledge and directed attention.

The importance of metacognitive listening strategies awareness has been

proved in different studies.The focus for L2 listening was initially on the usage of
strategies for listening comprehension (Rubin, 1994). Many studies focused on the L2
learner’s use of metacognitive strategies for copying with difficulties and facilitating
comprehension (Goh, 1998; Mareschal, 2002; Vandergrift, 1997, 2003). In recent
years, “learners’ cognitive appraisal and metacognitive knowledge has been the
predominant field in listening strategy research” (Rahimi & Katal, 2012, p. 84).

The efficiency of metacognitive listening strategies awareness on learning has

been investigated in many research studies. Goh (2000), for instance, found that more
skilled listeners demonstrated a higher degree of awareness of their listening
problems. Vandergrift (2005) investigated the relationship between metacognition,
motivation, and listening proficiency. This author found an interesting pattern of
increasingly higher correlations among the three levels of motivation (motivation,
extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation) and reported use of metacognitive
strategies. Vandergrift (2007) also found a causal relationship between metacognitive
instruction and statistically significant improvement in listening performance.

L2 Metacognitive instruction

Metacognitive instruction, as described by Vandergrift and Goh (2012), refers

to a sequence of activities that encourages planning, monitoring, and evaluating
strategies used in a selected listening text; it creates continuous cycle of learning.
“Metacognitive instruction can potentially heighten learners’ awareness of their
listening and learning processes and develop the learners’ ability to use appropriate
strategies” (Goh, 2008, p. 195). Metacognitive instruction involves
Pedagogical procedures that enable learners to increase awareness of the
listening process by developing richer metacognitive knowledge about themselves
as listeners, the nature and demands of listening, and strategies for listening. At
the same time, learners also learn how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their
comprehension efforts and the progress of their overall listening development
(Vandergrift and Goh, 2012, p. 97).

From this study’s perspective, metacognitive instruction is defined as pedagogical

procedures that enable learners to increase awareness of the listening process by
developing metacognitive knowledge about themselves as listeners, which was what
the author did during the intervention phase. Learners also learn to plan, monitor, and
evaluate their comprehension efforts and the progress of their listening development.

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Podcasts

The author of the current study wanted to face the challenge of ICT inclusion in
her teaching practices using metacognitive strategies and podcasts to improve
listening comprehension. Podcasts are files downloaded from the Internet that are
good examples of authentic use of language because they were not created for L2
teaching, but to inform and entertain the public in general. (Sze, 2006; Fox, 2008;
Beamish & Brown, 2012; McBride, 2009).

There are some definitions that could help to understand what a podcast is. For
example, a simple one is the definition given by McBride: “Podcasts are audio files,
usually in MP3 format, that can be downloaded from the Internet” (McBride, 2009, p.
154). Another one is Deal’s definition, which describes
“Podcasting is a means of publishing audio and video content on the web as a
series of episodes with a common theme. These episodes are accompanied by a
file called a ‘feed’ that allows listeners to subscribe to the series and receive new
episodes automatically” (Deal, 2007, p. 2).

Sze (2006) states a more complete definition:

Podcasts are audio (sometimes-video) programs on the web, which are usually
updated at regular intervals. New episodes can be listened to on the computer, or
downloaded to an MP3 player or iPod for later listening. Although audio programs
have existed on the web for a few years already, what makes podcasting unique
is its capacity for subscription’ through an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed,
listeners can subscribe to their favorite Podcasts. Their computer will then receive
‘alerts’ when new episodes have been posted (p.116).

According to Hasan and Hoon (2013) “Research studies on podcasting have

already acknowledged its potentiality and have documented many evidences that
podcasts can greatly help develop learners’ language skills, especially in developing
learners’ speaking and listening skills” (p. 128). As in Ahmed’s (2010) words: “In short,
using podcasts in a language class helps learners to understand the content and to
improve their proficiency and their listening comprehension” (p. 2). Other studies
support this idea (Hasan & Hoon, 2013; Fox, 2008; Al Qasim & Fadda, 2013; Beamish
& Brown, 2012; Scutter, Stupans, Sawyer & King, 2010; Chacón and Pérez, 2010;
Sze, 2006).

The use of technologies as Internet, portable devices, cell phones and podcasts
in the classroom offer L2 students and teachers many possibilities to access different,
authentic listening materials in digital format, which can be downloaded free from the
web, and listened to in their devices at any time. In the context of L2 teaching and
learning, the use of these technologies offers free access and other advantages like
the following:

Files in MP3 format can be easily uploaded onto MP3 players and many other
mobile devices, such as most cell phones. Some of these devices can play other audio
formats as well, and when they cannot, conversion is possible via a number of free or
low-priced programs.

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Autonomous Learning

One of the expected results of this study is helping students to become more
autonomous listeners. That is why the concept of autonomous learning needs to be
considered here briefly.

The concept of autonomous learning in language teaching has been defined

according to Benson (2013) “as the capacity to take control over one’s own learning
(….) Autonomy is not a method of learning, but an attribute of learner’s approach to
the learning process” (p. 2). Additionally, the concept of “autonomy should address at
least three level learner involvement: learning management, cognitive processes and
learning content” (Riihimaki, 2013, p. 14). Furthermore, this author considered
autonomy “as a skill that can be gradually learnt by all learners in a suitable
environment” (p. 18). As Arikan and Bakla (2011) states, “Acquiring autonomy then is
a process to be pursued over a period of time” (p. 241).

Moreover, Field (2007) suggests, “Training in learning strategies already forms

a standard part of programs that foster learner autonomy” (p. 34).

The aforementioned definition implies to shift from a teacher-centered teaching

practice to student-centered one. However, traditional teachers remain using the
teacher-centered approach (Tütünis, 2011). The integration of technology may help to
change teachers’ thoughts and beliefs.

This research study carried out in Medellin, used a model of metacognitive

strategies instruction where students learnt how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their
listening comprehension process; in this sense the current study fostered learner
autonomy.

Mobile Learning

Since this study tackled the task of integrating ICT in the form of portable
devices into the metacognitive instruction sessions, it is important to devote some lines
to conceptualize one of the most interesting aspects of ICT nowadays, the concept of
mobile learning.

To begin with, Sampson and Zervas (2013) define mobile learning as “the
process of learning and teaching that occurs with the use of mobile devices providing
flexible on-demand access (without time and device constraints) to learning resources,
experts, peers, and learning services from any place” (p. 4) .

Martin and Ertzberger (2013) described mobile learning as:

Learning that occurs when learners have access to information anytime and
anywhere via mobile technologies to perform authentic activities in the context of
their learning. Here and now mobile learning gives students the opportunity to be
in the context of their learning and have access to information that is related to
what they are seeing and experiencing at the moment (p. 77).

According to Petit and Santos (2014),

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 In the mobile learning theory, they assume that the learner is the owner and the
user of a smartphone, familiar and connected with this handheld technology. It is
from this connection that mobile learning becomes possible. It is a learning theory
about both technology and the learner, considered together (p. 4).

In a more recent work McQuiggan, McQuiggan, Sabourin and Kosturko (2015)

suggest that mobile learning “is anywhere, anytime learning enabled by instant, on-
demand access to a personalized world filled with the tools and resources we prefer
for creating our own knowledge, satisfying our curiosities, collaborating with others,
and cultivating experiences otherwise unattainable” (p. 8).

METHODOLOGY

The research methodology chosen for this research project was the case study.
A case study was an appropriate method to answer the research question because
the study consisted of determining the impact that a metacognitive-strategies model
would have in the development of listening comprehension, in a specific group of
students during a period of four months. All the students in this group were, on
average, of a similar age, their L2 proficiency level was similar too, and the group was
a sample of tenth graders from a public school. Data were collected from different
sources in the context.

Participants

The participants in this study were a group of 32 students of tenth grade,

averaging 16 years of age. They are middle class students. They received three hours
of English class during the week. Their English proficiency level was low because they
had not continuity or a regular process in previous courses due to the lack of English
teachers, who were changed three times in a year. Although the participants study in
a public school, they use technology frequently because the school has a classroom
with 45 computers that students use in the technology class and they visit this
classroom in other courses. The school also has two suitcases with 30 laptops, some
video beams, three speakers that are used sometimes in class, and the pupils have
their smartphones.

Data Collection Instruments

To answer the research question in this study, the data were collected from four
different sources: a questionnaire using google forms tool, the Metacognitive
Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ) proposed by Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal
and Tafaghodtari (2006), student’s reflections, and an interview. The way all the
instruments were employed in the study and their description is presented in this
section.

Questionnaire

The researcher administered a 12-question online survey, aimed to collect

learners’ perceptions about technology. The questionnaire inquired about students’

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use, preferences, and knowledge about technology. The questions were about the
advantages of using technology in the English class, the previous knowledge,
difficulties and experiences related to listening comprehension that students had about
podcasts. The researcher posted this instrument on a webnode website. Twenty-nine
out of thirty-four students, that is approximately 85 percent of the class, answered and
sent the questionnaire to the researcher through a google form. The answers were
organized and classified according to codes, and categories.

Metacognitive awareness listening questionnaire (MALQ)

The Metacognitive awareness listening questionnaire (MALQ), 21-item

questionnaire, was originally devised by Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal and Tafaghodtari
(2006) with the purpose of measuring participants’ metacognitive awareness of
listening comprehension. It is a 6- point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1)
to strongly agree (6), measuring five strategies: planning-evaluation, problem solving,
mental translation, person knowledge, and directed attention among the students. The
MALQ has been tested with a large number of respondents in many countries and at
various levels of language proficiency. It can be used profitably in different L2
instructional settings to raise student awareness of the process of listening, to
positively influence students’ approach to listening tasks, and to increase self-
regulated use of comprehension strategies (Vandergrift, Goh, Mareschal and
Tafaghodtari, 2006).

The results obtained from the MALQ questionnaire responses can be useful for
both teaching and research. Students can use the MALQ for self-assessment
purposes to determine their current level of metacognitive awareness and perceived
strategy use, and to chart the development of their strategy use/listening awareness
over time.

The researcher decided to administer this quantitative instrument found in the

literature as an interesting way to present and describe the initial level of metacognitive
awareness of the students and the impact that the treatment might have on its
development. The purpose is not only to present the outcomes of using the strategies,
but also to measure metacognitive awareness in general. Even though the MALQ is a
quantitative instrument, its findings will be explained in a qualitative way.

For the purpose of this research, the MALQ was translated into Spanish and was
applied twice. Once at the beginning, and later at the end of the intervention. The
intention was to get information about how the perceptions of students as L2 listeners
changed during the intervention, in order to explore a possible increment of the
metacognitive awareness. Participants chose the option that they considered closer
to their perception. The questionnaires’ answers were classified according to
recurrences. The total score of the five factors was calculated for the initial and the
final questionnaire to determine the degree to which the listener consciously uses the
strategies measured by that factor. Six items must be reverse-coded, however, since
they are strategies for which lower scores are desirable. The items to be reverse-
coded are: 3, 4, 8, 11, 16, and 18.

15
Students’ reflections

After the students completed the strategy model sheet during every intervention
session, the researcher asked the group some questions about learners’ perceptions
and usefulness of the strategies.

During each session, students were following the metacognitive strategies

steps
proposed by the adapted teacher’s guide. The participants wrote their reflection in a
reflection box at the end of the strategy form. In this reflection, the learners wrote the
aspects to be improved in next session according to their previous listening
experiences and the experience using podcasts, and the metacognitive strategies. All
the reflections were collected and classified according to same recurrences.

Interview

The participants were interviewed at the end of the intervention because the
sessions were dedicated to exercising the metacognitive strategies, the collection of
learners’ reflections, and the work with podcasts. The interview had two intentions:
first, to compare the perceptions of students before and after the intervention about
the use of podcasts and the metacognitive listening comprehension model instruction
and second, to determine the development of listening comprehension with the use of
metacognitive strategies and podcasts. The interview was made to the whole group
and consisted of five open questions that led learners to speak about the experience
using ICT, the difficulties they could have using podcasts, how the use of
metacognitive strategies help them to improve their listening comprehension, their
perception as L2 listeners, and a general reflection of the whole process. The answers
were recorded and transcribed.

Ethical Considerations

Before starting collecting data, a consent form document was designed and
presented to the students and parents. This consent form included information about
the research project and the privacy of the participants, the no-reward and voluntary
nature of the activity, the participant’s right to avoid answering any question and her
possibility of withdrawal at any moment. Additionally, this form clearly stated the
guarantee of using the collected information only for research purposes as well as the
protection of the participant’s identity. Before carrying out each reflection and
questionnaire, two copies of the consent form were handed out to each parent’s
participant. All parent’s participants read the consent form and signed it prior to the
students' participation.

THE INTERVENTION

In order to determine how the use of metacognitive strategies-based tasks and

podcasts might help EFL adolescent learners to develop their L2 listening
comprehension in the conditions of mobility and autonomous work offered by portable
media players, the researcher devised a treatment consisting of the implementation of
a metacognitive strategy model using podcasts and mobile devices during six
sessions.

16
 During the implementation sessions, students interacted not only with their
classmates, but also with the mobile technology. It is expected that students adapt
their previous knowledge to new situations when they use the podcasts and the
metacognitive strategies.

The MALQ questionnaire proposed by Vandergrift (2006) was analyzed and

translated into Spanish. It was applied in the first and fifth sessions to compare and to
perceive if the strategy instruction had had any effect in the group’s listening
performance. This questionnaire could elicit and identify L2 listeners’ metacognitive
awareness and use of strategies when listening to oral texts. The lesson plans were
designed with the strategy instruction model proposed by Vandergrift and Tafaghodtari
(2010), which was explained and used during the sessions.

The group participated in six strategy-training sessions focusing on the listening

metacognitive strategies. The first session was used to be acquainted with the
procedures and steps of the model, and to apply the first MALQ. Two sessions were
carried out with laptops from the institution, two were implemented with the use of the
learners’ cell phones, and the last session was given as homework. The last activity
was the conduction of a group interview.

The sessions were supposed to be held once a week and their length was
between 45-50 minutes each time, emulating the regular length of a class in the
school, while the rest of the week the researcher lectured on other topics included in
the school’s curriculum. However, because changes in the school’s schedule forced
to postpone or to cancel classes, in most cases there were two or three weeks in
between sessions. The podcasts were chosen from a website that offers different
topics, like interviews, news, and stories.

They were selected and posted on the teacher’s website, created to play a key
role in the development of L2 listening comprehension processes. The average
duration of the podcasts was about four minutes because of the level of the students,
and the goal was to increase the length with each session. The criteria for choosing
this kind of podcasts were the vocabulary, length, and speech rate in them.

Students used a different listening podcast in every session, and the length and
degree of difficulty increased little by little with each session, as students were gaining
mastery over implementation of the strategy. The intention was mainly to train students
with the metacognitive strategy sequence model before they used them in mobility
conditions. The last activity was assigned as homework using a podcast at home.
Then an interview was applied to the group to verify the use of the podcast in order to
collect students’ perception about mobility conditions and the effects of the
metacognitive strategies.

OUTCOMES

Findings showed that the use of metacognitive strategies developed the

students’ metacognitive awareness about their listening process, and the use of
metacognitive strategies had a positive impact on the students’ listening
comprehension skill. In addition, the podcasts challenged students to identify new

17
vocabulary and to recognize other accents since they were exposed to listening to
authentic materials.

Learners’ reflections on metacognitive strategies positive perceptions

Students perceived the metacognitive strategies as a method that helped them

learn vocabulary. Additionally, students think that the metacognitive strategies help
them understand, and comprehend the podcasts. Concentration and attention are the
elements that most of the students considered they improved in using metacognitive
strategies because they did the activities with more discipline. They said that the
strategies helped them to follow a sequence and an order. Therefore, they focused on
the listening activity.

The general perception about the metacognitive strategies among the students
is positive and they think that they help them to improve their listening process.
Another aspect that students found helpful was the frequency of use, because it
allowed them to habituate to listening, and pronunciation.
The perception they had of themselves as L2 listeners was another aspect that
changed. Some students considered they were not good L2 listeners before the
intervention because they did not understand what they listened or they did not
recognize the vocabulary.

Learners’ reflections on metacognitive strategies difficulties

On the other hand, the data indicated that most of the students had difficulties
to make predictions, to do the third listening (rebuild the story), and to identify
vocabulary according to what they expressed in their reflections.
The students were asked about the difficulties in the use of the metacognitive
strategies. They said that making predictions was difficult because they did not know
what was the listening was about. In addition, when they started to listen, they were
not concentrated or it was difficult to imagine something that they did not know.

Podcasts positive perceptions

The majority of the group said that the listening activity using podcasts was
good, and they liked it because they understood thanks to the characteristics of speed
and length in the podcasts, and it was a new resource in which they could learn new
things

With regard to listening comprehension, some students expressed that cell

phones allow them to concentrate more, they could manage time and volume, they
had privacy, and they could go back whenever they needed, so they could listen better.
This perception of using cell phones for listening activities gave the students security
and motivation.

The findings in the interview and in the students’ reflections showed that most
of the students had a positive perception of the metacognitive strategies because they
perceived them as a factor that helped to understand and to improve listening
comprehension. The steps of the metacognitive strategies sequence were easy to

18
remember and follow for the majority of the students. They attribute their improvement
due two factors: the use of metacognitive strategies and the use of podcasts.

Integration of ICT in the English Class

There is a perception among the students that the English class is better when
they use technological devices. Some reasons are: the class is fun, students are
motivated and interested throughout the class, they can find different activities, and
they think that they learn more. Additionally, students perceived the use of technology
as a method or methodology that could help them.

Initial MALQ Outcomes

In this initial questionnaire, the higher scores were 810 corresponding to

Problem-solving strategy, followed by 561 in Planning and Evaluation strategy. In that
sense, results indicated that students were more likely to employ strategies in the
Planning and Evaluation and Problem-Solving categories than in the others. The low
scores were in Mental Translation and Person Knowledge indicating that students do
not use those strategies.

Final MALQ outcomes

The scores for the final questionnaire were 606 in Planning and Evaluation and
854 for Problem-solving, which were the highest scores compared with the initial
questionnaire. These outcomes showed an increase on the metacognitive awareness,
specifically in the strategies referred, but the strategies Mental Translation, Person
Knowledge and Direct attention did not show an important change, they continued with
the low scores.

The Initial and the Final MALQ comparison outcomes

At the end of the intervention, the students answered the MALQ questionnaire
again. Comparing the results between the initial and the final questionnaire it is clear
that the scores went up, but similar to the scores in the initial questionnaires students
were more likely to employ strategies in the Planning and Evaluation and Problem-
Solving categories than in the others. The low scores were in Mental Translation and
Person Knowledge as well.

CONCLUSIONS

In the analysis of the use of metacognitive strategies-based tasks and podcasts

to help EFL adolescent learners develop their L2 listening comprehension, in the
conditions of mobility and autonomous work offered by portable media players, the
following conclusions can be drawn. First, the results of this study indicate that
students could develop their L2 listening comprehension using metacognitive
strategies. Some of the most significant findings reveal that students increased the
use of some metacognitive strategies, such as Direct Attention, Planning and
Evaluation, and Person Knowledge. On the other hand, the Mental Translation
strategy decreased as it was expected. When the students reflected on their listening

19
process, their perceptions as L2 listeners changed. This means that learners gained
metacognitive awareness and their listening comprehension improved.

Furthermore, the findings suggest that podcasts are tools that help enhance the
L2 listening comprehension process since they foster the acquisition of new
vocabulary, and therefore help students to understand what they listen to. The use of
podcasts was motivated by aspects like length, speech rate, portability, and the
capacity of increasing interest among students. As the findings revealed, students’
perceptions on podcasts were positive, showing that technology acceptance in the
English class is an important element that increased learners’ motivation and interest,
and improved their listening comprehension.

From the outcomes of this study, it is also possible to conclude that the teaching
of metacognitive strategies plays a key role in helping students improve their L2
listening comprehension. Studies conducted by Fahim and Fakhri (2014), Bozorgian
(2012), and Cross (2010) confirm that the use of metacognitive strategies are effective
when helping learners improve their listening ability.

Further Research

After this pedagogical implementation, the researcher identified some aspects

that might be interesting to explore. For instance, how the use of podcasts can be
applied to improve other language skills such as speaking. Similarly, it would be worth
exploring how the use of metacognitive strategies can foster reading comprehension.
Besides, it would also be interesting to conduct a similar study in a public school where
the circumstances vary, in terms of time and number of sessions, for instance. All
these possible studies could contribute to expand the panorama in terms of
pedagogical aspects.

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 FLIPPING THE GRAMMAR COMPONENT TO BOOST ORAL PRODUCTION
Juliana Andrea Díaz
Universidad de la Sabana

FOCUS STATEMENT

This project aims to explore grammar input and instruction through technological tools
to strengthen the communicative competence of oral production in undergraduate
elementary level students from a private university in Chia, Colombia.

WORKING RESEARCH QUESTION

How can flipped grammar instruction contribute to/support the development of the
communicative competence of oral production in elementary language learners from
a private university?

Research sub-questions:
a. How does the presentation of flipped grammar content support the
development of communicative competences such as oral production?
b. How does the implementation of technological tools affect the presentation of
grammar content?

METHODOLOGY

Research paradigm

This research study has a qualitative inductive approach, which allows

researchers to analyze data to inquire a theory (Gilbert & Stoneman, 2015).
Researchers of this type of approach take “empirical social phenomena as their
starting point and seek through the process of research and analysis to generate
broader theories” (Hatch, 2002, p. 6). In this sense, researchers have an active role;
they are attempting to find or infer conclusions. They are also empowered to tell their
experiences, share what they have been observing in their context, and narrow
relations between them and participants of the study. In addition, Hatch (2002)
describes qualitative research as a process to understand the social context and the
ones living in it. Hence, the participants’ voices are the main characters in this type of
research while researchers know and understand the participants’ perceptions
towards an issue.

Moreover, qualitative researchers should have an open-minded mindset to

understand emerging data. They empirically collect data theory generation rather than
theory testing; it is an experiential methodology, where the researchers have the ability
to work with emergent categories rather than preconceived or received categories
(Cohen, Marion & Morrison, 2007). To do so, according to Hatch (2002), researchers
can collect as many detailed specifics from the research setting as possible.

24
 Furthermore, Glaser and Strauss (1967) suggest a “Theoretical sampling”
method to collect data. Researchers collect data on an on-going, iterative basis; each
of them keeps gathering data and adding new samples of what is happening in the
context to identify theory. Moreover, Denzin and Lincoln (1994, p. 49) state that data
could be collected by different techniques such as “case studies, personal and
introspective experiences, life histories, interviews, artefacts, texts, cultural
productions, observational, historic, interactive and visual texts”. After an extensive
coding and analysis of data, these methods allow researchers to identify grounded
theory in unforced manner (Cohen, Marion & Morrison, 2007).

In conclusion, qualitative research is not about putting together a puzzle; in

contrast, it is about constructing a whole picture that takes a shape based on what
researchers collect and examine (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). Researchers actively
participate in data collection techniques to carefully build theory; hence, they need to
work together with participants to generate an in depth analysis of data.

Context

The Department of Foreign Languages and Cultures at Universidad de la

Sabana provides different English courses for undergraduate students. These courses
go from level 1 (A1) to level 7 (B2). The course chosen to implement flipped learning
was English Level 2 (A1+). The main objective of this course is for students to
demonstrate reading skills and show comprehension of written paragraphs about life
experiences, journeys, places around the world, activities people can do there, health,
and dangerous jobs. Similarly, students are expected to listen to and understand
simple oral texts such as descriptions and stories about traveling, transit systems
regulation, leisure activities, health issues, jobs, and life experiences. Additionally,
students are expected to produce written and oral texts such as interviews, short
presentations, and everyday conversations pertaining to their social contexts.
Furthermore, at this level, students are expected to use information and
communications technology (ICT) and learning strategies to help them to become
responsible for their own learning.
The course has a blended learning methodology and it lasts 64 hours within
one semester. The course lessons are composed of weekly two face-to- face (F2F)
sessions of two hours each and a 60-minute online session. Moreover, the students
have to perform various independent activities using a Moodle platform called
VirtualSabana, the university’s online platform, in preparation for the following week’s
topic. These activities contribute to the development of the target tasks stated in each
academic term.
Participants

Students in this course are young adults who are considered to be at A1+ level
(CEFR), belonging to the different undergraduate programs offered by the university;
they study English as a graduation requirement and have to take an international exam
by the end of the seven levels offered by the department. As English is not the core
subject of their academic programs, students are usually disengaged in class.

25
Data collection

Before starting the implementation, the researcher informed and received

permission of the students to conduct the study (Appendix A). In this letter, the teacher
described the objectives and possible benefits of the project. She also informed
students that she would share the results of the study, but that the participants’
identities would remain protected.

Data collection instruments

Data will be collected through different techniques such as a questionnaire and

field notes during the semester. Additionally, some data will be collected by means of
audio recordings and checklists on students’ participation as well as performance in
communicative tasks.

Audio recording and Checklists

According to Verhelst, Van Avermaet, Takala, Figueras and North (2009), A1+
(CEFR) students can use simple phrases and sentences and use a series of phrases
and sentences to describe in simple terms their family and other people, their living
conditions, their educational background, and their present. In order to identify these
criteria of an A1+ English speaker, the researcher will record students’ participations
in communicative tasks and implement a checklist to evaluate students’ oral
production and inclusion of pre-taught grammar topics during their participation in
communicative tasks.

Field notes and students’ artifacts

According to Oxford (1990), field notes are useful as communicative

competences such as oral production are directly observable and can yield information
about how students currently produce the language. This technique is more reliable
when it is complemented with the implementation of a questionnaire. Field notes are
also balanced with the oral production checklist to validate the data found while the
students participate in communicative tasks. The author suggests that the researcher
should consider the level of detail she plans to observe. For this reason, the researcher
will focus her observation on how students use different grammar topics for
communicative purposes and students’ interaction while they share grammar input
they received in their independent work.

Additionally, the researcher will collect students’ artefacts, which are their notes
from the pre-taught grammar content found in the university’s Moodle. In the individual
learning space, students independently take notes about what they understood about
the video and prepare some sentences about their lives or their relatives’ information
using the grammar topic they learned. The objective of this instrument is to collect data
about each student’s notes from the grammar lesson such as practice activities and
products they have to develop for the class or group learning space. These prepared
notes taken in their independent work time are helpful to identify patterns of students’
understanding about the grammar video and instructions.

26
 Questionnaire

The questionnaire is a widely used and useful instrument for collecting

information, providing structured, often numerical or qualitative data, being able to be
administered without the presence of the researcher, and often being comparatively
straightforward to analyse (Wilson and McLean, 1994). The questionnaire of this
research project has open and closed-ended questions to identify students’
perceptions and performance in out-of-class tasks and the impact of each grammar
topic preparation for the group learning space sessions.

Data analysis

This inductive research is in the first phase of implementation. The researcher

has gathered data from her/his students’ perceptions about their grammar lessons
development and their notes use for in-class activities. In addition, the researcher has
taken field notes while students are participating in communicative activities to practice
grammar topics they learned independently. Finally, she plans to gather data during
these communicative tasks by means of checklists to identify and evaluate students’
oral production and inclusion of pre-taught grammar topics. In order to analyze data
from each instrument, Cohen, Marion and Morrison (2007) suggest triangulation. The
researcher will triangulate data she will gather from each instrument to demonstrate in
detail the influence of the flipped grammar lessons in the oral production of this group
of university young learners.

Instructional Design

The implementation of this study will take place during the first and second
semester in 2018. It includes four hours of face-to-face classes a week and one hour
of independent work. The individual learning space contained in the university’s
Moodle called VirtualSabana has different activities to practice listening and reading
skills. At this point, the researcher is designing flipped grammar lessons to obtain the
required information and identify the possible contribution and support of these flipped
lessons to the participants’ communicative competences, especially oral production.

The flipped grammar lessons are created videos using Screencast-o-matic Web
page, Hyper docs, Power Point presentations, curated videos and PowToon videos.
While students watch or explore those resources, they can take notes about the use
of each grammar topic and prepare a product for the group learning space. Their
notes will be guided for students understand the use and structure of each grammar
topic. In addition, in this guided process, they have to write their own examples and
create a product that connects their lives using a pre-taught grammar topic.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Flipped Learning approach

Flipped Learning has evolved through the years. First, it was called inverted
classroom (Lage, Platt & Treglia, 2000). Then, Bergmann and Sams (2012) coined

27
the term the flipped classroom which basically referred to inversion of what is
traditionally done in-class time as homework by means of pre-recorded lectures. Later,
in 2014 the Flipped Learning Network (FLN) proposed a definition that has become
the official way to describe flipped learning, which is:

Flipped Learning is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from

the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group
space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the
educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject
matter. (FLN, para 1.)

In Flipped Learning, there are two types of learning spaces: group and individual.
In the individual learning space, students are encouraged to watch or get familiar with
prepared or pre-recorded lectures on a topic and take judiciously notes about them
(Bergmann & Sams, 2012). By means of technology, out-of-class tasks allow learners
to use their independent work time to complete an activity. In this part of the lesson,
students develop lower order thinking skills (LOTS) like remembering and
comprehending by means of videos and other materials. On the other hand, the group
learning space lends itself to apply what students have learned during in-class time
tasks; hence, they develop high order thinking skills (HOTS) such as applying,
analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating and creating. Flipping the classroom is
establishing a new mindset in which the attention is redirected away from the teacher
and it is moved to the learner and learning (Bergmann & Sams, 2012, p. 12).

Finally, in order to enhance the individual learning space, teachers can implement
technology to design tasks. Videos, for example, are tools to personalize input about
any topic. They are excellent resources as they are used as an entry point for input
(Bergmann & Sams, 2014); also, these videos allow students to pause and review the
lecturer/teacher. However, videos are not only assigned for the individual learning
space just for the sake of watching them; teachers should create complementary
tasks, so they take advantage of pre-taught input in the group learning space. To do
so, the note-taking strategy is helpful for students to organize their ideas and it also
promotes reflection and autonomy. While students take notes, they reflect and build
a deeper foundation on the topic, and go deeper and further into learning by boosting
their communicative competences. Consequently, technology is the means of
designing interactive and meaningful input and teachers can wisely use in-class time
for communicative tasks.

Grammar competence

Richards (2005) defines grammatical competence as the knowledge we have of a

language that accounts for our ability to produce sentences in a language. It refers to
knowledge of the building blocks of sentences (e.g., parts of speech, tenses, phrases,
clauses, sentence patterns) and how sentences are formed (p. 2).

Over the past century, grammar has been in numerous studies and for different
approaches. The traditional method consisted of grammatical analysis and translation
of written forms (Herron, 1976; Howatt, 1986). In addition, grammarians generated
grammatical rules and usage that are being taught until today, especially in EFL
contexts. Later, grammar teaching focused on function; in other words, grammar was

28
organized on the basis of the forms required for particular communicative or functional
matters. Finally, the communicative and focus of form approaches arose in the late
1980s, meaning that grammar instruction combines formal instruction and
communicative language use (Hinkel & Fotos, 2001, p. 5).

Nowadays, grammar instruction in the EFL context has changed, Hinkel and Fotos
(2001) suggest teaching not only grammar forms, but also create grammar awareness
in learners. This awareness happens when students combine meaning-focused input
with communicative input. In the EFL context, teachers can teach grammar rules
through formal instruction, but at the same time, teachers can demonstrate forms
implementing communicative input; as a result, students internalize the language.
Students’ awareness of grammar rules and forms permits language to emerge in
communicative tasks.

Over the years, grammar instruction has evolved for the better, but technology
implementation has not been taken into account. The authors, Hyler and Hicks (2017)
believe that integrating technology can positively affect grammar instruction.
Grammar should be taught for a communicative purpose; for that reason, teachers
need to design meaningful lessons and implement effective ways to teach grammar
so that students feel empowered to use the language. To do so, the authors suggest
teachers to follow the Triple E Framework from Liz Kolb (2011). This framework
describes three levels: engagement, enhancement and extension. They help teachers
to implement technology not just in the interest of engaging the learner, but also for
promoting commitment to the innovative content presented and prepared by the
teacher. In the second and third stage of this framework, teachers must promote
enhancement in which learners see technology tool as an aid to develop further
understanding on the grammar topic. In addition, teachers must design lessons that
include a scaffolding procedure to facilitate understanding a grammar topic. Finally,
and here is where flipped learning is mixed, teachers must create opportunities in
which students learn outside the lesson and in which students can create a bridge
between the lesson and their personal/professional life.

Communicative competence: oral production.

Richards (2005) coined the term Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) that
can be understood as a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, how
learners learn a language, the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning,
and the roles of teachers and learners in the classroom (p.3). Teachers implementing
communicative tasks to enhance oral production allow learners to boost their
confidence to use the language for a range of different purposes and functions.

The CLT classroom activities allow teachers to identify the focus of each oral
production task. In an elementary English course, oral production activities do not
emphasize on accuracy. Those activities are related to enhance grammar mastery to
communicate basic topics related to the students’ lives, but they do not promote
fluency and meaningful communication. Oral production takes place when students
at A1+ level use simple phrases and sentences to describe in simple terms their family
and other people, living conditions, their educational background and their present
(Verhelst, Van Avermaet, Takala, Figueras & North, 2009). Hence, the activities that
fit this research context are the ones where practice in using language within a real

29
communicative context is the focus, real information is exchanged, and the language
used is not totally predictable. For example, students might have to draw a map of
their neighborhood and answer questions about the location of different places, such
as the nearest bus stop, the nearest café, etc. In conclusion, in an EFL elementary
course, learners need clear and meaningful activities that fit their professional and
personal contexts.

LITERATURE REVIEW

The literature review of this qualitative inductive research is in progress; some

authors and their research results will be included though. In addition, this section will
be enriched as the project is developed. The research studies that have been taken
into account for this inductive study took place in the EFL context and the main
concepts which were covered are related to Flipped Learning approach, grammar
instruction and oral proficiency.

Ҫelebi, Karaaslan and Demir-Vegter (2016) carried out a study named Corpus
use in enhancing lexico-grammatical awareness through flipped learning applications.
This study was implemented in an ELT (English Language Teaching) department in a
higher education institution. Its research questions were: what are students’ views on
flipped applications?, what are students’ primary points of consideration while
analyzing language data in corpus-based tasks?, and what are students’ views on
corpus use in language learning and teaching? These questions aimed to improve
students’ lexico-grammar learning by means of corpus-based tasks and collaborative
online activities. The study has a similar emphasis on what is proposed in this one,
since it aims to enhance language learning by means of flipping grammar instruction:
however, it differs in the way grammar and vocabulary is taught. In Ҫelebi et al.’s
study, they carried out language samples from real contexts to boost linguistic
analysis, so grammar/lexis knowledge was emphasized following the inductive
learning approach methods. As for the results, flipped classroom and corpus-based
tasks positively raised students’ lexico-grammatical competence. The researchers
used videos to introduce new content that positively impacted students’ grammar
analysis. Finally, Flipped Classroom allowed students to work collaboratively on
online activities at their own pace and time which later leverage in-class time for
classroom work.

Moreover, Wu, Chen Hsieh and Yang (2017) also did a study called Creating
an Online Learning Community in a Flipped Classroom to Enhance EFL Learners’ Oral
Proficiency. This research study took place in two oral training classes from a
university in central Taiwan. This study aimed to identify differences of students’ oral
proficiency between flipped and conventional learning; it also focused on identifying
differences in the teaching/social/cognitive presences when implementing those
instructional methods and the participants’ perceptions towards them. This mixed
study extorts technology use advantages for language instruction through an instant
text messaging application; however, it is worth mentioning that Flipped Learning by
means of grammar videos significantly improved students’ learning, for it developed
content in collaborative tasks that require real dialogues, which were designed among
students. This research project is related to this inductive one where Wu et al. found
that Flipped Learning instruction effectively and efficiently enhance students’ oral
performance. Although this current research study does not include an application for

30
oral preparation, students were engaged to participate in out-of-class tasks when they
received input and further preparation for the group learning space.

In addition, Meléndez and Iza (2017) carried out a study called Application of
the Flipped Classroom Methodology in a Virtual Platform for Teaching English
Language Grammar in Level B1. This study took place in an English Center of
Languages of Ambato Technical University. In this English as a Foreign Language
(EFL) context, researchers wanted to know if Flipped Classroom methodology would
improve the grammar learning in a B1 course at this university. They used interviews
and pre/post-tests to know if this methodology through the support of a virtual platform
called Edmodo had an impact on students’ performance. Flipped Learning is the
focus of this current inductive research and it is connected to Meléndez and Iza’s. In
this study they provided students with an educational platform to present grammar
topics. In addition to this, students reviewed assignments using messages posted on
the platform while they were interacting with the teacher and partners. They had the
possibility to contribute and learn more about the topic using this online platform.
Moreover, the researcher of this inductive study highlights that the focus on grammar
instruction carried out in their research study has opened new techniques on the way
to design and take advantage of grammar videos in a virtual space. The researchers,
Meléndez and Iza (2017), designed interactive videos using differentiated instructions
and extra practice after input. To do so, the researcher of this study can take
advantage of these novel ideas by improving her videos and putting a pre-taught
grammar topic into practice. Students in this EFL context have difficulties recognizing
a grammatical aspect; however, after the implementation, students were confident in
utilizing grammar topics in the group learning space and teachers could optimize in-
class time for reviewing grammar content.

Al-Mekhlafi and Nagaratnam’s study (2011) called Difficulties in Teaching and

Learning Grammar in an EFL Context took place in Oman. Researchers carried out
this qualitative research to identify students and teachers’ perceptions about grammar
instruction and learning. In previous studies about the topic, students and teachers’
attitudes and perceptions of grammar instruction in the language teaching and learning
context suggest a difference between them. Students want formal and explicit
grammar while teachers are in favour of promoting communicative activities. For those
reasons, researchers implemented questionnaires to identify difficulties of grammar
instruction and differences between teachers and students’ perceptions facing
grammar content. This qualitative research is connected to this current research since
it helps the researcher understand how students want to learn the language. Al-
Mekhlafi and Nagaratnam found that students prefer grammatical terminology to
explain grammar topics explicitly. In addition, the authors concluded that teachers in
their study were concerned that there is lack of grammar communicative tasks to
improve grammatical knowledge. Finally, the authors of the study recommend
teachers to create inductive or deductive grammar instructions that best help students’
grammar learning; therefore, the researcher of this study can also take advantage of
this final recommendation when designing grammar videos and further practice in the
group learning space.

The research studies mentioned above contribute with the researcher agenda
and instruments design. According to Strauss and Corbin (1967), researchers are
encouraged to build their theories from original, qualitative empirical data. In this

31
sense, the researcher’s role, in Cohen, Marion & Morrison’s words (2007), is more of
a reflexive one; he interacts with the decontextualized data that are already
interpretations of a social encounter (p. 469). The researcher is learning from the
gathered data and making adjustments taking into account salient results from the
implementation and students’ perceptions. In addition, those research studies were
carried out in an EFL context; hence, the researcher has learned what instruments are
novel and relevant to gather data. The researcher can take advantage of strategies
and new concepts that were implemented in the aforementioned studies to teach
grammar topics by means of technological tools and implementing Flipped Learning
approach for grammar instruction.

REFERENCES

Al-Mekhlafi, A. M., & Nagaratnam, R. P. (2011). Difficulties in Teaching and Learning

Grammar in an EFL Context. Online Submission, 4(2), 69-92.
Bergmann, J & Sams, A. (2012). Flip your classroom. Reach Every Student in Every
Class Every Day. International Society for Technology in Education.
Bergmann, J & Sams, A. (2014). Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Engagement.
International Society for Technology in Education.
Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. K. (1992). Qualitative research for education.
Çelebi, H., Karaaslan,H., & Demir-Vegter, S. (2016). The title of your paper: Corpus
use in enhancing lexico-grammatical awareness through flipped applications.
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 12(2), 152-165.
Cohen, L., Marion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007).Research methods in education (6th ed.).
New York, NY: Routledge.
Denzin, N. K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (eds) (1994) Handbook of Qualitative Research.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Flipped Learning Network. (2014). Definition of flipped learning. Retrieved from
http://www.flippedlearning.org/domain/46
Gilbert, N., & Stoneman, P. (Eds.). (2015). Researching social life. Sage.
Glaser, B. G. and Strauss, A. L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Chicago,
IL:Aldane.
Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. Suny Press.
Herron, C. (1976). An investigation of the effectiveness of using an Advance Organizer
in the foreign language classroom. Modern Language Journal, 78, 190-198.
Hinkel, E., & Fotos, S. (Eds.). (2001). New perspectives on grammar teaching in
second language classrooms. Routledge.
Howatt, A. (1984). A history of English language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Hyler, J & Hicks, T. (2017). From texting to Teaching. Grammar Instruction in a Digital
Age. Routledge.
Inverting the Classroom: A Gateway to Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment
Lage, M. J., Platt, G. J., & Treglia, M. (2000). Inverting the classroom: A gateway to
creating an inclusive learning environment. The Journal of Economic
Education, 31(1), 30-43.
Kolb, L. (2011). Triple E Framework. Retrieved from http://tripleeframework.com.
Maureen J. Lage, Glenn J. Platt and Michael Treglia. The Journal of Economic Education
Vol. 31, No. 1 (Winter, 2000), pp. 30-43
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1183338?se&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

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Meléndez, L., & Iza, S. (2017). Application of the Flipped Classroom methodology in
a virtual platform for teaching English language grammar in level B1. Revista
Publicando, 4(12 (1)), 236-246.
Oxford, R. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know.
Boston: Newbury House.
Richards, J. C. (2005). Communicative language teaching today. SEAMEO Regional
Language Centre.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1967). Discovery of grounded theory.
Verhelst, N., Van Avermaet, P., Takala, S., Figueras, N., & North, B. (2009). Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching,
assessment. Cambridge University Press.
Wilson, N. and McLean, S. (1994) Questionnaire Design: A Practical Introduction.
Newtown Abbey, Co. Antrim: University of Ulster Press.
Wu, W. C. V., Hsieh, J. S. C., & Yang, J. C. (2017). Creating an online learning
community in a flipped classroom to enhance EFL learners’ oral
proficiency. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(2), 142-157.

33
 ENGLISH LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY TEACHERS´ PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES
IN RELATION WITH THEIR GENDERED IDENTITIES CONSTRUCTION

Ángela Milena Rodriguez

Universidad de Boyacá

INTRODUCTION

This paper is a report of an unfinished thesis project which aims at unveiling the
ways teachers´ pedagogical practices relate with their gendered identities
construction. It opens with a presentation of the research concern, followed by a
revision of the core concepts that support this study and the review of some literature
related to gendered pedagogical practices. The third section discuses methodological
aspects such as: participants, context, type of study and instruments for data
collection. Finally, the data analysis process that is being carried out is described.

PRESENTATION

Although gender in the English language learning and teaching areas has been
studied by various Colombian academics, (Durán, 2006; Castañeda-Peña, 2008a,
2008b, 2010;Rojas, 2012;Castañeda, 2012,Rondón, 2012;Benavides, 2016; Mojica &
Castañeda-Peña, 2017) the connections between English Language teachers´
pedagogical practices and their gendered identities construction have been scarcely
researched.

Thereby, to obtain insights on the ways teachers’ gendered identities could be

constructed within their pedagogical practices, I carried out some field notes in three
moments. Firstly, when a male colleague commented his experience dealing with a
female student flirting attempt. He also expressed being annoyed about the
conversations this female student had with a gay male student in class. Secondly,
during a conversation two teachers were having in terms of their attitudes towards the
group they shared where a differential treatment and contrasting expectations on the
same students were evident. Thirdly, in a languages department meeting in which
some teachers were discussing whether jockeying with students could have influence
on their relationships, attitudes towards the class and thereby the English language
learning process.

The situations previously mentioned in the field notes, provided me with various
insights on my research concern. Firstly, and following Baxter (2003) I identified that
teachers could be “multiply positioned in terms of their agency to adapt to, negotiate,
resist or take up dominant subject positions” (p.31) in this regard, Litosseliti (2013)
mentioned that the construction teachers´ gendered selves occurs in the relationships
they are involved in and the way they identify with their students. Hereof, gender is
something that is in a constant process of doing and performing; it changes over time,
even from one situation to another (Sunderland,2004).

34
 Subsequently, “teachers are not mere podium images” (Burgan, 1996, p.20).
They are always in a process of becoming, evolving and changing (Coia & Taylor,
2014). Therefore, and according to Sachs (1997) the classroom is the site where
discourses of pedagogy, femininities, masculinities, professionalism and service are
played out, contested, and negotiated. The interplay of these competing discourses
with the daily demands of operating in a classroom helps us understand the complexity
of teachers´ pedagogical practices where gendered discourses, relations, ideas,
meanings and intentions might interweave.

The feminist poststructuralist theory supports the view of what is stated in the
theoretical constructs, the literature review and thereby the data analysis process. In
this regard, Weedon (1987) acknowledged subjectivity, language and meaning as
interconnected and supplementary terms in the poststructuralist theory. Subjectivity
refers to the construction of subjects and their position in the world which is always
changing, always in a process of becoming according to the situations, discourses,
power struggles emotions and thoughts. Language entails “a socially situated site of
political struggle” (p.72) where subjectivity is constructed. She also claimed that it is
through language that we assign meanings to the world. Thus, we can speak about
meanings as there is a variety of interpretations and ways to comprehend the world.
Subsequently, it is through language and discourses that subjects constitute
themselves to understand, resist, oppose and negotiate reality.

CORE CONCEPTS

Pedagogical practices

For this research endeavor, I conceptualized pedagogical practices as socially

constructed sites (Kemmis, 2009) that reveal beliefs, values, cultures, identities and
ways of thinking (Castañeda-Peña, Rodríguez-Uribe, Salazar-Sierra, 2016). In this
regard, Kemmis,Wilkinson,Groves and Grootenboer (2014) drew upon the subjective
nature of poststructuralism confirming that “practice is inherently interactional,
involving communities as well as individuals” (p.3). They opposed to the technical view
of teaching under the process-product relationship where the teaching practices have
effect upon students’ behaviors and achievements (Fang, 1996). On the contrary, they
claimed that the ones who practice along with the others involved in the practice
process are formed and shaped by the practice itself. Thus, practice is never static,
and practitioners are always in the process of construction and reconstruction.

Under an intersubjective view of practices, Kemmis et al. (2014) proposed

practice architectures as social sites where doings, sayings and relatings practices
come into play within the semantic, physical and social spaces where cultural
discursive, material economic and social political arrangements interweave. Figure 1
illustrates the interplay of doings, sayings and relatings practices in the spaces and
arrangements previously described.

35
Cultural-discursive Material-economic
arrangements. Semantic space, in
Sayings Doings Physical-space arrangements.
the medium of Social-political
time in the medium
language. Relatings ofarrangements.
activity-work.

Social-space in the
medium of solidarity
and power.

Figure.1 The media and spaces in which sayings, doings and relatings exist (Kemmis,
et al 2014, p.43)

As it is shown in figure 1, all the components of the practice are related.

Furthermore, practices occur in the semantic, social and physical spaces. These
spaces provide a mutual constitution among the dimensions or mediums (cultural-
discursive, material-economic and social-political) and the actions or praxis (sayings,
doings and relatings). Kemmis´ (2012) description of this relationship is described in
table 1.

Dimensions/ mediums Actions/ Description

praxis
Language and discourses to use. It also
Cultural-discursive refers to meanings and comprehensibility
arrangements Sayings attributed to the practice as well as the
issues and problems addressed.
The physical set-ups of rooms, resources
and kinds of activities undertaken in a
Doings specific practice. It also accounts for the
Material-economic productiveness and the consequences of
arrangements the activity for the ones involved and
affected by the practice.

Relatings Diverse kinds and complexities regarding

Social-political the arrangements of people´s roles and
arrangements relationships.
Table 1. Mutual constitution of dimensions or mediums and actions and praxis.

Kemmis et al. (2014) also referred to ecologies of practice stating the

relationship teaching practices may have with other practices. Thus, many practices
can co-exist in the same site as webs of human social activity. Subsequently, teachers
are subjects of the complexity, pluralism, instability and variation of practices. After
having defined pedagogical practices as sites of social struggle where various
participants, spaces dimensions and praxis come into play, I attempt to contextualize
gender and identities. Subsequently, the ways teacher can construct and perform their
identities.

36
Gender

The difference between gender and sex has been established by many
scholars. The former one, has been identified as culturally constructed while the latter
refers to the biological, psychological distinction of males and females (Butler, 1999 ;
Litosseliti, 2013; Sunderland, 2004; West & Zimmerman, 1987)

Butler (1999) argued that the sexed body is just an instrument in which a set of
cultural meanings are contested. Thus, she perceived gender as independent of sex,
discussing that man or masculine could signify a female body or a woman and
feminine could signify a male body. Being aware of this fact , West & Zimmerman
(1987) mentioned that gender is a process of doing. Its construction is complex,
interactional, and socially guided. Thereby, gender has not specific roles, traits or
organizations, it is produced instead, by discourse and language.

Sunderland (2004) ratified that gender is “culturally learnt, mediated or

constructed as it entails tendencies and various rather than absolutes” (p.20)
Therefore, she proposed an insightful differentiation regarding gender construction,
performance, representation and indexing. In this line of thought, gender is
constructed in the words and is also constructed in terms of identity. Gender
performance is an emergent property of social interaction; it requires speakers to have
an agency to perform publicly who they temporarily are. Gender representation occurs
when experiences are interpreted by another person. Gender representation could be
achieved by the usage of sexual stereotypes. Finally, gender is indexed through
linguistic styles, displays and utterances. The how and the what of the talk are indexed
in the gendered identity.

Identities

Identity has been widely addressed in the English language teaching (ELT)
context. West (1992) referred to this term as a matter of desire and death. Therefore,
identity construction is established on a person´s desire for recognition and quest for
visibility and how he/she conceives death. This leads to the desire of association and
affiliation. Litosselity (2013) considered that the process of affiliation occurs when the
individuals take up or choose subject positions in certain contexts.

Norton and Toohey (2002) detached from the concept of affiliation and
considered identity as a process in which “a person understands his or her relationship
to the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how the
person understands possibilities for the future” (p.5). Norton (1995) also drew on the
concept of subjectivity proposed by Weedon (1987) to describe social identity as a
multiple and contradictory site of struggle produced in different social sites. Individuals
are positioned being subjects of and subjects to relations of power in specific social
sites. She also emphasizes that the subject has an agency that is constructed and
expressed through discourse.

In this regard, Davies & Harre (1999) claimed that social identity is discursively
constructed. Whereas, “an individual emerges through the processes of social
interaction, not as a relatively fixed end product but as one who is constituted and

37
reconstituted through the various discursive practices in which they participate” (p,46).
Being positioned in a variety of discourses, we make sense of our own and others´
lives.

In this line of though, Bucholtz and Hall (2005) also conceive identity to be
produced in linguistic interaction and proposed a framework for its analysis based on
the following principles. Firstly, identity is not merely an internal psychological
phenomenon but the product of linguistic and other semiotic practices. Secondly,
identities are temporal and interactional they depend on their participants´ roles and
cultural emergent positions. Thirdly, identities are indexed in linguistic features and
systems. Subsequently, identities are also constructed by considering the relationship
between the self and the other, bearing in mind similarities, differences, ambiguities,
among other aspects. Finally, identity reveals its complexity by being part of the
intentional and conscious. In this regard, the construction of others’ perceptions and
representations as well as the ideological processes and structures are outcomes of
of interactional negotiation. I consider that the last feature goes beyond seeing identity
as emergent from discourse as it entails the way I see myself in relation to others and
the processes of construction of myself that might not be observable aspects in
discourse.

In terms of teachers´ identity construction, Zembylas (2005) affirmed that

‘‘teacher identity has come to be regarded in some sense as being more contingent
and fragile than previously thought and thus open for re-construction”(p. 937). The
construction and re-construction of teacher identity entails the exploration of power,
agency and resistance within discursive practices in specific social contexts. Thereby
and according to the previously stated conceptualizations, I could argue that teachers
construct their identities by relating to others, carrying out their teaching practices,
using language and specific types of discourses and by identifying the perceptions or
representations they have about themselves and others. In the paragraphs below, I
intent to conceptualize teachers gendered identities.

Gendered identities

Butler (1999) perceived gender as performative as a doing that preexist the

deed. Supportively, she argued: “There is no gender identity behind the expressions
of gender; that identity is per formatively constituted by the very “expressions” that are
said to be its results” (p. 33). Cameron (1997) also drew upon the performativity
proposed by Butler (1999) and claimed that “individuals are active producers rather
that passive reproducers of gendered behavior, men and women may use their
awareness of the gendered meanings that attach to particular ways of speaking and
acting to produce a variety of effects” (p. 329). We are constructed through actions
and discursive practices.
Identity is constituted from the doing of gender. Thus, individuals perform different
gendered identities according to the contexts and the discursive practices they find
themselves in. Hence, English language classes should be sites for these identities to
be performed and contested.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

Gendered pedagogical practices in English Language Teaching.

Gendered pedagogical practices are drawn upon teacher-student, student-

teacher interactions in the English language teaching area. Hereof, classroom
interaction may foster imbalances regarding the distribution of talk as it is evident in
the following studies.

French & French (1984) analyzed verbatim transcriptions of a fourth-year junior

school. Results showed that boys took more turns than girls because of their ability to
grab the teacher´s attention. As the teacher performed that attention normally, they
took advantage of their turns to talk about themselves showing their dominance over
girls.

In the same vein of thought, Swann & Graddol (1988) studied several
transcriptions of English classes interactions for unveiling the mechanisms that lead
to boys’ dominance in classroom talk. They found that 60% of teacher’s attention was
directed to boys and that girls found strategies like volunteering to minimize their
participation (avoiding being asked repeatedly). Additionally, boys were asked more
challenging questions and girls were just expected to answer yes/no questions. The
authors also stated that the teacher was not aware of his favoritism which reproduced
gendered inequalities in that context.

Kelly (1998) carried out a meta-analysis of 81 studies of gendered differences

in teacher-pupil interactions. The results were similar to the ones previously mentioned
in terms of the amount of attention given to the boys, the type of questions asked to
male and female students and female students´ choice of volunteering as strategy to
minimize their interaction, to show their abilities or to grab teacher´s attention.
Nonetheless, the author mentioned that in some occasions the attention provided to
boys was directed to control their disruptive behavior. From this analysis, the author
also inquired whether the attention given to students depended on being a male or a
female teacher. In this regard, it was showed that the number of ´instructional contacts´
was not connected to the teacher´s sex. However, it was mentioned that when the
teacher was female, female students received less praise and less criticism than the
boys.

Bearing in mind the little attention given to female students by foreign language
teachers as demonstrated in several studies, Sunderland (1998) intended to
understand two inquires. Firstly, the differences of gendered student-teacher talk in
another subject classroom and in the English classroom. Secondly, the extent to which
gendered interaction patterns are produced in language classroom. She audio
recorded German lessons of 13 boys and 14 girls. Sunderland (1998) emphasized
that the foreign language classroom differs from other classrooms as two languages
are used and subsequently certain inquiries regarding gendered interactions might
pertain to languages classrooms only which share common characteristics despite of
the nature of language variation.

The results of this study showed that the fact of boys dominating the classroom
talk is normalized in the foreign language teaching classroom. This is perhaps the

39
reason why teachers give more attention to them. However, girls were found to make
important contributions and to take advantage of the learning opportunities provided
by the teacher as well as boys. Additionally, girls were academically engaged and
showed very good results in languages learning. In this sense, the author suggested
that girls could be better at languages than boys. Although, the author recognized this
fact as something that still needed to be discussed.

In a subsequent study, Sunderland (2000) criticized the fact that gender in the
English as a foreign language (EFL) area was being considered as a subject of
oversimplifications and generalizations in which women were victims of male
dominance. The author proposed a complex alternative of gender in language
education in which diversity and subtleties are considered. Thus, Sunderland (2000)
proposed certain alternatives to cope with generalizations and to avoid gender
inequalities in the language classroom. The first alternative was to be aware of the
number of questions asked to male and female students. Secondly, the author
suggests analyzing and identifying gendered- bias texts or materials. Finally, the
author proposes not to see gender differentiation as a disadvantage but to explore the
learning opportunities and the gendered identities construction that could emerge from
English classroom interactions.

Following the idea of EFL teachers being aware of gender issues in the
classrooms, I consider paramount to mention Mojica & Castañeda-Peña´s (2017)
experience when developing a Master course on gender and foreign language
teaching. There were a variety of outcomes from the implementation of the course.
Firstly, student teachers unlearnt the idea that gender relates to the biological
conditions of being males and females. Thereby, they understood that gender is
constructed through discourse and interactions. Secondly, through the developments
of mini scale projects, student teachers started to observe gendered issues in their
educational context and in their pedagogical practices performance. Based on their
observations, student teachers gained a sense of awareness about their practices in
relation with gendered issues.

Some Colombian scholars have also carried out studies in which they proposed
certain gendered pedagogical practices in ELT. For instance, Chaparro (2016) used a
feminist pedagogy in an EFL classroom of adults in Bogota, Colombia for unveiling
students reflective discoursers when debating about situations of inequality. This
research showed EFL teachers that it is possible to implement a methodology that
minimizes the stereotypical representations of gender and empowers students to see
the word critically and to take agency in different situations when gender inequality is
evident.

Benavides (2017) designed reading activities grounded on gender-based short

stories for students to construct their social identities. From this experience, students
constructed three types of social identities: seeing humans as gendered subjects’
identity, peer approval identity and cooperative identity. Moreover, students
developed a sense of respecting others´ points of view avoiding the act of judging
other people for their appearances or sexual orientation. This research experience
provided the researcher with meaningful insights as she found the fact of creating
gender-based materials rewarding in her role as a teacher. Furthermore, she made

40
important contributions to the school´s curriculum and the school´s gendered
perspective.

As previously stated, language classrooms are different and there are some
inquires that might emerge from certain type of classrooms (Sunderland, 1998). In
this section, we could identify that gendered pedagogical practices in English language
teaching are indexed in teacher-student and student- teacher interaction. Thereby,
“gender shapes interactions in the classroom, asking which participants have the right
to speak and to define meaning, and who remains invisible and why” (Pavlenko &
Piller, 2007). Regardless, these interactions might foster gendered imbalances
positioning girls or boys as powerful or powerless during teachers’ pedagogical
practices.

METHODOLOGY

This is a feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis study (FPDA) study which

according to (Baxter, 2003) is not just “a theoretically coherent paradigm in its own
right” (p,44) but also “a tool for understanding how language constructs subject
identities” (p.54). Furthermore, Baxter (2003) stated that FPDA deconstructs
dichotomies and does not propose males as the dominant sex and females as the
vulnerable or disadvantaged individuals. FPDA “accepts that girls and women adopt
relatively powerful positions within certain discourses and acknowledges their agency
to resist, challenge and potentially overturn discursive practices that conventionally
position them as powerless.” (p,55)

Context

The setting where this study took place, is a private university located in Tunja
Boyacá, Colombia. This university has a languages department that is in charge of
providing English language classes to all undergraduate academic programs.
Students start English level one in the third academic semester and are taught two
levels of English with the aim of reaching level A2 according to the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL, 2001)

Six hours of classes are given to each level and the classes are divided into
four hours of theory (students acquire grammar, vocabulary or other kind of input) and
two hours of practice (students put into practice what they previously learnt in theory
lessons). This distribution of classes was implemented following the university´s
pedagogical model that intends to educate competitive students through the principles
of knowing, doing and being, for adapting to the national and international working
demands as future professionals. (Universidad de Boyacá,2013)

Participants

I used the purposeful sampling strategy and more specifically the convenience
case approach to select the participants (Creswell, 2007). In this case, I considered
the participants from whom I could easily collect data and who also agreed to
participate in the study. As a result, three participant teachers agreed to contribute and

41
signed the consent forms indicating their willingness and permission for their classes
to be video recorded. Some characteristics of the participants and the information of
the classes video recorded appear in table 2.

Participant teachers Level of Academic Semester Type Number

English program of of hours
lesson video
recorded.
Teacher Mona English I Industrial Third Theory 8
Full time teacher in this engineering
private university.
B.A in modern
languages: English,
Spanish.
Teacher Humberto English I Social Third Theory 8
Full time teacher in this communication
private university.
B.A in foreign
Languages.

Teacher Elly English Law Fourth Theory 8

Full time teacher in this II
private university.
B.A in modern
languages: English,
Spanish.

Table 2. Characteristics of the participant teachers and information regarding the video
recorded classes.

Instruments for Data collection

Transcripts of classes´ video clips

Transcripts from the classes video recording were the main source of data.
Thus, the process of transcribing the three teachers´ classes was quite demanding,
time consuming and it involved following certain procedural steeps. To start, I
transcribed everything that entailed teacher-students or students teacher interaction.
I understood Green, Franquiz, & Dixon´s (1997) perception of transcribing as “ a
political act that explores the dimensions of everyday life through language” (p.172) .
Hereof, I realized that transcribing is a way of making sense of data and uncovering
what is really happening with interactions. Thus while transcribing, I started identifying
some “significant moments” (Baxter, 2003) that I would later utilize for the data
analysis process.

Semi structured interviews

Following FPDA implies to fulfill the principle of polyphony which entails to

include a plurality of voices, that differ, contradict or juxtapose with the researcher´s
interpretations (Baxter, 2003). Thereby, I followed Hatch´s (2002) parameters for

42
conducting semi structured interviews to the participant teachers and some students.
Teachers were interviewed for their perceptions or thoughts to contradict, agree or
contest with my interpretations on the excerpts selected. Students were interviewed
as some parts of the analysis required me to study the teachers from students’ lenses.

DATA ANALYSIS

From the transcripts of the classes video recorded, I identified the “significant
moments” Baxter (2003) where gender in the EFL teachers pedagogical practices
could be constructed. I considered pedagogical practices as socially constructed sites
where gendered discourses, relations, ideas, meanings and intentions might
interwoven. Therefore, I explored the construction of gender in the practice
architectures (sayings, doings and relatings) proposed by Kemmis, (2009,2012) and
Kemmis ,et al (2014).

Subsequently, this analysis was carried out in two levels: denotative and
connotative. Following Baxter (2003, p.75) the denotative level of analysis “provides a
concrete description of what is going on within a text”. In this level, I carried out
conversation analysis to account for turn taking strategies (Heritage, 1998), adjacency
pairs and sequence organization (Schegloff, 2007), type of questions and error
treatment (Ellis, 1994) among other interactional patterns (Lucero & Scalante-morales,
2018).The connotative level of analysis entailed an interpretative process with an
emphasis on describing the ways in which gender was constructed teachers´ doings,
relatings and sayings practices.

The following excerpt is analyzed based on the aspects previously mentioned.

This is an excerpt of an English language class where basic level students are playing
a game in which they have to make the teacher (Mona) say “No, I can´t” by asking
questions about what she can or can´t do. Teacher Mona takes answers from groups
of students she has previously organized. When students score (e.g. Teacher Mona
answers ‘No, I can´t’) they get a point which is recorded on the blackboard.

01. J→T Can you drive a plane?

02. T→J No, pero eso es cómo manejar carro
03. Sería pilot #no, but that is like driving a car.
It would be pilot#
04. J→T entonces #then# pilot
05. T→J No, yes. I did. I did it when I was in the US
06. so, I can.
07. J→T Ohhh!
08. B→T Can you run very fast?
09. T→B Can I run very fast?
10. =Very fast?
11. B→T Yes
12. T→B No, I can’t (Teacher writes a point on the board)

43
 Transcription key

(comments) nonverbal interaction and transcribers comments.

Escuchen bold characters for utterances in Spanish.
#listen# transcriber´ translation into English.
= continuous utterance
### inaudible
Goo::d prolongation of sound
(0.2) silence measured in seconds
(.) pause of less than 0.2 seconds
THEN Utterance produced in higher volume than the surrounding
talk.
T Teacher Mona
B Bethy
J John

Denotative analysis

The interaction starts with John’s question to the teacher as a way of following
the game´s dynamic. In turn 02, teacher Mona provides a recast feedback (MacKey,
2006) and clarifies that it is not correct to use the verb drive when talking about
airplanes and suggests the verb pilot instead. In turn 04, John corrects his mistake
and asks the question one more time. In turn 05, the teacher answers negatively but
then she changes her answer by saying “yes”. She supports that answer providing
additional information. In turn 07, John utters the particle “oh” which is a minimal third
turn expansion (Heritage, 1998). Bethy takes the next turn and proceeds to ask
another question, in turn 09, the teacher repeats the question as a form to clarify
Bethy´s claim. Bethy answers affirmatively to the teacher´s request of clarification. In
turn 10, teacher Mona makes emphasis on the words “very fast” and uses them as
determiners to answer negatively.

Connotative analysis

In this excerpt, there are three practices that are gendered and identified in the
teacher´s doings, sayings and relatings ( Kemmis, et al, 2014) . Thus, doings are
evident in the type of activity teacher carries out and the effects it brings in terms of
her gendered positionings which are indexed in the sayings practice when teacher
expresses her masculinity and femininity according to the questions she answers.
Relatings occur during two moments of teacher Mona´s interaction with a male and a
female student. Firstly, when students ask questions which are answered by the
teacher. Secondly, when teacher does not react upon the male student´s comment.
Thereby, doings practice is gendered as teacher Mona implements an activity that
challenges students to make her admit that she doesn´t have certain abilities which
causes her to take up different gendered subject positionings (Sunderland, 2004).
Subsequently, The sayings pedagogical practice takes place when teacher Mona
answers two questions made by a male and a female student who positioned in a
masculine arena which is considered by Connell (2005) as a reference of socially

44
stated activities that are dominated by men and determined by the differential
treatment of sex roles and hegemonic conceptions.
The first question directed to the teacher relates to whether she can pilot an
airplane (turns 01 and 04). Teacher Mona expresses her masculinity by answering
affirmatively and giving additional information about the moment and place she piloted
a plane (turn 05 and 06). I argue that she manifests her masculinity based on Paechter
(2006) who asserted that the term masculinity should not be limited to portray the male
body and its effects but should refer to how gender is accomplished in specific
practices instead. However, the pilot profession is considered as a male dominated
work and part of the hegemonic masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005).
Thereby, Cohen & Huffman (2003) asserted that the dominance of masculine jobs is
a universal inequity that increases biases in women´s work. As a result, women are
more likely expected to carry out under rewarded activities usually related to
nurturance.

Mojica & Castañeda-Peña´s (2017) study confirms this inequality in jobs

distribution for women and the way it is naturally performed in cultural perceptions.
One of the participant teachers in this study, registered in his field notes the moment
when a girl introduced herself as a pilot and was corrected by a male classmate who
said that she should have said flight attendant instead of pilot. This girl did not accept
her classmate´s correction and asserted that she would be a pilota (feminine for pilot
in Spanish) in that case. This example, and what happens with Teacher Mona in this
case implies women taking up particular subject positions which according to Shaw &
Hoeber (2003) could be taken as a way of resistance against the gender differential
roles that are indexed in taken for granted discourses of masculinity and femininity in
the society and in different labor organizations.

The second question that the teacher is asked relates to whether she can run
very fast (turn 08). Teacher emphasizes on the mode “very fast” (turn 09) as a
determiner to answer negatively. By mentioning the fact of not being able to run very
fast, teacher disassociates from the masculine position and accepts not just the
discourse of sports as dominated by hegemonic masculinities (Renold, 1997) but her
feminine inferior position in sports. Teacher Mona´s positioning could obey to what
Connell & Messerschmidt (2005) defined as cultural learnt hegemonic masculinity that
relates to the naturalization of masculine bodies where masculinity is constructed via
the abilities that men can perform. For instance, men athletes construct their
masculinities in relation with their physical abilities perceiving their “bodies as
weapons”.

Relatings pedagogical practice is evident not just when the teacher answers
students’ questions (turns 05 and 12) but when she remains quiet towards one of their
comments. In this sense, teacher´s first answer causes John´s “oh” reaction (turn 07).
manifesting surprise not just about his female teacher piloting an airplane but about
his female teacher ignoring and challenging hegemonic norms. Teacher Mona does
not react upon this comment. This fact led me to ask her about the reasons she had
for ignoring this comment. She answered:

Teacher Mona: Because it annoyed me, I mean if you are a woman

wouldn´t you be able to do that? and I know that I have a powerful role
inside the class and depending on what I say I can change students’

45
 points of view. But I didn´t give importance to that because it really
annoyed me and I didn´t want to react in a bad way.

My interpretations about the connotation of that “oh” comment relate to teacher

Mona´s perception. She understood that comment as a demonstration of surprise
about she being able to pilot an airplane. She ignored that because it annoyed her and
betrayed her position as a woman who can perform a masculine activity. Despite this
powerless positioning, teacher knew that she could use her powerful role in that
context and comment something about this situation. She thought about the
inappropriateness of a possible wrong reaction by her side (this is related with the
sayings practice) and chose to ignore that comment.

CONCLUSION

The analysis that is being carried out has shed a light towards identifying the
ways teacher Mona´s practices are gendered. For instance, in the excerpt presented
above, by proposing the dynamics of the activity, teacher Mona exposes to be
powerless and powerful positioned in masculine and feminine arenas. Furthermore,
the way she relates with the students and her acts of ignoring or rejecting students
comments contributes to her gender construction (Litosseliti, 2013).

I acknowledge that the process of data analysis needs to be completed and

redefined. Thus, there are still two teachers´ practices to analyze in terms of their
gendered identities construction. However, I consider that this process is taking an
interesting path which can evolve or experience conflicting situations with what could
be found in the other teachers´ data.

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49
 AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

Ximena Romero y Jasmin Alfonso

Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana – ÚNICA

INTRODUCTION

Using authentic materials to teach English has proved to be an effective

resource in English as Foreign Language contexts (Gilmore, 2011). This kind of
materials help learners work holistically since they integrate various aspects of
language learning such as pragmatics, grammatical structures, pronunciation, and
vocabulary including idioms and other language chunks. Teachers may find that
bringing real life materials is a powerful tool to expose students to rich input that is not
present in textbooks or any other type of instructional materials. Gilmore (2011) and
Segueni (2016) have evidenced the positive effect of using authentic materials like
songs, readings, and videos. In their studies, learners exposed to authentic materials
improved not only their communicative competence in areas such as speaking,
pragmatics, and vocabulary learning, but also their confidence in understanding and
speaking English.

Despite the benefits found, authentic materials are not yet used as desirable,
at the college level, nor does a pedagogical model about how to use them in the
classroom exist. Thus, there is a myriad of difficulties associated with authentic texts.
To illustrate, Zyzick and Polio (2017) bring up a common concern among educators:
it is time consuming to find appropriate authentic materials and create good activities
to exploit them. It might be also assumed that using authentic materials at beginning
levels can result in both teacher and student frustration as texts that are too
challenging for learners and a not well-designed task may bring demotivation and
minimal learning. Therefore, a more consistent implementation of such resources is
needed to demystify those assumptions.

CONTEXT

The intervention has been taking place in two English classes (i.e., low
intermediate and intermediate levels) which are taught by the two researchers. Once
a week, an activity is designed around an authentic video that relates to the topic of
the unit or lesson. The activity walks learners through pre-, while-and post stages to
navigate video content.

Participants

The participants are twenty-four students from a private bilingual teachers’

college (institución universitaria) majoring in English teaching who take English
lessons four days a week during two-hour periods. Students’ age range between 17
and 20 years of age. Ten participants from a Low Intermediate English course and
fourteen students from an Intermediate course have been part of the intervention.

50
 METHODOLOGY

This is an action research study that seeks to shed light on the effective use of
authentic materials in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. This
classroom-based study employs qualitative instruments to answer the research
questions. Qualitative data will be gathered by means of interviews, class
observations, and students’ journal entries to investigate learners’ response towards
the use of authentic materials in instruction, and to analyze linguistic growth.

 Pre-post semi-structured interviews will serve to know participants’ perceptions

of using authentic materials in their classes.
 Class observation field notes will be taken to account for students’ reactions
towards the materials and activities proposed, their potential use of new
vocabulary, and other significant events.
 An activity journal including new vocabulary and expressions to analyze in
depth will be kept by the project students.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Communicative Competence

The notion of communicative competence has been a basic tenet in the ESL
field for years dating back to the late sixties and early seventies. Thus, Hymes’ initial
definition of such notion has evolved into a more complex, descriptive model
comprising components such as linguistic, sociocultural, strategic, and discourse
competence (Canale 1983, in Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei, and Thurrell, 1995). Despite
changes and various proposals of a model (e.g., Canale, and Swain1980; Canale,
1980; Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei, and Thurrell, 1995), Gilmore (2007) asserts that five
components are accepted as the core of a model for communicative competence:
Linguistic competence, pragmalinguistic competence, sociopragmatic competence,
strategic competence, and discourse competence. These five competences will be
considered and explained for the purpose of this paper and they will be complemented,
as the need emerges, with ideas from the model proposed by Celce-Murcia et al.
(1995).

Linguistic Competence

This component entails knowledge related to lexis, morphology, syntax,

phonology, and orthography (when written) of the language. This is the most well-
known competence and the one that has received most attention in the English as a
Foreign Language (EFL) and ESL (English as a Second Language) fields.

Pragmalinguistic Competence

Knowledge of this component implies understanding of what a given utterance

expresses beyond its literal meaning as represented by speech acts and the speaker’s
intentions underlying words.

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Sociopragmatic Competence

Also known as sociocultural and actional competence (see Celce-Murcia et al.,

1995), this component entails knowledge of the social and cultural systems of a
language and what is considered appropriate within those systems. It moves beyond
words and utterances into non-verbal features accompanying language such as
gestures, body language and proxemics.

Strategic competence

Knowledge of this component means understanding and using communication

strategies appropriately as required by the situation. Gilmore (2007) listed four
subcomponents constituting this strategy, namely, avoidance or reduction strategies,
compensatory strategies, stalling strategies, and interactional strategies, while Celce-
Murcia et al. (1995) considered self-monitoring strategies in addition to the
four mentioned before.

Discourse competence

This competence refers to the knowledge required to produce coherent and

cohesive texts at the spoken and written levels. Celce- Murcia et al. (1995) suggested
five subcomponents to this competence: Cohesion, deixis, coherence, genre/generic
structure, and conversational structure.

Authentic Materials

Authentic materials have been associated to distinct meanings over the last
three decades, but two of the most objective definitions are the baseline to this study.
Morrow, 1977 (cited in Gilmore, 2007) defined authentic materials as “a stretch of real
language, produced by a real speaker or writer for a real audience and designed to
convey a real message of some sort” (p. 98). Zyzik and Polio (2017) opted for a more
specific definition, “authentic materials are those created for some real-world purposes
other than language learning, often, but not always, by native speakers for native
speakers” (p.4) The authors clarify that text refers to any spoken or written language
that is part of a set of materials. They also explain that materials can include pictures
without any language. That is to say, both spoken and written language samples are
considered authentic texts.

Involvement load hypothesis

Authentic videos are often used in the classroom to develop students’ listening
skills by exposing learners to pre-listening activities focused on pre-teaching
vocabulary; however, this strategy alone does not guarantee vocabulary learning
(Chang and Read, 2006). Some vocabulary research (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001)
suggests that three key factors lead to retention of words: need, search and
evaluation. These factors combine into what is called involvement constituting, thus,
the load involvement hypothesis as proposed by Laufer and Hulstijn (2001).

The need component is the motivational dimension of involvement. It is

concerned with the need to achieve. In regard to reading, for example, when the

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learner needs to understand the meaning of a word that is essential for
comprehension, she will experience the need to understand it. When writing or
speaking, if the learner wants to refer to a concept or an object, she will need to know
the meaning of the L2 word that is unfamiliar.

Search and evaluation constitute the cognitive dimension of involvement.

Search is defined as the effort to find the meaning of an unfamiliar word by using a
dictionary or consulting an expert. Evaluation entails whether a word fits or not a given
context. In a L2 writing task, for instance, in which an L1 word is looked up in the
dictionary, it is necessary for the learner to assess which is the most suitable
translation to be chosen for the specific meaning that is intended to be conveyed in
the L2 context. Laufer and Hulstijn (2001), claim that words that are processed with
higher involvement load will be better retained than words which are processed with
lower involvement load.

Simplification and Elaboration in L2 acquisition

In the English as a foreign language classroom, instruction is usually based on

text books that are often simplified and adapted to the level of language learners.
Although these textbooks help comprehension, they do not expose learners to the
wealth of authentic language they need in order to progress in their L2 learning
process. For this reason, Long (2015) advocates for elaboration, which is the process
of adding to a text rather than eliminating or reducing potentially difficult items. A
common technique in elaboration is redundancy which is attained by providing
repetition, synonyms, examples, or restatements for difficult lexical items. Teachers
should elaborate, as discussed by Long (2015), rather than simplifying, (Zyzick and
Polio, 2017) as various English textbooks tend to do.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Several research studies have demonstrated a positive effect of the integration

of various authentic materials on the development of students’ communicative
competence in English.

Gilmore’s (2011) study reports on a 10-month classroom-based longitudinal

investigation, exploring the potential of authentic materials to develop Japanese
learners’ communicative competence (i.e. linguistic, pragmalinguistic, sociopragmatic,
strategic, and discourse competencies) in English. The results indicated that the
experimental group outperformed the control group in five of the eight measures,
suggesting that the authentic materials and their associated tasks were more effective
in developing a broader range of communicative competencies in learners than the
textbook materials.

Similarly, Segueni (2016), explored the effect of a whole semester of exposure

to authentic materials (AM) on the development of foreign language learners’
communicative and pragmatic competence (i.e. pragmatic and discourse
competence). The results of the study showed that authentic materials not only
developed a wide range of communicative competences but were strongly appealing
to the participants in the experimental group. The increase demonstrated by the
experimental group in their confidence in understanding and producing speech acts is

53
the most significant result. Students became increasingly comfortable hearing English,
they understood more of the AM that they were exposed to. Furthermore, such type
of materials not only had positive impact on learners’ motivation but proved fit to
learners’ diverse learning needs as well.

In a local context, Castillo, Isuasty and Jaime (2017) carried out a research
study in a foreign language school at a Colombian public university. Its main purpose
was to analyze the extent to which the use of authentic materials and tasks contributes
to the enhancement of the communicative competence on an A2 level English course.
A mixed study composed of a quasi-experimental and a descriptive-qualitative
research design was implemented by means of a pre-test, a post-test, observations,
semi-structured interviews, surveys, and diaries. The findings showed that the use of
authentic materials and tasks, within the framework of a pedagogical project, had an
impact on students' communicative competence progress and on the teaching
practices in the experimental group.

The inherent difficulty (i.e. speed, reduced forms, and colloquial language) of
aural authentic materials has usually prevented educators from using them with
students at beginning levels. However, Maxim (2002), presents the design, results,
and implications from a study involving beginning college-level language students who
read a 142-page romance novel in their first semester of German. The study explored
the ways extensive reading at a beginning level affected general reading
comprehension and language proficiency. Maxim’s study concluded that students in
the first semester of German were able to read a long and unedited novel. In other
words, his study rejects the often-mentioned difficulty learners at the beginning level
have when working with authentic materials.

On the other hand, some studies have evidenced the usefulness of authentic
materials in the development of listening skills and vocabulary learning. Ghaderpanahi
(2012), examined the influences of authentic aural materials on listening ability of thirty
female undergraduate psychology majors studying English as a foreign language. The
findings of this study indicated that listening comprehension in EFL students appeared
to have improved after they had experienced authentic listening materials in class. In
addition, Kraiova and Tsybaniuk (2015) analyzed the impact that authentic videos
have on the development of listening skills in a foreign language teaching process and
on the ways to increase the effectiveness of authentic video lessons in terms of
listening skills development. The implementation of authentic videos into the process
of listening comprehension development demonstrated positive results in increasing
the motivation of student, involving them into real communication process,
demonstrating them the natural way of speaking, providing them with authentic cultural
information and facilitating cultural adaptation.

In regard to the role of authentic materials and vocabulary learning, Ghanbari,

Esmaili and Rezam (2015) focused on teaching vocabulary using authentic materials
and its influence on learners’ vocabulary achievement. To this end, a population of 80
female Iranian EFL learners aged 17 to 20 were selected. The control group received
new vocabulary through their English textbook in each session and the experimental
group received the same vocabulary through an online newspaper in each session.
After a month, post-tests were run among all of the participants in both control and
experimental groups. The analysis of data showed that the vocabulary knowledge of

54
the participants developed in both groups but the experimental group significantly
outperformed the control group.

Other studies have explored the use of films and situations comedies (Martínez-
Flor, 2008; Washburn, 2001) as resources to help learners develop their pragmatic
competence, especially in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) settings where
students are less likely to have encounters with situations that could help them raise
awareness of the need for such competence.

ANTICIPATED FINDINGS

Preliminary Findings from students’ perspective

We have implemented the project by showing videos about various topics

connected to the course book content. For example, for the low intermediate course,
students watched video clips about survival stories, plastic pollution, and African
culture, while the intermediate students watched clips about street art and natural
resources. Thus far, some preliminary data are worth pointing out as will be described
as follows.

Based on the analysis of students’ comments, the following themes have emerged:

 Learning vocabulary in context. Students said that they enjoy learning new
words even though sometimes they feel overwhelmed by the amount they find.
They like the idea of studying words when they appear in the context of a video
because they can see how to use them in sentences and longer discourse.

 Deeper analysis of words. When students are asked to find the meaning of a
word and use it in context, they need to go through a deeper process (e.g.,
analyzing part of speech, noticing if the meaning fits the context) to be able to
demonstrate their understanding. This proves the involvement load hypothesis
as students explore its three components: need, search and evaluation.

 Motivation. Students have expressed feeling motivated about learning new

topics (e.g., culture, social and environmental issues) using the target
language. Also, motivation is boosted when they discover that they can
understand what speakers say even though they speak fast.

Preliminary Findings from teachers’ perspective

Based on the class observation and journal writing on the part of the teachers,
some topics can be highlighted as follows:

 Video activities enrich textbook activities by facilitating understanding and

promoting discussion.
 Video activities spice up the lessons.
 Students establish a connection between the topics and their lives more readily.
 They enjoy listening to real sources of information to practice their listening.

55
  The type of tasks proposed plays a key role in promoting students’ higher
involvement with the language and the topic.

CONCLUSION

Thus far we have observed that the integration of authentic materials by means
of video clips is an invaluable motivational tool that is worth considering when
designing lessons. Moreover, task design guiding the pre-, while-, and post-stages of
video watching is pivotal to ensure students’ higher involvement. Particularly, the post
stage provides learners with the opportunity to apply and use the new language to
carry out a more complex task.

REFERENCES

Castillo Losada, C. A., Insuasty, E. A., & Jaime Osorio, M. F. (2017). The impact of
authentic materials and tasks on students' communicative competence at a
Colombian language school. PROFILE Issues in Teachers' Professional
Development, 19(1), 89-104. http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/profile.v19n1.56763.
Celce-Murcia, M., Dörnyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1995). Communicative competence: A
pedagogically motivated model with content specifications. Issues in Applied
linguistics, 6(2), 5-35.
Gilmore, A. (2007). Authentic materials and authenticity in foreign language learning.
Language Teaching, 40(2), 97-118.
Gilmore, A. (2008). Getting real in the language classroom: developing Japanese
students' communicative competence with authentic materials (Doctoral
dissertation, University of Nottingham). Retrieved from
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11928/1/478936.pdf
Gilmore, A. (2011). “I Prefer Not Text”: Developing Japanese Learners’ Communicative
competence with Authentic Materials. Language Learning, 61, 786–819.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-9922.2011.00634
Ghaderpanahi, L. (2012). Using authentic aural materials to develop listening
comprehension in the EFL classroom. Canadian Center of Science and
Education, 5, 146-153. doi:10.5539/elt.v5n6p146
Ghanbari, N., Esmaili, F., & Rezam, M. (2015). The effect of using authentic materials
on Iranian EFL Learners’ vocabulary learning. Theory and Practice in Language
Studies, 5, 2459-2468. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0512.05
Kraiova, O. & Tsybaniuk, T. (2015). Use of authentic video materials in teaching
listening. Modern Information Technologies in The Sphere of Security and
Defence, 3(24), 141-144. Retrieved
from http://sit.nuou.org.ua/article/view/74451/71063
Laufer, B., & Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language:
The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied linguistics, 22(1), 1-26.
Long, M. H. (2015). Second language acquisition and task-based language teaching.
Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Maxim, H. (2002). A study into the feasibility and effects of reading extended authentic
discourse

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 in the beginning German language classroom. The Modern Language Journal,
86(1), 20-35.
Martínez-Flor, A. (2007). Analyzing request modification devices in films: Implications
for pragmatic learning in instructed foreign language contexts. In E. Alcón Soler
& M. P. Safont Jordà (Eds.), Intercultural language use and language learning
(pp. 245-279). Netherlands: Springer.
Segueni, L. (2016). Developing learners communicative and pragmatic competence
using authentic
language data (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Briska University, Nigeria.
Washburn, G. N. (2001). Using situation comedies for pragmatic language teaching and
learning. TESOL Journal, 10(4), 21-26.
Zyzik, E. & Polio, C. (2017). Authentic materials myths: Applying second language
research to classroom teaching. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

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 APRENDIZAJE INTEGRADO DE CONTENIDOS Y LENGUA EXTRANJERA
(AICLE) Y ESTRATEGIAS DE LECTURA EN CIENCIAS NATURALES
Deisy Gomez
Colegio Buenavista Calasanz- IED

INTRODUCCIÓN

El presente artículo tiene como fin dar a conocer una de las metodologías más
innovadoras y de gran auge en el momento, Content Language Integrated Learning
(CLIL) o Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos en Lengua Extranjera (AICLE). Esta es
una metodología que busca desarrollar las habilidades comunicativas en una lengua
extranjera de forma integral con otras asignaturas, como las ciencias naturales, en
este caso. Es iniciativa de la investigadora aprovechar el auge de la metodología y
evaluar los efectos que tiene en el proceso de aprendizaje de un idioma. Para tal fin
se aplicó en el grado quinto A del Liceo Santa Bernardita una serie de seis guías de
lectura AICLE/CLIL en ciencias naturales con el propósito de instruir a los estudiantes
en el uso adecuado de las estrategias de lectura y evaluar su efectividad en el proceso
de lectura en inglés.

Asimismo, se buscó transversalizar las temáticas de ciencias naturales; lo cual

permitió el enriquecimiento del vocabulario en los estudiantes y la inmersión de ellos
en ambientes bilingües, para la adquisición de la lengua extranjera. Al hacer entrega
de este proyecto se busca dar a conocer los resultados, inquietudes y reflexiones
entorno al quehacer pedagógico y comentar la experiencia con la implementación de
AICLE/CLIL, aun conociendo las múltiples ventajas que genera esta metodología en
el aspecto emocional y motivacional.

En el presente trabajo el lector encontrará seis secciones, empezando por el

planteamiento del problema, la pregunta de investigación, los objetivos y los
antecedentes en torno a la problemática. En esta primera sección se resaltará la
dificultad en la adquisición y utilización del plan lector para el área de inglés, la falta
de motivación de los estudiantes en el aprendizaje de la misma, las investigaciones
que se han hecho en cuanto a la metodología AICLE/CLIL y las estrategias de lectura
en lengua extranjera. La segunda sección contiene el marco teórico de la
investigación, dividido en cuatro grandes constructos que son: el concepto de
AICLE/CLIL, las ciencias naturales como asignatura de contenido, las estrategias de
lectura y la incidencia de los factores afectivos en el aprendizaje de una lengua
extranjera.

En la tercera sección, se hará un breve recorrido por los estamentos legales

que rigen la enseñanza de la lengua extranjera como los estándares y el programa
nacional de inglés entre otros. La cuarta sección referente a la metodología ilustrará
el enfoque metodológico (investigación-acción) y los instrumentos de recolección de
información, entre los que están la encuesta inicial yfinal, las seis guías de lectura
AICLE/CLIL en ciencias naturales, la prueba inicial yfinal, así como las reflexiones de
los estudiantes y el diario del docente.

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 Seguidamente, en la quinta parte se presentará la propuesta pedagógica, la
cual, como se mencionó anteriormente, consiste en la aplicación de seis guías de
lectura AICLE/CLIL en ciencias naturales, con el único objetivo de mejorar la
comprensión de lectura en los estudiantes, suplir la necesidad de un plan lector y
motivarlos en el proceso de aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera. Finalmente, la
sexta parte mostrará los resultados de la propuesta a través de la utilización de la
teoría fundamentada como metodología de análisis de datos, la cual arrojará las
conclusiones y reflexiones de la aplicación.

Dentro del contexto educativo del Liceo Santa Bernardita se encontraron

algunos problemas durante el primer periodo escolar 2016, detectados mediante la
observación sistemática en las clases de inglés y registrados en diarios de campo.
Allí se describen e interpretan las experiencias vividas en el aula de clase con los
estudiantes de quinto A. Con base en tales observaciones se descubrió que los
estudiantes de este grado presentan dificultad en las cuatro habilidades del lenguaje,
especialmente en la comprensión lectora.

La dificultad radicaba en la falta de un plan lector en inglés y en la carencia de

material literario dentro de las clases. El colegio y los docentes no habían permitido
ni se habían preocupado por la adquisición de libros de literatura o la utilización de
diferentes textos auténticos dentro de la clase de inglés, por lo cual, las clases
carecían de contextos culturales y además de creatividad de los docentes al momento
de proponer estrategias. A esto sumamos que no había espacios que propiciaran la
puesta en escena de los conocimientos adquiridos y la interacción con otros dentro y
fuera del aula en una lengua extranjera. Esta problemática también hacía que los
estudiantes mostraran apatía a la clase de inglés y sintieran frustración e inseguridad
al llegar a grados superiores.

Por lo tanto se propuso utilizar guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL en ciencias

naturales como estrategia orientada a dar un giro a las clases de inglés y a cambiar
la metodología de la enseñanza de la misma. Como tal, la propuesta es innovadora
en la medida en que aporta a la institución una herramienta para el desarrollo de la
comprensión lectora en los estudiantes, para abordar la falta de motivación en las
clases de inglés y además propone a los docentes una metodología que les permite
incentivar, innovar, motivar a los estudiantes y encaminarlos en el gusto por la lectura
y en el aprendizaje del idioma inglés desde otra perspectiva.

METODOLOGÍA

La metodología a utilizar es la Investigación Acción (IA), que en palabras de

Elliot citado por Murillo (2010) “es el estudio de una situación social con el fin de
mejorar la calidad de la acción dentro de la misma”. (pag.4) Esta metodología se
entiende como una reflexión sobre las acciones del docente y las situaciones sociales
vividas por el profesorado, que tiene como objetivo ampliar la comprensión de
problemas prácticos y realizar reflexiones en torno al mismo. Las acciones van
encaminadas siempre a transformar las situaciones una vez se logre la comprensión
profunda del problema.

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 Con la utilización de la investigación-acción se pretende cuestionar las
prácticas educativas, las experiencias pedagógicas y reflexionar acerca de ellas
haciendo posteriormente explícitos los resultados o consecuencias que llevan
consigo. Dentro de las características de la metodología están: primero, el
comprender, mejorar y transformar las prácticas educativas; segundo, acercarse a la
realidad fomentando un cambio y generar conocimiento. Por último es un proceso que
se caracteriza por ser cíclico donde hay acción y reflexión en todo momento.

Los instrumentos aplicados en el Liceo santa Bernardita en el grado quinto A que

permitieron la recolección de la información fueron los siguientes:

● Prueba (Inicial y final): De acuerdo con Hernández (2014), las pruebas o los
diagnósticos muestran el estado actual y final de los participantes con respecto a
una o más variables. Así pues, este instrumento permitió evidenciar el nivel de
comprensión lectora y las estrategias utilizadas antes y después de la
implementación. También se observaron las fortalezas y las debilidades en el
proceso de lectura, lo que permitió la elección de las estrategias que se
trabajarían durante la implementación.

● Encuesta (Inicial y final): Según afirma Tamayo (2000), la elaboración de una

encuesta requiere del investigador un conocimiento previo del fenómeno objeto
de investigación, lo cual debe realizarse en la primera etapa del trabajo. A partir
de esta afirmación la investigadora realizó una serie de preguntas para analizar
los intereses, deseos e incluso inquietudes que tenían los estudiantes con
respecto al aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera y a la implementación de AICLE/
CLIL. En este sentido, Eyssautier (2000) afirma que las preguntas deben ser
cuidadosamente preparadas tomando como base la relación del problema que se
investiga y la hipótesis a comprobar.

● Guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL: Gracias a las encuestas se pudo crear un plan de

acción donde surgió la idea del diseño de guías de lectura bajo el enfoque
metodológico de CLIL; el cual tuvo como objetivo primordial fortalecer el proceso
de comprensión de lectura en inglés y contribuir a la instrucción de estrategias de
lectura. La investigadora diseñó y aplicó seis guías de lectura con diferentes
estrategias. En palabras de Quintana, (2006):

“El taller es tanto una técnica de recolección de información, como de análisis

y de planeación. La operatividad y eficacia de esta técnica requiere un alto
compromiso de los actores y una gran capacidad de convocatoria, animación,
y conducción de los investigadores” (p. 72).

Lo que quiere decir este autor es que la intervención y motivación del docente es
primordial al momento de introducir un instrumento como las guías al grupo de
estudiantes, pues fue algo que modificó la cotidianidad del grupo.

● Reflexiones de los estudiantes: Este instrumento tuvo como objetivo conocer la

reacción de cada estudiante frente a la utilización de AICLE/CLIL en la clase de
inglés y los sentimientos o conocimientos que adquirieron en cuanto a las
estrategias de comprensión de lectura. En este caso, las reflexiones del estudiante

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 son pertinentes, ya que constituyen una herramienta que nos permite registrar la
perspectiva de los estudiantes frente a la aplicación. El ejercicio de reflexión por
parte de los estudiantes es considerado un elemento importante del proceso de
aprendizaje, debido a que le permite descubrir nuevos caminos dentro de este.

● Diarios de campo: los diarios de campo fueron un instrumento que permitió al

docente registrar todas las experiencias, sentimientos y percepciones frente a la
puesta en escena de las guías de lectura y los demás instrumentos. Según afirma
Hernández (2014), “la bitácora tiene la función de documentar el procedimiento de
análisis y las propias reacciones del investigador al proceso y contiene
fundamentalmente anotaciones sobre el método, respecto a las ideas, en relación
con la credibilidad y verificación del estudio”. (p.633). En el transcurso de la
investigación se realizaron 8 diarios de campo en dos meses aproximadamente.

En este sentido, todos los instrumentos descritos aportaron de manera

significativa al proceso de análisis, pues no solo se dio cuenta de lo que ocurría al
interior de las clases, las percepciones y sentimientos de los estudiantes, sino de los
intereses y necesidades inmediatas. Por ende, se hizo y aplicó una propuesta de
intervención pedagógica para cambiar las realidades percibidas mediante la
implementación de las guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL en ciencias naturales, que
pretendían mejorar la competencia lectora de los estudiantes en alguna medida y que
buscaba promover la utilización de nuevas metodologías dentro del proceso de
enseñanza- aprendizaje del inglés.

La población que nos permitió obtener la muestra fue tomada de la institución

educativa Liceo Santa Bernardita en el sur de Bogotá (Barrio Venecia) de carácter
privado y que cuenta con jornada única, las actividades académicas empiezan a las
6:50 a.m. hasta las 2:15 p.m. La intensidad horaria en la asignatura es de 5 horas
semanales donde una de ellas pertenece al proyecto piloto “Science Content in the
Reading Class“, que se implementó en el último periodo del año escolar. En general
el colegio tiene la participación de 1100 estudiantes en una única jornada; el cuerpo
de docentes está conformado por 60 docentes con títulos profesionales, quienes se
desenvuelven en las diferentes áreas del saber.

Dentro de los grupos hay cerca de 28 a 30 estudiantes por salón, los cuales
son amplios, cuentan con buena ventilación, iluminación y un televisor por curso con
entrada USB en perfectas condiciones. La muestra para el proyecto de investigación
se tomó del grado quinto A, donde había 28 estudiantes de los cuales, 16 son niños
y 12 niñas, de edades entre 9 y 11 años. La mayoría de ellos, estudiantes antiguos
que viven cerca al sector. Las familias pertenecen a estrato socioeconómico 2, con
padres muy dispuestos en el proceso de enseñanza, en su mayoría profesionales. De
la población en general se tomaron 12 para la muestra final, los cuales fueron
seleccionados de manera no probabilística, con un muestreo aleatorio simple
(Hernández, 2014).

61
 INTERVENCIÓN PEDAGÓGICA

El diseño, aplicación y evaluación de guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL en ciencias

naturales en inglés parte del diagnóstico inicial donde se hacía evidente la falta del
plan lector en lengua extranjera desde el currículo, y la falta de motivación de los
estudiantes en el proceso de aprendizaje del inglés. La observación sistemática,
directa, y la aplicación de una prueba inicial en lectura permitieron identificar las
necesidades y debilidades en el proceso de lectura en lengua extranjera, por lo cual
surge la idea de crear guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL que fomenten el interés por
aprender inglés y a su vez se fomente el gusto por la lectura desde las ciencias
naturales.

Esta propuesta tiene como fin responder a los intereses, expectativas y

necesidades de los estudiantes en el proceso de lectura. Para tal objetivo se buscará
instruir a los estudiantes en el uso de estrategias de lectura haciendo del aprendizaje
del inglés una experiencia agradable, práctica, innovadora y significativa, a través de
contenidos de ciencias naturales. Se espera que tal iniciativa sea acogida y abordada
de la mejor manera tanto para estudiantes como para docentes.

El diseño de estas seis guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL pretende fortalecer e

incrementar la comprensión lectora en inglés a través de los contenidos temáticos de
ciencias naturales. Ellas fueron diseñadas teniendo en cuenta la malla curricular de
ciencias para los grados quinto, los estándares del mismo y el diseño metodológico
de AICLE/CLIL. Además veremos que su estructuración responde a los tres tiempos
de lectura: un Before-reading, donde se trabajó vocabulario, videos científicos,
discusiones, etc. Un let´s read or reading time donde se muestra la estrategia lectora
a utilizar, y por último se hace una breve presentación after reading donde se pone
en evidencia la utilización de la estrategia lectora a través de preguntas de
comprensión lectora. Cabe mencionar que la aplicación de estas guías de lectura se
realizó semanalmente permitiendo en la clase de inglés practicar las estrategias de
diferentes formas.

De otra parte, las guías presentadas a los estudiantes incluyeron unos

momentos de “reflexión”, donde al final de cada aplicación el estudiante podía escribir
lo que había aprendido y la estrategia que había utilizado. Esto permitió al docente
analizar cómo se estaban sintiendo los estudiantes con la estrategia implementada.
Las guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL son una propuesta de apoyo para docentes del Liceo
Santa Bernardita que reúne ciertas características que las hacen un instrumento útil,
innovador y con muchas ventajas, no sólo invitan al docente sino a los estudiantes a
concebir el aprendizaje del Inglés desde otras áreas y perspectivas permitiendo la
interdisciplinariedad y el disfrute por aprender de otras formas en un mundo
globalizado y cambiante.

De acuerdo con los objetivos específicos de la propuesta se diseñaron e

Implementaron seis guías de lectura basadas en el modelo AICLE/CLIL en ciencias
naturales de la siguiente manera y en el siguiente orden. Estas guías responden a la
necesidad de implementar la lectura en inglés y la utilización de una metodología
integradora.

62
 Después de cada aplicación los estudiantes realizaban una pequeña “reflexión”
de su trabajo. En cada clase los estudiantes respondieron a preguntas como ¿Te
gustó la lectura? ¿Qué estrategias de lectura utilizaste? escribe algunas palabras que
hayas aprendido hoy y ¿Qué aprendiste hoy? Lo cual nos ayudó para el diseño de las
próximas guías de lectura.

Desafortunadamente, se debe decir que el tiempo fue muy corto y que la

aplicación puede ser mucho más prolongada para promover la lectura en otras
asignaturas e implementar la estrategia de manera transversal. Sin embargo los
resultados fueron favorables y aunque el avance no fue en gran medida, sí fue
significativo para todos.

ANÁLISIS DE DATOS

El análisis de datos realizado quiso retomar las técnicas y procedimientos de

la teoría fundamentada de una manera muy sencilla. El real objetivo en el análisis de
datos fue indagar sobre las prácticas pedagógicas que se realizan en el ambiente
escolar y reflexionar acerca de ellas. En este sentido, la presente sección mostrará el
recorrido metodológico que siguió la investigación, los resultados, las reflexiones
obtenidas y las conclusiones que arrojaron la puesta en escena de la metodología
AICLE/CLIL a través de guías de lectura. Las fuentes de recolección de información
fueron variadas, se utilizaron: encuesta inicial, prueba inicial, guías AICLE/CLIL,
reflexiones, encuesta final y prueba final. Cabe destacar que fueron seis talleres de
comprensión lectora aplicados semanalmente dentro de la clase de Science Content
In The Reading Class por dos meses aproximadamente.

En un primer momento de investigación se realizó la codificación y

categorización de los hallazgos encontrados a partir de la información preliminar. El
proceso de codificación realizado en la investigación consistió en dos etapas
denominadas por Strauss y Corbin (2002) Codificación Abierta y Codificación Axial.
Estos autores definen la codificación abierta como el proceso analítico por medio del
cual se identifican los conceptos y se descubren en los datos sus propiedades y
dimensiones. Para ello se analizaron en detalle (o frase por frase) los datos. En el
estudio, la codificación abierta consistió básicamente en separar, frase por frase, el
texto obtenido con los instrumentos de recolección: encuesta inicial, prueba inicial,
reflexiones, encuesta final, prueba final y diario de campo del docente mediante la
técnica de rotulación, luego se procedió a codificar los segmentos de texto referidos
a un mismo tema. Así, se optó por asociar cada concepto obtenido a un color,
correspondiente con una categoría y subcategoría concreta, así como también a las
notas, que sirvieron para facilitar la posterior descripción de las categorías y
subcategorías obtenidas por cada instrumento de estudio.

Después surge el proceso de rotulado de donde se desprenden los siguientes códigos

y categorías preliminares. Estos códigos pueden ser tomados como subcategorías de
clasificación.

63
 CATEGORÍAS PRELIMINARES
APLICACIÓN EN AICLE/CLIL COMO PROCESOS DE
LAS CIENCIAS METODOLOGÍA LECTURA

CÓDIGOS (subcategorías)
MAC: motivación por MC: motivación por CLIL ML: motivación por la
el apz en ciencias CA: continuidad de la lectura
SECC: sugerencias aplicación DC: dificultad en la
en la clase de ciencias OCC: oportunidad de comprensión.
TIC: temor por la conocer culturas UE: utilización de
implementación en AC: actividades CLIL estrategias.
ciencias. EC: estructura de CLIL EAV: evidencia de
RC: refuerzo de los IC: interés en CLIL adquisición de
conocimientos. vocabulario.
RT: repetición en las GXL: gusto por la
temáticas lectura.
CC: conocimientos en AL: aburrimiento en la
ciencias. lectura.
RCC: refuerzo de EUE: Evidencia en la
conocimientos en utilización de
ciencias estrategias.
CPEC: conocimientos EL: estrategia de lectura.
previos en ciencias CP: complejidad en las
IVC: interés en los preguntas
videos científicos
Tabla 1: clasificación de subcategorías y categorías.

En esta matriz de colores se puede observar ciertos temas claves que dejan
entrever algunas categorías preliminares en las que se encuentran “aplicación en las
ciencias naturales” (en verde) “AICLE/CLIL como metodología (en rojo) y “proceso de
lectura” (en azul). Así mismo se observan unos códigos (subcategorías) como son
motivación por el aprendizaje en ciencias, motivación por AICLE/CLIL, motivación por
la lectura, etc.

En un segundo momento se realizó la codificación axial, que para Strauss y

Corbin (2002) es el proceso de relacionar las categorías a las subcategorías. Con este
fin, se procedió a una integración y refinación de los temas clave obtenidos a partir de
la codificación abierta, determinando así las relaciones entre las categorías y
subcategorías; así como sus dimensiones y propiedades. Este proceso se realizó así:

SUBCATEGORÍAS PRELIMINARES SUBCATEGO

APLICACIÓN EN CLIL COMO PROCESOS RÍAS
LAS CIENCIAS METODOLOGÍA DE FINALES
LECTURA

CÓDIGOS (subcategorías)

64
 MAC: motivación por MC: motivación ML: FACTORES
el apz en ciencias por CLIL motivación EMOCIONAL
por la lectura ES EN LA
TIC: temor por la IC: interés en GXL: gusto APLICACIÓN
implementación en CLIL por la lectura. DE
ciencias. AL: CLIL EN
aburrimiento CIENCIAS
en la lectura.

SECC: sugerencias OCC: UE:

en la clase de oportunidad de utilización de ESTRATEGIA
ciencias conocer culturas estrategias. S DE
IVC: interés en los EUE: LECTURA
videos científicos Evidencia en PARA LA
la utilización COMPRENSI
de ÓN.
estrategias.
EL: estrategia
de lectura.
EAV:
evidencia de
adquisición
de
vocabulario.
RC: refuerzo de los AC: actividades CP:
conocimientos. CLIL complejidad REFUERZO
RT: repetición en las EC: estructura de en las DE SABERES
temáticas CLIL preguntas EN CIENCIAS
CC: conocimientos en DC: dificultad A TRAVÉS DE
ciencias. CA: continuidad en la ACTIVIDADE
RCC: refuerzo de de la aplicación comprensión. S CLIL
conocimientos en
ciencias
CPEC:
conocimientos
previos en ciencias

Tabla 2. Cruce de categorías.

En un tercer momento se realiza la codificación selectiva donde se procede a

integrar y refinar las categorías finales emergentes con el fin de obtener una
explicación a la práctica educativa realizada y generar reflexiones o planes de mejora
en torno a ésta. Así pues, observamos la agrupación de los códigos (subcategorías)
y las subcategorías preliminares para refinar las categorías finales y concluir las que
pueden en algún momento convertirse en un sustento básico para la construcción de
la categoría central que dará respuesta a nuestra pregunta investigativa. Así entonces
encontramos en color rojo “los factores emocionales en la aplicación de AICLE/CLIL
en ciencias”, en azul “las estrategias de lectura para la comprensión” y en verde el
“refuerzo de saberes en ciencias a través de actividades AICLE/CLIL”.

65
 SUBCATEGORÍAS FINALES
FACTORES REFUERZO DE
EMOCIONALES EN ESTRATEGIAS DE SABERES EN
LA APLICACION LECTURA PARA LA CIENCIAS A
DE COMPRENSIÓN. TRAVÉS DE
CLIL EN CIENCIAS ACTIVIDADES CLIL

CATEGORÍA CENTRAL

● CLIL EN CIENCIAS: EMOCIÓN Y ESTRATEGIA EN LA

LECTURA PARA UNA MAYOR COMPRENSIÓN.

Tabla 3. Codificación selectiva

Vale decir que el nombre de la categoría central, en concordancia con lo que

expresan Strauss y Corbin (2002), surgió como producto de una reflexión constante
por parte del investigador en torno a los hallazgos e interpretaciones que emergieron
a lo largo de la lectura de los diarios de campo, encuestas, pruebas y la revisión
bibliográfica realizada.(p.101) No obstante, se debe mencionar que la investigación
no solo fue de carácter cualitativo sino cuantitativo por lo cual los resultados obtenidos
en las prueba de entrada, prueba de salida donde salen a relucir y nos muestran en
gran medida el avance significativo en comprensión lectora de los estudiantes de 5A
como se muestra a continuación en la explicación de las subcategorías que
emergieron.

Finalmente, los anteriores resultados de las tres categorías interpretativas en

gran medida fortalecen la categoría central que busca darle nombre al fenómeno que
explicara nuestra pregunta de investigación ¿En qué medida CLIL en ciencias
naturales contribuye al desarrollo de estrategias de comprensión lectora y
conocimiento sobre temas de ciencias naturales en inglés? Los datos y estadística
analizados dan como resultado la explicación a nuestra pregunta investigativa, así
entonces podemos decir que la aplicación de CLIL EN CIENCIAS: EMOCIÓN Y
ESTRATEGIA EN LA LECTURA PARA UNA MAYOR COMPRENSIÓN generó
factores emocionales que permitieron la aceptación de una estrategia nueva como
AICLE/CLIL.

La aplicación de las guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL en ciencias no solo ayudó a los

estudiantes a adquirir cierto grado de competencia lectora en lengua extranjera
mediante el uso discreto de estrategias, sino que aumentó la seguridad, motivación
en la clase de inglés y de ciencias. Estos aspectos son reveladores en la medida en
que si bien es sabido la comprensión lectora incide en la calidad del aprendizaje,
convirtiéndose en muchos casos en determinante de los éxitos o fracasos académicos
por lo cual podemos decir que hemos contribuido a reducir el nivel de frustración y
temor en el aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera en el Liceo Santa Bernardita

66
 CONCLUSIONES

Los resultados de la aplicación de las seis guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL en el

grado quinto A, mostraron que el entrenamiento de los estudiantes en la utilización de
estrategias de lectura fue favorable y dio fruto en mejores procesos de comprensión
lectora y la motivación en el aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera al final. Aunque la
mayoría de los estudiantes tenían un buen nivel de inglés, fue retadora la experiencia
y causó en algunos cierto miedo, temor e incluso frustración desde el principio. Si bien
nadie se rehusó, había algo de incertidumbre en la implementación de ciencias en
inglés. Al final los estudiantes mostraron interés, cambio de actitud, mayor confianza
y seguridad, pues los temas no eran desconocidos para ellos. Además, se observó
que a medida que se desarrollaban las guías de lectura, había mayor participación en
la lectura al público, lo cual pudo evidenciarse en los diarios de campo del docente, e
incluso en las encuestas, donde los estudiantes demostraron un cambio de actitud de
principio a fin y mayor disposición por aprender, gracias a las guías de lectura
AICLE/CLIL.

El proceso de comprensión de lectura se dio poco a poco pero de manera muy

positiva, la experiencia mostro que los estudiantes al enfrentarse a un texto en inglés,
relacionaban el vocabulario que sabían para darle sentido y utilizaron estrategias
adicionales, las cuales marcaron la diferencia respecto a la lentitud en la lectura y su
comprensión. Las estrategias adicionales utilizadas en primera instancia fue el uso
del diccionario, la consulta a terceros (docente) y la contextualización. Esto reveló el
interés del estudiante por descubrir el significado del texto. Posteriormente el proceso
de comprensión de lectura avanzó a un segundo nivel donde los estudiantes dejan la
traducción de palabras claves y un poco la utilización del diccionario y se arriesgan a
hacen lectura de ideas completas. El avance se empezó a ver cuándo los estudiantes
no solo utilizaban la estrategia específica de la clase sino empleaban varias en
conjunto, si recordamos en la prueba inicial los estudiantes obtuvieron el 2.44 en el
promedio de la nota y terminaron logrando una nota de promedio de 3.41 esto muestra
el progreso en la lectura y su comprensión.

Por otra parte, no solo se pretende mostrar la medida en que avanzaron los
estudiantes sino en el conocimiento de las estrategias de lectura que obtuvieron y que
les servirá para cualquier contexto. También el cambio actitudinal, motivacional fue
muy positivo, la aplicación de AICLE/CLIL brindó un nuevo aire al momento de
aprender en inglés otras asignatura como fue ciencias. Debemos mencionar que el
incremento de seguridad propició la interacción de los estudiantes con diferentes tipos
de textos y lecturas a la vez que el nivel de autonomía surgió y la frustración se olvidó,
el docente también proporcionó esta seguridad y dejo ver a los estudiantes que el
objetivo no era tanto enfocarse en las estructura gramatical de la lengua sino aprender
otros contenidos interesante a través de la lengua extranjera.

Además, fue muy alentador saber que por parte de las directivas el proyecto
se implementará desde el próximo año con intensidad de una hora semanal con el
nombre de SCIENCE CONTENT IN THE READING CLASS, este proyecto buscará
fortalecer el desarrollo de las competencias comunicativas en inglés desde otras
áreas. En general la propuesta de las guías de lectura AICLE/CLIL en ciencias
naturales fue acogida por estudiantes, maestros y directivas a pesar del corto tiempo

67
que se implementó. Solo se espera que el trabajo anime a los docentes a seguir
innovando en su quehacer pedagógico, en la investigación y surjan nuevas
propuestas. Los resultados indican que los estudiantes se vieron motivados y
seducidos por la estrategia y aún más por la implementación de una metodología
diferente como lo es AICLE/CLIL al igual que notaron su progreso en la lectura en
lengua extranjera y su gusto por ella.

En el caso específico de los docentes de lenguas extranjeras, es importante

mostrar al estudiante que es valioso el conocer las estrategias de lectura dando a los
alumnos la posibilidad que utilicen estas en diferentes situaciones, contextos, áreas,
etc para promover la práctica y la experticia de ellas en grados superiores. Para tal fin
se debe proponer perseguir por todos los medios la integración de un modo implícito
y explícito la utilización de estrategias de lectura de manera sistemática y efectiva en
el aula asimismo la metodología de enseñanza AICLE/CLIL.

En conclusión, aunque la investigación no se mencionó el trabajo autónomo

como objeto de estudio, es relevante mencionar que el uso de las estrategias y el
incremento de la seguridad crearon o desarrollaron un nivel de autonomía en los
estudiantes que al final fue muy notorio, pues el docente brindó la instrucción y los
estudiantes conocían cómo utilizar. No obstante el grado de autonomía logrado no
quiere decir que el estudiante logró convertirse en lector autónomo pero sí se vio
motivación por investigar sobre los temas vistos y trabajados en ciencias. A manera
personal se sugiere indagar sobre el tema en futuras investigaciones para conocer
realmente el papel de la autonomía en el uso de las estrategias de comprensión
lectora.

REFERENCIAS

Murillo, T, F. (2010). Investigación Acción. Curso 2010-2011. Pag 4,5,6.

Recuperado de:
https://www.uam.es/personal_pdi/stmaria/jmurillo/InvestigacionEE/Presentaciones/C
urso_10/Inv_accion_trabajo.pdf
Hernández, S. (2014). Metodología de la investigación. México D.F.: McGraw-Hill.
Recuperado de:https://competenciashg.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/sampieri-et-al-
metodologia-de-la-investigacion-4ta-edicion-sampieri-2006_ocr.pdf
Eyssautier, M. (2000). Metodología de la investigación. México: Editorial ECAFSA,
4ª ed. 2000
Tamayo, M. El proceso de la investigación científica. (3ra. ed.). México: Editorial
Limusa. 2000
Quintana, P, A. (2006). Metodología de Investigación Científica Cualitativa .Lima,
Perú. Pg 72. Recuperado de:
http://cienciassociales.webcindario.com/PDF/Cualitativa/Inv_quintana.pdf
Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (2002). Bases de la Investigación Cualitativa. Técnicas
y Procedimientos para Desarrollar la Teoría Fundamentada. Bogotá - Colombia:
CONTUS - Editorial Universidad de Antioquia.pg 101-13

68
MEANINGFUL STRATEGIES FOR THE TEACHING OF HISTORY IN BILINGUAL
PROGRAMS

Julio Bernal
Institución Universitaria Colombo Americana – ÚNICA

INTRODUCTION

History classes can be meaningful, interesting and joyful, the only things
needed are strategies that engage students in this subject. History classes are
important for the development of the student since they provide them with skills that
they need to perform successfully in the 21st century, for instance, collaboration,
communication, critical thinking and creativity. This is known by the teachers but not
by the students, and the main problem is that many students see the history subject
as a senseless and boring class that does not relate to them. Hence, the teacher needs
to create a class that mainly engage students in order to make understand the
importance of history.

Nowadays, teachers have many tools and strategies that they can use in order
to make their classes better. They have, for example, access to the Internet in which
they can find videos, games, activities that they can try in their classes. Activities that
other history teachers have tested and confirmed their effectiveness. Furthermore,
teachers must show this tool to students so they can take advantage of it by doing
something related to the class or the topic they are working with. Besides, although
students might not have access to the Internet, the teacher can propose many
activities and projects that students can enjoy and to develop better citizenship skills.

METHODOLOGY

The results from this research helped to develop several teaching

strategies for the teaching of history within social studies in bilingual programs. The
research had a hermeneutical approach that required data collected through a
database that included three data instruments. These instruments were: First, the
review of instructional documents (syllabi, lesson plans, curriculums, and textbooks),
second, interviews to coordinators and history professors from bilingual programs, and
finally class observation in three different Colombian colleges.

The methodology in this research had focused on three main aspects.

First, the social approach in bilingual programs that seeks the understanding of society
as a whole. Second, the development of language proficiency both in L1 and L2. This
stage includes proficiency as a product of the inclusion of content in the development
of language skills. And finally, the development of citizenship from various
methodologies in bilingual programs.

69
 OBJECTIVE

In this lecture, the main goal is to show some strategies and tools that will help
both teachers and students in the teaching/learning process of social studies and
history within bilingual programs.

MEANINGFUL STRATEGIES FOR THE TEACHING OF HISTORY IN BILINGUAL

PROGRAMS

Role play & Reenactments:

The role play strategy is very helpful since students feel very interested in
activities that are not very common. This activity consists in someone dressing up or
wearing a custom in relation to someone from the past, or someone who is important
for history. This activity has two faces, one is the role play, made by the students,
acting as an assigned character, and another one is suggested by Neil Bates (as cited
in Drury, 2013), in which the teacher is the one who wears the custom. In both cases,
the role players will have to follow the same suggestions given by Bates (as cited in
Drury, 2013):

Firstly, do your research. Get to know your historical figure and make notes. I
often write key points, dates and so on on Post-it notes and place them around
the room. I can then pace the room and check my facts as the interview
progresses. Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, get a prop. This can serve to
distinguish between when you are speaking as the person and when you are
back to being teacher. Borrowing from Ian Dawson, a simple tabard made from
sugar paper with the name of the character written on it will often suffice. Thirdly,
consider how teachers can create some atmosphere. For a medieval peasant,
conduct the interview by candlelight (be careful). (paragraph 7th)

The mainly differentiation is the outcome. Students have many possibilities, for
example, they can perform a play, perform presentations, museum’s reports, etc.
However, it is highly suggested that the teacher follows he activity mentioned by
teacher Neil Bates, an interview in which students will come up with questions to this
character.

And at the end do not underestimate the importance of a good debrief. Talk to
your class, find out what they have learned and encourage them to consider what else
they need to know. This last point is key to students developing an understanding that
history is a construct based upon the available evidence. Bates, N. (as cited in Drury,
2013, paragraph 8th)

Another meaningful strategy is reenactments, which consist in acting out

historical events such as civil wars, world wars, medieval wars, etc. This strategy is
very meaningful, according to Rhinehart, L. (2014). “Living history and reenactments
are both excellent means of teaching history in a manner that gives students the
hands-on experience they cannot receive from books alone.” (paragraph 10th)

70
Multiple intelligences Project Based Activities:

This strategy is formed by seven different outcomes, which are projects, and
these are going to be based on the seven intelligences proposed by Howard Gardner.
The purpose of this strategy is to let students choose what they want to do, and that
at the end of a certain period, they will have to show their projects based on the history
class. The seven intelligences used for this strategy are: linguistic,
logical/mathematical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and
intrapersonal. Students will be allowed to decide whether working alone or in limited
groups, which will depends on the teacher and the amount of students. Now, the
teacher will not impose the activity but will give suggestions and examples such as:

Linguistic intelligence: activity by the web page Parentree.com “Have your

child make a speech to you about the rights given to each individual by the Indian
constitution” (paragraph 9th). In this intelligence the best is to let them write or talk
about something about the history class. Students who think they feel better writing or
talking will choose it.

Logical/mathematical intelligence: suggested activity by Armstrong (1995)

“create a chronology of the famous inventions”. Or the suggested activity by the web
page Parentree.com “Analyze the reason behind similar historical events - World War
I, World War II, the Russian-Afghanistan War, the India-Pakistan war etc., and analyze
the reasons that triggered the wars” (paragraph 9th). I would highly recommend the
first one since it is suggested by the two sources.

Spatial Intelligence: suggested activity by Armstrong, T. (1995) “paint a mural

that shows the inventions in a social and historical context” in this one, the student can
draw, paint, or even if they are very creative, they can create a model. Suggested
activity by the web page Parentree.com “Paint old historical scenes. Make clay or
paper models of various tools used by ancient civilizations. See pictures of sculptures,
paintings and statues from history” (paragraph 9th).

Bodily/kinesthetic intelligence: suggested activity by Armstrong, T. (1995).

“present a dramatization about how certain inventions surged” Or the suggested
activity by the web page Parentree.com “play dumb charades to learn about various
historical occurrences” (paragraph 9th). Although this part is similar to the very first
suggested activity, the teacher can address them in different ways.

Musical intelligence: suggested activity by the web page Parentree.com

“show them how musical instruments evolved over time. Make up songs about various
historical event” (paragraph 9th). I would suggest mainly the last one, this one could
enrich highly the acquisition of new vocabulary since they need to look for words that
rhyme.

Interpersonal Intelligence: suggested activity by Armstrong, T. (1995).

“stablish a debate in a group about how an invention surged”. Or the suggested activity
by the web page Parentree.com “do a dual-learning scenario. Have your child learn
one lesson while their learning buddy learns another lesson. Let them explain the
lessons to each other.” (paragraph 9th).

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 Intrapersonal intelligence: suggested activity by the web page Parentree.com
“explain how they would react to meeting various historical figures” this one needs to
be very well since some students might think this one very easy, talk and talk and
that’s it.

Obviously, these activities need to be modified to what the teacher want them
to learn. Furthermore, they are examples, students are the ones who will choose the
way they want to show their learning. Besides, the use of technology in education has
also become as important as good teaching practices for teachers nowadays. It is
evident that learners are well involved with technological tools, and they are able to
manage them as well as passing the pages of a book. Taking this into account,
technology can be used to get and keep students engaged in the teaching and learning
process. Inside this document, there are also three pedagogical tool ideas that are
taken into consideration in order to improve learners’ history awareness; which are:
website, YouTube channel, and a picture project.

Website Design

This pedagogical tool will be created according to the class needs. That is, the
teacher has a syllabus with all the topics that will be covered during the class period;
some students will choose topics to prepare, or the teacher can assign them. The idea
is for the teacher to create a website in which students would add periodically every
topic they will cover in class. Furthermore, the teacher will give feedback to students
regarding to the content of their productions, and students can easily go back to what
they did and improve it if necessary; and also participate actively while going through
others’ production and commenting their perspective about their work.

The web page can also work as a “syllabus” in which the teachers posts all
assignments and the due dates of those. In this way, when a student is absent from
the class, s/he will have access to the schedule and will not be lost about what is
happening in class that day. According to Moulton (2008), “...teachers not only can
speed up access to materials but can also exponentially increase all students' access
to high-quality curriculum materials that directly support content.” (paragraph 5th).
Another useful way in which the teacher can work on the page is by providing links of
meaningful resources for students to practice and get a better understanding or gain
more knowledge from a reliable source.

In order to create a well-designed page, Anders (1999), addresses three things

to remember about website design: “content is king, content is king, content is king.
But in order to ensure its primacy, we must present the content in way that is attractive,
orderly, and, if possible, original.” (As cited in Costa, Costa, & Aparicio, 2004.
(paragraph 2nd). In order to fulfill this, it is necessary to take into account an adaptation
of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for the designing of the website; it is called The
Hierarchy of Website User Needs, as it is presented in six.revisions.

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 ● Accessibility: The website can be found and used by all people.
● Stability: The website is consistent and trustworthy.
● Usability: The website is user-friendly.
● Reliability: The website is consistently available, without downtime.
● Functionality: The website offers content, tools and services users value.
● Flexibility: The website adapts to needs and wants of users.

This tools is not only for students to reinforce their knowledge/awareness about
history, but it can be also useful for other students who will take the same class or
even for people who just feel interested about a specific topic or period of history.

YouTube Chanel Performance

In August 2017, YouTube was ranked as the second-most popular site in the
world by Alexa Internet; in this tool, the idea is to take advantage of another world tool
by creating a YouTube channel. The idea is to motivate students to practice their
language skills by explaining different history topics in short videos that will be
published on the channel. The teacher will also create his/her own videos for students
to feel encouraged and motivated to do it too.

There are eight reasons proposed by Jacqui Murray (s.f) about why students
should have different options to learn, and in this case, using videos:

● Video Teaching Strategies Help Practice Writing Skills

Before taping a video, students need to prepare the content by writing it according to
the suggestions and conventions made in class. They also need to create a script,
which needs to be revised by the teacher, and then they get a final written paper.

● Practice Speaking and Listening Skills

Students need to rehearse speaking and listening skills before taping the video in
order to get professional or well-developed video. They need to take into account the
audience they are and the purpose of the video, and also the type of task they are
going to present. Furthemore, they need to be knowledgeable in order to be
comfortable when filming in order to show reliability.

● Practice Research Skills

One of the first steps students should follow in order to be knowledgeable has to do
with research. They need to apply research skills when preparing the information they
are going to present in the video.

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 ● The Joy of Taping
Taping could demand some time and students need to enjoy doing this process; they
can have snacks, have fun, and share with their partners while doing it.

● Collaborate with a Group

Working collaboratively, students can distribute roles in order for each member of the
group to be in charge of doing something specific. They can help each other on the
different tasks and get good results.

● Avoid the Embarrassment and Stress of Live Presentations

Students can redo the video until they get their expectations or needs for the task
assigned. They can have feedback on it in order to avoid embarrassment and
mistakes.

● No “Death By Slideshow”
Most of the times presentations come by slides, and, as it is too repetitive, students
get bored. Using video made by themselves will help students to avoid this, they easily
engage and have active participation during the presentation.

● Few Techie Skills

In a way, one has to know how to start the video program, blend the pieces, edit/re-
edit, render, and publish, but once the video is completed, it's easy to replay in the
classroom. Rarely are there the types of problems that sometimes occur with
slideshows, plays, and posters.

Within this tool there is an expanding theory about education that is the Flipped
Classroom Model, proposed by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams 2014; making
the class more personalized by getting students involved in the teaching process, and
using the videos to make students engage in their own learning process.

Picture Project

Regarding the visual/spatial intelligence proposed by Gardner, it may help students

to learn or remember easily. The idea with this pedagogical tool is to create a project
to present at the end of the class period in which students recollect all that they think
is important for them to learn and remember the topics that were covered since the
beginning of the class period; they may take pictures of historical places, images of
objects, people, among others.

At the end on the class period, students will have the opportunity to show and present
in a creative way, all that they have recollected, answering different questions such as
why is it helpful? What is the importance? How does it help?

CONCLUSIONS

The use of history courses in Bilingual education requires the inclusion of

various disciplines that can provide several alternatives and explanations to the same
global issues. Adding as well, that higher education must bring all the elements
required to the development of critical thinking inside and outside the classroom

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especially for language teachers. This study recognized that the inclusion of the social
component represented in history classes was necessary to enrich any classroom
experience.

Bilingual Education in Colombia needs to benefit from the use of history classes
as a key element to understand social processes like the Colombian Peace Talks in
Havana or how is going to affect the raising discontent that is striking Venezuela to the
rest of Latin American nations.

Understanding global relationships in Bilingual education requires not only the use
of history classes, but also an interdisciplinary work that could include ethics;
nevertheless, in order to reach a better understanding of the impact of using history
classes in Bilingual education programs in Colombia, here there are some
recommendations for researchers and schools administrators.

● Identify the type of history classes that could be taught in particular Bilingual
programs.
● Step aside from the preconceptions of “history is not necessary for this
program”.
● In terms of building effective social skills. The interaction of several social
disciplines can help to educate better citizens.
● Provide content material with the endless options that history can offer to build
cognitive skills to future language teachers.
● Allow students to establish a genuine relationship with history in order to
understand social issues that can be explained using effective language skills.
● Avoid boring history lessons that can support the misconception that history is
just “memorization of unrelated data”.
● Use several teaching techniques that can promote comprehension. The use of
visual and multimedia material can foster the learning history in Bilingual
education programs.
● History readings can fill the gap when language teachers need to include the
social element pursuing better reading skills.
● Keep the students engaged with the endless possibilities that history can offer
to enrich any Bilingual program. Field trips, scavenger hunt, history contests
can promote a rich learning experience for language learners

REFERENCES

Costa, C. J., Costa, P., & Aparicio, M. (January, 2004). Principles for Creating
Web Sites: A Design Perspective. Retrieved from ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220709794_Principles_for_Creating_Web_
Sites_A_Design_Perspective
Drury, E. (April 29, 2013). Memorable history lessons: dress up, role play and
personal stories. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-
network/teacher-blog/2013/apr/29/history-teaching-ideas-role-play-personal-stories
Moulton, J. (February 19, 2008). The Classroom Web Page: A Must-Have in
2008. Retrieved from Edutopia: https://www.edutopia.org/classroom-web-page

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 Murray, J. (s.f.). Teaching Strategies: Benefits of Student Video Creation.
Retrieved from TeachHub.com: http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies-
benefits-student-video-creation
Parentree. (2009). Teaching children through interpersonal intelligence
(multiple intelligence) - Activities, Toys, Materials, Examples. [Blog post]. Retrieved
from Parentree: https://www.parentree.in/Blogs/796-Teaching-children-through-
interpersonal-intelligence--multiple-intelligence----Activities--Toys--Materials--
Examples.
_____________. Teaching children through intrapersonal intelligence (multiple
intelligence) - Activities, Toys, Materials, Examples. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
Parentree: https://www.parentree.in/Blogs/841-Teaching-children-through-logical-
mathematical-intelligence--multiple-intelligence----Activities--Toys--Materials--
Examples
_____________. Teaching children through spatial intelligence (multiple
intelligence) - Activities, Toys, Materials, Examples. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
Parentree: https://www.parentree.in/Blogs/792-Teaching-children-through-spatial-
intelligence--multiple-intelligence----Activities--Toys--Materials--Examples
_____________. Teaching children through logical-mathematical intelligence
(multiple intelligence) - Activities, Toys, Materials, Examples. [Blog post]. Retrieved
from Parentree: https://www.parentree.in/Blogs/841-Teaching-children-through-
logical-mathematical-intelligence--multiple-intelligence----Activities--Toys--Materials--
Examples
_____________. Teaching children through bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
(multiple intelligence) - Activities, Toys, Materials, Examples. [Blog post]. Retrieved
from Parentree: https://www.parentree.in/Blogs/808-Teaching-children-through-
bodily-kinesthetic--intelligence--multiple-intelligence----Activities--Toys--Materials--
Examples
_____________. Teaching children through linguistic intelligence (multiple
intelligence) - Activities, Toys, Materials, Examples. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
Parentree: https://www.parentree.in/Blogs/775-Teaching-children-through-linguistic-
intelligence--multiple-intelligence----Activities--Toys--Materials--Examples
_____________. Teaching children through musical intelligence (multiple
intelligence) - Activities, Toys, Materials, Examples. [Blog post]. Retrieved from
Parentree: https://www.parentree.in/Blogs/782-Teaching-children-through-musical-
intelligence--multiple-intelligence----Activities--Toys--Materials--Examples
Rhinehart Neas, L. M. (September 18, 2014). Making History Come Alive With
Roles and Reenactment. Retrieved from Bright Hub Education:
https://www.brighthubeducation.com/middle-school-history-lessons/65119-american-
history-role-play-and-reenactments/

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 AN INSIGHT INTO MULTICULTURALISM: A PROPOSAL FOR CONFLICT
RESOLUTION IN EFL CLASSES

Danna Ávila y Daniel Sánchez

Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, Colombia is going through a difficult but beneficial stage, which is

the Colombian peace process. This process has gained strength in the current
government of president Juan Manuel Santos who signed an agreement between the
Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, in
its Spanish acronym) with the purpose of avoiding the internal conflict in the country.

The agreement had been already signed in 2016, but, as teachers, we analyze
that there are still some prevailing remains of internal conflict in Colombia, this is:
Conflicts inside classrooms. We consider it is important to foster a peaceful process
of conflict resolution between students owing to school is the place in which students
are immersed in a context that is very similar to the society itself.

In this way, schools are one of the main places in which students are in contact
with their culture and new knowledge that go beyond classes; it means that students
have the opportunity to share ideas and to know the aspects of their own culture in
order to be successful citizens who understand their history and are aware of the
diversity of Colombian people.
For us, the very first solution of the biggest problems, such as violence, occurs
inside school when teachers apply strategies that can help students to solve their
problems without arguing or fighting. For that reason, it is very important that teachers
as well as schools provide a huge variety of tools, strategies and techniques which
can help students to acquire and practice their ability of being mediators in conflicts.

Because of that, for this project it is important to provide multicultural materials

as a possible solution to conflicts inside the classroom through the reinforcement of
values and peer interaction using the language and communication as a tool for
students to share ideas, feelings and emotions.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Certainly, as a teacher, it is common to dream with a “perfect” class in which

children care about their education and have a meaningful learning where their doubts
can be totally solved. It means that most of them conceive education as a powerful
tool which may help them to self-actualize and, consequently, to contribute to society.
Even more, we dream with an environment where students respect each other and
there is no presence of any sign of bullying. Considering that, a healthy environment

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helps students to feel comfortable and relaxed in order not to memorize content, but
to go deeply into each area of human knowledge. However, the reality is quite different.

As preservice teachers, we could notice that children frequently express their

needs or feelings through violent acts against their classmates instead of talking with
each other. For Fernández (cited in Arango & Guerrero, 2017) school violence is an
act which had the intention of dominating, attacking and hurting someone else; usually
exerted by the person who has more influence than others and then power
relationships take place (Arango & Guerrero, 2017).

For that reason, we might conclude that conflicts are situations also presented
in educational contexts, which affect individuals as well as the EFL class. This concern
emerged particularly from the observations registered in the field notes, which we have
written during our practicum in primary and secondary school, regarding children’s
development and demeanor in school where the situation becomes harder and class
has to be interrupted due to the physical aggressions inside the classroom. Chaux
(cited in Villar, 2010) expresses that violent contexts promote the development of
aggressive behaviors in children. This phenomenon is not only evidenced in villages
affected directly by armed conflict, it also happens in cities because of prejudices (e.g.,
racism and sexism) and violent communities and families. Therefore, most of the
learners tend to exclude and ignore people who are promoting conflicts inside and
outside the classroom, affecting not only their own performance inside the classroom
but also peer interaction. This fact can be evidenced at the moment of developing
English activities in which some of them prefer to work alone in order to avoid
“problems” or merely consider conflict situations as a normal part of the learning
process; ergo, they tend to normalize the aggressive behaviors in the classroom.

Different types of conflicts are found in classrooms and between students who
feel the consequences of it, even if they are not directly involved in the struggle. Based
on Arango & Guerrero (2017) there are two types of aggression: Physical that implies
injuries, and Verbal whose intention is to ridicule and to insult. Nonverbal language
such as facial expressions, attitudes or “dirty looks”, as well as profanity (swearing or
rude verbal language), cries and even physical aggressions are the most common
types of conflicts evidenced in context.

Consequently, conflicts not only affect the successful development of a class,

they also have other remarkable implications in English learners such as: Low
attention to the lesson, social isolation, stress, frustration, lack of interest, low
cooperative work and extreme consequences (possible expulsion and injured
children). Nevertheless, when there is a situation in which children can result injured
by the behavior of their classmates, the learning process will be adversely affected
and the development of it will be limited since it is necessary to stop any sign of
conflicts and violence. As a result, the English class will not be interesting, meaningful
and formative if there is not an appropriate environment to teach.

In this way, aggression and bullying are social issues that have affected strongly
our country and childhood since it is found in classrooms, streets, and so on. Based
on this assumption, we as colombian teachers consider that some people tend to
normalize a bad word, a push, or even a sarcastic laugh considering that they do not
comprehend those behaviors as violent acts and may fall in the error of understanding

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it as “kids’ game”. Conflicts sometimes start in schools with the smallest population
where students tend to practice some violent behaviors learnt in other contexts (like
TV, Internet…). As Chaux, Molano and Podlesky (2009) suggest in their study,
Education has to focus its effort in the development of cognitive and socio-emotional
competences as well as empathy between peers in order to reduce the emotional
insensibility that students may feel against their classmates through knowing the other
as a human being who deserve respect. Besides, we consider that Ideally everyone
can contribute with possible solutions to this kind of worries, in this way a bigger
problem can be avoided.

From our point of view, teachers must have more tools to solve these issues
(which may be provided by the government, schools, policies, the results of their own
investigation and more) and they also must apply as many strategies as possible to
manage effectively the situation inside pedagogical contexts.

Hence, as Tomlinson and Masuhara (cited in Shemshadsara, 2012) state,

learners can acquire cultural empathy and sensibility, be open-minded and be more
tolerant through increasing cultural awareness in class; it is because, as Tomlinson
(cited in Shemshadsara, 2012) analyze, cultural awareness develops inner sense of
the equality of cultures through the understanding of their own and foreign culture.
Thus, it is remarkable that teachers be prepared on cultural content in order to avoid
the replication of superficial approaches (Olaya & Gómez, 2013); it implies that
teachers must have a huge amount of knowledge regarding cultural aspects such as
slangs, traditions, history, laws and so on.

Since this perspective, the current project is going to propose a set of tales,
audio-visual recordings and multicultural activities. The material to be created is aimed
to promote tolerance and peer interaction among the students through adapted
material according to their proficiency and context. Because of that, the type of degree
work selected for the present project is “Creation and Interpretation”, a modality which
is focused on artistic works that can contribute to the field which is part of the research
concern.

RATIONALE

Violence in the Colombian context is not just a problem between the

government and the guerrillas, because inside the schools, new generations are
growing in hostile environments due to the behavior of their members. To reach an
actual peace inside our country implies the necessity of improving the coexistence
among us, so it is important to teach children and teenagers that dialog is a better way
to solve conflicts with others than hurt each other; due to the fact that conflicts have a
negative influence in several aspects including the learning process of the students.

An early attention to any sight of violence might have an enormous influence in

the future, considering that a society rich in values such as tolerance, respect and
responsibility tends to improve significantly its growth. Some of the perks to the society
include a positive progress in aspects such as living together and education.

One of the most remarkable features of language learning is an insight into the
cultures; therefore, the use of multicultural based resources which make students feel

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comfortable and identified, will surely help to increase their proficiency; on the other
hand, the decrease of violent situations inside the classroom will elicit a setting where
students are willing to learn. For that reason, the participants chosen for this project
are going to learn about different ways of solving problems without the use of violence
and simultaneously will improve their language skills; under these conditions, teachers
will work in healthier environments and will be able to focus their attention on their
learners needs instead of focusing on strategies to solve conflicts inside the
classroom.

RESEARCH QUESTION

What would be the influence and impact of the implementation of multicultural

based resources in peer interaction and conflict resolution?

Complementary question

How could multicultural practices reduce the frequency of conflicts inside the
classroom?

OBJECTIVES

General research objective

To create multicultural resources which involve communicative skills in an

attractive way for children taking into consideration the Colombian context and its
features.

Specific research objectives

To foster peer interaction and cooperative work between students through
multicultural activities.
To promote reading and listening through tales and audio-visual recordings.
To create functional materials to conflictive environments, attractive for children
and adaptable for different grades.
To analyze the impact of the materials implementation.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Multicultural-based resources

Any kind of resource is a field of study for education from the perspective that
based on materials, students’ motivation can increase or decrease. As Jánica and
Richards (cited in Jánica, Rey & Mendinueta, 2006) interpret: “They have to identify
themselves with their own culture to be ready to face a new one” (p. 158). In
accordance with Jánica, Rey and Mendinueta (2006) this statement refers to the
possibility that students can acquire a wider international understanding through the
use of materials which allow them to analyze their culture by contrasting its differences
and similarities with other cultures.

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 In this way, materials are beneficial for both, students and teachers. This can
be evinced on Ramos’ and Aguirre’s (2014) study where they pointed out that
materials created by teachers not only increase students’ motivation but also empower
teachers. When teachers develop their own materials, they are listening to students’
voices in order to analyze students’ language and emotional needs. It means that a
teacher can have a tool for creating a good environment where all students (especially
the ones with low self-esteem and high anxiety towards English) may feel relaxed,
engage and motivated to participate in the English class (Ramos & Aguirre, 2014).

The creation of a good environment that promotes participation and interest is

possible when a teacher knows his/her students’ language level; it is because the
teacher, as a material designer, can plan realistic objectives according to students’
proficiency avoiding the frustration caused by aspects such as misunderstanding of
the topic, difficulties with new vocabulary or confusion with grammatical structures
(Ramos & Aguirre, 2014).

Inside these kind of materials, the intercultural communicative competences

(ICC) play a main role. In terms of Holmes and O’Neill (cited in Carreño, 2018) the ICC
take place when: “students from different contexts come together to live and learn” (p.
122). Analyzing this meaning, it is important to take into account that in every class
there are people who are part of different environments, an aspect which is very
beneficial for the creation of materials owing to students’ perspectives, stories and
contexts, teachers can enrich class itself and the students’ learning process. Through
interaction and the development of a critical analysis, in terms of positive and negative
aspects of students’ culture, they can gather information for real life which can help
them to overcome challenges as well as promote students’ improvement of language
learning (Carreño, 2018).

For that reason, materials have to be a way in which students will be prepared
to be in contact with other cultures through fostering peer interaction and allowing that
students can express their opinions (Jánica et al., 2006). Here, it is remarkable the
fact that multicultural materials go beyond class itself because all the information and
lessons learnt in class are part of students’ reality. When they put in practice their
abilities towards being in contact with people, it will be easy for them to develop
interpersonal relationships in every environment from schools to streets; taking into
account the important role develop by languages and intercultural competences in
current society in terms of global situations considering that they allow people to be in
contact with others and to establish connections between cultures.

Conflict resolution

As Lapponi (2000) defines it, a conflict is an activity which causes rivalry and
incompatibility between two independent parts; it can be caused by the perception of
a divergence of needs and interests that do not satisfy both parts owing to the
differences between their objectives; in this way, one part can have an objective that
the other person might obstruct or interrupt.

It is common that society understands conflicts as something negative to avoid

or to hide, but if schools can promote that all people learn from their mistakes, the
conflict resolution process can be something positive in which both parts can reach an

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agreement; for that reason, a conflict can be destructive or constructive based on the
kind of relation and communication that each group has (Lapponi, 2000). As the author
asserts, conflicts can be an opportunity for students to solve problems in a constructive
way using the dialog in order to look for a better understanding which help both parts
to achieve their objectives without interfering with others’ purposes.

On the contrary, Chaux (2002) analyzes that most of the students, who were
part of his study and were part of violent contexts in Bogotá, reflected on the
importance of constructive alternatives to solve problems in which they mentioned 1.
to search agreements and 2. to talk without arguing. Despite this, students did not put
on practice those alternatives in real situations because the most popular strategies
were to impose their own ideas and to avoid the other people’s ones. An explanation
of this phenomenon is that in hypothetical situations students are calm and may think
in the better way to solve problems, but, as they expressed in the interviews, when
they are immersed in a conflict their emotions are stronger, especially anger; for that
reason they act instead of thinking of a constructive solution (Chaux, 2002).

As a result, Chaux (2002) interprets that students can understand the

importance of the ideal way to manage conflicts avoiding physical aggressions, but for
them it might be difficult to implement it owing to a lack of training, support and a space
to practice their abilities regarding conflict resolution.Thus, physical aggression
becomes a common way in which children and adolescents prefer to face their
interpersonal conflicts.

Considering that, it is very important not only to implement strategies, but also
to allow students to share ideas and practice their abilities in fictional situations; here
is where teachers need tools in order to act like facilitators without falling into mistakes
such as traditional punishment.

In relation with Lapponi’s (2000) proposal and Chaux’s (2002) analysis, it is

evident the importance of designing programs (or in this case materials) to work on
ways to translate those ideal strategies of conflict resolution into behaviors in real
situations, from theory to practice (Chaux, 2002).

Values’ implementation and reinforcement

Values have been acknowledged to take an important role in a healthy

coexistence. In fact, their lack increase the frequency with which conflicts take place
in different environments; to illustrate, Castiblanco, Díaz and Laverde (2007) express
in their study the influence of values while children are dealing with problematic
situations and the personal growth children experienced by facing them appropriately.
In this sense, the comprehension and application of values must be seen and
considered as one of the most important aims of the education. In 2004, the Ministry
of National Education (MEN, in its Spanish acronym) started promoting a new policy
due to the increase of violence in our society. It established a new values education
system which consisted in using moral dilemmas in order to elicit the understanding
of several values and the solution of potential issues (as cited in Ramirez, 2007).

Ramírez (2007) took as main aim in her study the fostering of values in EFL
classes; she used a system of activities that allowed students to work with their

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experiences and interact with their peers. One of her main findings was the awareness
that students expressed about what their families and society expected from them in
terms of values such as respect, honesty, solidarity and self-esteem; based on this,
she concluded how important is to take into account the new teachers’ role, the
intervention by all the members of the society in order to solve the social problems and
the reinforcement of values.

There are some values whose relevance in the conflictive situations is bigger
than others, these values can be called, in terms of Castiblanco et al. (2007), social
values; in their study, we find a pedagogical intervention in which some stories are
used with the purpose of knowing how children perceive honesty, solidarity, respect
and responsibility. The results show a clear insight of how students’ notion of values
affect the way in which they behave inside the classroom and how they treat one
another. From this perspective, we consider values need to be worked in all the
signatures, of course, it includes EFL classes, “because they are built in permanent
social interaction” (Ramirez, 2007, p. 14).

Cultural awareness

The benefits of using culture as a tool to teach have been demonstrated, but its
range is much bigger. The use of experiences and specific context situations allow
students not only to understand lessons but also to feel confident and attracted. In a
country like ours, it is very common to find several multicultural groups living together
constantly, but it does not mean that tolerance practices are very common; our
practicum has shown us situations in which some students tend to discriminate others
either by their origin or their behavior; One of the main reasons why we decided to use
culture to reach conflict resolution is explained by Allport (1958). His study determines
that interpersonal contact is one of the best ways to reduce the levels of prejudice
between diverse groups (as cited in Baltes, Hernandez & Collins, 2015).

Malczewska-Webb (2014) Carried out an open-questioned questionnaire

where students from different countries talked about their experiences and
perspectives of learning English in Australia; this demonstrates how important it was
for them the understanding of the local culture in order to improve their learning.

Baltes, Hernandez and Collins (2015) analyzed a cultural awareness program

called Cultural Awareness Consortium (CAC), in which some students participated in
classes where the promotion of cultural practices is the paramount objective. The four
month process showed fruitful results; their findings demonstrated how after being part
of the project, students still share with other members even in extracurricular activities.

METHODOLOGY

Action research

This action research project main aim is to reduce the levels of violence inside the
classroom through the use of multicultural-based resources; it means that during the
process of development, students will participate in several activities and the data

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collection will focus on the effectiveness of the materials by looking at students’
reaction towards the topics introduced.

Some of the features of action research are explained by Tripp (2005); for
instance, it is a frequent process due to the importance of improving some aspects of
the issue in which the researcher is working on.

Tripp (2005) also declares that generalizations must be avoided, the main focus
on this kind of research are the uniqueness of the participants, and it also implies that
the setting is manipulated as little as possible.

Finally, in action research, reflection is very important from the moment of the
first observation and during the process in order to achieve effective planning,
implementation and monitoring; then, the cycle ends with an overview of what
happened until the end (Tripp, 2005).

Data collection instruments

Observation: Field notes and Charting classroom organization

Creswell (2012) defines observation as the most frequent method used to
collect qualitative data; it allows researchers to gather information by analyzing the
behavior of the target population in some specific contexts.

As the author asserts, this method allows the researchers to record information
of the setting simultaneously with the observation in order to gather details and to
study the individuals’ demeanor. Through this method, the research study will include
the analysis of the development of the students, their reactions and the influence of
the material in the classroom environment in terms of peer interaction and conflict
resolution.

In addition, the study will be supported by an observation focused on the

method charting classroom organization taking into account that this method focuses
on the specifications, rules and the disposition of the objects inside the classroom. For
this study, it is relevant the impact of the environment in students owing to the fact that
cultural activities imply an application in different contexts in which students can
appropriate of the environment.

Journals

As Maxwell (cited in Borg, 2001) analyzes, a journal is a forum of reflections

were ideas and discoveries are generated and explored through writing. This method
allows an instructive insight into specific aspects of the research process, helps
researchers to record reflective processes which occur during every stage of the study
and fosters a retrospective analysis of many situations (Borg, 2001).

Owing to the importance of participants’ perspectives in this study and for the
purposes of this study, the process of writing journals is planned to be developed by
the participants guided by researchers. In this way, researchers will prepare specific
questions regarding the topic of the tales and the objectives of the cultural activities.
Then, based on those questions, students are going to reflect on the material and its

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results in the English class, reporting it in their journals. Through this method an
analysis will be carried out taking into consideration students’ voices and suggestions.

Questionnaires

Creswell (2012) defines questionnaires as “Unstructured text data obtained …

by transcribing open-ended responses to questions on questionnaires” (p. 214). In this
way, the analysis of the responses of this material is useful to support theories and
concepts in the literature (Creswell, 2012).

As it was mentioned above, students’ perspectives and analysis are important,

so questionnaires will be useful tools to allow students to share their personal opinion
in a guided way. In this method, it is relevant the use of open-ended and closed-ended
questions in which participants can expand their responses by handwriting.

REFERENCES

Arango & Guerrero (2017). Valores como método para disminuir los índices de
violencia escolar en el municipio del Banco Magdalena Colombia. Gestión,
competitividad e innovación (January-June 2017), 136-143.
Baltes, O., Hernandez, D. & Collins, C. (2015). Increasing cultural awareness through
a cultural awareness program. Journal of Educational Research and Practice,
5(1), 1-20
Borg, S. (2001). The research journal: A tool for promoting and understanding
researcher development. Language teaching research, 5(2), 156-177.
Carreño, L. (2018). Promoting Meaningful Encounters as a Way to Enhance
Intercultural Competences. Colomb. appl. linguist. j., 20(1), pp. 120-135.
Castiblanco, M., Díaz, Y., & Laverde, N. (2007). Exploring Students’ Reflections about
Values inside the Implementation of Storied Lessons Based on Students’ Life
Experiences. HOW Journal, 14(1), 129-142.
Chaux, E. (2002). Buscando pistas para prevenir la violencia urbana en Colombia:
Conflictos y agresión entre niños[as] y adolescentes en Bogotá. Revista de
Estudios Sociales, (12), 43-53.
Chaux, Molano, and Podlesky. (2009). ‘Socio-Economic, Socio- Political and Socio
Emotional Variables Explaining School Bullying: A Country- Wide Multilevel
Analysis’. Aggressive Behaviour 35(6): 520-529.
Creswell J. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating
quantitative and qualitative research. Boston,United States: Pearson.
Jánica, D., Rey, L., & Rosado, N. (2006). Characteristics of effective intercultural
multimedia material in the English language class. HOW, 13(1), 153-164.
Lapponi, S. F. (2000). Resolución de conflictos en la escuela: Una herramienta para
la cultura de paz y la convivencia. Contextos educativos, 3, 91-106.
Olaya, A. & Gómez, L. (2013). Exploring EFL pre-service teachers' experience with
cultural content and intercultural communicative competence at three
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Ramírez, O. (2007). Incorporating Values into the English Classroom. HOW Journal,
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Ramos, B. & Aguirre, J. (2014). Materials development in the Colombian context:
Some considerations about its benefits and challenges. HOW, 21(2), 134-150.
Shemshadsara, Z. G. (2012). Developing cultural awareness in foreign language
teaching. English Language Teaching, 5(3), 95.
Tripp, D. (2005). Action research: a methodological introduction. Educação e
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Villar. (2010). School-based Violence in Colombia: Links to State-Level Armed
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Development Institute (ODI). London, UK.

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