Memorias Coloquio Lenguas Extrangeras - Myriam Cabrales - USBCTG - 2013 (1)

Facultad de Educacin, Ciencias Humanas y Sociales
LICENCIATURA EN LENGUAS MODERNAS

CON NFASIS EN INGLS Y FRANCS
Myriam Cabrales Vargas
Compiladora

10. ANIVERSARIO DE SU CREACIN
CARTAGENA 2003 - 2013
MEMORIAS DE EVENTO

MEMORI AS

I COLOQUI O SOBRE
I NTERDI SCI PLI NARI EDAD EN LA
FORMACI N DEL LI CENCI ADO EN LENGUAS
EXTRANJ ERAS
(Ciflex)

MyriamCabrales Vargas
Compiladora

I nstituciones participantes en el coloquio

Universidad de la Florida, (Estados Unidos)
Universidad de San Buenaventura - Cartagena
Universidad Nacional de Colombia - Bogot
Universidad de Antioquia
Universidad del Valle
Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia
Universidad de La Salle
Universidad de Caldas
Universidad Autnoma de Manizales
Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas
Universidad del Quindo
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana - Medelln
Universidad de Cundinamarca
Universidad de Boyac
Universidad Santo Toms Tunja
Universidad Industrial de Santander
Alianza Colombo-Francesa de Bogot
Fundacin Universitaria del rea Andina - Pereira
Fundacin Universitaria Juan de Castellanos - Tunja
Corporacin Universitaria Minuto de Dios Bogot
Colegio Guillermo Len Valencia- Duitama

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Memorias Coloquio sobre interdisciplinariedad en la formacin del Licenciado en
Lenguas Extranjeras Ciflex
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Formacin del docente de lenguas
Octubre, 2013

Myriam Cabrales Vargas, compiladora
Programa de Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas con nfasis en Ingls y Francs
Facultad de Educacin, Ciencias Humanas y Sociales.
Universidad de San Buenaventura
Colombia

@ Editorial Bonaventuriana, 2013.
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www.usbcartagena.edu.co
Cartagena Colombia

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Derechos reservados de la Universidad de San Buenaventura.

ISSN: 2346 - 4070
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Depsito legal: se da cumplimiento a lo estipulado en la ley 44 de 1993, decreto 460 de 1995 y
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Impreso en Colombia - Printed in Colombia.

Memorias Coloquio sobre interdisciplinariedad en la formacin del Licenciado en Lenguas
Extranjeras Ciflex (1: Cartagena de Indias: 2013)
Coloquio sobre interdisciplinariedad en la formacin del Licenciado en Lenguas
Extranjeras Ciflex / Myriam Cabrales Vargas, compiladora.-- Cartagena: Universidad de San
Buenaventura, Facultad de Educacin, Ciencias Humanas y Sociales. Programa de
Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas con nfasis en Ingls y Francs, 2013.
Descripcin fsica: 311 p; 27 x 22 cm.
ISSN: 2346 - 4070

1. Formacin de profesores de lenguas, 2. Lenguas extranjeras - enseanza, 3. Lingstica
aplicada, 4. Currculos bilinges, 5. Interdisciplinariedad en educacin, 6. Investigacin
interdisciplinar en lenguas extranjeras, I. Tt. II. Cabrales Vargas, Myriam, Comp.

Dewey: 378.0071 M533
Catalogacin: Biblioteca Central Fray Antonio de Marchena OFM.

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MEMORI AS

I COLOQUI O SOBRE
I NTERDI SCI PLI NARI EDAD EN LA
FORMACI N DEL LI CENCI ADO EN LENGUAS
EXTRANJ ERAS
(Ciflex)

Coordinacin general del coloquio

Autores de las ponencias publicadas:

Autores
Barn Pereira Nancy Esperanza
Cabrales Vargas Myriam
Calvache Dulce scar Andrs
Carpenter Carolyn
Castaeda Trujillo Jairo Enrique
Corts Monroy Mario
Daz Benavides Diana
Grtner Restrepo Carolina Fernanda
Gonzlez Plata Camila
Gonzlez Robayo Licimaver
Herreo Contreras Yomaira
Huertas Aura Mara
Jaramillo Catalina
Jimnez Betancourt Julio
Loaiza Trujillo Nolbert
Martnez Marn Juan Diego
Martnez Reina Julia Elvira
Institucin que representan
Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Col.
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
Fundacin Universitaria Juan de Castellanos
Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Col-

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Morales Sossa Ana Milena
O'Hagan Cori
Olaya Len Alba
Philippe Nicolas
Posada Vsquez Jeniffer
Rivera Barreto Adriana
Robayo Castro Michael Enrique
Rodrguez Tamayo Ilba Yaneth
Salamanca Gonzlez Freddy
Samac Bohorquez Yolanda
Sanabria Cardenas Marlene

Snchez Arvalo Edna Lorena
Simon Elsa
Surez de la Torre Maria Mercedes
Tabares Garca Luis Eduardo
Tarazona Ariza Silvia (Estudiante)
Vallejo Gmez Mercedes
Varela Sarmiento Eugenia
Villa Ramirez Oscar Jhony
Fundacin Universitaria del rea Andina
Universidad Santo Toms - Tunja
Universidad de Boyac
Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de
Colombia
Universidad del Quindo
Universidad Industrial de Santander

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MEMORIAS

I COLOQUI O SOBRE
I NTERDI SCI PLI NARIEDAD EN
LA FORMACI N DEL
LI CENCIADO EN LENGUAS
EXTRANJ ERAS
(Ciflex)

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CONTENIDO
PRESENTACIN.. 10

RESMENES (ABSTRACTS) DE LAS CONFERENCIAS CENTRALES

I. LA INTERDISCIPLINARIEDAD EN EL CURRCULO DE LENGUAS
EXTRANJERAS

Ponencia 1: Interdisciplinarity in the curriculum: using digital stories to show
students reading productions
Ilba Janeth Rodrguez Tamayo.. 16
Ponencia 2: Are my students intelligent? A matter of multiple intelligences
Jeniffer Posada 26
Ponencia 3: How the students culture affects the perspective of evaluation.
Julio Jimnez Betancourt 33
II. LA INVESTIGACIN INTERDISCIPLINAR EN LENGUAS
EXTRANJERAS
Ponencia 4: Virtual Learning Environment: English and Critical Thinking
Michael Robayo Castro... 46
Ponencia 5: La traduction, un processus cognitif et interdisciplinaire
Myriam Cabrales Vargas 61
Ponencia 6 : Le club de grammaire ou la fin de la peur de linconnu
Edna Snchez Arvalo... 79
Ponencia 7: Towards a reflection on construct and content validity test
Lucimver Gonzlez Robayo.. 87
Ponencia 8: Pensamiento Lgico Matemtico en Educacin Bilinge y
Convencional en Grado 5: Diferencias o Similitudes?
Luis Eduardo Tabares Garca. 94
Ponencia 9: Promocin de enfoques de formacin docente para impulsar la
investigacin en estudiantes.
Carolina Grtner Restrepo y scar Villa Ramrez 107
Ponencia 10: Using students narratives to enhance literacy processes: An
ongoing research project
Jairo Enrique Castaeda Trujillo y Ana Milena Morales Sossa... 117
III. LA LINGSTICA APLICADA A LA ENSEANZA DE LAS LENGUAS
EXTRANJERAS
Ponencia 11 : La prononciation, plus simplement.
Nicolas Philippe.. 128
Ponencia 12 : Linfluence que lapprentissage dune langue (L2) peut avoir sur les
processus hypothtico-dductifs
Mario Corts Monroy y Catalina Jaramillo .. 136

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Ponencia 13: TEFL student-teachers making sense of research in a language
teacher education program (Ponencia -Speech)
Yolanda Samac Bohrquez..

149
Ponencia 14 : Approche actionnelle et la notion de tche.
Nolbert Loaiza Trujillo...... 157
IV. LOS AMBIENTES DE APRENDIZAJ E Y LA INTERDISCIPLINARIEDAD
Ponencia 15: High Tech Approach for FL Classes
Diana Daz Benavides.... 171
Ponencia 16: Portfolio Assessment for World Language Students
Cori OHagan.. 179
Ponencia 17: valuation et TIC: une voie pour la progression des apprentissages
Juan Diego Martinez Marn y Mercedes Vallejo Gmez . 187
V. LA INTERCULTURALIDAD EN EL CURRCULO DE LENGUAS
EXTRANJERAS
Ponencia 18 : Understanding the teaching of culture from a multi, inter and
pluricultural perspective in an EFL class
Aura Mara Huertas y Adriana Rivera.. 200
Ponencia 19: Enhancing sensitiveness for the Local Languages and Culture in
the presence of English as the global language
Marlene Sanabria 207
Ponencia 20: Bilingismo en la Facultad de Educacin de la Universidad
Pontificia Bolivariana, sede Medelln.
Camila Gonzlez Plata y Eliana Espinal Orozco... 217
Ponencia 21: Apprhender la diffrence et mieux comprendre l'autre : la place
de l'interculturel en cours de langue.
Elsa Simon.. 226
Ponencia 22: Approaching Intercultural Communicative Competence by
Interacting with Native English Language Speakers
Julia Elvira Martinez Reina.. 236
Ponencia 23: Exploring Pre-Service Teachers Experience with Cultural Content
at Three Universities in Bogot
Alba Olaya Len y Luis Fernando Gmez. 252
Ponencia 24: Interaction Generated by Curricular and Pedagogical Decision
through Content based Interaction
Nancy Barn Pereira.. 259
VI. LAS CIENCIAS HUMANAS Y SOCIALES EN LA FORMACIN DEL
DOCENTE DE LENGUAS
Ponencia 25: Printing Lives on a Piece of Paper, students journals writing
experience
Freddy Salamanca Gonzlez.... 273
Ponencia 26:Community- Based Teacher Training to Achieve National
Bilingualism Goals.
Carolyn Carpenter.. . 280

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Ponencia 27: La formacin docente: de la academia a la conciencia
Yomaira Herreo Contreras

290
Ponencia 28: La escritura en Rousseau: su aporte en la docencia de lengua
francesa
Eugenia Varela Sarmiento. 303
CONCLUSIONES PRELIMINARES 311

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PRESENTACIN

En el marco de la conmemoracin de su dcimo aniversario de creacin, el programa de
Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas con nfasis en Ingls y Francs de la Universidad de San
Buenaventura, seccional Cartagena, realiza del 31 de octubre al 2 de noviembre el Coloquio
sobreInterdisciplinariedad en la Formacin del Licenciado en Lenguas Extranjeras (CIFLEX).
Este encuentro acadmico, convoca a docentes e investigadores del rea de Lenguas
Extranjeras que trabajan a nivel regional, nacional e internacional. La iniciativa de crear el
CIFLEX, adems de hacer parte de un necesario espacio de conmemoracin, se articula a los
objetivos y dinmicas de la Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas de la Universidad de San
Buenaventura, cuyo principal propsito es el formar profesionales integrales, capaces de
entrelazar las culturas cientfica y humanista, de contextualizar el conocimiento y de abordar
los objetos de estudio desde su complejidad y multidimensionalidad.

Los tres principales objetivos de Ciflex son:
Reflexionar sobre los fines de la educacin superior, orientada primordialmente a
formar profesionales que han de integrarse a la estructura socio-econmica y poltica
de un contexto determinado.
Compartir experiencias de integracin de la cultura cientfica y la humanstica, de la
academia y de la vida y de las disciplinas entre si como estrategia para borrar los
lmites rgidos entre todos esos campos y asumir la flexibilidad como el nuevo
paradigma que identifica a la realidad social, econmica y cultural en la que vivimos.
Evidenciar la relevancia de asumir la investigacin, en el rea de las lenguas
extranjeras, desde perspectivas interdisciplinares.

De las 44 ponencias participantes, estas memorias recogen 28 de ellas, todas representativas
de los ejes temticos coloquio:

La interdisciplinariedad en el currculo de lenguas extranjeras
La investigacin interdisciplinar en lenguas extranjeras
La Lingstica aplicada a la enseanza de las lenguas extranjeras
Los ambientes de aprendizaje y la interdisciplinariedad
La interculturalidad en el currculo de lenguas extranjeras
Las ciencias humanas y sociales en la formacin del docente de lenguas

Estructuradas en forma de artculos, las ponencias se presentan conforme al eje temtico al
cual estn adscritas, lo cual sin duda facilita al lector su relacin con el mismo.

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RESMENES DE LAS CONFERENCI AS CENTRALES

El Coloquio sobre Interdisciplinariedad en la Formacin del Licenciado en Lenguas
Extranjeras, cont con cuatro conferencias centrales, no publicadas en estas memorias, pero
de las cuales se presentan los abstracts, con el fin de proporcionar al lector una visin global
de los contenidos trabajados en el evento. En posteriores publicaciones en fsico, bajo el
formato de captulos de libro, se podr disponer de las temticas trabajadas por los
conferencistas centrales de Ciflex.

Paula Golombek
Developing language teachers commitment to
teaching through self- and collaborative student-
inquiry

Abastract: Language teachers in Colombia, as in many
countries, face classroom and institutional situations
that undermine teachers commitment to teaching.
Factors such as low wages, overcrowded classrooms,
and test-driven curriculum represent some of the
challenges to language teachers professional
satisfaction. In response, this presentation argues that
language teachers need to create cracks in the wall
through self- and collaborative student-inquiry as a
way to develop professional competence and
satisfaction.
This presentation first overviews language teachers
narrative inquiry (Johnson & Golombek, 2002) as a
professional development tool through which teachers
identify contradictions in their teaching, aspects of
their thinking about or doing of teaching that they
would like to change. It outlines Mercers (2000)
concept of exploratory talk as a way to encourage
collaborative inquiry between teacher and students in
their classroom interactions. It then illustrates these
concepts through a teacher who faced a common
debilitating classroom experiencestudents who want
traditional form-based grammar instruction but are
simultaneously resistant. By identifying contradictions
through narrative inquiry and addressing them in
changed instructional practices, the teacher was able to
create a crack in the wall that supported his
professional competence and satisfaction. It concludes
with suggestions for developing self- and collaborative
inquiry.

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Melba Libia Crdenas
Research in Colombian Foreign Language
Teacher Education Programmes: Possibilities
and Challenges Ahead.

Abstract: Research is a key component of teacher
education programmes for foreign language
teachers in Colombia and, although it is
acknowledged that research competencies are to be
mastered in postgraduate programmes and in the
actual engagement in projects, national policies and
accreditation processes have had an impact on the
curricula of said programmes. In turn, the need to
respond to different demands has placed pressures
on both teachers and teacher educators who are
expected to demonstrate research competencies and
tangible products. In this presentation we will
examine the role research plays in teacher education
as well as the gains and strategies that have proved
useful to fulfill teachers goals, and the challenges
perceived regarding this issue. Input comes from
the analysis of publications by Colombian scholars
as well as from studies conducted by the PROFILE
and LEXI research groups at Universidad Nacional
de Colombia. It is hoped that the input sheds light
on the examination of possibilities we have in
research skill development, the definition of actions
to take to face problems when handling the research
component in teacher education and the
consideration of implications that allow moving
forward towards the development of research
communities despite the circumstances we face in
our local contexts.

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Adriana Gonzlez
Moncada
On preparing the language teachers needed in EFL
contexts: challenges for university-based programs.

Abstrat: As many countries, Colombia has targeted national
educational agendas towards the attainment of competitiveness
in the globalized world. Being competent speakers of English
and having skills in the use of ICTs are considered as key
objectives in our curricula. In the case of English, the
promotion and implementation of national standards have been
seen as one major way to provide all students with competences
for the national and international labor market.
This reduced view of English and English language teaching is
supported by the national government, and as a consequence,
two major phenomena emerge: the process of deskilling EFL
teachers and the neglect of students real needs. For the first
part, teachers are considered as mere competent language
providers that require effective methodologies to teach their
subject matter and their professional development is reduced to
the mastery of teaching techniques that guarantee students
learning. In relation to students needs, they are usually
simplified to the acquisition of language skills to achieve the
national standards disregarding the urgency to prepare better
citizens for the complexity of our local and global realities.
In this presentation I will share some reflections of a self-study
that focuses on the challenges I have faced as an EFL teacher
educator preparing the teachers required for the changing
realities of our classrooms and fulfilling students real needs.
Issues such as bullying, gender and race discrimination, poverty,
social violence and loss of social values, among others, are
addressed through my students classroom experiences and
concerns.

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Rosalba Crdenas Ramos
Reflections on the design of the research component in
a language program: Research as the cohesive element
of disciplines.

Abstract: This presentation aims at looking into the
importance of the research component in a licenciatura
language program and the ways it establishes a close
knitting fabric with other disciplines (areas) of the
Foreign Language curriculum. It looks at the necessary
steps and conditions to design the proposal, the
different orientations that can be given to it, the links
that can be established between this component and
other areas of the curriculum and the contribution it
makes to teachers and students academic, professional
and personal lives, to society and to the educational
system. Drawbacks will also be mentioned.
The different research possibilities will be briefly described
and examples of projects and interconnections will be
provided, as well as guidelines and comments for the
logistics of the process and suggestions for an effective
design and teacher involvement in it.

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Eje temtico 1

I . La interdisciplinariedad en el currculo
de lenguas extranjeras

Presentacin de diseos curriculares interdisciplinarios: su
estructura, enfoques, estrategias, metodologas, medios y formas de
trabajo, evaluacin. Ventajas de tales diseos y sus dinmicas, para la
formacin integral de licenciados en lenguas extranjeras.

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Ponencia 1

Interdisciplinarity in the curriculum: using digital stories to show
students reading productions
1

Ilba Yaneth Rodrguez Tamayo
2

Abstract

To talk about interdisciplinarity is to start thinking about one of the main concerns
administrators of any academic program have nowadays. This is because of it is asked as a
specific issue for accreditation process. So, the questions begin surrounding in order to know
if actually the most adequated and verifiable evidences exist in the programs. Most of the
academic programs at UPTC have been immersed in the process of accreditation and renewal
of it, and the Modern Languages Program is not the exception. For the development of my
proposal I took into account one of the main policies of UPTC stated in Acuerdo 050/ 2008,
which establishes the Interdisciplinar Area. It is defined as the knowledge, competences and
common practices that are shared by academic programs according to their professional
profiles. In that way, I focused the development of a proposal based on the reading of a book
which comprehension and students production were shown through the design of a digital
story, which was one of the topics worked in a different subject they had to take during the
first semester (the same they took Basic English I) that is Tics y ambientes de aprendizaje.
The results were motivating. Students could evidence how they were learning in a coherent,
flexible, and interdisciplinary curriculum.

Key Words: Interdisciplinarity, Reading comprehension, digital stories.

Resumen

Hablar de interdisciplinariedad es comenzar a pensar en una de las principales
preocupaciones que tienen los directivos de cualquier programa acadmico hoy en da. Lo
anterior por cuanto es uno de los puntos especficos que son requeridos dentro del proceso de
acreditacin. Ahora, la pregunta comienza a rondar con el fin de saber si realmente se cuenta

1
Experiencia desarrollada con estudiantes de primer semestre de la Escuela de Idiomas de la UPTC- Tunja,
durante el primer semestre de 2013.
2
Docente asistente de la Escuela de Idiomas de la UPTC. M.A. en Lingstica Aplicada a la enseanza del
ingls UPTC-Universidad Distrital. Docente de la Maestra en Docencia de Idiomas y de los programas de
pregrado de la Escuela de Idiomas. Actualmente se desempea como asesora de prcticas y Secretaria del
Consejo Acadmico de la UPTC

17
con las evidencias ms adecuadas y verificables para dar respuesta a ese requerimiento. Para
el desarrollo de mi propuesta tuve en cuenta las principales polticas de la UPTC,
establecidas en el Acuerdo 050 de 2008, que establece el rea Interdisciplinar. sta rea se
define como el conocimiento, competencias y prcticas comunes que son compartidas por
programas acadmicos, de acuerdo con sus perfiles profesionales. De esa manera, el enfoque
de la propuesta estuvo en la lectura de un libro cuya comprensin y produccin de los
estudiantes fue mostrada a travs del diseo de una historia digital, que fue uno de los
principales temas trabajado en una asignatura diferente que se ofrece en el primer semestre,
denominada Tics y Ambientes de Aprendizaje. Los resultados fueron motivantes. Los
estudiantes pudieron evidenciar la manera como estaban aprendiendo en un currculo
coherente, flexible e interdisciplinario.

Palabras Clave: Interdisciplinariedad, comprensin de lectura, historias digitales.

INTRODUCTION

Despite the rich complexity of the Reading process and of the readers in our classrooms,
it is, perhaps, an unfortunate consequence of results-driven classroom that reading often
becomes reduced to a narrow set of identifiable ingredients.(Green, A.2011: 85). To start
helping first-semester students of a public university to go beyond the presentation of
ingredients when they read a book was the main aim of this study as it presents as an
academic experience. Arguments to plan something different from asking an oral report,
description of characters or places were an addition.

The public university, where this study was developed, stated by means of an institutional
policy the necessity of working on interdisciplinarity. This aspect was established as those
academic common features that share subjects because of their affinities in undergraduate
programs. In that way, the programs of the Education Faculty planned to work in fields that
were not just necessary but relevant for the students who enrolled the programs of this
Faculty. The use of ICTs and its application to educational uses, pedagogical projects were
among the diversity of subjects that students could study according to their interests.

However, the University asked for the statement of two additional areas, the General and
the Disciplinary one. The first one is related to all those subjects that any student of this
university must take and that actually pretend to give the principles that identify a
professional of this institution. The second area is concerned with the specific academic
formation that distinguishes a student from one career to another.

To understand the theory of the objectives of institutional policies may seem not difficult,
but to demonstrate that they are actually landed in our daily teaching practice may face some
difficulties. To accept the development of self-assessment processes for getting accreditation
of an academic program is to accept that you are able to evidence how factors, like flexibility
and interdisciplinarity, have been worked in each one of the subjects that students must study.

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In order to match those institutional policies and the needs of my first-semester students
of Modern Languages, the present studied was planned. The idea was to include the reading
of three different books, according to their English level, which were worked in and outside
the classroom. The activities, which were developed in the class, were directed by an English
assistant who helped the students with issues in understanding new vocabulary, new
expressions, pronunciation, and general understanding of texts. On the other hand, the
activities students worked on outside of the classroom were directly related to the final
products they had to report in order to prove that they had actually read and understood the
book, but especially that they enjoyed it.

Based on my personal experience, I have noticed that there is a certain apathy to read in
my students. Some of them express it freely while others are shy or afraid of talking about it,
especially because they are aware that the kind of academic program they have enrolled
demands a lot of reading activities, either Spanish or English. However, when planning the
contents and specifically the activities to be included in my subject I think of the importance
of immersing my students in reading activities for academic purposes but especially for
having fun.

During the time I was in charge of students of first semester, I tried to provide them with
a rich and varied set of activities that match the institutional policies, my students interests,
and my teaching objectives.

In order to give students a real enjoyment from reading activities, I suggested them to
work with three different books which reports would be focused on something different from
what they did in secondary school when they read in Spanish. It is important to clarify that it
was the first time they read in English.

When we read, there are many reasons to do it, and as a teacher we ask our students to
read for a variety of purposes. Commonly, teachers ask for students to look for specific
information to extract main ideas, to take the main issues in order to show personal points of
view, etc. However, I wanted my students read for pleasure. This purpose is clearly stated,
among other purposes, by Celce-Murcia (2001:187), We also read for pleasure, with the
intention of being entertained or informed, but not tested. I wanted my students start
getting in love of readings in English, and it was my desire to show them that there were
other alternatives to evidence how much they enjoy and comprehend a text.

Celce-Murcia (2001) stated some activities, which can be worked with students to address
students academic reading needs. From those suggestions the ones related to help students
in the recognition of vocabulary, to give students many opportunities to read in order to
develop reading fluency, and the final one related to the necessity of integrating reading and
writing instructions were the most applicable to the current experience.

The process of working with the three books included specific tasks before and during the
activity. However, the focus of this study was mainly on allowing students to show

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comprehension of texts by means of three different products: reading aloud, making a video,
and the creation of a digital story. All these activities required students to use text
information in the specific tasks, as it was stated by Celce-Murcia.

During the time of planning and making decisions about the kinds of products I wanted
form students I always thought in asking for dynamic activities, those which can give them
the opportunities to interact with the text. The term interactive is taken as Hedge (2000)
who makes two distinctions about it, and who defines as the description of the second
language reading processes. The first connotation is related to the way in which a reader
interact with the text by having a dynamic relationship with a text as the reader
struggles to make sense of it, (Hedge, 2000:188). And the second one when the reader
interacts by interplaying among various classes of knowledge that a reader employs in
moving through a text, (Hedge, 2000:189)

After having analyzed some reflections students did based on the reading of the three
texts and expressed by means of a questionnaire, it is important to highlight how the
schematic knowledge was necessary when reading the texts. It was especially with the book
Supercomputer man by Jeremy Taylor in which some students could evidence particular
situations in their real life. Cook in Hedge (2000) defined schematic knowledge as mental
representations of typical situationsused in discourse processing to predict the contents of
the particular situation which the discourse describes Cook 1989:69 (in Hedge, 2000:190)

The idea of working on reading books, which could match students needs and interests,
was linked to one of my concerns that was how to lead all those interests and needs in
activities students actually enjoy working nowadays and that is the use of internet.

As any academic institution, the UPTC, and specifically the Program of Foreign
languages is concerned with the necessity of providing students, as well as teachers with
activities that qualify and help them in the continuous formation as professionals or future
ones. During the first semester, the School of Languages scheduled a workshop based on the
use of digital stories as a tool to be implemented in our classes.

As a teacher, I am always reflecting about how all those workshops, lectures, and courses
actually influence our daily teaching practices not only on what we teach but also on the way
we teach. Freeman and Freeman (in Crookes: 1997) establish some of the factors that may
influence what and how we teach. The exposure to new ideas is among those factors.
Nevertheless, in the way of desiring to implement new strategies a new and hard obstacle
appeared, how could I ask my students to work in the design and use of digital story if I did
not have neither the knowledge, nor the experience on doing that. But the solution was
evident, why not handle or make use of one of the main policies at the UPTC that at the
same time is a requirement by Consejo Nacional de Acreditacin, which is
INTERDISCIPLINARITY. Acuerdo 050 2008 at the UPTC establishes the criteria for
implementing academic credits and defines the areas of curricular structure of the
undergraduate programs at the UPTC. Three main areas are established: General,

20
Interdisciplinary and Disciplinary ones. Taking into account that the second one is defined as
the knowledge, competences and common practices that are shared by academic programs
according to their professional profiles I decided to establish contact with ICTs and learning
environments teacher who had included as one of her topics the work on digital program
which allowed the design of stories. In that way, students worked a task for two different
subjects.

For those teachers, like myself, who are not immersed or interested so much in
technology it can be strange to find a lot of interesting and relevant theory related to the use
of digital stories for educational purposes. However this term is not new. There has been
extensive research in the area as well as articles, as those presented by Maryann Tatum as
part of a research work in the University of Miami (2009) and the one developed by Bernard
Robin from the University of Houston.

Teachers must be aware of the necessity of being updated, but especially of the
importance of taking risks. To implement the use of digital stories in a English class may
seem common for some students and teachers but not for those who develop the same
traditional activities in order to work on reading comprehension.
But, what is a digital story? If you look for any simple definition, a digital story is the use
of any technological tool for telling a story (Wikipedia). But if you go further you may have
access to more complex or complete definitions as the one given by Robin (without a date)
they all revolve around the idea of combining the art of telling stories with a variety of
digital multimedia, such as images, audio, and video. This last idea was used as a guide for
students in order they need to reproduce one of the chapters from supercomputer man book
and to create a different end for the same one.

Robin (without date) informs about the existence of the Center for digital Storytelling which
developed and disseminated the Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling and which can be
analyzed taken the works students developed.

POINT OF VIEW: The students perspective was evident in writing a different end to the
chapter they selected.
A DRAMATIC QUESTION: The question was How to express a happy or different end in
each chapter?
EMOTIONAL CONTENT: Evident in the characters, voices, music and endings given to
the chapters.
THE POWER OF THE SOUNDTRACK: The representation of the stories, including the
ending students proposed, was full of amazing sounds.
ECONOMY: Concrete information. The short length of each chapter helped to support this
element.
PACING: The stories were developed at a normal speed.
Adapted from Robin (without date)

21
METHODOLOGY

This experience was carried out with Foreign Language Program first semester
students at the UPTC. There were 20 students who belonged to a medium social economical
strata and whose level of English, in most of the cases, was pre-intermediate. There were
women and men who have studied in public as well as private secondary schools in different
towns in Boyac, especially in big towns, as Duitama, Tunja and Sogamoso.

The curriculum for the program is planned in advanced at the beginning of the
semester and it is organized taking into account a communicative approach. The four skills
are worked in order to achieve specific objectives, which are worked by means of activities,
which aim at getting the development of the linguistic, pragmatic and social competences.

Talking about reading is very complex and is hard work because of the attitudes
students bring to the class. This is because students do not have enough possibilities of
reading in a foreign language when they are in the secondary school and because many of
them do not enjoy reading neither in English nor in their mother tongue. So the challenges
are bigger, but it is the teachers job to achieve her students be immersed in the fantastic
world of reading and to get from them products, which actually evidence they enjoy and
comprehend what they read.

Commonly, what I have noticed when students are asked to read any text of
literature is that teachers just work on specific aspects which Green (2011) refers to as
ingredients. That is, teachers reduce the reading activities to aloud readings, asking for
unknown vocabulary, looking for new words (translations into native language),
identification and description of characters or places, and so on. However, despite those
ingredients it is the teachers job to look for more attractive and interesting activities,
which actually catch students attention and lead them not only to accomplish linguistic
objectives, but also to fall in love of any text of literature.

Dramatizations, aloud readings and working with technological devices are not
new in the teaching processes. However, those activities were innovative for my students
who had worked, in some of them, in their secondary schools but in their native language. In
order to get the main objectives of this study I selected three books, commonly four books
are listed in the program, but because of the final activity I proposed, I only assigned three
for the first semester in 2013. The books were selected bearing in mind students English
level, which is basic and evidenced in their classes work. In that order, Tom Sawyer, Jason
Causes Chaos and Supercomputer Man were selected and assigned.

Each one of the books were worked on following the common aspects which are
treated when reading any book, especially because I wanted my students to enjoy them but
also I needed to prove that they were understanding the readings. For these common aspects
I had my English assistant help, who guided my students in getting a general understanding
of each one of the stories. He worked on unknown vocabulary by using different strategies

22
from translation. In addition, he helped me get from my students correct pronunciation,
intonation and fluency. These tasks were developed inside the classroom. Nevertheless, my
students had the chance to look for additional tutorials outside the class. This additional
guidance could be directed by any one of the English assistants, a monitor student or by me,
in hours outside of the classes.

The first book, Tom Sawyer, was worked during three weeks in which students
were guided throughout its comprehension. Since students of Foreign Languages Program
are going to be teachers of preschool or primary, I consider that they may be trained in the
development of different activities, which allow them to work in a similar way with their
children. As there are many possibilities and a varied set of activities I decided to ask my
Foreign Languages students to prepare a read aloud of the text imagining they were reading
to children. The class was divided into two small groups and each one of the characters of the
book, including a narrator, was assigned to each member. Students just had to prepare the
read aloud, bearing in mind the correct pronunciation, intonation and fluency and they could
use additional material, like posters, to recreate the settings. The results were good. The
English assistant commented he could evidence how some students could realize
appropriateness of the characters.

The second book, Jason Causes Chaos, was worked on with the English assistant in a
similar way as the first one. There was more participation in the read aloud and asking for
solving doubts, especially of new expressions. Students had to select one chapter from the
book, according to their interest and number of participants. Students memorized the scripts,
acted them and video recorded their presentations. The videos were watched in class.

Finally is the third book Supercomputerman by J eremy Taylor, which is the focus of
this study. There was group reading, explanation of new words and expressions and hard
work on pronunciation, guided by the English assistant. Students again divided in groups
according to the chapter they wanted to represent, their interests and the number of
participants in each group. After having decided the chapter they wanted to work on, they
wrote a different ending with the aim of reflecting and creating a new and gorgeous end. The
second part, that is, the design of a digital story taken as base of all the chapter, including a
new end, was the part developed by the ICTs and Learning Environment teacher, who I
asked to help my students by writing her different e-mails.

RESULTS

Results in this study are evident. However I wanted to know more from my students
and especially about their performance in the last activity. In order to get this information I
watched all the digital stories and despite I focused on language, students digital works were
fantastic. In addition, a questionnaire was applied in order to know different aspects that
involved the students perceptions about the work on the three books. However, and it is the
main concern of this paper to inform about some of the results which were obtained by
creating digital stories.

23
Supercomputerman was the book students enjoyed the most. There were many
reasons students argued to select this story. The issues developed in the story, which were
labeled as common and real facts, the reflection on values and the opportunity students had
to use technology, were some of the arguments presented by students.

When asking students to select the activity they enjoyed the most, the design of the
digital story was selected. It is very important to highlight the justification a student gave
because s/ he mentions the chance to use pedagogical elements s/ he will use in the future.

As it was mentioned previously, the subject in which this study took place aims at the
development of the different competences. That is why, a question about the values students
worked in the development of the activity could not be absent. Students were asked about
those values the activity allowed them to develop. Cooperation, group work, responsibility,
respect and engagement were the values which were elected by students.

The language aspects that students realized they could improve with the development
of the activities were also questioned. Pronunciation, vocabulary and speaking were the most
outstanding.

Finally, students were questioned about the advantages and disadvantages they found
developing in each one of the activities. Among the advantages of working on the design of
digital stories, students highlighted that:

They are more attractive and creative.
The opportunity they had to handle software that allowed for the
creation of stories.
Easy to develop and not a common activity.
The opportunity to implement ICTs in other subjects.
They allowed for imagination.
They will be helpful in the future.
They help in teaching children.
Students do not feel nervous.
However, there are some disadvantages, which are necessary to analyze and propose
alternatives to solve them. They can be taken as base for further researches. Some of the
drawbacks which were presented by students were:

24
It is difficult to handle new technologies.
It demands much more time than other activities.
To record the voices.
It needs more guidance.
Problems with the technology. It sometimes fails.
Aspects of languages are not worked on as much as other activities.
Poor access to internet. Poor internet access.

CONCLUSIONS

Nowadays, the implementation of new technologies in the classroom may not be an
excuse to be worked. It is important to work as a team. Students appreciate when they have
to work in groups, and most of the teachers include this kind of activities in their classes. But
the question would be, how much do theteachers work as a team? The development of this
experience shows that it is possible to involve students in common topics that are dealt with
at different subjects in any academic program.

Activities, which lead students to work on reading ability development, may be
different from the common ones. Teachers are invited to take risks, to innovate and to show
how the exposure to new ideas can influence what and the way they teach.
Currently, the design of digital stories as an educative tool for teaching English is
useful and relevant. They help students to reinforce those innate abilities or interests in
technology and at the same time they can be a base to reflect upon those strategies that could
be useful in a future to teachers.

REFERENCES

Celce- Murcia, M. (2001). Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston:Heinle.
Consejo Superior Uptc (2008). Acuerdo 050. Boletn de Acuerdos 67.Grupo Imprenta y
publicaciones UPTC.
Crookes, G. (1997). What influences What and How Second and Foreign LanguageTeachers.
Recuperado el 06-08-2012 de http:/ / sls.hawaii.edu/ Gblog/ wp-
content/ uploads/ 2011/ 08/ Crookes-MLJ811-1997.pdf
Green, A. (2011). Becoming a ReflectiveEnglish Teacher. Open University Press.
Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford University
Press. Teach. http:/ / sls.hawaii.edu/ Gblog/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2011/ 08/ Crookes-
MLJ811-1997.pdf

25
Robin, B. (2013). The Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling. University of Houston.
http:/ / digitalliteracyintheclassroom.pbworks.com/ f/ Educ-Uses-DS.pdf
Tatum, M. (2009). A dissertation: Digital Storytelling as a cultural-Historical Activity:
effects on information Text Comprehension. University of Miami.
http:/ / scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/ cgi/ viewcontent.cgi?article=1221&context=oa
_dissertations
Taylor, J. (1997 ). J ason Causes Chaos. Richmond.
Taylor, J. (1998). Supercomputerman. Richmond.
Twain, M. (2005 ). TomSawyer. MM Publications.

26

Ponencia 2

Are My Students I ntelligent? A Matter of Multiple Intelligences.
3

Jeniffer Posada Vsquez
4

Abstract
This workshop shows foreign language teachers the effectiveness when implementing
didactic activities to foster the Multiple Intelligences Theory (MIT) in class through
demonstration. The use of the MIT will imply planning learner-centered classes in order to
make them more attractive to all students and therefore, getting better results by increasing
students' interest in learning.

Teachers will find MIT very useful since they help teachers to give recognition to the
holistic nature of learners and to address the diversity of their students. It is also a teacher-
friendly tool for lesson planning that can increase the attractiveness of language learning
tasks. This tool also creates favorable motivational conditions in a variety of contexts that
offer learners different ways to make learning meaningful and to strengthen how we recall
new language.

Key words: Multiple Intelligence, didactics, learner-centered classes, classroom games.

Resumen

Este taller muestra a los profesores de idiomas extranjeros la efectividad de
implementar actividades didcticas para promover el uso de la las Inteligencias Mltiples en
clase a travs de demostraciones de stos. Esto implica la planeacin de clases centradas en el
aprendiz, para hacerlas ms atractivas y de esa manera obtener mejores resultados
aumentando el inters en el aprendizaje.

Los profesores hallarn muy tiles la teora de las Inteligencias Mltiples ya que
contribuye a que los profesores reconozcan la naturaleza holstica de los aprendices y para
abordar la diversidad de estudiantes que tienen. Tambin es una herramienta amigable con el
profesor para la planeacin de clases que incrementa el atractivo de las tareas para el
aprendizaje de un idioma extranjero. Dicha herramienta crea tambin condiciones favorables

3
Experience acquired through teaching practice in different institutions at private and public levels and
education levels. (2005-present)
4
Jeniffer Posada Vsquez, Especialista en Pedagoga para la Docencia Universitaria (in progress). Professor and
Director of the Language Department Conformation Project at Fundacin Universitaria del Area Andina-
Seccional Pereira.

27
en una variedad de contextos que ofrecen a los aprendices diferentes maneras para hacer del
aprendizaje un proceso significativo y para fortalecer la forma en la que recordamos la nueva
lengua.

Palabras Clave: Inteligencias Mltiples, didctica, clases enfocadas en el estudiante, juegos
de clase.

INTRODUCTION

Howard Gardners MultipleIntelligences Theory (MIT) (1993, 1999) is a rationalist
model that describes nine different intelligences, which help to understand how cognitive
individual differences can be addressed and adopted to achieve success in the learning
process. The differences are understood as personal tools each individual possesses to make
sense out of new information and to store it in such way that it can be easily retrieved when
needed for use. Additionally, since games help students not only to feel more comfortable
and to create rapport in our classes, but also to feel more confident when learning the foreign
language; associating MIT in our classrooms will help to encourage students to become an
active part of the class, increasing their interest and motivation, no matter the age, and it can
also be developed in every single subject. If we teachers do implement this, it will help to
avoid monotony, leading to learner-centered classes at all times and increasing the use of FL
in the classroom as much as possible.

A Matter of Multiple Intelligences

It is not a secret that in our Colombian Educational System, in most of the
institutions, private or public, the foreign languages are still being taught through the
traditional pedagogical methods. Even though there are newer and widely proved theories,
teachers still use out-of-date methods, taking for granted that they have homogenous classes;
caught on lectures and teacher-centered activities that generally do not provide learners with
enough practice and language use and disregarding the learners interests, inner
characteristics, backgrounds, and all the features that are unique to every individual. Besides,
we can also state that the traditional methods do not allow students to create a comfort zone
to have a friendly learning atmosphere because the teacher is conceived as the one with
knowledge and power in the class.

Many language teachers have not realized that this method has not been as effective
as we want it to be. The outcome can be noticeable when we see our parents or even some of
us who were taught through this method and the percentage of those who really master the
language is in red numbers. Having said this, why is it that teachers are not applying or are
probably afraid of adopting new methods, strategies, techniques, or approaches? Certainly, it
is time for teachers to be aware of the importance of implementing new models that permit
successfulness in the teaching-learning of a foreign language. New methods would help
teachers to engage learners into their own learning process, and as a result foreign language
classes would no longer be seen as a hateful requirement to graduate from school or

28
university, but rather an attractive and motivational class, focused on the students interests
and particular characteristics.

The Theory

One of those characteristics is that, according to what Howard Gardner (1996, 1999)
expresses by the development of his Multiple Intelligences Theory (MIT) each individual
understands, analyzes and processes new information in a particular way, so that it is easier
to retrieve it from the brain later on when needed. Gardner identified nine ways called
intelligences. They are of neutral value, therefore none of them is considered to be superior
to the others. In their basic form, they are presented to some extend in everyone, although a
person will generally be more talented in some that in others. Each of these intelligences is
autonomous, changeable, and trainable and they interact to facilitate the solution of daily
problems.

The nine intelligences are:
- Musical- Rhythmic: By which the individual learns through sounds. There is a
strong auditory component in this intelligence, this students are probably better
with listening activities and lecture classes. They are good at pronunciation skills,
since they have the ability to reproduce pitch, intonation, phonemes, accent, etc.
- Visual- Spatial: The individual learns through what he/ she sees. These learners
have the ability to visualize in mental images the previous information. Pictures,
colors, flashcards, videos, among others are ways to learn for them. Their skills in
languages are puzzle building, reading, writing, understanding charts and graphs,
a good sense of direction, sketching, painting, creating visual metaphors and
analogies), manipulating images, , interpreting visual images.
- Verbal- Linguistic: They have the ability to use language and words. Learners
with this intelligence are usually good at listening, writing, reading, memorizing,
explaining, teaching, using humor, storytelling, understanding meaning and word
formation, analyzing language usage, persuading, etc. They also have high
auditory skills.
- Logical- Mathematical: They have the ability to reason, find logics, and use
numbers. Applied to languages, these students are more focused on the rational
use of the language. They easily learn patterns, structures and grammar rules.
They classify and categorize information, and they also understand abstract
concepts.
- Bodily- Kinesthetic: Students with the Ability to control body movements and
handle objects skillfully. Students learn through movement. They are good at
physical activities, competitions, acting out, dancing, physical co-ordination,
hands-on experimentation, body language, crafts, miming, using their hands to
create or build, and expressing emotions through the body.
- Interpersonal: Students with interpersonal intelligence learn by interacting with
others. They have the ability to relate and understand others. Their skills include
participating in debates and discussions, group activities, listening, dual-

29
perspective counseling, peaceful conflict resolutions, communicating both verbally
and non- verbally, among others.
- Intrapersonal: opposite to interpersonal, a student with this kind of intelligence
has the ability to self-reflect and be aware of one's inner state of being. They have
skills self-assessment, evaluating their thinking patterns, reasoning with
themselves, understanding their role in relationship to others. They enjoy
individual work, and understand themselves well enough to take advantage of
their strengths.
- Naturalistic: students with this type of intelligence nurture nature. They enjoy
field trips and outdoor activities.
- Existential: is also known as spiritual intelligence. Individuals learn through
spiritual experiences.

After analyzing thoroughly the MITs, we can glimpse the answer to the question
stated in the title of this workshop. Are my students intelligent? Undoubtedly, many
teachers evaluate students intelligence based on their exams results, even in different and
often unrelated subjects or maybe because the get good grades in all subjects, but what
happens to those who are not brilliant at languages? As stated previously, this might be due
to the fact that the learner is probably more capable or has more talent in other areas, and
languages are more difficult for him/ her to decipher, understand, analyze, and store in the
brain. However, is this going to stop us, teachers, from giving the student the opportunity to
learn languages in his/ her particular way?

Keeping in mind that we do not have homogenous classes, considering that even if we
have same average age learners, each individual has different background, interests, learning
style, type of motivation, attitude, behavior, communication strategies, and of course
intelligence, the more we use these characteristics to plan learner-centered classes, the more
interested they are going to be in learning the foreign language we are teaching.

Thereafter, if we apply didactics as the means of fostering the importance of students
features while planning a class, with MIT, creating games to develop the intelligences in our
classrooms, they will help our students learning process and most important, it will help us
teachers, to avoid monotonous classes by increasing students interests, leading to learner-
centered classes at all times and helping to avoid the use of L1 in the FL classrooms, thus,
teachers would finally be released from that traditional scheme, to take the next step into
modern Education.

METHODOLOGY

The main aim of this workshop is to give teachers some ideas of those activities they
might use in their classes to develop MIT. The workshop is divided into an introduction of
what MI are, explanation of the type of activities suitable for each MIT, a MI test to identify
teachers predominant intelligence, and finally the demonstration of how those activities
function in the real-life classroom.

30

During the demonstration, one of the several proposed activities for every
intelligence is developed by the teachers. These activities are:

- Musical- Rhythmic: choo choo (pronunciation games), invent songs, listening
activities with songs, audio taped presentations, musical performances, music recitals.
Activity: Listening Activity: Drawing the Monster. The facilitator (F) describes a
monster orally, with its body parts and special face and hair features. Teachers draw
it and color it according to the description they heard. Lastly, they will check who
drew all the features.
- Visual- Spatial: drawing, art gallery, Pictionary, take pictures, making videos, etc.
Activity: Pictionary: It is a game in which team members take turns being the
Picturist. Each time your team sketches a word or a phrase, a new picturist must
sketch (Hasbro, 2005).
- Verbal- Linguistic: listening activities, formal speaking, tongue twisters, humor,
jokes, creative writing, spelling bee, vocabulary games, journal writing or diaries,
prose or poetry, and creating television jingles, taboo, etc.
Activity: Taboo: Taboo should be played in two groups. One person comes to the
front and draws a card. He has one minute to explain that word to his group
members. If they guess right, he can draw another word and explain that as well,
until his minute is over. The group gets as many points as the number of words they
have guessed right. Then it is the other groups turn (OMara, 2012).

Logical- Mathematical: crosswords, treasure hunts, riddles, hidden message, who
am I? , etc.
- Activity: Treasure Hunt: F leaves hints around the place for students to find. One
will lead a hint to the next one, and so on so at the end there is a treasure.

- Bodily- Kinesthetic: Sex war, competitions, Touch it!, Simon Says, What are you
doing?, role plays, charades, etc.
Activity: Charades: Charades is a game of pantomimes in which you have to "act
out" a phrase without speaking, while the other members of your team try to guess
what the phrase is. The objective is for your team to guess the phrase as quickly as
possible (Nau, 2000).

- Interpersonal: group work, videos, role plays, interviews, etc.
Activity: Interview: With their cellphones students can record short interviews to
their classmates or professors to improve not only linguistic skills but also to foster
their interpersonal intelligence.

- Intrapersonal: individual work, personalized activities (own dictionary), telling a
personal anecdote to the class.

31
- Naturalistic: Field trips, categorizing and analyzing, show-and-tell, scavenger hunt.
Activity: Show-and-tell: It is a classroom exercise in which you bring in something
from home, stand up in front of your class, show them what you bring, and tell a few
things about it (Peha, 2003, p.33). The objective is that if one can explain a concept
to someone else then he/ she truly understands the concept (Courter et al., 1995).

- Existential: individual work, self-assessment.
Activity: Self-assessment: MIT Test: Attendees take a test to identify their
dominant intelligence(s) by reflecting about their own learning.

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSIONS

Teachers will find games with MIT a useful tool that will help them to give
acknowledgment to the different characteristics of learners that influence their learning
processes, and to address the heterogeneity of our classrooms. In addition, we can also plan
lessons attractive enough to engage students into language learning and increase their
motivation as we are using their own characteristics to capture them and attract them into
knowledge.
To further the discussion on this topic, this workshop also encourages attendees to
think on an effective way of fostering the 9 intelligences into each class. Therefore, every
teacher needs to find the way to plan a lesson in which the MIT is fully implemented so their
classes give each student the opportunity to learn in his/ her own way. Besides, despite the
fact that the activities on this workshop are focused on foreign language learning, it is
evident that they can be used in any subject in order to approach and help students to
understand the new knowledge taught in their own way. However, in order to continue
centering the learning process on learners, it would be meaningful to find out the type of
activities that a content area teacher does in order to enhance the inclusion of MIT into
lesson planning and to engage students into the learning process.

REFERENCES

Courter, S. et al. (1995). Strategies for effective teaching a handbook for teaching assistants.
Retrieved on October 7
th
of 2013 from
http:/ / www.engr.wisc.edu/ services/ elc/ strategies.pdf.
Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of Mind: TheTheory of MultipleIntelligences. New York: Basic
Books, Inc. Publishers.
Herzberg, Frederick et Al. (1959). TheMotivation to Work (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley.
Hasbro (2005). Pictionary : Instruction manual. Retrieved on October 7
th
of 2013 from
http:/ / www.hasbro.com/ common/ instruct/ Pictionary_20th_2005.pdf
Leite, Walter L. et Al (2009). Attempted Validation of the Scores of the VARK: Learning
Styles Inventory With MultitraitMultimethod Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Models. SAGE Publications, 2009. p. 2.
Lightbown. P and Spada, N. (2006). How Languages areLearned. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.

32
Nau, D.S. (2000). Rules for thegameof charades. Retrieved on October 5
th
of 2013 from
http:/ / www.cs.umd.edu/ ~nau/ misc/ charades.html
OMara, S (2012). Threebasic english languagegames to usein teaching ESL. Retrieved on October
7
th
of 2013 from http:/ / www.brighthubeducation.com/ esl-teaching-tips/ 99274-three-
basic-games-for-esl-learners-to-practice-language-skills/

Peha, S. (2003). The writing teachers strategy guide. Retrieved on October 7
th
of 2013 from
http:/ / www.ttms.org/ PDFs/ 01%20Writing%20Strategy%20Guide%20v001%20(Ful
l).pdf

33

Ponencia 3

How the students culture affects the perspective of evaluation
5

Julio Jimnez Betancourt
6

Abstract

Language instructions represent a challenging task for teachers since they imply the
use of many variables that are necessary to carry out a successful job in the classroom. These
variables need to be adjusted and permanently open to changes due to factors like the
students population, institutional policies, and the curriculum. One aspect that represents a
determinant and very important aspect is evaluation.

The students culture affect the essence of what evaluation means in the process of
learning as the students always expect to have or see a grade to see their progress.
Evaluation is not always used to measure how much the student has learned, but how
something was taught and what needs to be improved and sometimes it is necessary to do
some activities in classes that are required to find that information. Evaluation helps the
teacher teach and helps the student learn but only if they are mature enough to see that and
if they are aware of what that means in the process of learning. The worst thing is that some
language programs contribute to this perception as evaluation has been established as the
way of following or keeping institutional policies rather than looking at the pedagogical side,
so teachers and students participate in this process according to their beliefs and leave out
the importance of carrying out a successful evaluation plan. This process is not only from the
students side but from the teacher as well as they both need to be integrated in the teaching
learning process. This presentation will show some reflections about the students position
against the evaluation process in the classroom and how that can affect the students
performance in the class and his or her life.

Key words: evaluation, assessment (formative and summative), tests, culture,
feedback, teaching, learning.

Resumen
El arte de ensear representa un reto para profesores, ya que implica el uso integral
de muchas variables muy importantes que son necesarias para llevar a cabo un trabajo

5
This document is a reflection from my experience as an English professor in all the institutions I have worked.
6
Currently working as a full time teacher at Universidad de San Buenaventura Cartagena. Mg. in Language
teaching, specialist in language teaching, specialist in interactive teaching.

34
exitoso en el aula. Estas variables deben ser ajustadas y permanentemente dispuestas a
cambios debido a factores como la poblacin de estudiantes, las polticas institucionales y el
currculo, pero dentro de estos factores hay una variable que representa un factor
determinante y muy importante en el proceso de enseanza que es la evaluacin.

La cultura de los estudiantes afecta a la esencia de lo que significa la evaluacin en el
proceso de aprendizaje, ya que los alumnos siempre esperan tener o ver un nmero como
calificacin para ver su progreso. La evaluacin no siempre se utiliza para medir cuanto el
estudiante aprendi sino tambin para ver como se le ense y lo que hay que mejorar y para
saber eso es necesario realizar ciertas actividades durante el proceso de enseanza que nos
pueden dar informacin al respecto. La evaluacin ayuda al profesor a ensear y al estudiante
a aprender, pero solo se puede valorar si los estudiantes tienen un grado de madurez y logran
entender lo que esta significa en el proceso de aprendizaje.

Lo peor es que esta percepcin es producto de que algunos programas establecen la
evaluacin como la manera de seguir o mantener polticas institucionales en lugar de mirar el
lado pedaggico y profesores y estudiantes participan en este proceso de acuerdo a sus
posturas culturales y dejan a un lado la importancia de llevar a cabo un plan de evaluacin
exitoso.
Esta presentacin mostrar una reflexin sobre la cultura del estudiante respecto al
tema de la evaluacin en el aprendizaje y como sta postura puede afectar el desempeo en
aula de clase y en sus vidas.

Palabras claves: evaluacin (formativa y sumativa), cultura, aprendizaje, enseanza,
retroalimentacin, pruebas.

INTRODUCTION

Language instructions represent a challenging task for teachers since they imply the
use of many variables that are necessary to carry out a successful job in the classroom. These
variables need to be adjusted and permanently open to changes due to factors like the
students population, institutional policies, and the curriculum. One aspect that represents a
determinant and very important aspect is evaluation.

Culturally, in most cases, evaluation is seen by the students as a way of getting a
grade no matter what you get to learn in the learning process or what you do to obtain a
passing grade. On the one hand, this point of view affects the student as in some cases he /
she might not have a desirable learning result at the end of the process due to the lack of
interest in learning. On the other hand the evaluative procedures have not been carried out
in the way they should have and the students focus their attention on the activity they could
do to get the grade they need to pass the subject. (activities like workshops without any
necessity).

35
The students culture affects the essence of what evaluation means in the process of
learning as the students always expect to have or see a number to see their progress or end
of semester, and to certain point it is a valid position because it is an easy way to measure or
have control on how much supposedly you learnt something. Evaluation is not always used
to measure how much the student has learned, but how something was taught and what
needs to be improved and sometimes it is necessary to do some activities in classes that are
required to find that information.

The worst thing is that some language programs contribute to this perception as
evaluation has been established as the way of following or keeping institutional policies
rather than looking at the pedagogical side, so teachers and students participate in this
process according to their beliefs and leave out the importance of carrying out a successful
evaluation plan.

Teaching plays an important role in succeeding in the students learning process. It
implies the use of many variables like teachers methodology, material, evaluation system,
etc. that could lead to know the how and why a student may learn or fail in this new step
which is learning a second language. One of the most important variables in the teaching
practice that becomes essential in the students learning is the way the process in evaluated.

The way a student is assessed differs a lot considering some factors. For instance;
school policies, programs objectives, students interests, the teachers evaluating procedures,
and course goals. Nonetheless, it is said that the more a process is assessed the more success
is evidenced in learning. Ongoing assessment of student learning in the classroom is an
essential aspect in effective teaching.

Students need to know that having a grade is not the only way we can do to evaluate
somebody, and there are some other procedures and strategies that could have the same and
sometimes better benefits that the traditional evaluative methods. This is something that
needs to be taken tactfully as students might misunderstand the purpose of this way of
evaluating and have a wrong perception about it.

In order to make the students population be aware of these concepts, they need to
study and reflect on what they have been doing in their classes and the relevance of the
procedures applied by the teacher.

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

Teachers can use a variety of assessment methods to diagnose and determine
students strengths and needs, plan and adjust instructions, and provide feedback to students
regarding progress and achievement. The primary purpose of classroom assessment is to
inform teaching and improve learning, not to sort and select a student, or to justify a grade.
(McTighe, J. & Ferrara, S, 1998).

36
According to this point of view, assessment refers to the instrument, methodology, or
technique teachers should use to see how effective their teaching practice is and what should
be changed or improved to get the expected results in the program. In other words,
assessment helps the teacher teach and helps the student learn but only if they are mature
enough to see that and if they are aware of what that means in the process of learning.

For these authors, the terms assessment, testing, and evaluation are used in different
moments during the teaching process, but their meanings are completely different from one
another. Assessment is a very wide term that makes reference to the process of collecting and
analyzing information to better understand and describe characteristics of people. Testing is
one type of assessment. Tests are usually given with a pen and paper format and taken
within established time limits, often with a limited range of acceptable responses.

From another author, the term assessment refers to "any systematic basis for making
inferences about characteristics of people. Usually based on various sources of evidence; the
global process of synthesizing information about individuals in order to understand and
describe them better" (Brown 1983). While considering this definition, it is interesting to
note that the term assessment is derived from the Latin root assideremeaning "to sit beside."

All authors that refer to assessment conclude the same position which is the way
students could be aware of their process of learning or learn how to learn and teachers could
notice of their teaching practice is being carried out and what needs to change to improve it.

Types Of Assessment

In assessment literature there are two widely used terms; summative assessment and
formative assessment. Summative assessment refers to any culminating assessment that
provides a summary report on the degree of knowledge or proficiency attained at the
conclusion of a unit, course or program of study. A final exam, senior exhibition, or
dissertation defense are examples of summative assessments. (McTighe & Ferrara, 1998).

On the other hand, they refer to formative assessment as any ongoing diagnostic
assessment that provides information to help teachers adjust instruction and improve student
performance. For instance, teachers might ask their students about any particular topic prior
to the start of a unit to show what they already know about theme as a mean of obtaining
information about students' prior knowledge.

Additionally, they state that formative assessment also can be used during class
instruction to verify on students understandings and misconceptions. Teachers often use
brief written and oral quizzes and classroom discussions to determine if students have
learned course material and can apply the skills they have been taught. Such activities
provide teachers with valuable information that allows them to adjust instruction to improve
student learning.

37
The word formative, which is used as an adjective with assessment or evaluation,
has commonly been used to describe an improvement process while the word summative has
been used to describe a decision-making process (Brown, Race & Smith, 1996). In other
words, formative refers to progress information and summative to a final decision. However,
the words formative and summative mean as it is being created and addition of all
things, respectively. A process to determine quality can both be accomplished either as a
performance is being created or after it is completed, so other words should be used to
distinguish the two processes.

Formative assessment, often referred to as assessment for learning, is the assessment
that is done before and during teaching to inform instruction. Formative assessment includes
things like teacher-student conferences, listening in on student book discussions, taking
records of childrens oral reading, examining students writing pieces, and so forth.

Though these assessments might be standardized, they often are not. To be
formative, an assessment must affect instruction. It is the gathering of information about the
student learning during the progression of a course or program and usually repeatedly, to
improve the learning of those students. Example: reading the first report of a class to assess
whether some oral students in the group need a lesson on how to make them such succinct
and informative. (leskes, 2002)

On the other hand, summative assessment, also called as assessment of learning, is
the one in which we look back at what students have learned, such as end-of course or end-
of-year examinations. The most familiar forms are the end-of-standardized tests, though in
classrooms we also assess students learning at the end of a unit.

These assessments are likely to uniform or standardized. The purpose of summative
assessment is to create a mark or grade. (Baehr, 2010)

Marzano (2006) states that the terms summative and formative have been used a lot
in discussions of educational assessments. Actually, the concepts of summative and formative
when first developed had no little to do with classroom assessment or even with learning.

He says that the difference between formative and summative was first introduced by
Michael Scriven in 1967 as part of the American Educational Research Association
monographs series on evaluation. Scrivens original point of view was that a distinction
should be made between programs that are being formulated versus programs that have
evolved to their final state. Consequently, evaluation takes on different characteristics and is
interpreted differently in formative versus summative situations.

Formative and / or summative assessments are necessary in students learning due to
the interest in checking the students process which has as much validity as any other
evaluative procedure. The teachers methodology is essential in this process because he is the

38
person in charge in demonstrating and showing the importance of including assessment in
the evaluation system and whose results are as real as the ones taken in any other way.

EVALUATION

Culturally, the term evaluation in the classroom represents a wide paradigm on
students which inevitably provokes levels of fear and stress since it intends to confirm
whether the student learned something or not and their skills toward the language could be
exposed though a grade. Apart from that, in some cases it is used as a measure of punishment
due to discipline problems, low performance, negative attitude toward the language, and
personal conflicts between the teacher and the students, among others.

It is then when teachers play an important role in the language learning process as it
is strictly convenient to make students believe how important and necessary evaluation is in
their process and how to manage emotions regarding this topic is a key to success in
language leaning.

The concept teachers, including me, have had about this term is that evaluation is
given at the end of one, two, or any number of units or sometimes a period to check students
learning outcomes. The most common instrument for this process is a written test in which
students in most cases do not have the practice in classes to work with.

The results of these tests are not used to take actions to improve the evaluation
system or anything similar just a way to see who passed or who did not. Sometimes this
process is given just to keep institutional policies and not to measure students learning
showing as consequence not reliable results.
McTighe & Ferrara (1998) define evaluation as a process which involves making a
judgment regarding quality, value, or worth, based on set criteria. Teacher questioning,
reviews of student work folders, and paper-and-pencil tests are commonly used assessment
methods for gathering information about student learning. Scoring a student essay and
assigning report card grades are examples of evaluation, among others.

On the other hand, Crooks (1988) defines classroom evaluation as evaluation based on
activities that students have during the period they are enrolled in a particular course. These
activities may involve time spent both inside and outside the classroom. This definition
includes tasks such as formal teacher-made tests, curriculum-embedded tests (including
adjunct questions and other exercises intended to be an integral part of learning materials),
oral questions asked of students, and a wide variety of other performance activities (cognitive
and psychomotor).

In my case for example, I take this authors definition in my teaching practice as I try
not to use only one way of evaluating the course. It is important to offer a variety of
evaluation methods to give the students the opportunity to find his strengths and see what
he needs to improve or change.

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Types of Evaluation

In the same way there is formative and summative assessment, there is formative and
summative evaluation and the terms are points of discussion in language learning for what
they represent to education and the way teachers apply their concepts in the classrooms.
Parsons, (2003) also established a chart that is going to help us see the difference between
summative and formative evaluation.

Formative evaluation Summative evaluation
Focused on daily, ongoing assessment of
student progress
Focused on daily ongoing assessment of
program effectiveness
Incorporates a diagnostic function for both
student and program
Geared to individual needs and growth
Intended to assist students in learning
Intended to improve educational
experience
Assumes teacher acting as trusted adult
partner
Utilizes records for report card purposes
Uses comparative standards and judgments
Intended for overall decision-making, for
example, student placement in a specific
program or grade
Assumes teacher acting as adult/ evaluator

Parson indicates that formative evaluation refers to the permanent observation to the
students performance toward learning. The student needs to be aware of how well he is
doing in the process of learning and what should be changed during and before the end of the
course, not because a grade or a final judgment is important but learning.

For Parson (2003) when formative evaluation is not taken into account, students
quickly realize that all the activities they do in class, all what the teacher assigns, and every
test they take counts toward the grade that ends up on their evaluation report. In that kind
of environment, where the student is faced with the concepts such us risk taking, the benefit
of trial and error, revision, collaboration, program modification, self-evaluation, and personal
growth, are weak, underappreciated, and bad. For the learning/ teaching environment to
operate effectively and rationally, a compromise has to be determined between formative and
summative evaluation.
Nevertheless, when the student feels that their effort is not taken into account with a
grade, students feel discourage and loose interest in studying and participating as there is the
attitude of giving and getting something in return. If the teacher does not clarify the
intention of the activity is likely to have negative results at the end due to the students
culture toward evaluation.

40
Goals of Evaluation

Generally, evaluation happens when teachers need to know who learned and who did
not through different evaluative instruments they consider appropriate to conclude this.
Considering this aspect, the goal of evaluation is when teachers need to make decisions about
who achieved the learning goals and who did not or who should pass to the next level or
should repeat. Nonetheless, when the evaluated subject does not have anything to do with
the students profession, but is included in the curriculum, then passing is what matters and
not learning.

There is some sort of confusion when the evaluative instruments show results that do
not correspond with the students progress and teachers need to decide whether the students
should continue or not. Revision upon the instruments used is necessary and immediate to
check what the problems is and avoid having students pass without the learning level.

FEEDBACK.

Some students believe that feedback occurs only after written tests and not during
any other moment due to the way it is presented in the class, but do students really know
what feedback is? In most cases students respond to teaching styles that show when feedback
usually happens and the particular way it happens.

But how effective do we consider feedback in our classes and how productive do
students consider it? All depends on the perception and interests the students have about the
subject they are taking. When the student is interested in learning, he might consider
feedback necessary and important for his / her process, however if the student is not
interested in learning but in passing, feedback might be a waste of time.

Black and William (1998) and Kluger and DeNisi (1996) have done numerous reviews
of the effects of feedback on learning. Although on average, feedback does improve learning
outcomes, Kluger and DeNisi found that one third of 607 effect sizes were negative. The
authors were able to explain some of the variation in study findings using a theoretical
hierarchy linked to the motivation literature that distinguished between task-oriented
feedback, which tended to enhance learning, and self-oriented evaluation, which was more
likely to be ineffective or debilitating.

Feedback given as part of formative assessment, or in other words, the one given
during class instruction, helps learners become aware of any gaps that exist between their
desired goal and their current knowledge, understanding, or skill and guides them through
actions necessary to obtain the goal (Ramaprasad, 1983; Sadler, 1989).

The most helpful type of feedback on tests and homework provides specific comments
about errors and specific suggestions for improvement and encourages students to focus
their attention thoughtfully on the task rather than on simply getting the right answer

41
(Bangert-Drowns, Kulick, & Morgan, 1991; Elawar & Corno, 1985). This type of feedback
may be particularly helpful to lower achieving students because it emphasizes that students
can improve as a result of effort rather than be doomed to low achievement due to some
presumed lack of innate ability.

Functions and Forms of Feedback

Feedback is often taken as a way of giving the right answer when a student makes a
mistake, but Kulhavy (1977) reported that feedback acts to confirm correct answers, thus
helping the students to know what they know. There is very little evidence that such
knowledge of correct response, and indeed feedback on correct responses has very little effect
on subsequent performance, except perhaps in the special case where the student has grave
doubts about the correctness of the initial answer. This point of view is what happens in
most cases in classes where students just receive the correct answer without knowing the
origin of the problem. It is very possible that the mistake is due to lack of knowledge rather
than any other reason for instance personality problems.

The biggest benefit from feedback reported by kulhavy is the identification of errors
of knowledge and understanding, and assistance with correcting those errors. As a teacher is
our duty to let the student know when he makes a mistake and students need to know the
dimension of it in the language and the relevance of its correctness. In most studies, such
feedback clearly improved subsequent performance on similar questions. He states that
feedback on incorrect responses has been shown to be most effective where the initial was
made with high confidence, probably because the students attend more to the feedback in
such cases (due to the element of surprise and the initial desire to defend the correctness of
the response). This clearly demonstrates that feedback given at initial points might have
better results than feedback given when the mistake has been rooted due to lack of
correctness.

For Crooks, (1988) the most effective form of feedback will depend on the correctness
of the answer, the students degree of confidence in the answer, and the nature of the task. It
is important the role or position of the student at the moment of making the mistake. If the
answer is correct, simply confirmation of its correctness is sufficient. If the question was
factual and the answer is incorrect, the most efficient form of feedback is probably simply to
give the correct answer (Phye, 1979).

Students need to be aware that feedback is a useful strategy for learning if they
understand the real value in the teaching and evaluation process.

TESTS Vs. ASSESSMENT

A test is the instrument teachers use to measure the learning process in a period of
time. Tests can be oral and written and they both have different goals. In evaluation it is
considered the most common procedure used in classes to get a grade and its effectiveness

42
related to factual data is a point of discussion in many institutions. Tests can have different
features that might be negotiated with the students at the moment of imparting the rules,
usually at the beginning of a period or could be taken into account at the moment of
designing the course. Whatever the result of this process is should be informed to the
students so they can be familiarized with the teachers style of evaluating.

For Brown (2000) the first thing to do when exploring the classroom is to understand
what assessment and a test are and how they differ from one another. You might be tempted
to think of them as synonymous terms, but they are not. He defines a test as an instrument
or procedure designed to elicit performance from learners with the purpose of measuring
their attainment of specified criteria. Tests are almost always identifiable time periods in a
curriculum when learners muster all their faculties to offer peak performance, knowing that
their responses are being measured and evaluated. Test can be useful devices among other
procedures and tasks designed to assess students.

Brown states that assessment encompasses a much wider domain than tests.
Whenever a student responds to a question, offers a comment, or tries out a new word or
structure, the teacher makes an assessment of a students performance. Written work from
jotted down phrase to formal essays to journals is performance that ultimately is assessed
by self, teacher, and possibly other students. Reading and listening activities usually require
some sort of productive performance that the teacher then assesses. A good teacher never
ceases to assess students, whether those assessments are incidental or intended.

He believes that a teacher must involve assessment every time he teaches something
as there must be the environment for the students feel free to make mistakes and see how the
learning takes place in their process. That information will help the teacher take correctives
in his teaching and improve what is giving results to make of the process a successful one.
Changing students culture toward evaluation is not easy and might take time to have
good results, which means that teachers need to do something now and make students
understand and apply the real concepts of evaluation and its implication in learning to get
the desire goals in their learning process.

CONCLUSION

Evaluation in language learning is considered a very complex topic and demands a lot
of reflection from teachers and students, so there are some things that should be taken into
account to start this new process.

Students need to learn more about evaluation and how good and
beneficial it could be in the learning process if it is taken in the way it should be.
Teachers need to contribute to this wrong perception from the
students showing and sometimes explaining why some things in the class happen and

43
what the purpose of that activity is, so that students could understand and take
advantage of the activities promoted in the class in a better way.
Universities and language centers need to unify evaluation criteria to
establish unified concepts that could let the teachers and students have one goal in
common and go to the same direction.
Teachers need to inform before starting a course the evaluation policies
and procedures so that students could be prepared for the activities and the teachers
methodology.
Teachers should tell the student the goal of any activity promoted in
the class, so students could focus their attention on that and not on things that are
less relevant for the teacher.
Teachers need to inform the students the relationship between the
programs goals and the courses goals so that the students could see how relevant
and integrated the activities are and how they could improve the learning process.
Teachers need to show that evaluation is with a beneficial purpose and
no with a punishing one, so students can study in a comfortable learning
environment.
Teachers need to demonstrate that evaluation is not only given with
tests and a grade is not only taken with numbers.
Teachers need to be seen as a person that is going to help them learn
something and not as the person that is going to be the tyrant using evaluation
instruments to be feared in class.

REFERENCES

Bangert-Drowns, R.L., Kulick, J.A., and Morgan, M.T. (1991). The instructional effect of
feedback in test-like events. Review of Educational Research, 61 (2): 213-238.
Black, P., and William, D. (1998). Assessment in education. Principles, policy & practice.
Volume 5, issue 1.
Baehr, M. (2010). Programassessment handbook. Pacific crest.
Brown. EG. (1983). Principles of educational and psychological testing. 3rd ed. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston.
Brown, D. (2000). Teaching by principles: an interactiveapproach to languagepedagogy. Second
ed. Pearson education publishing.
Brown, S., Race, P., & Smith, B. (1996). 500 tips on assessment. London: Kogan
Crooks, T. J. (1988). The impact of classroom evaluation practices on students. Review of
Educational Research, 58, 438-481.
Ferrara, S., and J. McTighe. (1992). Assessment: A thoughtful process. In if minds matter a
foreword to the future. Vol. 2. Palatine, 1II: Skylight Publishing.

44
Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A
historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory.
Psychological Bulletin, 119, 254-284.
Kulhavy, R. W. (1977). Feedback in written instruction. Review of Educational Research, 47,
211-232.
Leskes, A. (2002). Beyond confusion: an assessment glossary. Peer Review, 4(2/ 3).
Marzano, R. (2006). Classroom assessment & grading that work. Association for supervision for
curriculumdevelopment. ASCD
Parsons, L. (2003). Theclassroomtroubleshooter: strategies for marking and paperwork, discipline,
evaluation, and learning trough language. Pembroke publishers.
Phye, G. D. (1997). The processing of informative feedback about multiple-choice test
performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 4, 381-394.
Ramaprasad, A. (1983). On the definition of feedback. Behavioral Science, 28 (1): 4-13.
Scriven, M. (1967). Themethodology of evaluation. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.

45

Eje temtico 2

I I . La investigacin
interdisciplinar en lenguas
extranjeras

Avances o resultados de investigaciones en los que
se evidencie que la realidad compleja de los sujetos
y objetos de estudio, ha sido abordada con el
concurso de varias disciplinas. Diseo y desarrollo
de proyectos de aula investigativos e
interdisciplinarios.

46

Ponencia 4

Virtual Learning Environment: English and Critical Thinking
7

Michael Enrique Robayo Castro
8

Abstract

This study reports the research process carried out with the project the English
Teaching and Learning process based on Critical Thinking in a Virtual Learning
Environment at Universidad de Boyac. It aims at analyzing the critical thinking
effectiveness in the English teaching and learning process with students of English one in a
virtual module, by designing and applying English learning strategies with a critical
thinking approach and assessing the relevance of the same one when developing the four
skills in a virtual module. A pretest will be used as an instrument in order to determine the
students initial knowledge, and then there will be a stage of design and application of the
activities to a group of students selected under parameters of low academic performance in
the foreign language. Then a post test will be applied to compare the initial and the final
knowledge and the scores. Observations and surveys will be used as techniques of collection.
It is a non -experimental quantitative study and it is expected to facilitate the students
learning and that they perform well in the English subject.

Key words: Foreign Language, Learning, Critical Thinking, Virtual Environments

Resumen

Este estudio informa acerca del proceso de investigacin del proyecto El proceso de
enseanza-aprendizajedel ingls desdeel pensamiento crtico en un AmbienteVirtual deAprendizaje
en la Universidad deBoyac que tiene como objetivo analizar la efectividad del pensamiento
crtico en el proceso de enseanza y aprendizaje con estudiantes de ingls uno en un mdulo
virtual; adems de disear y aplicar estrategias de aprendizaje del ingls desde el
pensamiento crtico y evaluar la pertinencia del mismo. Se usar y aplicar un pre test como
instrumento para determinar el conocimiento inicial de los estudiantes, y habr una etapa de
diseo y aplicacin de las actividades a un grupo de estudiantes seleccionado bajo el criterio
de bajo rendimiento acadmico en el idioma extranjero. Luego se aplicar un pos test para

7
This study is being developed at Universidad de Boyac in Tunja, from March 2012 to date.
8
B.Ed. in Modern Languages, Spanish-English, Teacher-Researcher at Universidad de Boyac,Tunja.
merobayo@uniboyaca.edu.co

47
comparar el progreso de los estudiantes antes y despus del mdulo virtual y las notas
obtenidas. Es una investigacin cuantitativa cuasi experimental en la que se espera facilitar el
aprendizaje de los estudiantes y que tengan un buen desempeo en la materia de idioma
extranjero ingls.

Palabras clave: Idioma Extranjero, Aprendizaje, Pensamiento Crtico, Ambientes
Virtuales

PRESENTATION

The initial idea to undertake this research process is based on various issues. To
begin with, our students who are enrolled in different programs at a private university and
taking English one as part of their curriculum evidence limitations in their English
proficiency. A second concern referred to virtual learning and B-Learning model since at
this institution, it was established a virtual platform as an institutional project in 2005; and
something that caught the researcher teachers attention is that one of the main objectives
proposed was to design virtual modules for each one of the subjects in order to facilitate the
students independent work and strengthen the topics of the class.

Based on the above several concerns emerged, such as the Language Department
started working in the platform in 2009 with a virtual module that connects English, health
and technology made by one of the teachers of the department, but there were no more
virtual modules for teaching English until 2012. Another concern was that the students have
to take just two English Basic Levels (48 hours/ semester) and two complementary English
levels if they want, but according to Bridge English Institute (2013) a language learner needs
at least from 180 to 200 hours per level in order to pass to the next level and acquire the
necessary skills. Additionally English academic mortality rate has been high in last years and
there is not a languages laboratory; therefore the need to create a virtual module that
eventually can become a virtual language lab.

A final concern has to do with the university policies and the pedagogical model
which proposes a flexible and critical curricular approach based on agreement 064, issued in
2013 by the Board of Founders of the institution in which one of the purposes of the training
process is to propitiate the self-critical and critical thinking development, in order to favor
understanding, coexistence and solidarity into the human rights framework (p. 21).
According to Elder and Paul (2005) a critical thinking approach has as advantages to teach
the learner how to learn and how to be an active part of his/ her own learning process, to be
more aware about the competences development and it encourages students creativity and
curiosity to solve problems. In this sense, some students consider learning a foreign
language as not important and something isolated of their own interests. And there is lack of
reflection and deep analysis before facts or daily situations; so it was realized that the
learners do not make a critical reflection on their own learning when using English, they are

48
just focused on the structural part without developing accurate learning processes which is
reflected on the loss of the subject.

Bearing the previous considerations in mind, the study was led towards a non-
experimental research. First, a diagnostic survey was applied in order to know the opinions
of the university community about virtual environments and thus to consolidate the research
problem. In these results corroborated information given by authors as Graham (2005), who
states that access to internet has increased in the last two decades; besides, it is possible to
evidence a high percentage in the use of computers, which is useful since most of them has
experience with computers and certain software. The information collected in the diagnostic
stage revealed that the participants have started virtual English courses but not all have
finished and they perceive learning English as something mechanical where they do not have
the need of reflecting and analyzing different issues. As a consequence of the evidence, it
was decided to design a pretest in order to measure not only the English skills but the ability
to infer and analyze, to think critically. Then, to design and implement a virtual module for
Basic English students based on activities with critical thinking competences and apply a
posttest to corroborate and analyze the advance.

In the forthcoming sections, besides providing more details about the investigation
process to be carried out, I will discuss the main pillar underlying this study from both
theory and research experiences. Furthermore, I will include a description of the research
design to be implemented to answer the question of this study. Additionally, I will talk about
my experience during the development of this project which has to do with one of the topics
of the seminar Interdisciplinary research in Foreign Languages by evidencing how to
propose new alternatives on which the students context can be improved and some
suggestions about the issues to be addressed in relation to this study.

Defining and exploring Virtual Learning Environment VLE and Critical
Thinking

This literature review looks at several concepts related to VLE and critical thinking.
Starting from these considerations, the principles of these two topics will be discussed.
Finally relevant research experiences in regard to the areas being studied will be commented
on.

Virtual learning Environment and Learning a Foreign Language

Revising literature in the field, several concepts emerge, but in general a VLE
(Virtual Learning Environment) is a set of tools for learning and teaching created to
strengthen the students learning experiences when including computers and internet in such
processes. Prez (2002), describe some of the didactic characteristics within the work with
new technologies, evidencing the importance of the role that the student plays in the

49
learning process, being the center of learning, likewise, autonomous learning is fostered and
new strategies are generated in order to stimulate students creativity.

When discussing learning strategies for foreign language, one must take into account
a series of cognitive elements related to the mode of perceiving, thinking and remembering
(Hansen & Stanfield, 1981). On the other hand, McLoughlin (as cited by Salazar, 2006)
proposes that:

A virtual learning environment is formed by the means to lead or transport the
didactic resources and a communication strategy that allows the relationship between
learners-teachers and learners-learners. The learning environment design on the web is
a task surpassing the creation of learning materials for a given target, since it is
supported infrastructure to conduct the resources and sustain the communication
process.

For Rodrguez-Ardura & Ryan (2001) the VLE is an educational symbolic
representation, based on network technology and Web support that includes several tools
about information presentation, it allows synchronous and asynchronous relationship,
between all components of educational community. On the other hand Gisbert, et. al (1998)
consider that a VLE it is a cluster of computer and telematics facilities for communication
and information exchange where teaching-learning processes are developed and teachers and
students interact mainly.

According to the mentioned authors a VLE demonstrates to be a very useful tool
when developing learning strategies and competences. In that way this study searches to
achieve integration between the foreign language skills acquisition by stimulating the
development of critical thinking as well as strengthen knowledge and versatility when
signing in a virtual module.

Research Experiences: VLE, English and CALL

Since the last years technology has become a tool to support teachers in different
areas. For example Correal, Montaez, et al.(2009) reflected and elaborated a guide for the
Virtual tutor, that offers the teachers or virtual tutors a guidance to start their activity
related to ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), an instructive tool to design
virtual modules for B-learning (Blended Learning) and E-learning (Electronic learning)for
teaching as well as a model to follow.

Regarding Virtual environments for teaching and learning a foreign language, Lau,
Ip, Chan, Kwok, Wong & Wong (2010) have made research on the use of podcasting on
internet for a Blended Learning (B-learning). They found that the use of podcasting has the
potential to improve learning when giving the students remote access to the activities of the
course at any moment. Besides this empirical study revealed that the students normally feel

50
in a higher social level and they accomplish better results if they get involved in the design of
the online courses.

Bearing in mind the previous research about VLE and English teaching-learning, in
the XXI century technology has become a priority and internet is a wide resource where
everybody can find information about teaching and learning a foreign language and an ocean
of knowledge. In the next section the reader can probe about research related to computer
assistant language learning (CALL).

There are several articles that describe the use of technology as a mean for teaching
English and other languages as a foreign or second language. One of these articles is very
interesting since it is related to this study. Multiple interactivity and multisensory
communication, a concept which says that to assist the learners needs, the multimedia
material should include interactive activities about relevant issues related with their personal
and academic context (Jnica, Rey & Rosado, 2006, p. 16). This is a study which aimed to
identify the characteristics that the multimedia material should have to promote the
developing of the intercultural competence. It was used a qualitative approach, with a case
study design and the authors used two interviews with 2 students and one teacher, they
made 6 observations to the teacher about the pre and post lectures and assessed the
multimedia material at the institution.

The previous research has to do with meaningful learning proposed by Ausebel who
defines it as:

The essence of the process of the meaningful learning is that ideas which are
expressed symbolically are not so arbitrary related but substantial (not literally) so the
learner already knows, notably with any essential aspect of his/ her knowledge structure
(for example, an image, a symbol with a significance, a context, a proposition) (Ausebel
cited by Gutierrez, 1987, p. 119-120).

Based on the above, the contents to be implemented in the virtual module will be
related to interculturality, personal and academic context, which allow the students to reflect
and relate the topics with their reality and previous knowledge by doing learning more
meaningful for them.

Finally, at the institution, Romero (2011) made an investigation about the interaction
when working in B-learning through the virtual platform. She design a virtual module that
connects health, English and of course, technology. She concluded that the platform served
as a tool for a higher interaction between students and teacher and students and foreign
language. Instead it was not evidenced student-student interaction because they could meet
in the classroom. All these articles give tips about how to design and implement a Virtual
Learning environment for teaching and learning English where interaction is a strong point,
by following an E-learning model. In the next section, I will reflect on the concept about
critical thinking, its characteristics and the research made about this.

51

Defining Critical thinking

Knowledge transmission during school years, most of them unidirectional (teacher
students), remains as an unshakeable stigma common at certain levels and areas of
knowledge, however, when submitting this methodology before a more applied and rigorous
study is obvious that is not enough to count on a series of knowledge if it is unable to put
these into practice and apply them in real situations, to accomplish the latter it is necessary
to have developed a position about each situation, a screening method, a way of interpreting
reality, a thought. Now, just to think it is not enough, it is necessary to develop a scheme of
thought that favors the critical analysis and takes into account the current variables in the
world in a holistic manner; the aim and the need is a critical thinking, notwithstanding, the
previous definition is not adequate and limited, therefore in this section I aim to deepen about
critical thinking definition in an more academic and punctual way.

Elder and Paul (1994) define critical thinking as the ability of the student to deal
with his/ her own thinking process. On a similar note, Facione (2013) references the self-
regulatory judgment, consisting in the interpretation, analysis and inference by the student
before problems, processes and situations that are submitted, and at the same time, he
reflects about the methodological, criteriological or contextual considerations about this
judgment (p. 26). it means that the process underlying the development and the application
of critical skill, bearing in mind its complexity and the fact that no teacher can teach these
standards in a single subject (Elder & Paul, 2005). Especially when the development of the
human thinking depends on external factors such as the context and the intrinsic and the
extrinsic stimulus as well as the development of basic cognitive abilities, from the thinking
development will become more complex.

From this point of view the development of critical thinking is presented as a process
that happens during years and years; so the current research does not have as aim to reach a
final process, but encouraging the initial stage or progressive development and giving to the
participants tools which help them to ascend to high states of critical thinking. In the words
of Elder and Paul (2005) we cannot wait that the learners learn how to think critically at a
fundamental level through one or two semesters of instruction (p.1) whereby it is necessary
to string along with critical thinking activities, such these are able to generate reflection
environments and posing new problems.

Research on Critical Thinking

In Colombia, some research has been developed in relation to this topic, for example,
Gmez and Tello (2010) whose population was sixteen English as Foreign Language (EFL)
teachers and four hundred students from different undergraduate programs at Universidad
del Tolima. The aim of this study was to analyze what critical thinking level is being
promoted in the English teaching activities. The results evidenced that the activities

52
normally carried out in class are only developing lower order thinking according to the
authors and they suggest looking for new strategies that encourage a higher thinking level
where analysis, synthesis, reflection and action are involved.

On the other hand, Nez, Pineda, and Tellez (2004) made a qualitative research
financed by Universidad Externado de Colombia and Colciencias whose research question
was focused to know the process of skills development in English when using activities
involving critical thinking. For this purpose, researchers re designed the didactic units
taking into account cultural as political and social aspects.

Such study was carried out with an unknown number of students in English I, IV and
VII levels at the Faculty of Economy at Universidad Externado de Colombia; the data
collection instruments were direct observations, video and cassette transcriptions. From
Data analysis seven categories emerged and it was concluded that feedback and interaction
contributed to a better performance by students. Similarly, though the use of activities
involving critical thinking potentiated interaction with the teacher by using the foreign
language, one must be cautious when using low levels of language proficiency. The previous
study has some similar aspects to this one; however, there are some differences such as the
use of a VLE as a tool through which the activities will be worked in order to develop critical
thinking and at the same time improving the language level.

There are also quantitative studies which analyze critical thinking and the
relationship with the English proficiency and they also give us interesting definitions. For
example: Freely and Steinberg (2000, cited in Hashemi and Zabihi, 2012), say that Critical
Thinking aims at achieving the ability to explore, criticize, advocate different ideas, reason
inductively and deductively, and infer sound conclusions from ambiguous statements. This
conception has to do with those proposed by Dewey, 1933; Pithers and Soden, 2000; and
Chafee, 1988 (cited in Hashemi and Zabihi 2012) who define Critical Thinking as a cluster of
skills in which a person can go further, focus on a problem, uncover assumptions, make
inferences, reason deductively and inductively (Pithers and Soden, 2000, cited in Hashemi
and Zabihi, 2012), examine his/ her own thinking and the thinking of others in order to
clarify and improve our understanding (Chafee, 1988; cited in Hashemi and Zabihi, 2012).

Some of the articles about critical thinking have followed a quantitative research; by
comparing Critical Thinking Tests and proficiency placement tests and exploring the role of
Critical Thinking and the relationship with students scores. These researchers used tests
such as: Watson-Glaser CT Appraisal (WGCTA), California Critical Thinking Skills Test
(CCTST), Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X (CCCT-X) among others. The most
important of these tests is the WGCTA since it examines five abilities: the ability to draw
inferences, the ability to recognize assumptions, the ability to make deductions, the ability to
interpret evidence and the ability to evaluate arguments. (Birjandi y Bagherkazemi, 2010;
Ghaemi y Taherian, 2011; Shaban Rafi, 2007; MacKnight, 2000)

53
To conclude, I can say that defining Critical thinking is not an easy task; there are
many definitions and many possibilities. Most of the studies cited by Hashemi and Zabihi
(2012) concluded that there is a relationship between Critical Thinking abilities and the
proficiency of students when getting high scores; just one said that there was no relationship.
In other words Critical Thinking is a great approach when students learn a language and to
become a Critical thinker requires different levels or stages, and there are many processes
and factors that a learner can follow.

OBJ ECTIVE

To analyze the effectiveness of using critical thinking skills and competences for the
teaching and learning process of English as a Foreign Language with Foreign Language I
students in a Virtual Learning Environment.

METHODOLOGY

In this section the kind of research and the methodology will be defined around the
research question: what is theeffectiveness of using critical thinking skills and competences for the
teaching and learning process of EFL with Foreign LanguageI students in a VLE? I will mention
the context and participants of the study. And finally, possible instruments and procedures
will be described as well as collection data techniques during the design.

Kind of research

As I mentioned in the presentation, this is a quantitative study with a non-
experimental approach. A quantitative research it is the research based on qualitative data
collection. However, it does not mean that this model follows all the characteristics of
qualitative research (Johnson & Christensen, 2004, Cap. 2). And from this information, to
classify the results statistically and explain these results in a general way.

The study method is non-experimental, since it is intended to obtain an
approximation of experimental research results, by following the stages of this kind of
research. Notwithstanding, it is not possible control and absolute manipulation of the
variables, instead the subjects are assigned to the groups by bearing in mind common
characteristics, it means that a purposive sample is done about the general population, by
taking into account some inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Hypothesis

Implementing EFL teaching activities based on critical thinking in a VLE help
students how to learn and improve their English level.

Scenario

54

This study is being carried out at Universidad de Boyac located in Tunja-Boyac
(Colombia), it is a private institution of higher education. This institution has six faculties,
features twenty undergraduate programs and 15 post graduate programs. At this university
there is students diversity, young people from all regions of Colombia. And also, it has a
good physical infrastructure.

This institution has internet server, computer classrooms, and a virtual platform with
several modules of different areas. And it is on this platform where the VLE will be designed
as a mean to teach and learn EFL. Finally, I can say that although the university has not got
recent technology resource there are sufficient resources in order to make the project work.

Participants

In this study three teachers of the Languages Department are taking part. Besides,
virtual education staff is collaborating and advising about using the appropriate tools and the
virtual platform.

In order to apply the methodology, a group of 10 students will be chosen; according
to a purposive sample with students who are taking English 1 a second time. From people
with this criterion we will make a call for participation in order to select these10 students,
those who wish to participate voluntarily for collecting data and under their consent. In
relation to the consent form, there are some formats that as researchers we have to fill in and
give to the Bioethical committee of the university and one format for the participants.

Finally, I also want to talk about the inclusion and exclusion criteria for selecting the
participants. Some of the inclusion criteria are: the students who are taking English 1 a
second time must have lost by scores or lack of knowledge, the students who are taking
English 1 a second time must have a low score during the semester. And an exclusion
criterion is that students who are taking English 1 a second time must not have lost by
failures. In the next section I will describe the techniques, instruments and procedures to
follow.

Techniques, instruments and procedures

This section shows the techniques, instruments and procedure to be implemented
when collecting data. First, a pretest will be applied in order to determine the students
knowledge and level at the beginning and a posttest will be applied at the end in order to
compare the results with the pretest and determine the students advance. Second,
observation will be used as a technique in order to get concrete descriptions about what
happens in the VLE. The forum will be also used as a mean to collect the participants
experience. Finally, a semi-structure interview will be applied in order to corroborate and
validate the results of the study.

55
Pretest and Post test

Johnson and Christensen (2004), explain the purpose of exams as instruments of data
collection, which can be in their words: to measure personality, attitude, achievement and
performance. In this case, the purpose of the study is to know the initial level and
achievement.

In this study a pretest and a post test will be designed and applied with an
experimental group. Hernndez Sampieri et. al (2006) talk about the selection or conception
of the research design, and they suggest different models to use in the quantitative study.
The non-experimental research follows the same steps that the experimental research but
there is not control of variables. There are independent variables and dependent variables.
Hernndez Sampieri et. al (2004) give examples about these kind of variables where an
independent variable deals with treatment, stimulus, influence, intervention, etc., and
influences the dependent variable (an alleged effect).

Bearing in mind the previous example the variables to take into account in this study
will be:

VARIABLE
CONCEPTUAL
DEFINITION
OPERATIONAL
DEFINITION

SCALE
English
Learning
Learning a language is a
process that involves several
factors: cognitive, social,
emotional, affective, cultural
and spiritual. Kumaravadivelu
(2006) defines language as an
ideology where all the
previous aspects converge
linked to the students reality.

Scores changes

Competences acquire
in the four skills

The VLE VIRTUAL
MODULE: Tools and
activities

Nominal: 0-5

Ration: rubric
competences

Self-
assessment
Format

Critical
Thinking
skills
The ability of the student to
deal with his/ her own
thinking process. (Elder and
Paul, 1994)
Assessing students
progress

Self-assessment

Nominal:
Worsened-
improved
Ration:
Rubric
competences
Self-
assessment
Format

56
Chart 1. Variables of the study

By bearing the previous considerations in mind, the selection of the participants will
be randomly; 10 participants from 20 students who will form the experimental group where
they will interact with the new method. Then, the pretest will be applied to the group in
order to establish the initial results and analyze them. After that, the experimental group will
be subject in the VLE, and finally the post test will be applied by them in order to compare
the results with the pretest and analyze the performance. The pretest and the posttest will
have different topics but the same structure. Next, you can observe a figure showing the
process described before.

RG1 01 X 02

Figure 1. Research design

In the next section you can read about my personal experience along the process of
this study.

EXPERIENCE

Talking about research is not as simple as it seems, however I have always tried to do
my best and overcome different drawbacks along the way. Regarding this study, the first
phase that I followed was to revise the literature and make a diagnostic test in order to
identify and define the problem. Once the problem was identified the research question was
posed. After identifying the problem, I did a new revision of the literature (research and
theories) around the research components: Language Teaching and Learning, Virtual
Learning Environments and Critical Thinking. Reading different research and theories can
gave us a lot of ideas and information about how to justify the topic of the study and
determine if the research topic is relevant and innovative.

One of the fundamental axes of the study is the VLE and the units to be developed in
this one. As I mentioned the VLE will be designed as a virtual module at the virtual platform
of the institution which has already a pedagogical model (Correal & Montaez, 2009).
However, for planning the units based on the English skills and critical thinking, it was
necessary first to make a needs analysis. Two surveys were applied: one of the surveys was
taken from Kumaravadivelu (2003) aiming to find out the students objectives, the strategies
they have used or use and learning styles evidenced in the next figure.
RG = Randomly group
RG1 = Experimental
Group
01 = Pretest
02 = Post Test
X = Stimulus, VLE

57

Figure. 2 Needs analysis. Source: original

The second survey aimed at identifying possible topics and interests of
the participants, the virtual tools they use the most, their experiences in relation to
technology and English, weaknesses and strengths; some of these are shown in the next
figure.

58
Figure 3. Students topics and interests. Source original

Taking into account the previous information, the literature, methodology and
objective the virtual units will be designed and implemented with the participants. And
during this experience I have learned a lot, by putting into practice what I have learned from
university in both undergraduate and post graduate program and from my colleagues at my
workplace. And in relation to interdisciplinary research in foreign languages I can say that
there are so many fields of study for a researcher on languages, since we can interact and
analyze different factors that affect learning and language progress.

Finally, although this research is still in a process I would like to suggest different
topics for research; for example: to analyze the level of autonomy that a learner can achieve
by developing their critical thinking skills in a VLE; an action and participative research
whereas researchers as participants design the VLE and analyze the strategy; and an
evaluative research where a new methodology is implemented and assessed.

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Ponencia 5

La traduction: un processus cognitif et interdisciplinaire
9

10

Rsum

Recherche action dveloppe dans un cours de Traduction franaise. Encadre par les
thories du domaine de la Traductologie, la recherche a eu pour but de faire comprendre aux
tudiants que la traduction est un processus complexe et interdisciplinaire qui fait appel des
disciplines diverses parmi elles la linguistique, la sociolinguistique, la linguistique applique,
la linguistique textuelle, la terminologie et la psychologie cognitive. Cette dernire a t le
fondement pour engager les tudiants dans un projet ax sur la rflexion de leur propre
processus d'apprentissage de la traduction, moyennant le dveloppement des stratgies
mtacognitives. Les rsultats ont amen les tudiants prendre conscience de la ncessit,
non seulement d'avoir un bon niveau dans les deux langues objets de la traduction, mais
aussi, de possder des connaissances sur la culture de la langue trangre, de travailler dans
le cadre dune approche de traduction et dappliquer une mthode et des techniques, afin
d'obtenir un produit adapt aux objectifs de la traduction, qui rponde aux caractristiques
discursives, textuelles et culturelles de la langue cible, sans pour autant trahir les intentions
de l'auteur du texte source.

Mots cl: traduction, processus cognitif, stratgies mtacognitives, interdisciplinarit,

Resumen

Investigacin accin desarrollada en un curso de Traduccin francesa. Enmarcada en
las teoras del campo de la Traductologa, investigacin tuvo por objeto dar a entender a los
estudiantes que la traduccin es un proceso complejo e interdisciplinario, en el que participan
disciplinas diversas entre ellas la lingstica, la sociolingstica, la lingstica aplicada, la

9
Recherche mene en classe de traduction franaise en 2010-2011, lUniversit de San Buenaventura, plus
prcisment la licence en Langues Modernes
10
Master en Sciences du Langage, option recherche en franais langue trangre (FLE) de lUniversit de
Franche- Comt (Besanon, France), actuellement la directrice de la Licence en Langues Modernes de
lUniversit de San Buenaventura (Cartagena) et membre du Groupe Interdisciplinaire de recherche en
ducation et Pdagogie o elle fait des recherches dans le domaine du dveloppement des comptences
communicative et cognitive en langues trangres.

62
lingstica textual, la terminologa y la psicologa cognitiva. Esta ltima fue el fundamento
para comprometer a los estudiantes en un proyecto orientado a la reflexin de su propio
proceso de aprendizaje de la traduccin, mediante el desarrollo de estrategias metacognitivas.
Los resultados permitieron a los estudiantes darse cuenta de la necesidad, no slo de tener un
buen nivel en ambas lenguas objetos de la traduccin, sino que tambin se requiere poseer
conocimientos sobre la cultura de la lengua extranjera, trabajar en el marco de un enfoque de
traduccin y aplicar un mtodo y tcnicas, con el fin de obtener un producto adaptado a los
objetivos de la traduccin, que responda a las caractersticas discursivas, textuales y
culturales de la lengua metas, sin traicionar por eso las intenciones del autor del texto
original.

Palabras clave: traduccin, traductologa, proceso cognitivo, estrategias metacognitivas,
interdisciplinariedad

INTRODUCCIN
.
Bon nombre de cursus de formation de futurs professeurs de franais, en Colombie,
comprend un cours de traduction, gnralement aux derniers semestres. Ceci d
certainement au fait que lon reconnait la ncessit davoir pralablement acquis un haut
niveau en langue trangre, afin daborder lactivit de la traduction, ayant des comptences
linguistiques qui assureraient la production dun texte de bonne qualit, surtout lorsque la
traduction se fait de lespagnol vers le franais. Nanmoins, penser que la composante
strictement linguistique (grammaire, morphologie, syntaxe, lexique, smantique) est le seul
lment qui soit au cur du processus de la traduction, est une erreur doptique qui est la
cause de graves fautes prsentes dans les textes produits par les tudiants. Cette
problmatique nous a conduits la ralisation de la recherche que nous prsentons dans cet
article.

Pour mener les tudiants bien comprendre que le processus de traduction ne
consiste pas seulement au transfert ou passage dun texte dune langue (source) une autre
langue (cible,) il faut un travail complexe qui passe par plusieurs tapes et qui touche
plusieurs disciplines. Pour leur faire prendre conscience que le choix dun mot, dune
expression ou de lordre des lments dans une phrase, nest pas seulement une affaire
concernant la linguistique, mais aussi la culture des deux langues, les intentions de lauteur,
le but du texte traduit dans la langue cible, entre autres, il a donc fallu orienter la rflexion
sur deux aspects : le processus cognitif et: linterdisciplinarit, prsents dans lactivit
traduisante. Cest justement ce qui nous est venu lesprit en nous posant ces questions qui
ont guid notre recherche :

Comment les tudiants peroivent- ils le processus de traduction?
Sont- ils conscients de la prsence dlments outres que les aspects linguistiques,
dans le processus de traduction?
Quels changements exprimentent-ils dans leur perception de lactivit traduisante et
dans la qualit de leurs traductions, aprs lapplication des stratgies mtacognitives ?

63

Les rponses ces questions, devraient nous conduire atteindre ces objectifs de recherche :
Faire prendre conscience aux tudiants du caractre cognitif du processus de
traduction, dans le but damliorer cette pratique.
Dterminer les effets de lapplication des stratgies mtacognitives dans la pratique
traductrice des tudiants.
Amener les tudiants reconnatre le caractre interdisciplinaire de la traduction.

La recherche devait donc sencadrer dans des concepts qui permettraient de donner
un fondement non seulement la mthode pour la conduire, mais aussi linterprtation des
rsultats. Il a donc fallu tenir compte des thories concernant le processus cognitif prsent au
cours de lactivit traduisante, les stratgies mtacognitives appliques et limplication de
disciplines outres que celles qui touchent aux connaissances strictement linguistiques. La
slection dune mthode de recherche impliquant les tudiants, savrait aussi un dfi, ce
fait, la recherche action a t le choix incontournable.

CADRE THEORIQUE

Bien que cela semble vident, nous voulons tout dabord faire remarquer que notre
recherche nest pas axe sur la traduction en tant que produit, mais comme pratique. Nous
sommes de lavis de Martin (1982), pour qui la traduction, en tant que produit est devenue
un objet, hyper-objet pour le traducteur savant ou objet monnayable du monde des affaires,
mais objet tout de mme, coup de toute pratique et de toute insertion culturelle et
historique (p.358). Nous voulons justement mettre en relief le caractre culturel de la
traduction tant donn le rapport trs troit existant entre la langue et la culture. De ce fait
drive la conception de la traduction comme pratique, que pour cet auteur () situe le
produit entre une impossible perfection et la ncessaire dvaluation que dclenche lopration
traduisant (p. 359). Cela veut dire que toute traduction est plus ou moins touche par
plusieurs facteurs, parmi lesquels : la langue cible, la culture des deux langues en question et
le traducteur lui-mme. Do le fait que Martin appelle le traducteur un agent indispensable
mais impur qui introduit du bruit dans la traduction.

Afin de prendre position face la pratique de la traduction, nous avons rvis les
conceptions de traduction propos par Martin (1982, p.360), que nous rsumons ainsi : la
traduction reprsente comme un simple transcodage, la traduction qui relve de la
transparence de lauteur (variantes : moralisatrice, fidle au texte source), la traduction
comme criture seconde ou parasite qui se veut neutre et impersonnelle, et finalement, la
traduction libre et indpendante du public et de la culture alors quelle est toujours oriente
vers un lecteur gnralement spcifique. Nous avons donc adopt le point de vue de cet
auteur qui, parlant de la traduction, considre que :

Il convient de la restituer dans lordre de loral comme une configuration
essentielle de lacte de communication, non plus transcription, mais activit de
signification. Il est urgent, galement, denvisager le processus dans sa totalit ; cest-

64
-dire englobant tout la fois un agent et un produit, mais galement une situation de
traduction et un destinataire de la traduction, la fois point de dpart et
aboutissement de lopration (Martin, 1982, p. 361)

Ce sont justement tous les lments dont nous avons voulu faire prendre conscience
nos tudiants. Mais pour cela, il fallait les engager dans un projet qui leur faciliterait cette
tche. Cela nous a conduits assumer la reconnaissance dun processus de mtacognition,
indispensable toute prise de conscience des oprations mises en place lorsquun tre dcide
de connatre quelque chose. Mais tout dabord, il a fallu tenir compte du processus de
traduction en soi mme. Pour cela nous avons fait appel Delisle (1984, en Fatemeh, 2010),
un auteur qui considre que pour expliquer lopration traduisante on doit dpasser la
signification verbale, pour aborder ltude du discours et ses rapports avec la pense (p.54).
Par consquent, nous concluons que la traduction se fonde sur lanalyse du processus
cognitif.

Fatemeh (2010, pp 55-59) propose alors que lenseignement de la traduction doit se
dcomposer en trois temps, qui correspondent aux oprations ralises lors de lactivit
traduisante, dont la synthse es la suivante :

La comprhension ou opration par laquelle le traducteur cherche saisir
le vouloir dire de lauteur. Cette tape correspond au dcodage des signes
linguistiques, la saisie du sens du texte, ce qui est une opration mentale car elle
relve de linterprtation.

La reformulation qui consiste la reverbalisation des concepts dans une
autre langue, travers le raisonnement analogique. Elle est constitue par un
ensemble doprations mentales dont les principales sont : les associations successives
dides, les dductions logiques et ltablissement des ressemblances moyennant une
dmarche analogique.

Lanalysejustificativequi a pour but de vrifier si la solution choisie
rend le sens de lnonc de lauteur du texte source. Cette opration suit le mme
modle interprtatif de la reformulation

En ce qui concerne la mtacognition, Nol (1991, en Saint Pierre, 1994), la dfinie
comme :
() un processus mental dont lobjet est soit une activit cognitive, soit un
ensemble dactivits cognitives que le sujet vient deffectuer ou est en train deffectuer,
soit un produit mental de ces activits cognitives. La mtacognition peut aboutir un
jugement (habituellement non exprim) sur la qualit des activits mentales en
question ou de leur produit ventuellement une dcision de modifier lactivit
cognitive, son produit ou mme la situation qui la suscit . (p. 17).

65

Cest par les biais de lanalyse de leurs propres traductions, et des rflexions sur les
fautes commises que nos tudiants ont chang leurs avis sur les processus mentaux quil
fallait mettre en marche lors de la ralisation de lactivit traduisante.

Pour sa part, Gombert (1996) considre que les activits mtalinguistiques
constituent un sous-ensemble de la mtacognition, spcifique aux langages comprenant les
activits de rflexion sur le langage et son utilisation et les capacits du sujet contrler et
planifier ses propres processus de traitement linguistique (en comprhension et en
production).

Il ne fallait finalement pas laisser de ct les stratgies mtacognitives. A ce sujet,
nous avons prfr la taxonomie propose par Bgin (2008), face la taxonomie
traditionnelle qui propose trois tapes : planification, contrle et valuation. Pour cet auteur,
ces stratgies peuvent se simplifier en deux : anticiper et sautorguler. Chacune de ces
catgories comprennent un ensemble dactions, tandis que dans dautres taxonomies chaque
action ou procdure ralise, est considre comme une stratgie. Bgin explique que le
terme planifier a le sens dune opration de mise en ordre ou en squence dun ensemble
dlments selon des critres dtermins (p. 56), Il sagit selon lui, dune action qui noblige
pas lapprenant ncessairement porter un regard sur ses connaissances et expriences
antrieures. Il propose alors de parler danticipation, et dit qu Anticiper suggre beaucoup
plus la ncessit dobserver et danalyser des connaissances dj acquises relativement aux
situations impliques (p.56) un concept quil reprend de Hoc (1987, en Bgin 2018). Nous
partageons avec cet auteur lide que le sens de ce dernier terme, se rapproche beaucoup du
domaine mtacognitif, puisque le terme planifier appartient plutt au domaine de
ladministration ou de lconomie.

Quant la deuxime catgorie : sautorguler, pour Bgin (2008), elle rassemble toutes
les stratgies traditionnellement proposes (auto-observation, contrle, auto-valuation),
car :

() elles sont toutes orientes de faon naturelle vers lautorgulation, cest--
dire la recherche dun meilleur ajustement de lutilisation de ses ressources pour faire
face aux situations. Cest pourquoi sautorguler devient maintenant la stratgie, tandis
que lauto-observation (ou introspection), le jugement, le contrle, la rgulation ou
lajustement en constituent les principales composantes. (p.57)

Il sagissait dans notre projet, demmener les tudiants suivre ces stratgies, afin
quils puissent prendre conscience de leur propre processus cognitif et des tches et des
situations dans lesquelles toute activit cognitive les implique, y comprise lactivit
traduisante.

Ayant reconnu que lactivit tradusiante fait partie des activits cognitives et
mtacognitives, il est vident que lon est en train de relever le rapport existant entre la

66
psychologie et la traductologie, toutes les deux considres comme des disciplines rflexives
par Ladmiral
11
. Tel que Wilhelm (2012) le dit :

son sens, la philosophie, la psychanalyse et la traductologie sont trois
disciplines rflexives, cest--dire quelles font retour sur ce quon vit, sur ce quon
pense et ce quon fait. Il plaide pour ce quil appelle une traductologieproductive, qui
sintresse non pas la traduction dj faite, mais au processus de traduction, do la
rfrence la psychologie. La traductologie se situerait ainsi larticulation de la
linguistique et de la littrature compare, surplombe par la philosophie avec un
soubassement en psychologie. Ce sont toutes les sciences humaines et les tudes
culturelles, en dfinitive, qui sont concernes par cette discipline, en sorte que la
traductologie, pour Jean-Ren Ladmiral, tend prendre lampleur dune anthropologie
interdisciplinaire de la traduction (p. 546).
.
Pour ce qui est de notre projet, on a fait remarquer aux apprenants les rapports
existant entre lactivit traduisante et plusieurs disciplines, ce que nous rsumons dans le
tableau ci-dessous :

No. Disciplines Apports la traduction
1 Linguistique Grammaire, syntaxe, smantique, morphologie
2 Sociolinguistique Adquation du texte la situation de communication,
au public, etc.
3 Linguistique applique Approches de traduction : linguistique,
sociolinguistique, fonctionnelle, culturelle
4 Linguistique textuelle Type de texte, structure du texte, cohsion et
cohrence
5 Psychologie cognitive Processus cognitifs (analyse, comparaison, dduction,
infrence, etc.) et mtacognitifs (planification,
contrle, auto et htro valuation)
6 Traductologie Techniques de traduction : transposition, modulation,
toffement, allgement, explicitation, compensation,
adaptation, quivalence, etc.
7 Terminologie Connaissance des termes propres a un domaine
(mdecine, droit, chimie, gographie, histoire,
tourisme, informatique, biologie, etc.
8 Culture et civilisation Vision du monde, conditions et mode de vie,
idologies, actualit, histoire,

11
Daprs une interview faite Jean-Ren Ladmiral par Jane Elisabeth Wilhelm, professeur de lUniversit
Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3. Publi Meta : Journal des traducteurs, Volume 57, numro 3, septembre 2012, p. 546-
563

67
METHODOLOGIE DE RECHERCHE
tant donn quil sagissait dengager les apprenants dans un projet dont ils taient
les protagonistes principaux, puisquon allait leur proposer dy participer activement, la
mthodologie de recherche la plus adquate tait dans doute celle de la recherche action
(RA).
Reprenant les paroles dAuziol (2006), lorsquon met en place une RA, la rflexion
sur laction porte sur les activits mises en uvre par les participants. La recherche vient se
greffer sur laction et a pour lessentiel une vise de transformation des pratiques des
acteurs
12
. Nos tudiants ont ainsi dvelopp une srie dactions concernant leurs oprations
traduisantes. Ces actions avaient lieu avant, pendant et aprs la ralisation dune traduction.
Porter une rflexion sur le produit obtenu (les russites et les erreurs) et sur la dmarche
suivie avait essentiellement le but de transformer tant les conceptions pralables sur lactivit
de traduction, que les mthodes pour russir faire une traduction correcte et adquate aux
demandes du contexte et des personnes auxquelles celle ci sadressait.
Pour mettre en place le projet, nous avons donc suivi les tapes proposes pour la
RA :
Diagnostic :
Ralisation dune traduction tout au dbut du cours, sans aucune indication pralable,
de sorte que lon puisse dcouvrir les problmes des tudiants et faire un diagnostic de ltat
de leurs connaissances et pratiques traductrices.
Application dun questionnaire-diagnostic, concernant la traduction ralise afin de
connaitre lavis des apprenants sur lactivit et les difficults retrouves ; de savoir sils
avaient utilis ou pas une mthode et sils lavaient fait depuis une approche quelconque.
Analyse de la situation :
Mise en commun des rsultats du diagnostic et rflexion sur les lments des
problmes retrouvs, avec la participation de tous les acteurs concerns par le projet : 9
tudiants et un professeur.
laboration dun cadre thorique :

Recherche et tude des concepts pour la construction dun cadre thorique ncessaire
aux besoins de lanalyse des actions. En ce cas, on a tudi les approches de la traduction, les

12
Larticle dAuziol est sur internet et les pages ne sont pas numrotes.

68
mthodes et techniques de traduction, les implications des processus cognitifs et
mtacognitifs et limplication dautres disciplines ainsi que de la culture des deux langues en
question.

Elaboration et mise en place dun plan daction (PA):
Laction proprement dite a consist la ralisation de plusieurs traductions,
rassembles moyennant la stratgie du portafolio (dossier). Celui-ci portait surtout sur le
travail individuel qui cherchait la comprhension et auto-connaissance de ses propres
expriences dapprentissage.
Mise en place de la recherche:
Pendant le droulement du PA, on a mis proprement en marche la recherche. Au
moyen de diverses techniques telles : lenqute, lanalyse des fautes, lauto- correction, on a
ralis le recueil des donnes. Cette tape a inclus une valuation des actions dveloppes en
vue damliorer la situation ou problme de dpart.

valuation du PA

Finalement, on a valu leffectivit de laction et on a rflchi sur ses rsultats.
Comme dans toute RA, on a aussi envisag didentifier un nouveau problme de recherche,
afin de recommencer nouveau le cycle de RA., tel que cette mthodologie le prescrit.

RESULTATS

La prsentation des rsultats de la recherche se fera en trois tapes : En primer lieu
nous ferons une comparaison entre les donnes obtenues de lapplication du questionnaire-
diagnostic et du questionnaire-final. Puis, nous porterons notre attention sur les fautes
commises lors du droulement du PA, ayant comme paramtres ces quatre catgories
danalyse : lexique, grammaire, expressions et culture. Finalement, nous ferons des
remarques concernant les composantes cognitives de notre recherche, telles quon les a fait
percevoir par les apprenants.

Le questionnaire appliqu pour faire le diagnostic a aussi t rpondu par les
participants la fin de lexprience. La comparaison des rsultats permet didentifier les
changements qui se sont oprs aprs lapplication du PA. Les tableaux suivants ainsi
lillustrent :

69
Tableau 1 : Perception sur la traduction avant et aprs le PA :
Concept sur le niveau de
difficult
Au dbut A la fin
Frquence % Frquence %
Trs difficile 1 11.1
Difficile 1 14.3 6 66.6
Difficult moyenne 4 57.1 2 22.1
Facile 1 14.3
Trs facile 1 14.3
Total 7 100 9 100
Les donnes ci- dessus montrent quavant lexprience la traduction tait plutt
perue comme une activit facile, tandis quaprs le cours, pour la grande majorit des
participants, il sagissait dun exercice plutt difficile. Les raisons de ces rsultats se trouvent
certainement dans les rponses donns la deuxime question du questionnaire, ce qui est
illustr dans le tableau suivant.
Tableau 2 : Importance donne aux aspects prsents dans lactivit traduisant
Aspects Avant Aprs
1 2 3 1 2 3
Connaissance de la grammaire
du franais
2 7 2 6
Comprhension du sens des
mots et expressions du texte
source
1 2 6 1 8
Connaissance de la culture de
la langue du texte source
1 5 3 9
Applications des techniques de
traductions spcifiques
3 5 1 3 6
Application dune approche de
traduction
6 3 3 6
Application dune mthode de
traduction
5 3 1 5 4
TOTAL 17 22 21 1 16 42
% 28.3 36.6 35 1.6 26.6 70
Le tableau 2 permet de dduire que bien que limportance donne la grammaire et au
lexique (connaissance su sens des mots) se soit maintenue, celle que les participants
accordaient la connaissance de la culture et au besoin dappliquer une approche et des
techniques sest renforce, par consquent a augmente. Ils se sont sans doute rendu compte
que, si bien la composante linguistique est importante, il est bien plus facile de la maitriser
que les trois autres (culture, approche, techniques) celles-ci ayant besoin des connaissances

70
impliquant de processus plus rflexifs, moins saisissables que les aspects strictement
linguistiques.
En ce qui concerne lactivit proprement traduisant, les rsultats son frappants, mais
pas vraiment surprenants. Cette affirmation est explique juste aprs le tableau 3, contenant
les donnes.
Tableau 3 : Niveau des difficults de comprhension du sens en franais et expression de ce
sens en espagnol
Difficults Avant Aprs
Comprendre le sens des noncs 1 14.3 3 33.3
Exprimer ce sens en espagnol 6 85.7 6 66.6
Total 7 100 9 100
On voit comment les rsultants se sont carrment inverss. Avant lapplication du PA
les participants trouvaient que le plus facile tait lexpression en langue maternelle, des ides
comprises en langue trangre. Par contre, la fin de lexprience, ils se sont rendu compte
que ctait souvent le plus difficile, car ils avaient du mal bien exprimer les ides en
espagnol et leur produit restait plus une traduction littrale quune traduction ayant un style
naturel en espagnol. La maitrise de la rdaction en langue maternelle savrait donc
indniable pour faire une bonne traduction.
En ce qui concerne les approches de traduction, les participants ne les connaissaient
pas avant lexprience ; leurs pratiques consistaient plutt faire attention laspect formel
de la langue et un peu son adquation au contexte social. Aprs lapplication du PA, ils
nont pas seulement reconnu lexistence dapproches et leurs rapports avec la linguistique
applique, mais ils se sont aussi tourns davantage sur les approches fonctionnelles et
culturelles de la traduction, tel que lillustrent les chiffres du tableau ci-dessous :
Tableau 4 : Approches de traduction utilises

Approches Avant Aprs
Linguistique 5 55.5
Sociolinguistique 4 45.5 2 22.
Fonctionnelle 3 33.3
Culturelle 4 45.5
TOTAL 9 100 9 100

71

Quant la mthode utilise, ils ont pass de la lecture phrase par phrase et la
recherche immdiate des mots dans le dictionnaire, la lecture globale du texte et la
comprhension de la situation y prsente. Ou, de la lecture paragraphe par paragraphe
lanalyse de la relation entre le texte el la culture, lidentification du type de destinataire,
ladaptation de la traduction la culture de la langue darrive, ce qui fait preuve de
lapplication dapproches fonctionnelle et culturelles de la traduction, auparavant mconnues
des tudiants.
Tableau 5 : Mthode utilise pour la traduction

Finalement, 100% des participants ont reconnu avoir chang radicalement de mthode de
traduction:

Avant Aprs
Mthode % Mthode %
Phrase par phrase/ Recherche de la
signification des mots dans le
dictionnaire

44.4 Lecture gnrale, puis rflexion
sur la situation de
communication dans la langue
de dpart (Approche
sociolinguistique)
33.3
Paragraphe par paragraphe /
Recherche de la signification des mots
dans le dictionnaire
33.3 Attention la culture du texte
source, identification du type de
destinataire, adaptation de la
traduction la culture de la
langue darrive (Approches
fonctionnelle- culturelle)
55.5
Lecture complte du texte /
Traduction phrase par
phrase/ dictionnaire

11.1 Attention la grammaire, la
syntaxe, le lexique (Approche
linguistique)
11.1
Lecture du texte, recherche des mots
dans le dictionnaire et de leur sens
dans le contexte / Traduction
paragraphe par paragraphe
11.1

72
Tableau 6: Changement de mthode aprs le cours
Changement Frquence %
Oui 9 100
Non 0 0
Total 9 100
Aprs avoir fait le diagnostic, la mise en place du PA sest faite sous deux modles, savoir :
Modle 1:
1. Ralisation dune traduction
2. Correction de la part du professeur
3. Rflexion mtacognitive sur le processus de traduction, faite par ltudiant
Modle 2:
1. Activit de prparation (discussion, dbat, vido).
2. Ralisation de la traduction suivant des stratgies mtacognitives.
3. Relvement des fautes, sans correction, de la part du professeur.
4. Travail de recherche de la part des tudiants afin de corriger leurs fautes / Faire lire
son texte par un expert
Ces deux dmarches nous ont permis dtablir une liste de fautes concernant les
quatre catgories danalyse : lexique, grammaire, expressions et culture. Le travail sest fait
tout au long du semestre ayant comme corpus analyser trois textes de registre plutt
courant ou quotidien et quatre textes crits dans un registre de langue soutenue. Les travaux
fait sur ce corpus a permis chaque participant dlaborer son dossier (portafolio).
Suivant la mthode de lanalyse de contenu, nous avons compt les termes et
expressions qui avaient pos des difficults aux participants. manire dexemple, nous
prsentons quelques exemples dans les tableaux suivants :
Pour le diagnostic, le texte Caen accueille le tour de France en fanfare a donn ces
rsultats :
Tableau 7 : Reprage des fautes lors du diagnostic
Type Mots/ noncs (quesles exemples de fautes) %
Lexique les vingt formations: las veinte formaciones
(agrupaciones)
57.1

73
un programme danimations: un programa de
animaciones (espectculos)
57.1
Grammaire Sur le parcours final de ltape: Sobreel
recorrido(En el trayecto )
57.1

Expressions
Le grand festivalest la ttedaffiche: Le gran
festival es la cabeza del afiche(El gran festival
encabeza el afiche)
57.1
Cocktail musical haut en couleur:
Cocktail musical dealto color (de gran colorido)
71.4
Culturel La grande boucle 100

Catgorie Exemples

Suite chance course (polysmie : difficult pour
contextualiser le sens dun mot)

74
Comme le tableau lillustre, en gnral, plus de 57% des participants ont fait des fautes
dont les causes se rapportent la traduction littrale. Le plus remarquable est nanmoins que
100% nont pas pu traduire le concept la grande boucle tel quil est employ pour el tour
de France, tant donn son rapport avec la connaissance de la culture du pays.
Les deux autres exemples que nous prsentons, concernent deux textes intituls :
Burqa, port du niqab ou voile intgral en France: problme culturel lgifrer ou atout pour
lconomie? et Ledbat sur lidentitnationale, dont les rapports avec lactualit et la culture de
France sont indniables.
Les tableaux suivant contiennent des exemples des fautes commises, ainsi que leur
catgorisation, ceci tant le rsultat de la rflexion mene par les apprenants sur leurs
propres difficults. Dans le tableau 8, on peut donc voir que la mconnaissance du sens dun
mot (polysmie), la ressemblance avec des mots espagnols (faux amis/ traduction littrale) et
les difficults en grammaire, leur ont fait commettre des fautes.
Tableau 8 : Analyse des catgories : lexique et grammaire

Lexique
Enqute cadre suprieur quota (faux amis)
() prcisement celle franaise (Traduction litrale)
(en particular la francesa)
() ils risquent de le regretter (corren el riesgo)
() une communaut qui tient faire respecter sa culture
() un dbat de fond quon nesaurait rfuser (verbes)
Grammaire une liste de prjugs () dfinissant par avance lidentit
nationale
le port de signes ou de tenues manifestant une appartenance
religieuse (emploi du participe prsent)
Le lancement du dbat sur lidentit nationale est-il un acte
politique ou seulement politicien ? Dans le contexte de la
campagne pour les lections rgionales de 2010 et de
laccumulation de sondages dopinion qui lui sont
dfavorables. (Reprage des rfrents)

75
Le tableau 9 prsente quelques exemples des difficults retrouves lorsquil sagissait
dexpressions toutes faites, du sens dun terme ou expression ainsi que de lemploi des sigles
ou de la mconnaissance des faits et des situations propres la culture de la langue cible.
Tableau 9 : Analyse des catgories : expressions et culture
Catgories Exemples

Expressions
Il nen revient pas de pouvoir prendre le mtro
Cest supposer la photographie (quivalence)
Le grand festivalest la ttedaffiche
Cocktail musical haut en couleur
() ne vont pas changer la donne
() comme allant desoi (expressions toutes
faites)

Culture
le problme voile intgral rside dans ce qui
relve de la libert des femmes et dans le cas
contraire, ce qui leur est impos et qui doit tre
combattu .
Transports un commun administration le local
des poubelles -La grande boucle les seniors
(noms)
les lections rgionales la lacit la
proportionnelle braderie estivale (faits)
BEP - UMP (sigles)
()le gouvernement cherche exploiter les peurs
des Franais en reliant les thmes de ltranger et
de la scurit, de mme que ceux du
communautarisme et de la condition des femmes.
(situations)

76
Le dcompte gnral des cinq (5) principaux textes faisant partie du dossier de tous
les participants se prsente dans le tableau 10 :
Tableau 10 : Dcompte des fautes commises dans les cinq textes
Catgorie 1er. 2me. 3me. 4me. 5me. Diffrence
Lexique 6 5 5 3 3 - 3 / 50%
Grammaire 5 6 3 3 2 -3 / 60%
Expressions 5 5 4 3 4 -1 / 20%
Culture 4 4 3 2 2 - 2 / 50%
Moyenne 5 5 3,7 2,7 2,7 -2.3/ 46%
fin de faire remarquer lvolution dans le processus, nous avons compar lcart qui
sest prsent entre le premier et le cinquime texte (premire et dernire colonne). Les
rsultats nous montrent une moyenne damlioration ou diminution des fautes dun 46%.
notre avis, on ne doit pas se surprendre du fait que les rsultats soient plus bas dans la
catgorie expressions , car elle reflte sans doute les particularits de chaque langue pour
exprimer ou connecter certaines ides au travers de tournures propres soit la structure
profonde de la langue ou la faon de voir le monde de chaque culture.
CONCLUSION ET DISCUSSION
Pour les participants, avant lexprience, la traduction tait considre en gnral une
tche peu difficile ou de difficult moyenne, dont les aspects les plus importants taient la
grammaire et la comprhension du sens des mots et expressions en franais. Il sagissait dun
exercice li notamment aux aspects linguistiques. Les mthodes utilises concernaient
lemploi du dictionnaire et la traduction mot mot ou phrase par phrase. Ils mconnaissaient
les approches et les techniques de traduction.
A la fin de lexprience, la traduction est conue comme un processus cognitif qui
dpasse la signification verbale, pour aborder lanalyse du discours et ses rapports avec la
pense. Il y a eu une reconnaissance de la participation dautres disciplines dans le travail de
traduction ainsi que de limportance de la culture des deux langues mises en rapport. Il y a
eu une diminution du 46% de la moyenne des fautes commises par les tudiants.

77
Ces rsultats prouvent que le professeur de langue ne doit jamais viser aux seuls
objectifs de maitrise de la langue. Il doit toujours aller au-del de la structure de celle-ci et
faire que les tudiants prennent conscience de limportance de rflchir dautres aspects
prsents dans leur processus dappropriation dune langue, ce quils peuvent attendre grce
linterdisciplinarit. Pour le cas qui nous occupe : la traduction, nous avons pu constater les
rapports trs troits entre la traduction el la linguistique applique (approches), entre la
langue et la socit (sociolinguistique), entre lapprentissage dune langue et les processus
mentaux (psychologie cognitive). Nous avons galement constat que lon ne peut pas trs
bien traduire un texte que si lon ne connat pas la culture de la langue cible car la vision du
monde, conditionne toujours la pens et par consquent, la langue travers laquelle les gens
expriment leurs ides.
REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES
Auziol, E (2006) Rseaux numriques et dmocratie sociale : recherche action sur les
nouveaux usages, document de synthse du projet Europen Equal du Conseil gnral
de lHrault, pilot par Murcier, A-L et Auziol, E, juillet 2005. Consult le 12 juillet
2010. Disponible sur lObservatoires des usages dinternet
http:/ / www.oui.net/ modules/ wfsection/ article.php?articleid=50
Bgin, C. (2008). Les stratgies dapprentissage : un cadre de rfrence simplifi. En Revuedes
sciences delducation. Vol 34, No. 1, pp. 47-67. Rcupr le 10 mars 2010. Disponible
sur le site : http:/ / www.erudit.org/ revue/ rse/ 2008/ v34/ n1/ 018989ar.pdf
Delisle, J (1984). Analyse du discours comme mthode de traduction. En Fatemeh Mirza-
Ebrahim-Tehrani (2010). Le mcanisme du processus de traduction. Revue de la
Facultdes. Lettres et Sciences Humaines. Anne 53 N0 218. Tabriz (Iran) : Universit de
Tabriz Consult le 10 juin 2013. Disponible sur le site
http:/ / www.ensani.ir/ storage/ Files/ 20120427093421-8077-4.pdf
Fatemeh Mirza-Ebrahim-Tehrani (2010). Le mcanisme du processus de traduction. Revuede
la Facultdes. Lettres et Sciences Humaines. Anne 53 N0 218. Tabriz (Iran) : Universit
de Tabriz Consult le 10 juin 2013. Disponible sur le
sitehttp:/ / www.ensani.ir/ storage/ Files/ 20120427093421-8077-4.pdf
Gombert, J-E (1996) Activits mtalinguistiques et acquisition d'une langue. Aile :
Acquisition et interaction en langue trangre. Article mis en ligne le 05 dcembre
2011, consult le 10 octobre 2012. URL : http:/ / aile.revues.org/ 1224
Martin, Jacky (1982) Essai de redfinition du concept de traduction. Meta : J ournal des
traducteurs Vol. 27, No. 4 pp 357- 374 Consult le 20 juillet 2013. Disponible sur le
site : http:/ / www.erudit.org/ revue/ meta/ 1982/ v27/ n4/ 003588ar.pdf

78
Nol, B (1991) La mtacognition. En : Saint-Pierre, Lise (1994). La mtacognition, quen est-
il ? Revuedes sciences del'ducation, vol. 20, n 3, pp. 529-545. Consult le 20 juillet
2013. Disponible sur le site :
http:/ / www.erudit.org/ revue/ RSE/ 1994/ v20/ n3/ 031740ar.pdf
Wilhelm, J (2012) Jean-Ren Ladmiral une anthropologie interdisciplinaire de la traduction
Interview Publie Meta : J ournal des traducteurs, Vol. 57, No. 3, p. 546-563 Rcupr le 30
juillet 2013 sur le site :
http:/ / www.erudit.org/ revue/ meta/ 2012/ v57/ n3/ 1017079ar.html?vue=resume&mode=res
trictio

79

Ponencia 6

Le Club de Grammaire ou la fin de la peur de linconnu
13

Edna Lorena Snchez Arvalo
14

Rsum
Des problmatiques perues lors de lenseignement de la grammaire en cours de FLE
lUniversit de La Salle de Bogot, et le manque dun cours consacr au sujet, nous ont fait
rflchir sur les moyens doptimiser cette comptence chez les tudiants. Lobjectif de cette
prsentation est de faire part la communaut des premiers rsultats de lexprience dun
Club de Grammaire mene avec des tudiants de la Licence en Lettres Modernes de
lUniversit X de Bogot, pendant le premier et le deuxime semestre de lanne universitaire
2013.

Dans cette recherche, nous tentons de trouver un moyen pour changer limage de la
grammaire, un sujet souvent trs difficile pour les tudiants, tout en travaillant la production
crite et dautres lments concernant la motivation personnelle. Ce travail se fera partir
des explications qui rsoudront des questions pralables, de la production crite et, surtout,
grce un changement de perspective face la grammaire. Ceci donnera des rsultats tels
que des bonnes notes aux examens et des russites niveau personnel.
Mots cl: FLE, grammaire, club, production crite, tudiants.

Resumen
Algunas problemticas vistas al momento de ensear la gramtica en los cursos de
FLE de la Universidad de La Salle de Bogot, adems de la falta de un curso exclusivo para
esta temtica, nos hicieron reflexionar acerca de los medios para mejorar esta competencia en
los estudiantes.

En esta investigacin, intentamos encontrar un elemento que ayude a cambiar la
imagen de la gramtica, un tema recurrente y a veces difcil para los estudiantes. A la vez,
trabajamos la produccin escrita y otros elementos relacionados con la motivacin personal.
Este trabajo se lleva a cabo a partir de explicaciones que respondern a preguntas especficas
de los estudiantes, de la produccin escrita y, sobre todo, gracias a un cambio de perspectiva

13
Les premires expriences de cette recherche ont eu lieu lUniversidad de La Salle de Bogot pendant le
premier semestre de lanne acadmique 2013.
14
Professeur de lUniversidad de La Salle, elle est actuellement charge des cours de Franais III, Stage
pdagogique et Mthodologie de la rdaction du mmoire. Elle est diplme du parcours Philologie et Langues
-Franais de lUniversidad Nacional de Colombia, elle a aussi fait des tudes de M2 Sciences du Langage
lUniversit de Toulouse II Le Mirail. E-mail: edlsanchez@unisalle.edu.co

80
respecto a la gramtica. Esto dar como resultado mejoras en las notas de los exmenes y
xitos a nivel personal en los estudiantes.

Palabras clave: FLE, gramtica, club, produccin escrita, estudiantes.

PRESENTATION

Le but de cette prsentation est de faire part la communaut qui participe du I
Coloquio sobre Interdisciplinareidad en la formacin del Licenciado en Lenguas Extranjeras
(Ciflex) de lexprience dun Club de Grammaire universitaire en tant quambiance
dapprentissage innovatrice et de ses premiers rsultats.

Aprs avoir analys certaines problmatiques concernant
lapprentissage/ enseignement de la grammaire du FLE (Franais Langue trangre) dans la
Licence en Espagnol, Anglais et Franais de lUniversit de la Salle de Bogot, nous avons
propos un espace ddi ce sujet pour renforcer les connaissances grammaticales et ainsi
amliorer la comptence crite chez les tudiants.

On a cr donc un Club de Grammaire qui a eu lieu dans les horaires de tutorats
assurs par les professeurs. On y voulait reprendre les notions de grammaire de FLE partir
des explications, de la production libre et dun changement de perspective face limage que
les tudiants ont de la grammaire. La premire partie de cette exprience sest droule
pendant le premier semestre de 2013.

Les lments thoriques qui ont encadr cette recherche, portent sur trois
thmatiques : la recherche action, le tutorat collectif et la didactique de la grammaire du FLE.

En premier lieu, concernant la recherche action, nous avons pris en compte les notions
que sur celle-ci proposent Anne Burns (1999) et Antonio Latorre (2008), parmi dautres
thoriciens. En gnral, ces notions nous montrent limportance de travailler sur un petit
contexte spcifique dapprentissage, du travail collaboratif, des donnes qui mnent la
rflexion et laction et de la vision cyclique de ce type de recherche.

En deuxime lieu, concernant le tutorat universitaire, nous avons travaill sur les
lments proposs par Sebastin Rodrguez (2011) et J ohn Vifara (2008). En somme, ils
proposent des stratgies dorientation particulires qui tiennent en compte les besoins
spcifiques des tudiants, en vue damliorer la qualit de leur ducation. Ceci ayant pour but
de faire natre chez eux la confiance en soi, le besoin de sintgrer la communaut
universitaire et lefficacit au moment dapprendre grce aux stratgies dapprentissage.
Grce ces stratgies, on pourra aussi augmenter la motivation pour lapprentissage,
amliorer les processus denseignement et dvelopper la formation autonome.

81
En troisime lieu, concernant la didactique de la grammaire du FLE, nous avons pris
les mots de Sandra Canelas-Trevisi, dans sa Didactiquedela grammaire(2013), qui rsument
notre perspective sur le sujet :

[Les professeurs devraient arriver ] [] parvenir un compromis honorable voire des relations
constructives entre la tradition logico-grammaticale et la tradition de la rhtorique et de
linterprtation des textes [ceux-ci allant de la main]. Elles sont disjointes depuis des sicles dans
lenseignement francophone. Il nest pas tonnant que ce soit difficile dengager des changes
constructifs entre leurs avatars.

Le Contexte, La J ustification et Les Objectifs de La Recherche

En dix semestres, la Licence en Espagnol, Anglais et Franais de lUniversit de La
Salle de Bogot, permet aux tudiants dapprendre langlais et le franais langue trangre,
ainsi que lespagnol langue maternelle pour devenir professeurs de langues. Pendant les six
premiers semestres, ils en reoivent des connaissances gnrales. A partir du septime
semestre, les tudiants peuvent approfondir dans des connaissances spcifiques concernant
une des trois langues. On y et traite des contenus tels la littrature, la production des crits
spcifiques et les sujets de recherche visant le travail pour obtenir le diplme, parmi dautres.
Ils peuvent suivre ce parcours professionnel dans les horaires de laprs-midi (entre 14h et
18h) ou ceux du soir (entre 18h et 22h).

Actuellement, lors des deux premiers semestres, tous les cours de langue trangre
sont assurs en 5 heures hebdomadaires dans lesquelles, pour les cours de FLE, on travaille
avec la mthode cho A1, A2 et B1. Du 3
e
au 6
e
semestre, les heures sont rduites 4 heures
hebdomadaires pour laisser place au cours de phontique du FLE, de deux heures
hebdomadaires. Cest--dire que, la fin de la troisime anne dtudes, les tudiants de la
Licence ont vu 416 heures de franais ; ils devraient atteindre ce moment-l le niveau B1 du
Cadre Europen Commun de Rfrence pour les Langues (CECRL). Pour lattester, ils
prsentent, la fin du 6
e
semestre, un examen prpar par la section de franais qui quivaut
au DELF B1 et qui leur permettra daccder aux cours de profundizacin . A la fin de leur
parcours professionnel, ils prsentent un examen qui quivaut au DALF C1 et obtiennent
aprs leur diplme de professeur de langues.

Lors du travail en tant que professeur de FLE de cette Licence, nous avons trouv
que le niveau de rflexion linguistique des tudiants tait faible ainsi que leur comptence
crite. On pourrait justifier cela par le fait que, en premier lieu, les cours de FLE ne
comportent que quatre heures hebdomadaires en moyenne, ce qui ne permet pas de mettre
laccent sur les bases grammaticales car il faut laisser la place aussi aux autres comptences
orales et crites. En deuxime lieu, on ne propose pas un cours de grammaire spcifique pour
le FLE pour ce parcours professionnel, contrairement ce qui se passe avec le cours de
phontique. En troisime lieu, il faut mentionner le fait que les tudiants du soir doivent
rduire leurs heures dapprentissage cause des plages horaires dans lesquelles ils tudient.
En troisime lieu, les tudiants ngligent les heures de tutorat assures par les professeurs
(qui ont lieu pendant deux heures hebdomadaires et qui sont obligatoires dans notre plan de

82
travail), pour des raisons qui nous restent encore inconnues. Finalement, il est fort possible
que la mthode de travail en FLE nait pas donn de bons rsultats car on travaille souvent la
grammaire avec des exercices trous (et ventuellement le calque des exercices structuraux)
mais pas beaucoup sur la rflexion grammaticale et la rdaction. Le rsultat de ceci : des
tudiants qui savent remplir des trous dans les examens mais qui ne savent rdiger, ni
donner des explications lors des rflexions de type linguistique.

En plus de ce qui vient dtre mentionn, en tant que professeur, on se proccupe
davantage par la prsence chez beaucoup dtudiants dun autre phnomne : lexistence dune
sorte daversion relative la grammaire. Ceci cause, peut-tre, des mauvaises expriences
avec le sujet dans les cours de FLE : soit par la difficult que cela reprsente souvent, soit par
la relation avec les professeurs. Dailleurs, on aperoit un manque de stratgies
dapprentissage qui fait que les sujets mal compris se cumulent lors du passage dautres
semestres et que les notions grammaticales se mlangent.

Les problmatiques mentionnes ci-dessus nous ont amen crer le Club de
Grammaire : un espace ayant pour but damliorer la comptence en production crite en
FLE chez les tudiants, tout en leur permettant de mieux matriser la grammaire de la
langue franaise pour changer la vision de celle-ci partir, aussi, de la motivation
personnelle. On a donc propos la Facult de Sciences de lducation de nous cder les
plages horaires de tutorat pour y placer le Club de Grammaire et, avec lavis favorable, le
Club a eu lieu tous les mardis de 18h 20h pendant le premier semestre de 2013.

METHODOLOGIE

Laffiche publicitaire et le programme

Au Club de Grammaire pouvaient participer tous les tudiants de la Licence. Lors des
premires semaines de janvier, on a fait la publicit du Club sur le site web de la Facult et
sur des affiches publies dans les btiments de lUniversit.

Laffiche publicitaire montrait le programme dvelopper pendant le semestre avec
lobjectif de rendre vident la progression sur les sujets de grammaire et la possibilit de les
tudier depuis le plus lmentaire jusquau plus avanc. Ainsi, les tudiants allaient voir quils
pouvaient assister la sance qui leur convenait ou quils pouvaient reprendre ltude de la
grammaire du FLE depuis le dbut. Pour pouvoir organiser le programme du Club, nous
nous sommes bass sur les contenus grammaticaux proposs par la mthode quactuellement
on utilise pour enseigner le FLE la Licence : cho pour les niveaux A1, A2 et B1. Le
programme tait donc:

- Semaine I : Syntaxe et rgles de structure de la phrase en franais, les temps et les
modes verbaux, les pronoms personnels, toniques et relatifs, les verbes tre et avoir
- Semaine II : Les articles dfinis, indfinis et partitifs, les partitifs et lexpression de la
quantit

83
- Semaine III : Le nom et ladjectif : le masculin et le fminin, le pluriel
- Semaine IV : Le prsent de lindicatif I
- Semaine V : Le prsent de lindicatif II
- Semaine VI : Les temps proches, la ngation et linterrogation
- Semaine VII : Le pass compos
- Semaine VIII : Limparfait et le plus-que-parfait
- Semaine IX : Le futur et le conditionnel
- Semaine X : Le subjonctif
- Semaine XI : Les constructions verbales, les COD et COI, les pronoms en et y.
-
Le droulement des sances

Les sances du Club ont eu lieu pendant dix semaines sur seize du total du semestre.
Une moyenne de 22 tudiants y a assist. En gnral, ce sont les tudiants de 2
e
, 6
e
et 7
e

semestre qui ont t les plus assidus et ceux du 1
er
et 10
me
semestre, les moins. Ceci pourrait
tre d au fait que les tudiants de 2
e
semestre faisaient partie de nos cours de FLE, que les
tudiants de 6
e
semestre prparaient leur examen B1 et que les tudiants de 7
e
commenaient
leur stage pdagogique ; dans les deux derniers cas, ils avaient besoin de rviser les contenus
grammaticaux dj vus en FLE. Pour ce qui est des tudiants de 1
er
semestre, ils pourraient
penser quils se trouvaient dans un niveau pas convenable pour pouvoir assister et ceux de
10
e
semestre taient ad portas de finir leur Licence, donc peut-tre ils navaient pas beaucoup
de motivation pour assister quelconque club. Il faut dire aussi que le 98% des participants
tudiaient laprs-midi et le 2% restant le soir.

Pour la premire sance, nous avons demand aux tudiants de nous raconter leurs
expectatives concernant le Club et ce dans un petit texte en espagnol. Ils ont profit de cet
exercice pour parler ouvertement sur leurs difficults concernant le FLE. Toutes les rponses
ont t analyses et catgorises, ce qui nous permet de dire que, pour la plupart des
tudiants (31%), lobjectif principal qui motivait leur participation au Club tait de mieux
comprendre la grammaire. Aussi, ils voulaient amliorer leur production crite (25%), mieux
communiquer avec les autres (14%) et travailler les problmatiques acquises lors des
semestres prcdents concernant le FLE, parmi dautres objectifs.

Chaque sance se droulait comme un cours de FLE. Nous avons dcid de commencer
les cours par des petites conversations sur un sujet gnral afin de briser la glace et rendre
lambiance plus agrable ; surtout, on voulait gnrer un sentiment de confiance chez les
tudiants. Aprs cela, on annonait le sujet travailler et on demandait aux tudiants de faire
une liste de difficults concernant le sujet ; on les crivait au tableau. Nous navons pas
rpondu ces questions car ce sont les tudiants qui lon fait la fin de chaque sance,
partir des explications. On donnait alors place lexplication des sujets de grammaire, tout
en faisant attention tre trs visuel (utilisation des marqueurs de plusieurs couleurs, de
figures gomtriques, de formules claires suivre, tel les mathmatiques). Il faut dire que
la rflexion grammaticale et didactique a t toujours prsente ; cest--dire, nous avons fait

84
en sorte que chaque question des tudiants ait t rpondue avec des termes grammaticaux
prcis et toujours en rflchissant au fait quil faut se faire comprendre car un jour les
tudiants seront des professeurs et que leurs tudiants auront, trs probablement, les mmes
questions lors des cours de FLE. Dailleurs, lorsquil y avait des questions, on a men les
tudiants essayer de rpondre aux autres tudiants, lorsque la question le permettait, afin
de les entraner utiliser la rflexion grammaticale et didactique pour bien rpondre. Cest
important de mentionner que toutes les explications nont pas t faites en franais cause de
la diffrence de niveau entre les tudiants ; ce fait a permis que les tudiants se trouvaient
laise mme quand on les demandait de ne jamais faire de traductions ou de comparaisons
avec leur langue maternelle. On a constat avec cette mcanique que les tudiants
comprenaient plus et pouvaient rpondre mieux aux questions en franais. la fin des
sances, ils rpondaient aux questions crites sur le tableau. Nous leur demandions aussi de
rsumer les sujets de la sance en les expliquant brivement.

RESULTATS

Avec le Club de Grammaire, nous cherchions principalement faire natre chez les
tudiants une motivation importante pour apprendre le franais. Ceci partir de
lapprentissage de la grammaire, ce qui leur permettra dtre plus laise au moment de
communiquer et davoir le sentiment davancer dans leur apprentissage. On a essay de
rendre conscients les tudiants du fait que la grammaire nest pas forcment un sujet difficile
mais seulement un sujet qui demande plus dattention et de travail. Le fait davoir rpt
frquemment cette dernire ide, et de leur dmontrer que celui qui comprend un sujet de
grammaire peut lexpliquer facilement, a permis de crer chez les tudiants une autre image
sur la grammaire. Nous avons expliqu aussi des stratgies pour pouvoir mieux expliquer les
diffrents sujets de grammaire ; ceci avec lutilisation des marqueurs, des figures, des dessins,
fin de les contextualiser dans la rflexion didactique.

Dans ce Club, nous avons trouv que deux heures ne suffisaient pas pour pouvoir
enseigner la grammaire de la faon quon avait conue : questions explication exercices
structuraux production libre rponse aux questions de la premire partie rsum des
notions. Ceci car on a eu peu de temps pour travailler la production crite car on sest centr
plus sur les explications et la rponse aux questions que sur la mcanisation et la production
libre.

Grce ce Club, nous nous sommes aperus que, en matire dapprentissage, lorsquun
tudiant peroit quon peut donner rponse ses besoins particuliers, il sera dj motiv
investir le temps ncessaire pour arriver en trouver la solution. Ceci est clair du moment
o les tudiants ont commenc arriver avant lheure du Club, attendre une moyenne de
deux heures sans cours pour pouvoir y assister, exiger une certaine ponctualit de la part
du professeur et demander du matriel pour pouvoir pratiquer en autonomie. Dailleurs, il

85
faut dire que ce Club ntait pas conu comme un cours car il nexigeait ni dassiduit, ni des
notes, ni proposait dvaluation.

Pour avoir une ide fonctionnelle du Club, on a voulu voir si les tudiants qui y ont
assist ont obtenu des bons rsultats lors de la passation de lexamen B1 : sur 64 tudiants
qui ont particip au Club, 29 ont particip au 70% des sances, minimum. De ce groupe de 29
tudiants, 13 ont prsent lexamen B1 et 11 dentre eux lont russi avec une moyenne de
75,3/ 100.

CONCLUSIONS

Trois points sont importants pour prsenter les conclusions concernant cette
exprience : les voix des tudiants, les limitations et les perspectives.

En primer lieu, nous trouvons cette premire exprience trs enrichissante parce quon
voit quon peut travailler pour motiver les tudiants. Lors de la dernire sance, ils ont crit
un petit texte o ils prsentaient les points positifs et ngatifs du Club. Aprs avoir analys et
classifi les rponses, nous constatons que pour les tudiants, en gnral, le Club de
Grammaire a t clair dans les explications (44%), a permis de rpondre aux questions
difficiles de grammaire (32%), a permis dy assister librement et sans la pression des examens
(17%) et a t amusant (7%). Quelques voix des tudiants peuvent mieux conclure cet aspect:
Realmenteaprend mucho y entend muchos temas queen el pasado haban sido difciles, muchas
gracias por el tiempo dedicado a esta clase, Creo quees indispensablela creacin declubes de
gramtica y deconversacin para mejorar y fortalecer el aprendizajedeuna lengua extranjera ,
No hay presin dela evaluacin y la obligacin deasistir porquees voluntario y setrabaja mejor.
concernant les points ngatifs, les tudiants trouvaient quil ny a pas eu suffisamment de
temps pour le mettre en place car un da a la semana no es suficiente et quil y restaient
encore beaucoup de sujets travailler Lo nico queno megust es queseacab y quedaron temas
pendientes.

En deuxime lieu, concernant les limitations, nous pouvons mentionner que : dabord,
la conception du programme a t assez ambitieuse car nous ne sommes arrivs qu la moiti
de ce quon a propos. Ensuite, concernant le droulement des sances, nous nous sommes
aperus que nous navons pas beaucoup travaill les exercices car on a voulu faire le point
principalement sur les explications. Cela savre plutt ngatif car notre objectif tait de
dvelopper la production crite chez les tudiants et cela na t fait quen partie. Cependant,
pour nous, il reste trs vident que le fait de bien expliquer les sujets grammaticaux, de
vrifier quils soient bien compris par tous les tudiants, cest dj la moiti du travail. Ceci
parce que nous considrons quun professeur doit toujours trouver la meilleure faon (la plus
simple) dexpliquer ces thmes car un tudiant qui comprend bien un sujet de grammaire
peut faire de celui-ci plutt une stratgie dapprentissage quun casse-tte. Trs
concrtement : un professeur qui sait expliquer un sujet de grammaire stimule les bonnes
stratgies dapprentissage et, donc, la motivation personnelle.

86
En troisime lieu, et grce aux limitations, nous prsentons comme perspective la suite
de ce Club. En principe, par le fait que les sujets nont pas tous t abords et que les
tudiants attendaient de tout travailler pendant le semestre (la dernire sance tait celle o
nous avons commenc les explications sur le prsent de lindicatif) ; ils taient frustrs car
cest souvent le sujet des temps verbaux qui leur pose le plus de problmes. Ensuite, cest
important de commencer dvelopper plus les exercices structuraux et la production crite
afin de mieux atteindre un de nos objectifs (celui de lamlioration de la production crite) car
nous ne concevons pas la grammaire sans la pratique et ce travail na t fait quen partie.
Pour finir, ce qui nous pousse le plus continuer ce travail, cest de voir quel point les
tudiants ont chang leur vision de la grammaire et la faon dont ce Club les a motiv
amliorer leurs comptences en franais. Cela est, pour nous, la meilleure des motivations,
surtout quand les tudiants cherchent les moyens, par eux-mmes, pour faire en sorte que le
Club de grammaire ait lieu pendant ce semestre, manque de places disponibles pour le faire
en ce moment lUniversit.


Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative action reserach for english language teachers. UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Canelas-Trevisi, S. (2013). Didactiquedela Grammaire. Grenoble: CNED Suprieur.
Latorre, A. (2008). La investigacin-accin: conocer y cambiar la prctica educativa.
Espaa: Gra.
Rodrguez, S. (2011). Manual detutora universitaria: recursos para la accin. Barcelona:
Octaedro.
Vifara, J. & Ariza, A. (2008). Un modelo tutorial entre compaeros como apoyo al
aprendizaje autnomo del ingls. Ikala, revista delenguajey cultura. (19), 173-209.

87

Ponencia 7

Towards a reflection on Construct and Content validity in tests.
15

Lucimaver Gonzlez Robayo
16

Resmen

Este artculo tiene como objetivo compartir una visin rpida de cmo analizar los
principios de validez de constructo y contenido que se presenta en las pruebas incluidas en
los libros de texto y la relacin con las metas de aprendizaje de los estudiantes. El uso de
libros de texto en el aula tiene una larga historia en el sistema educativo. Los libros de texto
son una de las principales fuentes que los profesores de ingls tienen en su prctica docente, y
a la vez, el primer contacto que los estudiantes tienen con el aprendizaje de una lengua
extranjera, pero este primer impacto debe ser comprensible (Krashen, 1985). Un impacto que
debe ser comprensible y que explique cmo los estudiantes se integran en el proceso de
adquisicin del lenguaje (progreso sub-consciente) en lugar de un aprendizaje superficial.
Como docentes de ingls, es nuestra preocupacin analizar y reflexionar en nuestra prctica
de enseanza el cmo se est evaluando el proceso de aprendizaje de nuestros estudiantes y
de los estndares y criterios que se tienen en cuenta al aplicar las pruebas proporcionadas por
los libros de texto. Es conveniente dedicar tiempo para examinar, evaluar, describir y ajustar
los materiales de pruebas proporcionados por los libros de texto con el fin de explicar la
influencia del contenido y la validez de constructo en los resultados de esas pruebas que se
aplican directamente de los libros guas a los estudiantes. A raz de esta problemtica, el
futuro lector podr ser activamente involucrado en el proceso de identificacin y anlisis de
los dos aspectos de validez y crear conciencia en la forma en que stas pruebas se pueden
ajustar segn el contexto de los estudiantes, con el fin de que sean ms realistas,
significativas y contextualizadas para satisfacer tanto nuestras expectativas como docentes en
el proceso enseanza y aprendizaje como tambin las necesidades, intereses y expectativas de
los estudiantes.

Palabras Claves: libros de texto, validez de constructo, validez de contenido, objetivos de
aprendizaje, test, profesores EFL, factores internos y externos.

Abstract

15
This study is being carried out with 5 students of Modern Languages, X semester at a public university in
Tunja, Boyac.
16
MA candidate at Language Teaching. Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia UPTC. Practicum
advisor and English teacher.

88

This talk aims to share a quick view of how to analyze the principles of construct and
content validity presented on the tests included in the course books and the relation with the
students learning goals. The use of course books in the classroom has a long history in the
education system. Course books are one of the main sources that English teachers have in
their teaching practice and for students input, but this input should be comprehensible
(Krashen, 1985), a comprehensible input explains how students improve in language
acquisition (subconscious progress) rather than language learning (conscious knowledge of
the second language). As English educators, it is our concern to go deeper in our education
practice as a way to analyze how we (teachers) are evaluating our pupils learning process
and the standards we take into account when applying the tests provided by course books. It
is appropriate to take time to examine, evaluate, describe, and adjust the test materials
provided by textbooks in order to explain the influence of content and construct validity in
the tests results taken by the student. Following that issue, participants will be actively
encouraged to empower themselves in the process by being conscious in the procedure to
identify and analyze the two aspects of validity and raise awareness in how they can make
them more realistic, meaningful and contextualized for learners, to meet both our teaching
needs and our students learning needs, interests and expectations.

Key Words: course books, construct validity, content validity, learning goals, test, EFL
teachers, internal and external factors.

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays when teachers and students have to face different teaching and learning
challenges, it is mandatory to be able to take ourselves as teachers and pre-service teachers
in the level of critical-reflective agents that focus us on involving the learner in an active role
where he/ she has the chance to reflect, rethink and make choices based on her/ his needs,
expectations, educational- professional goals, and be ready to face those new challenges. Pre-
service teachers must develop a decision-making (Freeman, 1989) ability to promote
reflection, innovation, creativity, and extra time to explore, assess, and adjust the course
books tests in order to make them more practical and meaningful for learners.
The use of course books in the classroom has a long history in the education system.
Teachers select course books randomly for their classes without paying too much attention
to the linguistic and pedagogical aspects. Instead, their attention is focused on the
presentation of the book, such as the cover, the images, the color and other characteristics
that are not highly relevant in the teaching-learning process, and much less in the way tests
are elaborated. As a starting point, it is necessary to create an environment where the pre-
service teachers and learners will be empowered to be responsible for her/ his continuous
improvement and here is when a spirit of discovery in every human being, (teacher-student)
arise. A spirit of questioning or decision making that should take place in any academic
context before putting together a curriculum, using a course book or applying any test, all of

89
these if we, EFL teachers (English as a Foreign Language Teachers), want to guarantee the
achievement of the curriculum, course books or tests aims, the coherence and effectiveness of
the teaching-learning process in each student.
Objectives:
General Objective
To address the issues of content and construct validity in the test provided
by course books.

Specific Objectives
To describe the influence of content and construct validity in the tests
results taken by the student
To raise awareness on the significance of analyzing and modifying those
tests in relation to students needs and learning goals.

LITERATURE REVIEW

This paper is grounded on the concepts of internal and external factors, validity,
content validity, construct validity; course books, internal and external factors, testing, as
well as some theories and studied related to the addressed issue. By tradition, the course
books have been used as one of the main resources in the education system and for the EFL
teaching-learning process. Therefore, the tests have been considered the commonest
measurement instruments used for assessing learners language abilities, (Bachman, 1990;
Cohen, 1994; Harris, 1969; Hughes, 1989, cited by Hitotuzi, 2004, p. 57). Teaching and
Learning a foreign language is a complex process that demands different teaching and
learning strategies that help the learner to become competent and proficient in the new
language, and at the same time, teachers and learners gain the enough tools to be skilled in
different educational and non-educational contexts. However, when designing tests for EFL
learners, test developers should pay attention to different internal and external factors that
may influence in the learners test results and performance. Those factors need to be taking
into account when evaluating the students language abilities.

In relation to internal factors, these refer to learner personality, attitude, age, anxiety,
and intrinsic motivation among others. These factors come from inside the learner. It means
that if a learner has a strong and clear goal about his/ her second language learning, it is
almost certain that he/ she will achieve that goal. There are some other internal factors that
may influence the success of that goal, such as: age, anxiety, negotiation, intrinsic motivation,
experiences, cognition, and native language. As EFL teachers and pre-service teachers,
considering the intrinsic motivation as one of the most important internal factors is a must,
because students who enjoy language learning and take pride in their progress will do better
than those who do not. I have seen how students block themselves because they do not
understand a topic or they do not make significant progress when developing tests. Malone
and Lepper (1987) have defined intrinsic motivation more simply in terms of what peoplewill

90
do without external inducement. Intrinsically motivating activities are those in which people
will engage for no reward other than the interest and enjoyment that accompanies them.

In relation to external factors, extrinsic motivation, curriculum, instruction, culture
and status are considered relevant when teaching and learning a foreign language. Here, the
extrinsic motivation is perhaps one of the most important factors, from both internal and
extrinsic, because students who receive a positive approach, encouragement and rewards
inspire the learning process and will generally fare better than those who are not. Wong,
states: For example, students from families that place little importance on language learning
are likely to progress less quickly (1998, p. 132). A reflection stage is needed regarding
those factors and the influence they represent in the learners tests. A good beginning is
questioning on how these internal and external factors affect or benefit my students in
relation to the results from the course books tests?
After discussing the influence of some internal and external factors in the classroom, I
will debate the concepts of content and construct validity and the relation with the course
books test.

Validity
Addressing the concept of validity from diverse authors (Bachman, 1990; Cohen,
1994; Harris, 1969) this is assumed as the the degree to which a test measures what it claims
to be measuring (Brown, 1989, pp. 65-83). From this perspective, validity focused on the
accuracy of a test. It is relevant to get a clear understanding of this term validity as a main
strategy to analyze what we are evaluating in our teaching practices. If a test is well-
structured and modified based on the learners goals, needs, and expectations, then the test
must benefit the ELF learners and empower them to take active roles in their own learning
process based on their strength and weaknesses.

Regarding validity (Brown, 1996), there are different types of validity which must be
relevant for all test writers as a way to guarantee that the tests have credibility. In this
paper, I will address two types and the relation in the course books tests: content validity
and construct validity. The first type relates to the concepts, topics, tasks or activities that
have been covered up to that time, and on which learners must account for on the test. The
second one relates to the mental ability that human beings have to create thoughts that are
not observable. This validity happens in the classroom when students have some drills to
learn and reinforce the topic. Brown (1996) called this process intervention. So when
students have been able to obtain a construct, it is said that a test is valid because learners
have had enough practice.

Course books
Course books represent one of the most applicable materials for the school community:
teachers, students, parents, and even the administrators. Due to the vast array of course
books to select from, the selection process has to demand specific criteria based on the school
curriculum, the students input, needs, interests, contexts, learning goals, as well as the way
evaluation is used and implemented in those course books; as it is stated by Byrd (2001):

91
texts are good fit for teacher, students, and the curriculum (p.415). Not all the course books
are appropriate for any educational setting, and even more the tests. Based on this fact, a
check list needs to be created and adjusted by the school community where teachers and
students become active agents and leaders in the decision-making related to those course
books and tests. Following Johnson (1989) decision-making in material design implies four
stages: curriculum planning, Ends/ means specification, program implementation and
classroom implementation. During this process a piloting and evaluation stages should be
implemented to evaluate both, the process and the product, and this process should be done
with groups of similar characteristics in order to get a deeper understanding on how
meaningful, valid, feasible and appropriate are those tests for our students. The elaboration
of tests requires a lot time, so it is required to create a check list to help you as a teacher or
pre-service teacher make the necessary adjustments for each test.

METHODOLOGY

This is a qualitative descriptive article that addresses the content and constructs
validity in the test provided by course books and the influence of those concepts in the
results by taking into account the relation with students needs and learning goals. Bearing
in mind that some tests developed by course book authors request for students to do things
that they are not requested to do while using the course books, through this paper, I
illustrate some of the reasons why pre-service teachers need to be aware of these types of
validity and the need of taking time to analyze how we (teachers and pre-service teachers)
are evaluating our pupils learning process and the standards we take into account when
applying the tests provided by course books. At the same time, to be aware of the internal
and external factors and encourage them as future teachers to take advantage of those factors
and help students to be competent and develop reflective-critical thinking skills.

Participants Profile and Setting
The population selected for this mini- scale ongoing research project is five pre-service
English teachers who are currently developing their Pedagogical and Research Practicum;
four pre-service teachers are doing their practicum at a public school, and the fifth at a
private school in Tunja, Boyac, Colombia.

These pre-service teachers are between 22 and 24 years old; they are two females and
three males, they are in the final semester of the Modern Languages Academic Program at
the UPTC in Tunja. They have already had teaching experience in their previous practices.
All of them are developing their practices on high school levels. Three of them are in upper
levels (9
th
to 11
th
) and two with lower levels (6
th
and 7
th
).

The context is divided in two settings: a public school and a private school. In the
public school, the teachers do not follow a course book; they have to put together some
guides for students to work with during the school year, so it means teachers have more
flexibility. In relation to the private school teachers have to follow a course book. There are

92
big differences and few commonalities between these two contexts where we can evidence
internal and external factors that interfere in the teaching-learning process of EFL students.

Data Collection Instruments
For data collection, two suitable instruments are going to be used to encourage pre-
service teachers in the process of becoming aware of this phenomenon and understand the
relevance of taking into account the two types of validity, as well as the internal and external
factors when evaluating students learning progress.

This first instrument is a questionnaire, this will be applied to the five pre-service
teachers with the main purpose of ascertaining whether or not they have any knowledge
related to the research topic and if they reflect the process that they follow when doing or
applying tests to their students in the two contexts. The questionnaire is divided in two
stages: stage number one is about background information, and the second stage about the
characteristics or criteria all tests must have in order to have credibility.

As a second instrument, a check list will be used to help participants analyze in depth
the two principles of validity. They will provide pre-service teachers and researcher with
valuable tool for evaluating the course books test. The purpose of using this check list is to
guide participants in both types of validity characteristics, and equip them with the tools
necessary for making an informed analysis of the test they are using to evaluate the students,
and balancing the test with the students needs, expectations, and learning goals.

The data analysis of this mini-scale ongoing research project will be explained once the
instruments are applied and the collected data will be analyzed.

REFLECTION

The evaluation of course book author-written tests by teachers is just as important,
although less commonly done in educational settings. It is a need that require urgent
attention if we as teachers and pre-services teachers want to guarantee the accomplishment
of the students learning goals and expectations. Course books tests may be written at a
more difficult level than the course book, which means that learners who positively struggle
to learn the material in the course book are desperately overwhelmed by the test that ask
them to show what they have learnt. The principles of validity are criteria that must be taken
into account when selecting course books, and when putting into practice the tests as a
strategy to help learners feel confidence and successful when evaluating their learning
process.

As a language teacher I know it is a long process, but at least we are aware of the
changes and modifications that need to be done in relation to materials as course books and
test, if we want to create an assertive learning environment for all learners. Here, the
teachers role needs a different focus they must become facilitators rather than mere
transmitters of knowledge, to thereby help students perform according to their needs and

93
expectations, and become competent in lifes language challenges. As language teachers and
pre-service teachers one of our goals is to cultivate the students awareness of their own
learning process. We have to encourage learners to gain communicative competence in
different settings as it is stated by Lachat: effective thinkers, problem-solvers, and
communicators (1999, p.11) to compete in the global world. It is a cruel reality that must
touch our hearts and challenge us in promoting higher academic achievement and broaden
students perspectives around real world tasks and real world tests. Even though we know
that designing tests is time consuming, it is relevant to invest enough time to analyze,
modify, and adjust these tests according to our students skills and contexts.

REFERENCES

Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental considerations in languagetesting. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Byrd, P. (2001). Textbooks: Evaluation and selection and analysis for implementation. In
Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.) Teaching English as a second or foreign language, 3rd ed. Boston:
Heinle & Heinle.
Brown, J. (1989). Improving ESL Placement Tests Using Two Perspectives. TESOL
Quarterly, 23 (1), 65 - 83.
Brown, J. (1996). Testing in LanguagePrograms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
Regents.
Cohen, J. (1968). Assessing languageability in theclassroom. (2
nd
ed.) Boston, Mass: Newbury
House.
Freeman, D. (1989). Teacher training, development, and decision making: A model of teaching
and related strategies for language teacher education. Tesol Quarterly, 23(1), 27-45.
Harris, D. (1969). Testing English as a second language. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Hitotuzi, N. (2004). TheEnglish Component of the2002 EntranceExamination of theFederal
University of Amazonas: An Analysis of its Reliability and Validity. Profile No. 5 (56-
74). Unidad de Publicaciones. Bogot, Colombia.
Johnson, B. (1989). Consumer decision making. Handbook of consumer behavior, 50-84.
Krashen, S. (1985). TheInput Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. New York: Longman.
Lachat, M. (1999). What policymakers and school administrators need to know about assessment
reformfor English languagelearners. Providence, RI: Northeast and Islands
Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University.
Malone, T. and Lepper, M. (1987). A Taxonomy of Intrinsic Motivations for Learning. New
York: Prima publishing.
Wong, H. (1998). How to bean effectiveteacher. North Shoreline Boulevard: Wong
publications.

94

Ponencia 8

Pensamiento Lgico Matemtico en Educacin Bilinge y Convencional
en
Grado 5: Diferencias o Similitudes?
17

Luis Eduardo Tabares Garca
18

Resumen
El objetivo de la presente investigacin consisti en comparar el pensamiento lgico
matemtico en cuanto a la resolucin de problemas matemticos de aplicacin en los que
intervienen las cuatro operaciones fundamentales de estudiantes de quinto grado de primaria
en una institucin pblica de educacin bilinge y una convencional. El trabajo de campo se
llev a cabo en una institucin educativa pblica de implementacin de la educacin bilinge
y en una institucin educativa pblica convencional en Armenia, Quindo. Los resultados
fueron: 1) El grupo de estudiantes del grupo bilinge (G2) super al grupo de estudiantes
monolinges (G1) en la resolucin de problemas de aplicacin de suma y resta; y 2) El grupo
de estudiantes del G2 super a los estudiantes del G1 en los problemas de aplicacin de
multiplicacin y divisin. Se concluy que hiptesis derivadas de la lingstica, la
psicolingstica y el constructivismo piagetiano, explicaran los desempeos del G2 en la
prueba de medicin.

Palabras clave: bilingismo, pensamiento lgico matemtico, problemas de aplicacin
de suma y resta, problemas de aplicacin de multiplicacin y divisin.

Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to compare the mathematical logical thinking in
terms of solving application problems that involve the four fundamental operations of fifth
grade students in a public elementary bilingual education and a conventional one. The field
work was carried out in a public institution implementing bilingual education and in a
conventional public school in Armenia, Quindo. The results were: 1) The group of students
from the bilingual group (G2) outperformed the monolingual students (G1) in solving

17
El presente artculo es el producto de una investigacin dentro del programa de maestra en Ciencias de la
Educacin de la Universidad del Quindo, Colombia, en su lnea de investigacin en bilingismo. Este estudio se
desarroll entre Marzo y Junio de 2013.
18
Luis Eduardo Tabares Garca es Licenciado en Lenguas Modernas de la Universidad del Quindo y docente
de ingls en la I.E. CASD de Armenia. Correo electrnico: luiseduardotabares@hotmail.com iak-
sakkak@hotmail.com

95
application problems involving addition and subtraction, and 2) The G2 group students
outperformed G1 students in solving application problems involving multiplication and
division. It was concluded that hypotheses derived from linguistics, psycholinguistics and the
Piagetian constructivism, would explain the G2 students performance of the measurement
test.

Key words: bilingualism, mathematical logical thinking, application problems of
addition and subtraction, application problems of multiplication and division.

INTRODUCCIN

El planteamiento del problema de investigacin, aqu desarrollado, concierne el
bilingismo de sujetos inmersos en un sistema de educacin bilinge y un sistema de
educacin convencional. El ser humano como ser social, inmerso en un mundo globalizante
se ha visto en la imperiosa necesidad de ampliar su espectro comunicativo. Es de esta manera
como el dominio de ms de una lengua se ha convertido en objetivo primario de las
sociedades en general, y en este aspecto la relacin entre el ingls y la globalizacin es
compleja ya que la globalizacin ha motivado el uso del ingls y el uso del ingls ha motivado
la globalizacin (Graddol, 2006). En efecto, el bilingismo entendido como un fenmeno
psico y sociolingstico multidimensional e interdisciplinario se define como la capacidad de
un individuo o comunidad para emplear dos o ms lenguas y las culturas inherentes a ellas en
relacin directa con el contexto externo interviniente (Galindo, 2009). En psicolingstica as
como en sociolingstica entre otras disciplinas, se conocen dos escenarios de desarrollo
bilinge: natural y escolar. El contexto del presente proyecto de investigacin se remite al
desarrollo bilinge escolar por medio de la frmula pedaggica de la educacin bilinge en
Armenia, Colombia y dentro de sta, el desarrollo del pensamiento lgico matemtico en el
aula bilinge. Los objetivos del proyecto estn dirigidos hacia la comparacin sujetos de
quinto grado de primaria en un programa de educacin bilinge pblica y sus homlogos
escolarizados convencionalmente en cuanto al pensamiento lgico matemtico en la
resolucin de problemas de suma, resta, multiplicacin y divisin. Igualmente, se busca
determinar el rendimiento en la resolucin de problemas matemticos en los que intervienen
las cuatro operaciones bsicas.

MARCO TERICO

Bilingismo

El bilingismo es un fenmeno multifactico (Hoffman, 1991) de gran importancia y
es tema de preocupacin en la actualidad para educadores, lingistas, psiclogos,
psicolingistas y polticos entre otros. Sin embargo, hallar una definicin apropiada o
intentar definirlo es una tarea compleja (Galindo, 2009) o se contempla como un concepto
relativo (Romaine, 1995); en este sentido, Titone (1976) asegura que el problema del
bilingismo esta entre los ms complejos que puedan presentarse al lingista, al psiclogo o
al educador.

96

Para la lingstica, ciencia que estudia lenguaje, el fenmeno del bilingismo ocupa un
campo especial. Sin embargo, encontrar un consenso entre los lingistas para la acepcin del
bilingismo es difcil debido a la diversidad de sus posturas que van desde las concepciones
maximalistas, las minimalistas y las intermedias.

Entre las concepciones maximalistas, Bloomfield (1933, en Hoffman, 1991) asegura
que un individuo es considerado bilinge cuando tiene control de dos lenguas como lo hace
un hablante nativo. Desde un punto de vista minimalista, Diebold (1964, en Baker 2001)
introduce el trmino bilinge incipiente que se define como aquella persona que posee la
capacidad de comunicarse de manera limitada en una L2. En este aspecto, Macnamara (1967,
en Hamers y Blanc, 1983) propone que un individuo es considerado bilinge cuando posee
una competencia mnima en cualquiera de las cuatro habilidades de la lengua, comprensin
auditiva, produccin oral, lectura y escritura en una lengua diferente a su LM.

En las posiciones intermedias a la definicin del bilingismo, encontramos que un
individuo bilinge es aquel que tiene la capacidad de expresarse en cualquiera de los dos
idiomas, sin verdadera dificultad, dependiendo de la situacin; adems, el individuo bilinge
posee un sistema coordinado de usos lingsticos, vinculando de esta manera su pensamiento
con la expresin verbal propia de los dos idiomas (Titone, 1976).

La educacin bilinge

Los programas bilinges de inmersin se iniciaron de manera experimental en St
Lambert, Montreal, Canad en 1965, y desde sus inicios fueron evaluados e investigados en
procura de establecer su impacto en el desarrollo lingstico, acadmico y actitudinal de los
nios participantes (Lambert y Tucker, 1972). Lo anterior se origin como respuesta a
diversos acontecimientos sociopolticos concretos que tuvieron lugar en la provincia de
Quebec. El grupo de estudios de St. Lambert para una escuela bilinge fue el nombre que el
grupo de ciudadanos adopt para encontrar mtodos alternativos para la enseanza de una
segunda lengua. Finalmente, sus esfuerzos tuvieron xito y en Septiembre de 1965 los
directores del distrito escolar accedieron a la formacin de un grupo experimental de
inmersin en el jardn de infancia para luego ampliarse a los dems grados. Es de esta manera
como al finalizar el grado 6 (escuela bsica) se enseaba 60% del currculo en ingls y el
restante 40% en francs dividido en jornadas maana y tarde lo cual es, adems, una
caracterstica de programas de inmersin total temprana (Genesee, Lambert y Holobow,
1986).

Definicin del concepto de pensamiento lgico matemtico

Las matemticas son una actividad humana inserta en y condicionada por la cultura y
por su historia, en la cual se utilizan distintos recursos lingsticos y expresivos para plantear
y solucionar problemas tanto internos como externos a las matemticas mismas. En la

97
bsqueda de soluciones y respuestas a estos problemas surgen progresivamente tcnicas,
reglas y sus respectivas justificaciones, las cuales son socialmente compartidas (MEN, 1998).

El logicismo considera que las matemticas son una rama de la lgica, con vida propia,
pero con el mismo origen y mtodo, y que son parte de una disciplina universal que regira
todas las formas de argumentacin (Ernest, 1991).

METODOLOGA

La metodologa por medio de la cual se desarroll el presente proyecto de
investigacin est guiada por los siguientes apartados: aspectos contextuales, tipo de estudio
y diseo de investigacin, muestra poblacional, instrumentos, anlisis de datos y
procedimiento.

Aspectos contextuales
El presente proyecto de investigacin tuvo lugar en la ciudad de Armenia, Quindo, en
una institucin educativa perteneciente al sector oficial y que hace parte del pilotaje en
educacin bilinge
19
(de aqu en adelante la I.E. 1) como resultado de las polticas
gubernamentales centrales, ms especficamente del Programa Nacional de Fortalecimiento
de Competencias en Lengua Extranjera. Adems, y partiendo de la naturaleza del presente
proyecto de investigacin, la segunda institucin educativa presenta las mismas
caractersticas mencionadas anteriormente con la diferencia que sta no hace parte del
pilotaje en bilingismo y es as como el tipo de educacin es convencional (de aqu en
adelante la I.E. 2); las caractersticas idnticas de las dos instituciones educativas asegura que
las condiciones de la muestra poblacional estn al mismo nivel.

Tipo de estudio y diseo de investigacin
Para responder a la pregunta de investigacin que gui esta investigacin, se presenta
el tipo de investigacin a realizar con el fin de recolectar los datos correspondientes de
manera apropiada. La variable independiente del presente proyecto de investigacin es la
educacin bilinge, como sta existe ya en su contexto natural y no es manipulada por el
investigador se trata, entonces, de un diseo de investigacin no experimental y comparativa.
Asimismo, dentro de este diseo la tipologa de este proyecto de investigacin es transversal
o transeccional dado que la observacin del fenmeno a estudiar se realiza en un solo
momento con postprueba nicamente aunque es de aclarar que el estmulo, es decir, la
educacin bilinge, contina despus de aplicada. En relacin a los sujetos a estudiar, stos
no son escogidos de forma aleatoria ya que los grupos ya estn formados, de esta manera la
investigacin es de naturaleza cuasi experimental (Hernndez Sampieri, Fernndez y
Baptista, 1998).

19
Fishman (1976) define la educacin bilinge como un sistema de enseanza en el cual en un momento y
variable y durante un tiempo y en proporciones variables, simultnea o consecutivamente, se da la instruccin al
menos en dos lenguas, de las cuales una es la primera del estudiante.

98
Muestra poblacional
La muestra poblacional esta compuesta por 19 estudiantes de 5 grado inmersos en
un programa de educacin bilinge y 26 estudiantes en educacin convencional, los cuales
son hispano hablantes. La muestra contiene un nmero equilibrado de hombres y mujeres. En
virtud de la equivalencia de los grupos, la muestra poblacional se igual mediante la tcnica
de emparejamiento teniendo en cuenta variables de control como son sexo, edad, experiencia
escolar bilinge, experiencia escolar en matemticas, test de inteligencia de Wechsler IV y
nivel socio econmico.

Instrumentos de control
El instrumento de control se emple con el fin de emparejar la muestra poblacional de
tal manera que esta fuera lo ms homognea posible. sta contiene preguntas generales del
contexto de cada estudiante as como del nivel socio econmico al cual pertenecen, de su
experiencia bilinge y del rea de matemticas, adems del test de inteligencia Wechsler IV,
en su componente no verbal que fue aplicado posteriormente. En relacin con el instrumento
de control de la muestra poblacional, los parmetros de seleccin estuvieron dados por la
similitud de estrato socio econmico, la ausencia de experiencias bilinges tanto en el
contexto familiar y social como en el contexto escolar, esto para el grupo monolinge. En el
caso del grupo bilinge, estos parmetros estuvieron delimitados segn el nmero de
estudiantes que respondan afirmativamente a las preguntas relacionadas con los contextos
antes mencionados y se tendr especial cuidado con aquellos estudiantes que no han sido
parte del grupo piloto en bilingismo en la institucin desde su origen ya que este aspecto
marcara una diferencia entre el desempeo de los estudiantes que ingresaron con
posterioridad a los que han estado participando del proceso desde el principio.

Instrumento para determinar el rendimiento de los estudiantes en relacin con
el pensamiento lgico matemtico en problemas en los que intervienen las cuatro
operaciones bsicas
Este instrumento contiene preguntas con el fin de determinar el grado de precisin
con el que los estudiantes resuelven problemas de aplicacin en los cuales intervienen la
suma, la resta, la multiplicacin y la divisin. Estos problemas estn diseados teniendo en
cuenta los estndares para el rea de matemticas emanados desde el MEN y presentan
diversos grados de dificultad, en el caso particular de esta investigacin, aumentando la
complejidad de la prueba y separando las operaciones para cada problema presentado. En
relacin a las preguntas formuladas en dicho instrumento, stas son de opcin mltiple con
nica respuesta y su nmero fue determinado de los resultados que arroj el estudio
preliminar descrito ms adelante en este documento.

Esta prueba ha sido adaptada del cuadernillo de pruebas matemticas Saber para
grado 5 calendario A y B desarrolladas en el ao 2012 por el MEN y el Instituto
Colombiano para el Fomento de la Educacin Superior [ ICFES] . Lo anterior en cuanto al
nmero y el orden de sus preguntas ms no en la composicin de las mismas. Por tal motivo,
el grupo resultante de 20 preguntas, las cuales fueron escogidas segn su componente
(numrico variacional) y la naturaleza de la(s) operacin(es) matemtica(s) involucrada(s),

99
fue sometida a estudio piloto en un grupo de caractersticas similares a los dos grupos que
hicieron parte de la investigacin. Dichas preguntas consistan en problemas contextuales de
aplicacin los cuales deban ser resueltos a travs del uso de una o dos de las operaciones
matemticas bsicas, la respuesta correcta se presentaba a eleccin del participante entre
cuatro opciones posibles.

Anlisis de datos
El anlisis de los datos correspondientes al estudio preliminar se determinar segn
una distribucin binomial o de Bernoulli que tendr como base el nmero de estudiantes del
grupo piloto seleccionados para desarrollar la prueba. Con base en este nmero se tomar
como referencia un valor de 0.05 que determinar mediante una escala los ejercicios que
conformarn el banco de problemas de aplicacin disponibles para el instrumento final.

El anlisis de los datos correspondientes al instrumento con el cual se pretende medir
la competencia que tienen los estudiantes de grado 5 de primaria en los grupos antes
descritos para la resolucin de problemas de aplicacin matemtica en los cuales se presentan
las cuatro operaciones bsicas fue analizado mediante diversos mtodos estadsticos
descriptivos. Lo anterior, debidamente diseado teniendo en cuenta el tipo de estudio y los
objetivos e hiptesis de investigacin. Los detalles de dichas tcnicas de anlisis sern
debidamente explicados y detallados en el apartado siguiente. Estos anlisis estadsticos
fueron desarrollados por expertos en la materia y que son externos a la presente
investigacin.

Descripcin del procedimiento
El procedimiento para la aplicacin de los diferentes instrumentos es como sigue:
primero se desarroll un estudio preliminar para determinar su validez y confiabilidad. Este
estudi se llev a cabo en un grupo piloto alterno a los dos grupos bajo estudio y estuvo
constituido por 32 participantes. La evaluacin del instrumento se hizo mediante el uso de la
rejilla de evaluacin y correccin proporcionada por el documento original del MEN y el
ICFES descrito ms arriba en este documento.

Segundo se aplic el instrumento de apareamiento de la muestra poblacional.
Seguidamente, se aplic el test de inteligencia de Wechsler IV para determinar el nivel
cognitivo de los estudiantes participantes. Por ltimo se aplic el instrumento para
determinar el rendimiento de los estudiantes en cuanto al pensamiento lgico matemtico en
problemas de aplicacin en los que intervienen las cuatro operaciones fundamentales, este
instrumento fue diseado con base en los resultados que arroj el estudio piloto. Las
instrucciones en la aplicacin de este instrumento fueron las mismas que las dadas en el
grupo piloto a excepcin del tiempo de entrega el cual fue establecido como valor promedio
del tiempo empleado en el grupo piloto. Cada uno de los instrumentos fue aplicado en
sesiones separadas con el fin de no hacer estas jornadas extenuantes para los participantes.
Finalmente, estos datos se evaluaron y analizaron teniendo en cuenta los diferentes
parmetros de control establecidos anteriormente para luego ser llevados al correspondiente
anlisis estadstico.

100

RESULTADOS

Los datos correspondientes a este estudio fueron analizados mediante el uso del
programa Statgraphics 16 por un evaluador experto y externo a este proyecto de
investigacin dando como resultado un P Valor de 0.0342.

Para probar la hiptesis de la presente investigacin se utiliz anlisis estadstico
descriptivo teniendo como base las operaciones bsicas independientes y luego agrupndolas.
Tambin se analiz el rendimiento individual y grupal en los mismos aspectos. En este caso,
se realiz anlisis porcentual tanto de rendimiento individual como grupal, pregunta por
pregunta y finalmente agrupando operaciones. Esta seccin del anlisis se desarroll
mediante hoja de clculo y matriz de EXCEL. Dicho anlisis se desarroll mediante el uso de
programa Spss versin 15.0.

Finalmente se realiz anlisis factorial de varianza o prueba ANOVA. Este anlisis
permiti visualizar de manera ms precisa los datos correspondientes al rendimiento de los
estudiantes frente a la prueba de matemticas, junto con los totales por grupo y las medias.
Los datos son el resultado del cociente entre el nmero de respuestas correctas y el nmero
total de preguntas. Esta prueba se llev a cabo mediante el uso del programa Minitab 15.

Rendimiento general frente a la prueba

Tabla 1. Comparacin del rendimiento del G1 y el G2.

n G1 G2
1 0,588 0,647
2 0,353 0,706
3 0,706 0,824
4 0,412 0,882
5 0,529 0,765
6 0,471 0,882
7 0,588 0,941
8 0,529 0,882
9 0,353 0,706
10 0,647 0,882
11 0,471 0,824
12 0,294 0,882
13 0,529 0,882
14 0,647 0,882

101
15 0,294 0,706
16 0,353 0,647
17 0,471 0,647
18 0,353 0,824
19 0,471 0,588
20 0,118
21 0,294
22 0,235
23 0,353
24 0,706
25 0,353
26 0,412
Total 11,529 15,00
Media 0,443 0,7894

Los datos de la tabla anterior corresponden al rendimiento general de cada estudiante
frente a la prueba y el promedio de cada grupo. As, el rendimiento promedio de los
estudiantes que conforman el G1 es de 0,433 mientras que el rendimiento promedio del G2 es
de 0,789. Se comparan los rendimientos de los estudiantes de cada grupo y se puede observar
que los resultados de los estudiantes del G2 son notablemente mayores que los de los
estudiantes del G1.

Prueba ANOVA
Descripcin de los datos
Los datos corresponden al rendimiento de los estudiantes frente a la prueba de
matemticas, junto con los totales por grupo y las medias. Los datos son el resultado del
cociente entre el nmero de respuestas correctas y el nmero total de preguntas. Las
mediciones u observaciones resultan de un diseo completamente aleatorizado.

Tabla ANOVA
Fuente SC g.l. CM R.V.
Entre muestras 1,3145 1 1,3145 73,88
Dentro de las
muestras
0,7650 43 0,0178
Total 2,0795 44

Regla de decisin.

102
Para un error de 0, 05 el valor critico de a partir de la distribucin F con 1 y 43
grados de libertad es 5,42. La regla de decisin es rechazar si el valor calculado de R.V. es
mayor o igual a 5,42.

Decisin estadstica.
Debido a que el valor calculado para R.V. 73,88 es mayor que el valor critico de F,
5,42 entonces se rechaza y se comprueba H1. Despus de haber determinado que existe
diferencia entre los rendimientos del G1 y el G2, el siguiente paso es determinar entonces
que grupo tiene mayor rendimiento al resolver problemas de matemticas que vinculen suma,
resta multiplicacin y divisin. Para esto se desarrollan el grfico de cajas y el grfico de
valores individuales. Ver Anexo A.

CONCLUSIONES

Los resultados de la investigacin fueron los siguientes:
1. En relacin con la resolucin de problemas matemticos de aplicacin en los que
intervienen la suma y la resta, el G2 super al G1 en todas las mediciones realizadas para tal
fin. Esto es, estadsticamente se comprob que el G2 obtuvo mejores resultados en todos los
anlisis realizados los cuales se hicieron tomando en cuenta distintas perspectivas.

2. En cuanto al pensamiento lgico matemtico en relacin con problemas de
aplicacin en los cuales se presentan operaciones de multiplicacin y divisin, el G2 tambin
super al G1 en todas las pruebas de medicin diseadas para tal fin.

Por otra parte, las conclusiones de la investigacin se enuncian como sigue:

Primero, la hiptesis del umbral de competencia bilinge explicara los desempeos de
los bilinges en comparacin con los de sus homlogos en la resolucin de problemas
matemticos de aplicacin donde las cuatro operaciones bsicas se presentan. Cummins
(1983; 1991; 2001; 2002) desarroll la hiptesis del umbral o nivel mnimo de competencia
lingstica en la que explica tres posibles escenarios, el primero se refiere al bilinge que
alcanza un umbral mnimo de competencia lingstica en una de las dos lenguas, en este caso,
el bilingismo no le produce ningn efecto cognitivo negativo. Un segundo escenario se
produce cuando el bilinge logra el umbral mnimo en ambas lenguas, el bilingismo le
produce efectos cognitivo positivos. Finalmente, una tercera posibilidad hace referencia al
individuo bilinge que no logra alcanzar el nivel mnimo de competencia lingstica en
ninguna de las dos lenguas, en este caso en particular, el bilingismo le produce efectos
cognitivos negativos, es decir en trminos de Cummins, estar en un estado de
semilingismo
20
.

20
El trmino semilinge o semilingismo, tal como se utiliza en la hiptesis del umbral, hace referencia al
fenmeno que sucede en algunos bilinges al dominar peor las dos lenguas que los hablantes nativos de las
mismas.

103
Desde una perspectiva psicolingstica, Bialystok (2009) demostr que existe relacin
entre el estado de bilingismo y la capacidad de seleccionar solo los aspectos que cumplan
con las condiciones de forma y significado en gran variedad de tareas. La necesidad que
tienen los bilinges de controlar su atencin hacia el sistema lingstico, semntico,
contextual y dems de la L2 es no solo la caracterstica ms importante que diferencia su
produccin en esta lengua sino tambin para las consecuencias cognitivas y lingsticas del
bilingismo. Esta misma investigadora asegura que el bilingismo podra constituirse en un
disparador y acelerador para determinadas reas del desarrollo cognitivo y psicolingstico
del nio (Bialystok, 2001, 2005, 2004, 2009 en Signoret 2013).

Asimismo, Bialystok, Craik y Luk (2011) plantearon que si la produccin del bilinge
requiere la intervencin constante del sistema ejecutivo de control
21
para dirigir su atencin
hacia la L2, entonces es posible que esta experiencia realce ese sistema hacindolo ms
completo y apto para otras funciones. De esta manera, en contraste con los efectos negativos
del bilingismo encontrados en cuanto al tamao del vocabulario y la rpida recuperacin
lexical, el bilingismo debera tener un efecto beneficioso en el funcionamiento del sistema
ejecutivo de control. Los procesos principales en este sistema son inhibicin, cambio de
funciones mentales (cambio de tarea o flexibilidad cognitiva), y la actualizacin de la
informacin en la memoria de trabajo (Miyake et al., 2000 en Bialystok, et al., 2011). Los
primeros estudios demostraron que los nios bilinges obtuvieron mejores resultados que
sus pares monolinges en tareas metalingsticas que requirieron control de atencin e
inhibicin, pero no en tareas comparables que estaban ms fundamentadas en el conocimiento
y manejo gramatical (Bialystok, 1988, en Bialystok 2009). En este estudio, se logr
demostrar que los nios bilinges fueron ms exitosos que los monolinges en aceptar que
oraciones que tenan anomalas semnticas eran gramaticalmente correctas. Este juicio de
aspectos gramaticales requiere un esfuerzo mayor en su atencin para ignorar las
distracciones del significado que inclina al nio a decir que la oracin no es correcta.

Para el constructivismo piagetiano, un individuo que inicia su proceso bilinge a
temprana edad tiene la posibilidad de entrar en contacto con ms objetos de un contexto
diferente al que le ofrece su LM. Esta interaccin le permite manejar diversidad de smbolos,
funciones y relaciones de dos sistemas lingsticos (Signoret, 2013). Cuando el nio bilinge
lleva a cabo tareas de construccin, diferenciacin y comparacin de los dos sistemas
independientes, ste se ve enfrentado a constantes conflictos cognitivos que lo conducirn a
procesos exitosos de asimilacin, acomodacin y desarrollo cognitivo. Cuando el nio
bilinge compara lingsticamente los dos sistemas simblicos abstractos y lgicos en
contacto, lo conduce a experimentar desequilibrios frecuentes en los tres niveles planteados
por Piaget y Garca (1982): el intraobjetal, el interobjetal y el transobjetal; y de esta manera,
efectuar permanentemente reorganizaciones jerrquicas.

21
La denominacin sistema ejecutivo de control se ha obtenido por traduccin de la expresin anglosajona
executivecontrol system. El trmino da cuenta de la funcin cognitiva que realiza tareas de planificacin y control
de otros sistemas, es decir, tareas directivas y de supervisin.

104
Impacto pedaggico

La presente investigacin permiti evidenciar que el G2 (grupo inmerso en un sistema
de educacin bilinge) super al G1 (grupo inmerso en un sistema de educacin
convencional) en cuanto al pensamiento lgico matemtico en la resolucin de problemas de
aplicacin donde interviene las cuatro operaciones fundamentales. Por consiguiente, los
hallazgos anteriormente descritos indican que las iniciativas por implementar este sistema de
educacin estn bien fundamentadas y permitiran un mejor desarrollo de habilidades y
competencias en esta rea en particular: las matemticas.

Sine embargo, este campo de investigacin es aun muy polmico y debe abordarse con
sumo cuidado ya que se podra sobrevalorar en determinado momento los beneficios
cognitivos atribuidos al bilingismo.

Proyeccin de la investigacin

El fenmeno del bilingismo ha suscitado diversas polmicas que van desde
considerarlo nocivo hasta atribuirle ventajas en aspectos psico, sociolingsticos y
neurolgicos. Es por esto, que se hace necesario desarrollar investigaciones desde diferentes
disciplinas, abordndolo con diversos enfoques y objetivos. Bialystok (2009) plantea que
existen an conflictos en esta rea y que es necesario proseguir con la investigacin.

En nuestro contexto en particular, sera de gran utilidad tomando en cuenta las
cambiantes polticas educativas ya que permitiran consolidar y apoyar la continuidad de
proyectos ya en marcha. Adems, la comunidad educativa colombiana que en su mayora hace
uso del sistema oficial, encontrara en la aplicacin de iniciativas como los proyectos bilinges
la puerta de entrada a un sistema productivo cada vez ms competitivo, casi exclusivo para
los usuarios de la educacin de elite. En el campo investigativo, aporta elementos de juicio
valiosos para proseguir con la ampliacin de fronteras en el fenmeno del bilingismo hacia
la interdisciplinariedad.

REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRFICAS

Baker, C. (2001). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. Third ed. Clevedon.
Multilingual Matters.

Bialystok, E. (2009) Bilingualism: The good, the bad and the indifferent. Bilingualism:
Languageand Cognition 12 (1), 311 Cambridge University Press.

Bialystok, E., Craik, F. and Luk, G. (2011) Bilingualism: consequences for mind and
brain.Trends in CognitiveSciences. Psychological Sciencein thePublic Interest 10(3) iii,
York UniversityPress.

105
Cummins, J. (1983). Interdependencia lingstica y desarrollo educativo de los nios bilinges.
Toronto. Universidad de Alberta.

Cummins, J. (1991). Interdependenceof first and second languageproficiency in bilingual children;
en Bialystock, E (ed): Languageprocessing in bilingual children. Cambridge. Cambridge
UniversityPress.

Cummins, J. (2001). Qu sabemos de la educacin bilinge? Perspectivas psicolingsticas y
sociolgicas. Revista deeducacin. Ministerio deEducacin Cultura y DeportedeEspaa,
326 37-62.

Cummins, J. (2002).Language, power and pedagogy: bilingual children in thecrossfire. Clevedon.

Ernest, P. (1991). Thephilosophy of mathematics education. Falmer Press.

Fishman, J. (1976). Bilingual education and thefutureof languageteaching and languagelearning
in theUnited States. New York. NY UniversitytPress.

Galindo, A. (2009). Bilingismo Habilidades metalingsticas y lenguaje escrito. Acercamiento
terico experimental. Armenia. Kinesis.

Genesee, F, Lambert, W y Holobow, N. (1986). La adquisicin de una segunda lengua
mediante inmersin: el enfoque canadiense. Infancia y Aprendizaje33, 27-36, Quebec.
Universidad de McGill.

Graddol, D. (2006). English next: why global English may mean theend of English as a foreign
language. British council.

Hammers, J. y Blanc, M. (1983). Bilinguality & bilinguaslism. Cambridge. Cambridge
University Press.

Hernndez Sampieri, R., Fernndez, C. y Baptista, L. (1998). Metodologa dela investigacin.
Mxico. McGraw Hill.

Hoffman, Ch. (1991). An introduction to bilingualism. Longman.

Lambert, W. y Tucker, G. (1972). Bilingual education of children: theSt. Lambert experiment.
Rowley. Newburyhouse.

Ministerio de Educacin Nacional. (1998). Serielineamientos curriculares: matemticas, Bogot,
MEN.

106
Piaget, J. y Garca, R. (1982). Psicognesis ehistoria dela ciencia. Ciudad de Mxico. Siglo
veintiuno editores.

Romaine, S. (1995). Bilingualism. Oxford. Blackwell.

Signoret Dorcasberro, A. (2013) Bilingismo en la infancia. Universidad Nacional Autnoma
de Mxico.

Titone, R. (1976). Psicolingstica Aplicada. Introduccin a la didctica delas lenguas. Kapelusz.
Buenos Aires.

Anexo A
Grupo bilinge Grupo monolinge
0,9
0,8
0,7
0,6
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0,0
D
a
t
o
s
Grfica de caja de Grupo monolinge; Grupo bilinge

Grupo bilinge Grupo monolinge
0,9
0,8
0,7
0,6
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0,0
D
a
t
o
s
Grfica de valores individuales de Grupo monolinge; Grupo bilinge

107

Ponencia 9

Promocin de enfoques de formacin docente para impulsar la
investigacin en estudiantes
22

Carolina Fernanda Grtner Restrepo
23

Oscar Jhony Villa Ramirez
24

"La educacin cientfica de los jvenes
es al menos tan importante, quiz
incluso ms, que la propia investigacin"
Glenn Theodore Seaborg

Resumen
El origen de eventos acadmicos como coloquios, seminarios, congresos, no es otro
que la prueba concreta de que la investigacin es un proceso en completa actividad dentro de
la academia y particularmente dentro del ejercicio docente. Sin embargo, con gran
preocupacin vemos que la investigacin se concibe como un espacio al cual acuden personas
con experiencia en el campo y que probablemente el grueso de la poblacin estudiantil no se
interesa por participar activamente a causa del desconocimiento. Es por esta razn que
proponemos una mirada desde la perspectiva del estudiante y del docente en pro de la
apertura investigativa atractiva al pblico en general y motivndolo a compartir esta gran
experiencia.

De forma puntual, "Promocin de enfoques de formacin docente para impulsar la
investigacin en estudiantes" es un llamado a la comunidad educativa para demostrar las
ventajas de participar activamente en procesos investigativos que surgen mediante la
interdisciplinariedad de la formacin acadmica de docentes, involucrando el saber
pedaggico dentro de contextos cotidianos. As mismo, se pretende demostrar en la prctica
cmo un proceso investigativo embrionario, surgido desde la interaccin docente-estudiante,

22
Vereda Llanitos, municipio de Villamara, Caldas. Institucin Educativa Po XII. Proyecto en desarrollo
desde el 15 de febrero de 2013.
23
Licenciada en Lenguas Modernas de la Universidad de Caldas y docente de la misma institucin.
24
Estudiante de IV semestre de la Licenciatura en Lenguas Modernas de la Universidad de Caldas.

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busca involucrar los saberes de las lenguas extranjeras articulados con los retos que el
contexto rural colombiano nos propone.

Palabras clave: Investigacin, formacin, interdisciplinariedad, cultura.

Abstract
The origin of academic events such as conferences, seminars, proofs that research is a
process with full activity within academia, particularly within teaching. However, with great
concern we see that research is conceived as a space which draws people with experience in
the field and probably the bulk of the student population is not interested in actively
participating because of the lack of knowledge. That is why we propose a view from the
perspective of the student and teacher openness towards research attractive to everyone and
encouraging them to share this great experience.

In a timely manner, "Promoting teacher training approaches to developing research
in students" is a call to the education community to demonstrate the benefits of active
participation in researching processes that arise through interdisciplinary academic training
of teachers, involving knowledge teaching in everyday contexts. It also aims to demonstrate
in practice how an embryonic research process, emerged from the teacher-student
interaction, search to involve the knowledge of foreign languages with the challenges
articulated in the Colombian rural context proposed.

Key words:
Investigation, training, Interdisciplinarity, culture.

PRESENTACIN

La investigacin dentro de su origen etimolgico (del latn in [ en] y vestigare
[ adquirir, hallar, indagar] ) nos da una muestra de lo que este trmino tan teorizado nos
guarda ms all de algunos rgidos esquemas. Para situar el concepto de investigacin en
trminos ms simples diremos que sta es la bsqueda de una respuesta en la que la materia
prima es la cotidianidad del ser humano. Es de ese puado de palabras, situaciones, acciones e
ideas que desde siempre el hombre se ha preocupado por atender toda pregunta. Aqu es
donde se hace necesario llamar la atencin acerca de lo que los enfoques pedaggicos
muestran actualmente dentro de las diversas disciplinas del conocimiento: el momento de
aprendizaje es el aqu y el ahora que cada contexto provee.

Dentro de las consideraciones que acabamos de hacer de manera muy breve surge la
pregunta del escenario de enseanza y de aprendizaje como un espacio inmediato con
condiciones ms no con exigencias. Empecemos tomando la pregunta como el origen de todo
conocimiento: no es acaso sta fuente y a la vez culmen de todo proceso de cognicin? Los
cuestionamientos diarios no son otra cosa que tambin el medio de interaccin social del
educando. No aprendemos solos y no enseamos solos es entonces la primera premisa que
introduce esta reflexin.

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Para hablar de la promocin de la investigacin en estudiantes, hablaremos entonces
de cotidianidad enmarcada dentro de las relaciones sociales, a la vez que abordaremos el tema
central de este coloquio, interdisciplinariedad.

Frecuentemente una de las primeras preguntas es cmo se hace una investigacin y
qu se necesita para realizarla. Pues bien, diremos que habilidades como la capacidad de
anlisis, la objetividad, la capacidad de observacin, etc. son imperativas, sin embargo la
respuesta primaria debe ser: se hace indagando (vestigare) desde el yo y desde el otro. Tal
como lo enuncia G. Briones en La investigacin social y educativa (1998, pg. 17) "Cuando los
profesores se valoran como investigadores tienen mayor disposicin y capacidad para
someter a crtica su prctica docente".

Lo anterior quiere decir que el fin mximo de todo proceso investigativo tiene que ser
la promocin autosuficiente de contextos de motivacin y de aliento para el futuro
investigador. El colchn sobre el que reposa la investigacin no puede ser otro que un molino
generador y regenerador de crtica constructiva.

Para abordar el concepto de interdisciplinariedad hemos de partir del inmenso
desarrollo cientfico de los ltimos aos y del surgimiento de las diferentes visiones y
contextos.

Tal como lo menciona Alfonso Borrero C, en el XXXV Simposio permanentesobrela
Universidad, pgina 13:

El esfuerzo del hombre por conocer la realidad natural, psicosocial, histrica
trascendente, va constituyendo diversos tipos de conocimiento en la actividad cotidiana, hasta
llegar al saber teolgico, as se trate de modos plurales del conocimiento, legtimos y
equiparables en importancia y validez, aunque con fundamentos objetivos distintos y slo
cualitativamente diversos. Adems, el pluralismo epistemolgico toma en cuenta la variada
gama de las inteligencias y los muchos modo de ser inteligente.

Aqu se impone que la primera manifestacin de apoyo por parte del profesorado como
puente entre la investigacin y el qu hacer cotidiano del estudiante debe ser valorar cada
capacidad individual al servicio de un equipo investigativo. El docente tiene que atender el
llamado a la accin investigativa que vaya ms all de un requisito curricular o de una
motivacin cuantitativa que ser ver expresada en una nota; si esto sucede se caer siempre
en un aprendizaje no asimilado, olvidado en los rincones de una memoria acumulativa y cero
productiva.

Pero cmo formar licenciados en Lenguas Extranjeras como futuros formadores y
motivadores de investigacin? No se hace fcil promulgar una frmula mgica, slo se puede
decir que el problema no es la formacin sino el cmo. De cmo se acompaen y se
promuevan los micro procesos investigativos en el aula depender de que en 15 aos la

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pregunta sea cmo articular, procesar, interpretar, etc. la investigacin en toda la
comunidad educativa?

Bien entendida como un tejido, la investigacin se presenta, ya no bajo el velo del
misterio, sino sobre el lienzo de la pluralidad y de la interdisciplinariedad. Segn Emilio
Alberto Ortiz Torres: "Es considerado [el problema planteado por la interdisciplinariedad] como
un principio didctico a tener en cuenta en el diseo curricular, lo que implica concebirla
como invariante metodolgica en la enseanza". Favorecer el currculo integrado no puede
ser menos que el origen de la investigacin interdisciplinar, aunque tampoco puede ser fin en
s mismo. Este es un proceso gradual en el que el fortalecimiento de los lazos de
comunicacin, de respeto y de apoyo entre docentes y estudiantes dar fruto en la medida en
que la praxis genere nuevas etapas de concientizacin sobre el impacto social de dichas
investigaciones.

Articulacin interdisciplinar de los modelos pedaggicos y de los entornos
socioculturales

La actividad acadmica sigue proponiendo diferentes modelos de formacin disciplinar
desde los antiguos tiempos de Grecia y estos a su vez han cambiado cada que el contexto
histrico as lo determina, por tal motivo es necesario hacer un anlisis responsable de la
sociedad que nos circunda y aprender de las experiencias anteriores.

Algunas de las causas de la implementacin de los enfoques tradicionales son, segn
Morrow y Torres en Las teoras dela reproduccin social y cultural, (pg. 270): La aparicin de la
heterogeneidad opuesta a la homogeneizacin que previamente ha sido una caracterstica del
sistema mundial. Como resultado tenemos que en el grueso de la poblacin no exista una
premisa unificadora de comunidad y por tanto la descomposicin social degenera en un
problema que nace en la familia y termina por impactar la academia generando de esta forma,
como asertivamente proponen estos autores: Una creciente desconfianza y desilusin con
respecto a la democracia que se deriva de la fragmentacin de las comunidades y las
identidades polticas (pg. 270).

A raz de esto podemos encontrar que los resultados de haber implementado tal
sistema han dado lugar a los siguientes frutos:

Dependencia cognitiva: Puede tratarse de un sndrome que afecta a
quienes son incapaces de adquirir nuevos conocimientos partiendo de bases integradas
a la hora de afrontar una realidad, es decir, los intentos por adaptarse a nuevos
cambios son infructuosos dado que su formacin termina cuando abandonan el saln
de clases. Dependen de las instrucciones dadas en su entorno y no se esfuerzan por ir
ms all.
Frustracin profesional: Se hace evidente que los maestros formados
bajo los sistemas de educacin tradicional no les interesa entrar a indagar sobre sus
saberes especficos porque ya son dependientes cognitivos y sus acciones no generan

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impacto a la hora de determinar un cambio social al cual se enfrentan como reto
(como es nuestro caso). As mismo conciben de forma pasiva su profesin y
promueven la perpetuacin del sistema social (por accin u omisin).
Perpetuacin del sistema social: Podemos hablar entonces de una
perpetuacin malvola, una relacin de dominacin que permite a los interesados
minimizar los riesgos de cuestionamientos o innovaciones que pudieran hacer frente a
sus monopolios.
No es de preocuparse, muchos de nosotros fuimos formados bajo sistemas similares y
aunque esto contribuy a la perpetuacin del sistema que fue propuesto en la modernidad,
tambin a raz de esto surgen nuevos enfoques de formacin pedaggica con el fin de
incursionar en la transformacin de la realidad. De nuevo en Torres y Morrow se muestra
como Daniel Bell propone en Theend of ideology ( pg. 263) que la crisis delas sociedades
desarrolladas occidentales puedeatribuirsea la separacin entrela cultura y la sociedad Es a causa
del modelo de sociedad planteado en el modernismo por lo cual podemos inferir que este tipo
de educacin contribuye a la reproduccin de las diferencias entre las clases sociales y los
valores universalistas siguen siendo mucho ms importantes que la reproduccin cultural,
hablando en estos trminos Torres y Morrow proponen que el enfoque institucionalista de
la expansin educacional asume esta perspectiva modernista prcticamente sin cuestionarla
(pg. 265). Es por este motivo que debemos difundir la semilla de la formacin pedaggica
interdisciplinar articulada con las ciencias sociales y, a travs de estas, promover un enfoque
de formacin docente Crtico Emancipador. Los resultados no podran ser otros que:

Un nuevo orden social enfocado en la produccin de herramientas de
conservacin del bienestar ciudadano.
El reconocimiento del individuo frente al universo y frente a s mismo.
Un sistema educativo basado en las propiedades culturales que
promuevan la conservacin del saber ancestral de sus pueblos sin ser atropellados por
sistemas obsoletos y descontextualizados.
Sin lugar dudas stas son algunas de las caractersticas de un sistema post-modernista
que brindara los saberes necesarios en nuestro contexto para hacer frente a la arremetida
expansionista de algunos modelos de sociedad. Ya bien podremos encaminarnos en las
observaciones de Freire, Dewey y Gramsci en tanto que proporcionan los fundamentos para
una visin emancipadora de la educacin pblica (pg. 273). Y concluyen diciendo:
Asimismo, es un marco dentro del cual las dimensiones de clase, sexo, raza y otras formas de
dominacin puedan hacerse escuchar.

As entonces, ya tendremos las herramientas bsicas para promover un sistema de
formacin docente que permita enfatizar en las tesis que defienden el desarrollo de una
sociedad mucho ms igualitaria sin que el saber especfico de cada rea se vea afectado. Dado
el desarrollo social que como consecuencia se mostrar, podremos enfatizar en el desarrollo
de la investigacin para que los mismos estudiantes no sean reproductores de conocimiento
ni receptores unidireccionales, as pues, los jvenes que hoy tenemos en nuestras aulas se

112
formarn en sentido crtico, social e investigativo dentro de cada una de sus reas de
formacin. Ahora es prudente cuestionarse Cmo promover la investigacin en nuestros
estudiantes?

Por otra parte es necesario fomentar un pensamiento crtico y generador de
conocimiento. Encaminados a esto podramos adoptar una apreciacin muy acertada de
Martn Lpez Calva sobre el Pensamiento Crtico y Creatividad en el Aula (1998, pg. 51): Puede
definirse la criticidad como la tendencia fundamental del hombre a buscar la verdad y el
pensamiento crtico como el pensar claro, sistemtico y ordenado, orientado hacia esta
bsqueda. Tenemos entonces que en un aula de clases debemos tener claros estos trminos,
pues un estudiante con tales caractersticas es auto-correctivo y no permite que queden cosas
en el aire.

Primero, deberamos tener claro como docentes que existe una estructura dinmica del
conocimiento humano (Lonergan, 1988) en la cual se presentan:
El atender: dirigido por las operaciones sensoriales bsicas como la
vista, el odo, el tacto, etc.
El entender: donde se pregunta Para qu? Por qu?
El juzgar: donde empezamos a hacer juicios del tipo Es realmente as?
Comprend bien?
Y finalmente las condiciones estarn dadas al saber investigativo en tanto que la
criticidad sea herramienta de trabajo diaria para impulsar el proceso investigativo sea cual
fuere su campo.

Hacia la formacin investigativa
Los retos de nuestra sociedad, ahora que conocemos el camino hacia la reproduccin
de modelos socio-crticos en los docentes que forman a nuestros hijos, se concentran en la
produccin de conocimiento y no en la reproduccin del que ya existe.

Cmo fomentar la investigacin? Lo desconocido nos asusta, se muestra inalcanzable
y a veces es frustrante no encontrar salidas a los cuestionamientos que nos proponemos, as
que nos estamos limitando nicamente a la pasividad cognitiva en tanto al conocimiento
impartido se refiere y nos alejamos de esta forma del ideal de sociedad que nos hemos
planteado anteriormente. En primer lugar, es claro para todos que el pilar fundamental de la
sociedad se encuentra en la familia y slo en ella, es por esto que la responsabilidad reside en
el hogar y es la misma sociedad quien debe darse cuenta de ello. El acompaamiento familiar
desde temprana edad direccionado de forma correcta ejecutar de manera adecuada el
propsito de sociedad que hemos teorizado, nuestra responsabilidad como docentes es
impartir el conocimiento bsico necesario para que ellos mismos propongan su propio sistema
social contribuyendo y enriqueciendo el entorno existente.

En segundo lugar, es el sistema educativo quien debe dirigir la capacidad cognitiva
del educando en pro de su formacin acadmica; es aqu donde entramos los docentes.

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El fomento de la investigacin debe darse desde temprana edad, cada etapa del
desarrollo cognitivo es propia para generar situaciones que reproduzcan en un futuro no muy
lejano el entorno social. A continuacin, analizaremos la experiencia planteada desde las SRP
(Situaciones de Resolucin de Problemas) encontrada en El nio quepiensa (2001, pg. 169) las
cuales se tratan de un anlisis cualitativo del proceso de elaboracin y transformacin de
quince situaciones de resolucin de problemas, diseadas por un grupo de maestras para
favorecer el desarrollo de herramientas cientficas en nios entre 2 y 6 aos.

Es aqu donde encontramos que parte de la efectividad en una intervencin educativa
escolar, reside en buscar las condiciones apropiadas para que el nio comprenda lo que para l
resulta relevante (pg. 171). De esto podemos inferir que la intervencin del maestro se
encamina al acompaamiento, y de esta forma el objetivo es encontrar la importancia de las
asociaciones propias del estudiante y redirigirlas en caso de ser necesario para que
encuentren la forma de proponer soluciones ms creativas.

De esta forma, el educando podr adoptar una postura crtica frente a los problemas
planteados sin que estos se conviertan en una barrera para no avanzar en el proceso y sin que
los docentes multipliquen un saber no direccionado al pensamiento crtico que describimos
anteriormente. Los docentes, por otra parte, tendrn las herramientas fsicas y pedaggicas
para impulsar una conciencia analtica frente a diferentes situaciones sin que esto signifique
una condicin de intervencin de otros fundamentos que no sean de orden social, as pues las
caractersticas de los futuros investigadores generarn impacto en tanto que su comunidad
as lo requiera; he aqu nuestra tarea como formadores de los futuros profesionales en
cualquier campo.

PRESENTACIN DEL PROYECTO "MAGENDE"

MAGENDE es el resultado de la propuesta investigativa liderada por Carolina
Fernanda Gartner Restrepo y Oscar Jhony Villa Ramrez, dos jvenes investigadores que
juntos suman una importante experiencia como docente del departamento de Lenguas
Extranjeras de la Universidad de Caldas y como estudiante del programa de Licenciatura en
Lenguas Modernas de la misma universidad. Ambos desde su campo de accin, aportan
importantes elementos tericos y conceptuales desde los saberes disciplinares tales como la
pedagoga la literatura, las lenguas extranjeras y propias y su aplicacin en el campo
profesional.

MAGENDE nace como un proyecto innovador que supone un esfuerzo colectivo y en
el cual se han obtenido importantes elementos tericos en torno a la orientacin necesaria
para desarrollar la investigacin, esto gracias a los docentes de los departamentos de
Lenguas Extranjeras, Lingstica y Literatura y Estudios Educativos al igual que a sus
directivos.

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El propsito descrito en estas lneas se ha venido consolidando firmemente, pasando
por las diferentes etapas propias de una investigacin y que por ser primarias no dejan de
pertenecer a los ms relevantes momentos de dicho proceso. Desde charlas informales, hasta
la revisin terica de mltiples fuentes, esta investigacin es la unin de competencias del ser
y del saber puestas a favor del nico fin de la motivacin hacia la investigacin.

En este proceso se tomarn 3 etapas como bitcora. La primera, an en desarrollo, es
el diagnstico, pronto vendr la aplicacin y finalmente se realizar una evaluacin de los
resultados obtenidos. Estos permitirn, no slo poner en evidencia la importancia de la
investigacin en el mbito universitario, sino que va ms all y propone ideas cotidianas
como races de nuevas propuestas de investigacin dentro de contextos prcticos y sobre
todo a partir de elementos al alcance de todo pblico.

Objetivos

Objetivo general
Disear documentos para la explotacin pedaggica en la enseanza del Espaol
como Lengua Extranjera ELE a partir de instrumentos de la cotidianidad de nuestra lengua
materna en la poblacin urbana y rural.

Objetivos especficos

Mostrar la importancia de la cotidianidad en el aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras.
Registrar ancdotas, historias, leyendas, etc., como insumo para el desarrollo de documentos
tiles dentro de la enseanza de una lengua extranjera.
Establecer el tipo de texto ms adecuado teniendo en cuenta la heterogeneidad de escolares
dentro del espacio de aprendizaje.
Demostrar que lengua materna y lengua extranjera pueden estar en igualdad una al servicio
de la otra.
Favorecer los diferentes tipos de documento audio, audiovisual, escrito, etc. propios de
nuestra cultura campesina. como elementos importantes dentro del aprendizaje.

METODOLOGA

Los elementos presentes en el proceso investigativo incluyen charlas informales,
revisin terica y horas de anlisis y discusiones. Este proyecto obedece a una metodologa
eclctica que toma de su mano todos los elementos enriquecedores que encuentra.
Tericamente hablando, se puede decir que esta investigacin obedece a una
"etnometodologa" que se interesa por la realidad social de la vida cotidiana en la poblacin
urbana y rural y que ms adelante en una futura poblacin hispanohablante. El proceso de los
elementos tericos y vivenciales recolectados se fundamenta en torno a la conservacin del
patrimonio oral de nuestra nacin, conformando as un insumo de invaluable relevancia
frente a los programas de Internacionalizacin llevados a cabo por la Universidad de Caldas y

115
en los cuales se ha compartido con compaeros de importantes Universidades de Brasil,
Alemania, Corea del Sur, Repblica Popular China y Camboya (entre otras) en calidad de
estudiantes de Espaol como Lengua Extranjera ELE, as como la enseanza de nuestra
lengua materna en pases como Azerbaiyn.

EXPERIENCIA Y RESULTADO

Los resultados han sido supremamente satisfactorios en tanto que las fuentes
bibliogrficas y las asesoras han brindado suficientes herramientas para continuar con el
proceso. Por tratarse de un proyecto "embrionario" an se esperan muchas ms vivencias que
enriquezcan la investigacin; sin embargo hasta el da de hoy los primeros resultados
positivos han sido el compromiso de la comunidad educativa y de la poblacin objetivo, el
trabajo en equipo realizado con los docentes del rea de humanidades y el puente que se est
diseando a travs de los idiomas entre la comunidad internacional y la comunidad rural de
nuestro pas.

CONCLUSIONES

An se considera prematuro concluir este trabajo ya que se encuentra en etapa de
desarrollo. A medida que podamos avanzar en la etapa de evaluacin indicaremos las
conclusiones encontradas.

Reflexiones

Es motivante el hecho de que desde ya podemos vislumbrar una gran acogida del
proyecto en tanto que fortalece las fuentes investigativas en torno al Programa de
Licenciatura de Lenguas Modernas de la Universidad de Caldas, aunque la cooperacin est
por desarrollarse existe un gran optimismo ya que existe la creencia firme en que nuestra
Universidad se convierta en lder a nivel internacional como destino para el aprendizaje de
nuestra lengua.

Borrero C. A., 2004, "La Interdisciplinariedad: concepto y prctica" - Conferencia XX en el
XXXV Simposio permanente sobre la universidad. Pg. 13. Bogot.
Briones G. 1998, La Investigacin social y educativa - Mdulos de Autoaprendizaje: 1.
Formacin de docentes en investigacin educativa. Pg. 17. Bogot. Convenio Andrs
Bello.
Colinvaux D., Divar Ure C. Y Puche Navarro R., 2001. El nio que piensa - Un modelo de
formacin de maestros. Pgs. 169 - 171 Cali. Artes grficas del Valle Editores-
Impresores Ltda.
Lpez Calva M., 1998, Pensamiento crtico y creatividad en el aula., (Cuarta Reimpresin -
2006) Pg. 51., Mxico: Editorial trillas.
Morrow R. A. Y Torres C. A., 2002, Las teoras de la reproduccin social y cultural - Manual
crtico., Pgs. 263 - 265 - 270 - 273., Espaa: Editorial popular - Serie manuales.

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Ortiz Torres E. A., La interdisciplinariedad en las investigaciones educativas.. En: Revista
Didasc@lia: D&E. Publicacin cooperada entre CEDUT- Las Tunas y CEdEG-
Granma, Cuba.

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Ponencia 10

Promoting literacy processes in English as a Foreign Language
based on students narratives: an ongoing research project
25

Ana Milena Morales Sossa
26

Jairo Enrique Castaeda Trujillo
27

Abstract

This article aims at reporting an in-process research carried out at Universidad de
Cundinamarca in three branches: Soacha, Cha, and Zipaquir. The main objective of the
research is to evaluate the impact of reading and writing skills based on the development of a
material grounded according to our students narratives. This article will present in a deeper
way the methodology of the research, the procedure of data collection implemented, and
some preliminary findings.

Key words: Literacy, reading, writing, and narratives

Resumen
El presente artculo se refiere a una investigacin que se est llevando a cabo en tres
sedes de la Universidad de Cundinamarca: Soacha, Cha y Zipaquir. El objetivo bsico de la
investigacin es evaluar el impacto en las habilidades de lectura y la escritura, tras utilizar un
material propio que surge gracias a las narrativas de nuestros estudiantes. Este artculo
presenta de forma detallada la metodologa de la investigacin, el procedimiento que se ha
implementado para recolectar la informacin y unos hallazgos preliminares de la misma.

Palabras claves: Alfabetizacin, lectura, escritura y narrativas.

INTRODUCTION

25
This research project is being developed in three different branches of Universidad de Cundinamarca: Soacha,
Chia and Zipaquira. The research started in April, 2013 and it is projected to finish in December, 2014.
26
Professor Morales holds a masters degree in Teaching Languages at the Universidad Pedaggica y
Tecnolgica de Colombia. She finishes her studies at Universidad Pedaggica Nacional. Currently, she works as
a full time teacher at Universidad de Cundinamarca, she is an English and French professor.
27
Professor Castaeda holds a M.Ed. with Emphasis on English Didactics from Universidad Externado de
Colombia and a B.A. degree in Spanish and English from Universidad Pedaggica Nacional. Currently he works
as a full-time teacher and researcher at Universidad de Cundinamarca and part-time teacher at Universidad de
La Salle.

118

As Colombian language teachers are conscious, many changes have gone in our
educational system, especially those related to new approaches of learning and teaching
which have been broken old paradigms in our community. Literacy is one of those concepts
that has changed teachers ideas about what reading and writing mean.

The idea of doing this research project emerged from different sides. In the first hand,
it could be observed that during the English classes there are some external factors such as:
personal experiences, family influences, cultural background, etc. that affect the English
learning and teaching processes at Universidad de Cundinamarca. This could be
demonstrated in the low results students get along the semester, as well as the obtained
results in Saber PRO tests.
Another factor that affects English classes at Universidad de Cundinamarca is the fact
that they are conducted in two hours per week, during three semesters. According to the
Common European Framework, a student needs 200 hours, at least, to become an A2 user.
For that reason, it could be said that the hours offered in the different programs at the
University, are not enough to achieve the goal proposed by the Ministry of Education to
have B1 students from professional careers.

Furthermore, it was observed that there is a lack of vocabulary and structures in
English as a foreign language, caused by the absence of motivation and interest students
show towards the language and the activities teachers bring into the classroom. Additionally,
it is observed that students do not know or manage the correct learning strategies to achieve
the goals proposed in the class.

For the reasons displayed beforehand, a group of English teachers concluded that
students bring to the classroom a cumulus of knowledge and experiences that alter in a
positive or negative way the English learning process. Therefore, there is the need to
implement a new material taking into account students narratives, in order to become the
English class an appealing, useful and a close to the reality subject.

In that fashion, the research project is aiming at evaluating the impact the
implementation of own material to teach reading and learning in English language. To do so,
teachers-researchers have to characterize students from Universidad de Cundinamarca,
determine the kind of material more appealing for students, and select the appropriate
strategies for being implemented along the designed material. After having reached these
objectives, teachers-researchers expect to help students improve their competence in reading
and writing and, as consequence, they can get better results on tests, including the Saber
PRO one.
To set a theoretical ground to the research, we have to discuss literacy, reading and
writing.

For decades literacy has been considered only as a technique of reading and writing.
For language teachers there was a concern about literacy that could be defined as reading

119
and writing in a proper way, with good coherence, cohesion, pronunciation, etc. Based on
different studies in this field, researches have concluded that literacy also involve other kind
of interpretations and analysis about the world where human beings develop his/ her live
(Hudelson 1994, Esteban 2009, etc) The process of reading and writing goes beyond what is
printed in a paper, according to Freire & Macedo (1987) literacy can not be considered as the
development of skills. It implies cultural processes in which people produce, change and
reproduce meaning. To sum up, literacy is considered not only a way of reading and writing
what is printed, but it is also understood as a mechanism to interpret culture, social
behaviors, and different codes around a person to transform his/ her idea about the world.

Reading is frequently defined as a process in which information is received and
interpreted from a coded printed language (Afflerbach & Scott, 2008). Such a process is a
needed activity for any activity in anyones life, from reading labels at a supermarket to read
complex scientific texts. In the globalized world, reading is a compulsory act, even more
when a person wants to get a quality tertiary education, travel abroad as a tourist, or simply
communicate themselves with any other person abroad (Grabe, 2009).
In teaching and learning processes, reading is one of the most relevant psychological
tools. As it is a transversal skill, it has positive or negative effect over the rest of the
academic areas, so as to the difficulties a person has in reading are transferred to the rest of
the curricular areas. Skills in this competence can ease learning, as for example, problem
solving (Beltrn, Campos & Repetto, 2006). In the same way, difficulties could produce a
person to have social and emotional problems and even affect in a positive or negative way
ones self-steam (Conti-Ramsden & Hesketh, 2003).

During many years, writing was seen as a secondary skill, just behind reading
(Cramer, 2001). But, during recent years, writing has become stronger and has been object of
many researches. Some of these researchers have to do with the direct relation reading and
writing have, they are reciprocal in nature, in fact, they are so closely connected that they
seem to be inseparable (Cramer, 1998). Writing is a very complex process that helps children
to orchestrate many aspects of literacy such as graphophonemic, syntactic, orthographic, and
semantic knowledge. Reading, as well, can help to improve pronunciation, spelling,
vocabulary and grammar.

Writing influences reading processes by helping readers improve reading
comprehension and technical skill of both reading and writing (Howell, 2008). In that way,
Juels (cited in Howell, 2008) states that a good readers is a good writer and a good writer is
a good reader. This fact supports the idea of helping students to improve both skills at the
same time. Getting this goal, students would become more independent and effective
learners.

Once the theoretical framework was set up, others aspects, such as, the methodology,
setting, participants, data analysis and results must be taken into consideration in order to
understand the research project as a whole.

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METHODOLOGY

Before depicting the setting, it is necessary to say that the study carried out is
considered a descriptive case study. As it was mentioned by Gonzalez (2008) and pointed out
by Cohen and Menion (1995) the researcher describes a group of people who represent a
specific community that can be characterized based on the data analysis. That suits perfectly
with the researcher objectives and the kind of result expected in this research project. To do
so, researchers have planned a series of procedures to get the proposed goals.

The first step in this research project was to characterize students at Universidad de
Cundinamarca. Part of this characterization intended to understand students background,
interests in regards to the language and reading.

As researchers were interested in understanding what students perceptions about
English were, they decided to apply the first two narratives. The first one has to do with the
previous experiences students have during school or other institutions while learning a
foreign language, in this case English, and the second is about the material used along this
process, if there were any.

Once researchers had this information, the second step was to determine how much
students knew about reading and writing strategies. To do so, researchers applied a
questionnaire based on Oxford (1990) learning strategies.

The second part of this research project intends to show how the implementation of
new and relevant material based on the data collected from narratives and other instruments,
can help students improve their reading and writing skills, raising their motivation and
interest in the subject.

Setting
The setting of this research is a public university located in Fusagasug,
Cundinamarca. The University possesses six branches located in Cha, Soacha, Zipaquir,
Facatativa, Ubat, and, Chocont, the university offers 20 academic programs. The
information is being gathered in Cha, Soacha, and Zipaquir since the teachers involved in
the project work in those branches.
Participants
The participants involved in this study are 30 students from the following programs:

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Data collection
Collecting data is gathering information that probably will help to answer the
research question. In order to fulfill the main goal of this research project, narratives will be
validated such as an instrument for gathering information. Those narratives will be collected
through interviews, questionnaires, surveys, and journals.

Narratives: an instrument to get information:
A very important component of this study is the relevance of narratives that will be
collected through journals, questionnaires, and interviews. For the purpose of this research
project, the most important aspect is related to students last experiences linked to learning
English as a foreign language, their expectations about English, and also their lives stories
where samples are going to be taken to develop the material for the classes. Jhonson (2002)
suggests that narratives are useful when developing a research since they are relatively easy
to obtain information due to the fact that it encloses different feelings, emotions, experiences,
and practices. It could be said that, narratives generate motivation in the student-narrator
and in other population interested in knowing the thinking of people involved and their
practices.

Biographical narratives as methods of collecting data were took into consideration
since the 70s. At that time, social sciences gave relevance, for the first time to those
meanings produced by people about their own auto-interpretations of the world done in first
person, here, and now, at the moment this perspective has been changing, for that reason, in
this research project, narratives will be biographical but it will also be focused on past and
future events of the participants involved. Muoz (2009) considers that narratives help
human beings to build up their reality and help them to understand the institutions where
they live in the society as well. In the same way, Bolivar (2002) in Muoz (2009) highlights
the importance of the narratives in the sense that when humans are able to auto-interpret
themselves, they are able to interpret their reality and their personal dimensions (emotional,
affective, and biographical).

No of students Program Branch
6 Music Zipaquir
6 Business Administration Cha
6 Systems Engineering Cha
6 Industrial Engineering Soacha
6 Sports Science and
Physical education
Soacha

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J ournals:
Information is been collected through journals. For the purpose of this research,
journals are considered such as it was proposed by Richards (2007), he mentioned that
journals are places where participants can write teaching events for two purposes, the first
one is related to all the ideas that could be registered for later reflection, on the other hand,
because the process of writing helps people to generate insights about learning processes. It
could be said that journals are relevant in the sense that students can feel without charge to
express some ideas or impressions about themselves in terms of their studies, their
experiences, their beliefs, and insides. At the same time, they can write about the English
classes, the methodology proposed, the activities displayed, among others. Journals prompts
pretend to guide student-participants to write in a detailed way about their practices as
students, their experiences, their feelings about their professional development, and their
perceptions they have about themselves. It is prepared to develop ten prompts, most of them
are done, in which participants narrate their early experiences as English students and they
compare those experiences with current issues developed in their current classes.

Questionnaires:
As Seliger (1989) mentions, questionnaires are useful to implement when the data
required is on phenomena which are not easily observed, such as attitudes, motivation, and
self-concept, this is the main reason why this technique will be implemented. Some of the
benefits of questionnaires were revealed by Bell (1993) who considers that questionnaires are
a good way of collecting certain types of information quickly and relative cheaply. For the
purpose of this research, questionnaires will help to triangulate information obtained
through journals. It is planned to apply two questionnaires; mixing previous experiences and
students beliefs.

Interviews:
The last instrument useful considered to apply in order to obtain all the information
needed for the purpose of this research is the interview. Two interviews will frame this
study. According to Genesse, (1999) and quoted by Morales (2008) the main characteristic of
the interviews is that it permits to the researcher to probe with additional information in
response to interesting and important answers unexpected from the planned questions.
Another important characteristic was mentioned by Merriam (1991) and quoted by Ariza
(2004), she says that interviews are useful when the researcher wants to find out what is
inside the participants mind. With the data analysis from those instruments, it is expected to
provide a good sample to evaluate the implementation of a material taken from students
narratives.

DATA ANALYSIS

As the research has its foundation on the creation of more appealing material that
help students writing and reading processes in English, there are many aspects that
researchers need to take into account before the designing phase. For that reason, the
questionnaires and narratives are oriented to identify who students are, their interests in

123
reading and writing, how they perceive English and English learning, and if they know and
understand how to use learning strategies. This is the first phase of this ongoing research
project and these are some of the preliminary findings.

Characterization of students

After having analyzed the data obtained from the first questionnaire and the field
notes, researchers could observe some generalities in regards with the characteristics of the
population.

At Universidad de Cundinamarca, strata does not have a huge influence due to the
fact the 97% of students belongs to strata 2 or 3, that implies that their educational
background is similar, except from those who come from small towns near the branches
analyzed. It is evident through data that 96% of the population studied English at school
from 2 to 4 hours, and only a 4% studied more than 4 hours. This fact presents a new
challenge for teachers, who assume that with such amount of hours per week, students have a
certain competence, but after analyzing the field notes, researchers found their English level,
for most of them, is not appropriate.

Another important issue obtained from the analysis has to with students familiar
situation. At University, there are not only single mother but also singles father.
Additionally, it is relevant to say that almost half of the population (53%) is children of very
young parents; this means that, in many cases, these students were rise not by their parents
alone, but with the help of their grandparents. This has a special effect on students way of
behaving and this is reflected in their learning process.

Students and reading and writing activities

To identify what kind of material researchers must design, it was necessary to know
some information related to students preferences and habits.

Questionnaire gave information about reading habits students have. Results show
that a 98% of students like reading in Spanish, and that the most common readings are on
Internet or academic texts. This leads researchers think that there is a need to implement a
virtual component in the design and implementation of the material, in this way students
could feel new technologies are useful to English learning process.
Regarding to writing, 100% of students agree that they write because of academic
assignments, while only a 22% assures that they really like writing. The most common
writing are those related to the classes and letters are the less common.

As a conclusion, researchers consider that motivation is a key factor in this project,
so, there is a need to increase the likeness for reading and writing in the classroom thought
the implementation of activities based on their interests.

124
Students perceptions about English learning process

Results show that students have not a good relationship with English learning
process. Although the majority affirms that it is important to learn this language, because of
different reason, only a minority affirms that they have an interest in learning English.
Additionally, just the 11% of them assures that they have taken any kind of courses
previously and they have helped them to improve their proficiency level.

Once researchers explored the narratives written by students, they found that there
is a certain fear from many of them to learn English because of many reasons. Some assure
that their prior experiences were surrounded by mistreats from their language teacher or
simply they did not care about students process. Others affirm that the methodology used
throughout the class was boring or monotonous, the topics were not relevant for them and
the activities, in most cases, were out of context.

Students awareness about learning strategies

According to the result of the second questionnaire, students do not know what a
strategy is. Although they assure they use some of the procedures that we can call strategies,
they are not aware of them.

The most common strategies they use have to do with highlighting or underlining
key words, elaborate mind maps and summarizing information. However, they do not do
these kinds of activities unless teachers ask to do so. That leads researchers to conclude that,
it is a must in this project to teach what learning strategies are, how to use them and design
activities in order to get students practice them in a more autonomous and conscious way.

Whit this information, researchers conclude the first phase of the research project.
Now they are ready to start with the second one that is related to the phase of designing,
implementing and evaluating material, along with the use of the narratives to know and
understand students perceptions, feelings and preferences.

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

A type of study like this one confirms what (Afflerbach & Scott, 2008) state about
reading defined as a process in which information is received and interpreted from a coded
printed language. This process requires reflection and analysis, and it is done by anyone who
has the need to know what other say, this process is joined to writing and involve the
development of other skills, but both reading and writing mean communication, for that
reason, it is imperative to motivate students to learn to read and write in English by
interpreting codes in that language, but also taking their own culture in mind, their lives
stories, their beliefs, their likes, their experiences, etc. Doing so, English classes are going to
be meaningful and more interesting for our students and they are going to use to read and
write since both skills would have sense for them.

125
While we do not want to generalize our preliminary findings; we can now
confidentially confirm that there is a need in this new era to transform our classes
implementing new methodologies that help students to become more autonomous, this could
be done by using new technologies accessible for them, according to their economical
conditions, and taking advantage that students feel confortable using those tools. Also, it is
relevant to have sessions in class to reflect about what students do, the difficulties they faced,
and the way to improve and overcome those difficulties. This assertion is linked to some
definitions about Learner Autonomy done by little (1991). He considers learner autonomy as
a capacity-for detachment, critical reflection, decision making, and independence action, in
addition to that, Little also presented some criteria which define the learner autonomy roll as
following: a) Learners take their first step towards autonomy when they recognize that they
are responsible for their own learning .b) Learners autonomy grows as a result of their
never-ending effort to understand the WHY, the WHAT and the HOW of their learning c)
Learner autonomy entails a variety of self-regulatory behaviors that develop through
practice as a fully integrated part of the knowledge and skills that are the goal of learning.

REFERENCES

Afflerbach, P. and Scott, S. (2008). Clarifying Differences Between Reading Skills and
Reading Strategies. The Reading Teacher, 61(5), pp. 364373. Paris: International
Reading Association.
Ariza, A. (2004). EFL undergraduatestudents understanding of autonomy and their reflection in
their learning process. Unpublished Masters thesis. Bogot: Universidad Distrital
Francisco Jos de Caldas.
Bell, J. (1993) Doing your research project. Buckingham, Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Beltrn Campos y Reppeto, E. (2006). El entrenamiento en estrategias sobre la comprensin
lectora del enunciado del problema aritmtico: un estudio emprico con estudiantes de
Educacin Primaria. Revista espaola deorientacin y psicopedagoga. 17 (1), 33-48
Conti-Ramsden, G. & Hesketh, A. (2003). Risk markers for SLI: a study of young language-
learning children. International J ournal of Language& Communication disorders, 38 (3),
251-263.
Cramer, R. L. (1998). The spelling connection: Integrating reading, writing, and spelling
instruction. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
Cramer, R. L. (2001). Creativepower: Thenatureand nurtureof children's writing. New York,
NY: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.
Freire, P. & Macedo, D.(1987). Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. Westport,
Connecticut: Bergin & Garvey.

126
Gonzalez, M (2008). English Teachers Beliefs about communicative Competence and their
Relationship with their Classroom Practices. Profile, 10.
Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving fromtheory to practice. New York, NY:
Howell, M. S. (2008). Interactivewriting in preschool: A qualitativestudy of a literacy coach, two
preschool teachers, and four-year-old children. Oakland University. ProQuest
Dissertations and Theses, 169-n/ a. Retrieved from
http:/ / search.proquest.com/ docview/ 304414491?accountid=41919. (304414491).
Jhonson, K. & Colombek, P. (2002). Teachers narrativeinquiry as professional development.
United States: Cambridge University Press.
Little, D. (1991). Learner Autonomy 1: Definitions, Issues and Problems. Dublin: Authentik.
Morales, A. (2008) Teachers self-image in an autonomous setting. Memories: VII teachers
moot . Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia. Tunja Boyac.
Muoz, G (2009) El alcance metodolgico de las narrativas. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis
Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de caldas.
Oxford, R. (1990). Languagelearning strategies: what every teacher should know. Boston: Heinle
& Heinle.
Richards, R. & Lockhart, C.(2007). Reflectiveteaching in second languageclassrooms. United
States: Cambridge University Press.
Seliger, H., & Scholamy, E. (1989) Second languageresearch methods. Oxford:Oxford University
Press.

127

Eje temtico 3

I I I . La Lingstica aplicada a la
enseanza de las lenguas
extranjeras
Reflexiones sobre los aportes de la Lingstica
Aplicada (L.A.), que fundamentan tericamente
aspectos relacionados con la adquisicin, el
aprendizaje y la enseanza de las lenguas
extranjeras. Resultados de investigaciones en las
que se evidencie la interaccin de disciplinas como
la pedagoga, la didctica, la lingstica terica, la
sociolingstica, la psicolingstica, la sociologa y
la psicologa, en el campo de la L.A.

128

Ponencia 11

La prononciation, plus simplement
28

Nicolas Philippe
29

Resumen

El aprendizaje de los detalles fonticos particulares en una lengua extranjera puede
llegar a ser complejo en el saln de clase. La lengua francesa, por ejemplo, es la lengua del
amor, como siempre se dice. Sin embargo, la utilizacin de las cuerdas vocales, los sonidos
guturales y nasales, unos sonidos diferentes al espaol por ejemplo, hacen que el profesor y
los estudiantes tienen que recurrir a varias estrategias para que el aprendizaje de la fontica
sea una tctica funcional en la realidad en la cual un idioma se habla. En este artculo, voy a
describir la manera con la cual que inicio la enseanza de algunos fonemas de la lengua
francesa (los voclicos y semi-voclicos), reducindolos.

Mi artculo est basado sobre la enseanza de la fontica del francs a unos
hispanohablantes, para los cuales los fonemas consonnticos son as idnticos al espaol
(excepto algunos como, por ejemplo, el sonido R).

Palabras claves: Pronunciacin, Fonemas, Facilidad de Aprendizaje.

Rsum

Lapprentissage des dtails phontiques particuliers dune langue trangre peut
devenir complexe au sein de la salle de classe. La langue franaise, par exemple, est la langue
de lamour, comme on dit si souvent. Pourtant, lutilisation des cordes vocales, le passage de
lair via la cavit buccale et/ ou les fosses nasales, des sons bien diffrents de la langue
espagnole par exemple, font que le professeur et les tudiants doivent recourir des
stratgies afin que lapprentissage de la phontique soit une tactique fonctionnelle au sein de
la ralit dans laquelle un idiome est parl. Dans cet article, je vais dcrire la faon dont
jaborde lenseignement de certains phonmes de la langue franaise (les vocaliques et semi-
vocaliques) en les rduisant.

28
Exprience mene lUniversidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia, Tunja, Boyac, Colombie
29
Professeur de franais l U.P.T.C. de Tunja, Boyac, Colombie.

129
Mon article est bas sur lenseignement de la prononciation du franais des
hispanophones, pour lesquels les phonmes consonantiques sont pratiquement les mmes
quen espagnol ( part, videmment, certains comme, par exemple, le R ).

Mots cls: Prononciation, Phonmes, Facilit dApprentissage.

INTRODUCTION

Je pense que le sujet que je vais aborder fait partie du thme de lAcquisition du
Langage et de lInterdisciplinarit de lEnvironnement Educatif car la prononciation est la
base de la langue vivante. Au fil du temps, mon exprience dans lenseignement du franais
ma dmontr que la phontique ou la prononciation de cette langue pouvait tre un frein
son apprentissage par des tudiants trangers. De plus, je peux assurer quune personne
native nutilise pas lintgralit des phonmes qui se prsentent dans la langue franaise au
quotidien. Ds lors, mon article dmontre une (nouvelle) mthode qui contribue faciliter
lapprentissage du franais comme langue trangre dans la salle de classe et qui permettra
chaque apprenant dy voir une certaine facilit qui le motivera.

Les linguistes sont convaincus que, pour tudier srieusement une langue, il faut
parler de sa phontique (Carton, 1997) bien que la place rserve la phontique dans les
programmes de formation de professeurs est souvent trs rduite (Silva, 2007). Ceci pourrait
tre interprt en tenant compte de la nature de la langue ayant des objectifs communicatifs
(Savignon, 1983) et qui privilgie la fluidit envers la prcision et lexactitude.

Cependant, aujourdhui, il faut se rendre lvidence du fait que les salles de classe ne
doivent pas se convertir en des cours de linguistiques sinon, en des lieux o la langue
recouvre un sens significatif, proche de la ralit (Brown, 2007 ; p.323). Pour cela, en tenant
compte de mon exprience en tant que professeur de franais, je me suis focalis sur une
alternative qui rend la prononciation du franais plus simple mais, aussi et surtout, proche
son utilisation dans la communication au quotidien.

Ainsi, je tiens souligner quil est facile pour moi denseigner les phonmes
consonantiques car elles sont similaires lespagnol, mme si videmment certaines ont un
lger changement (comme le F ou le H) et dautres changent en raison des sons gutturaux
(comme le R). Il en va de mme pour certaines voyelles (A, O et I) qui sont les mmes quen
espagnol. Toutefois, les phonmes vocaliques et semi-vocaliques, par leur particularit nasale,
posent souvent problmes aux tudiants, dautant plus quils sont 16 en franais.

En tant que franais de naissance, et apprenant de la langue espagnole, je peux dire
quune personne native en France nutilise pas lintgralit des phonmes qui se prsentent
dans la langue franaise au quotidien, cest--dire quune personne native ne se demande
jamais quelle est la prononciation exacte de chaque son et/ ou syllabe dun mot. Dailleurs, en
franais, il existe de nombreuses rgles de prononciation qui font que certains sons
sabrgent, comme par exemple Je mappelle o me devient m .

130

METHODOLOGIE

Pour cette raison, lalternative qui me semble viable et que jai utilis dans un
contexte particulier en cours est de rduire les 16 phonmes vocaliques et semi-vocaliques du
franais en seulement 10.

En franais, on dit quil y a 16 phonmes entre ceux vocaliques et semi-vocaliques.
Cependant, mon travail suivant consiste regrouper ces phonmes de la manire suivante :

Les phonmes ou sons que les tudiants hispanophones connaissent dj, comme
les voyelles [ i] - [ a] - [ e] - [ u] - [ o] - [ wa] . Ces voyelles peuvent ainsi comprendre
diffrents phonmes.

(5) Sons (7) Phonmes Syllabes / Lettre(s)
[ i] [ i] i y
[ u] [ u] Ou
[ a] [ a] a
[ o] [ o] - [ ] o au
[ e] [ e] - [ ] er ez - et
ett elle err ai a ei
[ wa] [ wa] oi, o

131

Ui

* Dans le cas du son [ wa] , cela ne fait aucun doute que cest une combinaison du [ o] et du
[ a] . Voici donc la raison pour laquelle, je ne compte pas ce phonme comme un de plus. De
mme, le son est une combinaison du [ y] et du [i] .

Lapprentissage dune langue doit (videmment) se faire de la manire la plus simple
possible et cest bien l mon objectif. Rduire le nombre de phonmes en franais est donc, ici,
mon principal but.

Les phonmes ou sons que les tudiants hispanophones ne connaissent pas et quils
obtiennent en faisant certaines manipulations avec les cordes vocales, les nasales

(5) Sons (8) Phonmes Syllabes / Lettre(s)
[ ] [ ] - [ ] - [ ] e eu u
[ y] [ y] u u(i)
-
in im ein ain un
um

on om

an am en em

Ainsi, nous pouvons bel et bien voir que lapprentissage de la prononciation du
franais, en ce qui concerne les phonmes vocaliques et semi-vocaliques, pour un
hispanophone se rsume en 5 sons dj connus et 5 autres vritablement nouveaux.

132

Nous en profiterons pour voir ou revoir les techniques de prononciation de ces
diffrents nouveaux phonmes :
[ ] bouche en o - son e
[ y] bouche en u son i

e nasal

o nasal

a nasal

Activits

Nous allons donc mettre cette mthode en action par lintermdiaire de diffrents
petits exercices pratiques, afin de dmontrer son efficacit.

133
1
er
Exercice : Reconnaitre les sons.
Ici, lexercice est simple. On coutera des sons selon diffrents modles : u et y , o
et ou encore et . Le but est, videmment, de dire quel est le son prononc
lors de chaque lecture.

Exemple :

2
me
Exercice : Reconnaitre les sons dans des mots.
Identique au premier exercice, il faut cette fois reconnaitre le son lintrieur dun
mot.

Par exemple, si on demande de retrouver le son o , le public devra trouver le ou les
mot(s) qui lemploie.

Exemple :

134
3
me
Exercice : Les virelangues.
Rien de tel quun peu de piquant pour rendre lactivit plus difficile. Ainsi, il sera
donn plusieurs personnes prsentes dans le public des petits bouts de papiers sur lesquels
apparaissent diffrents virelangues.

Ds lors, aprs une deux minutes de prparation, il leur sera demand de lire ces
virelangues.

Exemple :

4
me
Exercice : Former des phrases.
Maintenant que lapprentissage des sons de la langue franaise semble tre compris et
matris, lobjectif est de former des phrases avec une contrainte : seuls des mots utilisant le
ou les phonme(s) donn(s) par le confrencier pourront alors tre utiliss.

Par exemple, Formez une phrase uniquement avec les phonmes [ ] , et [ e] .
Do, Ce matin, jai mang un pain.
[ ] [ e]

CONCLUSION
Permettant aux apprenants davoir les habilits pour communiquer dans une relle
situation de la langue, par le biais dchange dynamique (Savignon, 1972), et sans avoir se
soucier de la prononciation exacte, ceci est un gage de libert pour lapprenant, qui peut

135
pratiquer sa langue trangre (dans ce cas, le franais) sans avoir se soucier de la
phontique pure de lidiome.

Selon mon exprience, je peux dire que cette mthode ma t trs utile dans
lenseignement de ma langue natale. Cette technique a surtout particip une hausse non
ngligeable de la motivation de mes tudiants quant lapprentissage du franais. Comme il
est de coutume, un apprenant va tre beaucoup plus son aise lorsquil sait quil doit
prononcer 10 sons diffrents au lieu de 16. La facilit dapprentissage motive toujours plus
lapprenant et lui permet de prendre confiance en soi rapidement.

De plus, cela permet ltudiant de sidentifier au franais de naissance, qui ne
prononce que trop rarement voir jamais lintgralit des diffrents sons (des voyelles et semi-
voyelles) de sa langue maternelle.

Pour rappel, le franais est souvent dcrit comme tant une langue difficile cause de
sa prononciation axe sur les nasales et les buccales. Ainsi, cette mthode aidera propager le
franais au-del de ses frontires et le rendre plus simple et facile apprendre pour ceux qui
sy intressent ou qui doivent lapprendre par obligation.

Brown, H.D. (2007). Principles of Languagelearning and teaching (5
th
edition). White Plains,
NY: Pearson Education.
Carton, F. (1997). Introduction la phontiquedu francais. Paris: Dunod.
Savignon, S. (1972). Communicative Competence: An Experiment in Foreign Language.
Philadelphia: The Center for Curriculum Development, Inc.
Savignon, S. (1983). CommunicativeCompetence: Theory and classroompractica. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Silva, H. (2007). Pour fairedela phontique, I. Il tait unefois lenseignement dela phontique.
Chemins Actuels.

136

Ponencia 12

Influence que lapprentissage dune langue peut avoir sur les processus
hypothtico-dductifs
30

Mario Corts Monroy
31

Catalina Jaramillo
32

Resumen
Desde los aos 70 mucho se ha dicho en el campo de la psicolingstica relativo a la
influencia que el aprendizaje de un idioma pueda tener sobre los procesos cognitivos de los
aprendices. La psicologa cognitiva, en particular, y el Enfoque comunicativo en didctica
de las lenguas tambin han aportado mucho a la idea de no contentarse con la transmisin de
saberes puramente lingsticos sino de provocar en el aprendiz el desarrollo de
representaciones mentales.
La presentacin que aqu se hace e inscribe en esa lnea y busca entender a travs de una
investigacin exhaustiva la manera como el aprendizaje de un idioma permite desarrollar la
capacidad hipottico-deductiva de las personas; sta concebida como la facultad que una
persona desarrolla para descifrar y descodificar un texto escrito. Aunque la investigacin
haya iniciado recientemente se trata de compartir los avances que corresponden
esencialmente al marco terico.

Palabras clave: Psicolingstica, bilingismo, desarrollo cognitivo, comprensin de lectura,
inferencia, procesos hipottico-deductivos

Rsum

Depuis les annes 70 beaucoup a t dit dans le domaine de la psycholinguistique
concernant linfluence que lapprentissage dune langue peut avoir sur les processus cognitifs
des apprenants. La psychologie cognitive en particulier, et lapproche communicative en
didactique des langues ont aussi beaucoup fait des apportassions lide de ne pas se
contenter de la transmission de savoirs purement linguistiques mais de procurer chez
lapprenant le dveloppement des reprsentations mentales.
La prsentation qui est prtendue faire sinscrit dans cette ligne et cherche
comprendre travers une investigation exhaustive la manire comment lapprentissage dune
langue permet de dvelopper la capacit hypothtico- dductive des individus ; celle-ci conue
comme la facult quune personne dveloppe pour dchiffrer et dcoder un texte crit. Bien

30
Bogot, Universidad de la Salle. Investigacin que inici en enero 2013
31
Magister en Literatura Comparada. Coordinador del rea de francs. Docente investigador (Unisalle)
32
Docente investigador (Universidad de La Salle)

137
que la recherche ait dbut rcemment il sagirait de partager les avances qui correspondent
notamment au cadre thorique.

Mots cls : Psycholinguistique, bilinguisme, dveloppement cognitif, comprhension de
lecture, infrence, processus hypothtico-dductifs,

PRESENTATION

Beaucoup a t dit concernant linfluence que lapprentissage dune langue trangre
puisse avoir sur les processus mentaux. Ces recherches ont t inscrites dans le domaine de la
psycholinguistique et notamment dans des thmatiques qui visent trouver les rapports
entre bilinguisme et dveloppement cognitif. Il sagira de montrer dans cette prsentation les
trois grands axes qui constituent le cadre thorique dun travail de recherche dans lequel
lobjectif principal cherche dterminer linfluence que lapprentissage dune langue (en
occurrence, la franaise) peut avoir sur un processus cognitif en particulier, savoir la
capacit dinfrer partir dun texte crit.

Pour atteindre cet objectif il sera rappel dans un premier moment, la vision que
plusieurs disciplines ont eu concernant linfluence rciproque entre Langage et Pense. En
philosophie, par exemple nous nous arrterons sur deux auteurs en particulier (Aristote et
Wittgenstein) qui se sont consacr tudier le paralllisme et lindpendance entre langage
et pense. Concernant lapproche psychologique nous nous appuierons sur Jrme Bruner, un
des auteurs du XX sicle qui a le plus dfendu la rvolution cognitive ; et pour conclure cette
premire partie nous aborderons quelques auteurs qui se trouvent cheval entre le
domaine de la psychologie et le purement linguistique. Pour Ferdinand de Saussure, par
exemple, la structure possde une organisation logique mais implicite, un fondement objectif
en de de la conscience et de la pense (structure inconsciente). Cest dans cette mesure
quil faut tudier la langue et le langage sans faire intervenir dobjets extrieurs, choses du
monde, psychologie du locuteur, etc. Par ailleurs Jean Piaget va fonder sa thorie de
Fonction Symbolique en sappuyant sur le concept de signe linguistique prcdemment
dvelopp par de Saussure. Lev Vigotski reprendra quelques-uns des fondements proposs
par Piaget et dveloppera les prceptes selon lesquels le langage se construit travers le
milieu pour aprs tre introduit dans la psych. Pour conclure la partie du cadre thorique
concernant le rapport entre langage et pense nous aborderons le linguiste amricain Noam
Chomsky qui propose une approche diffrente mais aussi intressante entre ces deux
concepts.

Dans un deuxime moment il sagira daborder un type de littrature plus
contemporaine (notamment partir des annes 70) dans laquelle plusieurs auteurs se sont
concentrs, toujours partir de la psycholinguistique, pour analyser les bnfices ou les
prjudices probables que lapprentissage dune langue peut avoir sur les diffrents processus
cognitifs des personnes.

138
Sachant que prtendre analyser linfluence que lapprentissage dune langue peut avoir
sur tous les processus cognitifs est un projet trop vaste et gnralis, nous nous consacrerons
dans la troisime partie de cette recherche sur ceux qui sont considrs comme
potentiellement important lors de ce type dapprentissage linguistique et plus
particulirement sur le processus cognitif de linfrence, celui-ci entendu comme la capacit
que nous avons de dduire une chose partir dune autre, de conclure , dinterprter
correctement le texte que nous avons en face. Il serait important de souligner ici que le
dveloppement et le renforcement des processus cognitifs nest pas seulement conu dans ce
travail de recherche comme un moyen idal pour que lapprenti puisse amliorer son niveau
de L2 mais aussi pour que ce renforcement puisse tre appliqu dans les diffrentes situations
que le quotidien exige.

Problmatique

Le choix qui a t fait pour la premire partie de ce travail de recherche, lorsque nous
prtendons travers un tat de lart dterminer la vision que diffrents paradigmes du
XXme sicle ont eu sur la manire dont se produit le langage, surgit partir de la question
gnrale que nous nous sommes poss par rapport linfluence que lacquisition du langage
pourrait avoir sur certains mcanismes de la pense. Lorsquune lecture plus assidue a t
entame une premire question dj moins gnrale et concernant lapprentissage dune
langue a surgi, savoir : Comment est-cequelapprentissagedunelangue(L2) peut influencer les
processus cognitifs des personnes ?

Pour la deuxime partie de la recherche il a t dcid daborder des auteurs plus
contemporains qui, travers une srie dtudes et de recherches, ont pu dterminer les effets
positifs que lapprentissage dune langue peut avoir sur la structure cognitive des individus.
Cependant plusieurs de ces thories ont t mentionnes dans plusieurs articles sans quil y
ait des rsultats concrets concernant notre objet dtude. Par ailleurs, puisque tenter de
dterminer lincidence que lapprentissage dune langue peut avoir sur tous les processus
cognitifs semblait tre une tche trop complexe il a t dcid de se focaliser sur un en
particulier, lequel est considr dune grande importance au moment de lapprentissage dune
langue, savoir : Dans quelle mesure lapprentissage dune deuxime langue (dans notre
cas la langue franaise) peut influencer le processus cognitif de linfrence ?

Objectifs

Gnral:

Etablir linfluence que lapprentissage dune deuxime langue (en occurrence le
franais) peut avoir sur le processus cognitif de linfrence.

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Spcifiques:

Identifier les rapports qui peuvent exister entre lapprentissage dune deuxime langue et
la capacit interprtative des personnes.

Dterminer la mesure dans laquelle lacquisition dun nouveau systme linguistique
favorise la capacit que les personnes ont de dcoder un texte crit.

Favoriser les processus hypothtico-dductifs des personnes travers le processus
cognitif de linfrence.

CADRE THEORIQUE

Avant de citer les auteurs et les thories qui ont t dveloppes il est important de
rappeler les grandes thmatiques qui vont tre abordes dans ce travail de recherche. Comme
il a t dit auparavant dans un premier moment il sagira de rappeler et analyser travers
une recherche documentaire la manire dont les grandes coles de pense psychologique
(Behaviorisme) et linguistique (Structuralisme, Constructivisme, Ecole de Chicago) ont eu
sur le rapport rciproque entre Langage et Pense. Cette recherche se place, donc, clairement
dans le domaine de la psycholinguistique. Dans le cas du domaine psychologique lauteur
choisit pourrait tre J rme Bruner et ceci essentiellement pour deux raisons : dune part
cest lauteur qui probablement a le plus critiqu le bhaviorisme en dfendant une rvolution
cognitive et par ailleurs il sapproche au paradigme constructiviste des auteurs que nous
aborderons ultrieurement puisquil considre que lapprentissage est le rsultat des
mcanismes de pense (reprsentations) lorsquils se mettent en contact avec le milieu
extrieur. propos des auteurs constructivistes, nous nous arrterons sur la manire dont
Jean Piaget et Lev Vygotsky ont considr ce rapport si particulier entre Langage et Pense.
Le langage, selon ces auteurs, se produit lorsque lenfant est capable de reprsenter. Pour
cela, selon Piaget, lenfant commence faire la distinction entre signifiant et signifi,
concepts qui ont t largement analyss et dvelopps par Ferdinand de Saussure lors dans
son cours de linguistique gnrale en 1916. Cest cause de ces apportassions conceptuelles
et parce que Saussure sest aussi souvent interrog sur le rapport entre langage et pense que
cet auteur a t choisi comme le plus reprsentatif des linguistes structuralistes.

Pour conclure la premire partie du cadre thorique nous aborderons le linguiste
Noam Chomsky pour qui il ne peut pas y avoir une retro alimentation constante entre
langage et pense puisque le langage est intgr dans lindividu lorsquil est n. Selon lui, cet
innisme permet la personne dapprendre nimporte quelle langue puisquelle est ne dj
avec son systme prdtermin et quil suffit de lui apprendre mettre en relation ses
mcanismes de pense.

Pour la deuxime partie du cadre thorique le travail se consacrera plus
particulirement linfluence bnfique (ou pas) que pour certains auteurs, lapprentissage
dune L2 peut avoir sur les processus cognitifs des individus. Les auteurs abords dans cette

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partie appartiennent la deuxime partie du XXme sicle et notamment aux tudes qui dans
ce sens ont t effectues partir des annes 70 et qui ont tent de comprendre lancrage
psychologique des stratgies dapprentissage des langues qui taient lpoque
essentiellement des phnomnes observs en classe et enseigns comme des astuces pour
mieux apprendre, sans grande rflexion quant leur cadre thorique . Dans un premier
moment Jim Cummins (1980) et toute sa littrature concernant la cration de langage dans
un milieu bilingue ; puis R. Ellis (2003) pour qui les processus cognitifs (slectionner, classer,
ordonner, raisonner et valuer des informations) sont ncessaires la ralisation dune tche
et non sur des choix linguistiques. Ellis mentionne aussi dautres types de processus
importants dans lapprentissage dune langue tels que crer des liens entre diffrentes
informations, dduire des informations nouvelles, valuer des informations, slectionner,
classer, mettre en squence et transformer une reprsentation dans une autre. De plus,
OMallet et Chamot (1990) pour qui les stratgies dapprentissage cognitives font rfrence
des processus tel que la visualisation, lorganisation, linfrence, llaboration, la dduction et
le transfert ; ou encore Narcy-Combes qui pense que si la macro tche devrait impliquer de
tel processus cognitifs de rsolution de problmes, au niveau de la micro tche il pourrait ny
avoir que des processus pour favoriser lutilisation de la langue.

Dans la troisime partie il y aura une srie dauteurs qui se sont consacrs, partir de
la psychologie et de la linguistique, analyser plus particulirement le processus cognitif de
linfrence. Depuis la psychologie cognitive, intresse par la comprhension du discours, il y a
des nombreux modles thoriques qui ont tent dexpliquer la manire comment se produit la
comprhension, en prcisant les aspects importants quun lecteur doit avoir auparavant, des
interprtations quil peut faire (infrences) ou bien de la construction de diffrents niveaux de
reprsentation mentale quinteragissent avec les caractristiques du texte. Il y a par exemple,
au moment daborder la comprhension dun texte crit dans une deuxime langue, une
vision qui est plus constructiviste (Alderson, 2000 ; Bernhardt, 1991 ; Bernhardt et DeVlle,
1991 ; Maarof, 1998).

METHODOLOGIE

Approches

Ce travail de recherche sinscrit essentiellement dans trois approches: rappeler dun
ct que cette recherche a la particularit dtre rgi par une dynamique que nous pourrions
appeler metainterprtative dans la mesure o nous cherchons dterminer la capacit
interprtative des personnes travers un modle qui se base lui-mme dans linterprtation,
savoir : LHermneutique. Le mot cl de ce travail de recherche est interprtation, puisque
cest la branche de la philosophie de lhermneutique qui sera la base pour analyser les
stratgies utilises par chaque individu pour dcoder travers une logique propice, les
messages implicites dun texte crit.

Par ailleurs, insister sur le fait que cette recherche se conoit pour tudier des faits qui
se produisent dans des situations concrtes et relles et que, par consquent, une des

141
prtentions est celle de dcouvrir des phnomnes qui arrivent naturellement . Cest dans
la mesure o cette recherche sappuie autant sur la pratique que sur la thorie ( savoir
lincapacit que les tudiants ont pour dcoder les messages implicites dun texte) que la
recherche sarticule avec la Phnomnologie propose par Habermas.

Pour finir, puisque nous considrons que la connaissance ne sacquiert pas seulement
mais elle se construit partir du milieu, nous considrons que ce travail de recherche sinscrit
aussi dans les ides du Constructivisme radical pour considrer que la ralit ne se trouve
pas en dehors de celui qui observe mais elle se construit au moyen des processus cognitifs
mis en place par les individus. Nous partageons lide que lindividu est lunique responsable
de ses penses, de ses connaissances et de ses actions.

Niveaux de recherche
Il existe, selon Shneider (2006) trois niveaux de recherche. Un niveau descriptif qui
soccupe plus de dterminer la nature et les caractristiques des phnomnes et parfois
tablir les associations entre eux. Un niveau de classification qui consiste catgoriser,
regrouper, et mettre en ordre pour permettre des comparaisons ou des rapprochements. En
enfin le niveau dexplication ou de comprhension qui cherche rpondre la question du
pourquoi ? ; il consiste clarifier les relations entre des phnomnes et dterminer
pourquoi ou dans quelles conditions tels phnomnes ou tels vnements se produisent.

Modes dinvestigation
Lapprochequantitative: Bien que la tendance dans les recherches dans le domaine de la
didactique des langues sont majoritairement qualitatives il est considr dans ce travail de
recherche que lapproche la plus adquate serait la quantitative et ceci pour les motifs qui
suivent :
Dune part ce travail de recherche vise recueillir des donnes observables et
quantifiables. Un des objectif consiste dcrire, a expliquer et prdire en se fondant sur
lobservation de faits et vnements positifs ; cest--dire, existant indpendamment du
chercheur, des faits objectifs.

Dautre part cette mthode sappuie - et cest aussi le cas de cette investigation - sur
des instruments ou techniques de recherche quantitatives de collecte de donnes dont en
principe la fidlit et la validit sont assures. Elle aboutit des donnes chiffres qui
permettent de faire des analyses descriptives, des tableaux et graphiques, des analyses
statistiques de recherche de liens entre les variables ou facteurs, des analyses de corrlation
ou dassociation, etc.

La problmatique de ce travail de recherche contient des concepts thoriques
(apprentissage dune langue, dveloppement cognitif) qui sont mis en relation entre eux
travers un rapport de causalit soulign par le influencer .

Pour rapprocher les propositions thoriques qui viennent dtre releves, ou pour
confronter notre hypothse lobservation, il est ncessaire doprationnaliser les concepts ;

142
c'est--dire, dtablir une relation systmatique entre les concepts et la ralit observable, au
moyen d'indicateurs. On peut dfinir les indicateurs comme des signes, comportements ou
ractions directement observables par lesquels on repre au niveau de la ralit les
dimensions d'un concept .

Oprationnaliser un concept, c'est donc lui associer un ou plusieurs indicateurs qui
permettront de distinguer avec exactitude les variations observes dans la ralit par rapport
au concept. Distinguer les variations, cela veut dire mesurer : l'oprationnalisation d'un
concept conduit donc la mesure.

Pour conclure avec le mode dinvestigation lapproche quantitative repose sur un
corpus thorique qui permet de poser des hypothses ce qui est le cas aussi de notre
recherche puisquil y a une hypothse dj mise (lapprentissage dune L2 dveloppe le
processus de linfrence) qui est soutenue par les 3 axes appartenant au cadre thorique,
savoir, le rapport rciproque entre langage et pense, les tudes qui ont t faite partir des
annes 70 concernant les rpercutions que lapprentissage dune langue peut avoir sur les
processus cognitifs et les tudes consacres particulirement au processus dinfrence. Les
phases et artefacts envisags pour ce travail de recherche (notamment les questionnaires et
les analyses de textes partir de la catgorisation smantico-nonciative du lexique propose
par le linguiste Pierre Andr Buvet).

Le type dtude

Considrant la nature de cette recherche et prenant compte de ces caractristiques
nous pensant quelle peut tre inscrite en tant qutude exprimentale, explicative et
prdictive, et ceci notamment car il sagit de vrifier une hypothse causale. Notre tude
veut prdire et expliquer la relation causale entre apprentissage dune langue et dveloppent
du processus hypothtico dductif. Nous chercherons par ailleurs agir sur la variable
indpendante (lapprentissage dune langue) pour tudier son effet sur la variable dpendante
(le dveloppement de la capacit dinterprter et dchiffrer les codes implicites dun texte
crit). Nous prendrons en compte aussi la formule propose par les tudes prcdemment
dcrite y=f(x) pour tenter dexpliquer et de comprendre la raction quune variable peut avoir
sur lautre.

Selon la finalit scientifique de la recherche (Marschall et Rosmann 95 :41) nous
considrons aussi que celle-ci sinscrit dans une tude explicative car non seulement elle
cherche expliquer les forces (apprentissage dune L2) qui causent un phnomne (le
dveloppement du processus cognitif de linfrence) mais aussi elle utilise des instruments
que nous considrons appropris pour notre recherche savoir lobservation participante, les
questionnaires et lanalyse de documents.

143
Par ailleurs elle est aussi prdictive car nous cherchons prdire des caractristiques
propres lintellect humain en nous posant des questions sur les rsultats dun phnomene
particulier. Il y a dans ce type de recherche, outre les questionnaires et les instruments
propres la recherche explicative, des analyses de contenus (quantitatives) propres aux
modes dinvestigations que nous suivons.

Pour conclure avec le type dtude nous pouvons dire quelle est explicative car elle
cherche expliquer et prdire par des lois et des thories mais aussi parce que elle prtend
tester et laborer des hypothses.

Les stratgies de vrification

Probablement et au fil et mesure le travail avance nous dfinirons les stratgies que,
selon la nature du travail, conviennent le plus pour tenter dassurer la vrification la plus
complte possible de lhypothse. Parmi les diffrentes stratgies utiliser nous
considrerons la nature de lobservation, le type dinformation recueillir et le type de
traitement de donnes effectuer.

Lobservation

Dans un premier moment il sagira dobserver le fait et dcouvrir tous les facteurs
qui le composent ou qui linfluence. Nous appliquerons la stratgie de lobservation non pas
seulement laide des sens de perceptions mais aussi travers lapplication dun certain
nombre dinstrument spcifiques.

METHODE
De par les caractristiques de ce travail de recherche nous considrons que la mthode
la plus approprie pour aborder notre objet d'tude serait la mthodeempiriqueet ceci pour la
nature mme qui la caractrise. Cependant nous croyons que certains aspects de la mthode
hypothtico-dductivepourraient apporter aussi lanalyse et interprtation des donnes. Nous
expliquons continuation les raisons de notre choix.

Mthode empirique

La mthode empirique est un modle de recherche scientifique trs utilise dans le
champ des sciences descriptives qui sappuie sur une logique empirique. Nous concevrons ici
en tant que logique empirique les lments typiques qui font partie dun cycle de recherche.
Ces lments seraient essentiellement 5 avec les diffrentes sous catgories qui les
composent :

1. Objectifs

1.1 Thmes, objectifs
1.2 Revue de la littrature
1.3 Questions de recherche
2. Conceptualisation 2.1 Cadres danalyse

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Chaque question de recherche est traduite en
une ou plusieurs hypothses.
2.1 Hypothse(s)
2.1 Grilles danalyse
3. Artefacts/ interventions

3.1 Elaboration de designs
3.2 Matriaux dexprimentation
4. Mesures
Dans notre cas, quantitatives.
4.1 Echantillonnage (choix de cas)
4.2 Collection de donnes (mesures)
5. Analyses et conclusions
Nous cherchons tester les hypothses avec
des mthodes quantitatives statistiques etc.)
et ensuite discuter les rsultats.
5.1 Analyses
5.2 Comparaison avec dautres travaux
5.3 Rsultats

Les caractristiques propres la mthode empirique sarticulent troitement avec
lapproche quantitative auparavant dcrite. Cette dernire fait allusion un modle de
recherche qui, grce lexprimentation, la logique rationnelle, lobservation et lanalyse
statistique, produit des rsultats et des connaissances bass sur lexprience et les donnes
concrtes. Selon Poisson (1983), la base mthodologique de cette approche repose sur trois
axes principaux : lobjectivation, le mesurage et lexplication. Cest ainsi qu en tenant
compte de ces axes, lapproche empirique-analytique suit un chemin de trois
niveaux ordonns : lobservation du phnomne, lexprimentation et la comparaison des faits.

Cest ainsi quaprs une observation participativedans laquelle nous ferons la mise en
contexte et le choix et la population de recherche nous chercherons diagnostiquer
travers plusieurs tests la capacit et les niveaux dinterprtation que deux groupes
denfants dont la langue maternelle est lespagnol ont concernant le dcodage et le
dchiffrement des informations implicites dun texte crit.

En suite le groupe contrle dbutera les cours de franais dune manire intensive et
rgulire, sans que nous en tant que chercheurs fassions une intervention dordre
pdagogique. Nous serons cependant attentifs aux variables qui constituent notre
problmatique pour quelles puissent tre mesurables. Dans ce sens la variable
indpendante X (Lapprentissage dune langue) sera mesure en fonction du nombre
dheures de cours suivis par les lves, par les descripteurs, les niveaux (A1, A2, B1,
B2, C1, C2) et les comptences gnrales proposes par le CECRL (Cadre Europen
Commun de Rfrences pour les Langues) et notamment concernant la comptence de
Comprhension crite. La variable dpendante Y (le dveloppement des processus
hypothtico-dductif), par contre, sans doute bien plus difficile analyser nous la
mesurerons travers un srie de tests qui cherche comprendre la capacit dinfrence
des enfants travers une catgorisation smantico - nonciative du lexique
propos par le laboratoire de linguistique de lUniversit de Paris XIII.

Dautres types de tests seront mis en application sans quil y ait encore t dcid
le design. En revanche nous pourrions nous appuyer sur certains critres utiliss par la

145
psychologie cognitive pour tenter de comprendre comment un enfant de cet ge-l rsout
un problme ou prend une dcision lorsquil est face un texte crit. Pour cela le choix et
les stratgies de rsolution permettent de savoir comment un sujet rsout un problme ou
prend une dcision. Pour analyser les processus mis en uvre dans des taches cognitives,
les psychologues cognitivistes ont traditionnellement utilis trois grandes familles de
mesures (variables dpendantes) sur lesquels nous pourrions nous baser : Les taux
derreurs commises par les sujets, les temps de rsolutions et les protocoles verbaux.
Chacune de ces mesures a fait lobjet danalyses relativement prcises et est utilise
diffremment selon :

Les processus tudis
Les activits cognitives analyses
Le type de question pose

Par exemple, les psychologues intresss par les processus impliqus dans la
comprhension du langage utilisent plutt des temps de latence et les taux derreurs. Les
psychologues intresss par la rsolution de problmes utilisent les protocoles verbaux en
plus des temps de latence et des taux derreur.

Finalement, aprs avoir fait une observation exhaustive en incluant un diagnostic
gnral dans la premire phase, ayant fait un suivi rgulier du groupe contrle
lorsquil a suivi les cours de langue, en ayant appliqu les diffrents teste qui nous
permettent de mesures le dveloppent hypothtico-dductif nous passerons la phase
de collection, analyse et interprtation de rsultats. Cette phase-l nous permettra de
faire une comparaison defaits entre le moment initial pour essayer e mieux comprendre
leffet de causalit. Ces rsultats-l aussi nous permettront de vrifier ou confirmer
lhypothse mise lors du dbut du travail de recherche lorsque nous nous sommes
tracs les objectifs.

Une catgorisation que nous trouvons aussi susceptible dtre appliqu concernant
les dmarches suivre et les diffrentes phases par lesquelles il faut passer au fil et a
mesure le travail se dveloppe est la propose par Nei J. Salkind, laquelle nous trouvons
assez bien articule avec la logique de la recherche empirique. Les phases prendre en
compte seraient les suivantes :

Formulation du problme
Choisir les variables
Formulation des objectifs et/ ou lhypothse
Choix des artefacts ou instruments
Application des instruments, collection de linformation
Contrastassions de lhypothse (la confirmer ou la rfuter)
Analyse des rsultats et conclusions
Rdaction du travail final et communication

146
ECHANTILLONGE

Comme le nom l'indique, dans le cadre des tudes exprimentales (ou dintervention)
les participants subissent une intervention quelconque dont on value l'impact. Nous
chercherons exercer un contrle sur l'intervention, le moment, la dose et lintensit. Nous
suivrons la forme plus simple dune tude exprimentale pour valuer leffet dun traitement
suivant les tapes :

1. Le chercheur nonce officiellement l'hypothse tester (lapprentissageduneL2 dveloppeles
processus hypothtico-dductifs).
2. Le chercheur choisit des personnes admissibles au traitement (un groupede40 enfants entre
7 et 10, des deux sexes, ayant dans la mesuredu possibleles mmes conditions socio-conomiques.
3. L'chantillon est divis en deux groupes. Un groupe de contrle pour la comparaison avec
un groupe exprimental dans le test d'une hypothse causale. (Lecritrefondamental pour faire
la division entreles deux groupes sera quelun dmarrera avec les cours defranais alors quelautre
nelefera pas).
4. Un groupe (le groupe exprimental ou d'intervention) reoit l'intervention (les enfants qui
vont recevoir les cours delangue), alors que l'autre (le groupe tmoin) ne la reoit pas.
5. Les rsultats pertinents sont consigns sur une certaine priode, puis on compare les
rsultats des deux groupes.


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Chomsky, N (1997) Rflexions sur lelangage, Flammarion.

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direction de Mme. Sylvie Quittelier, Orleans, Universit dOrleans, 2012.

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Denhiere, G., & Budet, S. (1992). Lecture, comprhension detexteet sciencecognitive. Paris:
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Aguirre, B. (1994). Psicologa dela adolescencia. Barcelona: Sant Adria.

Castaeda, J. (2007). Aprendizajey Desarrollo. Mxico: Umbrial.

Schneider, D. (2006), Balises demthodologiepour la rechercheen sciences sociales, Geneve,
IDHEAP - Institut de hautes tudes en administration publique (Idheap).

149

Ponencia 13

TEFL student-teachers making sense of research in a language
teacher education program
33

Yolanda Samac Bohrquez
34

Resumen

Hacer investigacin es uno de los retos ms significativos que tanto maestros en
formacin como maestros en ejercicio hemos estado experimentando en dcadas recientes. La
investigacin alimenta e informa nuestras prcticas pedaggicas, as como abarca
posibilidades para transformar la educacin desde paradigmas tradicionales. De esta forma,
los programas de Licenciatura como el ofrecido por la Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos
de Caldas fomenta y apoya en los maestros en formacin, el desarrollo de habilidades y
prcticas investigativas. Sin embargo, hacer de la investigacin una experiencia viva se
convierte algunas veces en un conflicto entre los futuros maestros, porque ellos tienen la
suposicin de que la investigacin es difcil, aburrida, densa y estresante cuando no
encuentran la relacin entre la teora y la prctica subyacente a dicho proceso. Este
documento pretende reflexionar acerca de cmo esos supuestos y reacciones que tienen los
futuros maestros hacia la investigacin han sido mantenidos o transformados mientras
desarrollan su prctica pedaggica en colegios de primaria y asisten al seminario de
investigacin en el programa de pregrado al cual pertenecen.

Palabras claves: Formacin de maestros en formacin, investigacin, supuestos,
reflexin.

Abstract

Conducting research is one of the most significant challenges, both pre-service and
in-service teachers have been experiencing in recent decades. It nourishes and informs our
pedagogical practices, as well as embraces possibilities to transform education from
traditional constraints. This is why undergraduate programs in ELF Teacher Education as

33
Esta es una experiencia reflexiva en el seminario Interdisciplinario VI en la Licenciatura en Educacin Bsica
con nfasis en Ingls de la Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas, Bogot, 2011.
34
Magster en Lingstica Aplicada a la Enseanza del Ingls. Profesora de la Facultad de Ciencias y Educacin
de la Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas, Bogot. Yolandasamaca.udistrital@gmail.com

150
the one offered by Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas enhances and supports pre-
service teachers research skills and practices. Nonetheless, making research a lived
experience sometimes becomes a struggle among some pre-service teachers, because they
have the assumption that research is difficult, boring, dense, and stressful when they do not
see the relationship between theory and practice underlying it. This paper is intended to
reflect upon how those assumptions and reactions prospective teachers have towards
research have been maintained or transformed while doing their teaching practicum in
elementary schools and attending the research seminar VI in the undergraduate program
they are enrolled.
.
Key words: Pre-service teacher education, research, assumptions, reflection.

INTRODUCTION

Doing research has become a growing concern for both pre-service & in-service
teachers in the ELT community in the last decades (Gonzlez, 2000 Crdenas, 2000). It
nourishes and informs our pedagogical practices as it embraces different paths to understand
a situation in our educational settings deeply. Therefore, it has become an enlightening but
challenging process for Undergraduate programs in ELT Education as the one offered by
Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas to enhance and support pre-service teachers
skills and practices.

However, research becomes a struggle when prospective teachers do not find
the relationship between theory and practice while developing mini-scale projects at
educational settings. Thus, it has been assumed as a hard task to conduct, and a requirement
to receive a degree. Therefore, it is necessary to understand, analyze and act upon student
teachers reactions and understanding of research with the purpose of enriching not only
their pedagogical knowledge but also consolidating their active roles in transforming
educational practices at school settings. This paper is intended to reflect upon how those
assumptions and reactions prospective teachers have towards research have been maintained
or transformed while doing their teaching practicum in elementary schools and attending the
Research Seminar.

THE PROGRAM
The Undergraduate Teacher Education Program LEBEI (Licenciatura en
Educacin Bsica con nfasis en Ingls) is aimed at preparing English teacher researchers to
be able to reflect critically on the conditions of the Colombian school system and intervene in
the transformation of the social and cultural reality of children and young people
35
. This
program has articulated communicative, political, linguistic, pedagogical and research
formation components with professionalism considering the demands of our society. It

35
Mission of the Program

151
comprises three formation cycles to support the teaching preparation process pre-service
teachers go through: The Foundation cycle, from first to fourth semester. The in-depth
cycle, from fifth to seventh semester. Finally, the innovation & creation cycle, from eighth to
tenth semester. All of them interrelated in three perspectives: Effective language teaching,
and a reflective approach to language teaching, mediated by research, which foster the
development of a context-sensitive pedagogy in terms of teachers and learners development.

The research component has been conceived as a continuous process through which
student teachers will discuss different dimensions of the same phenomenon and the
theoretical and practical foundation to articulate prospective teachers research proposals. It
is worth highlighting that these seminars seek to help student teachers consciously analyze
the implications of being pre-service teachers- researchers
36
. Thus, the seminars have been
designed to analyze issues that deal with teaching and learning processes, as well as social,
cultural, political aspects embedded in these processes because we believe that the concept of
education is supposed to evolve into a reflective approach where the student teacher role
divest a passive and repetitive attitude and assumes an active, participative and critical
attitude towards change, contributing to the school communities and the educational field in
general.

In the same line of thought, we consider that the critical theory of education, enables
prospective teachers to see their ideas, interactions, language use, texts, learning and
teaching practices are not neutral and objective, but are shaped by and within social
relationships established in a community. Hence, they are called to challenge themselves to
interpret from their research proposals that language pedagogy and research are integrally
related.

Reacting towards Research

There are certain theoretical considerations for the purpose of understanding
research on the relationship between teaching and learning, as well as the contexts in which
they can take place. One fundamental argument underpinning this drive is that when
teachers engage with (through reading) and in (by doing) research and make pedagogical
decisions informed by sound research evidence, this will have a beneficial effect on both
teaching and learning (Hargreaves 2001). Nonetheless, research is often seen as too
theoretical, too idealistic, or too general to relate directly to the practical realities of
classroom life (Hiebert, Gallimore, & Stigler, 2002, p.3).

Nowadays, thesis projects are one of the requirements for undergraduate
students to obtain their degree. However, they find difficult to integrate theory into practice.
This is why I am interested in exploring student- teachers understanding of research, the

36
PEP (Proyecto Educativo del programa. Documento de la licenciatura en Educacin bsica con nfasis en
ingls de la universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas)

152
role it plays in informing their practices: Does it have any effects, if so what are they? How
can research impact them? In the first classes of the seminar, students start by expressing
their feelings about research, the connotation this word has on them, makes us think about
how they view theory and practice in their pedagogical experience.

One way to frame the research-into-practice journey is to understand how student
teachers understand research and how they start making connections to the EFL classrooms:
Transfer of research (Perkins & Salomon 1989). This term has been described by the
authors as the use of skills acquired in one context in a new situation: The skill or
knowledge in question has to travel to a new context (Perkins & Salomon, 1989, p.22).
Transfer depends on the mindful abstraction of general principles that can be applied to new
situations. Figure1 portrays some perceptions student-teachers have towards research.

Figure 1. Illustrating student-teachers reactions towards research

It is worth noting that student teachers perceive research as a very significant but
challenging process in teacher development. The following excerpts exemplify what this
means to them:
To overcome and produce new knowledge which implicitly or
explicitly improve or innovate the different sectors of the society
(ST journal 2, Sic. 2011)

Research can be defined as a way to aware about the reality and
to know about the context and the people inside, through work of
Investigations (not only fieldwork, also reading, consulting,
analyzing) (ST journal 2, Sic. 2011)

Posingquestions and
reportingresults
Creation of knowledge
Distinguish-relate &
analyze particular
characteristics in a group
A complex method
that takes a longtime
Something
difficult to apply &
a big
responsibility
Lookingfor
Explanations
Whats research?

153
Student teachers start by acknowledging the important role research might play in
education and development of a society. They assume research as one of the possibilities to
become aware about the real situations both teachers and students go through in the
teaching and learning process.

Thus, student-teachers continues by confronting themselves about their feelings and
reactions towards research: Some of them start imagining themselves wearing a white
blouse, big glasses, having a microscope in a laboratory to do research. Others feel they
cannot make connections between the theory they are reading and discussing in the Research
seminar and its real implementation when they are doing their teaching practicum with
elementary students. Although, these student- teachers understand what research is, as
noted above, there are certain reactions that confirm that there is a mismatch between the
theory underlying the course and the actual pedagogical practice. This gap provokes some
tensions and fears, as illustrated in figure 2, when attempting to start proposing a mini-scale
research project.

These reactions represent that future teachers might feel constrained in their ability
to engage in research by the limited time they have to carry out research projects, the lack of
motivation, particularly where a requirement to do research is not part of teachers job.
Hence, student teachers start questioning themselves about the dilemma: being a teacher,
being a researcher, or a teacher researcher. The point here is that they consider that being a
teacher is easier; because they only have to plan a class, consider some activities to provide a
Figure 2. Student- teachers reactions towards research

154
warm atmosphere for students to learn the language. What they have not realized is that
even to plan a class they query themselves about how to deal with classroom management,
how to get students attention, activities for the English class to motivate students. These
are instructional valuable questions in their teaching preparation process that then might
become initial wonderings to do research about teaching and learning practices, which might
reveal teacher status and identity which debates what teachers bring to the fore. (Borg, 2009)

A significant challenge: Making sense of research

Moving from instructional aspects of teaching to teaching- situated practices is
an interest when being research engaged. To do this, then, it is necessary to develop
observation skills that can be registered in field notes or journals. Prospective teachers are
invited to observe their classes and consider situations that happen in the classroom while
teaching their classes. At the very beginning, field notes as noted below in figure 3, are just
class reports of what they have or have not done in the class, to then, start being
concentrated on what students do in the class sessions, how they behave or react towards
activities and classmates, how they work with their peers and those initial wonderings
mentioned above, start evolving themselves into fascinating issues to be addressed in mini-
scale projects. They, for example, move from classroom management to power relations in
the classroom, from getting students attention to revealing students interaction, among
others.

This stresses the relation theory & practice as students teachers start reading
about these issues and research studies done in this area in order to pose a possible research
question to be addressed from different perspectives. There are several understandings and
alternatives to the problematic situations novice-researcher start identifying, the point is
how to narrow the scope of the projects, defining a problem, posing questions, stating an
objective, gathering data, analyzing data and interpreting it to answer the research questions
initially posed.

Figure 3. Student- teachers initial field notes

155

It is worth highlighting that the value of research about teaching and learning,
as well as factors affecting these processes, depends on its specificity and its relevance to the
particular conditions of teachers and students classroom. That is to say, considering real
problems with real people, in order to place a tight boundary between theory and practice
aimed at the improvement of practice, and research aimed at the construction of theory.

Thus, some challenges in doing research embrace:
a. How to help students adapt themselves to their roles and navigate
them through the research processes?
b. How to establish studentsteachers interaction conducting research.
c. How to identify pre-service teachers perceptions about their roles as
teacher-researchers?

The self- questioning makes us analyze critically who we are, what we do in our
educational settings in order to unveil what is happening. Teaching and learning matter, but
going beyond the classroom instructional practices provides possibilities towards a more
holistic perspective of education without forgetting that teachers and students share a
context that makes them unique.

FINAL REMARK

Teaching and learning are full of situations which constitute a fertile ground
for research. Definitely, it is through research that teachers can understand what is
happening in the classroom and in the educational environments to find out possibilities to
transform our practices with the purpose of having appropriate and effective learning
environments. This implies going beyond instructional approaches that foster the
implementation of pre-established methods as our world has evolved, individuals have
changed the way they perceive and express their world, hence educational trends demand the
need to renew or transform the ways to teach and learn a foreign language through research.

Being involved and engaged in research is an amazing journey to understand and
transform our educational practices as Keterring (n.d. cited in Hubbard & Power, 1999)
claims:
As English teachers, w we e d do o n no ot t t te ea ac ch h m me er re el ly y a a l la an ng gu ua ag ge e with its grammar,
phonology, phonetics, syntax, semantics, pragmatics and so on, but instead
we should bring up integral students; as integral we refer to promote and
foster their different v va al lu ue es s and a as sp pe ec ct ts s o of f o on ne e s s f fo or rm ma at ti io on n: : academic and
humanistic, therefore we do not teach English to Keep it in the classroom as
one more subject, but we take it into reality, we use it as a tool and as a
v ve eh hi ic cl le e to carry on ideas about our own world, t to o u un nd de er rs st ta an nd d, , d di is sc cu us ss s, a an nd d
a as sk k a ab bo ou ut t w wh ha at t s s g go oi in ng g o on n i in ns si id de e a an nd d o ou ut ts si id de e t th he e c cl la as ss sr ro oo om m

156

Research is a high-hat word that scares a lot of people. It neednt.
Its rather simple. Essentially research is nothing but a state of
mind A friendly, welcoming attitude towards change going
out to look for change instead of waiting for it to come. Research
is an effort to do things better and not to be caught sleep at the
switch. It is the problem-solving mind as contrasted with let-well
enough-alone mind. It is the tomorrow mind instead of the
yesterday mind (p.1)

REFERENCES

Borg, S. (2009). English Language Teachers Conceptions of Research. Applied
Linguistics 30 (3): 358388. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Crdenas, M.L. (2000). Action Research by English teachers: an option to make
classroom research possible. CAJ L (2), 1 15- 26.

Gonzlez, A. (2000). The new millennium: more challenges for EFL teachers
and teacher educators. CALJ 2 (2), 5-14.

Hargreaves, D. 2001. Revitalizing educational research: past lessons and future
prospects, in Fielding, M. (Eds.) Taking education really seriously: Four years hard labour
197208. London: Routledge Falmer

Hiebert, J., Gallimore, R. & Stigler, J.W. (2002). A knowledge base for the
teaching profession: What would it would like and how can we get one? Educational
Researcher, 31, 3-15.

Hubbard, R.S. & Power, B.M. (1999). Why Teacher Research? In. Living the
questions A guidefor Teacher-Researchers. Pp.1.21. York: Stenhouse Publishers

LEBEI (2012). Proyecto Educativo del Programa (PEP). Documento de la
licenciatura en Educacin bsica con nfasis en ingls de la universidad Distrital
Francisco Jos de Caldas.
Perkins, D.N. & Salomon, G. (1989). Are cognitive skills context-bound?
Educational Researcher. 18 (1). 16-25

157

Ponencia 14

Approche actionnelle et la notion de tche dans lenseignement du
franais langue trangre
37

Nolbert Alberto Loaiza Trujillo
38

Resumen
El mtodo comunicativo que logr su mximo apogeo en los aos 80, haca especial
nfasis en el mensaje y en la comunicacin, prefera las actividades realistas y privilegiaba los
documentos autnticos. Los aos 2000 y 2010 han sido sin embargo el mejor momento para
el mtodo enfocado a la accin que vio la luz en 2001 gracias al Marco Comn Europeo de
referencia para las lenguas; pero autores como Christine Tagliante (2005), han afirmado que
ste mtodo retoma todos los conceptos del mtodo comunicativo al cual se le agreg
simplemente la nocin de tarea. En el presente estudio analizaremos los verdaderos aportes
del enfoque orientado a la accin a la didctica de las lenguas extranjeras.

Palabras clave: Enfoque orientado a la accin, enfoque comunicativo, competencia,
CECRL, enseanza, lenguas extranjeras, francs lengua extranjera, interaccin, tarea.

Rsum
La mthode communicative, qui a atteint son apoge dans les annes 80, mettait
laccent sur le message et la communication, elle privilgiait les activits ralistes et les
documents authentiques. Nanmoins dans les annes 2000 et 2010 on assiste lavnement
de lapproche actionnelle qui a t cre en 2001 par le Cadre Commun Europen de
rfrence pour les langues. Mais des auteurs comme Tagliante (2005),affirment que

37
Cet article est une synthse du projet de recherche appel Application delapprocheactionnelleen milieu
htroglotte, inscrit au dpartement de recherche de Luniversit de San Buenaventura de Carthagne des Indes
sous le code CIECH13-023.
38
Master Sciences du langage de luniversit de la Sorbonne
Master Didactique du franais langue trangre/ langue seconde de lUniversit de Franche-Comt
Coordinateur de lUFR franais langue trangre et professeur de franais dans la licence de langues modernes
lUniversit de San Buenaventura, Carthagne des indes.

158
lapproche actionnelle reprend tous les concepts de lapproche communicative et y ajoute
lide de tche. Dans la prsente tude nous analyserons les vritables apports de lapproche
actionnelle la didactique des langues trangres.

Mots cls : Approche actionnelle, approche communicative, comptence, CECRL,
enseignement, langues trangres, franais langue trangre, interaction, tche.

INTRODUCTION
Lapproche communicative peut tre dfinie comme une conception de lenseignement
des langues se basant sur la communication comme fonction fondamentale du langage. Elle
met laccent sur le message et sur la communication, elle prfre les activits ralistes,
privilgie les documents authentiques et veut rendre lapprenant autonome aussi bien loral
qu lcrit. Mais le Conseil de lEurope, une organisation cre en 1949, ayant comme but de
favoriser en Europe un espace dmocratique et juridique commun, organis autour de la
Convention europenne des droits de lhomme et dautres textes de rfrence sur la
protection de lindividu, rdige en 2001 le Cadre Commun de Rfrence pour les Langues
(CECRL) dont le but est dinstaurer des actions communes dans lenseignement des langues
trangres. A la fois, le CECRL cre lapproche actionnelle, nouvelle mthode
denseignement des langues trangres qui devrait tre mise en place partout en Europe
tant donne sa nouvelle vision de lenseignement des langues centre sur laction.
Mais des didacticiens tels que C. Tagliante (2005), affirment que lapproche
actionnelle reprend tous les concepts de lapproche communicative et y ajoute lide de tche
accomplir dans les multiples contextes auxquels un apprenant va tre confront dans la vie
sociale. Si lon en croit C. Tagliante lapproche actionnelle serait lamlioration de lapproche
communicative et non pas une nouvelle conception de lenseignement des langues trangres.

Il est important pour la didactique des langues que lon fasse le point sur les apports
de lapproche actionnelle lenseignement car, nos yeux, la non connaissance de cette
approche pourrait reprsenter un risque dans les pratiques didactiques. Ce risque-l viendrait
du fait que lapproche actionnelle se trouve du ct de linnovation et du changement et quil
faudrait dans le monde de la didactique que les choses bougent et voluent. Bien que
lapproche communicative ait fait ses preuves, lapproche actionnelle gagne tous les jours du
terrain et il faudrait que cette dynamique continue. Pour cela nous pensons quil est
indispensable que les utilisateurs du CECRL connaissent des lments trs importants de
lapproche actionnelle comme ses fondements thoriques, les changements quelle offre par
rapport aux approches prcdentes et la notion de tche.

Au centre du Cadre se trouvent quatre aspects qui ont marqu un tournant dans les
pratiques didactiques, savoir :
Des niveaux communs de rfrence: A.1, A.2, B1, B2, C1 et C.2. Le niveau A.1
correspondant au niveau de dcouverte de la langue cible et le niveau A.2 correspondant au

159
niveau intermdiaire. Le niveau B1 fait rfrence au niveau seuil alors que le niveau B.2
dsigne un niveau avanc. Un utilisateur ayant un niveau C.1 est considr comme tant
autonome dans la pratique de la langue tudie et le niveau C.2 correspond au degr de
matrise de la langue cible. Les niveaux du Cadre visent imprimer une division plus
rigoureuse, contenant des descripteurs plus concis qui vont faciliter la transition des
tudiants partir dun centre dtudes de son pays vers un autre centre ltranger assurant
la continuit du processus denseignement/ apprentissage. Conseil de lEurope, (2001)
Introduction des cinq comptences
La CECRL dfinit les cinq comptences langagires ; elles sont en relation avec les
activits ralises en cours de langue trangre tant donn quelles relvent de la rception,
de la production, de linteraction et de la mdiation, Conseil de leurope (2001). Avant
larrive du CECRL on ne faisait mention que de quatre comptences savoir :
Production Orale : PO
Production crite : PE
Comprhension Orale : CO
Comprhension crite : CE
Mais les concepteurs du cadre accordent une grande importance linteraction car
elle se trouve au centre de la communication. Elle recouvre les quatre activits mentionnes
ci-dessus ainsi que le processus mental de construction du discours mis en place par un
locuteur. Il existe, daprs le Cadre, des stratgies mises en place par les individus lors de
lchange communicatif qui ne relvent que de linteraction orale (IO) et qui rpondent au
caractre co-construit du discours. Le Cadre accorde galement de limportance
linteraction crite (IE) et tient compte des volutions technologiques qui ont modifi la faon
de communiquer lcrit.

Introduction des composantes des comptences de communication :
On peut envisager la comptence langagire comme tant compose de trois
lments, savoir : la composante linguistique, la composante sociolinguistique et la
composante pragmatique.
Une nouvelle approche pour lenseignement des langues: LApproche
Actionnelle
Le chapitre 2 du CECRL fait rfrence La PerspectiveActionnelle. Le CECRL, dans
le but dtre cohrent dans sa dmarche de devenir le cadre de rfrence pour
lapprentissage, pour lenseignement et lvaluation des langues vivantes, propose une
perspective diffrente. Il convient pour notre travail de mentionner la philosophie de
lapproche actionnelle selon le CECRL :
La perspective privilgie ici est, trs gnralement aussi, de type actionnel en ce
quelle considre avant tout lusager et lapprenant dune langue comme des acteurs sociaux
ayant accomplir des tches (qui ne sont pas seulement langagires) dans des circonstances et

160
un environnement donns, lintrieur dun domaine daction particulier. Si les actes de parole
se ralisent dans des activits langagires, celles-ci sinscrivent elles-mmes lintrieur
dactions en contexte social qui seules leur donnent leur pleine signification. Il y a tche
dans la mesure o laction est le fait dun (ou de plusieurs) sujet(s) qui y mobilise(nt)
stratgiquement les comptences dont il(s) dispose(nt) en vue de parvenir un rsultat
dtermin (CECRL, p.5):

Lapprenant est donc considr comme un acteur social qui agit en accomplissant
des tches. Ceci marque la diffrence avec les approches et mthodes prcdentes,
notamment par rapport lapproche communicative : dornavant le travail didactique en
classe de langue trangre ne se limite plus lenseignement des lments nettement
linguistiques et les actes de parole, qui taient jusque-l le sujet des proccupations des
enseignants, mais il sagit dapprendre agir en utilisant la langue cible. Lapprenant
devient un acteur social conscient du fait que la langue est linstrument dont il se sert
pour accumuler des savoir-faire et voluer ainsi dans le groupe auquel il appartient. Cest
en tenant compte de cette dimension sociale de lenseignement/ apprentissage des langues
trangres que lon peut dire quelle rpond une demande politique car elle cherche
lentente entre les acteurs sociaux europens grce au plurilinguisme.
Pour comprendre les thories de lenseignement qui sous-tendent lapproche
actionnelle nous devons chercher du ct du cognitivisme et du constructivisme, des
thories de lapprentissage lorigine desquelles on trouve lpistmologue et
psychologue suisse Jean William Fritz Piaget. Ces approches constituent le fondement
thorique de lapproche actionnelle, cest pourquoi il convient, dans lintrt de notre
travail, den exposer les principales conceptions.
CADRE THEORIQUE

Le cognitivisme de Piaget

Depuis le dbut des annes 1960, la recherche thorique de Piaget a reu une
attention croissante. Ses recherches sont axes sur le dveloppement de la cognition chez les
enfants, sur la faon dont ils pensent, dont ils se comprennent et la faon dont ils
comprennent le monde ainsi que sur la manire dont ils raisonnent et dont ils trouvent une
solution aux problmes. Pour Piaget (1960), l'intelligence peut tre conue comme une sorte
d'volution de l'adaptation biologique au monde extrieur. Au fur et mesure que lon
dveloppe des habilets cognitives, l'adaptation ( un niveau symbolique) est incrmente et
lessai ainsi que lerreur mentale remplacent lessai et lerreur physique relle, Piaget J
.(1970).
Mais selon Piaget, le processus de dveloppement cognitif ne se produit pas
seulement travers la maturation mais par le biais de l'apprentissage. Il a estim que, en
raison de l'interaction avec l'environnement, les structures psychologiques sont
rorganises. Il dcrit mticuleusement quatre stades de dveloppement cognitif par
lequel, selon sa thorie, nous passons tous, tout au long de notre vie. Bien que les

161
personnes puissent passer par ces tapes une vitesse et des ges diffrents, Piaget
pensait que son ordre tait immuable. Il envisageait le dploiement de ces stades de
dveloppement cognitif comme le rsultat de l'interaction de facteurs biologiques et de
lapprentissage. Piaget J.(1970).
Les tapes dcrites par Piaget vont de la priode sensori-motrice dans laquelle les
penses des bbs sont domines par leurs perceptions, la priode des oprations
formelles, dans lequel un individu a la capacit de construire des thories et des
dductions logiques sans la ncessit d'une exprience directe.
Selon cette thorie, les aspects biologiques du dveloppement mental sont rgis
par des mcanismes de maturation. Au fur et mesure que lenfant passe travers les
diffrentes tapes, il a de nouvelles expriences avec l'environnement. Chaque nouvelle
exprience, selon Piaget, exige une certaine forme d'organisation cognitive et la
rorganisation en une structure mentale appele Schme. Piaget a utilis le terme
schme pour dsigner une action ou une structure mentale organise qui, lorsqu'elle est
applique au monde, mne la connaissance ou la comprhension, Piaget J .(1970). Les
bbs naissent avec divers schmes simples, y compris la succion et lacte de prendre.
Au dbut, ils apprennent en saisissant tout et en mettant tout dans leur bouche. Les bbs
utilisent ces schmes pour comprendre et apprcier leur monde, puis les schmes
deviennent plus complexes et moins rattachs des actions qu des transformations
mentales.
La thorie constructiviste
Constructivisme individuel vs constructivisme social

Cette thorie a t dveloppe partir de 1923 par Piaget, rejetant la thorie du
behaviorisme cause de la vision quavaient les behaviouristes propos de
lapprentissage. Skinner limitait celui-ci lassociation stimulus-rponse niant ainsi tous
les processus cognitifs.
Daprs Palincsar (1998), il nexiste pas quune seule thorie de lapprentissage car
la plupart des thories en sciences cognitives incluent un quelconque type de
constructivisme vu que les individus construisent leurs propres structures cognitives
daprs leurs expriences dans des situations particulires. Mais lon peut organiser les
thories constructivistes en se rfrant deux formes de constructivisme : la construction
psychologique et la construction sociale. Le Constructivisme psychologique appel
galement constructivisme individuel sintresse aux croyances, connaissances et
lidentit des individus alors que le constructivisme psychologique de Piaget sintresse
davantage la manire dont les individus construisent des significations qu la
reprsentation quils ont de ce qui est correct.
Le constructivisme social tel quil a t envisag par Vygotsky part du constat que
linteraction social modle lapprentissage individuel. Daprs (Palinksar, 1998), Cest
quand ils participent des activits varies avec dautres personnes que les apprenants

162
sapproprient le rsultat du travail en quipe, ils acquirent de nouvelles connaissances du
monde et de la culture, cette dernire cre la cognition grce au fait que les adultes
utilisent des outils et de culture comme le langage, les ordinateurs et la musique pour
mener les enfants vers des objectifs prcieux culturellement parlant comme la musique et
lcriture.
Lapproche sociale reconnat limportance du contexte denseignement et met
laccent sur linteraction entre lenseignant et lapprenant, entre les apprenants et les
tches, entre les apprenants eux-mmes (Edna Soler, 2006). Quatre facteurs dterminant
lapprentissage peuvent alors tre identifis, savoir, les enseignants, les apprenants, le
contexte et les tches.
Le constructivisme et lenseignement

Dans lapproche constructiviste, lon peut insrer plusieurs aspects du processus
dapprentissage dans le but daider les enseignants dans leur travail denseignement. Mais
laccent a t mis sur deux aspects importants : lapprenant dans son monde cognitif et
lapprenant dans son contexte socioculturel. Daprs Edna Soler (2006) si lquilibre est
maintenu entre ces deux types de constructivisme on peut parler dun modle social
constructiviste, mais pour cela il faut maintenir lapprenant dans son monde cognitif dans
lequel il gre son processus dapprentissage ; il est au centre de lapproche car il aborde le
processus dapprentissage en jouant un rle actif, en passant laction et dans ce
processus il construit des significations et rsout des problmes tout en sappuyant sur son
vcu.
Le constructivisme doit aider dans la mise en place dun enseignement plus efficace
prenant place dans une communaut relle de travail
39
. Pour cela le constructivisme
prconise la connaissance de la culture de lapprenant de la part de lenseignant, un
apprentissage actif en rsolvant des problmes de la vie relle tout en dveloppant lenvie
de dcouvrir davantage, et linteraction entre les apprenants.
Recommandations des modles constructivistes.

Les modles constructivistes recommandent aux enseignants de :
1. Faire en sorte que lapprentissage ait lieu dans des environnements
ralistes, complexes et pertinents : Les constructivistes pensent que lenseignant ne
doit pas donner aux tudiants des problmes simples car cela ne reflte pas la ralit hors
de la salle de cours, au contraire les tudiants devraient tre tous les jours confronts
des problmes difficiles et peu structurs. Les problmes complexes daprs Anita
Woolfolk (2006) ne sont pas que difficiles mais en plus ils se composent de plusieurs

39
Daprs Edna S. (2006), une communaut relle de travail a lieu quand les apprenants plongent dans la
culture acadmique et professionnelle dans laquelle ils vont voluer plus tard dans leur vie.

163
lments et de plusieurs solutions possibles et chaque solution peut amener dautres
problmes possibles.
Les tudiants peuvent avoir besoin de laide de lenseignant en ce qui concerne la
rsolution des problmes. Les enseignants sont l galement pour les aider trouver des
outils et pour sassurer de leur progrs, entre autres.
Les problmes complexes doivent faire partie de tches et dactivits
authentiques, cest--dire, le type de problmes auxquels les tudiants vont tre
confronts quand ils appliqueront ce quils apprennent dans le monde rel. Rappelons
que cest autour de la notion de tcheque sarticule lapproche actionnelle, nouvelle faon
denseigner dont nous parlerons plus loin.
2. Offrir des lments aux tudiants pour la ngociation sociale et la
responsabilit partage : Daprs Anita Woolfolk, tout comme Vygotsky, beaucoup de
constructivistes pensent que la ngociation et linteraction ont un rle important dans les
processus mentaux suprieurs car les significations sont construites de faon conjointe.
Mais cela ne peut avoir lieu que si les tudiants parlent et scoutent mutuellement.
3. Crer la conscience chez ltudiant que les connaissances se construisent :
(Cunningham, 1992) pense que dans le cadre dune ducation fonde sur le modle
constructiviste, il est important que les tudiants aient conscience du rle quils jouent
dans la construction de leurs connaissances. La connaissance que lon a du monde est le
rsultat de nos expriences et de nos croyances, mme si les expriences et les croyances
ne convergent pas vers le mme type de connaissances. Cest cette prise de conscience
chez les tudiants qui leur permet de choisir et dfendre des prises de position bases sur
lautocritique. Cette prise de position gnre galement une capacit respecter les avis
et les prises de position des autres.

4. Motiver lappropriation de lapprentissage : Daprs Prawat 1992, la
connaissance est construite de manire active par ceux qui apprennent, cela renvoie
lide que ce sont les apprenants eux-mmes qui doivent grer lorganisation de leur
apprentissage. Les constructivistes pensent quil faut mettre au centre du processus
denseignement les efforts de ltudiant pour comprendre, cest cela qui marque un vrai
changement dans lducation mais cela ne veut pas dire que les enseignants doivent
abandonner leur responsabilit dans la salle de cours.
Toutes ces recommandations vont nous servir plus loin de point dancrage pour
notre expos de lapproche actionnelle.
Les comptences dans la perspective actionnelle

Daprs Jean Pierre Robert (2008 : 38) il y aurait plusieurs dfinitions de la
comptence, mais tous les dictionnaires saccordent la dfinir comme tant une
connaissance ou une capacit reconnue dans un domaine particulier selon quils insistent
sur le savoir ou le savoir-faire Robert J. (2008), puis lauteur nous claire sur

164
lacception quavait N. Chomsky pour qui la notion de comptence tait dfinie comme la
connaissance inne que tout tre humain possde de sa langue.
Le CECR pour sa part distingue deux types de comptences : les comptences
gnrales qui relvent de la connaissance qua un individu du monde qui lentoure et les
comptences communicatives qui relvent des habilets langagires de lapprenant dune
langue trangre. Ces deux types de comptences avaient dj t voques par Hymes
(1984, p. 47) : Les membres dune communaut linguistique ont en partage une
comptence de deux types, un savoir linguistique et un savoir sociolinguistique ou, en
dautres termes, une connaissance conjugue de normes de grammaire et de normes
demploi .
Dans un but dillustration reprenons le tableau de Jean-Michel Ducrot, (2010) sur
les composantes dfinies par le CECRL (Chapitre 5).
Lvaluation par la tche :

Le chapitre 7 du CECRL est entirement ddi la tche et aux implications
quelle a dans le processus dapprentissage des langues trangres. Le Cadre donne une
dfinition de tche dans un sens gnral et une dfinition de tche langagire. Cest
cette dfinition qui sera utile dans le travail que nous avons entrepris :
Lusage dune langue, y compris son apprentissage, comprend les actions
accomplies par des gens qui, comme individus et comme acteurs sociaux, dveloppent un
ensemble de comptences gnrales et, notamment une comptence communiquer
langagirement. Ils mettent en uvre les comptences dont ils disposent dans des
contextes et des conditions varis et en se pliant diffrentes contraintes afin de raliser
des activits langagires permettant de traiter (en rception et en production) des textes
portant sur des thmes lintrieur de domaines particuliers, en mobilisant les stratgies
qui paraissent le mieux convenir laccomplissement des tches effectuer. Le contrle
de ces activits par les interlocuteurs conduit au renforcement ou la modification des
comptences , (CECRL, 2001, p.15)

Nous avons retenu cette dfinition car elle reprend les lments attribus par le
cadre au sujet de lapprentissage, savoir : les comptences gnrales, les activits
linguistiques et communicatives, les contextes, les stratgies et les comptences.
Lexcution dune tche met donc contribution les principales notions dveloppes par
le CECRL.

Limportance de cette notion de tche rside dans les faits suivants :

1. Lapproche retenue par le CECRL pour lapprentissage des langues se
veut une approche actionnelle dans le sens o les apprenants doivent passer laction
linguistique par le biais de tches quils doivent raliser.
2. La tche constitue le cur de lapproche actionnelle et llment qui
diffrencie le plus cette approche de lapproche communicative.

165
3. Cest en excutant des tches que lapprenant acquiert la connaissance
de la langue cible et quil amliorera ses comptences communicatives car la
ralisation dune tche est une procdure complexe qui suppose donc larticulation
stratgique dune gamme de facteurs relevant des comptences de lapprenant et de la
nature de la tche , (CECRL, 2001, p.196).
4. Cest par le biais de la tche que lapprenant sinsre dans le groupe en
dfinissant son rle dacteur social.
5. Elle constitue loutil principal de lvaluation dans lapproche
actionnelle

Des tches relles ou simules ? :

Daprs le Cadre, les conditions et les contraintes pour la ralisation des tches
peuvent tre manipules, (CECRL, 2001, p.123) et par ailleurs, un dbat est ouvert en ce
moment sur le caractre rel ou simule que doivent avoir les tches communicatives,
(Evelyne B. 2010). En effet, daprs lauteur, mme si cela peut tre plus motivant pour les
apprenants de travailler sur des tches relles, il existe des situations o cela ne peut pas
tre possible. Nous pensons, que dans un contexte htroglotte la mise en place des
tches relles est possible, mais linteraction avec les acteurs sociaux ne peut pas avoir
lieu en langue cible. Prenons lexemple dun apprenant qui doit faire imprimer une affiche
publicitaire quil a cre avec ses camarades de classe : la personne qui travaille au service
de limprimante ne parle pas la langue tudie par lapprenant et la communication a lieu
forcement dans la langue maternelle des deux intervenants. Ce dcalage entre le travail
linguistique que lon veut de la part de lapprenant et les conditions linguistiques de la
ralisation de la tche en milieu htroglotte fait que des auteurs comme Evelyne Brard
sont particulirement attachs aux tches simules. De l, limportance du travail de
lenseignant qui agit en tant que dcodeur des besoins communicatifs des apprenants et
des conditions prsentes sur le terrain pour la mise en place des tches communicatives
car elles dcoulent des comptences vises, et le processus didentification du rsultat sera
valu en fonction du milieu naturel/ institutionnel, Rosen E, Shaller P, (p.169-170).

Caractristiques des tches communicatives :

Alors que lapproche communicative privilgiait les tches langagires centres
uniquement sur la communication, lapproche actionnelle aborde la notion de tche en lui
donnant des caractristiques qui font quelle nest pas que langagire. En effet, dans
lapproche actionnelle les tches sont centres sur leur caractre social et dans leur
ralisation les actes de parole ne constituent quun moyen pour arriver un but. Puren C,
(2010).
Les tches communicatives daprs le CECRL (p.121) visent impliquer
lapprenant dans une communication relle, ont un sens (pour lapprenant), sont
pertinentes (ici et maintenant dans la situation formelle dapprentissage), exigeantes mais

166
faisables (avec un rajustement de lactivit si ncessaire) et ont un rsultat identifiable
(ainsi que dautres, moins vidents dans limmdiat . Dans cet ordre dides, cest le
nombre de tches quun apprenant sera capable daccomplir de manire correcte qui va
dterminer le niveau de ses comptences. Les tches vont tre dfinies par les contextes
dapprentissage tels le niveau, le contexte hommoglotte/ htroglotte, les besoins
linguistiques spcifiques etc. Daprs Rosen E, et Shaller P, (p.169-170), dans tous les cas,
lide est que lapprenant plus quapprendre une langue pour le plaisir, le fait pour
sintgrer dans une communaut.

Ces tches doivent avoir un caractre rel, elles doivent tre faisables et doivent
correspondre aux tches quun acteur social accomplit dans son quotidien : faire des
courses, prendre rendez-vous chez le mdecin, faire des dmarches administratives etc.

Pour lauteur, les tches ralises par les apprenants pendant les cours doivent
avoir une continuit par rapport aux tches quils auront accomplir en milieu naturel.

Daprs Bourguignon C. (2006), la ralisation dune tche doit intgrer
lintgration, linteraction et la comprhension de lapprenant ; elle ne peut pas tre
dconnecte du contexte et elle doit tourner autour dun ou plusieurs objectifs sans
oublier le fait quelle doit supposer une prise de position.

Pour cet auteur, matre de confrences, la tche non langagire fait agir
lapprenant et le met en action pour atteindre lobjectif qui est celui de la russite de la
tche
40
. Elle doit tre dfinie par un verbe daction comme organiser, prparer, sensibiliser.
Les tches communicatives quant elles, doivent tre dfinies par des verbes de
communication comme crire, rdiger, annoncer etc. et pour sa construction on tient
compte de toutes les comptences langagires, savoir, la comprhension crite et la
comprhension orale, la production crite et la production orale et linteraction. Les
principales caractristiques des tches communicatives sont les suivantes :

La tche est toujours intgre dans une situation complexe et multidimensionnelle
Elle aboutit un produit qui est l'objectif final, Conejo (2006)
Il s'agit toujours d'un problme que lapprenant doit rsoudre dans une situation
extralinguistique dans laquelle il met contribution ses capacits langagires mais
pour y parvenir il doit effectuer des activits qui ne relvent pas que de la sphre
linguistique, Puren C. (2007).Une caractristique similaire nous est donne par le
CECRL, (p.19) :
Elle peut tre de nature essentiellement langagire, avoir une composante
langagire ou tre non langagire.

40
Notes prises loccasion de la confrence de Claire Bourguignon Construireunesquencedans la perspective
actionnelle: dela communication l'action, laquelle nous avons assist. Elle a eu lieu lAlliance Franaise de
Barranquilla en Colombie le lundi 12 septembre 2011.

167
Elle peut avoir des sous-tches : La nature des tches peut tre extrmement varie
et exiger plus ou moins dactivits langagires () Elles peuvent tre tout fait
simples, ou, au contraire, extrmement complexes () Le nombre dtapes ou de
tches intermdiaires peut tre plus ou moins grand () (CECRL, p.121)
La tche se dfinit travers un plan de travail
Elle a un sens pour lapprenant
La tche est finalise, c'est--dire elle doit tre ralise, accomplie dans un contexte
concret, (CECRL, 2001, p.120)
Elle est pertinente par rapport aux lves et leur contexte dapprentissage
Elle implique le recours des comptences linguistiques
Elle met en place des processus cognitifs et pragmatiques entre plusieurs acteurs
sociaux
Une tche ne peut exister que sil y a action : Il y a tche dans la mesure o laction
est le fait dun (ou de plusieurs) sujet(s) qui y mobilise(nt) stratgiquement les
comptences dont il(s) dispose(nt) en vue de parvenir un rsultat dtermin.
(CECRL, p. 15).

Exemples de tches :

En tenant compte des caractristiques des tches communicatives vues ci-dessus,
lusager du cadre peut mettre en place des tches et les insrer dans un processus
denseignement ax sur lapproche actionnelle. Nous avons imagin les exemples de
tches suivants :

Ralisation dune soire Speed dating
41

Enregistrement dune mission de radio en langue cible qui serait
diffuse la radio de lUniversit, cole etc.
Ralisation dun questionnaire et mise en place de soires cinma en
plein air.
Cration de son cv et mise en ligne sur un site internet franais de
recherche demploi
Cration de la visite guide dun muse de la ville de Carthagne
Cration dune visite guide de sa ville
42

41
Soires la mode organises aux Etats-Unis et en Europe ; les assistants ces soires, tous clibataires,
esprent y rencontrer lme sur. Ils ont tous loccasion de parler pendant 5 minutes avec des gens et de jeter
ensuite leur dvolu sur une personne en particulier.
42
Exemple de tche donn par Claire Bourguignon lors de sa confrence sur lapproche communicactionnelle
laquelle nous avons assist et qui a eu lieu lAlliance Franaise de Barranquilla en Colombie le lundi 12
septembre 2011.

168
Elaboration du dossier demand par le consulat dans le cadre dune
demande de visa tudiant
Elaboration dun cdrom d'accueil des nouveaux tudiants de linstitut
de langues/ Universit/ cole/ lyce etc. accompagn d'un forum
d'expriences.

Nous avons dj donn quelques-unes de ces tches nos tudiants de Vme
semestre de la licence de langues et nous en parlerons plus loin. Nous avons constat des
sentiments divers chez les apprenants qui ntaient pas habitus cette manire
dapprendre par laction. Nous en parlerons plus loin dans ce travail.

CONCLUSION

Bien que C. Tagliante (2005) affirme que lapproche actionnelle reprend tous les
concepts de lapproche communicative et y ajoute lide de tche, il nen est pas moins vrai
que les pratiques didactiques en classe de langue trangre changent de faon significative :
la communication en cours, la place de lapprenant, le rle de lenseignant, la conception des
manuels, lvaluation des connaissances, les nouvelles comptences prises en compte lors du
processus denseignement (Interaction orale et crite), sont des nouveauts qui sont en train
de marquer une nouvelle re dans lenseignement des langues trangres.

Une dynamique de classe visant laction dpasse la simulation, principal appui de
lapproche communicative. Les jeux de rles continuent dtre un excellent moyen pour faire
parler les apprenants mais ils sont dnus dlments rels et restent ancrs dans un monde
fictif. Faire de vraies actions en langue cible, avec de vrais acteurs sociaux et dans de vrais
contextes communicatifs, dpasse amplement lambition des jeux de rles. Mais le reproche
que nous faisons lapproche actionnelle est justement davoir pens
lenseignement/ apprentissage dans un contexte uniquement homoglotte, laissant de ct le
contexte htroglotte o les apprenants peinent trouver des acteurs sociaux parlant la
langue cible.

Ces apprenants, parlant tous lespagnol, ont une tendance naturelle parler dans cette
langue mais cela leur est le plus souvent difficile dautant quils en sont un niveau o leurs
connaissances en franais ne leur permettent pas laisance communicative. Malgr ce constat,
nous pensons que ces difficults peuvent tre surmonts en concevant des exercices, des
activits, des sous-tches et des tches adaptes au milieu de nos apprenants car nous
pensons que lapproche actionnelle apporte des lments cls pour lapprentissage des
langues trangres.

169


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actionnelle: leDiplmedeComptenceen Langue. Le Havre : ditions Belbopur.

Conseil de leurope. Qui sommes-nous .(s.f). Pris le 16,09,2013, de http:/ /
http:/ / www.coe.int/ aboutcoe/ index.asp?page=quisommesnous&l=fr

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Eje temtico 4

I V. Los ambientes de aprendizaje y
la interdisciplinariedad

Reflexiones sobre concepciones, experiencias y
dinmicas de los ambientes de aprendizaje y/ o
ambientes educativos, desde una perspectiva
interdisciplinar, y cmo stos han ido cambiando en
la sociedad contempornea. Evidencias educativas y
de aprendizaje de nuevas modalidades de formacin
que contribuyen al desarrollo integral del sujeto,
ms all de un escenario escolar.

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Ponencia 15

A High Tech Approach for EFL Classes
43

Diana Mayerly Daz Benavides
44

Abstract

The communicative language teaching paradigm has encouraged teachers to use ICT
as a way to provide, learners from non- English speaking countries, with opportunities to
interact with the foreign language. Research on second language acquisition (SLA) and
technology claims that language learning through technology has become a fact of life
regarding learning as an interactive issue mediated by information technology and the world
as stated by Rossool ( as in Chapelle, 2001). Based on the notion that interaction is necessary
for language learning, through this workshop I will explain how high technology tools turns
into an authentic language learning environment.

Key words: technology, interaction, language teaching.

Resumen

El enfoque comunicativo ha motivado a los maestros a utilizar las tecnologas de la
comunicacin y de informacin como una herramienta para que los estudiantes de pases en
donde no se habla ingls interacten con esta. Investigaciones sobre la adquisicin de una
segunda lengua y tecnologa, declaran que el aprendizaje de una lengua a travs de la
tecnologa es un hecho, considerando que el aprendizaje es interactivo, mediado por las
tecnologas de la informacin y el mundo Rossool (as in Chapelle, 2001). Basada en la idea de
que el aprendizaje de una lengua se da en interaccin, en este taller, explicar como la
tecnologa avanzada se convierte en un ambiente autntico de aprendizaje.

Palabras clave: Tecnologa, interaccin, enseanza de una lengua.

43
The participants of this pedagogical experience were twenty students taking pre- intermediate English II in
a public university in Colombia.
44
Diana Mayerly Daz holds a BA in Foreign Languages from Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de
Colombia and a Masters in Language Teaching from the same university. She works at Universidad
Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia in Tunja.

172
INTRODUCTION

The use of technology in second language learning (SLL) has gradually been
introduced by schools and universities in order to encourage learners to create their own
learning routes (Allford & Pachler, 2007; Fandio, 2012; Padurean, 2009; Chapbell, 2001).
Technology has engaged teachers and learners to create innovative ideas by means of
computer technology in a language classroom. According to Szendaeffy and Egbert (as in
Brown, 2007). The practicality to use technology in classroom has been alluded to its
multimodal [ activities] (visual, auditory, written practice) available for learners and learning
styles, making learning more authentic and meaningful.

According to Brown (2007), the evolution of approaches in language teaching during
the late 1980s and 1990s were characterized by authenticity and real world communication.
Alongside the evolution of technology, the internet is the principal medium by which
students communicate with others (Padurean, 2009). This has led many to view technology
as a tool for communicative interaction (Chantelle and Warner, 2004). Bearing in mind that
the communicative competence involves genuine interaction with the language, technology
has become a powerful tool to facilitate interaction and thus learning conditions (Gonzles-
Lloret, 2003).
There are a number of teaching experiences which involves the use of ICT within the
communicative language, and most of them agree that learners can exchange and interact
with speakers of a foreign language through a broad variety of spaces offered by the web
(Forums, e-mails, networks, blogs, etc).

Guided by the idea that technologies keep us in contact with authentic spoken or
written language, in this workshop I will describe how technology shapes foreign language
learning through communicative tasks provide learners with opportunities to interact in real
time with the foreign language.

LANGUAGE LEARNING VIA TECHNOLOGY

Research studies on language and technology argue that ICT provides opportunities
for interaction between learners (Padurean, 2009). The same author explains that online
communication people have a better insight into culture. The example of this previous
assumption became evident in the spaces provided by the World Wide Web, in which
speakers from different parts of the globe connect and find opportunities or social interaction
and language learning (Bonk and Kim in Jepson, 2005).

Enlighten by the idea of learning as a human interactive process (Pear and Todd) as
Warshauber (2000), computer networks have introduced unprecedented, [ natural and
spontaneous] ways of communication beyond the classroom. As a result, the use of
technology with pedagogical purposes has been incorporated in our learning and teaching
practices, which has been interpreted for some as a normal part of daily life Ken (as in Brown,

173
2007:200). From this regard, Padilla (2008) suggests: hay que aprender a estudiar y estudiar
una nueva manera de comunicar.

High Technology for EFL Classes

Cyberspaces such as (forums, chat rooms, networks) are few examples of the way
technology has gradually become a major contributor in language learning. From this stand
point, technology has positioned communication among people from different backgrounds
as its major development. From this respect, virtual environments represent an opportunity
to use the language and keep in contact with cultures in real time communication.
The activities that some workbooks propose for pre- intermediate levels have to do
with listening to conversations, answering questions and making decisions based on selected
information provided by the author (See figure 1). However, when using technology to
develop one of the tasks, the learners get involved in authentic opportunities to learn and use
the foreign language in a spontaneous way.
The language focus of this unit is future predictions: Will and Wont and as part of a
section denominated Real life where they propose social chit-chat. For the main task students
are asked to plan their dreamholiday.

Figure 1. Activities proposed in the book

In the previous exercise the use of the language is restricted to what the author considers
relevant for developing the main task; plan your dreamholiday. For example, if a student
chooses to go to Andaluca, he has to think first, about the target structure will, wont, and
then the reasons that allowed him to make the decision of taking the right place for
vacations. The information about Andaluca taken from the book is; 14 nights 899, self-
catering villa with swimming pool, quiet mountain villa and 40 minutes drive from beach.

174
Now, having looked at the information from the book, I thought about a different
alternative to provide learners with opportunities to understand and use the language with a
real purpose -to plan their dream trip-. I decided to search a forum that guided me to choose
the right place to visit on my holyday. I posted a question about Andaluca on a forum called
Virtual Tourist that helped me to develop the task proposed by the book.

Figure 2. Virtual tourist forum participations

175

The previous experience showed how a task can turn into a meaningful experience in
which not only language, but cultures are interconnected. In this case, the participants of the
forum did not realize that I was learning a language, but that someone needed information
about a place to visit for vacations.

With the previous exercise, communication appeared to be spontaneous. The members
offered me, a part from their opinions about the place I wanted to visit, links and pictures of
the place, which, at the same time opened the possibilities to find new spaces for learning
through communication. This allowed me to think about technology as new way of

176
examining a language, as Van de Ven (in Fandio, 2012) sates, technology makes us reflect
on innovate practices that imply a shift in the way of thinking about teaching. In other
words, authentic language relies in spaces where real communication takes place; hence, we
may consider those circumstances as opportunities for learning.

The way technology connects people through language has lead researchers on
language and technology to think about integrating CALL into interaction theories of
second language learning and teaching. However, we cannot take for granted that
technology does not require teachers intervention but on the contrary, teachers set
objectives and prepare a plan based on their experiences and knowledge about their students
needs. The instruction does not necessarily fit the technology, rather [ teachers must] focus
on course goals and objectives and take advantage of whatever technology has to enhance
those purposes (Brown, 2007: 201).
Some ideas about the process and circumstances in which learning may take pace are better
described by Brown in his book as:

Private spaces to make mistakes
Exploratory learning with large amounts of data
Collaborative learning
Authentic language input in real world context
Opportunity for learners to notice language forms
Social nature of language
The previous characteristics, allow teachers to move beyond popular and less popular
methods and start a reflection about the purposes of language in our life. Nevertheless,
through this reformulation we each one may find numerous reasons to find or not in
technology a way for learning.

CONCLUSION

The Communicative Language Teaching paradigm has led many of us to rethink the
way we construct authentic environments for learning. This has provoked changes in our
practices towards a more proficient understanding of language as a means to establish
relations with the world. Using technology as an approach to language teaching does not
mean that the classroom, the symbolic place where learning between the teacher and student
occurs, is undervalued. Instead, it becomes the target space where innovation arises and
knowledge about the world emerges.

The use of technology in our practices implies to think in particular contexts and
particular people. As we may find in our classroom students who learn different, there are
also teachers and students who no necessarily find in technology alternatives for learning
and teaching.

177
Finally, in Colombia, not everyone has access to a computer or internet connectivity.
In that sense as Kumaravadivelu (2006) explains, our approaches to language teaching may
be designed accordingly with the context where teaching a foreign language takes place;
rural, urban areas to children, adolescents or adults.

REFERENCES

Allford, D. P. (2007). Languageautonomy and thenew learning environment . Berln, DE:
International Academic Publishers.
Brown, D. (2007). Teaching by Principles An InteractiveApproach to LanguagePedagogy (3
ed.). United States: Pearson.
Chantelle, N. (2004). Its Just a Gane, Right? Types of Play in oreign Language CMC.
LanguageLearning and Technology, 82, 69-87.
Chapelle, C. A. (2001) Computer Applications in Second LanguageAcquisition. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press

Cunningham, S. M. (2005). New Cutting EdgePre- Intermediate. England: Person.
Fandio, J. (2012). The Impact of ICT Training Throguh Wikis on In-Service EFL
Teachers: Changes in Belifs, Attitudes and Competencies. HOW A Colombian J ournal
for teachers of English(19), 11-29.
Guerrero, M. (2012). the Use of Skype as a Synchronous Communication Tool between
Foreign Language College Students and Native Speakers. How A Colombian J ournal
for Teachers of English(19), 33-47.
Gonzlez-Lloret, M. (2003). Design task-based CALL to promote interaction. Language
Learning &Technology, 7(1), 86-104. Retrieved October 13, 2003, from
http:/ / llt.msu.edu/ vol7num1/ gonzalez/

Jepson, K. (2005). Conversations and Negotiation in Text and VoiceChat Rooms. Retrieved from
http:/ / llt.msu.edu/ vol9num3/ default.html
Kumaravadielo, B. (2006). Understanding languageteaching: Frommethod to postmethod.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate.
Padilla, J. (2008). Creencias delos docentes acerca del uso delas tecnologas deinformacin y
comunicacin. Retrieved julio 2013, from
http:/ / www.umng.edu.co/ documents/ 63968/ 80129/ ArticuloV2No2DrPadilla.pdf
Padurean, a. (2009). Foreign language teaching via ICT. Revista deInformtica Sociala, 97-
101.

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Pear, J. C.-T. (2002). A social constructivist approach to computed mediated instruction.
Computers and Education, 221-231.
Warschauer, M., & Kern, R. (2000). Network-based languageteaching. Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.

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Ponencia 16

Portfolio assessment with modern language students and its association
with student autonomy, motivation and progress in the L2
45

Cori Melissa OHagan
46

Abstract
The purpose of this review of the literature is to evaluate the use of Portfolio
Assessment for World Language students is associated with student success as could been
seen through student motivation, progress, goal-setting, reflection, self-evaluation,
autonomy in the learning process and awareness of ones strengths and weaknesses.

Keywords: alternative assessment, autonomy, motivation, portfolio assessment

Resumen
El propsito de esta investigacin es evaluar el uso de calificacin de lenguas modernas con
portafolio y su relacin con el xito del estudiante, la motivacin del estudiante, el desarrollo
acadmico, el aporte para alcanzar un objetivo, la reflexin, el auto-evaluacin, y la
autonoma en el proceso de aprendizaje y la conciencia de los fuertes y debilidades de uno
mismo.

Palabras clave: autonoma, evaluacin alternativa, evaluacin de portafolio, motivacin

INTRODUCTION

It is of great interest to the modern language instructor to use alternative assessment
techniques that will provide a full representation of student learning in both formative and
summative contexts over an ongoing course of time. Portfolio assessment, and particularly
electronic portfolio assessment (e-portfolio assessment), is a method that could be used with
modern language students to enhance student self-evaluation, autonomy, motivation,
reflection and overall achievement through enhanced metacognition and goal setting. This
paper, focusing on the potential benefits of e-portfolio assessment, will be divided into the

45
Proyecto desarrollado en la Universidad de San Buenaventura Cartagena de Indias; 05/ 08/ 13-05/ 09/ 13
46
Cori Melissa OHagan, magister, profesora en la Universidad de San Buenaventura, docente de lenguas
modernas-ingls

180
following sections: Introduction; Review of the Literature; Discussion; Recommendations for
Further Research; References; and Bibliography.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The following review of the literature is based primarily on databases retrieved from
The San Buenaventura University, JSTOR, ERIC, and Education Full Text. The resources
used are primarily peer-reviewed articles that date from 1995 to the present. The review of
the literature will be organized into the following sections: Methodology and Results.

METHODOLOGY

This section will describe the targeted search of the literature, the search strategy, how
articles were selected, and how the evidence from the articles was evaluated.

Methods and Procedures

The author searched databases from The San Buenaventura University, JSTOR, ERIC,
and Education Full Text. The targeted terms included: portfolio assessment, electronic portfolio
assessment, and portfolios in conjunction with second languagelearning, ESL, EFL, and foreign
languagelearning. The dates of the targeted search began August 5, 2013 and ended on
August 28, 2013. The articles selected for inclusion include portfolio use for formative and
summative assessment in relation to student language evaluationbe it the L1 or the L2,
student autonomy, student motivation, student and instructor reflection, and student
achievement and progress. The populations of the studies for chosen articles included
students in the same age bracket as the students at the San Buenaventura University
ranging from secondary school age depending on the country of the studentto university
level in an international context. Finally, the author selected primarily peer-reviewed articles
whose dates range from 1995 to the present, with the vast majority of the articles ranging
from 2003 to the present. The two articles prior to 2003 represent research findings that
mark the beginning of portfolio assessment among educators in hardcopy paper format. The
evidence of the articles was evaluated based on the quality of the research studies provided
and in direct relation to the authors interest in electronic portfolio assessment in relation to
student autonomy, self-evaluation, reflection, motivation and achievement, with interest in
the development of student metacognition and goal setting.

RESULTS

This section will describe how many articles were selected and reviewed, as well as
provide a critical evaluation and synthesis of the selected and reviewed articles. The critical
evaluation will include commonalities and trends of portfolio assessment research. The
author selected and reviewed 11 articles fitting the aforementioned criteria.

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An electronic portfolio is defined by Smith and Tolema (2003; as cited in Madden,
2007, para. 1) as, an archive of material, relating to an individual, held in digital format.
This archive of material represents the students work over a period a time, whether it is on-
going or only representative of a particular period of study. Herman, Aschbacher and
Winters (1992; as cited in Chang, Wu & Ku, 2005, p. 31) call the portfolio a collection of
learners work to illustrate his/ her progress. Portfolios can be used as either a formative or
summative assessment approach, or a combination of both formative and summative
assessment.

The portfolio is known as a form of alternative assessment, which is any kind of
assessment that is not standardized or traditional in structure or format, including aspects
such as multiple-choice, true/ false, etc. (Chang et al., 2005). Alternative assessment is seen in
portfolios, observations, peer assessment, interviews, simulations, self-assessment, oral
presentations, debates, exhibitions, and videotapes of performances, among others (Shomay,
1996; Darling-Hammond, 1994; as cited in Lynch & Shaw, 2005, p. 264). The idea is that the
portfolio assessment would provide a richer and more interdisciplinary representation of the
students work, while also allowing for a more student-centered and student-guided
approach to assessment, as the student is often responsible for selecting the portfolio
structure and the artifacts used to represent his or her learning process and learning results.

Yang (2003) compares the portfolio to that of an artists, stating, just as an artist or
designer gathers paintings and works in a portfolio to show prospective clients, portfolios
usually involve students selecting and gathering samples of their second language use (such
as compositions and video clips) into a folder to show peers, parents, and others (p. 294). As
is shown by the aforementioned descriptions, the portfolio becomes a more interdisciplinary
and multifaceted representation of language learning, and requires that students and
professors to work in conjunction to extract the most representative pieces of student work
to demonstrate a learning period over time as well as final projects that stand as benchmarks
in the students academic and pre-professional career.

As indicated by these student-centered characteristic of portfolio assessment, it can be
seen that the basis for portfolio assessment lies in the learning and teaching approach of
constructivism, which is a learning concept represented by the ideas of Dewey, Vygotsky,
and Montessori, among others (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010). A constructivist perspective
asserts that, learners construct knowledge, rather than record knowledge, where learners
construct knowledge that makes sense to them, wherein new learning depends on current
understanding, social interaction facilitates learning, and the most meaningful learning
occurs within real-world tasks (Eggen & Kauchak, 2010, p. 230). Vygotsky indicates (1978;
as cited in Alawdat, 2013) that constructivism has a useful role in the use of portfolio
assessment in education as the student is involved in a social context where they take an
active role in their learning experience in relationship to their understanding of the learning
context.

Tierney, Clark, Fenner, Herter, Simpson, and Wiser (1998) describe portfolio

182
assessment as learner centered, where portfolios offer, teachers interested in creating a
student-centered classroom a way to capture the unique patterns of learning by individuals
(p. 475). The use of e-portfolios, in particular, brings students to an even larger global
context, where they are responsible for representing and reflecting upon their learning
experience in relation to a wider global society (Alawdat, 2013). As a result, the portfolio
creates a constructivist and student-centered experience that allows for the language learner
to interact with a very wide audience. Strudler and Wetzel (2012) indicate that in using
portfolio assessment with teachers in training, student teacher reflection was deeper and
more meaningful and learning increased when there is clarity of purpose and a commitment
to constructivist, student-centered learning (p. 167). Therefore, it seems necessary to
maintain the constructivist approach in order to obtain the most successful results from
portfolio assessment.

Portfolio assessment is a constructivist method that has demonstrated many positive
outcomes. Alwadat (2013) conducts a review of the literature of 11 empirical studies from
2010 to 2012, examining the use of e-porfolios for ESL (English as a second language)
learners. The results of the study indicate that the use of e-porfolios motivated and enhanced
student writing, language learning, assessment, and technical skills (p. 339). Also indicated
in this study are the results of student language development, increased learning gains, and
the teaching of assessment for both learners and teachers (Alwadat, 2013, p. 349).

The student and the instructor learn about the instructional and learning process, as well as
allowing for reflection on the entire course of action from instruction to the uploading of
final student projects and artifacts. Mills (2009) also states that, when students create
portfolios, both the process and product are captured, allowing both students and teachers to
better understand depth of student understanding and achievement (p. 32). When the entire
student development can be seen, both students and educators can identify the steps involved
in student progress and analyze the content for further learning.

Student autonomy is another important aspect of second language acquisition, and the
research of several authors has demonstrated the use of portfolio evaluation has raised
student autonomy. Yang (2003) shows that portfolios raised students awareness of learning
strategies, facilitated their learning process, and enhanced self-directed learning (p. 293).
Teaching student autonomy creates life-long learners, who when leaving the scaffolded
environment of the university or the classroom, are able to continue advancing as perpetual
language students. If an assessment method can create this quality in its students, then it
could be preferred to other more traditional methods.

Another portfolio study developed to coincide with the Common European Framework
(CEF), and begun as the European Language Portfolio (ELP), eventually evolved into a
version of the portfolio in the United States called LinguaFolio. The LinguaFolio is a
systematic collection of student work that is analyzed to show progress over time with
regard to instructional objectives and is organized into three specific sections that unify the
students involvement with the language, or biography, with a self-assessment of what the

183
student can currently do according to the CEF, along with a collection of artifacts in a
student dossier (Ziegler & Moeller, 2013, p. 334). In analyzing this particular electronic
portfolio format, the LinguaFolio, the authors demonstrate that student self-regulated
learning is increased, demonstrating increased autonomy overall.

Furthermore, students showed increased motivation because students were able to see
the connection between ownership and responsibility in monitoring their own learning
experience (Ziegler & Moeller, 2013, p. 331). The process is like a positive feedback loop, as
students have evidence of their progress and success as represented in the portfolio.
Therefore, self-efficacy, or the belief that one can succeed at something, becomes increased,
which is like a self-fulfilling prophecy because students set goals based on real evidence and
personalized and proximal objectives, and the belief that they can in fact succeed motivates
them to pursue and monitor language-learning aspirations, allowing for real achievement in
the L2 (Ziegler & Moeller, 2013, p. 335). The authors describe the process in a series of
developmental steps, where the use of the LinguaFolio encourages self-assessment,
metacognition, self-regulation, autonomy, and intrinsic motivation, which leads to higher
achievement in the end (Ziegler & Moeller, 2013, p. 335).

Barootchi and Keshavarz (2002) further support student autonomy claims through
portfolio use, indicating that students take charge of their own learning process, and assume
ownership for their progress and achievements, as the portfolio provides students with
profiles of their emerging skills to help them become increasingly independent learners (p.
281). Furthermore, using portfolios enhanced EFL learners achievement and their feelings
of responsibility for monitoring their own progress (Barootchi & Keshavarz, 2003, p. 286).
In a study regarding music portfolios, similar results were obtained, where Mills (2009)
indicates that students reflect on their own work, evaluate their own effort, and clarify their
artifact submissions, leading to self-awareness, reflective thinking and growth in the content
area (p. 32). Not only did the students from these studies demonstrate more autonomy, they
also showed progress and achievement toward learning goals set.

Students are able to progress and achieve their goals because the use of portfolios
allows students to demystify the learning task, creating a student-centered classroom
where reflection is the central component. In deeper reflection, students are able to identify
gaps in their learning, seeing their own changes and development over time, which makes
them set clear goals as they become risk-takers and inquirers in their own learning process
(Flammer-Kassel, 1995, p. 75). When students see a task as less daunting, they see their
ability to achieve it as greater, which increases motivation. The portfolio process makes
assessment and the learning objective clearer and more student-centered, which sheds light
on the process, making it less intimidating overall.

This increase of motivation is also associated with student success. Knight, Hakel, and
Gromko (2008) demonstrated that undergraduate students with e-portfolio artifacts had
significantly higher grade-point averages, credit hours earned, and retention rates than a
matched set of students without e-portfolio artifacts (p. 1). Therefore, the overall big picture

184
success rate of students with electronic portfolios is greater than those without them.
Tabatabaei and Assefi (2012) conducted portfolio research with EFL learners who were all
English teaching majors in relation to the students writing skills and found that the use of
portfolios developed students focus, elaboration, organization, conventions and vocabulary,
improving student writing overall (p. 142). This particular population is of great relevance to
this researcher, as the students who will be involved in action research are training to
become foreign language teachers of English and French. If the target population of this
researcher is able to significantly enhance language skills, the implications for teacher
preparation are quite promising.

DISCUSSION

This section will describe this authors interpretation of the evidence provided in the
Review of the Literature. Overall, the studies reviewed demonstrate findings analogous to
the researchers original hypothesis. The variety of students returned similar results that the
use of portfolios in the modern language classroom increases student autonomy, self-
evaluation, reflection, motivation, self-efficacy, goal-setting and achievement in the L2.
Overall, it is also clear that the use of electronic portfolios should also be used in conjunction
with other formats of assessment, such as traditional teacher-made tests, as to provide a well-
rounded assessment environment for students.

It is also clear the necessity to have clear objectives and goals, provide clear
instructions, define student role in choosing and evaluating artifacts (Mills, 2009) and
integrate the use of the electronic portfolio into the daily/ weekly classroom environment.
The research recommends that those who plan to use electronic portfolios plan the process
well in advance by using rubrics and establishing clear deadlines, etc. Furthermore, students
should know why they are participating in such a time-consuming venture and have skills to
scaffold the portfolio process. Therefore, instructors should demonstrate the positive
outcomes, give students technical skills needed, assist in identifying appropriate portfolio
artifacts, give techniques for reflection, show good examples of work, give positive feedback,
and provide clear assessment guidelines (Madden, 2007, p. 22).
It is clear that student success and accomplishing the aforementioned results is dependent
upon clear planning and forethought on the part of the instructor. Maximum results are
gained when preparation and organization is used to set up the portfolio process correctly
according to the particular language learning setting and the specific student needs.

Knight, Hakel and Gromko (2008) specify further recommendations for success in the
creation of electronic portfolios. These authors recommend that the portfolio remain
student-centered while being central to learning and assessment. Furthermore, the electronic
portfolio should be necessary for the completion of course work; otherwise, it will not be seen
as indispensable and students will be less likely to interact at higher levels with the
electronic portfolio and its functions (p. 11).

It is the intention of the author to implement an electronic portfolio assessment

185
program with modern language students in a teacher training and foreign language
Bachelors program. This researcher will be conducting action research to evaluate the
effects of electronic portfolios in her particular instructional environment, with the hopes of
using the portfolio system as an ongoing method for autonomous student assessment over
the course of the five-year program, as well as into the formation years of teachers in
training. The goal is to allow for the university licensing program to feed into job acquisition
and continued life-long learning, as the researcher views teaching as profession that requires
constant updating and self-regulation in order to meet the needs of a student population
constantly in flux with an ever-changing society and diverse student needs.

Recommendations for Further Research

Based on the results of the study, there are a few suggestions that the researcher can
make. It is recommended that any future researcher who attempts to replicate this Review of
the Literature utilize a larger and more diverse sample of research articles on the topic. The
future researcher may want to attend personal development seminars and conferences on
Portfolio Assessment, as to become more skilled and experienced on the method in order to
add this element of knowledge to the research. It is also recommended that any future
research conduct action research of his or her own, as to extract results specific to the
population that he or she is interested in affecting. It is the objective of this researcher to
apply the findings of the Review of the Literature to a portfolio assessment action research
project of her own.

REFERENCES
Alawdat, M. (2013). Using e-porfolios and ESL learners. US-China Education Review A, 3(5),
339-351. Retrieved from ERIC database (ED543181)
Barootchi, N., & Keshavarz, M. H. (2003). Assessment of achievement through portfolios and
teacher-made tests. Educational Research, 44(3), 279-288. Retrieved from Education
Full Text (DOI: 10.1080/ 00131880210135313)
Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. (2010). Educational psychology: Windows on classrooms (8
th
ed.).
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
Flammer-Kassel, L. (1995). Tackling portfolios: Two texts to help. English J ournal,
(December), 75-77.
Knight, W. E., Hakel, M. D., & Gromko, M. (2008). The relationship between electronic
portfolio participation and student success. Professional File, (Spring), 1-16.
Lynch, B., & Shaw, P. (2005). Portfolios, power, and ethics. TESOL Quarterly, 39(2), 263-297.
Madden, T. (2007). Supporting student e-portfolios: A physical sciences practice guide.
Higher
Education Academy Physical Sciences Center: University of Hull, United Kingdom.
Mills, M. M. (2009). Capturing student progress via portfolios in the music classroom. Music
Educators J ournal, 96(2), 32-38.
Strudler, N., & Wetzel, K. (2012). Electronic portfolios in teacher education: Forging a
middle
ground. J ournal of Research on Technology in Education, 44(2), 161-173.

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Tabatabaei, O., Assefi, F. (2012). The effect of portfolio assessment technique on writing
performance of EFL learners. English LanguageTeaching, 5(5), 138-147.
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317. Retrieved from Education Full Text (DOI: 10.1515/ iral.2003.014)

187

Ponencia 17

valuation et TIC: une voie pour la progression des apprentissages
47

Juan Diego Martnez Marn
48

Mercedes Vallejo Gmez
49

Rsum
Cet article prsente les rsultats d'une recherche de type exploratoire et descriptive
sur lvaluation formative (EF) dans les processus dapprentissage virtuel, effectus dans les
cours de langues de deux universits de Medelln en Colombie. Lorigine du problme rside
dans la difficult (identifie lors des entretiens avec les coordinateurs des programmes)
mettre en uvre des conditions de formation e-learning qui dpassent la simple
virtualisation des cours prsentiels. Dans ce sens, ltude sest donne pour objective de
dcrire les activits dapprentissage visibles dans les cours virtuels et danalyser dans quel
sens elles rpondraient une valuation formative qui tienne compte des TIC comme un
dispositif dinteraction et dapprentissage et non seulement comme loutil purement
technologique.
Les rsultats montrent des activits dvaluation porte plutt sommative et
mcanise, bien quil y ait une perspective formative non constate dans la pratique. Un
rsultat essentiel montre le vide dinformation sur lautovaluation et lvaluation par les
pairs considrant leur place essentielle dans les TIC, grce aux multiples possibilits
d'espaces synchrones et asynchrones, de formats, langages, information, et des ressources
quelles donnent. Ce qui expliquerait, son tour, les nouveaux rles des enseignants en tant
que modrateurs et des apprenants plus autonomes.

Mots cls
Evaluation formative, e-learning, valuation par les pairs, environnements
dapprentissage en ligne.

47
Recherche dveloppe dans les programmes de langues de deux universits de Medelln, Colombie par le
groupe Mesl (mthodologies et lvaluation en langues trangres) de l'Universit Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB)
48
Juan Diego Martnez Marn, juandi.martinez@upb.edu.co. Tel (574)3544562. Universidad Pontificia
Bolivariana, Facultad de Educacin, Medelln, Colombia.
49
Mercedes Vallejo Gmez, mercedes.vallejo@upb.edu.co Tel (574)3454562 Ext. 13256 Universidad Pontificia
Bolivariana, Facultad de Educacin, Medelln, Colombia.

188

Resumen
Este artculo presenta los resultados de una investigacin de tipo exploratorio y
descriptivo sobre la evaluacin formativa (EF) en procesos de aprendizaje mediados
tecnolgicmente. El contexto de estudio corresponde a cursos de lengua de dos universidades
de la ciudad de Medelln, Colombia. El origen del problema reside en la dificultad
(identificada en entrevistas con los coordinadores de los programas) para desarrollar cursos
virtuales que superen la mera digitalizacin de formatos provenientes directamente de los
ambienes presenciales. En este sentido, el estudio tiene como objetivo integral la descripcin
de las actividades de aprendizaje visibles en los cursos virtuales para analizar su
correspondencia con estrategias de EF, que den cuenta del uso de las TIC como medios de
interaccin y no slo como instrumentos puramente tecnolgicos.
Los resultados muestran actividades de evaluacin de tendencia sumativa y mecnica,
si bien subsiste una perspectiva terica formativa que no se constata en la prctica. Un
resultado escential muesta el vaco de informacin en cuanto a la autoevaluacin y la
coevaluacin, consideradas stas como estrategias fundamentales de la EF, las cuales se
potencian en la virtualidad gracias a la flexibilidad de espacios sincrnicos y asincrnicos, de
formatos, lenguajes, informacin y recursos. Todo lo cual demanda, a su vez, nuevos roles de
los docentes como moderadores y de los estudiantes como agentes activos de sus propios
procesos y aprendizajes.
Palabras clave
Evaluacin formativa, co-evaluacin, ambientes de aprendizaje, e-learning

PRESENTATION
La recherche laquelle fait rfrence cet article traite de lvaluation formative (EF)
et son volution dans les cours e-learning. Ltude a t dveloppe dans les programmes de
langues de deux universits de Medelln, Colombie (que lon nomme ici U1 et U2), et elle a
t mene par le groupe Mesl (mthodologies et lvaluation en langues trangres) de
l'Universit Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) de la mme ville. Mesl travaille sur des
mthodologies alternatives pour l'apprentissage des langues trangres, en analysant les
diffrents contextes et les spcificits des apprenants. Aussi, tudie-il les nouveaux espaces
d'apprentissage portant sur les technologies de linformation et de la communication (TIC),
et les transformations comportant l'valuation et les rles des apprenants.
Le regard port -par Mesl- sur l'valuation relve de son intrt distinguer
valuation de notation, afin de faire le point sur le processus et non sur le produit. Ceci nous
conduit apprhender lEF comme une valuation pour lapprentissage et nous permet de
laisser lvaluation des apprentissages pour dautres objectifs, notamment de promotion.
Lvaluation a des rpercussions importantes sur l'ensemble dacteurs de lducation :
les enseignants, car ils en ont la responsabilit pour la promotion, et les tudiants, car ils en
souffrent le stress dans son parcours acadmique. Enseignants et apprenants font face

189
aujourdhui des programmes de cours en ligne impliquant des rythmes difficiles rattraper
cause de nouvelles mthodologies et de processus dvaluation qui ne sont pas encore
intgrs aux plans dtudes (Vallejo & Patio, 2011). Il semblerait dailleurs quil ny ait pas
de consensus sur la manire de les intgrer si lon prend compte les formes de communication
voire dinteraction impliquant les apprentissages en ligne (Herrera-Batista, 2009). Il existe
certes des programmes de formation des enseignants sur lutilisation de lordinateur, sur la
faon de naviguer sur Internet et sur lutilisation les rseaux sociaux, sans aller plus loin sur
les rflexions pdagogiques.
Les environnements dapprentissage en ligne conoivent des interactions qui crent
de nouveaux rles pour les acteurs de l'ducation (Merieu, 2001). Ce qui induit galement des
changements dans lvaluation. Alvarez Cadavid (2010) souligne que, dans cette re de la
technologie, il est ncessaire d'tudier non seulement les nouvelles pratiques sur Internet,
mais aussi les diffrents modes d'interaction qui relvent de la virtualit ; car cela offre un
lieu de rencontre et une nouvelle faon de socialiser, ainsi quune nouvelle faon d'apprendre
(Stipek, 1988).
Dans ce projet de recherche, les formes d'interaction et de communication provenant
des TIC sont explores dans la perspective de lEF et son rapport aux stratgies
dapprentissages, telles que le travail collaboratif, la rgulation et la rflexion. Ces stratgies
dveloppent de plus lautonomie chez ltudiant, considre celle-ci comme lun des
comptences acquises du travail avec les TIC.
EF et autonomie vont de pair dans les environnements d'apprentissage en ligne qui
incitent la matrise individuelle et les processus dvaluation et de rgulation de ltudiant.
EF et autonomie participent la redfinition des rles : ltudiant en tant que sujet actif,
critique et rflchi (Bedoya et Ardila, 2006) ; et l'enseignant comme guide du processus.
Nous proposons ici quelque notions de dpart sur lEF qui reprennent les concepts
proposs par Jorba y Casellas (1997), Philippe Perrenoud (1998), Linda Allal (1988),
Charles Hadji (1999). Ainsi, nous rsumons ce concept de lEF comme laction qui se droule
pendant lapprentissage et comporte une notion de progrs, de changement, dadaptation ; ce
qui permet aussi de surmonter la notion de lvaluation sommative qui a toujours (mme
encore) appart comme slection, sanction, contrle. LEF offre des indications concernant la
progression des apprentissages afin dassister la rgulation des actions pdagogiques et
lautorgulation pour lapprentissage.
Plus rcemment, Vallejo et Estrada (2006), et Arias et Al (2009) runissent des
stratgies pour mettre en place une EF performante et proposent lautovaluation, la Co
valuation (valuation entre des pairs) et les rflexions sur lapprentissage comme des
activits qui accompagnent en permanence le processus dapprentissage : lautovaluation
comme lexamen critique que, dans un acte dintrospection, ralise ltudiant lui-mme sur
une tche ralise ; la Co valuation, comme un exercice d'interaction et de collaboration
entre les tudiantes. Autovaluation et Co valuation se prsentent comme des exercices qui
poursuivent les tches de la classe. Il y a aussi la rflexion comme un acte qui se fait pour
valuer non une tche particulire mais le niveau de dveloppement dune comptence
communicative vise ou bien pour la rvision des acquis gnraux et des procdures.

190
Assumer lEF dune manire consciente, systmatique et systmique (Arias et al,
2009 ; Bachman et Palmer, 1996) dans un cours de langue permet dintgrer mthodologie et
valuation comme une voie de russite pour la progression des apprentissages (Vallejo et
Martinez, 2011).
Bien qu'il existe de nombreuses tudes sur l'apprentissage des langues en ligne,
lvaluation de la comptence communicative ne se fait que par la voie des preuves
objectives et autonomiss qui parlent peu dune valuation formative (Moya, 2007 ; Vallejo &
Martinez, 2011). On y trouve des activits isoles conduisant plutt la notation et non la
rgulation de lapprentissage. Ainsi, l'intrt de cette recherche est dalimenter une ligne
d'tude sur lEF et ses effets sur la progression des apprentissages dans des cours mdiatiss
par la technologie numrique.

Objectif
Dcrire les activits dapprentissage proposes dans les cours de langues en ligne et
les analyser la lumire dune perspective dEF.

METHODOLOGIE
Nous avons ralis une tude qualitative de type exploratoire et descriptive laide de
deux stratgies mthodologiques:
La premire, le groupe de discussion (GD), utilis, dune part, comme un espace
d'interaction entre les chercheurs et lanalyse des donnes (Giraldo, 2010; Galeano, 2012) ; et
de lautre, comme une stratgie de systmatisation de linformation faite laide des rapports
rdigs dans chaque runion du GD. Le GD, lui, a t compos par des chercheurs et des
tudiants en formation chercheurs, ces derniers invits volontairement.
La deuxime, l'tude de cas, considrant que la ralit tudie est locale et situe
(Alvarez Cadavid, 2010) dans le programme de langue spcifique de chaque universit
implique; les deux cas comportent des expriences particulires de mise en uvre d'une
composante virtuelle dans les cours de langues. La question de la recherche a t constate
lors des entretiens faites aux coordinateurs des programmes de langues des U1 et U2. Ils ont
remarqu les difficults dans la mise en uvre des conditions de formation e-learning qui
puissent dpasser la simple virtualisation des cours prsentiels.
Les informations ont t recueillies partir de quatre outils et en deux tapes : dans la
premire tape, et afin de caractriser la structure virtuel des cours (Mayorga, 2004), nous
avons analys les documents descriptifs des programmes impliqus, et les entretiens ralises aux
coordinateurs des programmes de chaque universit; dans une deuxime tape, et afin
dexaminer et analyser linformation contenue dans les cours (Cohen, Manion et Morrison,
2000), nous avons fait les observations des cours en ligne ; les donnes ont t analyses par
une mise en relation avec linformation provenant des rapports du GD.

191
De lanalyse des documents et des entretiens nous avons construit un inventaire de
chaque programme dont linformation dcrit le contexte tudi. Voici la grille rsultante :
Grille1 : Inventairedu contexte
Inventaire du contexte
Programa U 1 U 2
Nombre de
cours par
programme
4 cours de 64 heures chacun 8 cours de 40 heures
chacun
Niveaux de
rfrence
viss
B1 B2
Relation
virtuel /
prsentiel
93% en ligne pour lensemble
des activits dapprentissage.
20% en ligne pour des
activits supplmentaires et de
rvision.
7% prsentiel pour le dbut du
cours et pour les examens
80% prsentiel pour
lensemble des activits
dapprentissage et dvaluation
Portail Moodle : constitu dun
format institutionnel unique et des
units didactiques unifies pour tous
les cours
Moodle : constitu dun
format institutionnel unique, et
des units didactiques diffrentes
dessines par chaque enseignant
dans chaque cours
Qui dirige la
mdiation
technologiq
ue
Le portail Moodle selon le
modle en ligne proposs et une
petite partie lenseignant
Seul lenseignant
Caractristi
ques de la
mthodolo
gie
-Des activits d'apprentissage,
d'valuation et des activits de
rvision suivant des instructions en
ligne.
-Organisation d'activits par
des habilits: lecture, coute,
grammaire et vocabulaire.
-valuation en ligne, la
faon dune valuation mchanique
(une seule rponse) compte tenu de
l'option pour rpter.
-Mthodologie base sur le
dveloppement de lautonomie de
l`tudiant.
-Approches par les
comptences : comprhension,
production e interaction orale et
crite.
-Des activits
dapprentissage prsentielles et
virtuelles proposes par chaque
enseignant.
-Du feedback fait par
lenseignant
-valuation faite par
lenseignant ; la sommative seule
dans le prsentiel.
-Mthodologie base sur
lautonomie et lvaluation
formative.

192
Lvaluation valuation mchanique faite
par le portail Moodle
La notation est donnes
tant pour le processus que pour le
rsultat
Les critres
de
promotion
Russi et non russi Des notations sur / 5, dont
la moyenne est 3.0
Le feedback -Fait de manire mchanique
para le portail Moodle qui a t
pralablement quip dactivits
dapprentissage et dvaluation
-Lenseignant renvoie aussi du
feedback qualitative par courriel
-fait toujours par l
lenseignant tant sur les activits
en ligne que sur celles
prsentielles.
La
formation
continue des
enseignants
- Des sminaires de formation
aux TIC organises par le Centre de
langues et diriges a tous les
enseignants
- Des cours de formation
aux TIC proposs par l'universit.
- Diplme de formation
dans les environnements en ligne

Linformation rassemble dans ce tableau prcise la structure des cours qui comptent
certes sur les TIC. Lon montre un projet qui dcrit des mthodologies favorisant et
l'interaction et l'autonomie, ce qui concide avec linformation provenant des discours des
coordinateurs. Dans lU1, il ya une proposition base sur la formation en autonomie, qui va
de mme avec l'orientation mthodologique de lU2. Cette dernire propose ses cours dans
une approche par comptences (comprhension, interaction et production orale et crite,
selon le Consejo de Europa (2001) ; et l lU1 le fait par habilits (lire, crire, parler, couter).
LU1 compte sur un portail Moodle dun format institutionnel avec un design exclusif
et unifi pour tous les cours. LU2 prsente un portail Moodle dont chaque enseignant
marque son cours de ses particularits. Les activits virtuelles dans lU1 sont intgres la
mthodologie et l'valuation, tandis que lU2 ne compte sur des activits virtuelles que pour
la rvision et les activits supplmentaires.
Lenseignant joue un rle considrablement prsent dans le programme de lU2,
tandis quil est moins prsente dans lU1 o lon utilise plus largement le portail Moodle avec
des activits dapprentissage et dvaluation automatises.
Or la deuxime tape de la recherche concernant les observations des cours se fait
aprs avoir t dispenss et pourvus des codes d'accs afin de naviguer sur les portails
Moodle des institutions. Chaque cours a t observ deux reprises par deux groupes de
chercheurs diffrents. Pour un premier moment dobservation nous avons prpar une grille
compose des indicateurs observer dfinis selon un objectif vis qui facilite lanalyse
ultrieur en relation avec les objectifs de ltude.
Pour le deuxime moment dobservation, lon a construit, dans le cadre du GD, un
tableau des catgories qui est relev de lanalyse des rsultats de la premire grille. Ceci a
permis d'organiser l'information en quatre catgories: les stratgies de l'valuation, les

193
formes de valoration des produits, les mthodologies et les formes de la mdiation et de
linteraction TIC.
Il faudrait signaler que le GD a intgr lensemble des techniques et doutils de
recherche, savoir, l'analyse de documents, des entretiens et de lobservation. Chaque sance
de runion du GD a t poursuite dun rapport de recueil danalyses et des discussions, ce qui
a permis la fois de fixer, vrifier et ajuster la construction des outils, et aussi de valider la
procdure danalyse de donnes.

PRSENTATION DES RSULTATS
Lanalyse des catgories (valuation, notation, TIC et mthodologie) a dvoil les
dmarches qui pourraient montrer des formes diverses dvaluation. Ainsi, nous mettons en
vidence quatre aspects importants que nous dtaillons dans ces rsultats : les corrections de
grammaireet les expressions demotivation, comme les actions qui privilge lenseignant dans
lU1 et lU2; les questionnaires, qui comprennent lactivit la plus frquente dans les cours de
lU1, tant pour les exercices de rvision que pour lvaluation (notation) ; lautovaluation et le
feedback dont lappellation est donne des activits non explicitement formatives ; et les
fonctionnalits du portail les plus utiliss (forum, courriel, questionnaire).
La correction degrammairese dcouvre comme lactivit la plus visible dans les cours.
Nous y trouvons que dans les deux institutions, les aspects linguistiques et la comprhension
de textes oraux et crits comprennent lensemble dactivits ralises tout au long des cours.
Il y a des corrections, de la part de lenseignant, qui portent en particulier sur la grammaire
et le vocabulaire.
Nous distinguons trois types de commentaires faits par lenseignant sur la ralisation
dune tche : 1) des remarques directes sur la grammaire telles que le verbe est mal
conjugu , l'adjectif saccord du substantif , soyez prudent avec lutilisation des lettres
majuscules . 2) des expressions de motivation : excellent , bon travail , bonne
continuation . 3) Et des corrections directes sur la mme phrase propose par ltudiant
ltudiant crit : My nameis Peter. I am19 years old. I study civil engineering. l likeswin /
lenseignant replique: Hi Peter, thanks for your short presentation. You said you like
SWIMMING.
Ces exemples exposent ce que lon a trouv dans la plupart des cours observs. Le
problme demeure sur le manque dintervention de ltudiant pour quil y ait une vritable
interaction, pour entretenir la chane de communication. Le seul impliqu dans ce dialogue
est l'enseignant qui fait un commentaire ou exprime un accord sur la tche accomplie par
l'tudiant. C'est--dire que ses commentaires sarrtent l et ne donnent lieu aucune
interaction relle: seul lmission dun message est constate.
De toute faon, les commentaires des enseignants sur le forum constituent dj un
chemin qui se construit en faveur des interactions possibles dans les environnements virtuels.
Il faut bien remarquer son intention de faire des corrections, puisque ce quil propose
comporte dj une tape importante de la rvision, donc de lvaluation. De ce fait, Aretio

194
(2001) signale que "la rponse immdiate de l'enseignant en commentant le travail des lves
devient un lment formatif important" (p. 289). Cependant, lon ne constate nulle part de
rplique de ltudiant. On ny trouve aucun indice de rvision de son travail. Cest--dire que
les efforts de lenseignant nont pas de retour de la part de ltudiant. Il ny a l le moyen de
constater ni la rflexion faite par ltudiant ni la reconstruction correcte de son devoir.
Dautre part, les remarques de lenseignant continuent faire le point sur les aspects
purement grammaticaux. Ce qui pourrait indiquer quil y a soit un concept rduit de ce qui
constitue lapprentissage dune langue, soit un problme, de dcalage par rapport
lvaluation formative, qui obit aux exigences du systme dvaluer les tudiants rapidement
par manque de temps ou dautres enjeux de la profession enseignante.
Par ailleurs, nous avons les questionnaires QCM (questionnaires choix multiples),
utiliss particulirement dans lU1 tant pour les tches de classe que pour les examens.
Nombre dactivits dapprentissage sont faites laide des questionnaires. Ltudiant choisi
une rponse qui est automatiquement accepte ou rejete. Quelque fois ltudiant loccasion
de modifier pour une seule fois la rponse et corriger l'erreur marque. Lon ne sait pas pour
autant sil y a une rflexion, donc une valuation formative, de la part de ltudiant au
moment de choisir une deuxime rponse.
Dans ce sens, nous trouvons certes une question qui a attir notre attention sur les
bonnes rponses que le systme offre automatiquement lors de l'excution des activits du
portail. Il sagit du feedback qui est le nom donn laction de retour sur la bonne rponse qui
donne le portail ; et lautovaluation qui correspond laction faite par ltudiant lors du
changement dune rponse errone.
Ceci nous fait penser un type de retour qui n'est pas exprim de manire qualitative
- qui aurait donc peu de chance dtre formative- ; mais qui correspond leffet donn par la
comparaison entre la rponse donne par ltudiant et celle qui est correcte. Dans ce sens,
nous aurions de diffrents types de feedback : 1) celui donn automatiquement par le portail
Moodle, partir duquel il pourrait avoir un peu de rflexion sur les erreurs commises, mme
si elle est inconscienteil faudrait aller plus loin dans une tude ultrieure - ; 2) celui donn
par lenseignant lui-mme lors de la communication dirige vers l'tudiant qui correspond au
cas dont nous avons dj parl avant.
Mais il y aurait aussi une troisime alternative pour le feedback qui sexprime dans
lvaluation entre les pairs qui nest pas vident sur les cours observs. Nous navons trouv
aucune entre sur le forum qui indique un commentaire dun pair sur le travail de son
camarade. Un travail collaboratif aiderait les tudiants s'engager dans le dialogue avec ses
pairs pour des constructions en collectif ; une activit qui est bien possible aujourdhui grce
aux formes diverses et flexibles de la communication favorise par les TIC. Lpez Pastor
(2011) proclame que pour comprendre l'valuation partage et formative il faut impliquer les
lves dans le processus d'valuation ce qui exige aussi un processus de dialogue et de prise
de dcision collective.
Le dernier aspect que nous dtaillons dans les rsultats est constitu par Les ressources
numriques disponibles sur le portail Moddle : nous parlons du chat et du forum qui se

195
constatent comme les ressources les plus utiliss dans les cours observs sans tenant compte
des questionnaires que lon a dj expliqus- . Ces deux ressources sont utilises pour la
remise des travaux qui correspond aux activits de production crite. Lenseignant reoit
les copies des tudiants et renvoie un commentaire qui na pas de rplique de la part de
ltudiant- comme nous lavons dj indiqu avant-
Les ressource ne sont pas axs sur les interactions ou les processus de communication
entre les tudiants (participation de groupe) et le professeur ; si lon parle des comptences de
comprhension, interaction et production crite et orale, nous constatons que les activits
privilgient la comprhension et la production et non pas encore linteraction.
Ces activits pourraient reprsenter la premire tape dune valuation formative,
pourvu que lon dcrive pralablement les critres dvaluation. Cest dire que nous comptons
dj sur la ralisation de la tche communicative et les commentaires de lenseignant mme
sils sont limits-. Il faudrait ensuite constater la comprhension et la rvision faites par
ltudiant. Mais il faudrait davantage vrifier linteraction entre les pairs, voire, queux aussi
ils fassent des commentaires sur les tches des camarades de classe comme un exercice
privilgi pour une vritable valuation formative. Il le signale bien Lpez Pastor (2011) lors
de cette dclaration. "L'valuation formative travers l'Internet est une stratgie efficace
base sur l'individualisation de l'apprentissage, afin de permettre l'interaction des diffrents
agents et pour suivre les progrs et les difficults en associant plusieurs canaux de
communication et de scnarios" (p. 139).

CONCLUSION
Rappelons tout dabord que cette recherche se fait dans le but dalimenter les
rflexions sur les approches pdagogiques appuys par TIC dans des cours de langues, sans
vouloir, dans aucun cas, faire des jugements sur les actions ou procdures qui montrent les
cours observs. Par contre, lanalyse des dynamiques existantes nous permettent de voir o
en on est et quelles dmarches pour la suite.
En gnrale, les rsultats montrent de nombreuses activits dvaluation porte
plutt sommative et mcanise, dans lU1 ; et peu dactivits de type formative dans les deux
universits si lon tient compte de quelques commentaires vidents sur les forums et les
courriels apports par les enseignants. La perspective dvaluation formative et de formation
en autonomie reste, cependant, important dans le projet thorique de chaque institution et
dans le discours des coordinateurs. Elle nest pas pour autant constate dans la pratique.
Il y a certes lintention de mettre en uvre des projets de cours en ligne et il y a
mme des conceptions thoriques sur ce qui devrait tre transforms par les TIC, mais les
efforts ne parviennent pas transformer lvaluation.
Un rsultat essentiel montre le vide dinformation concernant lautovaluation et
lvaluation par les pairs considrant que celles-ci font place essentielle dans les nouvelles
formes de communication conues par les TIC. Il faudrait cependant des indices qui

196
indiquent si les tudiants ont compris le feedback de lenseignant ; il faudrait galement avoir
des indices sur un processus dautovaluation qui montre la faon dont ltudiant a fait la
correction et le type de rflexion quil a fait sur lerreur commis pour lviter dans la suite.
Nous proposons tenir compte pour lvaluation formative : de lautovaluation et de la
Co valuation comme des dispositifs qui accompagnent sans cesse les tches de classe, et des
rflexions sur le processus dapprentissage qui se droulent en alternance ; elles supposent
toutes les trois la description critique et la rgulation dune action donne. Nous parlons
donc des processus de communication, cest--dire, communication avec soi mme -
autovaluation- et avec les autres -Co valuation et htro valuation-. Cela dit, lvaluation
savre transforme due la multiplicit de langages, mais aussi de formats et de ressources
qui convergent dans les TIC pour la communication.
Nous proposons ainsi que la mthodologie emporte lvaluation dans son volution.
Ce qui peut sexpliciter en faisant les activits dvaluation formative dune manire
systmique et systmatique. Cest--dire que chaque tche de classe soit accompagne de
processus dautovaluation, de covaluation et de rflexions. Afin dy parvenir nous laissons
la porte de tous nos lecteurs cette grille de rvision des cours qui permet de faire un exercice
de rflexion sur ce qui pourrait constituer un cours de langue dans un environnement
dapprentissage numrique.
observer Pour quoi faire
Le programme du
cours
Comprendre les approches ou les mthodes qui le
sous-tendent
La squence des
activits
Identifier la complexit des cours
Les instructions Distinguer les rles des enseignants (modration) et
des tudiants (e-participation)
Les processus Vs
les produits
Diffrencier les conceptions de lvaluation
Le processus de
reflexion
Suivre les ndices dautovaluation
Le feedback Dcrire des notions dvaluation formative
La participation des
tudiants
Reconnatre des formes dautonomie
La communication Identifier les formes des interactions
Le rapport entre les
sujets
Distinguer le travail collaboratif et les formes de la
covaluation
Les outils et les
ressources utiliss
Distinguer la relation entre le dispositif
technologique et la mdiation technologique

197

REFERENCES
Allal, L. (1991): Vers une pratique de lvaluationformative. Bruxelles : De Boeck
lvarez Cadavid, Gloria Mara (2010). Contenidos digitales para la educacin: de los
productos didcticos a los procesos de comunicacin para el aprendizaje. En
Monogrfico Maestra en Educacin UPB. Medelln: Editorial UPB.
Alvarez Cadavid, G. (2010). El estudio de caso: apuesta por una indagacin detallada y
situada. En Monogrfico, maestra en Educacin UPB vol 2. Medelln: Editorial
UPB.
Arias, C. et l. (2009). Sistema de evaluacin en lenguas extranjeras. Medelln: UdeA
reimpresos
Bachman, L. & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language Testing in Practice: Designing and
Developing Useful LanguageTests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bedoya, Juan R. y Ardila, Mara E. (2006). La inclusin de la plataforma de
aprendizaje en lnea MOODLE en un curso de gramtica contrastiva espaol-
ingls. kala, 11 (17), 181-205.
Lpez Pastor V. (2009). Evaluacin formativa y compartida en educacin superior:
propuestas, tcnicas, instrumentos y experiencias. Madrid: Narcea, S.A.
Consejo de Europa (2001). Marco de Referencia Europeo para el Aprendizaje, la
Enseanza y la Evaluacin deLenguas.
Vallejo, M. & Estrada, L. (2006). Russir une valuation sommative en classe de
langues grce une valuation formative perfomante. En Synergies Venezuela,
revuedu Gerflint 2, p. 258-265
Garca Aretio, L. (2001). La educacin a distancia: dela teora a la prctica. Barcelona:
Editorial Ariel, Grupo planeta. Capitulo 11: la evaluacin pp. 287-305
Galeano Marn, Mara Eumelia. (2012). Estrategias de investigacin social cualitativa:
el giro en la mirada. Medelln: La Carreta Editores E.U.
Giraldo Ramrez, Mara Elena (2010). Del grupo focal al grupo de discusin: una
apuesta por la interaccin en la investigacin social. Monogrfico Maestra en
Educacin UPB, N 3. Medelln: Editorial UPB
Hadji, Charles. (1999). Lvaluation Dmystifie. Paris: ESF diteur. 2da edicin.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2000). Research methods in education. 5th ed.
London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Jorba, Jaume y Casellas, Ester (Eds.). (1997) La regulacin y la autorregulacin
delos aprendizajes. Madrid: Editorial Sntesis.
Merieu P.: (2001). Frankenstein Educador. Barcelona: Laertes.
Moya, J os. (2007). Competencias bsicas en educacin. Conferencia en el Saln de
Actos del CEP de Granada. Organizacin CEP de Motril. Granada, mayo
2007. En: http:/ / competenciasbasicas.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 08/ captulo-2.html.
Consultada en junio 5, 2011.
Mayorga Fernndez, M.J.(2004). La entrevista cualitativa como tcnica de la
evaluacin de la docencia universitaria. Revista Electrnica deInvestigacin y
Evaluacin Educativa,10(1).

198
Perrenoud, Philippe. (1998). Lvaluation des lves. Dela fabrication delexcellence la
rgulation des apprentissages : entredeux logiques. Bruxelles: De Boeck &Larcier
S.A
Stipek Deborah, J. (1988) Motivation to Learn fromTheory to PracticeUniversity of
California. Los Angeles. Englewood Cliff. New Jersey. Prentice Hall.
Vallejo, M., Martnez, J.D. (2011). Tarea y competencia comunicativas: reflexiones
desde un grupo focal. Ikala, revista de lenguaje y cultura, 16(28), 161-197.
Medelln: Editorial Universidad de Antioquia
Vallejo Gmez, M. y Patio Lemos, M.R. (2011). Caracterizacin de prcticas con tic
por actores diferenciados en cuatro comunas de la ciudad de Medelln: un
abordaje para el reconocimiento de la apropiacin tecnolgica. Revista Q, 5 (10),
enero-julio.
http:/ / eav.upb.edu.co/ RevQ/ articulos/ ver/ 398

199

Eje temtico 5

V. La interculturalidad en el
currculo de lenguas
extranjeras

Reflexiones, anlisis o investigaciones sobre
lineamientos y procesos curriculares, diseo de
cursos y metodologas, de los programas de
lenguas extranjeras, para determinar en qu
medida tienen en cuenta la formacin intercultural
y su relacin con la competencia comunicativa.

200

Ponencia 18

Understanding the teaching of culture from a multicultural,
intercultural and pluricultural perspective in an EFL class
50

Aura Mara Huertas
51

Adriana Maritza Rivera Barreto
52

Resumen
Con el transcurrir de los aos la cultura ha evolucionado, sealando diferentes
cuestiones dependiendo del campo de estudio; cuando se relaciona el termino cultura con
educacin, esta se percibe como una adicin positiva incluida por primera vez por el mtodo
comunicativo, donde los aprendices participan activamente en un contexto especfico usando
el conocimiento lingstico y social el cual es adquirido a travs de la colegiatura la cual debe
ser la meta en educacin y considerando el historial de una persona. Seguidamente, la cultura
tambin se define como la manifestacin de un grupo de personas a travs del lenguaje,
religin, hbitos sociales, entre otras caractersticas; por eso, el sistema de educacin necesita
apoyar la inclusin de una consciencia multicultural, intercultural y pluricultural dentro del
currculo de para estimular el conocimiento y entendimiento hacia otras culturas y de esa
manera ser un actor social en una comunidad y finalmente, mostrar la identidad de la propia
cultura. Como resultado de lo mencionado anteriormente, existe una necesidad de promover
las competencias multicultural, intercultural y pluricultural en un aula EFL para mostrar la
cultura de diferentes formas; inicialmente, la competencia multicultural se refiere al
reconocimiento de la cultura como medio de acceso y de esta manera involucrarse in la
diversidad de culturas en un ambiente dado; por otro lado, la competencia intercultural
denota los valores que una persona debe poseer con el fin de estar comprometida de una
manera concreta abarcando temas como la discriminacin o injusticia y finalmente, la
competencia pluricultural indica la adopcin de un idioma y aceptacin de la cultura para
tomar parte in una interaccin. Finalmente, esta investigacin quiere dar cuenta de la
importancia de entender la cultura en trminos de multiculturalidad, interculturalidad y
pluriculturalidad en un aula EFL y como resultado de este estudio se concluy que los
estudiantes en formacin docente reflexionaron y discutieron la importancia de involucrar la
cultura y sus enfoques en sus futuras prcticas de enseanza por medio de series de

50
This research Project was done in Tunja at Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia in August
2012.
51
Ma Candidate in Language Teaching, UPTC, English Language Teacher
52
Ma in in English Language Teaching Autonomous Learning Environments from Universidad de La Sabana,
Universidad Santo Toms Tunja, English Language Teacher.

201
televisin, videos y artculos. Adems, aclararon malos entendidos acerca de los tres enfoques
intentando disear una unidad curricular con uno de los trminos.

Palabras claves: Cultura en el ingls como lengua extranjera, multiculturalismo,
interculturalismo and pluriculturalismo

Abstract
Over the years the term culture has evolved, tackling different issues depending on
the field of study; when it is referred to the ground of education culture is perceived as a
positive complement included firstly in the communicative approach, where learners are able
to participate actively in a given context using the linguistic and social knowledge acquired
through school what must be the goal of education and taking into account the cultural
background of each person. Simultaneously, cultures is also defined as the manifestation of a
particular group of people through language, religion, social habits among other
characteristics; therefore, the system education needs to support the inclusion into the
curriculum of a multicultural, intercultural and pluricultural awareness to stimulate the
knowledge and understanding toward other cultures and that way to be proficient to perform
in a given community and lastly, to show the identity of the own culture. As a result of the
above assertions, there is a need to promote multicultural, intercultural and pluricultural
competences in the EFL classroom in order to display culture in numerous forms; initially,
the multicultural competence refers to the recognition of culture as a means of access to be
involved in the diversity of cultures in a given environment, intercultural competence
denotes the values a person must poses to be engaged in a concrete way addressing
discrimination or unfairness and pluricultural competence indicates the adoption of a
language and acceptance of culture to take part in an the interaction. Finally, this research
looked for giving an account of the importance of understanding culture in terms of
multiculturalism, pluriculturalism and interculturalism in an EFL classroom and as a result
of this study it can be concluded that student teachers reflected and discussed the importance
of involving culture and its approaches to their future practices by means of tv series, videos
and articles. In addition, they clarified misunderstandings about the three approaches and did
a try on designing a curricular unit about one of these terms.

Key words: Culture in EFL, multiculturalism, interculturalism and pluriculturalism.

PRESENTATION

This is a research study carried out with student teachers from the Modern
Languages Program at Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia in a course
called materials design. It used a qualitative action research since it looked for exploring and
constructing participants ideas about the cultural approaches and the importance of
encouraging culture in the EFL class as future language teachers. The instruments used for
this study were unstructured interviews, participants discussion and participants reflections.
This study was done under the reasons that student teachers who are in the way to become
professionals in the foreign language presented a low comprehension about how to approach

202
culture from the three cultural perspectives. This inclusion has been neglected from their
early educational years up to now since the main focus has been on learning grammar,
designing classroom activities based just on food and festivals without nothing upon it and
also the constant use of textbooks which do not provide and contextualize the reality in
lessons.
This research study had as main objective to give an account of the importance of
understanding culture in terms of multiculturalism, pluriculturalism and interculturalism by
using readings, videos and series to the point of the EFL classroom.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Throughout the development of this research project, it was taken into account the
following terms which help to clarify and understand the process. Those constructs are:
culture in the EFL, multiculturalism, pluriculturalism and interculturalism as it is shown
below.

The importance of including culture in the EFL teaching

The term culture in teaching and learning processes has its own evolution depending
on the era. By the 1970s, culture was neglected with the appearance of the so called methods
and approaches because those were developed under grammar, vocabulary and dialogues
taking it apart from the social and cultural needs. According to Purba (2011:3) who states
that the implementation of Structuralism, Direct method, Audiolingualism, Communicative
language learning, Suggestopedia, The Silent way, Total Physical Response, and the
beginning of the 1970s made culture neglected. But based on the author, he sees there is a
progress in the inclusion of culture along the years, first with the Communicative approach,
then, few researchers started to value culture in the curriculums of ESL/ EFL learning and
finally with Kramsch, Byram and Sterns participation it was found a better relationship
between ESL/ EFL and the target culture. (Purba , 2011)

According to Purba (2011, p.4) who mentions four main reasons of culture in the
context of language teaching: first, language and culture are inseparable, second, for the
inevitability of incorporating cultural matters into an EFL/ ESL program is the premise that
since language and culture is inseparable, language culture is teaching culture, third, is the
fact that the major goal of a foreign language program is the mastery of communicative
competence and fourth, cultural learning is very effective to increase learners motivation.
In terms of clarifying these reasons, we give the step to the first one that explains the
importance that language teachers should have when they teach and EFL class, it is not just
because we want but because we have to (Purba , 2011). In his terms: If we teach language
without teaching at the same time the culture in which it operates, we are teaching
meaningless symbols to which students attach to the wrong meaning.(Purba, 2011).
Likewise, Brown( as cited in Purba, 2011, p.4) says: a language is a part of culture and a
culture is a part of a language.

203
The second reason, explains that language teachers need to go beyond the linguistic
segment and become aware of the amount of intercultural mediation that every learner takes
with, language can not be taught isolated, there are more things to express and tell about
(Purba , 2011). The third, several times textbooks do not provide meaningful communicative
situations and they might be fictive for learners so they do not get the input necessary to
participate in the context. That is why, Samovar ( as cited in Purba , 2011, p.5) cites :

Culture and communication are inseparable because culture not only dictates who
talks to whom, about what, and how the communication proceeds, it also helps to
determine how people encode messages, the meanings they have for messages, and
the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be
sent, noticed, or interpreted Cultureis the foundation of communication (p. 3).

Fourth, certainly learners feel more motivated when they have lessons with cultural
based activities, they become interest and want to participate and learn more from other
countries and peoples (Rosado, 1997). From this point, all of these aspects mentioned above
are necessary and need to be applied for language teachers to their students always keeping
the inseparability between language and culture.

Then, it will be described the stages of the culture and its possible definitions in order
to clarify how they work each other.

Multiculturalism, Interculturalism and Pluriculturalism

Initially, it is decisive to mention how important to include topics about culture and
to be exposed to different learning environments in the classroom is, given that it embraces
certain competences that in our context might not be taken into account or unimportant and
which can scaffold students learning process. In relation with the previous assertion, Coste,
Moore and Zarate (2009:7) state that a crucial task to develop with learners is to support
them to accomplish an integrating communication competency adopting a number of
languages and cultures, what can be understood as the need to include general competences
which may involve challenges around the education systems.

Starting with, the term culture entails other concepts such as multiculturalism,
interculturalismand pluriculturalism. Firstly, multiculturalismis defined as a cultural diversity,
where all new groups bring principles of their heritage culture to the new society as
asserted by Byram (2009), based on the previous information there is a call for exposing
learners to know and explore different cultures which surround us since it sometimes affects
our environment and increases our knowledge about others culture. Secondly,
interculturalismrefers to the endorsing dialogues and interactions between cultures, what The
National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (2005) expresses as the personal
enrichment by being in touch and experiencing other cultures and that way learn from each
other; in other words, to understand this concept it is required to keep a discourse with
different cultural groups with the purpose of increasing awareness of otherness. Thirdly,

204
pluriculturalismimplies recognizing the identity as a personal feature of the human being
which is put in action in communicative situations as uttered by the Council of Europe
(2007), hence, it is necessary to develop competences in different areas which facilitate the
role of a learner as a social actor within cultures.

On the other hand, to try to grasp the previous constructs it is required institutions
include into its curriculum such competences which could contribute to the plenty
development of a human being; therefore, teachers have to provide situations in which
learners keep in touch with other cultures, since as stated by Coste, Moore and Zarate
(2009:17) individuals develop competences from desire or necessity to communicate with
others. Then, when society discusses about competences it is also critical to adopt the
multicultural competence, the intercultural competence and the pluricultural competence;
primarily, the multicultural competence focuses on getting learners familiar with a cultural
diversity and this way, to expose them to the social and cultural customs and therefore
acquire a greater understanding and tolerance from different backgrounds as expressed by
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (2005: 169) this means to grant
circumstances where learners can meet and understand other cultures, besides the
intercultural competence is inclined to put values in practice where language and culture is
shared in order to enable citizens to participate in multicultural communities as emphasized
by Byram (2009), this previous statement suggests that education must work on the
encouragement of not only expand language skills but also abilities that let learners to
participate in other communities. Lastly, pluricultural competence therefore means to get
interested in the communicative competence with the purpose of performing in different
languages and cultures as established by Coste, Moore and Zarate (2009:9) consequently, to
instill such competence in learners, teachers should promote environments where learners
can portray their knowledge, beliefs and values to play an outstanding role within cultures.

Finally, in the current world the educations mission is to bestow learners several
options for learning foreign cultures and this way learn languages to train them to live
together and work. Accordingly, the system education is forced to reply to this
aforementioned situation by developing learners multicultural, intercultural and pluricultural
approaches and at the same train teachers by offering instruction in how to raise awareness
in the promotion of these layers.

METHODOLOGY

The type of research used in this project was qualitative action research. According to
(Merriam, 2009), Action research has its goal to address a specific problem within a specific
setting, such as a classroom, a workplace, a program, or an organization. The research
process was developed step by step guiding student teachers to construct an understanding
culture by means of documents, classrooms discussions and participation, written reflective
papers and all on the way to be methodologically changeable. Likewise , it is reflected since
the process was helping future teachers to be aware of how lessons might be better
emphasized, some training in this research is helpful, action research is often conducted

205
by people in the real world who are interested in practical solutions to problems and who
are interested in social change, (Merriam, 2009).

Context
This project was carried out at Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia, a
public university of Tunja, Boyac_ Colombia. This institution offers two licenciatura
programs in languages; foreign languages program and Modern Languages program. This
study was done with the modern languages program.
Population
The project counted with the participation of 18 student teachers from the Modern
Languages Program. They were taking the course of Materials Design while the project was
developed. Their ages ranged between 20 and 24 years old; fifteen (15) girls and seven (7)
boys. They belonged to a low socio economic status. Moreover, students signed up a consent
form in which it was told that their participation was voluntary and the information was just
for academic purposes.
Data Collection
In this research study, the data collection instruments were unstructured interviews,
participants discussions and participants reflective papers (artifacts). After the development
of this research project, the Grounded Theory proposed by the sociologists Glasser and
Strauss in 1967 was taken into account to gather the data in a qualitative way. From this
instance, the theory comes from the data collection instruments in an inductive form.
According to Merriam (2009, p.30 ) grounded theory is particularly useful for addressing
questions about process, that is, how something changes over time. Data in grounded theory
studies can come from interviews, observation, and a wide variety of documentary materials.

FINDINGS
As outcomes of this research study, it came up with two categories: Reflecting on
teaching culture as language teachers and Displaying multiculturalism, pluriculturalism and
interculturalism in the EFL class. It the first one, modern languages students got
documented and reflected about the relevance of including the teaching of culture. In the
second, students reported and evidenced a strong emphasis in multicultural awareness by
doing a try with some cultural activities since they considered there is a vast diversity in the
areas. Pluriculturalism and interculturalism was seen as competences that language teachers
should have in order to make learning more meaningful.

CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH
Language teachers are constantly reflecting that traditional methods and materials
with no significance for the context should be modified and proposed in the schools
curriculum. Likewise, cultural diversity might be seen as the fifth skill when learning a
foreign language that is why, the understanding giving to students about multiculturalism,
pluriculturalism and interculturalism in the present. Finally, future language teachers feel
motivated and encouraged when talking about cultural approaches seen as other ways to
guide the teaching and learning processes. As researchers we proposed to continue working
on awareness of cultural diversity and approaches with the idea of designing new didactic

206
materials and activities for language teachers and students from universities and schools.
Furthermore, it is considered necessary to have a connection between language and culture
based on the students wishes and initiate an action in terms of acceptance, tolerance, respect
and recognition of all the cultures around the world, all of them with the sense of finding
more similarities than differences taking a critical position in the surroundings.

REFERENCES

Ariza, D. (Julio_ Diciembre de 2007). Culturein theEFL classroomat Universidad dela Salle: an
innovation project. Recuperado el 30 de june de 2013, de
revistas.lasalle.edu.co/ index.php/ ap/ article/ download/ 1765/ 1634 .
Byram, M. (2009).Multicultural Societies, Pluricultural People and the Project of Intercultural
Education: Based on thetext Context, Concpets and theories. Council of Europe.

Coste, D. Moore D and Zarate, G. (2009). Plurilingual and Pluricultural Competence: Studies
towards a Common European Framework of Reference for Language Learning and
Teaching. Council of Europe, Language Policy Division des Politiques Linguistiques.

Council of Europe. (2007).Plurilingual and pluricultural awareness in languageteacher education:
A training kit. Council of Europe Publishing.

Joppke, C. (2004). The retreat of multiculturalism in the liberal state: thoery and policy. The
British J ournal of Sociology, 21.
Kiet Ho, S. (2009). Addressing Culture in EFL Classrooms: The Challenge of Shifting from a
Traditional to an Intercultural Stance. Electronic J ournal of Foreign Language
Teaching, 63-76.
Merriam, S. B. (2009). QualitativeResearch. California: Jossey Bass.
Pavez, K. (2011). Incorporating Cultureand Cultural Identities in an Efl Freshmen . Recuperado
el 10 de July de 2013, de http:/ / www.revistahumanidades.uda.cl/ publica/ 040004.pdf
Purba , H. (2011). The importance of including culture in the EFL teaching. J ournal of
English teaching, 13.
Trujillo, F. (4 de June de 2005). Recuperado el 10 de July de 2013, de
http:/ / fernandotrujillo.es/ wp-content/ uploads/ 2010/ 05/ reflexion_intercultura.pdf:
www.ugr.es

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Ponencia 19

Enhancing Sensitiveness for the Local Language and Culture in the
Presence of English as the Global Language
53

Marlene Sanabria Crdenas
54

Abstract

English language is a medium to be at the cutting- edge of the global world demands. This
language should be assumed in the criteria of the ecology of language paradigm (Tsuda,
1994, Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000) and coexists with the local languages and culture without
becoming a threat for them. One of the concerns in the teaching of English as a foreign
language is how to support the appreciation and protection of the local culture and languages
and the knowledge and respect for the cultural traits of others. A theoretical examination on
local languages and culture facing the global language is the starting point for the design
and use of an English language learning material involving the elements of culture. As a
culture element, handicrafts are the core of this foreign language learning material which
was used with a course of English III of higher education. This material allowed learners
deepening their own culture and raising their cultural awareness, hearing voices from local
people, learning from target cultures, and improving the English language. It is a
contribution for English language educators and students teachers can build up culture and
language issues in their lessons as a path for perpetuating the local language and culture.
Key words: English, foreign language, local language, local culture, teaching material
Resumen

La lengua inglesa es un medio para estar a la vanguardia de las exigencias del mundo global.
Esta lengua debera ser asumida bajo el criterio del paradigma de la ecologa del lenguas
(Tsuda, 1994, Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000) y coexistir con las lenguas y la cultura local sin
convertirse en una amenaza para estas. Una de las preocupaciones en la enseanza del ingls
como lengua extranjera es como apoyar el aprecio y la proteccin de la cultura y las lenguas
locales y el conocimiento y respeto por las caractersticas culturales de otros. Una revisin
terica sobre la cultura y las lenguas locales frente a la lengua global es el punto de partida

53
Higher education institution. Course of English level III.
54
MA in applied linguistics to the TEFL. Teaching Practicum Advisor at the UPTC..

208
para el diseo y uso de un material de aprendizaje de la lengua inglesa que involucra los
elementos de la cultura. Las artesanas como un elemento cultural son el centro de este
material de aprendizaje de lengua extranjera el cual fue usado con un curso de Ingls III de
educacin superior. Este material permiti a los estudiantes profundizar en su propia
cultura y aumentar su conciencia cultural, escuchar voces de las personas locales, aprender
de culturas extranjeras y mejorar la lengua inglesa. Esto es una contribucin para que los
docentes y estudiantes practicantes puedan desarrollar temas de cultura y lengua en sus
clases como una forma de perpetuar las lenguas y la cultura local.
Palabras clave: ingls, lengua extranjera, lengua local, cultura local, material de enseanza
INTRODUCTION

Culture and language hold a reasoning interrelation. Damen stresses that language
learning implies and embraces culture learning. In what manner and to what degree may be
questioned by experts in this fields on language learning and linguistics, but the connection
cannot be denied (1987, p. 4). Hence, culture has received a conspicuous attention in the
scenarios of languages teaching and learning. However, there are two issues in relation to
culture and English language teaching and learning. In the first place, it has been observed
that most of the cases in language syllabi and course textbooks involve linguistic and
communicative purposes, but they are leaving apart the culture dimension. In the second
place, others syllabi and texts that incorporate culture, expect to raise students cultural
awareness and knowledge of the culture where the foreign language is spoken.

These types of issues were perceived in a course of English III of higher education
in a public university. The faculty crated a course program based on an English commercial
textbook. Nevertheless, some considerations were raised around this syllabus. This syllabus
was briefly touched the foreign language culture component. It was important to consider
the appreciation of culture both local and foreign in the program of English language.
Likewise, students needed to improve their English level, to be encouraged, to know their
local context and to work cooperatively with their peers. So, it was noticed that this syllabus
needed to be bettered and empowered without breaking the patterns of the original syllabus
stated by the faculty.

Consequently, this work aims to present some theories about local language and culture
before English as the global language, to display an original English language learning
material founded on handicrafts for a course of English III in a public university and to
expose the results obtained by using this language material.

The core of this proposal was to energize the English syllabus of English III in a public
university. To accomplish the purposes of this venture the following steps were followed.
First of all, theories on culture, local language and culture facing the English language,
ecology of the languages paradigm were reviewed. Then, students of the course were
acquainted with the intention and plan of embracing the theme of local and target

209
handicrafts for learning English. Next, it was the design of an original English language
learning and teaching material that incorporates handicrafts to uphold local language and
culture. After that, the material was utilized with a group of English III of higher education.
Finally, the results obtained by using this material were analyzed. This material fostered
students to deepen their culture, to interact with locals, to research, to value their own
culture and to improve their level of English.

Subsequently, this paper intends to establish a framework that teaches the local culture and
target cultures through using English and helps the students raise their appreciation,
awareness and knowledge of cultures-both local and target- and in the long run create their
own distinguished identities. Additionally, this material can inspire other educators to
integrate culture into their teaching and to better the imposed institutional English syllabi.
Objectives

To examine theories about local language and culture before English as the global language
for the design of a teaching material that incorporates the local culture, the target ones and
the English language.
To design an English language learning material for a course of English III of higher
education and that is founded on handicrafts as a culture element.
To use the English language material to allow students investigating, knowing and valuing
the local issues, learning from target cultures and improving their English language.

METHODOLOGY

The first stage to undertake this proposal was to do a theoretical review that leads to frame
and support the main fields of this idea: English as the global language, local language and
local culture, the ecology of the languages paradigm and the culture words and components.
The second stage was the design of an English language learning and teaching material by
incorporating handicrafts as one of the culture elements that allow a deeper understanding of
the local culture. And the last stage was to use the material with a group of English III of
higher education.

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ENGLISH AS THE GLOBAL LANGUAGE

According to Crystal, a language becomes a global language, because of the power of the
people who speak it. English first became international, because of the British Empire
military and political power. In addition, in the last 400 years, other powers have taken
this language to grow and achieve its immense global status. These powers are the science
and technological, the economic and the cultural one (Mcmillan Education, 2009). This
global status of the English turns this language in an almost a mandatory medium to be
at the cutting edge of the global world demands.

However, accepting that English language make easier the participation in the global
business, science, technology and culture does not mean to lose the sense of belonging to
the local culture and language, with regard to this Dr Tan, Education Minister of
Singapore states:

We do not wish to be a pseudo Western society. While we need to learn and
use English to master technology and enhance our competitive edge in the
international business community, we should not let the use of English override
the importance of keeping our links to our cultural roots strong and healthy
(cited in Pennycook 1994, p. 222).

This assertion exposes the worth of the local distinctiveness over the English as the
language to break into the global world and to the advantages that this access to the
globalization could bring to each individual.

An Outlook to the Local Language and Culture

Scholars have given a view to the local language and culture before the global
language. The vast spread of English language must not turn into a threat to local
cultures and languages. Prodromou asserts that English as a foreign or second
language should work alongside local languages and culture in harmony (1999, p. 4).
In this way, English language teaching must be reconsidered to provide a cultural
approach which does not impose A foreign context onto the learners. . The process of
teaching and learning of English language must be developed under a perspective which
favors the home culture and language.
With regard to local language or mother tongue, it becomes the sociolinguistic
identity of an individual which needs to be preserved. Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas
(2000) speaks about the rights to language emphasizing that we attempt to recognize
ourselves through the language and the use of our own language is the primary right we
hold. Likewise, Braine (2009) on a formal TESOL document indicates the importance of
strengthening the efficient English language teaching and learning in the world while
respecting the individuals language rights. Thereby, the mother tongue cannot be

211
excluded from the ELT. Nevertheless, how does an educator undertake the ELT without
displacing the mother tongue? And to what extend does an educator use the mother
tongue in the ELT processes? Educators should see the mother tongue as an expression
of students culture and as a means to establishing connections with them. The present
work reveals how the mother tongue permitted educator and students to interact with the
local community.

English language educators play an important role in the promotion and conservation of the
local identity. They should contribute since their lessons planning for their students can
build knowledge, be sensitive on the local issues and at the same time, they can strengthen
the foreign language competence. Smith (1976, cited in Mckay, 2004, p. 14) affirms that the
aim of an international language is to describe ones own culture and concerns to others and
he adds that in many countries the English language teaching is coming to be closely aligned
with the host culture and it happens because in those countries local people, places and issues
are included as the content of their English teaching materials. Therefore, if the local culture
is integrated in the English language teaching, students can dwell on their own culture, they
become aware that they belong to a particular one and they can describe and discuss on
cultural traits that highlight their identity.

English Language in Relation to the Ecology of the Languages Paradigm

Since, English teaching has seen under a critical point of view or with indignation by
someone, a proposition of ecology of language has been stated to endure the English as the
global language. This ecology of the language deals with the cultivation and perpetuation of
the languages in front of the diffusion of English paradigm (Tsuda, 1994, cited in Skutnabb-
Kangas, 2000) stated two language policy paradigms:

First, the diffusion of English paradigm characterized by the capitalism, science and
technology, modernization, monolingualism, ideological globalization and
internationalization, transnationalism, Americanization and homogenization of world culture
and linguistic, cultural, and media imperialism; and in second place and in contrast to this
diffusion of English paradigm, the ecology of language paradigm comes out. The ecology of
language paradigm is held by the recognition of human rights, equality in communication,
multilingualism, maintenance of languages and culture, protection of national sovereignties
and promotion of foreign language education.

Thence so, foreign language teaching policies should be steered toward the defense of
human rights, linguistic diversity, backing local language and home culture protection and
rescuing values and identity, searching the formation of a sensitive human being and
encouraging the learning of foreign languages, one and only as the name imply foreign
languages . The present document takes two critical chunks from Tsudas ecology of
language paradigm: the maintenance of home language and culture, and the promotion of

212
foreign language education in contradiction of the media imperialism and to the
monolingualism (Tsuda, 1994, cited in Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000).

Key Words for Addressing Culture

Fundamental words for addressing culture are considered here: culture, identity, language,
L1 culture and L2 culture, multiculturalism, cross-cultural awareness and sensitiveness.
These components help to define a strong direction for designing a material which holds the
local language and culture linked to the English language learning and teaching.

Culture
Richards and Platt assert that culture is the total set of beliefs, attitudes, customs,
behaviors, social habits among others of the members of a particular society (1994, p.
94). Also, culture comprises the knowledge and stories stored up in memories of men of a
group.
Cultural elements
Some cultural elements are: language, handicrafts , traditions, literature, cultural events,
aborigine groups, music, leaders, conflicts, government, education, religions, politics,
values, ecology, customs, foods, leisure and occupations.

Language
It is a system of human communication that allows all people who belong to a particular
culture, or other people who have learned the system of that group to communicate or to
interact among themselves. Language reveals both the particular characteristics of an
individual, along with his beliefs and practices acquired from his group.

Cultural identity
Damen states that cultural identity refers to the relationship between an individual and
the society (1987, p. 141). Identity is as an icon that involves the world view, values
system, attitudes, and beliefs of a group in which its individuals are aware and express
their belonging sense to this group that has gathered them.

L1 culture and foreign language and culture
Making reference to L2 culture is not the core of this work. English language teaching
process cannot be limited to the transmission of information about people and society
from this overseas culture. The teaching should change to using the students L1 culture as
a mechanism to approach the own culture and either the culture of the English language or
another target culture. The standpoint is that students appreciate their identity that
symbolizes their L1 culture and they learn and respect the culture of others.

Sensitive
This adjective refers to the capacity of being readily or excessively affected by external
agencies or influences. A sensitive person is that person who is touched by the reality in

213
which he lives. Educators and students can become sensitive. Sensitiveness leads
consequently, to valuing and respecting their own identity and the diversity.

Cross-cultural awareness
According to Damen cross-cultural awareness involves uncovering and understanding
ones own culturally conditioned behavior and thinking, as well as the patterns of others
(1987, p. 141). Knowing, being aware, understanding similarities and differences
between the world of origin and the world of the foreign community generate cross-
cultural awareness.

Multiculturalism
Online BBC News Magazine (2011) states that academics multiculturalism
definitions refer to anything from people of different communities living alongside each other
to ethnic or religious groups leading completely separate lives. Multiculturalism implies a
human being who transcends his culture, opens up to change, shows empathy, perceives
differences and similarities accurately, and has an intelligent observation of self and others
behavior.
A material for English language learning and teaching to support local language and
culture. This proposal Enhancing sensitiveness for the local language and culture in the
presence of English as the global language was carried out with a class of twenty students
of English level III in an institution of tertiary education. The faculty utilized a syllabus that
was created based on an English commercial textbook and kept its grammar and language
functions guidelines. However, this syllabus has raised some concerns: how to energize the
syllabus without deviating from the framework established by the faculty, how to encourage
my students to improve their English language, how to uphold appreciation for the culture
both local and foreign by encouraging students to go beyond the classroom and to interact
with the external world.
After reading different literary sources that discuss the inquire of English as the global
language, the maintenance of home language and culture, the promotion of foreign language
education and culture components, it was time to study in depth the contents that the
English syllabus of the faculty offered and to select which ones can be better worked and
delivered with another focus, a cultural focus.

Considering that in the second term of the semester students would be immersed in the same
contents of the formal syllabus with another theme, student were invited to discuss this
project for learning English. They were told about the objectives, the main topic:
Handicrafts from our context and abroad, the improvement of the language skills, the
structure of the units and how the production section on the material would allow them to
work cooperatively to interact and to learn from local people.

Every student was in agreement to change the customary focus of the lessons. They
expressed that they had felt unenthusiastic with respect to the English subject, because they
have not had the chance to study this course through different activities, which has been

214
common situation for them since middle and high school. Students loved the idea of visiting
villages and towns and interacting with local people.

After having obtained their consent, the design of the material began. The most important
aspect was to link the same syllabus contents of the second term of the semester with the
cultural topics that in this opportunity encapsulated handicrafts.

The design and plan produced an outcome, a booklet of handicrafts framed by five units:
first, The textile activity in Boyaca-Colombia, second, Wool production and dyeing
process, third, From the Caribbean to the Amazon region, the artisans meet in Bogot,
fourth, Handicrafts from other cultures: Egypt, and the last one, Comparing our
handicrafts for growing and bettering. Each one of the units has original activities with the
following stages: warming up, reading, post reading, grammar corner and exercises,
discussion, and production. The material was printed and provided to each one of the
students.

The above units are briefly described below:
The textile activity in Boyac Colombia. The information to build this unit was
provided by an artisan. She took a course on handicrafts in a museum and she was
enrolled in a project sponsored by a government entity to rescue the Chibchas
legacies. In this unit the students read and discussed the text The textile activity in
Boyac - Colombia. This reading relates the way Chibchas worked the cotton, the
sheep brought by the Spaniards, and how textile work is still conserved in some
Boyac towns.
Wool production and dyeing process. This process was told by one former weaver
and maker of looms from Nobsa, Boyac. This man narrated the processes to shear
the sheep, spin and dye the wool. This unit gave students the opportunity to visit and
interact with wavers who explained to them the processes for knitting by using a
loom.
From the Caribbean to the Amazonas, the artisans meet in Bogot. The reading for
this unit was taken from www.proexport.com.co and it was translated into English.
After reading, students could interview an artisan or research a specific Colombian
handicraft to do a presentation about it to their classmates.
Handicrafts from other cultures: Egypt. Students read the texts Delta collection &
Delta Papyrus Factory of Egypt and Copper Handicrafts and discussed about and
beyond the text.
Comparing our handicrafts for growing and bettering. Students read the text The
Egyptian Bazaar and compared Colombian with Egyptian handicrafts. They also,
designed an outline for a webpage which would support Colombian handicrafts
and would allow Colombian artisans to promote their products.

215
RESULTS

Students felt unquestionably motivated. They showed willingness, autonomy and
responsibility to work on the different tasks they found on the English language material.
Consequently, this engagement allowed them to succeed in increasing their vocabulary and
in improving the English language skills. Furthermore, students would able to recognize
their own cultural roots and express themselves about these cultural issues with confidence
in another language.
Student had the chance to visit and to interact with local people by interviewing them and
learning about some aspects of the handicrafts production processes. I t can be said that
students completed small- scale investigations. At this point, mother tongue was the core to
interact with locals. Students became more sensitive about who they and the people
surrounding them are. They learned to value them as persons and as workers.

Furthermore, inside and outside the classroom, cooperative learning was promoted. Panitz
(1990) argues that cooperative learning includes a minor group of learners, who work
together as a team to resolve a problem, complete a task, or complete a common goal.
Students worked cooperatively on the assignments, concluded with a presentation on their
achievements and socialization in the classroom. Students displayed a great deal of creativity
in designing their presentations about their findings and their proposals for promoting local
crafts.

CONCLUSIONS

We cannot ignore that English has grown to become the language of global communication,
which is used to gain access to technological and scientific developments and to
intercultural communication. However, English must be taught and learned as a foreign
language; in this way, local languages and cultures are not threatened. On the contrary,
learners understand and value their own culture more. Educators should re-evaluate the
imposed institutional English syllabi. They can make their own contributions to improve the
language programs by evidently adhering to the general guidelines of the faculties syllabi.
These adjustments aim to encompass local culture and language which in most of the
English syllabi are side-lined issues. Educators can complement and invigorate their lessons
by designing and planning their own material with a touch of the local. This kind of material,
pervaded with the local culture, allows students of the foreign language to look into their
own culture, to improve their English language skills, to interact with their peers and take
an active role in the process of learning.

216
REFERENCES
Braine, G. (n.d). Nonnative English Speakers in TESOL Caucus Formed.
Retrieved May 18, 2013 from
http:/ / nnest.asu.edu/ articles/ georgearticle.pdf
Copper Handicrafts. (n.d). Retrieved March 15, 2008 from
http:/ / www.nilecommerce.net/ en/ copper/ index.html
Damen, L. (1987). Culturelearning: the fifth dimension in the language classroom.
United States of America: Addison Wesley Pub.
Del Caribe al Amazonas, los artesanos se renen en Bogot. (n.d.). Retrieved March
15, 2008 from hht:/ / www.proexport.com.co
Delta Collection & Delta Papyrus Factory of Egypt. (n.d.) Retrieved March 15, 2008
from hhtp:/ / www.deltacollections.com
Mckay, S. (2004). Western culture and the teaching of English as an international
language. English Teaching Forum. 42 (2),14
Mcmillan Education. (2009, November 1
st
) Global English With David Crystal
[ Video file] . Retrieved May 13, 2013 from
https:/ / www.youtube.com/ watch?v=WZI1EjxxXKw
Multiculturalism: What does it mean? (2011, February 7
th
) Retrieved May 13, 2013
from
http:/ / www.bbc.co.uk/ news/ magazine-12381027

Panitz, T.( 1990). Collaborative versus cooperative learning- a comparison of the two
concepts which will help us understand the underlying nature of interactive
learning internet source. Retrieved May 16, 2913 from
http:/ / pirun.ku.ac.th/ ~btun/ pdf/ coop_collab.pdf
Pennycook, A. (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language.
London: Longman
Phillipson, R and Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2000). Rights to language: equity, power and
education. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Prodromou, L. (1999). The great globe itself: Shakespeare, ELT and global issues.
IATEFL Issues, October November 2-5, 9
Skutnabb-Kanga, T. (2000) Linguistic Genocidein Education--or WorldwideDiversity
and Human Rights? N.J. : L. Erlbaum Associates.
The Egyptian Bazaar. (n.d.) Retrieved March 19, 2008 from
http:/ / www.beshay.com/ design

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Ponencia 20

Escenario del bilingismo en la Facultad de Educacin de la
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana: anlisis de las encuestas.
55

Camila Gonzlez Plata
56

Eliana Espinal Orozco
57

Resumen

La Facultad de Educacin en su programa de Licenciatura en Ingls y Espaol
(presencial), es un espacio para la formacin de docentes tanto en la lengua materna como en
una segunda lengua, por lo cual se convierte en un contexto en el que, el escenario del
bilingismo, est presente; en ste escenario interactan personas que estn en contacto
constante, tanto con su lengua materna, como con una segunda lengua. Por tanto, ya que el
bilingismo se convierte en parte de la cotidianidad, el presente anlisis, basado en unas
encuestas realizadas a los estudiantes del programa, busca verificar cmo se da la formacin
en las competencias de ingls y espaol en la Facultad de Educacin de la Universidad
Pontificia Bolivariana.

Palabras clave: bilingismo, interculturalidad, competencia.

Abstract:
The Faculty of education in its program of Bachelor's degree in English and Spanish
proposes a space for teacher training both in the mother tongue and in a second language,
which turns into a context in which the scene of bilingualism is evident since the people who
are in permanent interaction with a second language. Therefore, since bilingualism becomes
part of everyday life, this research attempted to identify how competences and intercultural
training is given in English and Spanish across the curriculum in the Faculty of education of
the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana.

55
Esta investigacin fue llevada a cabo en la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana en su cede de Medelln desde el
16 de agosto hasta el 18 de octubre de 2012.
56
Estudiante de sptimo semestre de la Licenciatura Ingls-Espaol y de tercer semestre de la Licenciatura en
Filosofa y Letras, ambos de la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. Pertenece al Semillero de Investigacin
Pedagoga y Didcticas de los Saberes (S-PDS).
57
Estudiante de sptimo semestre de la Licenciatura Ingls-Espaol y de quinto semestre de la Licenciatura en
Educacin Artstica, ambos de la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. Pertenece al Semillero de Investigacin
Pedagoga y Didcticas de los Saberes (S-PDS)

218
Key words: bilingualism, intercultural, competence.

INTRODUCCIN

En principio el bilingismo es un hecho psicolgico caracterstico del comportamiento
de ciertos individuos capaces de expresarse y comunicarse con la misma o parecida facilidad
en dos lenguas distintas (Gutierrez, Ana Pilar. 2009). El bilingismo, entonces, como
escenario, permite captar los diferentes fenmenos culturales, educativos y polticos de un
pas, por ende, de las personas.

La necesidad de aprender nuevas lenguas, por tanto de ensearlas, y mantener
contacto con personas de diferentes pases, es una cuestin que surge por prcticas y
manifestaciones de la sociedad tecnolgica y global; de esta manera, el bilingismo deja ver
las necesidades (fenmenos) que se tienen frente a una lengua determinada segn la misma
persona y el contexto que la preside, permitiendo hacer lectura de lo que realmente ha
pasado, pasa y/ o pasar en cuanto a ste escenario se trata.

METODOLOGA

Se plante la pregunta problematizadora: cmo se da la formacin intercultural y de
competencias en ingls y espaol, en la Facultad de Educacin?, en el contexto de la
Facultad de Educacin de la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, en la Licenciatura de Ingls
Espaol desde el primero al sexto semestre, escogindose una muestra total de 60
estudiantes. El objetivo de la investigacin era identificar cmo se da la formacin
intercultural y de competencias en ingls y espaol, a travs del currculo presente en la
Facultad de Educacin de la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana; bajo un enfoque cuantitativo,
entonces, se dise el instrumento (encuesta) con base en tres constructos: Interculturalidad,
Currculo y Comunicacin Bilinge. Luego de la aplicacin de las encuestas, se realiz una
sistematizacin y un anlisis que permiti identificar las relaciones que los estudiantes tienen
con ambas lenguas (ingls y espaol).

RESULTADOS

El nmero total de estudiantes, pertenecientes al programa, fueron 71, de los cuales
slo se le realiz la encuesta a un total de 60 estudiantes entre el primero y el sexto semestre.
El mayor nmero de estudiantes (57,4%) se encuentran entre los 18, 19 y 21 aos de edad, as
como ms de la mitad de la poblacin son mujeres (65,6%).

El 62,2% de la poblacin se encuentran entre el primero y el cuarto semestre: el
primero abarca el 18%, el segundo el 42,6%, el tercero el 9,8% y el cuarto el 19,7%. Segn
estos porcentajes, es evidente que el mayor ingreso de estudiantes al programa ha sido entre
el primer semestre del 2011 (2011-1) y el primer semestre del 2012 (2012-1), lo cual quiere
decir que al principio de cada ao hay ms ingreso de estudiantes al programa de la
Licenciatura Ingls y Espaol.

219

Tambin, en los segundos semestres del ao (2011-2 y del 2012-2), ha habido un
ingreso notable de estudiantes: los estudiantes que ahora estn en el tercer semestre fueron
quienes ingresaron en el 2011-2 sumando un porcentaje total de 9,8%, mientras que los
estudiantes que estn en el primer semestre que ingresaron en 2012-2 suman un porcentaje
total de 18%; por tanto el aumento de cifras comparadas evidencian que el programa de la
Licenciatura ha venido creciendo no slo en los primeros sino tambin en los segundos
semestres de cada ao.

Por lo cual, el mayor incremento de estudiantes matriculados en el programa de la
Licenciatura ingls y espaol, se ha presentado desde el 2011 en adelante. Esto puede
significar que la facultad le ha dado una mejor promocin al programa, tambin es posible
que el nuevo pensum sea ms atractivos para los futuros estudiantes, o por el contrario es
posible que en ste programa se presente desercin desde el cuarto semestre en adelante,
puesto que los estudiantes pertenecientes al quinto (4,9%) y sexto semestre (3,3%) hacen slo
un total de 8,2%.

Ahora bien, en lo que compete al escenario del bilingismo dentro de la facultad, se
establecieron, con el fin de guiar la encuesta, unos constructos como base: Interculturalidad,
Currculo y Comunicacin Bilinge. Del constructo de Interculturalidad surgieron las
siguientes variables: identidad, cultura, diversidad y hegemona cultural; en el constructo de
Currculo surgieron stas variables: didcticas, competencias lingsticas y niveles de
competencia. Por ltimo, en el constructo de Comunicacin Bilinge se encuentran las
siguientes variables: funcin y alternancia o frecuencia de uso. A continuacin se presenta el
anlisis de cada uno de los constructos.

220
Interculturalidad

En cuanto al constructo de Interculturalidad se plantearon cuatro preguntas
referentes a las variables anteriormente mencionadas. La primera pregunta hace referencia a
la realizacin de eventos, por parte de la facultad, que promueven el conocimiento de la
cultura de la lengua materna y segunda lengua, a lo cual un 75,4% de los estudiantes
respondieron que s, y slo un 23% opina lo contrario.

Al mismo tiempo, en la segunda y tercera pregunta se haca referencia a los cursos
que ayudan a la comprensin de la segunda lengua: 75.4% respondi que s y un 23%
respondi que no; y promueven la comunicacin entre la lengua materna y segunda lengua:
77% respondi que s y un 21.3% responde que no. Se puede notar, entonces, que en las
primeras tres preguntas el 77% de la poblacin respondi afirmativamente, dejando claro su
conocimiento acerca de la existencia de dichos eventos.

Sin embargo, en la pregunta cuatro las respuestas afirmativas decrecieron un 21,3% al
preguntarle a los estudiantes acerca de si aprovechaban la presencia de personas extranjeras
en la facultad para fortalecer su conocimiento de la segunda lengua: el 55.7% respondi que s
y el 42,7% respondi que no. Es necesario aclarar que a la universidad acuden extranjeros
que quieren fortalecer la comunicacin con el espaol, pero en la facultad hay extranjeros
(becarios Fulbright) que estn de tiempo completo para prestar servicios a los estudiantes, en
tutoras personalizadas y clubes de conversacin, que pertenecen a la Licenciatura ingls y
espaol. Por lo cual se puede concluir que slo la mitad de los estudiantes encuestados s
hacen uso de esos servicios.

Currculo

En lo referente al Currculo, se realizaron nueve preguntas: las primeras tres se
pretenda establecer si los estudiantes estaban interesados en tomar cursos regulares en otras
reas pero dictados en ingls. A lo cual el 86.9% de los estudiantes respondi que no le dara
lo mismo si estos cursos fuesen ofertados; en cuanto se les preguntaba si preferiran tomar
esos cursos en espaol el 77% respondi que no, dejando ver que slo el 9,9% de los
estudiantes que respondieron que no les dara lo mismo, se contradice y preferira tomar los
cursos en espaol.

Dentro de estas tres preguntas referentes al currculo, la tercera era abierta y se
refera a qu otra materia, de las regulares,los estudiantes querran ver en ingls; sin embargo
se concluye que esta pregunta no estuvo bien formulada, puesto que el 8,2% de los
estudiantes respondi como si se les estuviera preguntando cul otro idioma quisieran ver en
la facultad (portugus: 4,9% y francs: 3,3%) y el 80,3% no respondi la pregunta.

En las preguntas cuatro y cinco pertenecientes al mismo constructo del currculo, se
pregunt si la facultad promueve actividades para que todos los estudiantes tengan las
mismas prioridades de aprendizaje de ingls; aqu, hay unos resultados divididos (se

221
contradice en una gran proporcin) porque un 54,1% dice que s y un 44,3% dice que no, es
decir, que no hay una diferencia considerable entre ellas y no se podra establecer una
respuesta.

Sin embargo, de los 27 estudiantes que respondieron que la facultad si promueve
dichas actividades, slo 10 de ellos (16,4%) participa de ellas, el resto no lo hace. Esto podra
significar que los estudiantes no participan de las actividades por ciertos factores: 1) falta de
inters por parte de los estudiantes frente a las actividades, 2) las actividades son organizadas
en horarios que se cruzan con otras clases, 3) Desinformacin acerca de ellas, teniendo en la
cuenta que 33 estudiantes (54,1%) dice que la facultad no realiza dichas actividades.

Para entender la pregunta seis, la cual indagaba por el nivel de ingls (A1, A2, B1, B2,
C1, C2) en el cual los estudiantes consideran que estn, es necesario aclarar que los niveles
de ingls que se tomaron en la cuenta son los establecidos por el Marco Comn Europeo, en
el cual la facultad basa sus estndares curriculares para la enseanza de sta lengua.

Los estudiantes que respondieron que consideraban que estaban en el nivel A1 fueron
slo 3, equivalente al 4,9%; en este nivel de competencia el estudiante es capaz de
comprender y utilizar expresiones cotidianas de uso muy frecuente as como frases sencillas
destinadas a satisfacer necesidades de tipo inmediato (Common European Framework of
References for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assesment., 2007). Esto indica que una
pequea parte de la poblacin son usuarios bsicos del ingls, por lo cual se pensara que
dichos estudiantes pertenecieran al primer semestre, sin embargo analizando a profundidad
los datos, se aclar que slo uno de ellos est en el primer semestre y los dos restantes se
ubican en el segundo y tercer semestre respectivamente.

222
Los estudiantes que se consideran en un nivel A2 son 16, es decir el 26,2%; en el cual,
segn el Marco Comn Europeo (2007), los usuarios del ingls son capaces de comprender
frases y expresiones de uso frecuente relacionadas con cuestiones que le son habituales,
informacin sobre s mismo, la familia, ir de compras, deportes, etc. Es decir, que el
estudiante se comunica para llevar a cabo tareas simples y cotidianas.

Los estudiantes que se situaron en el nivel B1 son 16; el equivalente al 26,2% de la
poblacin. En este nivel, segn el Marco Comn Europeo (2007), el estudiante es capaz de
comprender los puntos principales de textos claros y en lengua estndar [ ] es capaz de
producir textos sencillos y coherentes sobre temas que le son familiares; en cuanto a la
parte oral el estudiante sabe desenvolverse en la mayor parte de las situaciones que pueden
surgir durante un viaje por zona donde se utiliza la lengua.

Los estudiantes que se ubicaron en el nivel B2 son 21, es decir el 34,4% de la
poblacin; para ste nivel, el Marco Comn Europeo (2007) establece que los estudiantes son
capaces de comprender textos complejos, adems es capaz de relacionarse fluidamente con
nativos de la segunda lengua, y escribir textos sobre temas diversos as como defender un
punto de vista sobre stos.

Los estudiante que se ubicaron en el nivel C1 son 3, es decir el 4,9% de la poblacin;
el Marco Comn Europeo (2007) establece para los estudiantes que se encuentran en este
nivel que, son capaces de comprender una amplia variedad de textos, al mismo tiempo que
reconocen en ellos, sentidos implcitos. El estudiante, adems, se expresa sin esfuerzo y de
forma adecuada; puede usar la lengua con fines sociales acadmicos y profesionales. Tambin
produce textos de manera estructurada con temas que requieren cierta complejidad.

En el C2 slo se ubic un estudiante, correspondiente al 1,6% de la poblacin; para
ste nivel el Marco Comn Europeo (2007) establece que el estudiante comprende con
facilidad todo lo que oye o lee; puede expresarse con fluidez y precisin an diferenciando
pequeos matices de significado en situaciones de mayor complejidad. En este nivel estn
ubicadas las personas nativas o que han vivido durante mucho tiempo inmersos en la segunda
lengua.

Ahora bien, la mayor parte de la poblacin se ubica en los niveles A2, B1, y B2, el
equivalente a un 86,8%. El Ministerio de Educacin en su Plan Nacional de Bilingismo
Colombia 2004 2019, establece que los estudiantes, aspirantes a profesores, deben
graduarse en un nivel intermedio alto (B2 y C1), y hasta el momento slo 21 estudiantes
(34,4%) entre los seis semestres, consideran que han alcanzado este nivel.

En cuanto a la pregunta siete, se buscaba que los estudiantes eligieran la competencia,
en ingls, a la que la facultad daba mayor prioridad. Las competencias a las cuales los
estudiantes dieron ms prioridad fueron: Speaking, 16 estudiantes (26,2%); Reading:15
estudiantes (24,6%);Writing:24 estudiantes (39,3%); slo la competencia de Listening (5
estudiantes equivalentes al 8,2%) fue la menos considerada en el momento de elegir prioridad.

223

Ahora, la pregunta ocho buscaba, en contraste con la anterior, que los estudiantes
eligieran la competencia, en ingls, a la que la facultad daba menos prioridad, en Speaking 15
estudiantes (24,6%), en Listening: 29 estudiantes (47,5%), enReading: 3 estudiantes (4,9%), y
en Writing: 13 estudiantes (21,3%).

Menor prioridad
Mayor prioridad

Entonces, comparando los porcentajes de las preguntas siete y ocho, se encuentra una
contradiccin frente a la escogencia de la competencia: en Speaking el 26,2% (16) de los
estudiantes le dio prioridad, pero es igualmente equivalente al porcentaje de estudiantes que
la eligi como la de menor prioridad (15 estudiantes: 24,6%) convirtindose en una
competencia neutral. En la competencia del Writing ocurre lo mismo, mientras que el 39,3%
(24) de los estudiantes la eligi como la de mayor prioridad, es equivalente al porcentaje de
estudiantes que la eligi como la de menor prioridad (13 estudiantes: 21,3%), es decir que ms
de la mitad de los estudiantes se contradijeron, por tanto sta competencia es neutral.

En cuanto a las competencias de Reading y Listening se esclarece un poco la
diferencia entre las preferencias: en Reading el 24,6% (15) de los estudiantes la eligi como de
mayor prioridad y slo el 4,9% (3) la escogi como la de menor prioridad; en Listening slo el
8,2% (5) de los estudiantes la eligi como de mayor prioridad y el 47,5% (29) la escogi como
la de menor prioridad. Se concluye entonces que, segn los estudiantes, la Facultad de
Educacin realmente da mayor prioridad a la competencia de Reading, y menor prioridad a
la competencia del Listening.

224
Por ltimo, se les pregunt a los estudiantes si los profesores promueven la
investigacin en ingls para reforzar las competencias, a lo cual 43 de ellos, equivalentes al
70,5%, respondieron que s; lo anterior concuerda con la competencia a la cual se le da mayor
prioridad: Reading, y podra decirse que la investigacin que realizan los estudiantes de la
facultad es, en su mayora, bibliogrfica.

Comunicacin bilinge

En lo referente al constructo de Comunicacin Bilinge, se establecieron seis
preguntas que buscaban establecer en qu sitios los estudiantes hablaban ms en ingls y con
qu frecuencia lo hacan. En las primeras cuatro, que eran las referentes a los sitios en donde
los estudiantes hablaban ms en ingls se determin que: en las redes sociales el 77% (47) de
los estudiantes afirm usarla, en el saln de clase el 80,3% (49) de los estudiantes la usa, en la
calle con amigos el 45,9% (28) de los estudiantes la usa y en los diferentes sitios de la
universidad slo el 34,4% (21) de los estudiantes la usa.

Comparando los anteriores resultados, se encuentra que de los 49 estudiantes que
dicen usar el ingls en clase, slo 21 de ellos la usan en los diferentes sitios de la universidad,
lo que indica que ms de la mitad de ellos limitan el uso del ingls al saln de clase. Entonces,
analizando los resultados se determina que en donde ms hacen uso del ingls los estudiantes
es en las redes sociales y en el saln de clase, y donde menos hacen uso es en la calle con
amigos y en los diferentes sitios de la universidad.

La pregunta cinco del mismo constructo, haca referencia a la frecuencia de uso que
los estudiantes le daban al ingls durante el da. Se determin que un 4,9% de los estudiantes
nunca hacen uso de sta, un 54,1% casi nunca la usa, un 37,7% la usa casi siempre y un 1,6%
la usa todo el tiempo.

La mayora de la poblacin respondi que casi nunca y casi siempre hacen uso del
ingls durante el da, esto suma un total de 91,8%. Se deduce entonces, que dentro de este
porcentaje de estudiantes que hacen uso del ingls el 77% lo usa en las redes sociales y al
mismo tiempo dentro de este porcentaje total de uso, el 80,3% se da en el saln de clase.

En cuanto a la pregunta seis, se pretenda que los estudiantes dijeran cual era el grado
de interaccin entre docentes, extranjeros y alumnos en ingls, en la cual 3,3% respondi que
nunca interactan, 37,7% casi nunca interacta, 44,3% casi siempre interacta y 13,1%
interacta todo el tiempo. Se puede ver entonces que la mayora de la poblacin 81,6% est
situada en las respuestas: casi nunca y casi siempre, determinando as una regularidad en las
interacciones entre docentes, extranjeros y alumnos.

CONCLUSIONES

A pesar de que la facultad es un espacio que se presta para la interaccin constante
con extranjeros, profesores y estudiantes en ingls se encontr que slo un pequeo

225
porcentaje de estudiantes hace uso de esta lengua fuera del saln de clase, los dems limitan
su uso a asuntos acadmicos y en redes sociales. Adems, muy pocos de ellos aprovechan la
presencia de extranjeros, como los becarios Fullbright, para recibir tutoras con las que
fortalecer las competencias en ingls.

En la Facultad de educacin se establece, desde el Ministerio de Educacin que los
maestros a graduarse deben salir con un nivel B2, hasta ahora, de los 60 estudiantes
encuestados slo 21 de ellos siente que ha alcanzado ese nivel; se hace necesario entonces,
aclarar en qu nivel deben estar los estudiantes por semestre y en qu nivel deben alcanzar el
nivel exigido (B2).

Tambin se concluye que, aunque la investigacin bibliogrfica es un punto fuerte
dentro del currculo de la facultad y es importante para que los estudiantes produzcan textos
acadmicos de calidad, las encuestas han demostrado que al darle prioridad a la competencia
lectora, en lo que compete al ingls, se han dejado de lado las otras competencias (Listening,
Writing, Speaking) que son fundamentales para el desarrollo de la lengua. Sin embargo, es
notorio que aunque haya eventos en los que se promueven las dems competencias aparte del
Reading, la mayora de los estudiantes no hacen uso de ellas, por tanto la facultad debe
considerar, o sus horario, o la forma en que hace promocin de dicho eventos.


Gutierrez, Ana Pilar. (2009). El bilingismo y la sociedad. Contribuciones a las Ciencias
Sociales, marzo de 2009, Recuperado el 19/ 07/ 2012 de
www.eumed.net/ rev/ cccss/ 03/ apgg.htm
The British Council. (2007). Common European Framewok of References for Languages: Learning,
Teaching, Assesment. Strasbourg: language policy unit.
Ministerio de Educacin Nacional. (2004). Programa Nacional deBiligismo Colombia 2004
2019. Repblica de Colombia: MEN.

226

Ponencia 21

Apprhender la diffrence et mieux comprendre l'autre : la place de
l'interculturel en cours de langue
58

Elsa Simon
59

Rsum
Etudier une langue trangre peut tre synonyme d'ouverture sur le monde, de remise
en question de nos ides reues ou encore de rflexion sur notre propre culture.

Mais quelles sont les mthodes alternatives aux manuels classiques que l'on pourrait
utiliser dans notre dmarche interculturelle?

Nous verrons comment aider les tudiants dchiffrer des coutumes, rfrences
culturelles ou encore des gestes qui leur sont parfois incomprhensibles. Nous nous
intresserons ici aux techniques dont le but est de mener les tudiants acqurir une
conscience interculturelle, et ainsi, aller au-del de la simple comptence linguistique. Par le
biais d'activits diverses, nous montrerons comment provoquer une approche interculturelle
et une prise de conscience de l'importance de cette comptence autant de la part des tudiants
que des professeurs.

Mots cls
Interculturel, culture, thique, strotypes, altrit

Resumen
Estudiar una lengua extranjera puede significar apertura al mundo, reflexin sobre
nuestras ideas preconcebidas y de autoreflexin sobre nuestra propia cultura.

Cules son los mtodos alternativos a los manuales clsicos que podramos utilizar en
nuestro acercamiento a la interculturalidad?

Veremos cmo ayudar a los estudiantes a descifrar costumbres, referencias culturales
o gestos que a veces son incomprensibles para ellos. En este escrito se presentarn tcnicas
cuyo objetivo es ayudar a los estudiantes a adquirir una consciencia intercultural, y de esa
manera, ir ms all de la simple competencia lingstica. Por el medio de actividades diversas,

58 Exprience mene lUniversit San Buenaventura, Cartagena de Indias, Colombie, 2013
59 Master LLCE (Langue, Civilisation et Littrature trangre) Recherche, universit Michel de Montaigne
Bordeaux III. Professeur de F.L.E. l'universit de San Buenaventura, Cartagena de Indias.

227
veremos cmo provocar este acercamiento a la interculturalidad y provocar una toma de
consciencia de su relevancia por parte de los estudiantes.

Palabras clave
Interculturalidad, cultura, tica, estereotipo, alteridad

INTRODUCTION

A notre poque le contact avec l 'autre est quotidien. En effet, selon De Carlo
(1998) le rapport avec l'altrit est devenu un sujet incontournable pour la comprhension
d'un monde, o les changes et la circulation non seulement de biens et de capitaux, mais
aussi d'individus, de groupes, d'ides, d'informations, de projets de vie (...) s'intensifient de
jour en jour (p. 35). Le multiculturalisme est une notion aujourd'hui banale mais qui est
pourtant parfois sensible et difficile grer dans certaines socits. Car bien que le
multiculturalisme soit un phnomne mondial et un enrichissement indniable, les
discriminations sont toujours d'actualit.

L'apprentissage d'une langue trangre est synonyme d'ouverture sur le monde, de
prise de conscience d'autres systmes de pense ou encore de remise en question de ses
propres croyances. La curiosit et l'ouverture d'esprit sont des prrequis pour tudier une
langue trangre. Les tudiants de langues doivent donc tre des personnes curieuses,
ouvertes la diffrence et prtes dvelopper une certaine tolrance et empathie envers cet
inconnu. Connatre la grammaire ou la phontique la perfection n'assure pas une
interaction russie avec une personne appartenant une culture diffrente de la leur. De
mme tre bilingue ne veut pas forcment dire que la personne saura se comporter de
manire adquate dans le contexte de la langue cible. La comptence linguistique n'est donc
pas suffisante et la comptence interculturelle est un lment fondamental prendre en
compte dans l'enseignement des langues. On ne peut qu'imaginer les malentendus qu'une
conversation entre deux trangers, bien que se comprenant trs bien par le biais de la
langue, qui ne connatraient ni ne comprendraient la culture de l'autre, pourrait gnrer.

C'est pourquoi il est un devoir thique de la part des enseignants de donner une
grande importance l'interculturalit. L'ducation l'altrit est synonyme de tolrance, de
plus grande ouverture d'esprit et de respect de la diffrence. Le contraire pourrait tre
l'origine d'ancrage de prjugs et enseigner la comptence interculturelle est aujourd'hui un
enjeu thique de la part des enseignants dans la lutte contre les prjugs, le racisme ou
encore l'ethnocentrisme.

Nos objectifs sont multiples et concernent entre autres la volont de sensibiliser les
apprenants et professeurs la diffrence et la notion de culture, de faire prendre
conscience de l'importance de connatre et reconnatre sa propre culture afin de pouvoir
apprhender les autres, de dcouvrir la France et les pays francophones et enfin de
reconnatre la culture trangre et la respecter pour ses particularismes.

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Nous prsenterons dans cet crit des rflexions sur le sujet ainsi que des ides
dactivits dvelopper en classe.

CADRE THORIQUE
Qu'est-ce que l'interculturalit?
Selon De Carlo (1986) :

L' emploi du mot interculturel implique ncessairement, si on attribue au prfixe
inter sa pleine signification, interaction, change, limination des barrires, rciprocit et
vritable solidarit. Si au terme culture on reconnat toute sa valeur, cela implique
reconnaissance des valeurs, des modes de vie et des reprsentations symboliques auxquelles
les tres humains, tant les individus que les socits, se rfrent dans les relations avec les
autres et dans la conception du monde (p. 41).

Le dictionnaire actuel de l'ducation (1988) dfinit la culture comme un ensemble de
manires de voir, de sentir, de percevoir, de penser, de s'exprimer, de ragir, des modes de
vie, des croyances, un ensemble de connaissances, de ralisations, d'us et de coutumes, de
traditions, d'institutions, de normes, de valeurs, de moeurs, de loisirs et d'aspirations . Elle
caractrise les modes de vie d'une socit.

En France, l'interculturel est n dans le cadre du Franais langue maternelle, au dbut
des annes 1970. Ce concept tait alors destin aux enfants de migrants dans un but
d'intgration.

La comptence interculturelle est la capacit pour un tranger d'anticiper, dans une
situation donne, ce qui va se passer et de deviner quels comportements adopter afin
d'entretenir une relation adquate avec un tranger.

Que se passe-t-il quand des personnes de diverses cultures entrent en contact?
Comment vont-elles interagir puisque chaque pays possde une culture diffrente, des codes
diffrents (gestes, etc.) et chaque personne une culture commune au pays d'origine et propre
forge par l'ducation reue?

Identit propre et dcouverte de l'autre

Selon Chambeu (1997):

Les auteurs se rclamant de la comptence interculturelle et de la communication
interculturelle mettent l'accent, par contre, sur l'interaction, c'est dire le processus
d'changes qui permet aux deux interlocuteurs de s'influencer rciproquement, de se
mtisser mutuellement, et aussi sur l'intersubjectivit. L'interculturel sollicite deux Sujets. Il
s'agit dsormais de reconnatre l'Autre son statut de Sujet, en acceptant la rciprocit
ventuelle de son regard "chosifiant" (p. 13).

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Le professeur devra tout d'abord encourager les tudiants renforcer leur propre
identit bien avant de leur parler d'un pays tranger: l'objectif est de prendre conscience de sa
propre identit culturelle pour pouvoir en apprhender d'autres. L'apprentissage de sa propre
culture et la formation de sa propre identit seront donc les points de dpart indispensables
avant d'entreprendre la connaissance de l'autre. Bien connatre sa culture maternelle est bien
l un des enjeux de la comptence interculturelle car si l'interculturel relve de la culture de
l'autre, la propre est tout aussi dterminante dans la capacit comprendre ce dernier.

Il s'agit d'abolir les prjugs, ceux envers l'tranger bien sr, mais aussi envers les
tudiants eux-mmes. Valoriser leur propre culture en la comparant avec la culture franaise.
L'change et l'interaction, ou influence rciproque entre personnes de deux cultures
trangres, sont donc au cur du concept d'interculturel.

Selon le Cadre de Rfrence (1986):

Lapprenant nacquiert pas deux faons trangres dagir et de communiquer. Il
devient plurilingue et apprend linterculturalit. Les comptences linguistiques et
culturelles relatives chaque langue sont modifies par la connaissance de lautre et
contribuent la prise de conscience, aux habilets et aux savoir-faire interculturels. Elles
permettent lindividu de dvelopper une personnalit plus riche et plus complexe et
daccrotre sa capacit apprendre dautres langues trangres et souvrir des
expriences culturelles nouvelles (p. 40).

Le professeur de langue trangre devra donc tout dabord sintresser faire
rflchir les tudiants sur leur propre culture et ensuite sur la culture trangre.

METHODOLOGIE

La rflexion sur sa culture propre, premier pas de l'interculturalit

La premire tape de l'approche interculturelle est une rflexion sur sa propre culture
qui permettra, postrieurement, une ouverture vers les autres.

Il s'agira donc pour le professeur de langue trangre d'encourager les tudiants
faire des recherches sur leur culture et ainsi pouvoir la comparer avec celle(s) de la langue
cible et rflchir sur leurs valeurs. Dans certains cas il faudra aussi leur faire prendre
conscience de la richesse de celle-ci et apprendre la valoriser, sans pour autant tomber dans
l'ethnocentrisme.

Il est ncessaire de commencer par une rflexion sur soi, sur les origines de nos
croyances, etc. Car tre critique et se remettre en question est le point de dpart pour pouvoir
en tolrer d'autres.

Nous proposerons ci-dessous des ides d'activits mettant en pratique ces notions que
le professeur de langue trangre pourra utiliser dans ses cours.

230

Organiser des activits culturelles de redcouverte de sa propre culture

Durant un cours de civilisation franaise donn des tudiants de septime semestre
de Langues Modernes de lUniversit San Buenaventura de Cartagena (2012, Colombie),
nous avons ressenti le besoin de renforcer les connaissances des tudiants sur leur propre
pays et leur besoin d'en discuter et de valoriser leur culture. Nous avons donc dcid
d'organiser des activits culturelles qui nous ont permis d'atteindre un plus vaste public et
faire connatre notre intrt pour l'interculturel. Chaque activit nous a montr que les
tudiants montraient effectivement un vritable intrt pour leur propre culture et un intrt
connatre les cultures franaise et francophone.

Les tudiants ont fait preuve de beaucoup d'initiative, autonomie, discipline et
dynamisme quant la prparation et au bon dveloppement de l'vnement qui consistait en
une prsentation de diverses rgions colombiennes, le tout en langue franaise. Ce que nous
avons pu observer est que pour la grande majorit des tudiants, participants ou spectateurs,
beaucoup ont reconnu avoir appris de nombreuses choses sur leur pays. Grce ces activits,
les tudiants sont capables de se reconnatre en tant que personnes appartenant une culture
et donc plus aptes reconnatre la culture de la langue tudie.

De mme, chaque semaine pendant le cours de civilisation, nous faisions une revue de
presse afin de dcouvrir l'actualit franaise tout en la comparant avec l'actualit locale. Nous
avions remarqu un plus grand intrt lorsque le professeur mettait en relation un sujet avec
le pays des tudiants. Le manque de repres face l'histoire d'un pays tranger tait tout de
suite remplac par une sorte de rconfort lors de cette mise en relation et diminuait ainsi
l'angoisse de l'inconnu.

Il s'agit donc pour le professeur de donner la parole aux tudiants, leur donner la
chance d'tre autonomes et les guider vers une prise de conscience des ralits qui les
entourent.

Activit de culture gnrale sur la Colombie

Nous proposerons nos tudiants un court test de culture gnrale afin de vrifier
leurs connaissances sur la Colombie. Les questions concerneront divers aspects de la culture
locale (dmographie, histoire, socit, etc.).

Nous demanderons par exemple de quand date le droit de vote des femmes en
Colombie et proposerons trois rponses possibles.

La culture de lautre
Les systmes de valeur ou les signes, diffrents d'une culture l'autre, peuvent
parfois causer des malentendus. D'o les efforts que chacun doit faire pour comprendre
d'autres cultures.

231
Mais comment se familiariser avec des ralits d'un ou de pays situs des milliers de
kilomtres et dont la culture est loigne de la ntre? Il n'est pas facile de se reprsenter un
pays dont on nentend presque jamais parler. En effet, l'approche n'est pas simple et lorsque
la seule interaction avec la culture trangre se rsume la salle de classe, il faut trouver des
manires alternatives de rendre un peu plus concrte cette culture pour le moins abstraite
aux yeux de l'apprenant. Pour cela nous proposerons nos tudiants les activits suivantes.

Organisation d'activits culturelles mettant l'honneur la culture trangre

Dans un deuxime temps, nous pouvons proposer des activits contribuant une
meilleure connaissance de la socit et de la culture (arts, histoire, etc) de la langue cible.
Pour cette deuxime activit, nous avons dcid de prsenter certaines rgions et villes
franaises. En effet, les tudiants ne connaissaient que trs peu de villes part Paris et il
nous a paru essentiel de leur en faire dcouvrir un peu plus. Se sont donc formes diffrentes
quipes dans le groupe, chacune ayant prsent une rgion franaise aux autres tudiants et
professeurs. Chaque quipe tenait un stand reprsentatif de sa rgion et rpondait aux
questions des participants en franais.

La rdaction d'un journal, un apprentissage actif

La rdaction d'un journal est aussi une faon alternative de prendre conscience
d'aspects de la culture trangre tout en adoptant une attitude active. En effet les tudiants
sont les journalistes chargs de rdiger des articles prsentant l'actualit du pays tranger.
La ralisation dun journal en langue franaise est un moyen d'amliorer ses connaissances
dans le domaine de l'expression crite, de lexpression orale, de la culture et de la civilisation
franaises. Cette initiative permet galement de valoriser leur propre culture en proposant
des sujets la concernant. La prise d'initiative et la pratique auront pour buts de favoriser
l'autonomie des tudiants et leur confiance en eux au niveau linguistique.

Les diffrentes rubriques du journal toucheront l'actualit en France, la culture
(sorties cinma, musique, etc.), au pays d'origine ou encore la vie tudiante, entres autres.
Les objectifs attendus sont denrichir leurs connaissances grammaticales et
leur vocabulaire, leur expression crite et bien sr leurs connaissances des cultures
franaise et francophone mais aussi encourager la libert d'expression et l'change.

Activits sur les gestes et expressions : comment un simple geste peut-il
gnrer des malentendus?
Cette activit sera l'occasion de dcouvrir des gestes habituels des franais et de
travailler sur la communication non-verbale. A l'aide de vidos, nous ferons deviner aux
tudiants la signification de certains gestes et les comparerons avec les leurs. Ils devront en
mmoriser un maximum et les mettre en pratique en les mimant devant leurs camarades.

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Activit sur le savoir-vivre
En France, le manque de ponctualit est relativement mal vu et est considr comme
une impolitesse, un manque de respect. Arriver en retard, sans prvenir la personne qui
attend, sera reu comme une offense.

Nous demanderons aux apprenants ce qu'il en est dans leur pays et si les notions de
temps et de ponctualit sont similaires celles de la France. Ils devront ensuite imaginer
des situations d'incomprhensions possibles entre deux cultures qui ont des ides diffrentes
de la ponctualit.

RFLEXIONS

Linterculturalit, un lment fondamental dans lenseignement apprentissage dune
langue trangre

Les strotypes nationaux et ceux envers l'tranger.

L'tranger est toujours source de mystre, de doute et crainte. Le strotype vient
nous conforter dans cette ide et permet de diminuer nos angoisses en mettant l' autre
dans des cases.
Selon Cesari (1994) :

L'tymologie du mot autre dcrit bien cela : De l'ancienne racine al on fait
driver les mots allos (grec) et allius (latin ), devenu ensuite alter, anctre du mot autre ,
mais aussi des mots comme allergie , alination , altercation , adultre ,
altration (p.105).

Des activits concernant les strotypes seront faites en classe dans le but d'identifier
et d'analyser de manire critique ces derniers.
Nous nous demanderons quels sont les prjugs que l'tudiant a sur la France et
quels sont les prjugs que les trangers ont sur leur propre pays.

Activit de rflexion sur les auto-strotypes.
Tout d'abord nous poserons des questions concernant le pays des apprenants
pour les faire parler des strotypes sur celui-ci. Ils devront en discuter, juger s'il sont justes
ou non et expliquer les sentiments qu'ils gnrent en eux.

Activit de rflexion sur les strotypes sur les franais.

Nous observerons des images reprsentatives des franais et demanderons aux
tudiants si elles correspondent leurs ides reues. Nous dcouvrirons quelles sont, selon
eux, les raisons pour lesquelles les trangers se reprsentent les Franais de cette manire et
les ferons rflchir sur les origines de ces reprsentations.

233
On peut galement proposer aux tudiants de dessiner au tableau l'ide qu'ils ont du
franais typique .

Pour ces activits ralisables en classe, les rponses seront analyses de manire
critique et un change s'oprera entre les diffrents tudiants et le professeur-mdiateur.

L'ducation l'altrit : responsabilit thique du professeur de langue trangre

Les enseignants de langues doivent donner une grande place la comptence
interculturelle dans leur salle de classe afin de combattre l'ethnocentrisme et la xnophobie.
L'interculturel est le point de dpart de riches changes et de nouvelles dcouvertes.

Mais quels aspects doit-on privilgier? Que signifie enseigner la culture? La
civilisation, les arts d'une part et de l'autre les modes de vie et le quotidien?

L'enseignant sera un mdiateur entre les deux cultures, celle d'origine et la culture
cible, et encouragera les tudiants tre curieux et s'ouvrir d'autres systmes de pense,
vers la tolrance. A devenir de vritables citoyens du monde .

Cette approche interculturelle est un vritable processus d'ducation contre le
racisme, et l'ducation interculturelle a pour but de rduire les incomprhensions qui peuvent
exister entre diffrents groupes de personnes.

Le professeur doit montrer aux apprenants que la diffrence ne doit pas tre envisage
comme une barrire mais au contraire comme un atout et un enrichissement.

Le professeur apprendra aux tudiants relativiser leurs propres croyances,
dcouvrir d'autres modes de vie et les respecter bien qu'tant diffrents des leurs. Pour cela
le professeur doit promouvoir la libre expression et l'coute. Il s'agit d'encourager les
apprenants donner leur avis sur divers sujets et dvelopper leur pense critique.

Si certains dbats donnent lieu des climats de tension, le professeur, en tant que
mdiateur, devra encourager les apprenants prendre en compte leurs diffrents points de
vue et les respecter.

Des activits d'tude du langage peuvent tre mises en place par le professeur comme
nous les proposons ci-dessous.

Activit de l'abcdaire de la tolrance60
Les participants devront pour chaque lettre de l'alphabet franais trouver un mot en
rapport avec la tolrance et expliquer leur choix. Par exemple, T pour tolrance, D pour

60 Cette activit est extraite du site internet suivant: http://eycb.coe.int/edupack/fr_contents.html

234
diversit, etc. L'objectif est de rendre compte des diffrentes formes de discriminations, tels
que le sexisme ou l'homophobie, et encourager les participants analyser ces phnomnes.
Cette activit permettra d'ouvrir le dbat sur les diverses formes de discrimination.

Activit langage et discrimination

Cette activit aura pour objectif la prise de conscience de la banalit d'expressions ou de
blagues au contenu discriminatoire. Si l'on prend lexemple de l'humour, on peut proposer aux
tudiants danalyser des blagues concernant diverses rgions de leur pays et notamment la
leur. Nous observerons leurs ractions quand les blagues les touchent directement et les ferons
rflchir sur ces mmes ractions.

CONCLUSION

Le cursus de langues trangres est interdisciplinaire puique s'y mlent psychologie,
culture, histoire ou encore sociologie. Ces diffrentes disciplines, qui s'enrichissent
mutuellement, ouvriront les horizons des tudiants en leur proposant diverses perspectives
leur offrant une formation intgrale.

Car le professeur de langues trangres est charg d'une vritable mission : guider les
apprenants vers une plus grande ouverture d'esprit et vers la tolrance. Il devra faire prendre
conscience aux tudiants qu'il existe diffrentes interprtations du monde, les encourager
analyser leurs ides reues sur la culture trangre et mieux connatre la leur.

En tant que mdiateur, il devra tre l'coute des opinions des tudiants et crer une
ambiance de classe agrable et ouverte la diffrence afin de ne pas juger celle-ci mais bien
essayer de la comprendre.

Le professeur formera des citoyens du monde capables de comprendre des cultures
trangres la leur et de s'adapter diffrents contextes. I l s'agit pour l'enseignant de les
guider vers l'inconnu afin que cet autre devienne, petit petit, un lment familier et
finalement pas si diffrent.

L'interculturalit s'inscrit donc dans une dmarche interdisciplinaire et est
actuellement l'une des composantes essentielles de l'apprentissage des langues trangres.
Aujourd'hui linterdisciplinarit est la cl pour le dveloppement de la comptence
interculturelle et plus prcisment pour le dveloppement de comptences tel que le savoir-
tre ou le savoir-comprendre, deux savoirs chers l'interculturalit.

235

Cesari, V. (1994). La dimensione interculturale nell'educazione : riflessioni e riferimenti per
l'azione pedagogica, in F. Poletti (1992). L'educazioneinterculturale. La Nuova Italia:
Florence.
Chambeu, F. (1997). Interculturel : perspective historique. Referncias Ressources, n 8.
Lisbonne.

Conseil de l'Europe (1986). L'interculturalisme: del'ide la pratiquedidactiqueet dela pratique
la thorie. Strasbourg.

De Carlo, M. (1998). L'interculturel. Paris : Cl International.

Legendre, R. (1988). Dictionnaireactuel delducation. Paris : Larousse.

236

Ponencia 22

Approaching Intercultural Communicative Competence
by Interacting with Native English Language Speakers
61

Julia Elvira Martnez Reina
62

Resumen
La interconexin de nuevos retos locales y globales en un creciente mundo
multicultural ha conducido al reconocimiento en el campo de la enseanza de lenguas
extranjeras, de que la enseanza de la lengua debera verse desde perspectivas
interculturales, lo cual implica desarrollar las competencias comunicativa e intercultural. Por
tanto, el propsito de este artculo es presentar un estudio de caso en proceso, cuyo objetivo
es describir lo que la interaccin de maestros, no hablantes nativos del idioma ingls, con dos
hablantes nativos del idioma ingls revela acerca de la aproximacin de los futuros maestros
a los elementos de la competencia comunicativa intercultural-CCI- propuestos por Byram.
Los datos se recogieron durante la aplicacin de una unidad didctica, mediante una pre-
encuesta, una post-encuesta, observacin y discusin en grupo. Para analizar la informacin
se emple mtodos cuantitativos y cualitativos. Los resultados del estudio muestran un
movimiento de los estudiantes de bajo inters acerca de los elementos de la CCI, a una
creciente concienciacin acerca de ellos.
Palabras clave: competencia comunicativa intercultural-CCI-, actitudes,
conocimiento, habilidades, conciencia crtica intercultural, interaccin.

Abstract
New interconnected local and global demands in an increasing multicultural world
have lead to a growing recognition within the field of foreign language teaching that
language learning should be viewed from intercultural perspectives, what implies the need to
develop both communicative and intercultural competencies. Therefore this paper aims at
presenting an ongoing descriptive case study which objective is to describe what non-native
English pre-service teachers interaction with TWO NATIVE English speakers reveal about
their approach to ICC elements proposed by Byram. Data were taken along the development
of a didactic unit through preand postsurveys, observation and group discussions. Both
qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze data. The results of the study
show the pre-service teachers movement from low concern about the ICC elements to
growing awareness about them.

61
This research work was developed in Tunja, at Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnolgica de Colombia - Uptc, from May to September, 2013
62
Julia Elvira Martinez Reina holds an Ma title in Applied Linguistics to TEFLfrom Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas University. She is a
full time teacher at Uptc, Tunja, Faculty of Sciences of Education, School of Languages, Modern Languages Program.

237

Key words: Intercultural communicative competence- ICC-, attitudes, knowledge,
skills, cultural critical awareness, interaction.

INTRODUCTION
Growing recognition within the field of foreign language teaching that language
learning should be viewed from intercultural perspectives implies the need to develop
approaches and methodological changes in ELT, which has privileged the communicative
competence for decades, to include both communicative and intercultural competencies
development in teaching and learning processes, on the assumption that one of the main
goals of these processes is to enable learners to communicate effectively with people from
diverse cultural backgrounds.

This movement in focus in learning English, which entails a change in the way pre-
service teachers ought to be enabled to develop intercultural communicative competence-
ICC- encouraged me to carry out an ongoing case study in which sixteen pre-service
teachers from a public Colombian university approached ICC through interaction sessions
with two foreign language assistants from different countries. This research work is framed
in the thematic area of Intercultural Dimension in the Foreign Language Curriculum, one of
the important focuses of modern language education. that reflects awareness of the
inseparable interdependent relationship of language and culture.

RESEARCH AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Reading about the wide variety of research in ICC conducted in different countries led
me to reflect upon the next three aspects, which constitute both the background and the
justification of the project: First, the Curriculum established for the academic program of
Modern Languages, which emphasizes the communicative competence development. Second
some experiences with students who have taken the course English pre-intermediate II,
which is structured around the theme global issues and third, theoretical review about
intercultural communicative competence and some key concepts this topic entails.

The Curriculum established for the academic program of Modern Languages, is built
under the features of Communicative Language Teaching Approach CLTA to implement the
seven English levels. Its main goal is to facilitate the development of the communicative
competence. In addition to the courses intended to teach English, the curriculum also offers
linguistics phonetics, literature, as well as pedagogical, didactic and research courses in
English language.

All of these thematic options are oriented to the development of different
competences in the fields of language, pedagogy and research . that assures a solid
professional preparation of the future teachers, committed with assuming the challenges
for their integral development and service for the Colombian academic community with a

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global vision and an open attitude towards interculturality and plurilinguism. PAE (2009,
p42).

Even though the curriculum proposes the inclusion of interculturality, it is still
necessary to highlight the ways in which the interrelationships of language and culture can
be successfully integrated into language teaching and learning to promote both
communicative and intercultural competences-IC-.

Regarding the second aspect referenced as a part of the background for this study,
which has to do with some experiences with students who have taken the course English pre-
intermediate II, some troubles like the next ones were observed and constitute other
justification to implement this project: Students low interest in other cultures and countries,
misconceptions and weak knowledge about their own and other cultures, difficulty in
locating and organizing information from various sources, a tendency to see issues just from
one point of view, usually taken from one source either a classmate, or a document; slow
movement from their view of the cultural influences in everyone behavior. My reflections
upon these and other related issues showed me the need to explore means to engage my
students in some experiences that allowed them to be aware of the fact that culture is not an
academic exercise, but life itself.

The third aspect that motivated and at the same time justifies and supports this study
is the theoretical review about ICC and some key concepts this topic entails, like culture,
language and culture and IC.

Culture is such a complex phenomenon that has provoked different forms and
perspectives to be approached. Some scholars refer to it in terms of the word itself, others
define it and some others describe it. In this regards, Kumaravadivelu (2008) asserts that the
concept of culture is so complicated and contentious than even scholarly representations of
culture often reflect overgeneralized, stereotyped and otherized representations ( p. 18). In
Kramsch words, culture is defined as membership in a discourse community that shares
common social space and history and common imaginings. (1988, p. 10). Similarly, Brown
(1994) asserts that culture is the glue that binds a group of people together (p.163), but he
also considers that people exist, feel, think and relate to others within the context of culture.
According to Liddicoat et al (2003) culture is a complex system of concepts, attitudes,
values, beliefs, conventions, behaviors, practices rituals and life styles of the people who make
up a cultural group, as well as the artifacts they produce and the institutions they create. ( p.
45).

Careful considerations about the previous and other similar scholars views led to
pose the concept that underlines this research work in these terms: culture involves all
aspects of human life and plays a central function in the way individuals, communities and
nations think, feel, belief, behave, act, communicate and relate each others. One crucial aspect
to be considered in this notion of culture is language, since as Kumaravadivelu (2005) asserts

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language permeates every aspect of human experience, and creates as well as reflects images
of that experience. It is almost impossible to imagine human life without it ( p. 3).

Kumaravadivelus claim puts in evidence the interdependent relationship of language
and culture, also stated by Kramsch in the sense that language is the principal means
whereby we conduct our social lives. When it is used in contexts of communication, it is
bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways (1998, p. 3). Similarly, Mitchell &
Milles (2004) consider that language and culture are not separate, but are acquired together
with each providing support for the development of the other. (p. 235). At this point,
Kramsch (1993) asserts if language is seen as social practice, culture becomes the very core
of language teaching (p.8). These concepts suggest the need to integrate language and
culture into language teaching and learning processes and support the research and the
didactic attempts to explore the role this relationship plays in intercultural communicative
competence.

Approaching ICC implies the consideration of an exhaustive list of concepts this term
embodies, however, for the purpose of the research work reported in this paper,
interrelations between IC and intercultural communication are mainly considered.
Regardless IC has increasingly been used and defined by various scholars there is not
agreement about a single definition but a common acknowledgment that IC has to do with
the ability to interact in an effective and appropriate form with people from different cultures.
According to Byram & Fleming (1998) IC means to have knowledge of one, or, preferably
more cultures and social identities and have the capacity to relate to new people from other
countries for which they have not been prepared directly (p. 9). This competence implies
becoming an intercultural speaker, what according to Byram &Zarate (1997) is someone who
crosses frontiers and who is to some extent a specialist in the transit of cultural property
and symbolic values ( p. 11).

Dealing with IC in language teaching means, among other things, enabling learners
to become intercultural speakers what in Byrams words are speakers or mediators who are
able to engage with complexity and multiple identities and to avoid the stereotyping which
accompanies perceiving someone from a single identity(2002, p.5). This view encloses a
relevant message that should help not only to have harmonious classroom environment, but
to make students be aware of their role as agents of change in the construction of a society
that claims for better human conditions. At this point, Byram (2002) asserts Intercultural
communication is communication on the basis of respect for individuals and equality of
human rights as the democratic basis for social interaction (p.5).

In language teaching, the process of developing ICC, apart from the development of
the communicative competence, the promotion and enhancement of certain knowledge, skills
and attitudes is required. Accordingly, Byram identified what is known as components of
intercultural competence, which were adopted by the Common European Framework of
Reference CEF (2001) as: Skills and know how (saivor faire), Existential competence

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(saivor tre) and ability to learn (Saivor-aprendre) (p.104). These components are defined by
Byram (2002) as follows:

First, Intercultural attitudes (saivor tre): Curiosity and openness, readiness to
suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about ones own (p. 7). This concept
allowed me to focus on the students form to act, feel and believe regarding culture. Second,
knowledge (saivors): of social groups and their products and practices of ones own and in
ones interlocutor country and of the general process of societal and individual interaction(p.
8). It was the support to study how the students dealt with knowledge of how social groups
and identities function.

Byram classifies skills in two groups, so the third component is: Skills of interpreting
and relating (saivor comprendre): ability to interpret a document or event from another
culture, to explain it and relate it to documents or events from ones own (2002, p. 8). This
concept provided the basis to observe and to analyze how the students figured out and
related events, situations and facts from their own and other cultures. The fourth component
is: Skills of discovery and interaction (savoir aprendre/ faire): ability to acquire new
knowledge of a culture and cultural practices and the ability to operate knowledge, attitudes
and skills under the constrains of real-time communication and interaction.(2002, p. 8). Here
I found foundation to observe and describe the students skills to unveil and learn about
people and cultural manifestations, as well as to manage knowledge, attitudes and skills at
the time of interacting with the foreign speakers.

The fifth and last component Byram included is named and defined as Critical
cultural awareness (saivor sengager): an ability to evaluate critically and on the basis of
explicit criteria, perspectives, practice and products in ones own and other cultures and
countries (2002, p. 8) was a contribution to encourage learners to think and to express their
view points on their own and other people cultural aspects.

METHODOLOGY

This section reports on the type of study, the setting, the population, the data
collection process and data analysis considered to frame the research work.

Type of research.

This research was conducted as a qualitative, descriptive case study. Qualitative
approach was selected bearing in mind that the focus of the study was to interpret findings
and to describe useful grounded information about what non-native English pre-service
teachers interaction with two native English speakers-NESs- reveal about their approach to
IC elements proposed by Byram. The decision about implementing a descriptive case study
was driven by the interest in identifying and studying in depth specific situations processes
the students lived along the development of a didactic unit intended to unveil the way they
approached the ICC elements.

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Setting

This research was carried out at Universidad Pedaggica y Tecnolgica de Colombia-
Uptc, a public university located in Tunja, capital city of Boyac. A classroom assigned for
the course English Pre-intermediate II offered in the Modern Languages Program at the
School of Languages, a branch of the Faculty of Education was the specific context where the
didactic experience that served as basis for the study was carried out.

Population and participants

Eleven female and five male students aged between eighteen and twenty six years
who are taking the course English Pre-intermediate II in the fourth semester of their
academic program signed the consent form to be involved the research and constitute the
study population. Twelve of them come from small cities and towns around Tunja, three are
from this city and one of them comes from Casanare, a department located at the east of
Boyac. No one of the students has had the opportunity to travel abroad. These students can
be described in general as respectful, patient, gentle and a little introverted people. Some of
them combine study and work to supply their economic restrictions. The academic journey
they have followed has allowed them to get some insights in both Spanish and English
language, as well as in pedagogy. This is a heterogeneous group in terms on English level
proficiency.

According to the research purpose two young participants, an English lady who came
as a guest and an American a man who is officially assigned to the School of Languages as an
English assistant were engaged. They are native English speakers-NESs- with university
studies, who have had the opportunity to live in some European and Latin American
countries. They are friendly, open minded and had disposition to participate in the sessions
intended to experience intercultural matters around countries, only in specific class sessions.

Data collection: Techniques, instruments, and procedures

Bearing in mind that the purpose of this study was to describe and analyze how
English pre-service teachers approached ICC elements proposed by Byram through
interacting with NESs, data were taken from Preand postsurveys, observation and group
discussions along the development of a didactic unit framed the syllabus. The procedure to
collect data was linked to the steps proposed in the didactic unit which steps are Telling
about my hometown, Travelling around a country and Opening the door to a guest
country.

A Pre-survey and one post- survey with multiple choice questions intended to inquire
about the students perceptions on the five ICC proposed by Bryam were adapted from
Nakano et al (2011) and applied to all the students. The questions included in these surveys
will be presented in the session devoted to data analysis. The pre-survey was administrated

242
before the sessions with the NESs and became a valuable means to unveil the students initial
state in front of the ICC components. The pos-survey was administrated after the interaction
sessions with the NESs- and provided relevant information about the impact these
experiences had in the students approach to ICC.

Observation was a technique that allowed see what was going on in the students
reports, as well as along the foreign language speakers presentation of countries. In both
situations I let the scenes unfolded without any intervention from my side, but with a clear
focus on what happened regarding the five ICC. I took notes and videotaped each event to
keep a track of what was happening, what was said and by whom.

Group discussions were used as a technique generated by the students and the NESs
after the talk they presented about a selected country. Planning these presentations started
with a consensus of the students, the NESs and the teacher. For the discussion sessions I
planned and shared an outline in order to inform the NESs about the objective, the
procedures and especially the conversation aspects they could include in order to fit the five
elements of ICC. I also told them they were free to pose their own questions. During the
conversation I exerted low intervention, just to help both students and presenters to convey
information or to elicit responses about some aspects that gave account of the ICC
components, which were not undertaken by the speakers. These conversation sessions that
were video recorded and transcribed allowed to see and to analyze what happened in terms of
the students approach to ICC after the conversation with the NESs and to confront findings
with those emerged in the previous experiences.

DATA ANALYSIS

Bearing in mind the approach and the type of research implemented in this study, the
process of examining and interpreting data implied the use of qualitative method to analyze
relevant information that emerged from the analysis of each research instrument. At this
point, it is worthy to mention that the feature of the surveys involved quantitative analysis
which was the base to interpret and describe the students perceptions about ICC before and
after interacting with the English native speakers. The process of data analysis started with a
careful review of the research questions and had Byrams ICC components as constant
referent. Then the information gotten from each one of the instruments was reviewed in
order to put the data apart and putting them together in a meaningful way by grouping,
finding relations and displaying the basic elements.

To analyze data taken from observation and group discussions I examined what
happened along the three steps of the didactic unit, then I designed a six column chart that
included the students pseudonyms and the five I CC components, where I registered relevant
aspects gathered in the preliminary activities, along the NESs presentations on the countries
and during the discussion sessions. Then, I identified and grouped commonalities, as well as
significant differences. For the analysis of pre- and post-surveys I constructed tables to
register raw data about each one of the answers which were further categorized according to

243
the scale proposed for each of them. This data was later analyzed, described and used to
compare the initial perceptions of the students in terms of the five ICC elements with the one
observed after the NESs talk. Since this is a report of an ongoing research, the definition
about categories is still a matter of study.

RESULTS

According to the procedure to analyze data, described above, this section accounts for
the analysis and interpretation of relevant information found along the implementation of the
didactic unit, as follows,

In the step Telling about my hometown the students shared information they
considered relevant to portrait their home town. Their reports followed similar patterns
which included: General information about weather, naming places, listing economic
activities and some celebrations. Only three students included information about some people
features, beliefs and feelings, as well as their perceptions about them. In the step Travelling
around a country the students worked in groups to talk about a country they selected from a
list they built based in their interest. For this purpose they had some extra-class time to
search for information and to prepare their presentation. The students report exhibited
almost the same features from those about their hometowns in terms of listing and naming
aspects, but it was evident that the consult allowed them to include some information about
other matters like location, symbols, language and politics. Again, only few students included
information about people.

What I could interpret from the experience in the first two steps is that in terms of
attitudes, the students seem to be satisfied with raw information; curiosity is not exactly a
strong feature, culture is considered as a set of aspects not clearly related to people.
Regarding knowledge it seems that knowledge about social process and what people account
for it, as well as knowledge about how people are perceived was not considered by the
students as a cultural matter. The skills for interpreting and relating and for discovery and
interaction were not clearly reflected. In this sense, the interpretation of the reality of the
towns they come from, as well as of the information they search about countries was
superficial and consequently provided weak bases to relate information to particular issues,
as well as to relate their own culture with others. No comments about the topics were made
so; observation about critical awareness was limited.

In the step Opening the door to a guest country the speakers presentation, as well
as the discussion sessions the students attitude changed in some aspects like: careful
attention to the presentation and curiosity; some students took notes; others expressed the
relation they found between some cultural aspects of the foreign countries and theirs. They
also asked about the speakers perceptions on England and Italy, as well as on our country.
All this reflects the students movement in terms of attitudes, intercultural knowledge, as
well as in their skills to interpret, relate, discovery and interact.

244
To deepening in this analysis I will present next, the interpretation that emerged
from the comparison of the students responses to the pre- and postsurveys in relation to
the five IC elements, starting from the final scores gotten in the pre-survey versus the
general scores obtained in the post-survey.
Attitudes
Questions 1 Pre-question 1: How interested are you in other countries?
Post- question1: How interested are you in other countries after the NESs
presentation?
Students
responses
Very interested: 9 versus 10; fairly interested: 5 versus 6 and 2 mildly
interested: versus 0.
Interpretation The students responses pointed to show a generalized interest in knowing
about other countries. The little increasing interest in the post-survey could
obey to the students view on how widening and deepening in information
about a country let them to have a more complete image on what it is about.

Questions 2 Pre- question: How interested are you in establishing communication with
people from other cultures?
Post- question: How interested are you in establishing communication with
people from other cultures, after the NESs presentation?
Students
responses
Very interested: 8 versus 10; fairly interested: 5 versus 6 and mildly
interested: 1 versus 0.
Interpretation Similarly to the first case, the students interest increased after the NESs
presentation and interaction, what according to the students verbal and non
verbal expressions occurred due to the presenters enthusiasm and to the
variety of aspects they talk about.

Questions 3 Pre- question: How interested are you in other cultures?
Post- question: How interested are you in other cultures now?
Students
responses
Very interested: 7 versus 11; fairly interested: 7 versus 5 and 2 mildly
interested: versus 0.
Interpretation Although all the students expressed interest about other cultures in the pre-
survey there is a notorious rise in their concern about this aspect after the
NESs presentation, what means that speakers talk could in some sense
stimulate the students curiosity.

Questions 4 Pre-Q 4: Have you ever thought that Colombian people share the same
values?
Post-Q 4: Do you think that Colombian people share the same values?
Students
responses
Yes:10 versus 9; No:6 versus 7.

Interpretation The answers in both pre- and post-survey were almost the same, only one
student changed her view about Colombian people values. This phenomenon
could be attributed to the fact that the speakers activity was mainly
centered in foreign cultural values. It may also reflect that the students

245
assume culture as a unique general feature shared by a community, and as
one of the students asserted if we had different values, it would affect our
identity

Questions 5 Pre-question 5: Have you ever thought that people from other cultures have
different values from yours?
Post- question 5: Did you find or notice that the NESs have the same, or
some common, or different values from yours?
Students
responses
Pre-question answers: Yes: 14; No:2
Post-question answers: The same:14 versus 7; different: 2, versus 5; some
common: 4.
Interpretation The students answers provided in both surveys show a notorious change in
their view about comparing their values with those from other cultures. It
happened, in part, because the post-survey had new options. Probably
through the NESs presentation and interaction they could identify some
common and some different values that let them to decentre their own
values to remove their initial beliefs about the cultures they were sharing in
the class.

Questions 6 Pre- question 6: Have you ever changed somehow your view about another
culture?
Post- question 6: Did you change somehow your view about English and/ or
Italian culture after the NESs presentation?
Students
responses
In the pre-survey 7 students answered Yes and 9 students answered No.
The responses in the post-survey were: About English culture 12 students
answered Yes and 4 students answered No. About Italian culture 10
students answered Yes and 5 students answered No.
Interpretation As can be noticed in the pos-survey the students expressed differently
regarding their initial view, as well as about the two cultures immersed in
the NESs talk about countries. The changes about English culture was
attributed first, to the fact that most of the students thought that being
British was the same than being English, despite this misunderstanding is
associated with knowledge, it has strong influence in the way of perceiving
culture. Second, the students could disbelief some stereotyped images they
had about English people. The students who did not change their view about
Italian culture wrote that it was because they had consulted about it before
the speakers presentation.

Knowledge
Questions 7 Pre-question 7: How well do you know about Colombian culture?
Post- question 7: How well do you know about Colombian culture?
Students
responses
Very well:1 versus 0; fairly well: 9 versus 6; mildly well 5 versus 9; not very
much 1 versus 1.
Interpretation It is interesting to see how the same question in the pre- and in the post-

246
survey elicited different responses, despite this topic was not directly
approached in the NES presentation. At this point the students agreed that
the NES talk made them realize that culture involves many aspects which
they did not consider in their reports about Colombia.

Questions 8 Pre- question 8: How well do you know about English culture?
Post- question 8: How well do you know about English culture after the
NES talk?
Students
responses
Very well: 0; fairly well:0; mildly well:8 versus 14; not very much 7 versus 2;
nothing at all: 1 versus 0.
Interpretation Despite no one of the students moved up from mildly well, a notorious
increase is observed in the number of students who considered they knew
more about English culture after the speaker presentation. Some of them
wrote that they learned about people likes and life style, religion, some
customs and that it is a multicultural country. These responses lead to think
that the students started to see culture from individual and social
perspectives.

Questions 9 Pre- question 9: How well do you know about Italian culture?
Post- question 9: How well do you know about Italian culture after the NES
talk?
Students
responses
Very well: 0; fairly well: 0 versus 4, mildly well: 4 versus 10; not very much:
8 versus 2; nothing at all 4versus 0.
Interpretation The students post-survey responses confirm my view about the way the
students are approaching the concept of culture. They wrote that now they
know more about Italian people origin, inventions, music, feelings, likes and
food.

Question 10 Pre-question10: How well do you know about customs and conventions of
talking with people (topics of interest, topics to avoid, greetings and leave-
takings) in Colombia?
Post- question 10: There was not any post-question.
Students
responses
Very well: 4; fairly well: 6; mildly well:1; not very much:5.
Interpretation It seems that the students are not very concerned about this topic. As some
of them argued we know that there are formal and informal ways, We
respect adult people

Questions 11 Pre-question11: How well do you know about customs and conventions of
takings) in England?
Post-question 11: After the NES presentation, how well do you know about
customs and conventions of talking with people (topics of interest, topics to
avoid, greetings and leave-takings) in England?

247
Students
responses
Very well: 1versus 0; fairly well: 1 versus 0; mildly well: 6; not very much: 8;
nothing at all:2.
Interpretation The students view about this topic did not have any notorious change after
the NESs talk. It could be because she did not talk about it and the students
did not infer information about those related aspect through the speakers
talk.

Questions 12 Pre-question 12: How well do you know about customs and conventions of
takings) in Italy?
Post-question 12: After the NES presentation, how well do you know about
customs and conventions of talking with people (topics of interest, topics to
avoid, greetings and leave-takings) in Italy?
Students
responses
Very well: 0 versus 0; fairly well: 0, versus 0; mildly well: 4, versus 3; not
very much: 6, versus 7; nothing at all: 6, versus 6.
Interpretation There is a similar situation between this and the previous responses. It is
surprising that this topic that is considered a basic one in establishing
relationships has been let aside from the concept the students have about
culture.

Questions 13 Pre-question 13: Have you ever thought about how people from another
culture perceive you?
Post-question 13: Did you notice something that gives evidence of how the
native English speaker perceives you?
Students
responses
Yes: 14, versus 15; No: 2, versus 1.

Interpretation The students wrote that while the English speaker sometimes thought that
they did not understand her language, also that they are silent and happy;
the American speaker seemed to assume that they understood everything,
that they were interested in the topic, that the students have the same eating
habits (potatoes, rice, lentil).

Skills of interpreting and relating
Questions 14 Pre-question: Do you consider that you can interpret a document, situation
or event from two or more points of view?
Post-question: Do you consider that the NES presentation helped you to be
aware of the possibility you have to interpret a document, situation or event
from two or more points of view?
Students
responses
Yes: 14, versus 1 ; No 2 versus, 15.

Interpretation 10 of the students who considered that the NESs talk didnt help them to
see that they can interpret a document, situation or event from two or more
points of view, agreed that through the speakers talk they confirmed it is
possible; 4 students coincided in saying that people think differently and one

248
student pointed that he didnt understand the question. What can be inferred
from these responses is that the students are somehow aware of the skill to
interpret.

Questions 15 Pre-question: Do you consider that different cultural views can affect the
form to interpret a document, situation or event?
Post-question: Do you consider that through the NESs talk you realized
that cultural views can affect the form to interpret a document, situation or
event?
Students
responses
Yes: 16, versus 0; No 0, versus 16.
Interpretation The speakers talk helped the students to confirm that different cultural
views affect the form to interpret a document, a situation or event. Despite
the students had consulted about Italy, they noticed that there were
differences in the form they and the American speaker perceived this
country.

Skills of discovery and interaction
Questions 16 Pre-question: Have you ever asked about another cultures, country, town
and/ or people living there?.
Post-question: Through the NES talk, do you feel that you are more
interested about another cultures, country, town and/ or people living there?

Students
responses
12 yes, versus 14; No 4, versus 2

Interpretation Despite the majority of the students expressed in the pre-survey that they
had asked about another cultures, country, town and/ or people living there,
after the speaker presentation the interest about the topic increased in other
two students. It was evident in their questions about family, and the
speakers themselves. It means that the interaction with the NES encouraged
the students curiosity and interest to discover. It is important to highlight
that both speakers and students exhibited ability to interact and to overcome
some constrains in communication.

Questions 17 Pre-question: Have you ever observed another culture, country, town
and/ or peoples features?
Post-question: There was not any post-question.
Students
responses
Yes: 12; No: 4
Interpretation Since observation is a key step to develop the skill to discover. I consider
necessary to think about what the students who answered No need to
stimulate it.

Questions 18 Pre-question: Have you ever used networking to find and test about another

249
culture, country, town and/ or peoples features?
Students
responses
Yes: 5; No: 11
Interpretation Despite the students are familiar with networking and they exploit it for
many purposes the majority of the answers show that they dont use it to
find and test about another culture, country, town and/ or peoples features.
Comparing this answers with the previous one (17) it could be inferred that
the students curiosity is higher when they have direct or tangible contact
with people, situations or facts.

Questions 19 Pre-question: Have you ever been engaged in conversation with people from
another culture, country and/ or town?
Students
responses
Yes: 13 No: 3
Interpretation The students who responded in a negative form argued that they thought
the question referred only to foreign counties and cultures. It shows that
their view about culture is centered in people who belong to one specific
community.

Questions 20 Pre-question: How do you feel when you have to talk to people from another
culture, country and/ or town, you have just met for the first time?
Post-question: How did you feel when you had to talk to the English
speaker, who you had just met for the first time?
Students
responses
Very well: 5, versus 5; well: 6, versus 4; not too bad: 3, versus 3; bad:2,
versus 4.
Interpretation The students who did not change the form they feel when they talked to the
English speaker are outgoing and confident to interact with whomever they
meet. The students who changed iy argued that despite the speaker was
kind, they noticed that her English was a little different from the one they
use to speak. It lead to think that both self-confidence and language
knowledge play a great deal in intercultural communication.

Critical cultural awareness
Questions 21 Pre-question: Have you ever experienced that something made you
reconsider your own culture or values?.
Post-question: Do you consider that something in the NESs made you
reconsider your own culture or values?
Students
responses
Yes: 10, versus 6; No:6, versus 10

Interpretation Although the answers to the pre-survey question showed that the students
were open to reconsider their values, the responses to the pos-survey show
some resistance to do it. That could happen because they did not find any

250
attractive thing or because they feel strong tied to their own values.

Questions 22 Pre-question: Have you ever felt that you would like to integrate values
from another culture to you own culture?
Post-question: Would like to integrate some values from any of the cultures
exposed by the NESs to you own culture?
Students
responses
Yes: 15, versus 5; No: 1,versus 11.

Interpretation The behavior of the responses to these questions is similar to the previous
ones and consequently leads to a similar assumption regarding the students
feelings and views about their culture.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the study show the pre-service teachers movement from low
concern about the IC elements to growing awareness about them. In terms of attitude the
students interest and curiosity was not new for them, however, through the interaction with
the NESs they had the opportunity to think about how they deal with these abilities. It was
also seen that direct communication with people from other cultures helped them to start
removing some attitudes that might contribute latter in the development of ICC.

The study also shows that students knowledge about cultures was mainly
centered in those traditional patterns of culture represented in symbols, literature, customs
and language, among others, but through the interaction with the NESs the students could
realize that knowledge also has to do with recognizing people as individuals and as members
of social groups and to see how those patterns are possible to be understood by unveiling
what they talk about people and what people talk about them. Other aspect to recognize in
this experience has to do with the importance of language knowledge and the impact it has in
ICC. Similarly the study let the students and especially the teacher to recognize that it is
necessary to take advantage of the approach made by the students to develop their skills to
interpret, relate, discover, interact, as and to evaluate critically their own and other cultures,
in order to continue developing these abilities for a better approach to ICC. Further studies
will be needed to reveal the extent to which the initial approach to ICC evolves in other
intercultural encounters.

REFERENCES
Brown, H. D.(1994) Principles of languagelearning and teaching. New Jersey.
Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicativecompetence.
Byram, M., & Fleming, M. (1998). Languagelearning in intercultural perspective.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Byram, M., & Zarate, G. (1997). Thesociocultural and intercultural dimension of
languagelearning and teaching (Vol. 2). Council of Europe.

251
Byram, M., Gribkova, B., & Starkey, H. (2002). Developing the intercultural dimension
in language teaching. A practical introduction for teachers. Strasbourg: Council of
Europe.
COUNCIL, O. E. (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching. Assessment.
Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture. Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C. (1998). Languageand culture. Oxford University Press.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2005). Understanding languageteaching: Frommethod to
postmethod. Routledge.
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2008). Cultural globalization and languageeducation. Yale
University Press.
Liddicoat, A. J., Papademetre, L., Scarino, A., & Kohler, M. (2003). Report on
intercultural language learning. Report to theAustralian Government Department for
Education Scienceand Training.
Mitchell, R., & Myles, F. (2004). Second languagelearning theories. Arnold
Publishers.
Nakano, Y., Donnery, E., & Fukui, S. (2011). Developing intercultural communicative
competence through video web-chat and international student exchange sessions. LET
, (13), 125-145.
PAE Idiomas Modernos Resolucin 064 de 2009. Uptc

252

Ponencia 23

Exploring Pre-Service Teachers Experience with Cultural Content at
Three Universities in Bogot
1

Luis Fernando Gmez
2

Alba Olaya Len
3

Abstract

This papers aims at describing one aspect that was elicited from research
about Intercultural Communicative Competence: the current state of the EFL
undergraduate programs in terms of incorporating ICC. The qualitative research
carried out with 51 students from three universities was aimed at answering the
questions: What perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes do EFL pre-service teachers
have in regards to the incorporation of the cultural component in the EFL class? How
might EFL pre-service teachers foster ICC through the cultural contents studied in
their English class? We used three instruments: a survey, a semi-structured interview
and a documentary analysis. In the data analysis we give an account on four main
aspects: perceptions on culture and ICC, cultural contents that are normally included
in the class, the importance of incorporating the culture in English class, and the way
and contents included so far for teaching the cultural aspects contrasted with how
students would like this to be done. In this paper, however, we will only focus on the
current state of the programs.

Key words: Intercultural Communicative Competence, Culture and Teaching
of Culture.

Este documento tiene como objetivo describir un aspecto que se surgi a partir
de la investigacin que llevamos a cabo sobre competencia comunicativa intercultural:
el estado actual de los programas de pregrado ingls como lengua extranjera en
trminos de la incorporacin de la CCI. Esta investigacin de carcter cualitativo se
realiz con 51 estudiantes de tres universidades. Se pretenda responder a las
preguntas: Qu percepciones, conocimientos y actitudes tienen los profesores en
formacin en cuanto a la incorporacin del componente cultural en la clase de ingls
como lengua extranjera? Cmo podra los docentes fomentar la CPI a travs de los
contenidos culturales estudiados en clase? Para esta investigacin se utilizaron tres
instrumentos: una encuesta, una entrevista semi-estructurada y un anlisis
documental. Las conclusiones del proyecto de investigacin macro resaltan cuatro
aspectos principales: percepciones sobre la cultura y la CPI, los contenidos culturales
que se incluyen normalmente en la clase, la importancia de incorporar la cultura en la
clase de Ingls, y como los contenidos incluidos hasta el momento para la enseanza

253
de la aspectos culturales contrastan con la manera cmo los estudiantes les gustara.
A pesar de que estos elementos son muy importantes, en esta presentacin vamos a
centrarnos nicamente en el estado actual de los programas de licenciaturas en la
incorporacin del componente cultural.
Palabras claves:
Competencia communicative intercultural, Cultura y Enseanza de la cultura.

PRESENTATION

This qualitative research was carried out with 51 students from the
undergraduate English teaching program at three universities. The reason this
research was started was because English classes have been dominated by the study
of grammar forms and communicative functions. This fact has restricted learners
ability to become culturally competent. Taking into account that the study of the
target culture remains an unripe topic in the educational setting, including Colombia,
we wanted to conduct a diagnostic research by exploring and identifying what actual
perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes EFL pre-service teachers had in regards to the
insertion of culture. One of the aspects that were also able to analyze was the actual
practices in the teaching of Culture.

Culture, interculturality, intercultural communicative competence and
teaching culture are the main theoretical constructs that guided this exploratory
study. However, as this presentation solely focuses on the teaching of culture in the
classroom, we will present a brief summary of the teaching of culture.

There have been several approaches to integrate the teaching of culture in the
EFL classroom. Among others Galloway (1986) describes two approaches: 1 The 4-f
approach: Folk dances, festivals, fairs and food.2. The tour guide approach:
Identification of monuments, rivers and cities. 3. The by-the-way approach: sporadic

254
treatment of behavioral issues. (p.362).On the other hand, Youzhe (2006) summarizes
two main perspectives. The first perspective is related to the transmission of
highbrow information: (factual, cultural information in statistical information,
civilization, literature and arts), and lowbrow information, (customs, habits, and
folklore of everyday life). The other perspective is that cross-cultural psychology or
anthropology establishes connections between ones own and the target countrys
culture, (Kramsch, 1993, p.24. Despite the approaches described above Teachers in
the EFL classroom do not fully integrate culture, instead, culture is taught as any
other topic.

Exhaustive research was done on the topic of I ntercultural Communicative
Competence in the national and international context. In three Colombian academic
journals from 2003 until 2011 there were seven articles. The most common emphasis
for those articles remains in how the students assess the incorporation of Culture, the
implementation of proposals or pedagogical experiences, how culture is presented in
books; notions and tensions in the classrooms; and situations from misunderstandings
about culture. We also reviewed the thesis from 1993 until 2010 from an EFL Master
Program and found nine research projects carried out on this topic. It was evident
that research on this issue started from 1997, and all of the research focused primarily
on designing materials such as: lesson plans, guides, email projects that incorporated
cultural elements in the classroom.
In regards to international context, the emphasis is on proposing models and
activities for teaching, on examining teachers and students beliefs and perceptions.
There were also projects that incorporated ICT tools such as: telecolaboration, email
exchange, internet resources, world wide web, blogs, and public discussion forums.

METHODOLOGY

This research was carried out at three universities in Bogota with 51 students
of the undergraduate teaching program in English or other Languages. As this was a
qualitative and descriptive analysis based on questions related to three issues
knowledge, perceptions and attitudes, the steps we followed were:

Des
igning
instrument
s

Oct
ober 2011
Pil
oting the
instrument
s

Oct
ober 2011
Col
lecting
data

Nov
-Dec 2012
Char
ting data
from
questionnair
es
J anu
ary 2012
Trans
cribing
interviews
Febru
ary-March
2012
R
eading
and
analyzing
data

A
pril-J une
2012

For the study, we selected three data collection instruments: Questionnaires ,
an individual semi-structured interview, and a documentary analysis of the study

255
plans of the programs in which participants were enrolled. The purpose was to
observe whether or not study plans included any explicit cultural contents in English
courses. In order to analyze the data, we followed the principles of grounded
approach. We did an in-depth exploration of the data through a color coding system.
Color coding allowed us to establish the frequency and to identify the similar
opinions students had given.

RESULTS

The findings of our research described the pre-service teachers knowledge
and perceptions about culture and ICC. Also their perceptions towards cultural
contents, methodologies, and resources used in their classes. Finally, their attitude as
to what extent they considered culture and ICC important for their professional
teaching career. Through our investigation, we also uncovered the current practices
of teaching culture in the EFL classroom. Thus we will describe the current state if
the undergraduate programs in terms of incorporating ICC in the classroom.

A picture of the teaching of culture in the undergraduate programs

Based on the interview, surveys and documentary analysis, we can make a
description on the current state of the teaching of culture in the classroom. Even
though culture has definitively been integrated in the academic practices, the degree
and perspective varies greatly. There is not unanimity with regard to how much time
is devoted to developing cultural topics. Most of the students feel culture is included
all the time or very often, however 40% of the students said only once or twice in the
semester.
The two most common countries for cultural perspectives are United States
and United Kingdom. Other countries that are mentioned often are: Canada, Australia
and New Zealand. Also, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Japan, Korea, France
and Iceland were mentioned only once. New Zealand was highlighted in only one
university because it was part of the syllabus established there. On the same way
Trinidad and Tobago is included because of the near experience with assistants from
those countries.

Regarding topics, the most popular is social aspects of the countries also
history, tourism, and economy. It seems that teachers also address topics likes slang,
customs, behaviors, holidays, education, lifestyle, music, geography, architecture,
entertainment and fashion.

According to the students there is a great preference to teach culture by doing
teacher presentations with 93%. While student presentations were given 57%. Home
videos, role-plays , simulated TV and Radio, technology, movies, documentaries and
talks with a native speaker. The most popular activities employed in classes are:

256
presentations, videos and songs. Some other activities were: talking to foreign
language assistants, essays, reviews, games and songs.

How is the cultural component incorporated in the study plans at the three
universities? At U1, the study plan includes 6 semesters of English courses in which
the cultural component is not evident. It is the teachers decision whether he/ she
includes any cultural issues to be discussed. However, there are 3 courses that address
society of the foreign language. Similarly, at U2, all the English courses from first
to ninth semester focus on the development of language proficiency, but there are
four courses that include cultural components: Language and Communication (fourth
sem.); Language, Society, and Culture (sixth sem.); and Literature in English 1 and 2
(eighth and ninth sem.). By contrast, at U3 devotes six courses named Anglophone
Languages and Cultures However, the courses focus surface elements of culture. In
addition, there are two courses oriented towards one aspect of culture: English
literature in seventh and eighth semesters in which the study of literary works and
authors is addressed. There are four mre courses called Emphasis and Competences
Development which in some cases may be oriented towards the study of culture, but
it depends on the teacher. The description of the study plans may indicate, when
relating them to students answers, that teacher and students are doing a great effort
to include culture, but, in general, it is mainly
oriented to language study because the study plans neither describe nor
contain cultural aspects to be studied. They only stress the importance of developing
communicative competence through language forms and communicative functions.

S

source: Study Plans 2012. Three universities
In addition, all university programs include a research project as a
requirement for graduation which in few cases, depending on students preferences
can be oriented towards cultural or intercultural aspects.
University 1 University 2 University 3
English and
culture
Society (3
semesters)
Study of
communication
English Literature
1
Society and
culture
English Literature
2
English Literature
1
English Literature
2

All courses in the
syllabus are labeled
specifically with the word
culture
Not evidence of
inclusion of cultural
component

257

Students are aware that learning culture is more than learning about topics
such as food or tourism. This fact was evidenced in the topics they suggested as
important to be included. The topics they prefer are: travelling, indigenous cultures,
surfing the net, native people, discussion about conflicts. Also, the students
mentioned the qualities a person should have to become culturally competent as
respect, open- mindness, tolerance, responsibility, love for their own culture,
commitment.

Students opinions were very critical about how culture should be taught in
the English class. Essentially, they would like to have more involvement and more
experiential learning. Their answers mostly depend on the methodology used at each
university. U1 students would like to have more presentations and discussions
through which they can compare and contrast cultural groups. Since U2 students
reported that teachers do mostly give presentations, they would like to participate
more in class discussion. U3 students asserted that they would like to have a more
reflective, deeper, and critical analysis of cultural content. They would also like
to do research and read books, and if possible, to talk to and meet native speakers.
Some UPN students recognized that the current ways through which they learn
culture are good. However, they would like to have other options different from oral
presentations. They suggested the use of real life situations, reading short stories, and
myths, and chatting with native people online.

CONCLUSION

We have presented a scan on how the cultural component has been adapted in
three different contexts. The most important fact is that students are aware of the
connection between language and culture as well as the importance of learning about
culture. We also concluded that all those programs include any kind of cultural
content in their study plans, syllabus or classroom activities. The time devoted to this
content varies from one semester to three. United States and United Kingdom are the
most studied countries; history, tourism, and economy the most common topics.
Teacher presentation is the most common methodology.

Teachers and institutions are very open and welcome these kinds of initiatives
nonetheless, as with most of the attempts and innovations carried out to improve the
teaching of English, time is a limitation. There is a need for actions to be started
inside the classrooms in the way of projects that train teacher educators to develop
Intercultural communicative Competence.

FURTHER RESEARCH

258
Through this study we discovered that most of the students have done
research on their own about cultural topics thus, it is worth inquiring about the
students autonomous practices regarding their own research of cultural topics.

On the other hand, research on ICC has been growing and changing so,
studies that define these changes are relevant for the field of ELT.

REFERENCES

Galloway, V.B. (1985). A design for the improvement of the teaching of culture in
foreign language classrooms. ACTFL project proposal. Yonkers, NY:
American Concil on theTeaching of Foreign Languages.
Kramsch, C. (2001). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press.
Youzhe, H. (2006). On Experiential Cultural Teaching Model in EFL College.
Canadian Social ScienceVol.2 No.6 December 2006.

259

Ponencia 24

Interaction Generated by Pedagogical Decisions through Content-based
Interaction
63

Nancy Esperanza Barn Pereira
64

Abstract
This project describes an action research, whose main objective was to identify how
some Pedagogical Decisions through contents affected the interaction in using the foreign
language in class. Interaction and communication were the cornerstone and the main
achievement. As Van Lier (1998) highlights, the keys to learning are exposure to input and
meaningful interaction with other speakers. Assuming the risk to communicate among
themselves and with the teacher was part of the search. This reflection involved working in
groups in order to share abilities and information; it also implied solving problems, exploring
knowledge and recycling or reinforcing critical thinking. It also involved suggesting,
innovating, acting, doing, learning through own learning strategies and styles, and changing
their own roles with the purpose of making a meaningful communication.

Fourteen students, who belong to the Languages School, third semester and
attending Pedagogical Project 2 were observed, surveyed and recorded in order to
characterize the way they interacted in the Foreign Language in a Colombian context. (FL).
The research showed three categories: The categories established from the analysis of data
were: 1) Interaction generated by Pedagogical decisions through content-based interaction.
2) Interaction generated by students responses to Pedagogical activities through
negotiation-based interaction, generating-based interaction and decision-making interaction;
and 3) Active roles in the learning/ teaching process through engagement and empowering-
based interaction.

Key words: Classroom Interaction, Pedagogical decisions, Content-Based Learning.

Resumen

Este proyecto describe una investigacin accin. Cuyo principal objetivo fue
identificar la manera como algunas decisiones pedaggicas a travs de contenidos, mejoraron
la interaccin en clase usando la lengua Extranjera. La interaccin y comunicacin fueron los

63
Esta es una experiencia investigativa en el Proyecto Pedaggico e Investigativo 2, desarrollado en la Escuela
de Idiomas de la UPTC, Tunja, 2011
64
Magister en Docencia de Idiomas. Profesora de la Escuela de Idiomas. UPTC, Tunja.

260
aspectos ms relevantes y logros principales. Como Van Lier (1998) recalca que la clave para
el aprendizaje es la exposicin e interaccin significativa con otros hablantes. Asumir el
riesgo de comunicarse entre ellos y con el profesor, fueron parte de la investigacin. Catorce
estudiantes, quienes pertenecan a la Escuela de Idiomas, del tercer semestre y atendieron
Proyecto Pedaggico e Investigativo 2, fueron observados, encuestados y grabados para
caracterizar la forma en que ellos interactuaron en la Lengua Extranjera. Las categoras que
se establecieron del anlisis de datos fueron: 1) La interaccin generada por decisiones
pedaggicas a travs de la interaccin basada en contenidos. 2) La interaccin generada por
las respuestas a actividades pedaggicas a travs de la negociacin basada en la interaccin de
toma de decisiones. Y 3) Los roles activos en el Proceso de enseanza/ aprendizaje a travs
de la interaccin y del compromiso mejoraron la interaccin.

Palabras Claves: Interaccin en el Saln de Clases, Decisiones Pedaggicas y
Aprendizaje basado en Contenidos.

INTRODUCTION

A reflection based on an interactive classroom and students professional topics of
interest goes in the direction of providing learners of English with more than linguistic
items. It addresses the principle of giving them reasons to learn language, learn about
language, and learn through language (Halliday, M. 1985). Giving context for learners to
interact with, expanding their own ability to grasp meaning, building up new knowledge,
solving problems and interacting meaningfully are undoubtedly some of the main concerns
of the current research.

This reflection involved working in groups in order to share abilities and information;
it also implied solving problems, exploring knowledge and recycling or reinforcing critical
thinking. It also involved suggesting, innovating, acting, doing, learning through own
learning strategies and styles, and changing their own roles with the purpose of making a
meaningful communication.

In this project the reader will find a theoretical framework that aims at content and
task- based learning and the different types of interaction that take place in the classroom.
Those concerns are based on sources from local and national research. In the final part, the
results, conclusions and implications for further research and pedagogical practice will be
drawn in terms of how classrooms activities planned of topics of interest affect the students
foreign language interaction.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Activities Centered on Contents of Students Professional Interest
Teaching departs from the point of introducing new knowledge in order to get
learners attention and interest. Teachers, theoreticians, methodologists and psychologists
have always claimed discovering the best and safer path to go through and being successful

261
in the task of teaching and learning. Different conceptions, approaches, methods, didactics,
classroom strategies, innovations and research have been formerly and currently applied in
order to solve the thorny point of success in FL settings.

The new language must provide, beyond aspects of the language such as grammatical
structure, spelling and pronunciation, a strong and meaningful component which must fill
the life of the learner with an enjoyable and unforgettable experience that enriches his
cognitive dimension but that establishes points of learners consideration about his own
culture in comparison to the one of the target language (Fajardo, A. 2000).

As it was mentioned above, creating a classroom where students are active
participants, who work cooperatively with the goal of learning and helping their peers learn
is crucial today in our educational settings. However, there is another key aspect to be
worked, and which is related to the activities teachers plan for their students. Are the
learning activities good enough to promote interaction? Are they really thought on students
needs and interests? Can they help students reflect and build up knowledge about the world
around them? In this sense, Pineda (2001) claims that successful language learning occurs
when the students are provided with target language material in a meaningful contextualized
way with the aim of acquiring information and knowledge (p.14)

According to Hymes (1972) and Bachman (1990), communicative competence has to
do with the functional use of language. They emphasize that communicative competence
requires realistic interaction among learners using meaningful and contextualized language.
These are decisive aspects when thinking about activities, which encourage the development
of oral communicative competence or production among learners.
Classroom Interaction
When we refer to classroom interaction, it is necessary to start reviewing, on the one
hand, some concepts of communication and communicative competence, and on the other,
clarifying how a FL classroom can explore interaction in the process of learning a foreign
language.

It has been stated that people have found different ways to communicate with others,
not only through a linguistic code, but also through other manifestations of language: arts,
mimics, drawings, in order to share their feelings, thoughts and views about their world.
Therefore, communication is one of the most important elements in human interaction,
especially in education, and how its use through a foreign language classroom challenges
teachers and learners to contribute meaningfully.

When people have the ability to communicate with others in a L1 or in a L2,
communication shows some characteristics: meaningful, conventional, appropriate,
interactional and structured (Richards, 1990). Gaining proficiency in a FL and being able to
interact depends on many purposes: approaching other cultures, meeting new people, sharing

262
customs, valuing the native culture, respecting lifestyles, etc. Additionally, students might be
motivated to get better professional opportunities, and to share real-life experiences.

Students and teachers spend most part of their classes in a classroom. We cannot get
away from the fact that teachers need to do more than just supply learners with a number of
language structures to manipulate, but to create classrooms where learners and teachers
have the opportunity to interact spontaneously; where they both draw on their experiences,
ideas, and imagination. Byrne (1988) describes the foreign language classroom as the place to
socialize, to bring the outside world into it, to escape on an imaginative level.

Interaction has taken a relevant role in foreign language learning; there are different
concepts for interaction. Thomas (1991,7) in his definition of the verb interact acting
reciprocally, acting upon each other, highlights the need to communicate with others.
Brown (1994) defines it as: Interaction is, in fact, the heart of communication; it is what
communication is all about; we send messages; we receive them; we interpret them in a
context; we negotiate meaning; and we collaborate to accomplish certain purposes
(1994,159)

Many researchers have studied the aspect of classroom interaction; we find studies
from Chaudron (1995), Malamah-Thomas (1987), Allwright & Bailey (1991) and Ramos
(2004), among others. To try to come up with a definition of classroom interaction,
Chaudron (1995) states that interaction is: acting reciprocally, acting upon each other; it
means, that a teacher acts upon the class, but the class consequently modifies its next action
and so forth. For this purpose, the students reactions become itself an action evoking a
reaction in the teacher which influences his / her subsequent action. As a result, according to
Malamah Thomas, (as cited by Ramos, 2004) there is a constant pattern of mutual
influence and adjustment.

The researchers mentioned previously have considered interaction as a key factor that
affects learning. Their studies have been focused on teacher talk, including types of speech,
explanations, questions and feedback that take place in the classroom, as well as
modifications, amount, and types of speech. They also have focused on students talk; they
have analyzed the way students interact among themselves and with the teacher in the
classroom.

Some other authors such as Baker and Freebody (1993) have focused their
investigations on the organization of literacy activities in the classroom work, specifically in
the social production of classroom competence as they consider the way classroom
interaction influences literacy. Ramos (2004) explains this case in her project: Power
relations in the EFL classroom through oral interaction as a clear example of how the social
relations that happen in the classroom do affect the learning situations. When students are
in contact with other students and when they are involved in literacy activities, they grow
together and learning is achieved (p.7). Furthermore, Ramos(2004) mentions that
interaction in the classroom is not just a unilateral way but a two- way type of relation in

263
which not only students but also teachers are expected to play a role according to which
learning can be enhanced.

In connection with what Ramos (2004) mentions, through interaction and the use of
language, we show who we are, the culture or community we are part of, our beliefs and our
identity. All-Wright (as cited in Ellis 1995) draws great importance to interaction, and
conceptualizes it as the fundamental fact of classroom pedagogy because everything that
happens in the classroom happens through a process of live person-to-person interaction. It
is in this context where Foreign Language Learning takes place.

Apart from the fact that classroom interaction enhances the students knowledge, the
interactions that take place in the classroom deal with what students bring to the classroom:
their previous knowledge and experiences. Ramos (2004) mentions that their background is
brought to the language-learning situation and it is the one that reinforces them, because
making use of it, they interact in the classroom. She further asserts: Students previous
experiences and their culture and society are valuable when empowering them in the
classroom. (p.11). It implies that the use of students previous knowledge in the classroom
through interaction empowers the students learning and helps to develop their oral skills.
Principles on Interaction
Brown (1994) suggests seven principles for structuring a theory of interaction in the
classroom. To this research, I considered the next ones:
Automaticity: interaction focuses attention on meanings and messages and not on
grammar. Therefore, students are free to interact without language pressure.
Intrinsic motivation: students become engaged with each other in speech acts of fulfilment
and self-actualization, and they appreciate their own competence to use language.
Risk taking: interaction requires certain degree of risk of failing to produce intended
meaning, or failing to interpret intended meaning, of being laughed at, of being shunned
or rejected.

As has been said previously, the teachers role in classroom interaction is crucial. They
can play many roles in their classes. Brown (1994) claims: Just as parents are called upon to
be many things to their children, neither can teachers be satisfied with none role. (p.160).
consequently, there are some possibilities where teachers can apply their abilities, some of
which are more conductive to creating an interactive classroom. In this endeavor the teacher
role that I took into account into the process is the following:

The teacher as a facilitator: he/ she makes learning easier for students, helping them to
clarify doubts about language to negotiate the process that they obtain from their goals.
This kind of teacher requires staying away from the directive role and allowing students,
with his / her guidance, to find their own pathways to success. Brown (1994:161)) adds to
this kind of role: a facilitator capitalizes on the principle of intrinsic motivation by

264
allowing students to discover language through using it pragmatically rather than telling
them about language.

Freire (1987) (as cited by Ramos, 2004) establishes that the problems and the needs
of students themselves must be the starting point in the classroom because this confirms and
legitimizes the knowledge and experiences through which students give meaning to their
lives (p.13). Therefore, one important aspect to bear in mind in classroom interaction is the
developmental orientation that values and attempts to amplify students prior knowledge and
experiences.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND OBJ ECTIVES

The questions for this research were originated in my interest to encourage students
to use the FL through my classes. Moreover, when I noticed that students did not feel
confident enough in interaction and communication, I started wondering about how this
problem could be solved. This was the main difficulty I faced with a second level class at the
School of Languages at local UPTC- Tunja.

A successful experience with the students was the opportunity they had to choose
their topics of interests specially those of their profession, controlling each activity of the
process. The task proved to be rewarding when they worked on topics of their professional
interest, but the most important aspects were: the interaction and attitudes. Therefore, I was
interested in looking for the activities that could help the students to obtain better results in
working interactively with students professional interests.

Trying to provide a possible solution, I decided to implement a methodological plan
under the principles of interaction, as a way to encourage students to do things with English.
In addition, I observed that activities centered on students attention gave them the
opportunity to express freely and meaningfully. That is why my questions are stated as
follows:

Main Question
How do Pedagogical decisions planned on contents of interest affect students Foreign
Language interaction?

Sub-Questions
1. What kinds of activities help students of Languages to interact in the Foreign Language
Classroom?
2. How does students interaction change in the Foreign Language?

RESEARCH DESIGN

Type of study

265
Following a qualitative research approach, this project based its methodological design on
Action Research, which includes: planning, action, systematic observation and reflection; all
of them repeated as many times as the process produces the changes sought.

Data collection and Instruments

The data were collected during an academic term (sixteen weeks) by means of collection
sources which included videotapes, observation formats, surveys, transcriptions and students
artifacts. The instruments to collect the data were applied to fourteen students.

Carrying out the research

This research was developed in three units planned on topics of students professional
interest. Each unit was composed of six stages following some activities prepared in order to
answer the main question and to categorize the activities that helped the students to interact.
The following chart shows the planning.

Stage
Activity
Unit 1 ( Teachers
Knowledge)
Unit 2(Teachers
Challenges)
Unit 3(Colombian
Policies in
Education)
Exploring
A. Previous
knowledge
Use of Video Bean Use of Video Bean
B. sharing with a
partner
Questions and
Answers
Questions and
Answers
Getting
Informed
C. pre-reading
organizer
Game to Classify
words
Guessing
information
D. Pre-reading
activities
Exchanging
Information
Exchanging
Information
E. Reading Listening Exercise Listening Exercises
F. Conceptual map Conceptual Map Conceptual Map
G. Summarizing
Reading and
Listening
Reading and
Listening
Intensive
Reading
I. Written Report
Preparing
Comprehension
Questions
Preparing yes/ no
and wh-questions
Expanding
and Producing
J. Oral Report
Giving oral Account
to a partner
Giving oral Account
to the group
Generating
K. Discussion
Activities
Debating Presenting a Project

Once the population was selected, the procedure used for carrying out the research was:

266
An observation stage, where I took notes in the middle and at the end of each class in
order to reflect about them. Those reflections and observations were categorized in
observation formats which include what learners did, principles, the teachers purpose
and the comments.

Table No. 1
OBSERVATION CHART
TOPIC: Teachers Knowledge

WHAT
LEARNERS
DO
PRINCI PLE
TEACHERS
PURPOSE
COMMENT
Previous
knowledge
Exploring
Giving opinions
Making
comments
To engage
target language
To state
meaning
Students were participating
actively; they used the
brainstorming technique whose
purpose is to initiate some sort of
thinking processit is often put
into excellent use in preparing
students to read a text, to discuss a
complex issue, or to write on a
topic. Brown (1994:181) and the
target language was promoted.
Pre-reading
organizer
Approaching
Observing
Guessing
Decoding
Skill
development
The organizer chart helped
students to give their personal
points of view. This kind of activity
helps the students to focus on what
is important. Bromley et al. (1999)
claim that students highlight key
concepts and vocabulary.
Pre-reading
activities
Approaching:
Answering
questions
Listing
paragraphs
Skimming
Pre-reading
techniques

Students were introduced to the
topic based on the questions and
skimming activity, which is a type
of rapid reading Richards
(1992:322) in this way, students got
the main ideas from the reading.
Summarizing
Awareness
Organizing the
information
Referring to
dictionary
Consulting the
teacher and the
partners
Reading and
understanding
Purposeful
reading
Students had the opportunity to
reinforce what they did in the
previous activities and to condense
their main ideas from the text and
their own points of view about it.
Debating Expanding Decision- They were active, confident and

267
WHAT
LEARNERS
DO
PRINCI PLE
TEACHERS
PURPOSE
COMMENT
Exchanging
knowledge
Expressing
opinions
Defending points
of view
making
Use of the
target language
Meaningful
communication
motivated to interact with the
topic, and the target language was
promoted.

Application of three surveys, each one at the end of each unit, in order to gather
personal students information from the activities, feelings and engagement in the
process.
Checking the videos to identify categories that emerged from the observation
formats, the surveys results and some students artifacts.
Transcriptions from three specific stages, during the three units, were taken in order
to produce an accurate description about the way the students interacted with the
teacher and among them. Unit 1: Stage No.5. Expanding. Activity: Discussion
activities. Unit 2: Expanding. Activity: Plenary session. Unit 3: Expanding. Activity:
Project presentations. I took into account the Browns Interaction Analysis System
BIAS, Brown (1975) (mentioned in Malamah-Thomas (1991)).

Chart No.1 shows an example of the observation format based on the field notes; and
it can be corroborated with the video and the surveys results. The example is related to unit
1:TeachersKnowledge. Three stages were selected at random: exploring, intensive reading
and generating. The main purpose of this observation was to explore FL interaction through
activities planned on conytents of students interest. The activities were based on strategies
designed to provide input and to promote output. They were on specific stages, activities,
skills and principles.
The following tables show the stages designed to provide input and output:

Table 2: Strategies/ stages designed to provide input.

STAGE ACTIVITIES SKILLS PRINCIPLE
Exploring

Previous knowledge,
Giving opinions,
Making comments,
Decoding, guessing,
finding out.
Speaking, Listening,
Writing
Interaction
Pre-reading: observing,

268

Getting Informed
guessing-decoding,
matching
Reading:
Identifying general and
Secondary ideas.
Summarizing:
Mapping. Concluding.

Reading, Speaking

Approaching
Intensive Reading
Cooperate, Work with
others, complete tasks,
built confidence, and
give and get feedback
Reading, Speaking, writing Engagement

Table 3: Strategies/ stages designed to promote output.

STAGE ACTIVITIES SKILLS PRINCIPLE
Expanding
Socializing, Round table, project
work, workshops, presentations,
film discussion, etc.
Speaking,
listening, reading
Cooperative
Learning
Producing
Websites, papers discussion,
debating, problem solving,
publishing, writing, etc.
Speaking, reading,
writing
Decision making
Generating

Pre-research exercises
Speaking, Reading,
writing.
Commitment

RESULTS

Categories emerged after reading and analyzing the data. In order to find common
patterns, a code system was applied to all the instruments related to the research questions.
While observing the interaction, I found out that Interaction generated by Pedagogical
decisions through content-based interaction helped the students to interact among them and
with the teacher. Other category was found in terms of how the students interaction
changed through Interaction generated by students responses to Pedagogical activities
through negotiation-based interaction, generating-based interaction and decision-making
interaction, and the last one, how the active roles in the learning/ teaching process through
engagement and empowering-based interaction.

CONCLUSIONS

269
The main objective of this research was to identify classroom interaction through
contents of students professional interest generated by pedagogical decisions. This project
also aimed at categorizing some of the activities that helped the target population to interact
in the FL classroom and at characterizing the way students interaction changes when using
the target language.

Further, the researchs objective was to give some patterns in order to improve the
ESP in terms of planning activities based on contents of students interests to use the FL in
an interactive way.

Besides, this project aimed at enriching Foreign Language curriculum; in terms of
making the English subject a part of the philosophy of the Pedagogical Project 2 program: to
form Foreign Languages Teachers with an integral knowledge and with a global vision.
Moreover, this project could give the university the possibility to involve students in their
different fields of study through the FL.

Implications for further research and pedagogical practice

After finishing this research, I drew some conclusions which must be taken into
account in our pedagogical practice. To get started: a new classroom model whose syllabus
must begin with real students, analysis is urgently needed. The kind of syllabus that I
propose is one in which active and cooperative students interact meaningfully in the FL. This
implies that we, teachers, should not expect to have fluent speakers of English in the use of
adequate exposition where students can interact among themselves and with their
instructors.
It is important to be innovative with the materials we are using in the FL
Classroom. This is a topic that deserves further research in terms of analyzing what kind of
readings help the students to use the FL in a meaningful way, besides the readings, the
contents promote interaction in the way students face their topics of interest.
Finally, it is necessary to continue researching about the methodology teachers are
using in the EFL classroom, and how when they promote opinion, suggesting, guessing,
sharing and building up knowledge by means of interaction, students begin to get involved
in a meaningful learning.

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Eje temtico 6

VI . Las ciencias humanas y
sociales en la formacin del
docente de lenguas
Reflexiones sobre tendencias y posturas
epistemolgicas de las ciencias humanas y sociales,
que sustentan los procesos de formacin
universitaria de los futuros docentes, quienes
reciben el encargo de crear nuevos escenarios de
aprendizaje para el encuentro y dilogo de nios y
jvenes colombianos con las lenguas y culturas
extranjeras.

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Ponencia 25

Printing Lives on a Piece of Paper, University Students J ournals Writing
Experience
65
Fredy Salamanca Gonzlez
66
Abstract
Languages students at the UPTC take subjects related to writing. The problem is that
texts seem to be isolated from the authors. In a survey students mentioned that that writing
is important, but that they only write as a requirement. After implementing the Journal,
students argued to feel more confident to write, they asserted to feel like writers that are
beginning a path of discovering, that using their own lives as material to write allowed them
to revive memories that they had lost somewhere. Students written product demonstrated
reflection, that they had skills to write, and that they needed a piece of freedom to express
what they wanted the way they wanted. The idea of Journals is reflecting upon what writing
implies, what writing should be and to show how a life can be connected to the target
language trough writing. After writing a Journal, students can have tools to face the
academic life and writing can be less demanding, more accurate and easier to carry out.
Someday these students will become teachers and it is undeniable that writing must be
omnipresent in the academic life. Besides the existence of any teacher is revealed trough
printed words.
Key words: Journals, writing, students, life.

Resumen
Los estudiantes de la Escuela de Idiomas de la UPTC tienen asignaturas relacionadas con
escritura acadmica. El problema es que los textos parecen estar aislados de los autores. En
una encuesta los estudiantes mencionaron que escribir es importante, pero que slo lo hacen
por requisito. Despus de implementar el Journal los estudiantes sintieron ms confianza al
escribir, tambin se sintieron como escritores novatos que estn empezando a recorrer un
camino de descubrimiento, el usar su vida para escribir les permiti revivir recuerdos
perdidos. La produccin escrita de los estudiantes demostr reflexin, que tienen habilidades
escriturales y que necesitaban un poco de libertad para expresar lo que quisieran como
quisieran. La idea es reflexionar acerca de lo que escribir implica, lo que la escritura debiera
ser y mostrar cmo una vida puede conectarse con la lengua extranjera a travs de la
escritura. Despus de escribir un Journal, los estudiantes pueden tener herramientas para la
vida acadmica y la escritura puede ser menos exigente y ms fcil de ejecutar. Algn da

65
Experience developed in the Uptc Tunja during two years in the subject Reading and Written Production of
the third semester of the Modern Languages Program.
66
Auxiliary teacher of the Languages School of the Uptc Tunja. M.A. in Language Teaching candidate.

274
estos estudiantes sern profesores y la escritura debe estar presente en su vida acadmica.
Adems, la existencia de un docente se materializa a travs de la palabra escrita.

Palabras clave: Diario, escritura, estudiantes, vida

PRESENTATION

The Languages School at the UPTC encourages students to write, to publish articles and
some subjects are related to academic writing (research). The subjects that students take
along their academic life are related to writing. Subjects like English, Written Production,
Pedagogy, Didactics, Literature, Research, Applied Linguistics, are addressed towards
reflection by means of writing in English. Based on the previous information, a common
issue has been detected: when students are asked to write for their assignments, they do not
demonstrate arguments for their ideas, they do not use punctuation correctly and they use to
write isolated sentences not paragraphs.
The Languages School at the UPTC works educating future teachers. Students agree
that writing is a skill to enhance, practice and perfect. These pre-service teachers need a
motive to write and to feel that the words printed on a piece of paper are meaningful, are real
and that those words have an owner. It is impossible that a pre service teacher realizes
about the power of writing if they just try to do their homework. The idea is to get beyond
doing a simple assignment; the idea is to write not because someone asks to do it, but because
it is necessary. For these students the Journal experience is a path they must discover on
their own and probably a strategy they can use with their future students.
The Languages School of the UPTC has three foreign assistants. All of them assist
teachers in their classes and also, these natives must set a schedule for tutoring students.
The assistants work with the Languages School and with the students in different activities:
The Languages Day, Ciclo de Cine y Cultura and English Clubs. This club is focused to
enhance students ability to speak and write. According to a report written by the English
foreign assistants, personally, we believe the level of writing as non-native English speakers
is good. Students are motivated to improve vocabulary and tend to express themselves well
when writing. However, at times they tend to write how they speak and therefore there are
a lot of common spelling errors and run-on sentences. The ideas are evident and clear but are
generally not fully developed. Students feel motivated to write, but according to the
assistants, students do not make themselves understand.

To enhance students writing, Journal strategy was selected. Based on a survey applied to
third semester students, the 90% of them agreed that the best way to reinforce writing in
English was by means of a Journal. Besides, some literature review can be cited to support
that journal writing can be meaningful and useful. Laidlaw (1998) carried out a study titled
Finding Real Lives: Writing and Identity. In her research, Laidlaw, worked with
kindergarten students. She defines her students lives as stories, she recorded those stories
and, at the same time, she wrote about her own life. Her objective was to learn more about
writing, about students and her role as teacher and writer. Laidlaw divided students stories

275
analyzed them and interpreted students personality. Another research done by Williams
(2006) analyzed the relationship between identity and academic writing in the University of
Louisville, Kentucky USA. Williams states that it does not matter the kind of text: essay,
research or article, the identity of the writer is behind the text, besides any piece of writing
begins with an own inquiry. Madden (2010) made another study in Kentucky University.
Her Descriptive Study was focused on Literacy Identity development trough writing
workshops in elementary students. Teacher and students gathered on Fridays to write and
comment their texts. The students texts were categorized among: gender, social status,
classroom factors, etc. DeDeyn (2011) worked on Students Identity, Writing Anxiety and
Writing Performance. The participants of this examination were 33 undergraduate
international students of advanced English level in an introductory writing class. Another
research done with international students was done with EFL Mexican students. Rodriguez,
Vsquez and Guzman (2011) analyzed the authors identity of university students in an
Applied Linguistics class. The texts written in first person demonstrated a strong authors
presence; additionally, these texts included more personal experiences, feelings and
reflections than the texts written in impersonal style.

In Colombia, there are some papers that must be cited. Sarmiento and Pedraza (2004)
explored life experiences trough literary circles. The researchers connected reading and
students lives, besides, by means of talks students share their perception, writers points of
view and own identification. The objective was to make students reflect about others and
their lives. Guerrero and Quintero (2004) analyzed the repercussions of the teachers role in
the reading writing process in university English students. Guerrero and Quintero assert
that only the writer is able to affirm when to stop writing, because the process never finishes.
Additionally, these two authors emphasize that one aspect to explore at University level is
the self perceptions that students have as readers and writers.

Creative journal is another aspect that has been taken into consideration by some
researchers and writers. Dowrick (2007, p. 38), in her book Creative Journal the Art of
Heart and Reflection, implies that journal based on personal experiences can change peoples
life. Dowrick also mentions about the free associations a person can make while writing and
the brain activity process when writing, J ournal writing develops both your so-called right
brain strengths (lateral problem solving, intuitive, creative, and emotional) and your so-
called left brain strengths (intellectual, sequential, rational, and orderly). In another
research, Creative Writing without the Pain of Grammar: A Sourcebook for CW 10 by
Heidi Emily Eusebio Abad (2006, p. 9), makes emphasis on writing of expression of the
senses, writing as expressions of feelings and writing as discipline. One interesting
characteristic that Eusebio Abad states is the multiple voices that the writer can have.
There can be many voices heard by the reader of a literary piece. Authors voice refers to the
thumbprint of a certain writer, a recognizable style or tone. A writer, though, may take on
different voices depending on the piece being written. An example of creative journal
publication is The Haymarket Review a Creative Journal Published by Highway
Community (2007). The Highway Community is an independent Christian church, and they
published poetry, artwork, prose, and musings for the general population, as well as some

276
work from the general population itself. Lpez (2009) explored Critical Creative Writing for
Personal Identity Construction. The participants were nine high school students, the theory
was based on Embodiment and through written texts students expressed their perceptions
about their own worlds. In another research, Castellanos (2008) used journals, posters
display, field notes and surveys to explore readings and to analyze their written production
based on the readings. The pedagogical intervention was applied to university students of
the languages program in Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

All previous studies have been very important in each context because students reflect
their way of thinking and the way they see themselves and others. The previous research
studies indicate that writing helps students to shape their personality, to find a critical
perspective towards what happens daily and to explore writing based on own experiences.
Writing requires time, discipline and effort. An exercise proposed for students to practice
writing is by means of a Journal. They print images using their own words; the main precept
of a Journal is J ust Write.

Objectives
From the previous perspectives, students should think of writing as something that must
be part of their lives, they are studying to become teachers and writing cannot be seen as an
isolated part of the teachers role. Writing is a reflective process in which the author must be
present everywhere in the text. For that reason, a Journal is a good beginning for students
to start to explore their writing, their thoughts, their experiences and the images they can
create using their own words. As Dr. Guerrero (2004) mentions, the writer decides when
stopping writing, because the process never ends. A journal can lasts as much as the writer
wishes, it is a channel to know ourselves and it can become part a persons life.
Consequently, the big goals for implementing the Journal as a writing strategy is, on the one
hand to make students think of writing as a reflective and meaningful process, and on the
other, to assess the Journal as a writing strategy.

METHODOLOGY

Research type and approach
The present study is based on the Qualitative research and Action Research approach.
The pedagogical intervention was addressed towards enhancing students writing skill and
to asses Journal as strategy to explore students insights.
Population
The population chosen is composed by students of third semester of the Modern
Languages Program at the UPTC in Tunja. They were chosen because they are taking the
course Reading and Written Production and the core of this subject is to produce
meaningful texts and start building their path as potential writers.
Data Collection Instruments
Three instruments were considered to collect data:

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Interview: in the interviews the idea was to question students in relation to their
perceptions about the usefulness of a journal. In addition, through interviews the researcher
explored whether students felt any kind of identification with the texts they wrote.
Journal: the Journals are a rich data instrument. These Journals contained life
experiences, frustrations and a great variety of descriptions. Students used elaborated
vocabulary and sentences structures to create images that take the reader to the very same
moment that the writer lived.
Reflective logs: students assessed their own experience while writing the Journal. In the
reflective logs students expressed what they thought about themselves as composers of their
texts. This instrument was meaningful because students themselves revealed their
identification as writers and the usefulness of having the Journal as a writing strategy.
Procedure
Students selected their own topics to write. The texts were written in five sessions of one
hour. Each student wrote and after having a short text the teacher checked it, he made
suggestions and after editing it, the text was checked again. The process was done several
times until the author thought the text was ready.
While revising, the teacher asked questions to the writers in order to explore more their
insights, suggesting metaphors and words that could employ in order to create images. At
the end, students had composed five chapters about their own lives and they decided the way
they wanted to present their final product. Some of them used models; some others used
puzzles that the reader had to organize in order to decipher the texts; or vaults to store
inside the little treasure.

RESULTS

In the specific case of the Modern Languages students, the implementation of the J ournal
has shown a big difference in terms of the content of texts. A comparison was made between
the essays written by students and the Journals they were writing during the semester. In
the essays, grammar mistakes are frequent, punctuation is barely taken into account and, in
some passages, the arguments are not strong enough, or they are disconnected from
students points of view. It is necessary to mention that, due to the nature of the essays, APA
parameters had to be applied, but contradictorily students did not take them into account.
On the other hand, when students used their own lives as material to write, the content of
the texts changed drastically. Despite grammar and spelling mistakes are present, students
were able to create images, there are sensations that can be extracted from the texts and the
descriptions are very accurate. Besides, the personality of the writers can be inferred from
the content, the expressions and the words they use.
In the interview students agreed that writing was not as hard as they thought. At the
beginning of the experience students seemed to rely heavily on the knowledge of grammar
rules and punctuation. As the Journal exercise evolved, they realized that the objective of all
texts was to create a precise image to exemplify what the writer lived. Students mentioned
in their reflective logs that writing is hard, but that practice makes perfect. The Journal
writing strategy proved to be a nice, engaging, fresh, useful and meaningful. Students

278
argued to feel pleased with the final product, even some of them felt motivated to publish
their memories someday.
In general it could be perceived that students felt proud, comfortable and satisfied with
their product. In the interview all students agreed that starting to write was difficult, but
once they started writing, words came out because they needed to be on a paper.

Pedagogical Implications
The Journal experience allows teachers to feel closer to students lives. Writing about
personal life experiences allow teachers discover who the people sitting in a classroom are, to
touch feelings and to understand why they are the way they are.
It is fascinating the way students open themselves trough writing. Because the intimacy
of texts, it was perceived that they felt shy to let the teacher read them. It is a job for
teachers to show respect, tolerance and acceptance for the content of papers. It does not
matter what students write, what it really matters is that they feel free to write, that the
teacher provides a space for students to express their voices without feeling any kind of
discrimination.
Everybody agrees that writing is important. The idea is to find a way in which talent, life
and writing can be conjugated. Talented writers can be found in any classroom. Each life
deserves to be told, heard and printed. Each person has many things to say and that trough
writing, we never know, can probably save a life.

CONCLUSIONS
Writing can be as serious and sacred as a person wants, when someone is committed to
write, the result can be very positive in terms of their written production.
Teachers should write; teachers should experience writing to be able to infect students
with words.
A text is never finished, a writer never stops writing; for this specific case, students took
as many tutorials with the teacher as they thought they needed. Only the authors decided
when the texts were ready.
Each student has something to tell; each student has a life, experiences, loves, hates,
anguishes or desires. A writer decides what to print on words, but sometimes the mere
acting of writing can reveal the truth that somehow the writer wanted to hide. Then is when
honesty emerges and the author sees his/ her life printed on a piece of paper.
Artist can be found inside classrooms, the situation is to let students J ust Write!

REFERENCES

Castellanos, J. (2008). Journal Writing and its Benefits in an Upper Intermediate EFL Class.
Profile9. 111 128. Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas, Colombia
DeDeyn, R. (2011). Student Identity, Writing Anxiety, and Writing Performance. Colorado State
University Fort Collins, Colorado Spring.
Dowrick, S. (2007). CreativeJ ournal Writing: theArt of Heart and Reflection. Allen and Unwin,
Australia. National Library of Australia.

279
Eusebio-Abad, H. (2006). Creative Writing without the Pain of Grammar: A Sourcebook for
CW
10. J ournal of English Studies and ComparativeLiterature, Vol 9, No 1. Department of
English and Comparative Literature, College of Arts and Letters. University of the
Philippines.
Guerrero, C. Quintero, A. (2004). Teachers as Mediators in Undergraduate Students
Literacy
Practices: Two Pedagogical Perspectives. HOW A Colombian J ournal for Teachers of
English. ASOCOPI. No 11, 45 54.
Haymarket Theater (2007). TheHaymarket Review A CreativeJ ournal Published by the
Highway Community, Vol. 1. El Camino Real, Palo Alto. California, USA.
Laidlaw, L. (1998). Finding "real" lives: Writing and identity. Language Arts, 126 131.
Madden, A. (2010). A Descriptive Study of Literacy Identity Development in an Elementary
Writing Workshop Dissertation. Lexington, KY.
Sarmiento, J. and Pedraza, C. (2004). Exploring Life through Literature Circles. HOW A
Colombian J ournal for Teachers of English. ASOCOPI. No 11, 37 44.
Williams, B. (2006). Pay attention to the man behind the curtain: The importance of identity
in
academic writing. J ournal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy; May. 710 716.

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Ponencia 26

A Reflection: The Process of Creating Community- Based Teacher
Training to Achieve National Bilingualism Goals
67

Carolyn Carpenter
68

Abstract
In 2006, the Colombian Ministry of National Education offers all primary and
secondary school children the entitlement to learn a foreign language and obtain a level of
B1 (Common European Frameworks) at the time of graduation by 2019. In order to achieve
this feat, there must be an adequate amount of well-trained teachers in the target foreign
language and teaching methodologies. This paper presents the initial efforts of the
Universidad de San Buenaventura- Cartagena, Escuela Normal Superior de Cartagena de
Indias and Colegio J orge Washington to simultaneously train future primary school teachers
in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and teaching methodology in order to create a
suitable and sufficient educational workforce. A summary of activities, strategies, successes
and struggles is included to foster the creation of future stronger alliances between
universities and schools which aids in achieving a national educational goal.
Keywords: pre- service teacher training, teacher training, foreign language teaching,
English as a Foreign Language, community- based project

Resumen
En 2006, el Ministerio de Educacin Nacional de Colombia ofrece a todos los nios y
las nias de las escuelas primarias y secundarias el derecho a aprender una lengua extranjera
y obtener un nivel de B1 de acuerdo del marco comn europeo de referencias para las lenguas
en el momento de su graduacin en 2019. Para lograr este reto, debera haber una cantidad
suficiente de profesores bien formados en la metodologa de enseanza de lenguas
extranjeras. Este trabajo presenta los esfuerzos iniciales de la Universidad de San
Buenaventura-Cartagena, Escuela Normal Superior de Cartagena de Indias y el Colegio
Jorge Washington para entrenar simultneamente futuros maestros de primaria en ingls
como lengua extranjera y la metodologa de la enseanza para crear un adecuado y suficiente
mano de obra educativa. Un resumen de las actividades, estrategias, xitos y luchas se incluye
para fomentar la creacin de futuras alianzas entre las universidades y las escuelas que ayuda
en la consecucin de un objetivo educativo nacional.
Palabras Clave: formacin inicial de docentes, formacin docente, enseanza de
ingls como idioma extranjera, proyecto basado en la comunidad

67
The formation and execution of the project was conducted primarily at the Escuela Normal Superior de
Cartagena de Indias (ENSCI), Cartagena, Colombia from October 2011 current date.
68
English Professor at the San Buenaventura- Cartagena, Lenguas Modernas Program; Earned Masters of
Education in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Boston University, USA.

281

INTRODUCTION

The former Minister of Education of Colombia, Cecilia Mara Vlez White (2006),
wrote inspiring and words that called to pre-service and in-service teachers to take
responsibility for English language teaching in elementary and secondary schools:
El ideal de tener colombianos capaces de comunicarse en ingls con estndares
internacionalmente comparables ya no es un sueo, es una realidad y slo podremos
llegar a cumplir los propsitos establecidos si contamos con maestras y maestros
convencidos y capaces de llevar a los nios y nias a comunicarse en este idioma. (p. 3)
Vlez- White affirms that the ideal of having Colombian citizens well-versed in the
English language was no longer a dream, but only possible with fully committed, convinced
and capable teachers. They are the driving force for English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
education. Colombia would only be able to compete in a globalized world if its young
students and future professionals were proficient in the English language as well as their
traditional studies.
The minister is calling for teachers to take the initiative and dedicate
themselves to the task of not only learning the English language themselves, but also to
teach the subject to their students. Even teachers at the elementary level who must already
master subjects like Spanish, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, etc. should be learning
and teaching English. In fact by 2019, according to the Colombian Ministry of National
Education (MEN) policy, all students graduating from high school (Grade 11) should reach a
B1 level according to the Common European Frameworks (CEF) of References for
Languages (1999). In order to achieve a B1 level by graduation, the MEN (2006)
recommends that school districts and schools align their curriculum and study plans to the
CEF which insures a steady and solid progression towards success.

Elementary teachers, who teach Kindergarten - fifth grades, play a very
important role in the development of their students English skills and competencies and are
crucial to the achievement of the required B1 level of graduating seniors (11
th
grade). The
MEN and its adopted CEF standards would like the elementary grades 1- 3 to achieve an Al
level, and grades 4-5 and A2.1 before they enter into the secondary level of education. Thus,
all elementary (K- 5) teachers must have the same or higher level than their students and
also the ability to teach the content. Teachers must have a minimum of an A2.1 language
level and be familiar with EFL teaching methodologies.

It may seem like a daunting task and an unreasonable requirement by the
MEN if there is no practical plan or designated resources to accomplish the undertaking.
How does a school connect to national policy based on a goal that all 11
th
grade students
graduate high school with a B1level of English to every day classroom teaching? What can
be done on the school and community level to achieve a national dream? This paper will
provide an insight on the process of making national policy a community reality by bringing
in governmental, non-governmental, and local educational institutions.

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It is an attempt to fill in a gap in the literature on the implementation of Colombias
National Bilingual Program. Usma (2009) states:
() no empirical research has been published on the implementation of
current linguistic policies and how different school communities interpret, enact,
resist, and transform policy discourses and practices and use them as opportunities for
personal and community development. Studies about the National Bilingual Program
in Colombia, including this one, have attempted to explain the policy and its potential
effects based on previous experiences or initial observations, but we know little about
the actual initial implementation of this policy in schools and how processes of
resistance and adaptation take place when reforms are enacted at the street level.
Future studies need to address this gap. (p. 144)

This paper will articulate the process of how the public teachers college, the Escuela
Normal Superior de Cartagena de Indias (ENSCI), private university, Universidad de San
Buenaventura Cartagena (USB- Cartagena), and local private bilingual school, Colegio
Jorge Washington in Cartagena, Colombia have interpreted, enacted, and hopefully,
transformed (Usma, 2009) EFL learning and teaching strategies at the elementary level to
achieve Colombias national bilingual goals. It outlines and summarizes the activities,
strategies, successes and struggles of the pre-service teacher collaborative, English for All
(EFA), and is evidence of an initial step to resolving national and local policy discord,
providing a reasonable, economical, practical and community- based plan to full-fill the
dream that all Colombian students can compete in a globalized English speaking world.

ENGLISH FOR ALL: A PRE-SERVICE TEACHING ENGLISH AS FOREIGN
LANGUAGE COLLABORATIVE

EFA is a collaboration between various organizations: ENSCI, USB-
Cartagena, and Colegio J orge Washington. All institutions have a similar mission which is to
promote EFL learning, teacher training, and community educational programs. For example,
the ENSCI states in its mission statement that it strives to create excellent teachers who
initiate sociocultural change (Nuestra Escuela: Mission, 2013). The program Proyeccin
Social of the USB Cartagena is dedicated to providing services of continuous social impact
to unserved and underserved populations of the metropolitan area of Cartagena and regional
department, Bolvar. Professors and students from the university are assigned to conduct
community projects, using scientific research methods and proven teaching methodologies. It
is the hope of the university that all professors and students combine their academic
knowledge and social consciousness to become socially responsible professionals
(Proyeccin Social, 2013). Additionally, the private bilingual high school approved by the
US State Department as following US educational standards, Jorge Washington, states that
its mission is to develop integral, bilingual leaders with global perspectives, within a
challenging academic environment that motivates the development of individual potential,
solid human values, and a decisive commitment with the community. (Colegio Jorge
Washington: Mission and Vision, 2013).

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ENSCI is a public teachers college comprised of an elementary and secondary
school and a two year associates degree program in Elementary Education called Ciclo
Complementario (CC). All graduates from the CC may teach grades K- 5 in public and private
educational institutions. CC students are considered pre-service teachers. They conduct their
practicum in ENSCIs elementary school. During their practicum, pre- service teachers must
prepare lessons and give instruction in all state required subjects. However, English had
been included on the list in theory, but not in practice. Most of the in-service elementary
teachers who are the pre-service teachers mentors did not require them to teach English
since, they did not have a sufficient CEF level of A2.1 themselves. The CC curriculum does
include basic EFL classes, but only 3 hours a week. Additionally, it does not include a
Teaching English as a Foreign Language component (TEFL); its methodology is not
covered in pre-service teachers classes.

In 2011, the ENSCI students and teachers thought there was a big gap in the
curriculum between what was required of teachers by the MEN and the reality of the
colleges pre-service teacher training program and curriculum. They also thought the lack of
TEFL training was creating a large disservice to the student population of the ENSCIs
elementary and secondary populations who are mainly from low-income families. English
communicative competence could provide academic and economic opportunities such as
study abroad scholarships and employment in Cartagenas growing tourism, commercial and
trade industries.

CC students are required to participate in a school and community- based curriculum
improvement project in order to receive their teaching certificates. Twenty students choose
the improvement of EFL and TEFL classes as its primary focus, thus the EFA project was
created. Its name infers that all students, public and private, should have the opportunity to
learn English starting at the elementary level, not only in the normally accepted 6
th
grade.
The EFA members, pre-service teachers and one supervising professor, conducted an
analysis to see what currently would be the best way to help the ENSCI community and
improve the chances that elementary students would learn English to compete with private
school graduates in their future academic and employment endeavors.

The members initially decided that the group needed more English language
instruction to serve the elementary students needs better and become more employable in
the future. Elementary teachers need to have a strong oral command of English to truly
teach their young pupils. It is essential to be able to speak English well since, their students
learn more by activities and games than by direct grammar instruction. Also, they realized
that they did not know the proper methodology to teach elementary EFL. The members of
EFA were learning English, as part of their standard curriculum (3 class hours a week) as
adults with textbooks designed for adults. ENSCIs library was fortunate enough to have
elementary English textbooks but, the technique to utilize them effectively was unknown
especially with most classrooms containing 30 to 40 students. The uncertainty of elementary
TEFL techniques and large classroom management protocol eventually led the EFA to look

284
for assistance in the Cartagena community (L. Morelo, personal communication, September,
2011).

STRATEGIES AND METHODS

Through local contacts, the EFA reached out to the USB Cartagenas Department of
Education, where they found a professor and researcher of the Modern Languages Program
(a Bachelors degree in English and French Foreign Language Education) assigned to work
in Proyeccin Social, a university sponsored community service program, and was highly
interested in expanding English programs understanding that they are vital to the academic
and economic success of low-income students. The researcher was invited to come meet with
EFA and discuss what would be the best approach in improving EFL instruction by ENSCI
pre-service teachers and in-service elementary teachers.

After much discussion with EFA and observation of ENSCIs classes by the
researcher, a collaborative between EFA and USB- Cartagena was developed on one
principle: the more proficient a teacher is in English, the more effective the teacher feels, and
in turn is more motivated to teach EFL to his or her students (Chacn, 2005). The results
should be higher English achievement for ENSCIs elementary student. The principle is
based on the neighboring country of Colombia, Venezuela, where its Ministry of Educations
EFL policies, and public school teachers ELF communicative competency levels, motivation
and culture are very similar to its Colombian counterparts.

The researcher investigated pre- service teacher training methodologies that
would accomplish two goals: 1. Learn the English language 2. Learn to teach EFL to
elementary students. The researcher also had the challenge of training with limited time and
money, and finding culturally appropriate training models. Considering all the elements, a
custom workshop model which included a coaching component, similar to professional
development programs in US public schools, was chosen due to its effectiveness in
completing multi-faceted tasks quickly and proven effective when there needs to be an
intervention in improving content area knowledge and instruction (Lee& Luyxk, 2005).

Before workshops began, the researcher discovered, after reviewing
constructivist educational theories, the best approach for the EFA members to truly learn
how to teach elementary EFL was to first observe a classroom being taught by expert
teachers using effective EFL teaching methods and then practice teaching in the target
language, English. Jonassen (1994) states constructivism as having eight characteristics that
defines meaningful learning as something that comes from authentic tasks, real world
settings, and reflection on instructional and learning development. The researcher approved
of the practical and hands-on approach considering the complexity of the problem and went
in search of an EFL learning environment to be used as an example and also looked for a
viable option to practice teaching English in a real world environment.

Activities

285
Observing Model Classrooms
The researcher contacted a local private bilingual school, the Jorge Washington.
Members of EFA were invited for a tour of the school and to observe US certified teachers to
teaching elementary EFL to Colombian students. They are considered model classrooms
compared to most of Cartagenas schools. Although the J orge Washington had many more
classroom resources and smaller class sizes than ENSCI and students were from the upper
most classes of Cartagena, the members of EFA noted that English was being learned due to
the teachers methodology, classroom management and planning. It was not only the
financial investment in the school and students, but it was the quality of the teachers. After
the observations, the EFA wanted to be trained on the subject to become the quality teachers
their students deserved.
Workshops
After the initial visit to the J orge Washington, the researcher realized another factor
that complicated the process of learning to teach EFL: workshops only based on English and
teaching methodologies would not be sufficient. Classroom management strategies and
lesson planning would also be needed to be learned in order to manage the 30 40 student
classroom size. The researcher looked for local experts in elementary English Education, and
contacted the Jorge Washington teachers to see if anyone would like to volunteer his orher
time to give workshops on elementary EFL methodology, classroom management and lesson
planning. One US certified teacher with her masters in Elementary English as Second
Language, considered an expert for this project, agreed and began coming once a week for 3
hours. All workshops were given in English despite participants lower EFL skills. It was a
struggle at first but, students began to understand after learning the instructional and
methodological vocabulary. Participants continued with their normal required English
classes (3 hours a week), but also were assigned to study the vocabulary and sentence
structures used in the District of Cartagenas English textbook. The recommended
independent study time was 9 hours per week. From February 2012 current date, an
average of 15 EFA participants have been exposed to EFL classes and TEFL methodology
and classroom management workshops for at least 9 hours per week for 40 weeks (360
hours). After each workshop, students go to their student- teaching classroom to practice and
experiment with the techniques they have learned.
The primary methodology taught was decided upon by the researcher and the
expert Elementary EFL teacher was based on basic principles of instruction that all teachers
should use, not just EFL teachers. Here are the principles (Rosenshine, 2012); each one was
used as the main topic for the first 10 weeks of the workshops but, also are echoed
throughout the workshop series of 2012- 2013:
1. Begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning: Daily review
can strengthen previous learning and can lead to fluent recall.
2. Present new material in small steps with student practice after each
step: Only present small amounts of new material at any time, and then assist
students as they practice this material.
3. Ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all
students: Questions help students practice new information and connect new
material to their prior learning.

286
4. Provide models: Providing students with models and worked examples
can help them learn to solve problems faster.
5. Guide student practice: Successful teachers spend more time guiding
students practice of new material.
6. Check for student understanding: Checking for student understanding
at each point can help students learn the material with fewer errors.
7. Obtain a high success rate: It is important for students to achieve a
high success rate during classroom instruction.
8. Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks: The teacher provides students with
temporary supports and scaffolds to assist them when they learn difficult tasks.
9. Require and monitor independent practice: Students need extensive,
successful, independent practice in order for skills and knowledge to become
automatic.
10. Engage students in weekly and monthly review: Students need to be
involved in extensive practice in order to develop well-connected and automatic
knowledge. (p. 12 19)
The instructors of the workshop constantly emphasized the need for review, practice
(in class and out of class), and providing models. Elementary EFL learners need plenty of
classroom time to review previous class topics, practice using the language, and follow
models of prescribed sentence structure with pre- learned vocabulary. The instructors
followed the same methodology while conducting their workshops in English with limited
interpretation in Spanish, often reviewing previous workshops, providing opportunities to
practice speaking, teaching, and lesson planning, and modeling effective instructional
methods.

Coaching
Besides English classes, independent sentence structure and vocabulary study, and
methodological, classroom management and lesson planning workshops, participants were
also given time to reflect on their student- teaching practicum during the workshops and via
social media websites such as Facebook and e-mail. The instructors were always available to
answer questions, and encourage reflection and inquiry. They acted as educational coaches.
Coaching is an effective method of relating to and understanding the present needs of
practicing teachers (Annenberg Institute for School Reform, 2011). It is school- based and
directly rooted to the daily teachers tasks at-hand of planning a class, teaching content,
managing students, and reflection. During the sessions, participants were given advice on
specific problems in the classroom. It is where theory and practice met creating many
researchable questions, but also finding answers that young pre-service teachers found
gratifying and relieving (G. Hurtado, personal communication, November 16, 2012).

CONCLUSIONS

Successes
To this date, the EFA teaching collaborative has enjoyed its share of success.
The collaborative has created a consciousness of the importance of EFL in elementary

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classroom with pre-service and in-service teachers. The principal of ENSCI has noted the
positive difference in the attitude of the teachers and students towards English. It is no
longer considered difficult, boring, or not useful. (A. Hernandez, personal communication
August 27, 2013) ENSCIs young students as well as teachers are excited and support and
participate in themed events such the First Annual English Day, August 25, 2012 organized
by EFA. Elementary students sang, recited poems, and acted in skits in English. It was a
festive environment with students dressed in costumes and painted faces.

The EFA Collaborative was also recognized by the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia
for its efforts in English teaching and promotion. Six of the top pre-service teachers and EFA
members received full scholarships to the prestigious Centro Cultural Colombo Americano
de Cartagena English language institute (http:/ / www.colombocartagena.com) which was
granted the by the US Embassys English Teaching Program Resource Center. The embassy
officials were impressed by the pre- service teachers dedication to English teaching and
learning, the improvement of their students English competencies and future, and their
desire to achieve the goals of the MEN that all students are B1 level by high school
graduation (N. Suarez, personal communication, September 4, 2012). The international
recognition of the collaborative increased the dedication and excitement of EFL teaching and
learning at ENSCI. It also created a sense of excitement, pride, accountability and
determination that fuels the desire of all members to continue to improve EFL teaching and
learning at ENSCI.

Struggles
Despite the dedication of all members of the EFA, the group struggled to accomplish
its goals due to internal and external factors. Internally, the pre- service teachers attendance
varied greatly on a weekly basis. There was only a core of 10 students who consistently
attended and participated in the workshops and studied the prescribed vocabulary and
sentence structures. Also, the personal commitment to learning the English language varied
greatly, some were very active about learning English and teaching it. Others played a more
passive role in learning the content and methodology and were not able to communicate or
teach as effectively. At times, the pre- service teachers had difficulty understanding the
native speakers presenting at the workshops which caused them to move slower, review less
content and reduced practice and coaching time, and motivation.

External factors also caused the collaborative to struggle. The interruption of
student- teaching due semester breaks, holidays, and graduation of EFA members caused all
participants to lose momentum and feel like it was necessary to start from the beginning.
When pre-service teachers that were in the process of understanding and practicing EFL
teaching methods, lesson planning, and classroom management and their young students
were getting excited about understanding English, the teacher would either graduate or take
a long break from being in the classroom. Finally and most importantly, in- service mentor
teachers often did not give their student-teachers a chance to teach the English classes they
had planned and had them help teach what they considered more prominent subjects like
Spanish Language Arts, Science, and Mathematics. The mentor teachers, who often did not

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know English, concentrated on their areas of expertise and ignored the foreign language
standards required by law. The prevention of English instruction and practice can be
attributed to the general attitude among many in- service teachers that English is not an
important subject. It was a difficult culture to fight against for young pre- service teachers.
There was no enforcement by the administration to insure English instruction in classrooms
taught by either in-service or pre-service teachers.

Future Study
The above is a description of the initial process and progress of developing a
school- based English teaching program that will provide services to elementary students
that normally would not receive English due to lack of resources and teacher training. The
program is designed to full-fill Colombias national bilingual education goals. Cartagenas
community organizations ENSCIs EFA, USB- Cartagena, Colegio Jorge Washington as
well as the government organization, the US Embassy in Bogota are all keys players in the
development of EFL teacher education programs and EFL classroom success. In summary,
the preliminary lessons learned from the EFA learning collaborative that hopefully will be
used as a guide for groups with similar academic and programming goals are:

1. Align schools academic goals with national standards
2. Capitalize on local and national organizations (public and private)
human and financial resources
3. Bring in experts
4. Use volunteers truly dedicated to TEFL, students and community
development
5. Work within the schools budget, schedule and curriculum
6. Be consistent and determined despite non-empathetic members of the
academic community
Through the process of improving and expanding the EFA collaborative more
lessons will be learned and will be reported on in the near future.
This initial reflection about the process of forming a community- based
language learning collaborative and teacher training concentrates on the procedural and
theoretical aspects of the project. It is a qualitative analysis. The study is designed to fill the
gap in the literature recognized by Usma (2009). The subsequent report will be an empirical
study to measure the impact of the project on pre-service teachers, elementary students, and
school community. From the results, it will be determined if it could be replicated on a
district and even national level to achieve the ideal of having all Colombian high school
graduates at CEFs B1 level, and be able to compete with foreign peers and met global
demands by 2019.

REFERENCES
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform. (2011). Instructional Coaching: Professional
Development Strategies That ImproveInstruction. Brown University: Author.

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Chacn, T. (2005). El Sevier: Teaching and Teaching Education. Number 21: 257 272.
Retrieved from http:/ / www.journals.elsevier.com/ teaching-and-teacher-education.

Council of Europe. (1999). Common European Frameworks of References for Languages:
Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University
Press.

Jonassen, D.H. (1994) Thinking Technology: toward a constructivist design model,
Educational Technology, April, 34-37.

Lee, O., & Luykx, A. (2005). Dilemmas in scaling up innovations in science
instruction with nonmainstream elementary students. American Educational Research J ournal,
42(3), 411 438.

Ministerio Nacional de Educacin. (2006). SerieGua Numero 22: Estndares Bsicos de
Competencias en Lenguas Extranjeras: ingls. Formar en lengua extranjeras el reto! Lo que
necesitamos saber y saber hacer. (ISBN 978-958-691-292-1) Bogot, Colombia: Imprenta
Nacional.

Ministerio Nacional de Educacin. (2006). Visin Educacin Propuesta para Discusin. Bogot:
Impresa Nacional.

Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of Instruction: Research-Based Strategies That All
Teachers Should Know. American Educator, v36 n1 p12-19, 39.
Unknown (n.d.). Proyeccin Social. Retrieved August, 15 2013, from
http:/ / proyeccionsocial.usbcartagena.edu.co/ .
Unknown (n.d.). Colegio J orgeWashington: Mission and Vision. Retrieved August 28,
2013 from http:/ / www.cojowa.edu.co/ our-school/ mission-and-vision/ .
Unknown (n.d.). Nuestra Escuela: Mission. Retrieved August 31, 2013 from
http:/ / conozcamoslaensci.blogspot.com/ .

Usma, J. (2009). Education Language Policy in Colombia: Exploring Processes of
Exclusion and Stratification in Times of Global Reform. Profile, 11, 123- 144.

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Ponencia 27

La formacin docente: de la academia a la conciencia
69

Yomaira Anglica Herreo Contreras
70

Resumen
Este documento se centra en la figura del docente y en su identidad profesional. En
l convergen constructos tericos y experienciales en torno a la Educacin Hoy, la
Formacin Integral y Lo Potico como elemento vital para encaminarse a la esencia del ser
docente caracterizada por sus roles eminentemente pedaggicos, sociales, polticos, ticos y
estticos. De igual manera, se presenta un primer acercamiento a la realidad educativa hoy
permeada por la realidad del docente, ideario, imaginario, lenguaje y emociones, y se
cuestiona sobre el significado de la docencia actualmente y su contribucin a la verdadera
educacin como forjadora y procreadora de lo humano, hacedora de innumerables
encuentros con lo significativo, trascendental e integral. A su vez, se exponen los
prolegmenos de una propuesta de formacin docente como ruta vinculante de la academia
y la conciencia, la razn y el corazn, la sensibilidad y el intelecto.
Palabras clave: Identidad docente, formacin docente integral, conciencia, lo potico,
emociones, pasin.

Abstract
This paper focuses on the teacher and his/ her professional identity. It takes into
account theoretical and experiential issues around Education nowadays, Comprehensive
Education and Poetics as the key element to head toward the essence of being teacher
characterized by its pedagogical, social, political, ethical and aesthetic roles. Likewise, it
presents an initial approach to the current educational reality pervaded by the teachers
reality, his/ her ideas, imagination, language and emotions, and inquiries into the meaning of
teaching today and its contributions to education as humankind forge, starter and maker of
encounters with meaningfulness, transcendence and comprehensiveness. Besides, it also
shows an initial proposal on teacher education as the binding element on academia and
awareness, reason and heart, sensibility and intellect.
Key words: Teaching identity, comprehensive teacher education, awareness, poetics,
emotions, passion.

69
Este texto tiene como punto de partida una investigacin realizada por la autora y otros dos co-
investigadores en torno a lo potico y la sensibilizacin de la enseanza de la lengua inglesa. Adems, se
constituye en germen de una prxima investigacin con respecto a la figura del educador y su gran influencia en
la sensibilizacin de los procesos de enseanza-aprendizaje de lenguas.
70
M.A en Literatura Comparada y Traduccin Literaria. Licenciada en Lenguas Modernas. Docente adscrita al
Departamento de Lenguas de la Fundacin Universitaria Juan de Castellanos en Tunja. Correo electrnico:
sophie190852@hotmail.com

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PRESENTACIN

La educacin se constituye cada da ms en el sustrato de la sociedad. En ella est la
raz de muchos otros procesos inherentes a lo humano. Su labor es pausada y con frecuencia
relegada a las instituciones educativas. Sin embargo, educar trasciende las paredes de lo
meramente escolar, supera las polticas educativas y se aposenta mucho ms all de reformas
burocratizadoras y alienantes que con muy buenos propsitos dan prioridad a lo
estandarizable, al conocimiento per se, la evaluacin por competencias malinterpretada y otro
sinnmero de aspectos visiblemente apartados de aquellos otros saberes inherentes a la
formacin humana como las emociones, la identidad, el pensamiento crtico, creativo y
colaborativo, la iluminacin de la conciencia y el empoderamiento del individuo para la
generacin de verdaderas transformaciones sociales.

En consecuencia, este documento se centra en la formacin docente, sus pliegues
constitutivos e interdisciplinares y aristas deformativas con el propsito de presentar una
propuesta de formacin docente como ruta vinculante de la academia y la conciencia, la
razn y el corazn, la sensibilidad y el intelecto, y dar inicio a investigaciones en torno a la
identidad docente en Colombia y la interrelacin entre educacin, emocin y pasin que ha
sido vastamente documentada por varios acadmicos en Australia (Crossell & Elliot, 2004),
Inglaterra (Macbeath, 2012; Day, 2009), Estados Unidos (Darby, 2008; Fredrickson,2004 ),
Canad (Hargreaves, 1998), entre otros. En Amrica Latina, especialmente en Chile y
Mxico se han hecho estudios al respecto. No obstante, an persiste cierto desconocimiento
sobre la identidad docente en Colombia, la transfiguracin y presencia de elementos vitales
en el quehacer docente como son las emociones, la motivacin y la pasin; sus posibles efectos
para los ciudadanos en formacin y la intrnseca relacin entre el intelecto y las emociones.

Teaching well in these changing times requires more than content
knowledge and classroom competencies, more than a sophisticated
understanding of, and the capacity to move between, the multiple
dimensions and perspectives within education. It requires above everything
else, passion. (Day, 2009, p.8)

De igual forma, este documento seala especficamente las exigencias y parmetros
dados tanto por la academia como por la legislacin en educacin, y hace un llamado a la
resignificacin del quehacer y la formacin docente y su devenir a partir de la promulgacin
de normativas ms vitales y la generacin de espacios de aprender para ensear donde
adems de la preparacin estatuida se despierte la conciencia de ser maestro.

Adems se inscribe en el rea temtica de las ciencias humanas y sociales en la
formacin del docente de lenguas porque presenta Lo Potico cimiento de lo humano y
social- como eje transversal para resignificar la educacin y la labor docentes en Colombia,
y fundamento de la interdisciplinariedad entendida como encuentro de saberes.

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Objetivos
Presentar algunas nociones sobre la formacin docente en Colombia y algunos
planteamientos de lo que debera ser.
Compartir los prolegmenos de una propuesta de formacin docente vinculante de la
academia y la conciencia, la razn y el corazn, la sensibilidad y el intelecto.
Revitalizar las concepciones sobre la educacin integral, el rol de Lo Potico y la
interdisciplinariedad en la formacin docente.
Inscribir aspectos fundamentales como la emocin, la pasin y la iluminacin de la
conciencia en los procesos de formacin docente y de ejercicio profesional docente.
Inquietar sobre la inminente necesidad de cimentar, despertar y afirmar la conciencia
de ser maestro en Colombia.
METODOLOGA

Este documento se presenta como preliminar de la investigacin en torno a la
identidad docente del licenciado en lenguas extranjeras, y el papel preponderante de las
emociones, la pasin y la conciencia en la configuracin del docente en ejercicio y del futuro
maestro.

Adems se origina en otra investigacin titulada Lo Potico: una alternativa para
sensibilizar la enseanza dela Lengua Inglesa, que pretenda presentar el arte (Lo Potico) como
alternativa y punto de partida en la construccin de espacios y experiencias que
contribuyeran a sensibilizar la enseanza de la lengua inglesa en el nivel de Bsica Primaria.
En ella tambin se daba una mirada al maestro, y se conclua que

Un prototipo de maestro tradicional, vinculado de alguna manera a los
modelos pedaggicos de antao, sumergido en la jerarqua de su trabajo
hubiera contrastado con los ideales y teora planteados en este proyecto. Por
eso, fue vital retomar su labor avatar con los roles [ ] que le impulsaran a
un quehacer ms humano, formativo, constructor, acompaante, etc., que
permitieran al estudiante el encuentro consigo mismo, con su entorno,
haciendo de lo cotidiano un fenmeno esttico de nunca acabar y as
transfigurar la tan mencionada apropiacin esttica del mundo. (Franco,
Narvez & Herreo, 2008, p. 145)

Esta investigacin enfatizaba principalmente en propiciar los espacios, generar las
estrategias y establecer las condiciones indispensables para suscitar la sensibilizacin de la
enseanza de la lengua inglesa. Sin embargo, enseanza y aprendizaje no sobrevienen en
soledad o aislamiento. Son experiencias sociales y comunitarias donde estudiantes y docente
se tornan cmplices en una misma bsqueda (del conocimiento), la travesa del

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autodescubrimiento, la cimentacin de lo humano, la formacin del ciudadano, entre tantas
gestas que deberan presentarse en la educacin.

Para que todo ello sea una realidad evidente, es tambin menester ahondar en los
actores de la experiencia de enseanza y aprendizaje. Este documento trata particularmente
del docente que est llamado a la exploracin y generacin del conocimiento, al
autodescubrimiento, al ejercicio responsable de su ciudadana y a ser un profesional
apasionado y consciente de su papel. Por lo tanto, se estructura de la siguiente manera:

Perspectivas del docente hoy: entre la academia y la legislacin

El rol del maestro en la educacin

La formacin docente: de la academia a la conciencia

Prolegmenos de investigacin

Tambin es conveniente aclarar que no se presentan resultados porque este es un
documento preliminar de un proyecto de investigacin. A cambio, se comparten algunas
inferencias y posibles implicaciones de la formacin de docentes encaminada a promover el
desarrollo equitativo del intelecto y la sensibilidad y vincular como ejes transversales del
profesional docente de lenguas extranjeras (y de cualquier docente) las emociones, la pasin
y la conciencia.

Perspectivas Del Docente Hoy: Entre La Academia y La Legislacin

Para vislumbrar las circunstancias en las cuales se ejerce la labor de educar hoy, es
necesario inquirir en documentos como El Plan Decenal de Educacin, Los Estndares para
este caso, de Lenguas Extranjeras- y Las Metas Educativas 2021. En ellos residen las
expectativas educativas, y por ende todo lo que se espera del docente.

El Plan Decenal de Educacin dispone cinco pilares dentro del marco de la
globalizacin y la autonoma- fines y calidad de la educacin del siglo XXI-: articulacin y
coherencia del sistema educativo, sistema de seguimiento y evaluacin, cultura de la
investigacin, uso y apropiacin de las TIC y currculo. A su vez determina un perfil de
docente: se tiene un docente con fortalezas en lo pedaggico y disciplinar, sensible a la
problemtica social, en permanente proceso de cualificacin y actualizacin; reconocido por
su desempeo y proyeccin. (Plan Decenal de Educacin [PDE] , 2006, p. 18)

Algunas de las preguntas que surgen son:
Estn aquellas fortalezas pedaggicas y disciplinares imbuidas de elementos vitales
como las emociones, la pasin y la conciencia?

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La sensibilidad a la problemtica social no surge per se. Ella se nutre tambin de otras
siluetas de lo sensible. Luego, Son nuestros profesionales en educacin y nuestros
docentes en formacin sensibles a la realidad de sus estudiantes y a la propia realidad,
y sobre todo conscientes de las implicaciones de ellas en el contexto escolar?, Est
nuestra academia actual vacunada contra la sensibilidad o promueve la indiferencia
disfrazada de falsa sensibilidad, estril para la promulgacin de soluciones y
situaciones de cambio significativas?
La cualificacin y actualizacin docente promueven verdaderos procesos de
concientizacin y sensibilizacin estn supeditadas meramente a cuestiones de
ascenso y proyeccin?

De igual manera, Las Metas Educativas 2021 tambin subrayan algunas competencias
docentes.

Tres competencias cuyo dominio por los actuales profesores, y en especial por los
nuevos docentes, va a ser una de las claves del cambio educativo, pueden destacarse
como fundamentales:
Preparacin para ensear en la diversidad de contextos, culturas y alumnos.
Capacidad para incorporar al alumnado en la sociedad del conocimiento.
Disposicin para educar en una ciudadana multicultural, democrtica y
solidaria. (Marchesi 2010, citado por Las Metas Educativas 2021, 2010, p.
136)

Aqu se presentan elementos importantes que compaginan el intelecto con la sensibilidad
y la razn con el corazn. En un mundo donde las culturas cada vez se comunican e
interpolan an ms, es imprescindible ser conscientes de la diversidad no slo cultural, sino
tambin econmica y social. Si se es consciente de la propia identidad y del lugar especfico
que se habita, se estar en mejores condiciones para propiciar no slo el autodescubrimiento,
sino tambin el reconocimiento del otro en la diversidad.

Igualmente, se plantean otros requerimientos para el docente de hoy que hacen evidente
su influencia en los conocimientos aprendidos y adquiridos por los estudiantes.

En primer lugar aparece la dimensin cognitivo-acadmica, en la que se
incluyen la cualidad y cantidad de saberes del docente (formacin acadmica y
capacitacin continua), sus estrategias pedaggicas y su efectividad en la
transmisin y construccin de conocimientos, en el colectivo estudiantil. En
segundo lugar, se identifica la dimensin vincular-actitudinal, en la que se
incluyen la transmisin de valores morales y ticos inherentes al ejercicio
docente, imprescindible y necesario para el desarrollo social y personal de los
estudiantes. Motivacin, liderazgo, empata, espritu emprendedor, buena
disposicin, actitud positiva, estimulacin intelectual, comprensin, sostn

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emocional, formador de subjetividades, son muchos de los componentes que se
incluyen en esta dimensin. (Vaillant, 2010, p. 121)

Es decir, intelecto y sensibilidad; razn y corazn; academia y conciencia deben
compenetrarse en la labor de ensear, de aprender a ensear, de ensear a ensear.
Desafortunadamente, estos elementos llamados a fusionarse con frecuencia son desligados
tanto por la academia como por la legislacin. En ellos habita la interrelacin reveladora del
quehacer del educador, los anhelos estudiantiles y la consumacin de la educacin. En
Colombia, como docentes de lengua extranjera y formadores de maestros estamos sujetos a
los Estndares Bsicos de Competencias en Lengua Extranjera: Ingls y por consiguiente al
Programa Nacional de Bilingismo que se orienta a lograr ciudadanos y ciudadanas capaces
de comunicarse en ingls, de tal forma que puedan insertar al pas en los procesos de
comunicacin universal, en la economa global y en la apertura cultural, con estndares
internacionalmente comparables. (Estndares Bsicos de Competencias en Lenguas
Extranjera: Ingls, 2006, p. 6)

Es eso lo que se pretende de un docente de lenguas extranjeras?
Qu hacen los formadores de maestros al respecto?

El Rol Del Maestro En La Educacin

La funcin esencial dela educacin es conferir a todos
los seres humanos la libertad depensamiento, dejuicio,
desentimientos y deimaginacin quenecesitan para que
sus talentos alcancen la plenitud y seguir siendo artfices,
en la medida delo posible, desu destino.
La educacin encierra un tesoro

En la educacin el rol del maestro es fundamental, pues es la persona que debe
estimular al estudiante a descubrir, despertar el deseo de aprender, motivar y no cohibir,
fomentar las capacidades cognitivas, y sobre todo hacer de las clases una Excursin (Iriarte,
2004, p.23) En primer lugar, el maestro debe ser un baquiano, un partero que de acuerdo con
Fernando Vsquez (2000) incite al trabajo de parto. La batalla con el alumbramiento [ ]
ahora bien, en este trabajo de contacto directo es en donde se puede notar la fineza, el temple
del maestro. Es el tiempo de la interaccin. Cmo te comunicas, qu estrategias empleas, a
qu le das valor y a qu no. Todo eso cuenta. La confianza, la paciencia, el temperamento.
(p.13)

El maestro debe ser alguien enamorado y apasionado por su saber, un ser ejemplar.
Una persona ntegra, responsable y acogedora. No puede ser un instructor y transmisor de
informacin; su rol va ms all. Debe permitir al estudiante vivificar su experiencia educativa,
revelar sus capacidades cognitivas y generar dudas, plantear problemas, hacer manifiesta la

296
capacidad crtica del alumno, hacerle entender que su pensamiento, sensibilidad y ser tambin
cuentan.

En l se configuran procesos de acercamiento a lo imaginario, la ensoacin e
ideacin, la conciencia y la responsabilidad social. Por ello, las universidades formadoras de
maestros y licenciados deben propender por la formacin de personas ntegras en todo el
sentido de la palabra, en vez de enfocar sus esfuerzos, medios y recursos en la creacin de
mquinas dueas de un saber particular que slo arruinara la academia y la esencia de la
educacin. Al respecto Jacqueline Held (1981) afirma que:

Muchos docentes se esfuerzan de muy buena fe para formar el alumno
modelo, engranaje bien aceitado para un cierto sistema, elemento moldeado,
el tradicional traga libros el sujeto (o el objeto?) apto para satisfacer los
exmenes y pruebas que la sociedad le propone. Ser el nio o el adolescente
capaz de devolver en el momento deseado un conjunto de conocimientos y de
reglas, apto para la gimnasia intelectual obligatoria que se espera de l. (p.177)

En consecuencia, el maestro est llamado a la interdisciplinariedad y por esta ruta a
encaminar sus estudiantes hacia el descubrimiento y la apropiacin de lo que ha sido
expuesto como los cuatro pilares de la educacin: aprender a conocer, aprender a hacer,
aprender a vivir juntos-aprender a vivir con los dems y aprender a ser.

Aprender a conocer, es decir, adquirir los instrumentos de la comprensin;
aprender a hacer, para poder influir sobre el propio entorno; aprender a
vivir juntos, para participar y cooperar con los dems en todas las
actividades humanas; por ltimo, aprender a ser, un proceso fundamental que
recoge elementos de los tres anteriores. Por supuesto, estas cuatro vas del
saber convergen en una sola, ya que hay entre ellas mltiples puntos de
contacto, coincidencias e intercambio. (Delors, 1997, p. 91)

Todo ello se aposenta en el ser del maestro baquiano, partero, liberador, motivador,
incitador de la duda, integral, etc. Lamentablemente, est en va de extincin en nuestro
sistema educativo pues debe seguir los lineamientos planteados por el Ministerio, debe
obedecer las reglas de las escuelas, colegios y universidades y lo que es ms triste debe, en la
mayora de los casos, ensear algo que no quiere, algo que ni a l mismo le motiva.

El estado de la educacin refleja claramente el estado del educador. Directivos,
estudiantes y educadores son vctimas del sistema actual de educacin, y a su vez victimarios.
Participamos denodadamente en el homicidio lento y doloroso de lo humano y creativo, lo
potico y trascendente, lo sensible e intelectual. La crisis de la educacin tambin es la crisis
del educador que ha perdido su identidad y ha vendido su dignidad. Ante estas y otras
inquietudes es menester preguntarse qu tipo de educador y ciudadano es cada uno.

La Formacin Docente: De La Academia a La Conciencia

297

La educacin no es un ser inerte y esttico. Por el contrario, vive y respira a travs de
sus actores y de esta forma es creada y recreada a diario. Luego, como educadores estamos
llamados a tomar una actitud abierta y entusiasta, vida de participar y generar nuevas
experiencias teniendo en cuenta nociones como la de nutrir una cultura de aprendizaje,
propiciar formas significativas y transcendentes para interactuar con nuestros estudiantes y
construir verdaderas sociedades del conocimiento totalmente en contacto con la realidad
contempornea.
Pero ante todo, ms que ser transmisores de un conocimiento somos partcipes activos
del constante alumbramiento de la humanidad. En nuestras manos y en las de muchos otros
se asienta el compromiso de generar y engendrar una perspectiva ms humana de la
educacin. Es necesario alimentar procesos como la abstraccin, el pensamiento, la toma
tica de decisiones, la propia expresin de sentimientos y pensamientos. Adems del
conocimiento y otra serie de elementos mensurables, los estudiantes necesitan con urgencia
ser valorados, escuchados y tenidos en cuenta.
A diario, estamos en contacto con personas que estn empezando a conocer y
comprender su entorno. Luego, la educacin y por ende los educadores deberamos apostarle
a realzar el desarrollo del ser humano que implica mucho ms que memoria, ingenio o
diligencia. El compromiso reside en fomentar la imaginacin, ensoacin, emocin,
pensamiento abstracto, creatividad, crtica, entre otros ingredientes que configuran lo
humano y su ciudadana en un mundo que tambin demanda atencin y cuidado.
Ante estos imperativos es menester preguntarse hasta qu punto nuestra labor se
dirige al alumbramiento y propiciacin de lo humano. Estamos absortos en la creacin de
mquinas para el trabajo y la respuesta a las injustas exigencias actuales somos parte de
cambios educativos profundos que responden a las necesidades interiores y los requisitos
fundamentales? Igualmente, es preciso inquietarse por y examinar cmo se realiza la
formacin de los educadores, y tambin las motivaciones que cimentan nuestro ejercicio
profesional y nuestra formacin. Somos docentes porque no fue posible realizar nuestras
aspiraciones profesionales por las circunstancias econmicas que vislumbran la educacin
como un campo generador de cierta estabilidad laboral quizs porque amamos aprender,
compartir y ser parte en el proceso de crecimiento y maduracin humana de cada uno de
nuestros estudiantes?
Uno de los grandes retos de la educacin tiene que ver con reavivar su propia esencia
como forjadora de la humanidad y propiciadora de todo lo que debera empoderar a cada ser
humano. Entonces, es imperioso ser conscientes de nuestro vnculo con la humanidad, somos
parte de etapas cruciales en la vida humana y debemos comprometernos con la verdadera
educacin que acoge la sensibilidad, las emociones, lo no mensurable.
En nuestros salones muy probablemente estn presentes estudiantes aventajados para
escribir o calcular, incluso dibujar o hablar en pblico. Sin embargo, si esas y otras tantas
habilidades evolucionan aisladamente, lejos de procesos emocionales y de pensamiento,
seguramente habremos alcanzado lo propuesto por muchas competencias y estndares, pero

298
habremos fallado en la formacin de los ciudadanos que nuestro mundo necesita. Ellos deben
ser capaces de cooperar, compartir, comprender, interactuar, resolver problemas, plantear
soluciones, crear y pensar un mundo mejor y digno para ellos mismos y el resto de la
sociedad.
Para lograrlo y hacer de la educacin la utopa de lo absolutamente posible debemos,
como educadores, tener presente que
Good teaching is charged with positive emotion. It is not just a matter of
knowing one's subject, being efficient, having the correct competences, or
learning all the right techniques. Good teachers are not just well oiled-
machines. They are emotional, passionate beings who connect with their
students and fill their work with pleasure, creativity, challenge and joy.
(Hargreaves, 1998, p. 1)
Luego, lo que sabemos y en aquello que somos buenos debe estar acompaado de la
emocin de compartirlo y permitir que otros crezcan y maduren con la gua y
acompaamiento de educadores verdaderamente comprometidos, capaces de ver ms all de
las prescripciones y requisitos establecidos y socavar los elementos constitutivos del ser
humano. En otras palabras, recorrer el camino de la academia hasta llegar al punto crucial
donde se bifurcan emocin, pasin y conciencia.
Como docentes de lengua extranjera y formadores de maestros debemos tener
presente que la lengua no es en absoluto un elemento decorativo, es el principio que da
sentido conciencia- a nuestro quehacer. Somos herederos del preciado bien del lenguaje. Sin
embargo, con l solemos hacer todo lo opuesto a la verdadera formacin. La lengua- nuestra
propia lengua y todas las que hemos sido capaces de acoger- tiene su origen en Lo Potico, en
la recreacin, el juego silbico, fontico, semntico de la palabra que vive y respira a travs de
sus portadores-nosotros-. Por ello, para propiciar una renovada formacin de docentes de
lenguas extranjeras es imprescindible no olvidar que
la poesa misma hace posible el lenguaje [ ] es el fundamento que soporta la
historia y no un adorno que acompaa la existencia humana o una mera
expresin del alma de la cultura [ ] con la palabra se puede llegar a lo ms
puro y lo ms oculto as como tambin a lo ambiguo y comn. (Martin
Heidegger, 1937/ 1992, p. 29-30)
La formacin docente debe volver a lo social y lo humano en estrecho vnculo con Lo
Potico porque de esta manera retornaremos a nuestro cometido como portadores de
lenguaje, donadores de la lengua ms que transmisores, y vigas del gran tesoro: ser
verdaderos seres de lenguaje que al entregarse a la labor cotidiana tambin generan procesos
donde la lengua vive porque contribuye enormemente a la configuracin de la emocin, la
pasin y la conciencia. Tres elementos que deben enriquecer la llamada competencia
comunicativa y tambin la pedaggica.
Luego, teacher education [ ] needs to focus much more on the personal processes
involved in becoming a professional teacher with a well-grounded balance between the

299
cognitive and emotional dimensions of learning to teach. (Malm 2009 citado por MacBeath,
2012, p. 18)

Prolegmenos De Investigacin
Inferencias

Si tenutres deesto sers nico, con capacidad dejuicio
y voluntad. No formars partedela masa que
simplementeobedece. Porquela poesa teda
individualidad, te dota deser.
Ethel Krauze. Cmo acercarsea la poesa

Teniendo en cuenta lo expuesto anteriormente, se pretende abordar la identidad del
docente de lenguas extranjeras en Colombia. Qu es ser docente de lenguas en nuestro pas?,
Qu sendas se recorren para ser docente de lenguas extranjeras en Colombia?, Dichas
sendas estn impregnadas por una verdadera vocacin, la estabilidad laboral la mera
proyeccin profesional? Al respecto Seligman distingue tres orientaciones laborales
a job, a career and a calling. You do a job for the pay cheque at the end of the
week It is just a means to another end A career entails a deeper personal
investment in work. You mark your achievement through money, but also to
advancement when the promotions stopalienation starts, and you being
to look elsewhere for gratification and meaning. A calling (or vocation) is a
passionate commitment to work for its own sake (Seligman 2003, citado por
Day, 2009, p. 8)
Cul es nuestra orientacin laboral al optar por ser educadores? Indudablemente,
saberlo y tener certeza de ello como formadores y futuros profesionales har posible que la
educacin retorne a la forja de lo humano, y los procesos de enseanza-aprendizaje sern
mucho ms profundos, concernientes y significativos.

Por otro lado, el tomar conciencia de nuestra identidad tambin requiere que nuestra
formacin se nutra de Lo Potico, del contacto con lo vivo, con lo humano y social. Educar
requiere ms que estndares, polticas o normativas dotadas de buenos criterios pero vacas
de cierta sensibilidad social. Y educar en lenguas extranjeras requiere tambin tomar
conciencia de la vitalidad de la lengua, de la extra e interpolacin de todos sus pliegues
constitutivos. La lengua nos dota de personalidad. Cada vez que en nuestras clases
participamos de la donacin de la lengua no de la transmisin-, estamos concurriendo a la
configuracin y maduracin del individuo porque este encuentro con la lengua concierne a
todo el individuo. Es decir, al individuo que aprende, al que aprende para ensear e
igualmente al que ensea para aprender. Adems, congrega intelecto y sensibilidad.

Luego, este documento tambin se constituye en punto de partida para indagar
aquellos elementos no mensurables que hacen parte del ser educador: emocin, pasin y
conciencia. Enseanza y aprendizaje deben convocar continuamente lo humano y social.

300
Deben nacer del corazn, proyectarse a la razn y consolidar la conciencia individual y
colectiva. Las emociones impulsan los encuentros con el saber y lo potencializan para que
trascienda y llega a ser creativo, divergente y propositivo. Muy probablemente nuestros
estudiantes estn plenos de emociones, inquietudes e ideas que esperan ser contemplados y
tenidos en cuenta. Para que ese dilogo entre estudiante y docente sea acentuado, se
requiere que la enseanza se nutra de emociones positivas.

CONCLUSIONES
Theway to thehead must beopened through theheart.
Friedrich Schiller. Aesthetic letters, essays and philosophical letters

Este documento preliminar de investigacin se origina en la inquietud de propiciar
una formacin docente ms pertinente e integral. Entre los propsitos de la formacin de
docentes en lengua extranjera se citan la competencia comunicativa, la investigacin y la
transformacin social mediante la enseanza de lenguas. Pero, todo ello permanece
irresoluto si primero no se indaga en la identidad del futuro educador, y tambin de los
formadores de maestros.
Cumple nuestro proceso de formacin con los estndares imperantes, deja a un lado
elementos vitales como la nutricin de las emociones y la generacin de conciencia
involucra las exigencias del sistema con los requerimientos ms sociales y humanos del
individuo?
Cules son las motivaciones inherentes a la eleccin de un programa acadmico en
docencia de lenguas extranjeras?
Por qu est caracterizada la identidad del docente de lenguas extranjeras en
Colombia?
Qu deudas ha contrado la formacin de docentes de lengua extranjera?
Se enaltece la formacin de docentes de lenguas extranjeras emocionados,
comprometidos, apasionados y conscientes de su rol como educadores y forjadores de
nuevas vidas?
Estas y otras inquietudes conforman la labor de campo y exploracin que prosigue este
documento.


Colombia, Ministerio de Educacin Nacional. (2006). Estndares Bsicos deCompetencias en
Lenguas Extranjera: Ingls. Bogot: Autores.
Colombia, Ministerio de Educacin Nacional. (2006). Plan Decenal deEducacin 2006-2016.
Bogot: Autores.
Crossell, L & Elliot, R. (2004, noviembre). Committed Teacher, PassionateTeachers: the

301
dimension of passion associated with teacher commitment and engagement. Ponencia
presentada en Australian Association For Research in Education Conference,
Melbourne, Australia.

Darby, A. (2008). Teachers emotions in the reconstruction of professional self-
understanding.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 1160-1172.

Day, C. (2009). A passion for quality: Teachers who make a difference. Tijdschrift voor
lerarenopleiders, 30(3), 4-13.
Delors, J. (1997). La educacin encierra un tesoro .Informea la UNESCO dela Comisin
Internacional sobrela educacin para el siglo XXI. Mxico: Dower Arrendamiento S.A de
CV.

Franco, J. Narvez, L. & Herreo, Y. (2008). Lo potico: una alternativa para sensibilizar la
enseanza dela Lengua Inglesa. Neiva: Editorial Universidad Surcolombiana.

Fredrickson, B. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical
transactions of theRoyal Society Biological Sciences, 359 (1449), 1367-1378. Recuperado
el 24 de agosto de 2013 desde Internet:
http:/ / www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/ articles/ PMC1693418/

Hargreaves, A. (1998). The emotional practice of teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education,
14 (8), 835-854.
Held, J. (1981). Los nios y la literatura fantstica. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Paidos.
Heidegger, M. (1992). Artey Poesa. (S. Ramos, Trad.). Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura
Econmica.
Iriarte, A. (2004). El artedemaravillar. Neiva: Editorial Universidad Surcolombiana.
Macbeath, J. (2012). Thefutureof teaching profession. Recuperado el 27 de agosto de 2013
desde Internet: http:/ / download.ei-
ie.org/ Docs/ WebDepot/ EI%20Study%20on%20the%20Future%20of%20Teaching%
20Profession.pdf

Malm, B. (2009). Towards a new professionalism: enhancing personal and professional
development in teacher education, J ournal of Education for Teaching, 35, (1), 77-91.
Recuperado el 27 de agosto de 2013 desde Internet:
http:/ / www.tandfonline.com/ doi/ pdf/ 10.1080/ 02607470802587160

Marchesi, A. (2010). Estrategias para el cambio educativo, Pensamiento Iberoamericano, 7, (2),
251-268. Recuperado el 27 de agosto de 2013 desde Internet:
http:/ / www.pensamientoiberoamericano.org/ xnumeros/ 7/ pdf/ pensamientoIberoam
ericano-155.pdf

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Organizacin de Estados Iberoamericanos, XVIII Conferencia Iberoamericana de Educacin
(2008). Metas Educativas 2021. La educacin que queremos para la generacin de los
Bicentenarios. Madrid: Autores.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2002). Authentic Happiness: Using theNew PositivePsychology to Realize
Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment. New York: Free Press.

Vaillant, D. (2010). Capacidades docentes para la educacin del maana,
Pensamiento Iberoamericano, 7, (2), 113-128. Recuperado el 27 de agosto de 2013 desde
Internet:
ttp:/ / www.pensamientoiberoamericano.org/ xnumeros/ 7/ pdf/ pensamientoIberoamer
icano

Vsquez, F. (2000). Oficio demaestro. Bogot: Javergraf.

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Ponencia 28

La escritura en Rousseau: su aporte en la docencia de lengua francesa
71

Eugenia Varela Sarmiento
72

Resumen

Como ya se ha comprobado en las ltimas dcadas, para una enseanza efectiva e
integral de una lengua extranjera se requiere trascender el mbito lingstico y acceder al
espacio sociocultural en el que se inscribe y opera la lengua dada en el mundo globalizado de
hoy.

En este propsito la Ciencias Humanas juegan un papel fundamental. En mi ponencia
tratar el papel de la escritura como medio de enseanza de una lengua extranjera a travs
del siguiente caso de estudio: Cmo el ensayo del origen de las lenguas de Jean Jacques
Rousseau, puede dar un panorama sociocultural del concepto de escritura en la sociedad
francesa del siglo XVIII y cmo ese concepto puede llegar a proporcionar un panorama
sociocultural e histrico de la lengua francesa actual al docente de lenguas?

Abstract

As it has been proved during the last decades, for an effective and integral teaching of a
foreign language we must go beyond the linguistic field and access the sociocultural context
in which the language works and is used within the globalized world we currently live in.

In this regard, humanities play a fundamental role. In this paper I will focus on writing
and its use as a mean to teach a foreign language through the following case study: How can
Rousseaus Essay on the Origin of Languages give a cultural overview of the concept of
writing in the eighteenth-century French society and how this concept can provide a cultural
and historical overview of the current French language to the language teacher?

71
Este texto es producto tanto de la investigacin para obtener el grado de doctora en literatura francesa de la
Universidad Paris 8, como del anlisis que hemos venido realizando los profesores del rea de francs en cuanto
a los exmenes B1 y C1 para los estudiantes de sexto y decimo semestre de la licenciatura en lenguas de la
Universidad de la Salle.
72
Profesional en estudios literarios de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2003), magister en literatura
hispanoamericana de la Universidad Paris 8 (2005), magister en literatura francesa de la Universidad Paris 8
(2008) y candidata a doctora en literatura francesa de la Universidad Pars 8. Actualmente docente de planta en
el rea de francs de la Universidad de la Salle y miembro del grupo de investigacin de Representaciones de
lectura y escritura de la misma.

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Palabras claves
Interdisciplinariedad, Interculturalidad, sociocultural, escritura, lengua.

Keywords
Interdisciplinarity, Interculturality, Sociocultural, Writing, Language.

INTRODUCCCIN

La discusin acerca de cmo se debe ensear una lengua extranjera, viene siendo una
temtica recurrente en el mbito docente, sin embargo, uno de los elementos que siempre
sobresalen en la enseanza del FLE es la incursin de la interculturalidad y su propsito de
acercamiento a la cultura de base que sostiene la lengua.

En esta ponencia intentar mostrar el preponderante papel que tiene la cultura francesa
en la enseanza de su lengua y cmo uno de los soportes principales de esta implicacin,
cultura y lengua, lo hace el reconocimiento de las ciencias humanas.

A partir del conocimiento y el reconocimiento de la cultura, el docente de lengua
francesa puede acceder a un campo ms amplio que le permita vislumbrar el panorama de lo
qu es la lengua y sus implicaciones en el pensamiento filosfico, histrico y social. Es as que
de esta forma escog el concepto de escritura de Jean Jacques Rousseau y el aporte que este
concepto pudo, puede y podr tener en la enseanza y en el aprendizaje de la lengua
francesa.

CONSIDERACIONES A PROPSITO DE LA ESCRITURA

El concepto de escritura que ha permeado la historia de occidente, es sin duda el
concepto de lo verdadero, de lo real. Ms all de lo que se considere verosmil la cultura
occidental piensa a la escritura como sinnimo de verdad, esto debido expresamente a que
desde la Edad Media, la nica fuente de historia del hombre, de quin era y cmo deba estar
y ser en el mundo, fue el texto escrito. El poder que se le adjudic a este texto escrito fue tan
grande, que la transformacin de la lectura se vio seriamente implicada.

Estoy hablando de la Biblia, en el tiempo en donde la predestinacin del mundo y del
hombre ya estaba escrita por Dios, este texto reafirmaba una verdad nica e incuestionable y
fortaleca la idea de escritura como verdad. De ah que tan pocos tuvieran acceso a esa verdad,
ese era un privilegio y solo algunos eran los encargados de transmitirla con fidelidad y
respeto.

En este punto la escritura y la lectura hacan parte de un crculo muy reducido, el cual
controlaba todo lo que tuviera que ver con el conocimiento, la transmisin de la escritura se
daba a partir de la lectura colectiva y la imagen tena un papel fundamental para la
comprensin del texto. La imagen era puramente didctica y de acompaamiento del texto.

305

En este punto el hombre medieval no conceba a la escritura como algo que le
perteneciera y la lectura no era una actividad que hiciera parte de su vida, a menos que fuera
una actividad que realizara alguien ms para transmitir ideas.

Precisamente este estatus de la escritura como algo ya hecho y terminado que solo se
transmite y que no se construye a partir de la lectura, llevo al hombre del siglo XVI a
cuestionarse. Evidentemente el cuestionamiento fue tambin producto de la aparicin de la
imprenta. Lo que Lutero exiga a la iglesia era el acceso a la escritura del texto verdadero la
Biblia, este acceso le permitira al hombre del comn conocer por si mismo la escritura.
Lo fundamental de este cambio, es que se abren dos caminos esenciales para el concepto
de escritura: El primero est fundado en la idea de una lectura ya no colectiva sino de una
lectura individual, y el segundo es que la lectura puede llegar, a partir de la lectura individual,
a procurar una interpretacin de la escritura. Lo que se pretende es que la escritura ya no
permanezca inmvil y sin trascendencia.

Durante toda la Edad Media la escolstica fund sus objetivos de enseanza sobre la
perspectiva de conocimientos dados y solamente transmitidos para ser aprendidos de
memoria. El mtodo de enseanza del silogismo, no permita ir ms all de lo adquirido y su
importancia fue el desarrollo de la lgica aristotlica.

A partir de esta nueva concepcin de la lectura, la escritura comienza todo un nuevo
recorrido para el hombre de occidente, en este momento la escritura es primero que todo un
ejercicio juicioso de lectura.

La lectura es el punto de partida de la escritura, puesto que en la Edad Media la nica
escritura que produca la lectura era el comentario, ste ltimo producto ajeno a la crtica o al
pensamiento se distingua por su simplicidad y sobre todo por su poca trascendencia respecto
a la lectura. En el siglo XVI la lectura busca el pensamiento y promueve la escritura.

Es imposible hablar del concepto de escritura en el siglo XVI y no mencionar a
Montaigne, l fue uno de los pilares del pensamiento moderno, del pensamiento respecto a la
escritura en Francia y en occidente. El consider la escritura como un producto de su mente
y cuerpo, la escritura como productora del pensamiento. En Montaigne la primera persona
adquiere toda la relevancia de la individualidad y de la visin de mundo. Atrs quedaron los
preceptos escolsticos de repeticin de datos dados y aprendidos sin reflexin.

En este punto el hombre empieza a desarrollar un concepto de escritura que parte de la
idea de sta como una verdad pero como una verdad no universal sino particular y de la
verdad se va hacia el concepto de escritura verosmil. Es clara la influencia del clasicismo, la
retrica clsica vuelve para hacer del discurso del pensamiento individual, un discurso ms
que verdadero, verosmil.

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La problemtica que plantea el hombre del siglo XVI es retomada por los pensadores
del siglo XVII, en este siglo la experiencia fundamental del hombre es el pensamiento, el
cuestionamiento es lo que llena el espritu del hombre del siglo XVII y la fuerza fundamental
para dar respuesta a todas las cuestiones es la razn. Ya el hombre del siglo XVI pensaba
que la razn era fundamental para el pensamiento pero es en el siglo XVII donde aparecen
figuras fundamentales como Descartes y Pascal, dos figuras importantes para la cultura
francesa de ese tiempo y de nuestro tiempo. El mtodo cartesiano sigue siendo una pauta para
el pensamiento cientfico e intelectual, la construccin del discurso de Pascal en contra de los
Jesuitas fue un escrito conformado en base al mtodo cartesiano. De ah que la escritura en
francs de hoy tenga estructuras fundadas en la antigedad clsica y en el mtodo. La
disertacin esta fundada en el inventio, dispositio y elocutio. El inventio como la bsqueda de
ideas y argumentos, la dispositio como la composicin y el elocutio como la eleccin y
composicin de las palabras.

Lo fundamental de esta transformacin de la escritura desde la Edad Media hasta el
siglo XVII es que se puede ver que esta transformacin es producto de una evolucin de las
mentalidades y de una transformacin de la visin del mundo. La escritura va de la mano con
estas transformaciones, es producto y manifestacin de estos cambios y muestra cmo la
lectura paso de ser un ejercicio pasivo a un acto de movilidad mental que solo encuentra
como respuesta y necesidad a la escritura.

LA ESCRITURA EN ROUSSEAU

La naturaleza del hombre y Rousseau

Ya nos acercamos al siglo XVIII en donde Rousseau manifiesta su pensamiento a travs
de la escritura y desarrolla una ideologa a partir de la lectura. l escribe acerca de la
sociedad de su tiempo, reflexiona acerca del comportamiento del hombre y escribe sobre el
origen de las lenguas. ste ltimo texto es el que nos atae, sin embargo, primero situar a
nuestro autor en su tiempo.

El siglo XVIII en Francia es un laberinto de contradicciones y producto del
pensamiento transformado de los siglos anteriores. Est la problemtica de la relacin del
estado y la iglesia que se vena discutiendo o criticando ya desde la poca de Rebelais,
tambin est la apertura a las diferentes filosofas como el naturalismo, el desmo, la filosofa
libertina, etc. Y se encuentra en discusin la enseanza y aprendizaje del conocimiento del
hombre comn. Diderot y dAlambert crean la enciclopedia para transmitir conocimiento al
hombre, los salones a los que Diderot realiza las crticas de arte tienen como fin expandir el
conocimiento y el arte al mundo, los grabados copian las obras a las que solo la nobleza tiene
acceso y las crticas de Diderot son publicadas por Grimm.

En este contexto Rousseau se interesa en pensar la naturaleza del hombre y sus
diferentes expresiones. Teniendo en cuenta que, como se dijo ms arriba, el siglo XVII se

307
ocupa de ver al mundo a travs de la razn, el siglo XVIII, y en especial Rousseau, critica
esta postura.

Para el siglo XVII la naturaleza es la fuente de todo conocimiento y toda la expresin
artstica debe ser en pos de su imitacin; por el contrario en el siglo XVIII esta postura se ve
criticada por el exceso de racionalismo que se aplica al estudio de la naturaleza y se aboga por
el conocimiento de sta pero a partir de la verdadera naturaleza del hombre que se aproxima
a ella y que hace parte de ella. Para el hombre del siglo XVIII la naturaleza continua siendo
la fuente del conocimiento del mundo pero difiere con el racionalismo extremo con el que el
hombre del siglo XVII se aproxima a ella. Para el hombre ilustrado el individuo hace parte de
la naturaleza y conserva en s, en su mente y en su cuerpo, su propia naturaleza; mientras que
en el siglo anterior el hombre se situaba como un observador que tomaba distancia del objeto
a observar.

En el siglo XVIII y para Rousseau mismo es fundamental que la naturaleza sea vista
como un proceso sensible de sublimacin del pensamiento del hombre, de sublimacin de la
naturaleza misma del individuo. Rousseau nos interesa en la medida en que el concibe la
percepcin del mundo como una jerarqua de reacciones ante el universo, las cuales hacen
parte de la naturaleza del hombre desde siempre, de ah su manera de expresarse, a travs de
los gestos, ruidos, dibujos y finalmente a travs del lenguaje y de la escritura.

El origen de laS lenguas de Rousseau

La teora de Rousseau est fundada en la idea de que el hombre se ha ido alejando de su
propia naturaleza en tanto que la razn ha ido tomando su puesto en el pensamiento del
individuo. La jerarqua de las manifestaciones de la percepcin del hombre pone en manifiesto
la concepcin filosfica del siglo XVIII segn la cual la escritura es un producto del
pensamiento humano, de un racionalismo llevado al extremo en el siglo XVII que ha borrado
la sensibilidad del individuo.

Para Rousseau el racionalismo extremo tuvo como consecuencia el alejamiento del
hombre y de su naturaleza intrnseca que se manifiesta en un primer momento con los gestos.
La expresin de la relacin entre el hombre y el mundo tena, en un primer momento, la
manifestacin de la comunicacin de la naturaleza individual del hombre y de la naturaleza
del mundo.

Para Rousseau (1996) el mundo fue expresado por el hombre en un primer lenguaje
figurativo, el cual estaba ligado a impresiones inmediatas del hombre salvaje:

Un hombre salvaje al encontrar a otros, al principio se habr espantado. Su miedo le
habr hecho ver a esos hombres ms grandes y ms fuertes que l mismo; les habr dado el
nombre de gigantes. Despus de muchas experiencias, habr reconocido que esos presuntos
gigantes no eran ni ms fuertes ni ms grandes que l, su estatura no corresponda en nada a
la idea que en un principio haba asociado a la palabra gigante. Inventar por tanto otro

308
nombre comn a ellos y a l, como por ejemplo, el de hombre, y dejar el de gigante para el
objeto falso que lo haba impresionado durante su ilusin. (P. 19-20)

En este caso Rousseau hace nfasis en una de las primeras reacciones humanas en el
mundo, l piensa que la palabra no se produjo en relacin a las necesidades del hombre sino
en relacin a las pasiones. Para l las impresiones del mundo despertaban la pasin y sta a su
vez la palabra.

Esta teora del origen de las lenguas hace referencia a la idea de la imaginacin, ya que
si el hombre tiene una pasin gracias a una percepcin del mundo, esta produccin de la
palabra y, en trminos de Rousseau, del lenguaje figurado permiten ver cmo el hombre
posee una imaginacin en su naturaleza para nombrar las cosas segn sus caractersticas, an
si ellas cambian en el campo de la percepcin. El punto esencial es que la primera impresin
suscita en el individuo su imaginacin.

Para el hombre del siglo XVIII la lengua es algo natural y la percepcin del mundo
viene acompaada de la lengua instituida socialmente. La problemtica se presenta en la
esttica, la cual pretende hacer un llamado a la sensibilidad natural del hombre. El trabajo del
artista consiste en despertar la imaginacin del individuo que se aleja de su propia naturaleza
por una estructura del mundo basada en la razn
.
Luego del lenguaje figurado como primera expresin del hombre salvaje, para Rousseau
(1996) la expresin se manifiesta en la pintura, el dibujo de los objetos: La primera manera
de escribir no consiste en pintar los sonidos, sino los objetos mismos, ya sea directamente,
como hacan los mexicanos, ya sea por medio de figuras alegricas, como hicieron los egipcios
de antao (p. 25).

Para Rousseau la figuracin de las imgenes y su representacin muestra una primera
relacin con el sentimiento de la naturaleza humana: pintar los objetos para describirlos es
una capacidad del hombre que lo hace comunicar su percepcin del mundo a travs de la
imagen. Por el contrario Rousseau (1996) cree que:La escritura que fija la lengua es
precisamente eso que la altera; no cambia las palabras, sino el genio mismo de la lengua;
remplaza la exactitud por la expresin. Uno comunica sus sentimientos cuando habla, y sus
ideas cuando escribe(p. 29) Para hacerse entender por todos, el lenguaje escrito se convierte
en una comunicacin de las ideas elaboradas, alejadas de la pasin que las inspira.

En este contexto se entiende que Rousseau analiza la escritura como un producto del
pensamiento humano, pero que en el proceso de construccin y de definicin de su estructura
propia, el lenguaje pasa por los gestos, la figuracin de las palabras, la representacin de la
imagen, y es as que el hombre vuelve a la idea de la suscitacin de la imaginacin, de la
suscitacin de los sentimientos. Para Rousseau, el hombre y ms particularmente el artista,
puede llamar a su naturaleza expresiva, y hacer uso de la imagen para expresar su lenguaje
figurativo.

309
Entre ms estructurada la lengua ms es razonada y ms alejada su expresin de la
naturaleza del hombre. Lo particular pero no contradictorio de este pensamiento es que l
est pensando el lenguaje y est escribiendo este ensayo sobre el origen de las lenguas.
Rousseau no est en contra de la escritura pero si insiste en el carcter de razn que posee la
escritura, y abre un abanico de posibilidades en la jerarqua de la expresin del hombre.

En cuanto a la enseanza de la lengua francesa
Lo importante del conocimiento del concepto de escritura en Rousseau es que se puede
ver su relacin hoy en da con lo que se exige en cuanto al conocimiento de la lengua
extranjera, las etapas de aprendizaje que se deben evaluar en una persona que esta
aprendiendo el francs como lengua extranjera segn el Marco comn de referencia para las
lenguas. Lo que se le pide al estudiante de lengua francesa, posee un carcter puramente
jerrquico, y entre ms alto el nivel ms su pensamiento debe mostrarse, debe poder
demostrar que puede pensar en la lengua que esta adquiriendo.

En el nivel B1, el estudiante debe poder expresar en forma escrita, sus sentimientos y
sus pensamientos, los verbos claves de este nivel son: yo pienso y yo creo. Dentro de la
jerarqua que analiz Rousseau podemos ver que hoy en da es latente en cuanto al concepto
de escritura. Es como si el estudiante de lengua siguiera el mismo proceso del hombre salvaje,
del cual habla Rousseau, y es apenas lgico pues entrar dentro de una lengua que no es la
materna, hace del individuo un salvaje, en el sentido de Rousseau, es alguien que busca
comunicarse y a medida que pasa el tiempo y su aprendizaje se desarrolla an ms, l
adquiere competencias. Es notable que el proceso sea muy similar al cual describe Rousseau
pues el estudiante llega en su primer escaln de comunicacin al nivel en donde puede
expresar sus pasiones y sentimientos antes que poder expresar su pensamiento y poderlo
argumentar.

Los niveles DELF y DALF son claves para poder mostrar el nivel de un estudiante de
francs, entre ms profundiza en la lengua, ms puede pensar con ella como instrumento de
expresin, lo cual lo ubica en el C1 y C2 como un individuo que puede razonar en la lengua
extranjera y de esta manera hacer uso de la lengua para producir pensamiento, es decir, en
trminos de Rousseau: razonar.

La prueba de expresin escrita del C1 en donde se debe escribir una sntesis y un
ensayo argumentado, es la muestra clara del pensamiento francs, las estructuras metdicas
en donde todo tiene un orden declarado e inamovible, donde el estudiante debe poder
organizar su pensamiento a partir de la lectura y escribir segn una organizacin metdica y
estructurada, sin importar si maneja el vocabulario o la gramtica (pues esto ya fue evaluado
en el nivel B1), su importancia reside en demostrar que puede pensar con la lengua francesa
como herramienta, de la misma forma que lo ha hecho la cultura francesa, de la misma forma
en que lo hara un francs.

Toda la historia del concepto de escritura y el pensamiento que de ste desarrolla el
hombre ilustrado, es un instrumento para el docente de lengua francesa. La forma en como se

310
evalan los niveles de lengua no es una forma casual que apareci como producto de una
necesidad de clasificacin sino que es manifestacin de un proceso de pensamiento acerca del
lenguaje. La historia, la filosofa y las ciencias humanas en general son un aporte al
conocimiento que el docente de lengua puede llegar a tener, no solo para comprender los
procesos jerrquicos de la adquisicin de la lengua sino para comprender la cultura que los
crea.

En la ponencia siempre quise dejar claro que estaba hablando del pensamiento del
hombre occidental, puesto que no puedo negar las diferencias y procesos paralelos pero
alternos que surgieron en lo que el hombre occidental llam: oriente. El estudiante de lengua
debe tener muy claro que el estudio de una lengua, ms all de adquirir la competencia de
comunicacin, es un producto de la cultura en la que habita y en la que se expresa. La historia
de su cultura y el anlisis de su pensamiento, le muestran el cmo, el por qu y el cundo.

REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRAFICAS

Alianza Francesa. (2008). Rfrentiel: des contenus dapprentissage du FLE en rapport avec
les six niveaux du conseil de lEurope, lusage des enseignants de FLE. Paris-Ile
de-France: CLE international.
Cassirer, Ernst. (1994). Filosofa dela ilustracin. Mxico: Fondo de Cultura Econmica.
Chartier, Roger. (2005). El mundo como representacin. Barcelona: Gedisa.
Genette, Grard. (1969). Figures II. Paris: Seuil.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (1996). Ensayo Sobreel Origen delas Lenguas. Mxico: Fondo de
Cultura Econmica.

311

CONCLUSIONES PRELI MI NARES

En primer lugar es de resaltar la respuesta positiva que tuvo la convocatoria por parte de los
docentes e investigadores de diversas universidades de Colombia, teniendo en cuenta que se
recibieron muchas propuestas, de las cuales se aprobaron 40. Desafortunadamente, por
motivos diferentes, no todos los ponentes pudieron enviar sus textos.

El nmero de personas interesadas tanto ponentes como asistentes (ms de 200 en total),
denota el inters que despert la temtica del coloquio, seguramente por su vigencia y
coherencia con el estudio de cualquier componente, fenmeno o proceso de la sociedad y el
mundo en que vivimos actualmente. Un mundo en donde todas las cosas estn
interconectadas y en donde ningn objeto de estudio se puede abordar desde una sola
perspectiva.

En cuanto al inters por los distintos subtemas, para efectos de esta conclusin, tendremos en
cuenta solamente los 28 escritos que aparecen en estas memorias.

En los seis ejes temticos a los que podan adscribirse las ponencias, la distribucin se dio as:

1) La interdisciplinariedad en el currculo de lenguas extranjeras: tres ponencias
2) La investigacin interdisciplinar en lenguas extranjeras: siete ponencias
3) La Lingstica aplicada a la enseanza de las lenguas extranjeras: cuatro ponencias
4) Los ambientes de aprendizaje y la interdisciplinariedad: tres ponencias
5) La interculturalidad en el currculo de lenguas extranjeras: siete ponencias
6) Las ciencias humanas y sociales en la formacin del docente de lenguas: cuatro ponencias

Se observa como la mayora de las propuestas giran en torno a dos grandes temas: la
investigacin y la interculturalidad. Se puede considerar que es algo lgico, por las siguientes
razones: La investigacin es sin duda la actividad que convoca de forma ms evidente la
participacin de varias disciplinas. Abordar cualquier objeto de estudio desde la perspectiva
investigativa, exige sin duda que se le mire en toda su complejidad, es decir de forma
interdisciplinaria, con el fin de abarcarlo de manera integral. Por otra parte, la
interculturalidad, es una prctica que acerca al estudioso de las lenguas a las culturas a las
cuales ellas pertenecen. Es casi imposible poder interpretar los sentidos de los mensajes sin
tener conocimientos de la sociedad, de las personas, de la cultura, de la psicologa, de la
historia, entre otros aspectos, en los que esas lenguas estn inmersas.

Las preferencias antes mencionadas, como temticas mayormente abordadas por los
ponentes, son coherentes con las respuestas a la encuesta preparatoria de las mesas de
trabajo. Los resultados indican que la investigacin y la interculturalidad ocupan
respectivamente el primero y segundo lugar como los elementos del currculo a los que se les
da mayor importancia en los programas de licenciatura de las universidades participantes.

312

En relacin con los ejes temticos menos abordados, podemos inferir lo siguiente:

Los currculos de la mayora de los programas de licenciatura no estn organizados de
manera explcita en forma interdisciplinaria, sino asignaturista. Por mucho que desde hace
varias dcadas se est hablando de currculos integrados, existen diversos obstculos que
hacen que se siga trabajando de manera aislada. Una de las razones es de carcter
administrativo, ante la imposibilidad de proponer asignaciones horarias en las que converjan
varios docentes, cada uno trabaja d forma independiente e individual. Este concepto es
coherente con las respuestas de la encuesta aplicada a los participantes en las mesas de
trabajo ya que el 67% respondi que la interdisciplinariedad es parcial en sus programas; solo
es total en un 33%.

Respecto a los ambientes de aprendizaje, se tiene la idea de que ellos solo se refieren a los
ambientes virtuales y al uso de las nuevas tecnologas de la informacin y la comunicacin
(TIC). No es frecuente encontrar propuestas que se interesen en la posibilidad de transformar
el aula y otros espacios de la institucin o de la comunidad, en lugares de aprendizaje tanto de
las asignaturas, como de la vida misma. De hecho, dos de las tres ponencias se refieren al uso
de las TIC.

De forma equilibrada, se presenta el mismo nmero (cuatro) de ponencias sobre la
Lingstica Aplicada y la Formacin del licenciado a travs de las ciencias sociales. Se
reconoce entonces de manera moderada que las disciplinas relacionadas con el lenguaje
mismo y con la sociedad, con la sociedad, son decisivas en la formacin del futuro licenciado.

Finalmente, se espera poder realizar otras versiones de este coloquio, con el fin de fortalecer
en todos los programas del pas, una caracterstica tan fundamental como la
interdisciplinariedad, con el fin de reforzarla y hacerla explcita en todos las licenciaturas de
Colombia, especficamente del rea de las lenguas extranjeras.

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