Running Head: STUDENTS’ CONSCIOUSNESS TOWARDS...

Running Head: STUDENTS’ CONSCIOUSNESS TOWARDS SOLIDARITY

ENHANCING STUDENTS´ CONSCIOUSNESS TOWARDS THE SOCIAL

VALUE OF SOLIDARITY

MAIRA STEFANÍA GÓMEZ MORALES

UNIVERSIDAD DISTRITAL FRANCISCO JOSE DE CALDAS

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS Y EDUCACIÓN

PROYECTO CURRICULAR LICENCIATURA EN EDUCACIÓN BASICA CON

ÉNFASIS EN INGLÉS COMO LENGUA EXTRANJERA

BOGOTÁ D.C.

2016

STUDENTS’ CONSCIOUSNESS TOWARDS SOLIDARITY

ENHANCING STUDENTS´ CONSCIOUSNESS TOWARDS THE SOCIAL

VALUE OF SOLIDARITY

MAIRA STEFANÍA GÓMEZ MORALES

UNIVERSIDAD DISTRITAL FRANCISCO JOSE DE CALDAS

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS Y EDUCACIÓN

PROYECTO CURRICULAR LICENCIATURA EN EDUCACIÓN BASICA CON

ÉNFASIS EN INGLÉS COMO LENGUA EXTRANJERA

BOGOTÁ D.C.

2016

STUDENTS’ CONSIOUSNESS TOWARDS SOLIDARITY 3

NOTE OF ACCEPTANCE

Research Work Advisor

Álvaro Quintero Polo

Juror

Juror


“La Universidad no se hace responsable de las ideas, ni del contenido del presente

trabajo debido a que éstas hacen parte única y exclusivamente de sus autores”.

Capítulo XV, articulo 177, Acuerdo Número 029 de 1988 del consejo superior de la

Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank God for guiding me to the purpose of my life, enlightening me

through this process and strengthening me with patience and wisdom to do my best and love my

profession.

Second, thanks to my family, boyfriend and friends who have supported me to cope with

every challenge during my career and their unconditional love. Moreover, I want to express

gratitude to every person who has enriched my life and the students that made this project

possible.

Finally, I would like to give special credit to my teachers and tutor, Álvaro Quintero, for

leading me in this process and contributing with their knowledge and dedication to my

academically and personal growth.


Abstract

This qualitative research addresses students’ conscientization to the social value of

solidarity as it is portrayed in the responses to short stories among fourth graders at a public

school in Bogotá. The pedagogical intervention was implemented within an inquiry based

approach and students’ exposure to short stories that led them to become aware and reflect on

their role in society through the enhancement of their ideas, opinions and thoughts. Students’

statements were identified and interpreted through, questionnaires and field notes that were

analyzed to the light of the theoretical sources consulted in this study. The findings revealed that

students’ reconstruction of the social value of solidarity has to do with the recognition of the

other’s vulnerability and the relationship of this concept to friendship and respect values. This

study demonstrated that students’ reflections give account of a reality that needs to be understood

and transformed by the participants of the society, so when students related the stories to their

lives and context they became more aware of their role in their communities and the way they

and the others act.

Key words: conscientization, solidarity, critical pedagogy, shorts stories.


Resumen

Esta investigación cualitativa aborda la concientización de los estudiantes hacia la

solidaridad como valor social y su representación en las respuestas a historias cortas entre

estudiantes de cuarto grado de un colegio público de Bogotá. La intervención pedagógica fue

implementada a través de un enfoque basado en indagación y la exposición de los estudiantes a

historias cortas, que los guiaron a ser más conscientes y reflexionar a cerca de su rol en la

sociedad a través de sus ideas, opiniones y pensamientos. Los enunciados de los estudiantes

fueron identificados e interpretados a través de cuestionarios y notas de campo que fueron

analizados a la luz de las fuentes teóricas consultadas en este estudio. Los resultados revelaron

que la reconstrucción de los estudiantes hacia la solidaridad tiene que ver con el reconocimiento

de la vulnerabilidad del otro y la relación de éste concepto con los valores de amistad y respeto.

Éste estudio demostró que las reflexiones de los estudiantes dan cuenta de una realidad que

necesita ser entendida y transformada por los participantes de la sociedad, de esta manera,

cuando los estudiantes relacionaron las historias a sus vidas y contexto, ellos fueron más

conscientes de su rol en su comunidad y la manera en la que ellos y otros actúan.

Palabras clave: Concientización, solidaridad, pedagogía crítica, historias cortas.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I Introduction 7

Problem Statement 9

Research Question 11

Research Purpose 11

Specific objectives 11

Chapter II Literature Review 12

Chapter III Research Design 29

Research approach and type of study 30

Context and Participants 30

Instruments for data collection 31

Ethical issues 33

Chapter IV Instructional Design 35

Pedagogical Intervention 35

Instructional objectives 38

Theory of learning 39

Theory of teaching 40

Theory of language 42

Methodology 42

Description of material 44

Criteria for evaluation 45

Chapter V Data Analysis 46

Chapter VI Conclusions 69

Chapter VII Implications for further research 72

Chapter VIII Limitations of the study 74

References 75

Annexes


CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This study conducted in a public school in Bogotá is focused on the exploration of fourth

graders´ outcomes in their process of conscientization towards the social value of solidarity.

These outcomes were described and interpreted in terms of opinions and reflections made by

students through the data collected to gain a thorough understanding of the social phenomena

presented in this particular environment. This research is framed under a qualitative paradigm

that emerged from students’ difficulties evidenced in the needs assessment when relating short

texts to their personal experiences and context. Also, the relevance to highlight students’

awareness of the knowledge they have acquired through their experiences and their role in the

society that allow them to make part of a social justice transformation that has to do with equity

and recognition of the other through the conscientization towards the social value of solidarity.

Considering the need of creating an appropriate environment for reflection about social

aspects with fourth graders at school, the implementation of reading strategies, activities and

dialogue were included with the purpose of empowering students to deeply read short stories and

help them to make connections to their own realities taking into account students´ skills in their

mother and foreign language.

The theoretical foundations of this study are Critical Pedagogy which seeks to create

spaces in the classroom where students’ voices are brought in order to connect their knowledge

gained through their social background and experiences to the conceptions about solidarity as a


social value that allow students and teacher to reconstruct their ideas and have a better

understanding of their realities and context. Moreover, the emphasis on working on solidarity as

social value was discussed from different perspectives that helped me to describe, interpret and

understand students’ conscientization towards this social value.

Bearing in mind that reading is a complex process in which students not only learn new

vocabulary but also learn to interpret notions of time, space, characters, values, culture, history

among others; the development of this skill is necessary to enhance students in their learning

process of English as a foreign language. That is why I decided to implement inquiry based

learning that allowed students to pass from a superficial reading to a deeper comprehension of

what students read in the sessions, making connections of the short stories to their realities and

become aware of the situations around them that reflected their perceptions towards solidarity.

Finally, in order to maintain a clearer view of this qualitative research, the organization of

this document will be explained as follows; first an overview of the research study including the

introduction, the problem statement and the research question and objective. Secondly a

literature review where I discussed the main constructs which were the foundations of this

project, then the research and instructional design. Continuing, the reader will find the data

analysis in which students’ statements and field notes were described and interpreted in the light

of the theoretical sources that supported this study in order to understand students’ process of

conscientization towards the social value of solidarity, as well as the conclusions obtained at the

end of this experience, references, annexes and the appendices.


PROBLEM STATEMENT

I consider students in the classroom as active people who not only acquire specific

contents through the subjects they study but also who acquire values, beliefs and construct their

role as part of a community in this case their school, their neighborhood or their city. In this

work, fourth graders are encouraged to take part in the transformation of their English language

classroom realities in which as human beings they become critical, respectful, responsible, and

independent. Such transformation has to do with alternatives to reduce a gap that is created as a

consequence of intolerance, aggression and disrespect from some social actors against other

actors in educational settings. That gap calls for the promotion of social values that students

potentially have to tackle conflicts caused by it and that students face day by day.

Bearing in mind the need of this transformation mentioned above there is an immerse

relevance also to change the perception about students´ role to make them part of this process by

highlighting their voices reflected by their ideas, opinions and thoughts about the reality they

take part of which also takes part in the classroom settings. According to Hatchman & Rolland

(2001) it is clear to us that student voice is the missing piece, so often left out, in school

transformation. Even though, "...They [students] are in a very real sense, the primary

stakeholders in their own learning process we do not necessarily listen to them" (Lincoln 1995

cited by Hatchman & Rolland, 2001, p. 2).

Freire cited by Wachob (2009) asserts when stating the problem of the traditional

education in which students voices do not take place in the classroom but also that teachers have

the potential to combine scholarly reflection and practice in the service of educating students to

be thoughtful and active citizens; in this case the need of including students' voices about their


life experiences and let them take action in their learning process constructing their own

perspectives appears as an important component in the social transformation and educational

practices.

During my pedagogical experience carried out at a public school located in Bogotá with a

group of twenty fourth graders, I initially noticed a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards the

English class which created a good environment to develop different activities that allowed

students to work on their language development. However, through the development of some of

the lessons, students revealed a struggle when relating what they were learning and their real life

experiences related to social values. Thus, a needs assessment was applied to consider students'

voices about the relationship between their life experiences and the specific social values of

respect and solidarity. After analyzing students' responses to the questions established in the

needs assessment related to the way they could apply those principles to their context, their

answers were in the majority of the cases focused on surface aspects of reading comprehension

practices in the traditional English class which misled their attention from the sensible issues

they have experienced in their lives. This can be illustrated with some excerpts resulting from the

needs assessment:

One student´s response to the question: did you find any teaching in the story Juana the

giraffe? Was: …“no tiene enseñanza”, in the next point the student had to write any life

experience related to the story and the answer was: “no aplica…”1.

Moreover through one of the reflective journals written when finishing the classes I

found:

1 “No tiene enseñanza” refers to: “It does not have any teaching”, and “no aplica…”: “it does not apply”


Students were confused when they were asked to think about situations at school

or around them that reflected any relation to the topic learned, some students’ claims

were: “no entiendo, no sé teacher…” (Teacher reflective journal, April 25th, 2012)

This information called my attention and made me wonder about the way students were

relating the topics addressed in class and if there was any space in the classroom for them to

analyze and evaluate in a critical way what they were learning, which made students to

successfully complete exercises related to the English class but not in those where they had to

analyze, compare and relate that knowledge with their social reality.

RESEARCH QUESTION

How is fourth graders’ consciousness to the social value of solidarity portrayed in their responses

to short stories?

RESEARCH PURPOSE

To characterize fourth graders´ consciousness to the social value of solidarity as it is portrayed in

their responses to short stories in order to add understanding to the way they make sense of their

being as social actors.

Specific objectives:

To highlight students’ life experiences and thoughts through the use of short stories.

To identify and interpret students’ responses to stories in order to understand their social

awareness in relation to the social value of solidarity.


CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

This study initially focused on the promotion of critical thinking taking into account the

phenomenon presented in the classroom about the struggle that students were having when

establishing relations between the topics learned and their life experiences. In order to enlighten

this phenomenon, I started a search about critical thinking considering that this would be an

appropriate way to address students and help them to go beyond the specific content of the class,

get familiarized with it to find possible application of the new knowledge to their lives.

However, I realized that critical thinking was just the frame within which the instructional part of

this study was set but was not the main concept that was at the core of the phenomenon that I

intended to explore, that is to say, students´ opinions and life experiences put them together to

work on the conscientization towards solidarity as a social value. The literature on critical

thinking seems to emphasize on the development of intellectual skills leaving aside the social

purpose of learning. As a result, Critical Pedagogy appears as the main construct to be discussed

through which students are encourage to voice their opinions and life experiences to take part of

the social transformation.

Critical pedagogy setting the path for students’ conscientization

Provided that this study has its theoretical foundation in Critical Pedagogy (CP), in this

chapter, my first point is about the relationship between students’ life experiences and one of

Freire’s postulates about Critical Pedagogy seeking to identify possibilities in the classroom by

offering schema to connect word to world and by its unyielding urgency of transformation


(Freire, 1970). This has to do with the idea that there is a remaining need to create a space in the

classroom that includes students´ knowledge gained from their world experiences and allow

them to establish connections between those experiences and what they learn to build new

knowledge and gain a better understanding of their reality. For that reason, Critical Pedagogy

serves as the bridge to empower students and bring their voices into the classroom to encourage

them to become active participants of the society.

Bearing in mind this emergency for transformation the following point that I will address

in this chapter is related to the way consciousness is portrayed towards the social value of

solidarity and the relevance of this process in the promotion of a social justice transformation in

the EFL classroom. Freire cited by Boswell (2011) states his posture about solidarity by saying

that “solidarity requires that one enter into the situation of those with whom one is solidary; it is

a radical posture" (p. 34). Moreover, in the exploration of this notion Freire argues that in order

to commit to true acts of solidarity one has to go through the liberating process known as

“conscientization”, in which people come to understand one´s notions of charity and build a new

sense of solidarity. For instance, this process of conscientization seeks to engage students in the

(re)construction of their notions about solidarity through the recognition of the other.

In order to understand the urgency for transformation claimed by Freire above, I consider

relevant to reflect about the current practices in our educational settings that will help us to make

sense of the principles that CP entails. That is why I would like to start describing a problem

debated nowadays about the education in Colombia that has been making emphasis on the

achievement of standards established in the different subjects. This issue has led us to focus on

models based on skills development where teachers are mainly concerned to help students to

accomplish international standards and language proficiency.


Colombian authors like Correa and Usma (2013) discuss the actions taken by the

Colombian government in the promotion of the Program for Strengthening the Development of

Competencies in a Foreign Language that attempts to increase the level of English proficiency of

teachers and students to include the country into globalization processes. Correa and Usma in the

attempt to present an alternative proposal to the model established by these policies that consist

on a critical sociocultural model that seeks to include all stakeholders to improve the teaching

and learning of English in the State.

Likewise, Perez and Echeverri (2014) in their article “Making Sense of Critical pedagogy

in L2 Education Through a Collaborative Study Group” argue that the Colombian government

has included the use of imported standards like the Common European Framework of Reference

as guidelines to measure language proficiency in order to respond to the demands of global

markets and support the economic development. Perez and Echeverri also characterize the

current educational practices in Colombia within an instrumentalist model that persist on the

transmission and development of skills.

According to the ideas presented Perez and Echeverri about the instrumentalist model,

one characteristic of this model is “the marked focus on the teaching of language structures and

communicative functions that have little to do with students’ lives outside the classroom” (p.

173). In relation to that the authors distinguish that “within this model teachers seem to be

regarded as mere delivers of content that is not related to students´ lives, as trainers in skills that

do not necessarily help students cope with issues they face every day” (Perez and Echeverri,

2014, p. 174).


It is then evident that this reality shows us how teachers and students have to cope with

different issues inside and outside the classrooms. Here you find teachers and students struggling

with issues such as poverty, violence, intolerance among others. Taking this into account,

teachers cannot pretend to come into the classroom and teach specific contents excluding these

concerns and expecting their students to forget about their lives during class, while developing

skills that isolate their lives experiences. Perez and Echeverri (2014) asserts when they state:

In a country like Colombia, where signs of oppression and injustice are so

evident, we believe that English teachers here will be doing their students a

disservice if they limit themselves to teaching grammar structures and

communicative functions that are not related to students’ real lives. (p. 174)

In this traditional perspective students are not the only ones affected by the traditional

education; teachers also suffer the effects of an education that conceives them as channels of

information separated from their students in which teachers aim to plan the content of the

syllabus that students submissively adapt to it. Freire (1970) supports this idea when claiming

that teachers keep the legacy of banking education when they internalize the belief that their

main role is to be merely concerned with the transmission of information and distances

themselves from students´ life concerns so that the power of structure of the system is

maintained.

On the contrary, the principles of CP in opposition to the traditional education determine

the relationship between students and teachers in which they cooperatively work on the process

of learning to make sense of the knowledge and the world. Freire (1970) claims by the

expression “reading the world and reading the word” that education is produced collaboratively


and collectively through the reality of students’ lives. In connection to my initial idea, CP serves

as the channel to bring students´ thoughts, beliefs, aspirations and experiences into the classroom

and give value to them. The beginning of a transformation on educational projects must be at the

level of the people´s aspirations and dreams, their understanding of reality and their forms of

action and struggle (Freire, 1970).

Guerrero and Quintero (2013) investigated the voices of elementary school teachers about

Colombian educational policies through a study conducted in five localidades from Bogotá,

Colombia. This study reveals the oscillating identities built by teachers who have been

marginalized in the participation of the creation and reformulation of Colombian policies, but at

the same time, teachers who have found a way to fulfill the demands of the State and the needs

of their students. The findings of this study brought to light on the one hand, the contradiction

towards traditional models that see teachers as instructors since the teachers who took part of this

study claimed to know who their students are, their contexts and their needs. On the other hand,

that there is no policy that prepares teachers to face the issues they handle daily at schools and

more important that “love” is one of main motivations of teachers’ daily practice; Guerrero and

Quintero state:

“Love gives them the strength and the wisdom to take actions that result in quality

of life for their students. In this sense, their autonomy is manifested in the fact that,

different from the view of the government, they view education as a powerful tool to

transform lives in the long term. While the objective of educational policies is that

students achieve certain levels on State exams, teachers are concerned about helping

them to become good citizens, good people. (p.200)


This conception about love took me to the heart of what I internalized from reading about

CP and the studies and articles that attempted to criticize and evaluate the current educational

models. This is how I realized that education is about love and how I see myself through the

others eyes, how I recognize the others in that process and how together we make sense of this

world. Wink (2000) points out that critical pedagogy encourage people to find the magic of

discovery based on our own life experiences and its potential is all about people. “Education is

radically about love” (Freire cited by Wink 2000 p.2). I consider that there is a remaining need

for transformation but at the same time a growing hope for changing our realities.

Now, to me this is an inspiring idea that highlights the role that teachers and students

have in the adoption of a critical perspective that allow them change the perception of both of

them. For instance, I would like to exemplify this idea with an inspiring blog published by

Nickalls (2015) called: “I wish my teacher knew: the hashtag that’s changing the way teachers

see their students”, in which the author describes the story of Kyle Schwartz, a third grade

teacher at a Denver elementary school in the United States, who started a hashtag movement

with a simple assignment that reflects the needs and thoughts that her students wanted her to

know about their lives through notes they wrote and the impact that these notes had for her

understand her students’ lives and struggles. These are some of the students’ notes that Schwartz

posted on her twitter:


Through this lesson Schwartz expresses that students were inspired to help each other and

that the intent of the assignment is to build community in the classroom. The author of this

article finally concludes that “keeping an open dialogue between teachers and students is an


essential and often overlooked aspect of communication”, but also believes that this exercise is

evidence of how teachers can make a huge impact as well as it reminds us that students can teach

us as much as teachers can, “We just have to listen”.

In the same train of thought, Samacá (2012) refers on her article towards the reflection of

our classrooms through a critical pedagogy view that being a teacher implies time to listen to our

students´ problems, to make them feel loved as well as listen to them expressing their personal

points of view about situations that are not necessarily academic. This process requires a

transformation of students and teachers conception that Wink (2000) considers as the result of

the interaction between the two of them.

Looking for the spaces in our classes to bring up students´ voices must be teachers’

concern and task, which it may be challenging and sometimes we may get confused about the

most accurate way to do it. For this reason, Critical pedagogy portrays the way to start lighting

the path for teachers and students for a social change in the classroom. As the author of the

article mentioned above, dialogue between students and teachers is an indispensable aspect in

communication; even though, from a critical point of view is the base for the change of

educational practices that I will explain in detail below.

“No matter if they are students of the university or kids in primary school or

workers in a neighborhood or peasants in the countryside, my insistence on staring from

their description of their daily life experiences is based in the possibility of starting from

the concreteness, from common sense, to reach rigorous understanding of reality”.(Freire

and Shor,1987, p. 20)


This statement reflects the conception of a dialogical education conceived by Freire that

consists on the understanding of the world on a first place by understanding students’ life

experiences to gain comprehension on concrete concepts of the reality. That means when the

teacher comes to class, he/she has planned the object to study with students, despite that fact,

teachers and students must get involved in a reflection of the object to study in which students

can establish a relation with their life experiences in order to make sense of the concepts and

start a reconstruction of these ones accompanied by the teacher.

This brings up the question of what dialogue means in this alternative education and how

this dialogue enriches the purpose of this education that is a social transformation. Assuming that

humans are communicative beings who communicate to each other, dialogue seeks to extend that

natural ability and become more critical communicative beings. However, “communicating is

not mere verbalism, not mere ping pong of words and gestures. It affirms or challenges the

relationship between the people communicating, the object they are relating around and the

society they are in” (Freire and Shor, 1987, p. 14). Thus, dialogue comes to transform the

communicating process into a reflection about the reality of the society within this process take

part.

In this conception, Freire and Shor (1987) claims that dialogue raises the awareness about

the social relations and recreates the knowledge as well as the way we learn. For instance, when

students and teachers meet upon reflection in the classroom about their reality, dialogue breaks

down the traditional idea of the relation between them in which the teachers come and present

the ideas that students are supposed to adopt and later on to produce in the same way. In this

process of reflection mediated by an open dialogue students and teachers realize about what they


know and they do not know which leads them to act critically to transform their reality (Freire

and Shor, 1987).

Conscientization towards the social value of Solidarity

At this point one may be wondering about the place that takes the conception of

“conscientization” that was initially mentioned in this chapter and the relation with the social

value of solidarity. Thus, I would like to clarify the idea about the role that this concept that

some people will find unknown or bizarre as I did at the beginning of this study.

In this respect, standing on a critical perspective that seeks to enhance students´ voices

with the purpose of transforming the role of them and teachers as listeners and speakers that

recreate their relations and start reflecting about their lives. “Critical pedagogues claim that when

students and their teachers know that they know, the phenomenon of conscientization has taken

place, Abraham (2005). In this perspective, not only the teachers are the owners of the

knowledge but so are students, and putting both together we can transform learning and teaching

experiences into a meaningful practice for them.

Given that, conscientization lead students’ to understand the notions of their realities and

what they have learned from it and at the same time to recognize what others have learned. Thus

students reconstruct their ideas about social values (solidarity in this study specifically) when

they meet upon reflection with their teacher and peers to interact about their conceptions and life

experiences.


Here, the relevance that dialogue has in the achievement of conscientization appears as

the first step to approach the other as an equal (Boswell, 2011). Essentially, when students and

teachers get involved in this process they become more open to listen to the other´s opinions and

perspectives of the world, beyond that, this process lights up the spark of awareness about

students’ knowledge and the importance in the (re)construction of the reality. According to

Freire cited by Boswell (2011) conscientization “is primarily a subjective feeling if new insight”

(p.14).

As result of these new insights, students get closer to the liberation process of breaking

down the barriers of class and conflicts that separate one to each other. Provided that solidarity

as a social value comes up as the notion constructed in society to bring together people in a sense

of charity, help equity and hope. As shown by Samacá (2012), classrooms are partly affected by

the real representation of society in which students express what they are and the social values

they have learnt in their families. Moreover the author claims that for those who want to

transform the school settings by working on values such as respect, tolerance, justice, and equity,

it is important to highlight the activities that empower students to explore their feelings from the

inside.

Katsarou, Picower and Stovall (2010) points out that in the development of

conscientization one has to cultivate a close knowledge about one’s teaching environment. This

involves a transformation in the classroom in which teachers promote activities that allow

students to share their opinions, concerns, dreams and experiences with the purpose of

understanding their contexts and needs. This transformation calls for social justice by working in

a sense of solidarity in which “teachers must recognize issues and concerns that affect students

and their communities” (p.150).


When carrying out this study and working with students I realize the importance of

getting to know the environment and the context in which I was working. Firstly, it helped me to

understand the dynamic of the group and the way their relationships were recreated in the

classroom, their considerations about the other and how these considerations were reconstructed

when sharing with their peers. Secondly, it helped me to approach myself to students and gain a

better understanding of their needs and issues. Hence, while reflecting with students about social

aspects my awareness about my role as teacher changed and my comprehension of the reality

was also reconstructed.

Based on this experience I strongly agree with Wink (2000) when she claims that

students and teachers are empowered to have confidence in their own knowledge, ability and

experiences though the process of conscientization. Thus, conscientization can only take place

through the interaction between teachers and students since it highlights their knowledge and

experiences gained during their lives and bring them together in order to understand their

contexts and realities.

Now, the relevance of this process of conscientization with a social transformation has to

do with the emphasis on students’ awareness of the knowledge they have acquired though their

experiences and lives and the recreation of this knowledge through the dialogue led with their

classmates and teacher that will allow them to realize about their power to act upon the realities

they reflect about. In fact, Daniel Schipani cited by Boswell (2011) argues that only when people

find the interrelation between knowledge and power at the heart of conscientization real

transformation happens. In accordance with the need of fostering social values that help students

to act in the construction of a better society the conscientization towards the social value of

solidarity emerge as vital in the idea of a social transformation.


Given that, students’ conscientization lead them to reconstruct their ideas about the social

values that are initially constructed at the heart of the society students have had contact with at

the center of family and which continues at school when they socialize with their friends and

peers. In this connection, this study attempts to explore the notions that students reconstruct in

the classroom toward the social value of solidarity taking into account that students are

considered people in process of formation who come to class with knowledge they have acquired

in their families.

Then, with the purpose of exploring students’ conscientization towards the social value of

solidarity it is important to understand the conception of social value and especially about

solidarity but also the process in the development of these notions. For this reason I will go

through some conceptions I found about social values and its connection with the process of

conscientization.

Social values are defined by Dueñas (cited in Gómez and Rojas, 2012) as values acquired

by humans from society that help them to be an integral human being. In addition, Gómez and

Rojas (2012) in their study about the reflection on social values through an EFL story telling

experience characterizes social values as the ones that help to value the world, the society and its

people, moreover, allow individuals to make choices from different options based on his/her

personal interests. Similarly to this Hernandez, Parada and Sanchez (2009) state toward the

conception of social values as the human perception of what is good, better and best for the self

that have been internalized in the socialization process given in society, with family, group of

pairs at school, and the most important values for a person constitute the core of their

personality, guidance, orientates individuals’ decision making and are the base of their self-

concept and self-esteem.


In this respect the exploration of students’ perceptions and ideas about the social value of

solidarity has an important role in the process of conscientization since students start being aware

of their actions and what orient them; which I consider is the first step to take action in the

reality. According to Hayes (1913) individuals’ actions are like a shield in which one side is

exposed to the world and the other pressed against the heart, for instance, he explains that when

we refer to experiences we refer to physical actions but when we refer to value, they can only

exist in “consciousness” and can never be seen or weighed.

However, according to Gómez and Rojas (2012) every person has to live a process when

acquiring and shaping values; this process has to do with moral development and its evolution is

developed along ages and the interaction with the context. From this perspective it is considered

in this study solidarity as a moral value that is acquired through socialization in group or

personal experiences. When students meet up upon reflection towards their considerations about

solidarity and the analogies they make from the stories to their lives and experience their moral

development and simultaneously their consciousness are growing up. Provided that I believe

that the process of acquiring and shaping values is a constant activity that people conscious or

unconsciously is constantly working on and developing. Also, that as these perceptions and

beliefs are socially built, it changes with the time and according to the context.

As this process is highly remarked by socialization, Gómez and Rojas (2012) affirm that

values are initially acquired at home and then move forward at school. This point is relevant

because when students go to school they come with knowledge they are not fully aware and

when they socialize with their classmates and peers, students find out other perspectives and start

shaping their ways to perceive, interact and participate in society (Hernandez, Parada and


Sanchez, 2009). This process is known according to CP as conscientization and it attempts not

only to build communicative exchanges but dialogue, through the members of a community.

Finally, as a consequence of the process of conscientization students’ are led to

reconstruct their own notions about solidarity. Solidarity as previously stated is considered in this

study as a moral value but I have decided to go through different perspectives of this term to

have a better understanding of students’ ideas and experiences in relation with the conception of

it.

To start, Freire (cited in Boswell, 2011) states that "when one sheds pious, paternalistic,

and sentimental actions, one can move one step closer to solidarity, a state in which one "risks an

act of love" (p. 35). That is to say that solidarity as a social value bring us together in sentimental

actions that allow us to step on the other´s shoes to understand how they feel and give support. I

realize that students express this sensitivity towards the other in their opinions reported in the

questionnaires and the ideas they shared about the actions presented in the story but also when

they made their analogies with their life experiences.

This sense of solidarity in which sentimental actions allow individuals to approach the

other in the understanding of his/her needs, also permit the inclusion of other people in the

relationships commonly recognized by students which promotes the idea of equity where I see

myself as an equal to the other no matter the conditions, the social status, the place of belonging

or the race. Wojtyla (cited in Boswell, 2011) states that “when one adopts an attitude of

solidarity, one interacts with an "acute sense" of understanding the needs of the other” (p.89).

This implies sensitivity in relation to the self and the other in which students are able to see

themselves though the other and understand the other’s needs and vulnerability.


According to Rorty (1989) a sense of solidarity is created when humans share suffering

experiences that lead to the realization of people who are totally different can be “us” and not

and impersonal “they”. From this perspective solidarity appears again as a value that seeks to

create a sense of equity between people who do not have a direct relation through the bonds that

emerge from the understanding and partnership when one faces a vulnerable situation. Students’

life experiences are representation of the realization of the suffering experiences they share with

other people that let them to perceive themselves through the other.

Nevertheless, in contrast to these considerations about solidarity as a social value other

conceptions has been contemplated by authors like Anne Carr (cited by Boswell, 2011) who

claims that solidarity is reflected as a spirituality of friendship, interdependence and community.

In this respect, solidarity serves as the chain that consolidates the sense of friendship between

individuals even though it discriminates the other who is not part of that group of people one is

related to, in other words “friendship demands that some are excluded from the relationship and

it cannot include everyone” (Healy, 2011 p.232).

A study conducted by Mendez and Garcia (2012) on the elementary schoolers’ power and

solidarity relations in an EFL classroom reported that different forms of exercising power and

solidarity are presented in the classroom in which solidarity has a connotation when students

align with their partners regarding certain issues. This allows learners to establish more equity

among them. Additionally, the authors found that students show solidarity towards each other

when they work together in order to achieve a general benefit for the group which let the authors

concluded that solidarity is constantly developing in the classroom where learners identify

themselves with the others.


I realized from my experience in the classroom that students’ notions about solidarity

vary according to their own backgrounds but also that these notions may change with the

socialization of them with their classmates and teacher. Besides, the interaction between students

is a reflection of these notions of solidarity that generates and sensitivity towards the others’

perspectives, moreover, when they were working together in the activities proposed they showed

this partnership sense towards the accomplishment of the tasks.

To conclude, I believe that CP sets up the path for students and teachers to the

transformation of education that has to do with the engagement of students’ voices and

experiences that are reflected through the dialogue that leads them to take part of the process of

conscientization. This process allow students to understand the notions about solidarity as a

social value that they have learned from their experiences and backgrounds and bring them

together to recreate and reconstruct students’ perspective of the world.


CHAPTER III

RESEARCH DESIGN

This study is framed under a qualitative research carried out in a public school in Bogotá,

Colombia. The aim of this study is to characterize fourth graders´ outcomes in their process of

conscientization towards social values that will be described and interpret in terms of opinions

and experiences through the data collected to gain a thorough understanding of the social

phenomena presented in this particular environment. Given that the qualitative paradigm deals

with the explanation of social phenomena in which attitudes, opinions, experiences, and feelings

of individuals produce certain information (Hancock, 1998), it fits the purpose of this study to

highlight students’ thoughts and opinions in the classroom to understand their realities and take

part of the transformation of it.

In addition, this study attempts to describe and interpret students´ outcomes as mentioned

above considering those the starting point for the understanding of their process of consciousness

towards solidarity, providing student’s ideas and relations they make with their realities, this

process situated in the thought, language, aspirations and conditions of students and shaped by

the training of the teacher who is simultaneously a classroom researcher (Freire and Shor, 1987).

For instance, qualitative research seeks to make sense of and meaning from descriptions

often distinct of this paradigm in order to understand the educational world (Lankshear and

Knoble, 2004). Moreover, all research is interpretative since it is guided by a set of beliefs and

feelings about the world and how it should be understood and studied (Denzin and Lincoln,


2000) which is described by Lankshear and Knoble as the nature of qualitative approaches to

acknowledge that research actually (re)constructs realities.

Following this train of thought, this study is set up within a qualitative and interpretive

research taking into account that it deals with qualitative data characterized by students’

opinions, experiences and feelings towards the social value of solidarity that were interpreted

with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of a social phenomenon based on beliefs and

feelings which foundations come from the theoretical background of the study.

Context and Participants

This study was carried out in a public school located in the 10th zone of Bogotá

(Engativá). This school is divided into two facilities, the principal building focusing on fourth,

fifth, and high school and the second one housing pre-scholar grades and primary until third

grade.

The principal headquarters is two floors and contains one library, two cafeterias, one

teacher room, a computer lab which had not been currently used while equipment was being

repaired, a radio station, sport areas, one auditorium and a small room in which students can

prepare performances. The classroom in which this study took place is well distributed and had a

large space that allowed the teacher and students to move around when necessary. It had around

40 seats, one teacher desk and it has not any media material, however, teachers could book in

advance the use of mobile media equipment that was available for delivery into the classroom.

This research was carried out with 22 fourth graders of the afternoon shift, who are

between 9 and 11 years old from low and middle-income households. As fifth and forth graders

are situated in the same building of high school sometimes students of primary school have


negative influence of students from higher grades and also some problems appeared due to this

fact. Fifteen students were selected taking into account the relevance of the data content in the

instruments gathered in contribution to the understanding of the phenomenon to explore in this

study.

In this study, fourth graders are considered people who are in the process of formation in

the conscientization towards social values. According to this process of formation the school

made specific emphasis on the promotion of social values presented in the principles of the

institution such as: kindness, punctuality, auto control, quality, equality, collaboration, respect

for the commitments, honesty, sense of belonging and loyalty with the school and the classmates;

finally prudence. Moreover, the school frames the profile of its students as “balanced in his/her

individuality and his/her social being, characterized by respect for life and recognition for the

other´s rights, with ability to harmoniously live with him/herself and people surrounding”.2

Bearing this in mind, I started this research project with the attempt of exploring students´

process of construction of these social values, considering also the perceptions expressed by the

teacher towards students as sometimes conflictive and hard to manage, emphasizing the need of

promotion of values over the instruction based on the subject contents.

Instruments for data collection

In this study, students account for their perceptions and opinions in the process of

sensibilization towards social values, for this purpose two main instruments were applied in

order to gather the data to be analysed to the light of the theoretical sources consulted for the

understanding of the phenomenon of this research as it is illustrated later in (Graphic 1) that

2 This information can be found in the official web site of the school. http://www.iejas.edu.co/


explains the triangulation methodology in order to validate the information gathered from the

data collected.

Questionnaires

For the validity of the information gathered I included some questionnaires to

analyze specific information about the students’ ideas, and to identify and interpret

students´ process of conscientization towards the social value of solidarity during the

pedagogical intervention. Bell (2005) claims that: Questionnaires are a good way of

collecting certain types of information quickly and relatively cheaply and that they are

useful to analyze and interpret data. Students written statements are the main input of this

instrument as introspective data.

Field notes:

In order to record the observations about the reflections carried out during the

lessons where students´ claims and opinions towards social values took place, field notes

were taken during and complemented after the classes while students were developing the

activities and dialogue with the teacher. According to Lankshear and Knoble (2004), field

notes are descriptions of what is taking place as well as direct quotations of what is said

wherever possible. These are descriptions and accounts of events in the research context,

which are written in a relatively factual and objective style. It focuses on answering who,

what, where, when, how, why questions (Burns, 1999). This instrument is useful to see

and describe students’ opinions and thoughts in the classroom, but also their attitudes

towards the readings, the discussions and the sharing ideas moment as an observational

data that provided students’ claims as the principal input of this instrument.


In terms of validity of the information, I carried out the confrontation of the

instruments that account students´ voices as the introspective data, the theory and other

studies that illuminates the study and the observational data gathered from the field notes

in order to develop the pertinent data analysis.

Graphic1. Methodological triangulation

Ethical issues

Bearing in mind the responsibility that lies on the researcher when developing a research,

some important aspects were considered to ensure the reliability, validity and credibility of this

study. First, the participants were explained about the purpose of the study and the methodology

to follow along the sessions, taking into account their rights and maintaining a respectful

treatment through the whole study.

On the other side, students were aware of the fact that the participation in the study was

optional and they could stop being part of it at any time but also considering they were under the

Students’ DECLARATIVE STATEMENTS AND ANALOGIES (Questionnaires &

drawings)

Researcher’s observation (Field notes)

Theoretical sources/other studies


age of eighteen, consent forms were summited with explanation of the intention of the research

and the responsibility in the preservation of students´ anonymity in order to be signed by fourth

graders´ parents authorizing their children participation in the research. (See consent form in

Annex 1)

Secondly, in order to approach reliability this study provides detailed description of

setting, participants, methodology, methods and process of the research. Moreover, the evidence

interpreted was gathered by excerpts from the data, guaranteeing students’ voices were the main

unit data to support the findings of the research.

Finally, methodological triangulation of the multiple data collection methods as

illustrated in graphic 1, give account of the validity and credibility of the research, in which

participants’ questionnaires were used as introspective data supported by the other sources.


CHAPTER IV

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

This pedagogical intervention was carried out by the teacher researcher with students

from the afternoon shift in a public school located in the Northwest of Bogotá. During the

pedagogical intervention the teacher researcher was acting as participant-observer, teaching and

observing simultaneously while getting to know the participants through the activities proposed

for each lesson, but also recording the observations made in the field notes at the end of each

session to review the most relevant insights and aspects to work on previous sessions but also to

keep record of students process toward the phenomenon in study. The participants in this

intervention were twenty two students whose ages ranged from nine to eleven, who showed

management of basic vocabulary and grammar in English and a low level on their reading

development. Based on the difficulties presented and the interest expressed by students to work

on their reading skills the following pedagogical intervention was designed.

The pedagogical intervention: Using short stories within an inquiry based approach

Taking into account that the phenomenon of this research has to do with students’

conscientization about the relation between their social realities and the knowledge learnt at

school, a selection of short stories was chosen to study this phenomenon through the responses

students gave to them, but also as part of the pedagogical innovation.

These authentic stories such as: “The good Samaritan, The Sower, The Pipeline among

others” (See graphic 3) served as an effective tool to start working on students´ reading process


in English based on the fact that students expressed not having read any text in the foreign

language before. As some of the stories were known by most of students they helped them to feel

familiarized with the language and understand the main ideas of the stories, suiting students’

English proficiency and making the reading process more enjoyable.

Based on learners’ needs these stories were also picked because of their simplicity to read

and the variety of situations in which students were analyzing, interpreting and answering

questions that were stated to get students’ meaning negotiation. Collie & Slater (2002) stated that

the criteria of suitability to make a decision on the selection of texts depend on each particular

group of students, their needs, interests, cultural background and language level, giving a

particular relevance therefore in the relation of these texts to the life experiences, emotions, or

dreams of the learner. For instance, short stories in this study had an important role because

children were able to relate them with their cultural background in which they have had contact

with the stories in different places. These include church, home and religious classes which

allowed them to bring their knowledge gained through these experiences actively and in response

to them.

In addition, the short stories worked with students during the sessions are characterized

by meaningful teachings that lead students to become aware and reflect on their social role in the

society, creating a positive environment in the promotion of dialogue among students and

teacher, considering dialogue as the base for students’ consciousness and enhancement of their

ideas, opinions and thoughts.

Now, considering that short stories were the main tool to work with students in order to

portray their responses towards the social value of solidarity; the need of putting into practice an


approach that suited the purpose of promoting dialogue, reflection and bring students’

knowledge into class came up. For this reason, I decided to implement in this pedagogical

intervention the inquiry based approach taking into account the following important aspects.

First, inquiry based approach is explained as the process of inquiry that solves questions,

curiosities and doubts about complex phenomenon of life (Barell, 2007). Thus, involving

learners in a process of inquiry leads them to the reflect and gain a better understanding of their

realities, considering different perspectives and solutions to the problems and situations they

have to cope in their daily life.

Second, inquiry based approach is significant to be implemented in EFL when dealing

with literary selections. Gellis (2002) points out that it has been designed for students with

limited expertise in literary criticism. As mentioned above, students had not had experience on

reading in English before, so this approach was appropriate to motivate learners to start this

process and help them to relate the content of the class to their real lives. Hence, inquiry based

approach not only set the frame for this pedagogical intervention but also it consequently

addresses students to improve their critical skills when inferring information, contrasting and

comparing with previous knowledge students have gained through their lives.

In this way, problem situations and questions were established from the stories read

through different activities in class like questionnaires, posters, drawings and discussions to be

analyzed by students, stimulating reflection and interaction between the participants in order to

engage them in their process of conscientization, constructing and reconstructing new

perspectives of the world.


Consequently, I found Inquiry based approach meaningful for this intervention because it

enriches students’ intellectual and personal process. Barell (2007) reports some of the

researched-based reasons to include inquiry based approach in which it is portrayed that it

develops critical thinking skills that lead students to deeper understanding of the information and

generates cooperative learning when motivating students to think and make choices with peers,

affecting assertively students’ accomplishment.

Maintaining the purpose of guiding students to become aware of their own knowledge to

be an active participant of the social transformation through the reconstruction of their notions

about the social value of solidarity, the implementation of inquiry based approach seeks to help

students to find those new insights when inquiring about different problems and question about

their own perspectives, bringing them up through the responses, the relations and interpretations

they make on what they read on the text and what they live and think.

Objective:

To encourage students to read short stories in English in order to reflect on

them and give meaning to their real life experiences.

Specific objectives:

To promote students’ reflection and expression of their ideas, thoughts and

opinions through the responses given to problems and questions based on short stories.

To lead students in the use of reading strategies to infer and identify the

main ideas and characters of a short story in English.


The following graphic illustrates the main concepts taken into account along the

pedagogical intervention:

Graphic2. Pedagogical intervention

Theory of learning

Learners are involved in their own process of learning when they have the opportunity to

explore, analyze and solve different problems in which they not only learn new constructs but

they activate their cognitive skills to apply the knowledge to solve their inquiries. Elementary

scholars are usually given the questions and the solutions to facilitate the learning process for

them; however it causes a negative effect when they are exposed to different situations in which

they have to apply what they have learnt. Thus I consider that inquiry based learning is not only

appropriate but also effective way to meaningfully learn a foreign language because students

Language as mean of interaction to create

relationships and construct

new knowledge.

Inquiry BasedLearning

Human vocation is to take action which

changes the world for improvement of life

condition.


learn the content, language form and function, develop the four basic skills: reading, speaking,

listening and writing moreover their cognitive and critical skills.

Morales and Landa (2004) remark inquiry-based learning stimulates learning when

students face the cognitive conflict of each situation, so knowledge is constructed by evaluating

the different individual interpretations about the same phenomenon. Thus, in this process student

has a principal role more than the teacher, because they are the source of their own knowledge.

One of the characteristics of inquiry-based learning is “that it serves as a strategy in which

students acquire interpersonal abilities, attitudes and values, knowledge, critical thinking, and

formative evaluation” Estella and Esther (2009).

Theory of teaching

For the development of this pedagogical intervention I consider that the role of the

teacher goes beyond of standing in front of students to teach some topics or give instructions

considering learners as empty recipients who need to be filled by teachers. On the contrary, in

this study students have a crucial role in their own learning process in which their ideas, their

own constructs and their perspectives are the base of the construction of the knowledge, in this

way, they learn from us as teachers but we also learn from them as students.

As a consequence of traditional practices that poses student – teacher role as depositories

and depositor teaching has had the connotation of being a memorization process (Freire, 1972).

Against this traditional idea CP appears as an alternative type of education that conceives

education as a tool to empower individuals in terms of democracy and more fair society.

According to the founder of the critical pedagogy Paulo Freire cited by Wachob (2009) he starts


with “the assumption that the human vocation is to take action which changes the world for

improvement of life condition” (p. 10). This conception of critical pedagogy fit this study and the

pedagogical intervention because the purpose of the lessons presented here go beyond of the

merely linguistic outcomes but they are designed to hear students’ outcomes towards different

situations and the relation they found of these situations inside the short analogies with their own

realities.

Based on CP the role of teacher is to be transformative intellectuals that are required to be

social – politically conscious and strive not only for educational advancement but also for

personal transformation (Kumaravadivel in Wachob 2009). In this respect I as teacher wanted to

be a stimulator of the creation of problems, inquiries and doubts that students could analyze and

evaluate to give possible solutions and interpretations of them. According to Giroux in Wachob

(2009) “Empowering students to become critical and active citizens rests on teachers who have

the potential to combine scholarly reflection and practice in the service of educating students to

be thoughtful, active citizens”. Students in this process of critical thinking development are

conceived as active citizens who has certain roles and rights but also citizens of values in the

society, values that are transmitted in the school, however what I have had the opportunity to

observe during this pedagogical experience is that students have not had the opportunity to

evaluate how these values take place in their real context. In this case, short analogies were a tool

to show students certain principles carried out in different situations stimulate students’

connection of these ideas with in their own context.


Theory of language

Based on CP language learning is conceived not just as a simple matter of input and

output, dividing the individual human being attempting to learn a foreign or second language, it

is embedded in the personal as well as the social and political milieu (Wachob, 2009). He argues

that students do not only receive certain structural input in the foreign language in order to get

certain output, but language is the mean to interact and create student- teacher and student-

student relationship in order to construct their own knowledge. In this study, the participants

were developing activities that helped them to develop the entire set of skills: reading listening,

speaking, writing, but more than that, students were engaged in activities that allowed them to

participate, discuss and express their ideas in the classroom though the activities planned for

each lesson.

Methodology

With the purpose of encouraging students to read short stories in English and reflect on

them, the methodology of this pedagogical intervention was divided into four main steps that

were carried out during its development.

The first step was the literal reading of the short stories chosen for each session. In order

to do so, students were introduced to the stories with new vocabulary in English and a variety of

visual materials such as cartoons, videos, posters and pictures that helped them to follow and

identify the principal events of the stories and their characters.

The second step of the methodology was to compare information within the short stories

in which students were asked simple questions like what, who and when some facts and


characters took place in the stories. These comparisons were helpful to clarify students’ ideas on

the short stories and check their understanding of them.

The third step was led through discussions on the contrast of the main ideas of the stories

and students’ experiences and context. In this part, students were able to share their ideas and

thoughts about the way they related the stories to their life. How questions were used here in

order to stimulate students’ reasoning and portray the progress on students’ thinking skills to

process more complex ideas and empower them to relate them to a real context.

Finally, the last step has to do with students’ production of conclusions. Here, students

were given problematic situations related to their real contexts to think about possible solutions

and conclusions about the way they can apply the knowledge gained from the short stories to real

situations. These conclusions were expressed orally and written through the questionnaires

developed and dialogues held in class, which were recorded by teachers’ field notes.

In the chart below it is shown the time spent during the development of the pedagogical

intervention which was three months approx. There was one session per week of ninety minutes,

however, some of the classes were affected because of the holidays and different events that

were taking place at school in which students had to take part of. For this reason, each session

was focused on a short story and the development of the activities planned towards it as it is

illustrated in the lesson plans (See in Annex 2).

In addition, in order to keep record of students’ reading process and gather the data

needed for this study, two main questionnaires were conducted, at the beginning and the end of

the intervention as it can be found in the annexes as well. (See Annex 4)


PLANNING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PEDAGOGICAL INTERVENTION

Date Lessons

Sept 6 Helping Others (Questionnaire)

Sept 20 Jewish VS Samaritans

October 4 Chinese Farmer

October 25 The Sower

Nov 8 Treating Others

Nov 22 The Pipeline (Questionnaire)

Graphic3. Topics & Short Stories

Description of Materials:

The materials used for this pedagogical intervention were diverse and visual; taking into

account students’ proficiency all the activities were thought in order to call the attention of the

students to stimulate reflection and discussion. I used videos, colorful images, posters, cartoons,

and power point presentations to present the short stories to students, in order to engage students

in their reading process; we read together and individually. These short stories appeared as the

main material to work on with students and was relevant in students reading process since it

provided new vocabulary in English, that serve to explain not only the social aspect but also

some functions of the language such adjectives and WH questions.

Based on the inquiry approach students develop two questionnaires with open- ended and

close-ended questions that were related to the stories but also the statement of problematic


situations. They also used materials like paintings, coloring paper, color crayons, markers to

create collages and creative works to carry out the different activities guided by the teacher and

orally express the production step of the methodology.

Criteria for evaluation:

Students were evaluated taking into account their reading, writing and speaking process,

their disposition to learn, their attitude towards the development of the activities proposed, their

curiosity, and their interest. For the criteria it was also important the participation in class, all the

contributions of the students were taken into account.

Despite the fact that students’ production was mainly in their native language taking into

account their proficiency to orally express their ideas and thoughts which was the most relevant

production for this study. Students were able to read the short stories in English and understand

the main ideas of them and answer basic questions and develop simple exercises related to

English grammar, but also to put in use some vocabulary in use in short writing productions.

These productions were also evaluated and reflected the influence of inquiry based

approach and short stories used to work in the raising of awareness of social aspects but also the

function of the foreign language and increase students’ vocabulary.

Through this intervention students developed some reading comprehension activities and

also some assignments that were evaluated. These assignments and worksheets were valued

during students’ process.


CHAPTER V

DATA ANALYSIS

In this chapter the reader will be able to find the procedure that was followed step by step

in order to analyze the data collected through students’ questionnaires in which students’ written

statements towards solidarity as a social value appears as the main data unit, the field notes taken

during the sessions and finally the theoretical sources and other studies that shed the light on the

understanding of students’ process of conscientization to the social value of solidarity.

Additionally, it will show the process through which the categories emerged from the data and it

will give account of the phenomenon that this study attempted to explore.

On the first hand, students’ questionnaires were taken as the first and the main instrument

that gives account of students’ opinions, ideas and life experiences in an individual way. For

instance, they provided the most relevant data that led to the answer of the research question.

Then, the field notes showed students’ statements that supported their ideas on the questionnaires

as a collective way to gather the information they felt more open to express orally and

collectively. Finally, theoretical sources were used with the purpose of supporting the findings

that came up in the first-order data and the field notes.

In order to start the data analysis, I decided to follow the process of organization and

coding of the data based on the Grounded Theory by Corbin and Strauss (2002) that is described

as the analytical process in which the data is broken down, integrated and conceptualized to

create new theory. For that purpose I used a four entrance data management chart in which I

organized the data according to the instruments and the theory that was related to the research

phenomenon. (See annex 3: Data Management chart)


The first step in this process was to identify the relevant statements that were given

account of the social value of solidarity in which students expressed their ideas and experiences

to it. Thus, I initially went through the data by participant and then instrument as a method of

validation, in which I did detailed reading of the raw data multiple times, looking for the

commonalities that would allow me to establish themes vertically and horizontally.

Some of the common expressions by the students’ statements towards the social value of

solidarity were: respetar, amigos, ayudar, personas, necesidad, todos y todas. These

commonalities started to set a path to establish the themes and make sense of the relation they

had.

The life experiences established by students were situated in the common context of

school and the community in which they expressed some conflicts such as: poverty, fights at

school, robbery, people in vulnerability and physical and verbal mistreatment.

Once these ideas were identified I proceeded to group the ideas that had commonalities

into themes. Then I assigned names to these themes in order to find a connection between them.

After this step, I had to go over again into the process of reading the data, analyzing multiple

times and contrasting these repeating ideas with the theoretical sources to make sense of them

The following step of this process was to group the themes found in the data into patterns

that came up as more abstract ideas between students’ considerations and experiences towards

the social value of solidarity that were supported by the field notes taken during this process.

Some examples of these are: Recognition of the other and myself, solidarity as a response to

needs and people in vulnerable conditions, solidarity as a value of unity, friendship and respect,


cooperation between my friends and classmates situations presented at school and community,

situations about others in vulnerable conditions.

As I kept reading and analyzing the patterns found in the data and at the same time

confronting them with the theoretical sources to make sense of this information gathered and the

way the data talked about the phenomenon presented; the last step of this process was setting up

these patterns into two main categories which are: Solidarity as an approach to the other’s

vulnerability and Solidarity as builder of Friendship and Respect value that give account of the

process of students’ consciousness as posted in the research question: How fourth graders’

consciousness to the social value of solidarity is portrayed in their responses to stories?. These

categories emerged from the connection between the data, the theoretical sources and the

interpretations made of them.

Graphic 4. Emerging categories

Categories

Research Question:

How is fourth graders’ consciousness to the social value of solidarity portrayed in their

responses to short stories?

Solidarity as builder of Friendship and Respect value

Solidarity as an approach to the other’s vulnerability


SOLIDARITY AS AN APPROACH TO THE OTHER´S VULNERABILITY

This name was given based on students (re)construction of the social value of solidarity

that has to do with the recognition of the other but also the relation between the other and

themselves when there is a need or a situation of vulnerability. Regarding to this Wojtyla (cited

in Boswell, 2011) states that “when one adopts an attitude of solidarity, one interacts with an

"acute sense" of understanding the needs of the other” (p.89). This implies sensitivity in relation

to the self and the other in which students are able to see themselves through the other and

understand the other’s needs and vulnerability.

In order to explore the first category I will show students excerpts, field notes and the

analysis of each of them supported by the theoretical sources.

(Participant 13, September 6th, 2012)

In this first excerpt the participant´s response to the question “Why should we be in

solidarity with people?” shows the recognition of the other as someone who needs help because

of a vulnerable condition the person is, however in this response there is no discrimination

towards the direct relationship to the other. There is also a denotation about the people who we

should be in solidarity with, in this sense when it is said that people need help so they can feel

better about their condition; it shows that people need from each other; we need to understand

their situation of vulnerability and stand by to support and share.


This recognition of the other leads them to relate this concept of solidarity as the

understanding of people´s feelings when they are in a vulnerable situation. Freire (cited in

Boswell, 2011) states that "when one sheds pious, paternalistic, and sentimental actions, one can

move one step closer to solidarity, a state in which one "risks an act of love" (p. 35). That is to

say that solidarity as a social value bring us together in sentimental actions that allow us to step

on the other´s shoes to understand how they feel and give support.


In this second excerpt, it is evidenced a sensitivity towards the social concept of solidarity

in which it is directly related to the action of supporting and understanding of the other´s

vulnerability. This sensitivity is reflected as an attitude that people adopt when interacting with

the understanding of the needs of the other. This attitude of sensitivity towards the needs people

have when they suffer situations that have affected their human conditions is the first step into

the approach of the other.

It also shows the way students become more aware of the other and the needs and

vulnerable situations that someone can face in different sets.

The sensitivity expressed in this statement is also at the core of the process of

conscientization, where students become more aware of their surroundings and the other through


the ideas that attempt to give a reason and make sense of the knowledge they have already

acquired by their social context. In this way students reconstruct their knowledge when

questioning what they have learned and realize of this new ideas, what Freire (1970)

acknowledge as a subjective feeling of new insight that enclose the notion of conscientization.


In this third statement it is exemplified the way students are approached to the other

through the social value of solidarity when the participant clamored for the status of equity when

using the words “somos iguales y somos hermanos”, which breaks down the social and economic

barriers established by society. Equity is a concept relevant in the thinking of the transformation

of an education that calls for social justice that seeks the liberation and empowerment of people

who has been oppressed.

According to Rorty (1989) a sense of solidarity is created when humans share suffering

experiences that lead to the realization of that people who are totally different can be “us” and

not and impersonal “they”. Notice that the use of the words “todos” y “somos” is an important

aspect from a critical perspective since students start recognizing themselves through the other;

beyond the understanding of the other´s needs, they understand that they also need from the other

and their needs could be theirs.


Now that we took a look at students’ statements towards the social value of solidarity,

students were encouraged to express their experiences towards the conceptions about solidarity

and the story developed in the lesson. I consider this step key in the process of enhancing

students´ consciousness based on a critical perspective taking into account that “critical

pedagogy encourages us to find the magic of personal discovery based on our own personal

experiences” (Wink, 2000, p. 26). In that sense students wrote about their experiences similar to

the situation showed in the story “the good Samaritan” to gain a better understanding of the way

social values are represented in their own context.


In this excerpt taken illustrates the way students make analogies based on their

experiences and context in which a social problematic is shown related to the insecurity in their


community and the way they see these actions as a lack of solidarity. This analogy also shows

the realization about the other´s vulnerability in situations in which their rights and conditions

have been violated.

When students have the opportunity to compare and make analogies between what they

read and what they live the literacy process becomes critical and helps them to make sense of the

word and the world (Wink, 2000). Moreover, when students are involved in this process of

reflection they are able to see and understand the world in different perspectives, whereas they

are within the situations they make the relations of or they are spectators of them.


This analogy made by one of the participants is a reflection of another situation students

related in their own context similar to the situation analyzed in the story of the “Good

Samaritan”. In this situation they recognize homeless people they see on the streets as people

who are in vulnerable conditions and in need of help. This exercise of making analogies based on

the text analyzed helps students to understand that “true learning occurs only when the


information received is analyzed by the light of one´s own experiences and emotions” (Ada cited

by Umbarilia 2010, p. 63).

These analogies also helped students to become more aware of the indifference people

have towards the other and the way this indifference can affect them. This sensitivity helps

students to approach to the other´s vulnerability and the generation of relationships between

people who are not close to them as Torton (cited in Boswell, 2011) points out that solidarity

involves fostering "relationships with strangers and power brokers” (p.35).


In the understanding of the social value of solidarity as the approach to the other, the

participant in this excerpt identifies two different people in this scenario. The first one is the

person who is committed in the act of solidary to the other who is in a vulnerable condition.

Notice that some people in the communities are considered closer to get involved in acts of


solidarity such as police officers, firemen, doctors, teachers to name a few. This conception is

born in the idea that people in these careers have the virtue to help others by the nature of their

professions.

In this perspective the value of solidarity appears as a virtue that characterizes certain

people, as Bilgrien (cited in Boswell 2011) states “virtuous actions make virtuous people” (p.88).

However, Bilgrien discusses that if these actions are cultivated as habits that all people adopt,

another way of being is built up; that led us to the idea of generating an individual nature based

on solidary actions which is the first step for the transformation of the society. Raising the

consciousness about our individual role in society though the recognition of ourselves in relation

to the other joined by solidary actions can led us to the path of a social justice transformation.

Continuing with the exploration of students´ ideas and analogies made based on the text

“the Good Samaritan”, a dialogue with the group was led in order to share some of their thoughts

and discuss them with the rest of the students. The generation of dialogue is relevant in the

process of students´ consciousness as communication that creates and recreates multiples

understandings (Wink, 2010). It allows students to share their knowledge but at the same time to

listen and understand other perspectives and thoughts.

The following excerpts were identified in the field notes taken during the lesson as

illustrations of some of the responses that students expressed in the dialogue about the text

worked in class in which some of them felt more open than others to speak aloud about their

ideas.


(Field notes, September 6th, 2012)

Through the socialization of students’ conceptions about solidarity in the classroom,

students become more aware of the knowledge they have gained through their lives but also it

allows them to reconstruct their perspectives when listening to the other. The responses in this

excerpt exemplifies the way students reconstruct their meaning of solidarity by “ayudar a los

demás” (helping the other) but also the way they go beyond about the idea of the other by saying

“los que necesitan de nosotros” (the ones who need of us). This relationship created about the

other and the self is defined by Umbirilia (2010) as the need of the other to support our existence

and the other´s requirement of the self to make sense.

This point is relevant because when students go to school they come with knowledge they

are not fully aware and when they socialize with their classmates and peers, students find out

other perspectives and start shaping their ways to perceive, interact and participate in society

(Hernandez et al., 2009). This process is also known according to CP such conscientization and

it attempts not only to build communicative exchanges but a dialogue through the members of a

community.



Following this path of reconstructing the ideas about solidarity and what this conception

entails, students were questioned about the people they are supposed to help. One of their

common responses were “a todos” (everyone), this response contrast with the other ones, entails

an inclusion and discrimination breaker between the relationship students establish with the

other.

The recognition of the other as an equal lead us to understand that no matter our

differences or similarities, our distances or closeness when there is a need or a person in a

vulnerable condition we should be open to offer support and help. According to Pope John Paul

II cited by the United Nations in a brochure about International Human Solidarity Day, “we are

called to recognize the basic solidarity of the human family as the fundamental condition of our

life together on this earth.” 3

3 Brochure retrieved from: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/social/documents/IHSD_PAMPHLET.pdf



After socializing some ideas about solidarity I decided to ask some questions about the

text and the situation presented in the story in which students were able to make some moral

judgements about the characters who did not help the Samaritan, who were conceive as bad

people “ellos no fueron buenas personas porque no ayudaron al señor que fue atracado”. This

moral development conceived as the education process that stimulates the act of thinking about

moral situations (Hernandez et al., 2009) takes place as well in the process of students’

conscientization when they are able to make their own moral judgements based on their own

social background.

Moreover when students relate and contrast that situation with the ones presented at

school as when somebody falls down or the fights where there is not response of help or

consideration by the other, they develop their moral judgment about the way they act and reflect

upon those actions. These reflections that are based on the rights, duties and justice (Candee

cited by Hernandez et al,.2009) let students to become aware of their role and responsibility in

the social justice transformation of their own context.


SOLIDARITY AS BUILDER OF FRIENDSHIP AND RESPECT VALUES

Regarding to this second category the name given has connotation based on students’

responses about the concept of solidarity and the analogies made in which they had a tendency to

relate these concept to their relationship with friends and situations where they took place as

well.

Anne Carr (cited by Boswell, 2011) states that solidarity is reflected as a spirituality of

friendship, interdepence and community. In this respect students express their consciousness

towards the social value of solidarity as a way to strengthen their relationships with friends

showing a sense of respect, consideration and support. This sense of respect is associated to

solidarity by Boswell’s student as an understanding of common humanity and respect for

differences among others which are reflected by students as the base of their friendship

relationships but also as the environment required in the development of dialogue and

socialization between one another. The sensitivity enhanced in students’ responses, analogies

and notes taken led us to understand how they reconstruct their meaning of solidarity based on

the direct relationships they have established at school as the second place of socialization and

interaction with the other.



This excerpt is an example of students’ responses to the question about why we should be

in solidarity with others in which the participant relates the social value of solidarity as a social

duty of caring about each other in the first clause of the sentence. This conception about

solidarity as duty when using the word “debemos” let us to understand how students express the

moral obligation towards the other and the way they commit to them by caring of each other.

Now, in the second clause the student added another commitment towards the other that

is related to another social value which is respect our friends. This shows the relevance for

students to build up relationships based on the virtue of respect to achieve a sense of solidarity.

Moreover this statement shows the discrimination towards the other when referring to their

friends as the ones who you should be respectful to in order to accomplish this sense of

solidarity, Healy (2011) states that “friendship demands that some are excluded from the

relationship and it cannot include everyone” (p.232).


Regarding to the ideas written by students towards the social value of solidarity, this

second excerpt comes up to show the way students consider that helping others as solidary action

led them to build friendship relations with them. Thus, we can see a variable in the awareness of

this sense of solidarity as a builder of friendship and respect values between the first statement

and this one; considering that in the first excerpt the participant believes that respecting our


friends is the base of the social value of solidarity whereas the second one is on the contrary the

belief of the being in solidarity with other is the base for construction of friendship relationships.

However, no matter one way or the other both opinions demonstrate the relevance of the

social value of friendship and respect for students in the reconstruction of solidarity and the way

they associate these conceptions. Additionally, the association of solidarity with the value of

friendship establishes a feeling of closeness to the other united by the actions of solidary

commonly identified for students as helping others.


The statement above is another illustration of students’ association of the term of

solidarity with the social value of friendship and respect when expressing their ideas about the

reasons why we should be in solidarity with others. Similarly to the response shown in the

excerpt before, the participant 14 affirms that solidarity is the base when building friendship

relationships but also that it helps to foster respect in these relationships and decrease the

tensions presented such as arguments and fights.

Mendez and Garcia (2012) report in their study about the exploration of students’ power

and solidarity relations in the EFL classroom that: “when there is solidarity, learners establish

more equity among themselves and this permits them to achieve working relationships” (p.181).

For instance, the relation established between friendship, respect and solidarity may appear as an


expression of students’ need of improving the relations between them and fostering a more

respectful environment in the classroom.


This excerpt is another illustration of students’ experiences written in the questionnaires

where they made the analogies of the story “Good Samaritan” with situations from their context.

Here, the student describes the scenario of one situation when she was hurt and the help she got

came from her friends. This situation described supports the relation students find between

solidarity and friendship as the action of helping others that strengthen their relationships of

friendship.

From this perspective one can say that solidary actions are the chains that help students to

connect to the other but also it generates a sense of partnership between them. Sequeiros (cited

by Mendez and Garcia, 2012) encountered that closeness with the others is entailed by students’


consideration of solidarity as a romantic and sporadic value. In this study, students expressed this

notion of solidarity towards the other when helping their classmates in the development of the

activities in the class; even though, this demonstration was not always maintained in the

classroom.


The experiences expressed by students in the questionnaires report the analogies they

made after reading and sharing their ideas with their classmates about the text. Provided that, the

analogy made for this participant shows the connection he found with the conflict presented in

the story when the Samaritan was beaten by the robbers with a situation occurred with one of his

classmates. The analogies students made between the text and their life experiences allow

students to reflect about the knowledge and the way this knowledge is represented in the society

they are part of.


As a result of these reflections students encounter conflicts and problems they see in their

school as a way to understand the application of the social values they have already acquired in

their social context. According to Scholz (cited in Boswell, 2011) a sense of solidarity can only

be conceived when there are “real people, real problems, and real relationships."(p.34)


Similarly to the analogy made by participant 1, it is exemplified in this excerpt the

articulation expressed by participant 2 towards the conflicts they deal with at school and the

conflict pictured in the story. This may have a connotation in the call to foster solidarity as the

path to the achievement of better relationships between students that helps them cope with the

conflicts presented in their context.


In this perspective, the promotion of students’ awareness towards the social value of

solidarity though the analogies made by the participants comes up as a key for us as teachers as

well to the understand students’ problems, context and needs. Wink (2000) agree with this

perspective when stating that conscientization empower students and teacher to have confidence

in their own knowledge, abilities and experiences.


As it was mentioned before, field notes were filled out with the purpose of reporting

students’ did and said in the discussions that took place during the lessons. Bearing that in mind

students’ were encouraged to speak aloud about their ideas and thoughts about the different

topics. This excerpt shows students considerations’ about the people they should help and some

of the common answers were “a mis amigos, a mi familia”. In this respect, we may consider that

students get involved in the process of conscientization when they are able to give account of the

considerations they have gained by their experiences and social interaction.

Students’ considerations towards the social value of solidarity take part of the moral

development they have also gained in their social backgrounds, starting from the interaction at

home and secondly with friends at school. According to this Leahy (cited by Hernandez et al.

2009) “children would be best understood through a differentiation between two types of

relationships: with parents and with friends” (p.19). Thus, this can help us to understand one


probable reason of students’ tendency to make this kind of associations when developing their

moral judgements and beliefs toward the social value of solidarity.


In these field notes we can observe a different way to perceive students’ representation of

the social value of solidarity in the classroom. This excerpt particularly shows the materialization

of the conceptions they students and teacher had discussed and worked during the lessons though

the establishment of relationships of solidarity with their peers in the development of the posters

in class. In this connection the study carried out by Mendez and Garcia (2012) reports the

characteristics in students’ relations of power and solidarity in which they found that learners

show solidarity to the others when participating in different activities with the purpose of

obtaining a benefit for the group.

The dynamic of students’ relations when working together led us to understand the way

solidary actions take place in the classroom and the effects that this has in the reconstruction of

their beliefs toward social values like solidarity, friendship and respect. Solidarity when students

find the way to help their classmates, friendship when they see these actions as beneficial for

themselves and the other and respect when their attitude towards the other is positive, reciprocal

and with sense of equality.



Finally it is relevant to highlight at this point and make emphasis on the dialogue in

which students were engaged when they listened and heard by the teacher and their peers. Based

on a critical perspective Freire and Shor (1987) claim that dialogue raises the awareness about

the social relations and recreates the knowledge as the way we learn. In this last excerpt students

whispering illustrates students’ resistance to say something they are not sure to be correct about

and the contrast between the responses given by some and the others which led them to have a

moment of silence to think about the questions made.

This silence presented during the discussion does not mean the dialogue was broken

down because students did not have anything more to say but it actually confirms what Freire

and Shor (1987) discussed in their article about the Dialogical Method of Teaching with respect

to the dialogical education in which all students are not required to speak when they do not have

anything to say but one has the right to stay in silence. Furthermore, the immersion of leaners in

the socialization of their perceptions permits them to start constructing new versions of reality

without dropping their previous moral development (Hernandez et al. 2009).

To summarize, the procedure followed in this study to analyze the data collected through

students’ questionnaires, field notes and theoretical sources that supported this research helped


me to understand students’ process of conscientization towards the social value of solidarity as

posted in the research question: How fourth graders’ consciousness to the social value of

solidarity is portrayed in their responses to stories?. This analysis also led me to establish the

two categories: Solidarity as an approach to the other’s vulnerability and Solidarity as builder of

Friendship and Respect value in order give account of students’ responses to short stories and

the way their (re)constructions of the concept of solidarity were portrayed.


CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSIONS

In this chapter, the reader will find the conclusions after the completion of this research

study, in relation to the research question and the research objectives presented at the beginning.

Bearing in mind the research question that was stated at the beginning of this study about:

how are fourth graders’ consciousness to the social value of solidarity portrayed in their

responses to short stories? The findings of the data analysis lead us to understand that students’

consciousness to the social value of solidarity is portrayed in their to the responses to short

stories by their notions about solidarity and the way they relate this value to their social contexts.

The objective with this study was to explore the phenomenon of students’ consciousness

towards the social value of solidarity, describe and interpret their responses to stories towards it.

To achieve this goal, the research question of this study was formulated in order to guide me in

the understanding of the way students (re)construct the concept of solidarity as a social value that

helps them to approach the other’s vulnerability and as a builder of friendship and respect value.

After studying the participants’ statements, I found that students’ responses to stories

evidenced different conceptions towards the social value of solidarity which are initially

constructed in family as the center of the society. This knowledge that students have previously

acquired is highlighted and reconstructed at school through the dialogue and interaction between

their peers. Within the responses students revealed their consciousness towards the social value

of solidarity as the value that allows them to recognize themselves through the other, but also the

sensitivity they showed about stepping on the other’s shoes creating a sense of equity in which


they are aware that the other could be them, and the help that is given when somebody is in need

could be the help received in case they are the ones in need.

Moreover, students’ consciousness was related to the way they build their friendship

relations with the others in the base of solidary actions and a sense of respect to the difference of

opinion, socio economic conditions and the other’s rights that allow them to get close and deal

with the conflicts they face in their context.

In addition, students’ analogies made based on the stories worked in class was a key

aspect on the process of consciousness towards the social value of solidarity since students were

able to make connections to what they read and learned with their real context and life

experiences which helped them to gain confidence with the knowledge they have acquired

through their experiences and share with their peers. For this study, students’ analogies also gave

account of a reality that needs to be understood and transformed by the participants of the

society, when students related the stories to their lives and context they became more aware of

their role in their communities and the way they and the others act, and how those actions affect

or benefit one another. For instance, when individuals gain a better understanding of their

realities and their roles in them they are empowered to act upon those realities in order to

transform them.

As it was discussed, students are in a constant process of formation in which their

knowledge gained from their personal experiences and social backgrounds influence the way

they perceive their world and were enhanced through the dialogue with others with the purpose

of reflecting and reconstructing their ideas and conceptions towards the social value of solidarity.

I observed that these reflections towards solidarity as a social value had an impact in the way


students related to each other and worked during the different activities. They showed solidarity

when listening to each other and helping their peers to achieve in a proper way the activities to

develop in the sessions.


CHAPTER VII

IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Through this study, students were enhanced in their process of conscientization towards

the social value of solidarity by reading short stories and connecting this knowledge to their real

lives as a way to portray their ideas, opinions and experiences within the English classroom. In

this process they started becoming aware of the knowledge they have gained through their social

backgrounds and interaction at home and the importance of bringing up that knowledge into

reflection and dialogue with others to get confidence and have a better understanding of their

realities.

In addition, the reflection established with students towards the social value of solidarity

helped me to understand the way students perceived their world and how they are constantly

reconstructing their perceptions of it. This was particularly meaningful because I realized about

the importance of getting to know my students’ context, their problems, their ideas and

experiences in order to understand the way they think and act and the way I could get close to

them to take part of a social justice transformation that this study calls for.

Furthermore, students expressed their excitement about including short stories as a part of

their learning process of a foreign language, even though they found it at first difficult and

demanding. However, students’ positive attitude towards the class and activities was an

important aspect that helped them to successfully complete the tasks proposed and be immersed

in the dialogue and discussions that lead them to analyze, reflect, inquire and shared their notions

about the topics included in the stories and specially towards the social value of solidarity.


As a result of including short stories that were familiar to students the reading process

become easier to work on and let students to make sense of the foreign language and use of it,

although as this was not the main emphasis of the study it highlighted the importance of

including other content in the curriculum that allow teachers and students to work on social

aspects that help students to deal with the conflicts and problems they face every day and grow

intellectually and personally. For this reason, inquiry based learning was an approach useful to

work on students’ thinking skills and including the social aspect that was to address students’

conscientization towards the social value of solidarity.

This experience was especially significant as well since it opened my eyes and mind

about the teacher I wanted to be and the principles that I wanted to follow from now on. It

included me in the reflection about my reality and the society I am part of, my role in the

transformation of an education that seeks for the benefit and equity of all the stakeholders in the

field. In this process I found myself confused many times, and wondering about what to teach

and how to teach, how all the information I read about the phenomenon I was attempting to

explore made sense, connecting it with my own experience. Thus, I recognized myself through

my students by doing the same exercise they were doing: reflecting, analyzing inquiring and

reconstructing my notions through the lens of my experience, as stated by Wink (2000) we learn,

relearn and unlearn in the cycle of critical pedagogy.

For this reason, I consider that critical pedagogy sets the path for ELT field to go beyond

the skills achievements stablished to make students’ proficient in the foreign language but it

should also be focused on making students proficient to socially act and in their communities,

critically think on local problematics and culturally aware of the way we interact with each other

and the bonds that bring us together as a country.


Bearing this in mind, I consider that further researchers should take into consideration the

study of the reconstruction of some of the education principles that have been passing on during

the last decades and the promotion of values in the different settings, including the last social

events that we have been facing in our country and empower students to reflect on them.


CHAPTER VIII

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The limitations faced while carrying out this study were principally the lack of time,

resources and students’ absences. First, time was an important aspect that affected the process

since only two hours per week were assigned for the pedagogical intervention and some days

students had special celebrations or activities that took away the time to work with them. Due to

this, it was not possible to gathered more information that complemented the artifacts made by

students like interviews of or video recordings that could give us wider data for the research.

Regarding resources, it was difficult to have access to the devices that belonged to the

school, since when they were reserved in advance they were not available for the dates required

and so it was hard to show to students’ videos or presentations of the short stories worked in

class. Although, technological devices are useful and attract students’ attention which would

have helped them in the starting process of reading, the material designed for the class worked in

a successful way.

Students’ absences was another factor that influenced the process that students’ were

taking part of since in most of the sessions, more than three students were not present in class

and so when a discussion related to the topic worked in the class before was carrying out these

students were confused and decrease their participation.

Finally, another limitation presented was related to the syllabus established by the school

that made a little complicated to suit the objectives of the study and the pedagogical intervention,

for this reason, some of the time was dedicated to work specifically on the grammar set up in the

syllabus.


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ANEXXES

1. Consent Form

Bogotá, noviembre 14 de 2012

Señor Padre de Familia,

Reciba un cordial saludo de parte del profesor- practicante Maira Stefanía Gómez de la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas quien está desarrollando un proyecto de investigación llamado “Realzando de la conciencia de los estudiantes hacia la solidaridad como valor social ” que busca explorar y desarrollar la conciencia social hacia el valor de la solidaridad, con los estudiantes del grado 402 en el colegio José Asunción Silva, los cuales serán participantes activos del proyecto y de quiénes se recogerá información valiosa para el mismo.

Por lo tanto es importante que autorice la participación de su hijo(a) en el proyecto y de usar su información como prueba fehaciente de lo que se está trabajando con ellos. En este caso se recolectará información de las clases en video, trabajos y escritos de las opiniones de los estudiantes participantes. La información de los participantes será plenamente confidencial.

La participación en este proyecto es voluntaria y no habrá penas por no participar y tampoco pérdidas de clases o trabajos extra clase. Todos los estudiantes cuyos padres hayan autorizado, podrán ser parte del proyecto. Sin embrago, los participantes serán libres de abandonar el proyecto en el momento que los consideren necesario.

Yo_______________________________ acudiente del estudiante__________________________ del grado__________ del colegio________________________ jornada___________ le autorizo a participar en el proyecto de investigación para que se recojan los datos de información necesarios.

Firma Acudiente

______________________________


2. Lesson Plans

HELPING OTHERS

Objectives: Students will read and listen to the short story of “The Good Samaritan”.

They will identify the main ideas and discuss the principles inside the short story

Date: 6th/September/12 Course: Fourth Grade Lesson Length: 90 min

Procedure Materials and Resources

1. The teacher is going to write the title on the board

“HELPING OTHERS” in order to ask students

some questions about what people need our help,

when and why they need us, to start discussing

some ideas.

2. The teacher and students will read the short story of

“The Good Samaritan”, underlining the principal

characters and sharing the principal ideas paragraph

by paragraph.

3. Students are going to follow a road who carry them

to find out the answer to the question “Who is my

neighbor”

4. Finally students will answer certain questions about

the relation they find with the story and situations of

the real life. They will write and draw situations

they have seen in their real contexts similar to the

Samaritan one.

Colorful Pictures

Worksheet

Pencil and colors


Teacher´s Role:

Teacher will be a guide for reading the short

stories, giving certain instructions for

students to follow and develop correctly all

the activities.

Teacher also is going to stimulate students´

wonderings and inquiries trough some

questions and the discussion of the answer

of those questions.

Students´ Role:

Students will be active participants in the

classroom; they will be sharing their ideas,

opinions and thoughts about the questions,

the situations presented in the short story.

They will analyze and interpret the story in

order to participate and make contrast with

their own realties.

JEWISH VS SAMARITANS

Objectives: Students will identify the main differences between two communities.

They will discuss about problematic situations and their solutions

Date: 20th/September/12 Course: Fourth Grade Lesson Length: 90 min


1. The teacher will explain the historical background

of the short story “The good Samaritan” and the

conflict presented between the two of them.

2. Teacher will ask students about the conflicts they

know still remain nowadays.

3. Students will think about the reasons for those

problematic situations they mentioned before.

4. Students will make a collage in which they have to

illustrate a conflict(s), write the explanation of what

they think could be the best solution for that

problematic situation. They must ask why, how and

when.

Colorful Pictures

Newspaper,

magazines, drawings

Pencil and colors


CHINESSE FARMER

Objectives: Student will write and read the short story “Chinese Farmer”. They will

describe the characters of the story.

Date: 4th/October/12 Course: Fourth Grade Lesson Length: 90 min


1. Students will write the short story of “The

Chinese Farmer” in their notebooks, and then

they will underline the words that they know.

2. Teacher and students will read the short story.

Teacher will ask some questions during the

reading.

3. Students will look at some posters located in

the classroom with some images about the

short story. They will organize the posters in

the right way according to the story.

4. Teacher will explain the historical

background of the short story.

5. Students will make a comparison between the

ideas in the Good Samaritan and the Chinese

Farmer. The cultural perspectives of both of

them

Colorful Pictures

Worksheet

Pencil and colors


THE PIPELINE

Objectives: Students will see a video about the short story of “The Pipeline”,

identify the main ideas and make a comparison between the characters of the story.

Date: 22nd/November/12 Course: Fourth Grade Lesson Length: 90 min


1. Teacher will show students a presentation with

some vocabulary related to the short story, Students

will listen and repeat the words and then they will

write the vocabulary in their notebooks.

2. Students will see the video about the short story of

“Pipeline”.

3. Students will make a comparison between the two

main characters of the story.

4. Students will define some terms taking into account

their own perspective and the perspective presented

in the short story.

5. Students will discuss some ideas about success,

dreams, and goals. They will develop a worksheet.

Video

Color Papers

Power point

Presentation


THE SOWER

Objectives: Students will read the short story of “The Sower”. They will identify

some processes of the natural environment.

Date: 25th/October/12 Course: Fourth Grade Lesson Length: 90 min


1. Students will see some images about the process of

sowing and harvesting.

2. Students will read the short story of “The Sower”,

they will identify the main aspects of the story and

illustrate through a drawing the process of sowing

and harvesting.

3. The teacher will show some pictures about the

problematic situation of the natural environment. In

a round table students will discuss their ideas about

this problematic.

4. Students will make origami figures to make

personal work about what they think is the reaction

to good natural civil actions.

A Plant

Video

Origami paper

Markers

Color and pencils.


TREATING OTHERS

Objectives: Students will read the short story of “Good Servant”. They will make a

performance about the short story.

Date: 8thd/November/12 Course: Fourth Grade Lesson Length: 90 min


1. Students will read the short story

2. of the “Good Servant”, they will share the main

ideas and then they will prepare by groups some

performances about the main aspects of the reading.

3. Teacher will state some situations in which students

have to write the way they would react in the case.

Student will analyze the situation and then share

their ideas with the class.

4. Students will make a comparison between the ideas

of three of the short stories seen in class. They will

remember and identify the main principles and

finally connect their ideas with their daily life.

5. In the last step they will play a match game about

the short stories and characters of the stories read in

class.

Colorful Pictures

Worksheet

Pencil and colors


3. Data Management Chart

DECLARATIVE

STATEMENTS IN

QUESTIONNAIRES

DECLARATIVE

STATEMENTS IN

QUESTIONNAIRES

FIELD

NOTES

PATTERNS THEORY

AND

STUDIES


4. Students’ productions

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