Running Head: FOSTERING LITERACY IN EFL LEARNERS 1 FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS THROUGH COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY Mónica Liliana Sánchez Alfonso Universidad Francisco José de Caldas School of Science and Education Master in Applied Linguistics to the Teaching of English Bogotá, Colombia 2017
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Running Head: FOSTERING LITERACY IN EFL LEARNERS 1
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS THROUGH
COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY
Mónica Liliana Sánchez Alfonso
Universidad Francisco José de Caldas
School of Science and Education
Master in Applied Linguistics to the Teaching of English
Bogotá, Colombia
2017
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
2
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN THE EFL LEARNERS THROUGH
COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY
Mónica Liliana Sánchez Alfonso
Thesis Director:
Carlos Rico Troncoso PhD.
A thesis submitted as a requirement to obtain the degree of
M.A. in Applied Linguistics to the Teaching of English
Universidad Francisco Jose de Caldas
School of Science and Education
Master in Applied Linguistics to the Teaching of English
Additionally, I carried out interviews and questionnaires to teachers and students, in order
to have more insights about my research concern. For instance, one of the EFL teachers described
the way L2 literacy practices were developed in the EFL classroom through a semi-structured
interview. The below excerpt of a teachers‟ interview, shows how literacy is language-centered
and linguistically structured, since the teacher considers that Spanish is not part of students‟
language learning process and their language abilities are underestimated, when literacy is taught
in the class. Additionally, the mandated assessment process of literacy relies on the demand that
writing and reading should be individually developed and follows standardized criteria to meet
the learning expectations.
dedica.
(Sujeto + verbo +
complemento).
Describe en forma
escrita actividades y
rutinas diarias
teniendo en cuenta
las partes básicas de
la oración. (Sujeto
+ verbo +
complemento)
Descripción de
rutinas utilizando el
conector but.
Narra en forma
escrita un evento
por medio de
oraciones sencillas
correctamente
estructuradas
utilizando los
conectores and &
then.
Descripción de un
evento actual
usando conectores
de secuencia and &
then.
Narra en forma
escrita una historia
corta empleando la
estructura básica de
la oración y algunos
conectores de
secuencia (first,
then & finally)
Descripción de una
historia corta con
conectores de
secuencia.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
18
In this sense, the literacy process lacks of possibilities for learners to associate language
learning to valuable socio-cultural elements of their school context, because they have to write
according to the established contents as it was described in the previous curricular grid.
Therefore, students‟ voice is not considered as a source to tap their expertise and knowledge of
both languages (English and Spanish) nor the social dimension of literacy learning to
acknowledge students‟ social life, which might bring renewed authenticity to literacy and
language use, promote ownership, agency and collaboration, as features that favor learner-
centered practices and enduring learning experiences. (See the example below).
M: What type of writing activities are developed in your classroom?
T: Well, children write sentences using the sentence structure; they have to understand that the sentence
structure has a subject, a verb and a complement.
M: Ok
T: And we are starting to use the connector “and”, so what they do, are descriptions by linking simple
phrases that have the structure I previously told you. Therefore, what they do are short descriptions about
themselves, their relatives, pets or friends.
M: ok, is there any other aspect students have to take into account while writing?
T: To complete the paragraph, they have to bear in mind the information they wrote in the pre-writing.
Because they are so young learners, and they are barely starting to write short paragraphs, it is better to give
them the topic because they start to digress and talk about many things. Therefore, children should take into
account the given topic and think what they want to say about it.
(Teacher 1, Interview, May 4th
, 2015). (See Appendix A to read the whole interview).
Finally, an open questionnaire was administered to students, where they answered
questions in relation to what they usually do and what would they like to do in the EFL class. The
next excerpts show the most relevant answers, where they clearly pose their learning needs with
regard to collaborative work, either in groups or in pairs. Essentially, students‟ suggestions are
the most powerful reason to promote collaborative inquiry and foster literacy as a socially
situated practice, in order to fulfill their wants to create and environment in which they can share
their knowledge and work together. The next excerpts show the answers given by the students.
(See Appendix B to read the whole questionnaire).
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
19
Figure 1. Structured questionnaire to students. May 5th
, 2015
The previous analysis briefly evidences how the language is portrayed as a system of
related elements to code meaning, where students have to develop linguistic and communicative
skills following grammar structures to respond to the school academic requirements and
standards. Apart from this, the focus on teaching and students‟ learning is invested on reading
and writing, while mastering language structures, without acknowledging the socio-cultural basis
of language as a social fact that emerge from meaning interchanges with others. Thus, the current
school literacy practices prevent meaningful learning environments because they do not take into
account the various ways in which children use reading, writing and language.
On top of that, the grammar-based and mono-modal EFL teaching approaches hinder the
connection of the curriculum to real life of students because there is lack of opportunities for
exploring social and cultural elements of local communities, which might involve children in
meaningful literacy experiences. With this in mind, it is pertinent to bring social approaches to
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
20
literacy instruction and understand how language learning takes place in socio cultural
environments. In this regard, I consider paramount to value students‟ expectations, experiences
and knowledge background to shape democratic learning practices by means of collaboration and
inquiry practices.
Moreover, it is relevant to provide insights for wider understandings and uses of literacy
as a social practice, in the sense that learners use language to make meaning in their school
community and enhance their potentials as literacy users. In this respect, Vygotsky, (1987) as
(cited in Lee & Smagorinsky, 2000), “children‟s potential for learning is an ever-shifting range of
possibilities” (p. 2), since they are capable of going beyond the mere acts of reading and writing,
as active agents of language from a social dimension. Furthermore, language learning can be a
“more authentic process and not based solely on facts but on learners‟ active engagement” (Clavijo,
2001, p. 34), that is to say that the exploration of school community elements might potentially
encourage third graders to read, write, represent, convey and make meaning with regard to the socio-
cultural sources of their school community.
Furthermore, it is necessary to consider a broader perspective of language learning that
goes beyond the linguistic perspective and allows learners to participate in engaging activities
within the EFL classroom. Such activities might develop learners‟ literacy practices in
meaningful ways, as a gateway to place them at the center of curriculum and foster their natural
inquiry skills based on topics that matter to them, while they assume a role of investigators,
language users and meaning makers. For the purpose of the previous pursuit, I posed the
following question and objectives:
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
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Research Question
What literacy practices emerge when third graders inquire collaboratively into their
academic surroundings at a private school in Bogota?
Research Objective
To describe the emerging literacy practices that students might use when they inquire
collaboratively into their academic surroundings.
Specific Objectives:
To determine the types of literacy processes students develop when working with
collaborative and inquiry-based methodology.
To explore the modes that students use when they develop literacy practices with respect
to socio-cultural elements of their academic surroundings.
To determine how meaning making takes place when children use literacy by means of
collaborative inquiry.
Justification
This research integrates the social dimension of language and an inquiry-based learning
environment to propose literacy instruction as a social experience, rather than an academic
assignment administered to learners. This is why this study arises from a needs analysis process,
where language learning is viewed as a static entity that hinders the role of students as owners
and authors of their own education. In concordance to the previous statement, the present work
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
22
proposes a shift from traditional language teaching practices to more social experiences that
might lead students through school community-based inquiries to feed their though, and serve as
point of departure to search about topics that matters to students, while they use literacy to
collaboratively construct their own meanings.
As point of departure, I want to highlight the pertinence of the present research to nurture
EFL language learning experiences through the implementation of a pedagogical innovation that
recognizes the socio-cultural dimension of students to contribute to their language and literacy
development turning learning into an enduring and life-long experience. As consequence, the
present research brings new perspectives for teachers of all areas, particularly EFL teachers
because it could help them to address their students‟ needs and interests from their direct context,
considering their suggestions and wants to have a significant language program to develop their
classes. In this sense, inquiry-based approach should be regarded as an integral part of any
learning and teaching practice.
Similarly, this research illustrates language as a local practice, which is pervaded by
social and cultural aspects, as well as “an activity rather than a structure, as something [learners]
do, rather than a system [they] draw on” (Pennycook, 2007, p. 2). In this sense, language propels
the development of appealing literacy practices as social situated acts, through which students
interchange meaning to inquire upon elements of their local context.
Furthermore, this study offers a practical significance for EFL learners, since it allows
them to bring their queries and make meaning throughout inquiry projects, which might nurture
and surpasses their expected language and literacy skills. In this respect, learners are positioned
as knowledge holders, who bring their personal experiences to the classroom, as sources for re-
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
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creating the local knowledge of their academic surroundings through diverse literacy modes. On
the other hand, this study lies into an inquiry-based learning approach to make teachers cognizant
and show them one of the myriad ways that language can be intertwined to literacy and allow
learners wondering about socio-cultural elements of their close surroundings.
In this regard, this study is an opportunity for EFL teachers to understand the role of being
facilitators and tie students to the meaningful resources that their social context possesses,
enhance their thinking and promotes endless questioning, among others possibilities that might
renew EFL pedagogy, particularly literacy education. In a similar way, this research highlights
the relevance of adopting inquiry and learner-centered approaches to consider the language
curriculum as “a collaborative effort between teachers and learners, since learners are closely
involved in the decision making process regarding the content and how it is taught” (Nunan,
1988, p. 2).
This study also contributes to the expand EFL pedagogy research, particularly in
elementary levels of education because language and literacy are conceived from a social
dimension, where collaboration and inquiry practices untapped learners‟ inner language abilities
concerning their needs and interests. Similarly, the pedagogical proposal of this research,
suggests a more balanced approach to literacy teaching and learning that emphasizes the
importance of students „engagement and meaningful interactions through inquiry-based
instruction. In this respect, more holistic and democratic learning environments might benefit
EFL learners through meaning-rich activities that embrace their social and cultural resources to
use literacy in meaningful ways.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
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Another relevant aspect of this qualitative research has to do with theoretical and
methodological contributions that an inquiry-based learning brings to foster the use of language
and literacy from myriad perspectives, where learners and teachers co-construct the language
curriculum, taking into account common interest and valuing the knowledge that each student
brings to the EFL classroom. Similarly, this work is an invitation to schools to re-think their EFL
practices and adopt challenges that allow transitions towards more meaningful literacy practices
where learners can be owners and agents of their own learning.
After having informed the statement of the problem and the relevance of this study, I
present the theoretical tenets that support this research in the following chapter.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
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CHAPTER 2
Theoretical Framework
"There is no more ethical or truly democratic road than one in
which we reveal to learners how we think, why we think the way
we do, our dreams, the dreams for which we will fight, while
giving them concrete proof that we respect their opinions, even
when they are opposed to our own." (Paulo Freire, 1998, p. 40).
As a response to the research question, the present chapter outlines the theoretical tenets on
which the study is based. The social perspective of literacy practices proposed in this paper
addresses the understanding of two theoretical pillars: literacy and inquiry. Additionally, this
chapter includes an overview of research studies that had contributed to the field of literacy and
inquiry practices in elementary and secondary levels of education.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
26
Figure 2. Mind map of the theoretical constructs in detail.
Literacy
Literacy had been defined from different perspectives. The traditional view portrays literacy as skills
for reading and writing to decode, retrieve, inference and comprehend information. The past decades
had been marked by other views of literacy. For instance, Scribner (1984) adopts the term
Functional Literacy as the “level of proficiency necessary for effective performance in a range of
setting and customary activities” (p. 9) within a specific context. Thus, according to Scribner (1984),
literacy is based on skills needed to perform daily life activities at work, school and different
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
27
situations that require us to read or produce written symbols. Such vision implies the
decontextualization of literacy, since it only adheres to traditional pedagogy.
The perspective of literacy within this study, lies on the Socio cultural Theory which intends
to understand how “literacy [goes] in connection to the complex social relationships and cultural
practices of human beings” (Moll, 1994, p.179), that is to say, that literacy is related to learners
social worlds and culture. As consequence, a socio-cultural approach allows this study to link
students‟ school community, language learning, inquiry and collaboration to include a more social
view of literacy, where students‟ previous knowledge of both languages and literacy become into
valuable sources to make meaning of what they inquire.
In tune with my previous statement, literacy is a socio cultural practice where readers and
writers use oral, written and visual language to act, interact, value and make meaning in relation to
concerns present in their social and cultural context. That is to say that, literacy sticks to the
transactional view of reading and writing, where meaning construction processes take place
implying “the interrelation between the knower and what is to be known” (Rosenblatt, 1976, p. 27).
In this sense, being literate within this study has to do with the abilities to construct meaning through
a wide range of language modes and transact with different type of texts.
The previous perspective of literacy also has to do with the manner that the teachers work
within a transactional frame as mediators, who support children in collaborative and individual
academic literacy potentials at school, while valuing and using the richness of the socio-cultural
elements of their community. In this regard, literacy is aimed to provide opportunities and reasons
for learners to use and learn the language through a constant interaction with others in their context,
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
28
and in cooperation with their peers, to awake a variety of internal processes that to promote “the
zone of proximal development” (Vygotsky, 1987).
As part of the previous statement, literacy is conceived as a socio-cultural tool for meaning
making that children utilize to construct knowledge, as in this particular case, language learning, that
occurs in their daily school-life. Similarly, literacy acknowledges that children of all ages and
background integrate the semantic-pragmatic, syntactic and graphophonic language through
different wide of modes, not only by reading and writing, but also through oral interactions with
peers, visual and oral representations, movement and sounds, which give them insights to infer,
predict, confirm in order to construct meaning. Likewise, literacy within this theoretical framework
is understood as a practice that focuses on multidimensional processes of learners, rather than in
academic results. Such attention is part of children contact with authentic texts for real purposes to
construct and refine their learning through active interpretation and purposeful sense making of the
socio-cultural sources around them.
Additionally, literacy is a bridge to tap the multiple uses that language offers to young EFL
learners and be able to orchestrate several modes of meaning making as an opportunity to strengthen
the connection between the texts, the intended message and their social worlds. Similarly, literacy
acknowledges children potentials for using language through different modes, and with relative ease
in their natural communities. In addition, literacy reminds us as teachers that children do not need
specific instruction to use language, but from a transactional view, children need to value and be
valued for whom they are, what they already know and what they want to know.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
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The two insights of literacy that feed this theoretical framework are literacy as social practice
and multimodal literacy, which go beyond the aforementioned perspective of reading and writing as
skills or single literacies labeling students as good or struggling literacy users. As consequence, the
process of learning is dulled and limited to what children are capable of doing. Accordingly,
Street,1995 (as cited in Harste, 2014) considers that “instead of one literacy there are multiple
literacies” which channels students‟ inner force that propels them to express themselves and
promotes their strong need to communicate and share meaning, by means of not solely oral and
written language, but through other modes of expressing and transacting (p. 90). Such modes are
drawings, oral interactions and images, which causes learning to take place in socio-cultural
environments. The following paragraphs describe two concepts of literacy that this study relies on.
Literacy as Social-Situated Practice
To begin with, literacy as social practice is understood as various ways of knowing and social acts
that embrace attitudes, personal experiences and knowledge providing engagement and
understanding to learners during the interaction with socio-cultural aspects of their close context.
Since this study includes the participation of children, literacy adopts a social role that allows
students to interact with one another, while their cognition and social identity are developed.
Therefore, literacy practices exist among students, teachers and the school community daily
interactions, that open paths to construct meaning in diverse modes.
At this point, it is relevant to consider Freire‟s approach to literacy as a dialogical
relationship between human beings and their worlds through the language, as a transformative
agency. Literacy as a social situated practice implies the responsibility of people to understand and
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
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transform their own experiences through not only reading and writing, but also establishing
relationships with their immediate social context. I envisioned this research study, so that literacy is
part of “concrete human activities” (Baynham, 1995, p. 1) since the linguistic dimensions are
intertwined to a socio-cultural approach to the study of literacy with reference to social purposes for
creating and exchanging meaning.
In tune with the previous assertions, Freire and Macedo (1987) argue that reading does not
consist merely on decoding the written world of language; rather it is preceded by an interlaced with
knowledge of the world, thus language and reality are dynamically interconnected” (p. 1). His ideas,
lead me to re-evaluate the perspective of reading, writing and other multiple modes that students
employ to make meaning namely print texts, images, movements, sound and learners‟ oral
interactions to discover the connections between the text and the context of the text; and how to
connect the text to the personal, social and cultural context of the reader.
In a similar way, Barton, Hamilton and Ivanic (2000) contend that literacy practices are
what “people do with literacy with regard to their lives […] since they also involve values, attitudes,
feelings and social relationships” (p. 7) as internal processes of the individuals. Such processes
include people awareness and sense making for the construction of social knowledge. Additionally,
teaching and learning are central activities affiliated to the previous assertion, since the situated
perspective of such practices embraces what children do with reading and writing in particular acts,
which are interlaced to broader social and cultural elements of their school surroundings.
Essentially, effective literacy learning involves viewing learning through social lenses that
engage learners in creating a variety of texts through their language knowledge, experiences, social
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
31
and cultural knowledge. Likewise, elements of students‟ local context serve as a bridge to
communicate and express understandings in multiple ways, either independently and with others
with respect to broader and socio-cultural contexts. In this sense, students‟ experiences with the
language and culture might open spaces for dialogic practices that promote holistic language and
literacy learning processes.
Multimodal Literacy
Another relevant feature this research draws on nurturing the social situated perspective of literacy
that is referred to the abilities of conveying meaning in different cultural and social contexts by
means of using “not only alphabetical but also multimodal representations” (Cope and Kalantzis,
2000), since within the EFL classroom had increased the use of visual means to convey meaning.
Such meaning making processes have to incorporate the use of multimodal messages as more
meaningful ways to communicate and shape ideological stances.
In tune with the previous assertion, the social worlds of learners are permeated with the
integrated use of modalities such as “written-linguistic, oral, visual, audio and spatial patterns”
(Kress, 2000a, 2000b) that they draw on to make meaning, since the globalization and local diversity
brings cultural forms, semiotic systems and new technologies that constantly increase in our context.
Thereby, students‟ literacies involve framing images, expressing ideas and making meaning through
a variety of sign systems and modalities that bring up new outlooks to language, recognizing its
many venues through which “messages are conveyed, meaning making is made and representations
are presented” (Kress, 1997).
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
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As part of the EFL literacy development of learners, whose linguistic code is still growing, as
this particular case, they use multimodal modes namely oral interactions, drawings and images,
which contain more information than conventional writing to clarify their intended meanings to
others. Furthermore, students come to school with the ability to make meaning using their available
resources and new literacies as “raw images” (Rosenblatt, 2005, p. 65). In this regard, Med and
Whitmore (2000) contend that when English language learners is composed by drawings and
selecting sound effects before writing any language, they “express their previous knowledge,
construct new knowledge and communicate regardless of their facility with English” (p. 49).
On the other hand, students‟ cognitive disposition is inherently connected to semiotic
elements of their social worlds to frame images and express their ideas to make meaning, instead of
the verbocentric lessons typically given at traditional school. In this regard, the construction of
meaning takes place given that language is the foremost process for sense making and that it can
take several forms for the construction of meaning. As consequence, multimodal acts of meaning
making offer several modes to afford children expressing themselves, their knowledge and their
learning. Similarly, students draw on and combine their writing abilities and available modes of
meaning making, as they so naturally do in their daily lives for creating multilingual and multimodal
texts.
In the same line of thought, Leland and Harste (1994) adopt the term “ways of knowing”
to refer to those sign systems such as art, music, language and drama as “potentials by which all
humans might mean” (p. 339). In this sense, learners find themselves as active literacy users and
knowledge holders, when they are capable of orchestrating a variety of sign systems to create
meaning in relation to their socio-cultural milieu. These abilities take place when learners interact
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
33
with their peers and teachers, framing a broad concept of literacy that is grounded in social practices
and considering that “Literacy is not simply about knowing how to read and write a particular script,
but applying this knowledge for specific purposes in specific contexts of use” (Barton, 1994, p. 24).
Regarding the way learners might find multiple modes and sign systems for meaning
making, they also discover these modes as opportunities to engage in authentic literacy events1 that
bring out the complex nature of constructing meaning in regards to social and cultural factors. Such
literacy events imply the collaboration among peers, when they endeavor to inquire about topics that
matter to them. As consequence, literacy development is enhanced through the zone of proximal
development “as the characteristic not solely of the child or of the teaching, but of the child engaged
in collaborative activity within specific social environments” (Moll, 1990, p. 11). In addition, when
children share their understandings to broader members of their close communities, their potentials
for meaning making are enhanced by means of “collective zones of proximal development” (Moll &
Whitmore, 1993), where their composition are the result of interpreting the local information present
in socio cultural factors of their immediate context.
When literacy as social practice is coupled with the notion of multimodal literacy, it could be
conceived as a particular set of social practices available for children to construct meaning through
which they demonstrate abilities for reading and writing re-create their socio-cultural previous
knowledge. In this regard, the socio cultural approach frames the ways in which learners interact
with their direct realities, using language to convey meaning and make that multimodal and socially
situated literacy practices go “in connection with the complex social relationships and cultural
practices of human beings within classrooms or community settings” (Moll, 1994, p. 179). As result
1 Literacy events are activities where literacy has a role. The notion of events stresses the situated nature of literacy, that it always exists in social
context
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
34
of such connection, students might found paths for using their collective background knowledge to
negotiate and remix their experiences, and foster authoring practices as opportunities to let students
being self-regulated and autonomous learners.
On top of the previous assertions, the socio cultural perspective of foreign language
education within this study brings a broader panorama of literacy as social and multimodal practices,
which entails viewing learners as knowledge holders, who are able to do more with reading and
writing, than the mandated curriculum. With this in mind, giving students time to spin their ideas
through a wide range of meaningful modes and consider that socio cultural sources of their social
context are valuable paths to let them be agents and owners of their own learning process, new
pedagogical stances based on genuine students‟ thoughts and interests are paramount for bringing to
the EFL classroom. As consequence, literacy practices will go in hand with students‟ personal,
social and historical connections to lead unexpected avenues for their inquiries, and preclude the
tendency of viewing children‟s emerging literacy practices as „basic skills‟, and be amazed by
students‟ work and intellectual capabilities.
Inquiry
Inquiry has always been part of education. Inquiry traces its origin since the Socratic dialogues
as the earliest documented instances of learning through questioning. Later on, John Dewey
(1938) considered inquiry as one of the constructivism education approaches during the last
century. He emphasized the importance of asking questions relevant to students‟ concerns as a
reason to learn. Dewey (1938) acknowledges the curiosity of children as a natural impulse to
learn and brings ideas about integrating learners‟ expectations, experiences, beliefs, concerns and
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
35
context into the school environment to shape new and enduring views of the world. In this regard,
inquiry takes several meanings for teaching and learning within the EFL pedagogy, as is the case
of this study. For instance, inquiry teaching involves “allowing children to learn from direct
experience and cultivate their natural curiosity” Dewey (1938) to bring holistic educational
environments that enable teachers and students to integrate knowledge across the disciplines, and
unfold learning in a way that value the intellectual growth and age-specific concerns of the child.
In a similar way, Short (2001) states that “as educators examine their beliefs and actions,
they take control of their learning and work with their students to create more democratic
learning environments”. Within these environments, students become both problem-posers and
problem-solvers (Freire, 1985), since they are provided with the time they need to immerse into a
topic and find the questions that are significant to their lives, rather than completing research on
an assigned topic, enabling that “inquiry goes beyond building curriculum from students to
negotiating curriculum with students” (p. 21).
With the previous assertions in mind, inquiry within this research is a practice that
promotes learning in all areas of the curriculum, specifically within EFL education and involves
the acts of wondering, exploring and investigating upon socio-cultural sources of students‟ close
surroundings. As Wells (1995) asserts, “an inquiry typically consists of three major components;
research, interpretation, and presentation each of which involves the three phases of planning,
acting, and reviewing”, such components allow students to engage in interesting and authentic
learning environments, where they can build in prior knowledge and understandings to make
sense of their social worlds. In this sense, inquiry orients learners to assume an active position
that encourage them to think and decide by themselves.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
36
On the other hand, inquiry enriches literacy practices and develops students as
communicators, who use language as means to learn and construct knowledge through a
motivating force for learning, which provides more relevant and powerful literacy learning
opportunities. Similarly, inquiry favors learners‟ natural curiosity to boost the act of questioning
and experiencing meaningful learning environments to convey and co-construct meaning.
Additionally, Harste (2003) contends that inquiry brings to the curriculum “lots of
opportunities for students to explore their own inquiry using reading, writing and other sign
systems as tools and toys for learning” (p. 11). In this regard, students‟ voices are heard to make
them capable of communicating meaning with others through active learning and positioning
themselves as owners of their learning process. In consideration to the previous idea, inquiry is “a
way to view education holistically” (Short and Burke 1996, p. 51) and depicts learners as curious
and active by nature. In this sense, students are provided with spaces to ask questions that are
significant in their lives and related to their concerns. As consequence, the mutual participation of
learners and teachers bridges the gap between the school community and students‟ socio cultural
knowledge to acknowledge, “one of the benefits of working in a community is that it is a
collaborative source” (Within and Within, 1997, p. 7).
On the other hand, inquiry allows students to go beyond the search of facts and memorize
linguistic structures to use language for exploring issues through different perspectives that lead
the understanding of students‟ learning. Likewise, inquiry allows teachers to go beyond the
mandated curriculum using the local knowledge present in student‟s communities to make
educational experiences more meaningful and ignite the spark of children‟s learning. In this
respect, Comber, Thomson and Wells (2001) contend that the “unexplored knowledge of
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
37
students‟ direct context do not respond to social and cultural realities of students” (p. 453), since
there is no authenticity in learning to foster the social and intellectual development of children.
Inquiry is a practice that plays essential roles along different stages of our life, like
childhood, adolescence and adulthood. That is why it should be part of teachers‟ daily practices
and learners‟ mindset. Learning from inquiry is a way of understanding how children learn from
reality, while they enhance their language and literacy skills, as the particular case of this study.
Moreover, such practice involves relevant components that provide learners with a wide range of
opportunities to make meaning and expand their knowledge of the language. Taking into account
the role of inquiry within this study, it is necessary to decenter the teacher as the more
knowledgeable member of the literacy community and offer opportunities for students to take
their questions beyond the EFL classroom, while trusting in their genuine interest and planning
literacy events around what matters to students.
Collaborative Inquiry
A view of language learning as a social construction, where knowledge is negotiated and
acquired through social interaction rather than being delivered by the teacher, is central in this
research. The previous perspective acknowledges the importance of interaction, peer mediation
and scaffolding (Vygotsky, 1978). In this sense, language learning and teaching practices within
this panorama are considered initiatives of collaborative inquiry, whenever knowledge is
“dialogically constructed” (Wells, 2002, p. 5) by teachers and students.
Collaborative inquiry becomes part of this framework, as a dialogic practice that allows
students to consider many ways of thinking and sharing with others, as well a mode to pursue
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
38
meaningful questions within the classroom. Similarly, collaborative inquiry practices have to do
with decision and meaning making processes of students and teachers, where teachers are in
charge of making the inquiry experience purposeful, highly thoughtful and effective, guiding
students in their learning. As consequence, inquiry becomes into a collaborative practice where
all the EFL classroom members have an active role in the construction of knowledge.
Additionally, collaborative inquiry takes various forms since participants in this study are
young EFL learners and are curious by nature. Thus, it becomes in a form of learning where
students are provided with insights for „knowledge building‟ through guidance of their constant
inquiries. I present the spiral of knowing (Wells, 2002, p. 8) to explain how knowledge building
is developed in an inquiry-based learning approach as the one presented in this research. The next
figure displays the spiral of knowing.
Figure 3. The spiral of knowing. (Wells, 2002, p. 8)
In the spiral, each cycle starts with the understanding of individual past experiences that
students use to make sense of what is new. Then, the knowledge building cycle starts with the
new encountered information, either from action into students‟ school context, from using
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
39
multiple modes (reading, writing, listening, talking, drawing, using images and so forth) or
interacting, collaborating and reflecting with others. Thereafter, the new information students
have access to, lead to enhancement of understanding as the following cycle, which must be
articulated and transformed through dialogic and meaning making processes. Finally, the
experience cycle is the result of students‟ learning and understandings they obtain by means of
their inquiry collaborative experiences.
Collaborative inquiry provides learners with common challenges from their real world
while cultivating “a context for cooperation and community building” (Independent Together,
2003, p. 63), that give them insights to go beyond the classroom walls and create an academic
network. In this sense, “knowledge is co-constructed, rather than unilaterally delivered” (Wells,
2002, p.6) because children‟s learning is enriched when they consider other perspectives of using
literacy practices, that helps them to broaden their understandings. On top of that, collaboration
involves educators in sustained dialogue with learners to create a decision-making environment
and guide students thinking, as well as gaining new understandings of themselves and their
learning process. As part of this assertion, collaborative inquiry switches the role of educators as
owners of knowledge towards a more democratic perspective of teaching within the EFL
classroom, taking into account students‟ concerns, experiences, beliefs and their social context.
Collaborative inquiry within this research recalls the notion of Vygotsky (1987) of the
zone of proximal development, which suggests that all learning is in some way collaborative.
Particularly when it takes place in inquiry processes and involves the enterprise of authentic
questions and learning, involving the construction of meaning that comes from exploration. Such
practices, implies “mentoring provided by more knowledgeable persons, usually elders, who engage
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
40
in activity with less experienced in a process known scaffolding” Bruner, 1975 (as cited in Lee and
Smagorinsky, 2000 p. 2). In this regard, the more knowledgeable person are not only the teachers,
but the students and other members of the community, who are considered knowledge holders that
can unfold their understandings when collaborative and dialogic inquiry takes places.
The notion of collaborative inquiry arouses the concept of zone of proximal development
within this research through collaboration as a trait of peer bounding processes. This occurs when
learners adapt easily to the classroom, as the result of their interaction with classmates whose
previous knowledge of language and literacy is wider. As consequence, learners who need support
of their classmates can lessen initial feelings of isolation and loss by interacting within their zones of
proximal development with knowledgeable peers, as a step in creating a comfortable and friendly
classroom environment, emotional sides of learning and work identity.
On the other hand, collaborative inquiry can only begin with what learners already know
and perceive. In so doing, Spanish and English are valuable sources that position learners, as
„knowledge holders‟ who can communicate meaning with others instead of portraying English
language as an object of study within the curriculum. The previous assertion leads me to shape
two components that collaborative inquiry brings to the language classroom: ownership and
agency.
In this regard, inquiry results in students being able to take ownership, understood as the
natural sense of learners‟ responsibility about their work, turning language and literacy learning
into a more enduring process. As consequence, students find inspiration and learning
opportunities in unique places as their close communities that make them able to pursue their
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
41
curiosities without complete dependency on an educator. Such abilities empower and encourage
them as a way to be resilient when they do not find the results they expected. Subsequently,
students as owners of their learning will realize that there is more than one way to approach a
question, reach their goals, and value the process they start within their inquiries.
Furthermore, Wells (2002) contends that orienting learning and teaching towards inquiry
promotes ownership when students have responsibilities to select the topics to be search, the
methods and the resources they need for such a purpose. As consequence, the resulting sense of
ownership “enable [learners] to sustain their engagement and to develop strategies of responsible
collaboration that lead to successful completion” (p. 6) of their inquiries. The aforementioned
assertions entail some conditions that teachers need to bring to the classroom namely, comfort to
students to ponder questions, communicate their thinking, and have a lot of leeway to develop their
inquiries and really take ownership of their learning.
The other element that collaborative inquiry promotes within this research is agency. The
promotion of learners‟ agency involves them in having “the power to act” which ignites their
initiatives to learn beyond the inputs that are transmitted by the teacher or the curriculum. Young
children‟s agency has been identified as a foundational for learning in any realm of knowledge and
social development, since it is broadly acknowledged that students learn and develop through active
interaction with others and participation in their social environments.
Agency takes place in the inquiry classroom when students feel in charge of their own
learning, pose questions, and foment an environment for knowledge building. With reference to my
previous statement, Wolk (2008) contends that “nurturing agency in children, involves honoring
their unique constructions of knowledge, integrating choices and ownership in the curriculum” (p.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
42
121) as the way to engage children in learning and in decision-making processes. As children make
meaningful decisions about things that affect them, they start to see themselves as rich, competent,
capable learners and valuable members within their school community and social context. In
essence, developing a sense of agency in the students means providing opportunities for children to
make autonomous choices, making their voices worth in their day-to-day environment.
To sum up, collaborative inquiry brings new ways to foreign language education that
broaden opportunities for learners‟ social interaction and self-expression to enrich their L2 learning
experience. In this regard, by including the recognition of students‟ school community as a relevant
source to be explored; they develop a sense of belonging as well as inquiry and academic skills. In
concordance to Dewey (1990), we as teachers must include the outside social context and its
significance “through which the school itself shall be made a genuine form of active community life,
instead of a place set apart in which to learn lessons” (p. 14).
State of the Art
Since this study intends mainly to describe the emerging literacies of young EFL learners by means
of inquiry practices, taking into consideration the local knowledge of students‟ contexts, I have
explored several studies that show different perspectives concerning inquiry-based approaches and
literacy, understood as a socially situated practice. The following lines describe some studies that
relate closely to the theoretical tenets of my investigation:
Mendieta (2009) reported an action research based on a pedagogical experience in a female
private school in Bogotá, Colombia. She had to implement Problem Based Learning approach (PBL)
as part of the mandated school curricula, where seventh graders needed to develop the skills and
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
43
knowledge necessary to solve puzzling phenomenon. Since Mendieta (2009) was not informed
enough on how to implement such approach, she founded on Inquiry-based Learning (IBL) a
response to connect the curriculum to a problematic situation for EFL learning. During the
beginning of the pedagogical implementation, Mendieta (2009) used gender discrimination as the
main topic of the literature book that seventh graders were reading, to generate curiosity and know
their previous knowledge about this topic. In so doing it, students were involved in a project where
they have to gather, select and share information about human rights. They visited web pages, read
the newspaper articles and the literature book to be informed about this social issue. Then students
expressed their personal opinions about the role and position of woman around the world. As
seventh graders were involved in women discrimination, Mendieta (2009) asked them to explore in
depth this topic through group work by searching and identifying how women have been
discriminated in different parts of the world.
In this regard, opportunities to work collaboratively were given within and inquiry
environment for the co-construction of students‟ knowledge. Seventh graders inquired
collaboratively by using primary sources such as laws, decrees, real cases, important women‟s
biographies, among others in both languages (Spanish and English), to do oral reports and brochures
in front of their teacher and classmates and received feedback to improve their language usage.
Then, students decided to present the outcomes of their investigations and gained knowledge to the
whole school community through a wide variety of sign systems, namely power point presentations,
brochures, sketches, handicrafts and costumes. At the end of the project, students were asked about
what they learned throughout the inquiry project, and what they got from the class. Their responses
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
44
evidenced students‟ critical stances that showed how well they were prepared not only for the
development of the foreign language, but also for life.
The findings of this investigation showed students‟ beliefs and knowledge referring o issues
like justice, violence, religion, human rights and women‟s discrimination in different parts of the
world. In the same way, students reflected upon the information they found in order to come up with
their own interpretation to what would be meaningful to share with their community, where they co-
constructed knowledge not only related to foreign language, but of real social and cultural issues that
are worth to study within the EFL classroom. In addition, Mendieta (2009) found that students‟
voice is a key aspect that allows teachers to engage learners in meaningful language environment.
Similarly, this study evidences how the role of teachers switched from being owners of knowledge
to be facilitators, who guided and supported the students in inquiry practices. In this respect, students
became knowledge holders who were able to use their previous knowledge to represent the
information they inquired collaboratively through a variety of modes.
This study enlightens my research concern, since the adoption of an inquiry-based learning
approach promotes EFL literacy development from a social dimension because students inquire
about issues from inside and outside their social context, which subsequently, allow them to adopt
critical stances as knowledge holders. In a similar way, this study provides me with insights on how
the language offers a variety of modes through which students can share and represent what they
learn from their investigations. In this sense, students‟ voice can be a source to make the language
curriculum more meaningful, where learners‟ needs and interests take part on the selection of topics
and activities for EFL learning. Additionally, this study portrays the local knowledge embedded in
students‟ communities, as a valuable source that brings meaningful opportunities to ignite student‟s
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
45
sense of curiosity, while using their previous knowledge of both languages (English and Spanish).
Another relevant aspect this work contributes to mine has to do with the way the teacher and the
students can exchange their roles, where they share information to co-construct knowledge.
On the other hand, Rincón (2014) carried out descriptive qualitative research that outlined
the ways in which community inquiries created opportunities for tenth graders to explore social
and cultural issues of their neighborhoods, using multimodality in a public school located in the
south of Bogota, Colombia. The pedagogical innovation included an emphasis on Community
Based Pedagogies (CBP), as those outside school practices, symbols and people that become into
a source of inspiring material for teacher researchers. In this regard, Rincón (2014) used the
community assets of students‟ neighborhoods, as a bridge to develop critical literacy practices
and make a transition from the mono-modal language teaching approach to a more participatory
educational experience.
Since this study was conducted to know the ways students use multimodality to inquire
upon socio-cultural issues of their neighborhoods, Rincón (2015) guided and supported her
students to map their neighborhoods and find a social issue of their interest to be investigated.
Then, tenth graders posed questions and selected possible instruments to collect data. Finally,
they presented the data gathered through blogs and written interaction on Facebook and discussed
main points of their findings in class debates. The findings of this study showed how students
developed inquiry skills through observation and identification of assets, finding an issue,
documenting the issue and presenting findings through multimodal modes.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
46
In a similar way, students did oral and written comments in Spanish and English to
convey meaning through a process named translanguaging (Garcia, 2009), which bridged the gap
between language learning and self-expression. Such experiences gave students the opportunity
to foster their literacy development and EFL learning. Likewise, students‟ abilities in EFL
writing namely, literal, descriptive, argumentative and interpretative were unfolded in reporting
socio-cultural issues in social media and blogs by means of song creations, video clips, stories,
photo galleries and reflections. Finally, this study depicted the community students inhabit as a
valuable space to develop inquiry skills, language practices and personal reflections that can be
displayed in multimodal ways.
The previous research traces relevant elements that helped me to understand how the
language offers multiple facets, through which learners can draw on to construct meaning and
enhance language learning either using images, pictures, videos, songs, written and oral
interactions. Another relevant insight that this study gives me is linked to the way students
combine English and Spanish language to maximize their communicative potential and express
their opinions. In this sense, translanguaging becomes into a meaningful linguistic resource
within my research concern, because I can contextualize my students and support them to express
their needs and opinions with more confidence, since they are emergent EFL learners. Another
valuable insight that illuminates my research ideas has to do with the way close surroundings of
students become into a remarkable opportunity to create meaningful language and inquiry
practices, that progressively might shift the fragmented language learning environment my
students and I are immersed in.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
47
In a similar attempt to develop literacy from a social perspective, Hernandez (2016) used
inquiry-based learning and Community Based Pedagogy (CBP) approaches to conduct an action
research with a group of third graders of a private school in Bogotá, Colombia. Such work drew on
the socio cultural perspective of literacy with the purposes of portraying the development of EFL
writers as inquirers, determining how do third graders develop a sense of community when inquiring
into their surroundings and identifying the developments in the formal aspects of text that are
evidenced in writing as meaning construction on community issues.
In order to reach such purposes, this qualitative study used the authoring cycle (Short and
Burke, 1999) as the curricular framework to link the institutional requirements for EFL learning
and the literacy practices. The authoring cycle brought possibilities for third graders to be
knowledge and text creators. In this regard, they felt empowered through investigations of their
families, neighborhoods, school and city. Additionally, students used multimodal representations
such as videos, pictures, drawings, oral presentations and posters to make meaning and co-
construct local knowledge of their communities.
The results of this study showed how third graders constructed their own meanings by
adopting a role of community-researchers, as they used a variety of modes to inquire, register and
share data. Subsequently, students became aware of the varied sources of information different
from the teacher and the textbooks that are meaningful and valuable to promote EFL and literacy
learning. On the other hand, students‟ inquiries upon their communities strengthened their
linkages to family and school community members, friends and neighborhoods. As consequence,
students realized that community people are possessors of knowledge that they cannot find in the
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
48
library or on the Internet, while they developed a sense of belonging that strongly links to their
own lives.
Furthermore, students conceived their communities from a critical stance, since they
identified community issues and their possible solutions. Such criticality and awareness enable
students to read their worlds while cultivating their social sensitivity and commitment towards
their communities. Finally, students improved their literacy performance as writers, since inquiry
was an experience that naturally leaded third graders to investigate on socio-cultural aspects of
their communities and share meanings to others by following conventional rules of written
English language. In this respect, the role of the teacher switched from controlling learners‟
writing to be a facilitator and scaffold the development of students‟ own inquiries and texts.
This study provides me relevant understandings on how the authoring cycle is a useful
tool to develop agency and ownership when literacy is part of EFL learning, because it allows
me to create a more democratic and holistic environment where learners support each other and
their previous knowledge counts as valuable sources to construct new meanings. Likewise, this
work strengthens the way I can shift the role of my students from being passive learners to be
life-long learners and inquirers. That is to say, that third graders position themselves as authors of
their own education and feel confident to convey and communicate new knowledge. Another
important aspect to bear in mind of this work has to do with the multimodal modes that language
and literacy offer to children, particularly, when they are immersed in an inquiry-based
environment that require them to convey and represent meaning through oral, written, visual,
among other modes, that turn their learning experiences into more fruitful and meaningful ones.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
49
On a similar case, Pineda (2007) carried out a case study using the authoring cycle, as an
inquiry-based technique to explore and describe the way a group of 22 eleventh graders develop
inquiry practices in the EFL classroom from a semi-private school of Bogotá, Colombia. In order to
have a clear starting point for the inquiry project, Pineda (2007) followed the authoring cycle stages
to carry out the pedagogical innovation. In so doing it, she explored students‟ interests and noticed
that eleventh graders were concern about plans as professionals. In this regard, she encouraged her
students to pose questions keeping in mind their interests. Subsequently, students agreed on
exploring the educational context of universities through inquiries based on interviews, searches in
the web, visits to some university campus, and reports before choosing a major. As part of their
inquiries, students made interviews, designed brochures, made poster zones, oral presentations and
class discussions to fulfill their interests and augment their range of knowledge about Colombian
university system. Afterwards, students discussed and challenged their perspectives through
interactions and reflections with others to shape their understandings finally, students presented their
findings to other eleventh graders and shared the information they found.
The results of this research reflected students‟ learning experiences with regard to learning
about language and learning through language, since students expressed their development of
reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, as well as they learned about many other significant
topics related to their life projects. With this in mind, eleventh graders recognized through their
journals that English in not a matter of learning grammar structures, but it is an opportunity to write
several compositions according to their personal interests and beliefs. Similarly, they commented the
advantages of being the main actors in the development of their inquiry projects, as they learned
how to get on during an interview to be admitted in a Colombian university, and know more about
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
50
the academic programs that public and private universities offer to them. Another result of this study
deals with the way inquiry-based learning allowed students to bring their feelings and perceptions
regarding the advantages of developing EFL classes by including their interests.
The previous research leads me to acknowledge the relevance of involving students in
collaborative work and inquiry practices to promote the use of literacy as a social act. Given that,
children within my study are depicted as gifted individuals, whose knowledge background is too
broad, that they are able to co-construct new understandings from what they already know, and the
information their close surroundings offer to them. Furthermore, this research contributes to my
research concern due to the way the authoring cycle was carried out. Such implementation entailed
the acknowledgement of students‟ voice, needs and wants as essential aspects to create democratic
practices within the EFL curriculum. Therefore, I envision my study as an opportunity for students
to express their feelings in relation to their own learning and reflect about the way they learn more
and better.
Furthermore, Gomez (2016) conducted an action research with a group of 35 fifth graders of
a public school of Bogotá, Colombia. This study aimed to characterize the different reflections about
school coexistence that students experienced when doing collaborative inquiry in the EFL classroom
and to analyze the possible influence of collaborative inquiry on students‟ relationships. Gomez
(2016) implemented the authoring cycle as an inquiry-based model and the CBP approach to lead
students into reflections about the way they relate each other. During the initial phase of the project,
students were asked to make groups by setting the rules to work together and achieve different goals
during the inquiry project. Afterwards, students explored their school context and wondered about
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
51
matters that concern them. At the end of the exploration, they decided to inquire about the school
snack.
As part of the authoring cycle stages, each group posed questions in Spanish and English
concerning different aspects they wanted to know about the school snack. Then they collaboratively
chose some instruments and sources of information to gather data. After collecting information from
books, the internet and some interviews to the school staff in both languages, fifth graders
demonstrated the relevance of language as mean for knowledge construction. Finally, each inquiry
group finished its project and decided to organize and illustrate their findings in books that they
wrote in English. As part of the last stage of the Authoring cycle, students launched their books in
the school library and shared their experiences through oral presentations to students and teachers. In
the same way, students had the opportunity to reflect about their collaborative inquiry practices to
accomplish common goals, while strengthening their citizenship skills.
The findings of this action research implied students‟ reflections regarding task development
and group work, as well as expressing different types of learning. Such reflections evidenced how
collaborative inquiry promoted peaceful attitudes among students, that allowed them to
acknowledge the importance of all members within the group to achieve common goals. In this
regard, the development of tasks and group work were meaningful because students became self-
regulated learners, while strengthened their literacy and language learning. Similarly, students
expressed different learning outcomes such as working in teams, be informed of the whole process
to get their snacks at the school, coexist with their classmates, use Spanish and English to research
and use local sources of information to feed their inquiries.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
52
The previous study is quite meaningful for my research interest because the authoring cycle
as a methodological tool brings many opportunities to switch the traditional literacy practices that
have to be developed in my school context, and turn them into more meaningful and dynamic
practices, where my students can be agents of change of their learning. On the other hand, the
inquiry-based approach adopted in the previous study, enlightens my methodological practices, since
inquiry is a useful tool to position my students as knowledge holders of Spanish and English, and
make them confident during the development of their assignments. In the same way, the role of
teacher switches to become a teacher-researcher who guides, orients and supports students in
learning what they want and need. In this respect, the inquiry-based approach, allows me to envision
the curriculum as a dynamic entity that is permeated by socio-cultural elements, which are essential
to work inside the EFL classroom and foster learners‟ spirit of questioning to promote their language
and literacy learning from a social dimension.
In a similar attempt where the inquiry-based approach was the core aspect to understand a
phenomenon, Becerra (2006) carried out a qualitative study in a public school of Bogotá, Colombia.
The participants of her study were forty children, whose environment and socio-economic situation
were inappropriate for them to grow up. This study was conducted to enhance conflict resolution
and cooperative learning, since learners showed struggles while working together during the
development of language learning tasks. The pedagogical intervention of this study followed and
inquiry-based learning environment, where the authoring cycle was implemented to guide learners in
inquiring collaboratively some questions that they posed.
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53
Since inquiry starts with a question and demands changes in learning and teaching practices,
Becerra (2006) used twin texts2 (Camp, 2000, p. 400) to build the inquiry process upon students‟
experiences by following the stages of the authoring cycle. In so doing it, she read fiction and non-
fiction stories to ignite students‟ curiosity on butterflies. During the development of their inquiries,
children used a variety of tools to fulfill their queries, namely books and photocopies in English and
Spanish that their teacher brought to the classroom, since they did not have money to afford them.
As long as students inquired collaboratively, they reflected about the process of working
collaboratively to accomplish common goals, while the co-existence issues diminished in the EFL
class. After completing their projects, they decided to share their knowledge and understandings of
butterflies through multiple modes as posters and oral presentations.
The results of the study showed how students became owners of their own language
learning, while co-existence issues decreased through collaborative inquiry practices of a topic that
ignited children‟ curiosity. Similarly, this study allowed learners to use language not solely to read,
write, inquire and solve co-existence issues, but also to learn through language, since learners
searched information about butterflies. On the other hand, this study elucidates the importance of
innovating current language teaching practices and contributes to the development of the EFL
curriculum from a social dimension that acknowledges the natural learning course of language and
literacy of children. Finally, the previous study depicts teachers as researchers and agents of change
that are capable of readapting and reshape elements of theory to guide more holistic language
teaching practices.
2 Twin texts are two books, one fiction and one non-fiction (informational) on the same topic.
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
54
The aforementioned results nurtures my research interest, since the inquiry-based learning is
a key approach for immersing students in collaborative tasks, that lead them to share, co-construct
and re-create knowledge through the wide range of modes that English and Spanish language have.
Similarly, an inquiry-oriented cycle, as the one implemented in the previous study brings
possibilities to learn through language and learn about the language, particularly when students
make connections between both languages (English and Spanish) to easily understand, convey and
co-construct meaning.
With respect to other research studies that adopted inquiry and literacy from a socio-cultural
perspective as stances, Ghiso (2011), Guccione (2011), Sluys and Laman (2006) and McGianni
2000) and Ghiso (2011) are examples of how such tenets illuminates teaching and learning as
endeavors to create communities of inquirers and thinkers to share knowledge. To begin with, Ghiso
(2011) conducted a yearlong ethnographic study in a public school of United States. The participants
were 20 first graders of African American, European American, Algerian, and Native American
descendent, whose literacy practices were being developed from a linguistic-based approach as basic
skills. This study “examined what it means to be writer in the first grade class, specifically how the
teacher orchestrated writing invitations, how students interacted in such invitations, and how the
teacher and students talked about writing” (p. 347).
As part of such endeavor, the teacher invited students to write about topics that matter to
them and provoked children‟s active participation by constantly questioning them about vandalism,
poverty, smoking, homelessness and littering with the purpose of mingling individual and collective
engagements. The writing curriculum was then permeated of personal narratives and collective
inquiries that mattered to students, since they started to be aware of the social issues of their
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
55
communities. During the pedagogical intervention, children‟ knowledge background of civic issues,
created opportunities for the class‟ heterogeneity to become into sources of information. For instance,
students and teacher conversations allowed personal, social and historical connections to share, ask
information and provide alternative viewpoints, as they wrote about events that made explicit various
social and economic issues.
As result, students adopted individual and collective critical stances where collaboration and
engagement took place. Similarly, this study demonstrated that structuring writing time around what
matters to students and providing time to spin out their ideas, students are able to set their own
agendas and decide what to share and to whom. On the other hand, teacher was decentered as the
most knowledgeable member of the writing community and opportunities to students were given to
be authors of their own learning, as they follow unpredicted paths in their inquiries.
In reference to the contributions of this pedagogical experience to my research, a similar
perspective aims to preclude a skill-based approach that shies away language and literacy knowledge
of my students to trust on their thoughts and write around what matters to them. Similarly, I consider
paramount to understand students‟ literacy as a practice that allow them to explore social and
cultural sources of their communities, as well as generating environments that switch their roles as
users of linguistic forms to be generators of knowledge by means of inquiry. In this respect, the
previous research helped me to understand how to orchestrate literacy as a tool for inquiry and
promote authorship practices without limitations.
In tune with the previous research work, Guccione (2011) explored the connection between
literacy and inquiry from a socio cultural perspective, but focused on multiliteracies through a
yearlong ethnographic study in a public school of Colorado, United States. Taking into account that
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
56
Native English Speakers and English Language Learners (ELLs) were part of the class, the
participants within this study were three first graders who were non-English proficient according to
the standardized test of Colorado English Language Assessment. Her investigation was meant to
unveil first graders‟ literacy practices and foster their content knowledge skills through inquiry-
based instruction.
While first graders inquired about animals and other topics of their interest by means of
expository texts, they were engaged through a multiplicity of language arts of reading, speaking,
listening, writing, drawing, viewing and representing, which allowed them to construct meaning
during one year across the 90-minute language arts class. The data gathered in this qualitative study
was organized in a main category named Literacy Practices (LP), and eleventh subcategories:
viewing, I learned, interactive components, schema, connections, questions, art strategies,
decoding, text features, code switching and sources.
The findings of this study evidenced how the engagement of learners within an inquiry
environment promotes not solely the use of multiple literacy practices, but students‟ learning
enjoyment, which allowed them to be self-regulated learners and authors of their own education.
Additionally, the integration of inquiry and literacy practices brought the development of
essential skills to search information that matters to students and enrich their content knowledge.
In reference to the contribution of the aforementioned study to my research concern, a
similar student-centered approach to teaching and learning based on inquiry-based instruction is
aimed to be the basis to foster literacy, in which the close surroundings of students are to be used
as sources of information. In this regard, the participants of my study can benefit from meaning-
FOSTERING LITERACY PRACTICES IN EFL LEARNERS
57
rich activities that embrace their social and cultural resources and bring opportunities to use
literacy from a social dimension in meaningful ways. Additionally, the work of Ghiso (2011)
discloses the appropriateness of instilling an inquiry mindset on my EFL class and helped me to
discover many ways of integrating students‟ knowledge background to new information they
might get through their collaborative inquiries.
In this way, literacy and language learning within my study will be an opportunity to
support learners‟ comprehension of their social worlds instead of demonstrating the acquisition of
a new skill. Thus, EFL learning might turn into a fruitful experience to tap students‟ inner
language abilities through several modes, which ultimately help them to become self-regulated
learners, owners and agents, and authors of their own education.
Following this same line of linking literacy to socio cultural elements of students‟ context,
Sluys and Laman (2006) conducted a yearlong ethnographic study in a public elementary school of
Illinois, United States, as a response to bring authentic language and literacy practices, where a
scripted curriculum portrayed language as an object of study through defined rules. Although the
participants were part of two different classrooms with respect to the grade levels and their literacy
experience, they shared many beliefs and practices. The purpose of this research was to “examine
the ways in which multiage and multilingual students used written conversations to inquire into
language and their […] social worlds [and] how students took responsibility on for learning about
language as they engage in written conversations (p. 223) as a strategy in which participants engage
in face-to-face chats on paper” (p. 225). Another goal of this research was to know how students use
language for social purposes as they conversed in paper with peers. In order to accomplish such
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goals, the teacher guided students on class meetings, inquiry projects and written conversations “, to
pursuit their questions.
The findings of this study showed how students used language conventions, the features of
language and cultural resources to write their conversations, as drawings, shortcuts, symbols, sound-
symbol relationships and different fonts to engage in friendly and meaningful chats. As
consequence, learners constructed meaning and depicted themselves in regards of what they were or
wanted to be within their peer group or social worlds. Such outcomes become part of the process of
learning about language, learning from and about others‟ experiences through meaningful
interactions.
Additionally, written conversations invited students to show what they know regarding
grammar rules, proper spelling, and phonemic awareness to inquire about what they do not know
and write more than what they would have produced on their own. In the same way, written
conversations afforded collaborative learning that supported students‟ growth as writers, since one
member of a writing partnership might bring knowledge of form and another of literary language.
As consequence of the previous knowledge students had, the teacher could examine the way they
build their literate identities through which students saw themselves as communicators, readers,
revisers and accomplished writers, while others saw themselves as actresses, friends, comedians,
inquirers, animal lovers, computer users, immigrants, mathematicians, boys, girls, among other
roles.
The previous study gives me insights to understand the relevance of creating authentic
language learning contexts in order to engage students on literacy and inquiry practices, where they
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feel empowered to take the responsibility of being autonomous learners. Additionally, Sluys &
Laman (2006) work, offers me different perspectives on how helping my students to portray
themselves as competent users of language and share meaning to others through collaborative work.
Building on this trend of research, I adhere to the social perspective of language as a communicative
tool that engages students in inquiry practices and learning from others to promotes authorship
practices and meaningful literacy learning experiences.
Finally, McGinnis (2007) conducted an ethnographic study with Khmer (Cambodian ethnic),
Vietnamese and Somali children of migrant farm workers who were in sixth, seventh and eighth
grade in a public school of Pennsylvania, United States. The main concern was directly related to the
way school literacy practices did not address the diversity and complexities of students‟ language
practices, neglecting the varied ways youth use reading, writing and language. Thereby, a broader
perspective of literacy was unfolded following the multimodal and multilingual nature of students‟
literacy and language practices. In this sense, this study intended mainly to build a curriculum
through inquiry-based projects around students‟ interests, knowledge and social worlds in order to
create spaces to listen their voices, especially of those whose first language was not English.
Additionally, McGinnis wanted to give her students semiotic systems to construct their intended
meanings through inquiry-based projects and depict learners as agents of their meaning-making
processes instead of focusing on the acquisition of English Literacy to comprehend meanings that
are based in the dominant culture.
During the pedagogical innovation, students began choosing their topics of inquiry, which
ranged from investigating rap music in the United States to writing about fruit from their home
country as a way to easing their feelings of loss, since they had to live their rural life to be part of the
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urban life of a new country. Likewise, students chose to inquire about such topics as an opportunity
to make sense of their new urban identities. In so doing it, students drew on and combined their
different languages, writing systems and modes of meaning making available, as they so naturally
do in their daily lives. As result of their work, students created multilingual and multimodal texts to
express themselves and their previous knowledge regarding topics of their interest as rap music,
Asia‟s fruits and Dragon Ball Z. In spite of the limited resources students had, they used magazines,
traditional school texts, movies, even students‟ own knowledge and elder woman in the community
as valuable resources during their investigations. On top of that, the majority of resources were in
English, the students discussed their content using their native languages. In this way, students
explored collaboratively through dialogic inquiry practices, while learning from their peers,
enhancing their language and literacy abilities.
After gathering data of their inquiries, students presented their investigations by combining
different linguistic, oral, visual and physical modes to express the intended meaning through a tri-
fold poster for displaying their multimodal and multilingual texts. The results of this study were
stunning since youngsters learnt from their peers and acquired knowledge about language.
Furthermore, language and literacy learning emerged as the students participated in different ways.
Another relevant trait of this research findings deals with the way students‟ voices and feelings
became essential elements for developing multilingual and multimodal literacy practices. Similarly,
students were seen as capable learners with abilities and talents to co-construct meaning, and new
understandings of their social worlds.
According to my research purposes, this study gives me several insights as teacher researcher
to understand the role of students as knowledge holders, since they are capable of using their
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language and literacy knowledge to work collaboratively, when they are in charge of investigating
topics that matter to them within their social context. On top of that, as teacher researcher I consider
paramount to value multimodal nature of students‟ literacy as an opportunity to position them as
owners of their knowledge, agents of change, responsible and successful learners within our fast-
changing global world. Similarly, the inquiry-based project developed in the work of McGinnis
(2007) gives me insights on how to create environments to maximize learning opportunities, peer
bounding and literacy practices from a social dimension that might help to overcome the curricular
boundaries of the EFL mandated curricula.
After having examined several research works based on English Language Learning and
Literacy instruction within an inquiry mindset, I found relevant connections between my research
and the aforementioned investigations, since there is an inclusion of a socio-cultural perspective of
literacy practices and language learning. Even though, these studies refer to the relevance of
combining inquiry and literacy from a socio-cultural perspective to promote students‟ language
learning, empowerment, authoring practices, collaboration, self-regulation of learning and the co-
construction of curriculum, they do not describe the emerging EFL literacy practices that students
might use when they inquire upon their close surroundings, particularly, their school community.
Although some studies took into account local knowledge of students‟ communities to develop
writing practices from a socio-cultural perspective, none of them specifically explore the modes that
elementary students draw on to bring out their literacy practices to the EFL classroom, within an
inquiry-based learning environment. This is why my work is relevant and appropriate to be
conducted, since it potentially contributes to the TEFL field.
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Chapter 3
Research Design
This chapter presents the research framework with the purpose of answering the following
research question: What literacy practices emerge when third graders inquire collaboratively into
their academic surroundings at a private school in Bogotá? The chapter introduces the research
methodology of the study, the setting and participants, as well as the instruments for data
collection, role of the researcher and ethical issues.
Type of study
Since this study accounts for a social phenomenon related to literacy development of EFL
learners within a particular socio cultural context, it is necessary to observe the reality of
participants experiences from different angles. In this sense, this work is a qualitative research
which contemplates that “meaning is socially constructed by individuals in interaction with their
world” (Merriam, 2002, p. 3), due to the fact that participants inquire about their school
surroundings and construct new understandings, and meanings while developing literacy
practices from a socio cultural dimension.
Similarly, a qualitative research locates the researcher as observer to identify, act and
implement changes that he or she considers relevant to tackle the problems within their natural
setting attempting “to make sense of meanings people bring to them through a series of
representations including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings and
memos” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005, p. 3).
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While this study is a qualitative research due to the objectives that it pursues and the
characteristics of my role as teacher-researcher within the context I currently work, I adopted the
action research methodology in order to articulate educational and research practices to work on
the issues this study address. Action research is conceived by Burns (2001) as “a form if inquiry
in which practitioners reflect systematically about their practice in order to obtain results, that
contribute to improve and build knowledge” (p. 33).
Similarly, Mills (2003) claims that “action research is any systematic inquiry conducted
by teachers researchers to gather information about the ways that their particular school operates,
how they teach, and how well their students learn” (p.4). Furthermore, Creswell (2002) considers
that action research aims to “improve the practice of education by inquiring on local issues, to
reflect upon them, to collect and analyze data and to implement changes based on findings” (p.
580). According to my perspective, the previous ideas frame a central part of this research since
the data gathered provide explanations and evidences of the way students develop meaningful
literacy practices during a collaborative inquiry process they take part.
In this respect, action research is a methodology that allows me to generate personal
theories by studying my own teaching practice to develop insights into my students‟ learning and
identify potential problems that might imply the modification of my teaching practices and
different ways of generating knowledge. Accordingly, action research is the most convenient and
powerful methodological design to develop my teaching and research practices, since this study
implies a shift on the way language and literacy practices are conceived from a structuralist
perspective to be viewed as social constructs that might enhance language learning. In this
regard, the implementation of this methodology might bring opportunities for my students to
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convey and make meaning in concordance to the local knowledge present in their school
community and provide them with occasions to experience meaningfully their EFL learning
process.
Action research methodology implies different models, such as Burns (2009), McNiff
(2002), Kemmis and McTaggart (1992), and Cohen Manion and Morrison (2000). Burns (2009)
describes action research as a cycle of interrelated activities to explore an issue in teaching or
learning. Such cycles have to do with identifying areas of concern; observing how those areas
play out in the setting of the study; discussing how the issue might be addressed; collect data to
determine the action to be taken (e.g., student questionnaires, observation reports, journal entries)
and planning strategic actions based on the data to address the issue.
In addition, McNiff (2002) action research model has to do with a “form of research
which can be undertaken by people in any context […] it involves thinking carefully about what
[it is] doing, so it can also be called a kind of self-reflective practice” (p. 15). In this sense, action
research implies learning through action and reflection across a variety of contexts as an abstract
discipline, and a set of procedures that can be applied within the real-life experience of real
people. The most widely known model is that of Kemmis and Mctaggart (1992) which focuses on
implementing an action plan, where the researcher has “to plan, act, observe and reflect more
carefully, more systematically and more rigorously than one usually do in everyday life” (p. 10)
Since the characteristics of my educational context allowed me to take a constant
participation within this research as observer and homeroom English teacher, action research
methodology “empower teachers to take control of their own professional development (Nunan,
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65
2006, p. 1). In this regard, teachers become in teacher-researchers and move between theory and
practice, as a process that leads changes and improvements in what happens in the classroom.
Regarding the model of action research that best addresses to the purpose of this study is
that of Cohen et al. (2000), since this methodology can be used in almost any setting where a
“problem involving people, task and procedures cries out for solution or where some change or
feature results in a more desirable outcome” (p. 226). For instance, the current educational setting
of this study, allude that communicative language teaching is the favorable approach for the
development of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Such situation turns the EFL
practices into language-cantered ones where students have to develop lineal and fragmented task
to command language. In this sense, action research guides how learner-centered practices lead to
obtain desirable outcomes in the EFL classroom, by implementing an integrated approach for
learning and teaching including values and attitudes, as part of the constant reflection, which
action research methodology suggests.
Cohen et al. (2000) also define action research as “a small-scale intervention in the
functioning of the real world and chose examination of the effects of such intervention” (p. 227).
In this sense, the situation that puzzles me concerning literacy learning was intervened in order to
analyze rich data cases that informed me about the effects of such pedagogical innovation. Action
research involves a spiral of cycles of planning, acting, observing and reflecting, and then re-
planning, further implementation, observing and reflecting (Cohen et al. 2000, p. 229).
I will describe each stage according to the moments this methodology is developed. The
planning phase has to do with exploring and identifying literacy processes in the school curricula
as well as finding information to give account of such processes. Subsequent, was essential to
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design an action plan meant to shift the current EFL literacy instruction of the EFL classroom.
The action phase has to do with the implementation of the previous action plan to collect data to
be analyzed. Then, observation phase involves perceiving the effect of the action plan by means
of the analysis and examination of the data to inform what is happening, and go towards the
reflecting stage, where the outcomes of the intervention allow to establish new teaching strategies
and plan further data collection to articulate and report final findings.
Figure 4. Research cycles based on Cohen et al. (2000)
Research Setting
This research is conducted at Liceo de Cervantes School, a private school founded in 1934 and
located in the North of Bogotá, Colombia. The school has a population of 1.258 students who
attend classes from 07:00 a.m. to 2:40 p.m. This institution started to enroll girls in 2015. Now,
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classes consisted on both male and female students in preschool, first grade and second grade.
The number of girls in the school is 48.
Liceo de Cervantes School has an intensive English program of ten hours per week based
on the communicative approach aimed to make students reach high levels of proficiency in the
English language communicative competence. Similarly, students are instructed to learn
Phonics, Science and Math during one hour per week correspondingly, due to the fact one of the
school purposes is to incorporate a bilingual education system in a near future.
Ninety-six teachers are part of the school community; 18 of them belong to the English
area divided into preschool, elementary and high school sections. English language teachers meet
two hours per week to talk about class planning, assessment processes, institutional activities and
standardized exams preparation for students in all academic levels. Teachers teach English,
Phonics, Math and Science mostly in the classroom, although twice a month teachers and
students can use ICT in the English Laboratory for students from 3rd
to 11th
grade, likewise the
English Play Room is available for students from preschool to 2nd
grade.
The mission of the school is focused on orienting students with catholic identity by means
of learning how to be, do and share to be leaders of tomorrow and look forward society
improvement. The vision aims to strengthen the catholic identity to keep leading the orientation
of competent citizens who are able to humanize the globalized world in the culture, technology
and the fields of science.
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Participants
The participants of the study are 20 third graders who are aged from 8 to 9 years old. The
students belong to social strata 3 and 4, and biological parents and siblings compose their
families. Since this qualitative research is an opportunity to foster literacy practices, it is
important to select a purposeful sample from which the most can be enhanced. With respect to
the criterion employed to select the participants, a non-probabilistic sample was selected to target
a particular group of students.
Similarly, purposeful and convenience sampling strategy was the qualitative research
strategy used to select a particular group of participants, as Patton (1990) claims the relevance to
select “information rich cases for study in depth to illuminate the questions under study”, as those
participants from whose is possible to observe characteristics of paramount importance for the
purpose of this research (p.169).
Data collection and Techniques
Due to the nature of this qualitative research and its purpose is to describe the literacy practices
that students might use when inquiring about school surroundings, it is necessary to define the
instruments for data collection to gather information that respond to the previous need. For the
purpose of this study, I have decided to use three instruments for gathering the data: Field notes,
Students‟ Journals and Students Artifacts.
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Instruments
Field note. Is an observational technique that includes “descriptions and accounts of