Universidad Austral De Chile Facultad De Filosofía Y Humanidades Escuela De Pedagogía En Comunicación En Lengua Inglesa
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Universidad Austral de Chile Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades Escuela de Pedagogía en Comunicación en Lengua Inglesa Lead advisor: PhD. Amalia Ortiz de Zárate Fernández EFL Receptive and Productive Skills and Critical Thinking Abilities in Skateboarders of Valdivia. Seminario de Tesis para optar al Título de Profesor en Comunicación en Lengua Inglesa y al Grado de Licenciado en Educación Roxana Miranda Yáñez Felipe Ríos Saldivia Valdivia- Chile 2013 EFL and Skaters in Valdivia i Abstract This study emerges with the conviction that a customized curriculum is the key to achieve most goals in educational matters. From a national perspective, a customized curriculum that values and includes the identity features, goals and expectations of students who belong to urban tribes does not seem to be implemented in Chilean schools; however, it is necessary to do so, since it can lead to create an inclusive learning environment and enhance the students’ learning process. In order to explore this area, a field study was carried out. In it, seven high school students from Valdivia, who belong to the skateboarding urban tribe, participated as subjects of study. The authors of this research were able to recognize the aspects that constitute the identity features, goals and expectations through the collected data gathered from participant observations and a group interview. The analysis of the collected information led to the creation of a workshop in which the cultural elements of high school skateboarders are put in use for the benefit of the participants’ critical thinking abilities and EFL receptive and productive skills. Keywords: Customized Curriculum, Urban tribes, Skateboarding, EFL, Critical Thinking, Receptive and Productive Skills, Inclusion. EFL and Skaters in Valdivia ii Table of Contents Abstract i Table of Contents ii List of Tables iv Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Antecedents 4 1. Theoretical Framework 7 1.1. State of the art 7 1.1.1. Current conditions of education in Chile 7 1.1.2. Skateboarding and Education 8 1.1.3. English as a Foreign Language in Chile 11 1.2. Social Movements 14 1.2.1. New Social Movements 15 1.2.2. Urban Tribes 16 1.3. Critical Thinking 21 1.3.1. Definition of Critical Thinking 21 1.3.2. The Importance of Critical thinking abilities in Education 22 1.4. National Writing Project 26 1.4.1. Mission and Vision of the National Writing Project 26 1.4.2. The Role of Teachers and Students in the National Writing Project 27 1.4.3. The National Writing Project and the Students’ Development of 28 Critical Thinking Skills 2. Procedures and Methods 30 2.1. Subjects of Study 30 2.2. Data Collection Tools 33 2.2.1. Participant Observation 33 EFL and Skaters in Valdivia iii 2.2.2. Field notes 34 2.2.3. Group interviews 36 2.3. Type of Analysis 38 3. Corpus 40 3.1 Results 40 3.1.1 Participant Observations 40 3.1.2. Group Interview 47 3.2. Discussion 51 3.2.1. Identity 51 3.2.2. From Sense of Reality to Critical Thinking 54 4. Teaching Proposal 57 4.1. Workshop 58 General Conclusions 62 Annexes EFL and Skaters in Valdivia iv List of Tables Number Name Page 1 Subjects of study 32 2 Generalized list of concerns 36 3 Results of the observations 46 4 Results of the group interview 50 5 Workshop 61 EFL and Skaters in Valdivia v Acknowledgments Roxana Miranda Yañez: First of all, I would like to thank all the people who helped me and supported me through the duration of my studies. I would like to thank my beloved family and friends, who always gave me their support and endless love. Thank you for your kind words every time I needed them the most and for believing in me and my capacities. I doubt I would be here today, without your support. Thanks to my thesis partner, Felipe; working with you was awesome. I can sincerely say that I couldn’t wish for a better partner. Finally, to my lead advisor, Amalia Ortiz de Zárate; thank you so much for your criticism and support, throughout this process. It certainly encouraged me to do my best and to keep growing as a professional. EFL and Skaters in Valdivia vi Felipe Ríos Saldivia: At the end of a long and difficult journey, it is necessary to thank all the people who, directly or indirectly, contributed and helped me to reach the end of it. I would like to thank my family, girlfriend and friends for their understanding, patience and love. Your support is what kept me going through the difficulties involved in this process. To my thesis partner, Roxana. Your devotion and patience are fundamental parts of this work. Without you none of this would be possible. To the teachers who, through the years, supported and contributed to my professional formation. Especially, to our lead advisor, Amalia Ortiz de Zárate, for her guidance, support and encouragement. I would also like to thank the subjects of this study; their patience and willingness to participate are the cornerstone of this study. Thank you for sharing your lives, experiences, and thoughts. Finally I extend my thanks to skateboarding and the skateboarding community of Valdivia. Thank you for, once again, proving your importance in my life. EFL and Skaters in Valdivia 1 Introduction To personalize the curriculum so it can meet the students’ needs and interests, can lead to transform education into a more enriching and rewarding experience, but to do so, implies the challenge of getting to know the students. Nowadays, further research of youth cultures is fundamental in order to facilitate a climate of inclusion in the classroom. Hence, the step stone to create an inclusive classroom is to identify the elements of the students’ sociocultural background and from that point create a customized curriculum that includes and values the students’ identity features, interests, goals and expectations. Urban tribes have drawn the attention during the past 30 years due to the distinctive characteristics that turn them into actual micro societies. According to Carles Feixa (2006), urban tribes are young micro-societies built around the common social experiences of its members. The members of these multicultural groups, most of them teenagers, share common interests, lifestyles and possess a strong sense of belonging towards their group that is often considered a family bond by the people who form it (Vargas & Feixa, 2006, 2008). However, the relationship between the students who belong to urban tribes and the institutions they attend seems to be in permanent conflict, as these students’ perception of life is opposite to the way schools are conceived (Vargas, 2008). In this regard, the skateboarder urban tribe is not the exception. Skaters as other social groups find school boring or uninteresting, decreasing their motivation towards learning. In relation to this, it is imperative to create learning scenarios in which the students’ identity features are respected and valued, and they become the protagonists of their own learning. Thus, the creation of a customized curriculum can EFL and Skaters in Valdivia 2 lead to transform the students’ life in school into a more rewarding and inclusive experience. In another aspect, English and critical thinking are two fundamental skills for any person living in the 21st century. In today’s globalized society the English language is the protagonist of world’s languages, and critical thinking is a crucial tool to “compete in a modern, global economy” (Hove, 2011). Any efficient educational system should include these two subjects into their curriculum in order to prepare future citizens to achieve their goals and contribute to the development of society. Such skills can be enhanced and developed in EFL students who are part of the skateboarding urban tribe. English is an area that can be explored to achieve educational improvement at a national scope, as the language shares an undeniable link with skateboarding. The English language has a major influence in the skaters’ everyday lives as there is a vast quantity of audiovisual and written material related to skateboarding that it is produced in English. This particular aspect can be used to keep students motivated towards learning, at the same time as using the students’ interests and ideas to enhance their critical thinking skills. Despite the fact there are studies that highlight the necessity of a customized curriculum to enhance the teaching and learning processes, there are few studies that focus on urban tribes specifically, regarding this matter. Consequently, it was necessary to study the skateboarding urban tribe in both, theory and field through the development of a field study in Valdivia, Chile. EFL and Skaters in Valdivia 3 This research paper is composed of three chapters; number one exposes the theoretical framework. The structure of the theoretical framework is as follows: Firstly, the main themes that this research focuses on are examined; the State of the art, social movements, critical thinking and National Writing Project. Secondly, these concepts are analyzed in the light of the creation of a customized curriculum that includes the students’ cultural discourse, interests, goals and expectations. The contents of chapter two and three are devoted to expose the field study. The first segment of chapter two describes the methodology used to identify the cultural aspects of the subjects of study: skateboarders in Valdivia. The participants of the study are also described in detail. The research tools applied to gather the information required are participant observations, field notes and a group interview. The aspects that the researchers consider when analyzing the collected data are the following categories: Identity, Sense of Reality and Expectations. Successively, chapter three is divided into three sections.