Maestría en Lingüística
URI permanente para esta colecciónhttp://hdl.handle.net/11349/13
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Ítem (Re)constructing critical english teacher identity in the context of russian nationalism: an autoethnographic study(Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas) Gorokhova, Anastasiia; Quintero Polo , Álvaro Hernán; Quintero Polo Álvaro Hernán [0000-0002-0315-8802]; García Barreto, Germán Alberto (Catalogador)This autoethnographic study is devoted to the process of transformation and (re)construction of my critical identity as an English teacher. Special attention is paid to how this process interacts with the broader discourse of Russian nationalism in the field of language education. The research, based on the principles of socio-critical perspective and social constructivism, shows that the teacher's identity is not static, but is constantly shaped by personal, professional and sociopolitical factors. The paper analyzes five key "turning points" in my life: Early Struggles and the Decision to Become a Teacher, Intercultural encounters and multilingual practice, War and Political Awakening, Living in Colombia and Identity Shifting, Master’s Program and Critical Pedagogical Shift. The study shows that interaction with the discourse of Russian nationalism became a catalyst that forced me to move from passive acceptance to an active position, a deeper understanding of the political nature of language and education, as well as the formation of a humanistic and ethical pedagogical position. The aim of the work is to inspire other teachers to critically reflect and consciously participate in the formation of a more equitable and inclusive educational space, where students are taught not what to think, but how to think—with compassion, doubt, and courage.Ítem Youth in motion: a critical ethnography of citizenship, language and inhabited spaces(Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas) Prieto Gonzalez, Kewin Arley; Bonilla Medina, Sandra Ximena; Bonilla Medina Sandra Ximena [0000-0002-6625-501X]This critical ethnographic study explores the citizenship practices of seven young English language learners enrolled in an English course at the Language Institute of a public university in Bogotá. The research investigates how these students, through their everyday practices, negotiate meaning and make choices within sociocultural, political, and economic contexts. Central to the study was a pedagogical innovation grounded in dialogic inquiry and a spatial approach to learning, which positioned students’ urban and digital inhabited spaces as meaningful sources for reflection, expression and citizenship practice. Data collection included students’ course class works such as spatial maps, personal essays, and video presentations, alongside teacher-ethnographer field notes and dialogic conversations. These particulars provided rich insight into how youth engage with English not only as an academic subject but as a tool for identity construction, social participation, and future aspiration. The findings suggest that those research companions’ enactments of citizenship are dynamic, situated, and space dependent. Youth citizenship is constituted by fluid, relational practices shaped by emotional, spatial, and ideological conditions, rather than fixed institutional roles. Urban and digital spaces played an active role in mediating how youth navigated identity, belonging, and civic participation. Ultimately, the findings challenge traditional views of ELT and citizenship, urging educators to value youth’s diverse, lived expressions of agency and community. The study affirms the potential of spatially grounded, dialogic pedagogies to recognize and expand young people’s plural, lived experiences of language and citizenship.Ítem Untangling english language teachers’ critical literacy views and practices by retrospective experiencesCorrea Sierra, Johan Nicolás; Castañeda Trujillo, Jairo Enrique; Castañeda Trujillo Jairo Enrique [0000-0002-3002-7947]This study intends to develop a conversation centered on untangling critical literacy views and practices by retrospective experiences in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). This research begins with my personal interest in opening a space for raising the voice towards the socio-cultural realities of EFL Colombian teachers. This research offers a theoretical discussion about critical pedagogy, critical language awareness, identity construction, role construction in teaching, and varied critical literacy stances. My interest in exploring inside teachers’ views and practices made me open a call for those teachers who had something to express in relation to their retrospective EFL experiences. Thus, I developed a narrative study by conducting narrative interviews with five EFL Colombian teachers. Based on the conversations with these five participants, I created an individualized narrative story from the interviews. Here, I found that these teachers untangled views and practices toward their critical literacy teaching experiences and labeled themselves as bridges, guides, advisers, listeners, mediators, and safe spaces for the EFL educational process. Consequently, there exist five different narratives that converge in three themes regarding human connection, teachers’ roles, and adaptations of realities in the critical literacy teaching experience. This research paper is established under the qualitative paradigm because it includes voices from the five EFL teachers. Thus, I situated their voices as fundamental outcomes for comprehending their stories as narrative data. Here, I determined that the five teachers based these experiences on three stages of auto conception which are building the world, the teachers’ roles and the adaptation to realities in their contexts. These five participants express their conception of English as the means in which they interact with the world. The findings presented strong and positioned practices views in relation to the development of critical literacy in the EFL teachers. The purpose of unveiling ways of teaching English was reached through meaningful memories from the participants’ retrospective experiences. Keywords: Critical Literacy, Narratives, Views, Practices, Teachers’ roles, Building the world, adaptation of realities, Experiences.Ítem La conciencia social como base para la construcción de los significados culturales de los estudiantes de inglésEspinosa Meneses, Lizeth Paola; Aldana Gutierrez, Yeraldine; Aldana Gutierrez Yeraldine [0000-0001-6655-2041]Social awareness is understood as the ability to empathize with others and understand different perspectives, as highlighted by Selman (2011). In Colombia, while social awareness has been emphasized in EFL classrooms, scarce research on this theme focuses on primary education contexts (Herrera et al., 2023; Jadán-Guerrero et al., 2022; Pérez, 2013). This study explores the cultural meanings 17 second graders assign to their interactions and perceptions of social reality, and the ways they construct meanings around significant cultural issues. To achieve this, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) was implemented to foster social awareness within the classroom environment. Employing a qualitative, descriptive, and interpretive analytic approach, this research addressed students’ artifacts, which were collected from the pedagogical intervention. Also, I conducted an analysis of the co-construction of cultural meanings via semi-structured interviews and systematic observations of student interactions during classroom activities. Findings reveal students’ awareness of conflicts impacting their families, schools, and other environments. Additionally, students displayed an ability to co-construct positions on social issues, emphasizing the importance of not criticizing or offending others. These insights underscore the potential of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in developing social awareness and fostering empathetic respectful interactions among young learners.Ítem Los discursos políticos de estudiantes de inglés en clases de deliberación: Una alternativa contra la neutralidad del inglés(Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas) Suárez Tafur, David Alejandro; Quintero Polo, Álvaro; Quintero Polo, Álvaro [0000-0002-0315-8802]The neutrality of English (Guerrero and Quintero, 2015) is a discursive phenomenon that portrays ELT as an apolitical field and activity. This in turn has social effects on the ways English teachers and students perceive ELT practices and how they should act, be, feel, and think within English classes. This can be seen from both a macro perspective (e.g., language policies such as standardization in Colombia’s Plan Nacional de Bilingüísmo) as well as a mezzo and micro perspectives (e.g., institutional practices, in-classroom teachers’ decisions and the use of textbooks). This thesis reports on the study of political discourses of English students in deliberation English classes to challenge the so-called neutrality of the English language within the frame of a pedagogical innovation that I created for the study. Political deliberation is based on a conceptualization of politics as a process (Leftwich, 2014) and political discourses as ideologically influenced and prone to exercise power. Under this lens, English students and teachers are political agents who use their voices to construct political realities. Through Critical Political Discourse Analysis (CPDA), the argumentative claims of students in the deliberation classes were studied to be described, interpreted, and explained (Fairclough, 2013a). Fairclough and Fairclough’s (2012) model of political discourse analysis was the basis for the reconstruction of the arguments of two of the deliberators. Findings reveal that, even though the Neutrality of English constrains relations, contents, and subjects, the political discourses of students in the deliberation classes exercise resistance through relationships, knowledge/beliefs, and identities. This suggests it is possible to think of English learning and teaching as a politically engaged activity and field that advocates for social change.Ítem Queering the queer[s]: language teachers’ gender identities otherwiseHernández Contreras, Julián; Bonilla Medina, Sandra Ximena; Bonilla Medina Sandra Ximena [0000-0002-6625-501X]This paper narrates the life experiences of Felipe, Laura, and Julián, three language teachers who identify as queer (gay and lesbian, respectively). Through autobiographies and pláticas, the main characters of this huge story share their personal and professional journeys marked by the struggle, pain, and discomfort of inhabiting nonconforming gender identities in educational contexts, particularly situated in non-being zones (Fanon, 2009; Grosfoguel, 2013). This research was guided by a qualitative narrative inquiry approach within a decolonial path to explore the way our gender identities intersected with our positions as teachers and to know the extent to which we, as diverse subjects, made visible our gendered selves. The analysis focused on three key axes: neglecting, approving, and migrating, which represented the conflicts experienced by the protagonists when facing normalized homogenization and invisibility imposed by the heteronormative canon. These concepts allowed for the reconstruction of the conflicts they experienced in our teaching doings as well as in our positionings as queer professional selves, highlighting the way dominant structures discriminate, pathologize, and homogenize our essence and existence. The paper concludes with a body-political and emotional call: to affirm our existence as queer teachers, to claim the right to speak about our selves, and to reject the repetition of [hetero]normative models as unique binary system for acknowledgement.Ítem Analizando las percepciones de los estudiantes de tercer grado sobre los entornos locales al implementar el aprendizaje basado en el lugar en clases de inglésGarcia Rodriguez, Leidy Dayana; Silva Alfonso, Katherin Lorena; Silva Alfonso, Katherin Lorena [0009-0005-5932-3992]This study analyzed students' perceptions of their local environment when implementing PBL (place-based learning) in English classes. The research problem stems from a gap observed between students' lived experiences and their understanding of the neighborhood. Students identified commercial spaces but struggled to recognize culturally significant locations or environmental features. Through classroom observations, interviews, and student artifacts, the study explores how PBL fosters student’s agency and ownership, critical eye about community issues, and personal reflection. The study investigated third graders' perceptions of their local environment through the lens of critical pedagogies integrated into English language classes. The analysis revealed rich data categorized into three key themes: Student Agency and Ownership, From Appreciation to Action, and A Journey of Self-Discovery through Reflection. These categories offer a comprehensive understanding of how the project impacted students' perceptions of their community. By integrating local contexts and fostering connections to place, students become active and responsible participants in their communities.Ítem Valores sociales y prácticas de literacidad en estudiantes de cuarto grado mediadas por las historias digitalesNoreña Sandoval, Santiago Andrés; Castañeda Trujillo, Jairo Enrique; Castañeda Trujillo, Jairo Enrique [0000-0002-3002-7947]In the context of English as a Foreign Language teaching in elementary school, fourth graders tend to have diverse social practices on how to build their interpersonal relationships. The following project focuses on addressing the relationship among fourth graders in terms of their literacy practices, social values, and the use of digital storytelling in an EFL context. In line with the above, the study of how the social values of the fourth graders are represented, co-constructed and produced is important. The qualitative research employed the instruments of semi structured interviews and observations in order to capture the multiple interactions among students, their literacy practices, and the social values integrated within the EFL context. The preliminary findings reveal how students challenge top-down teaching approaches and, instead, reconstruct social values through various dimensions of their social practices and environments, such as school and family. Grounded in a socio-constructivist epistemology, the findings from interviews and observations confirm that students redefined these values through interacting with peers, articulating feelings, sharing them, and deepening their understanding of one another. This bottom-up process, facilitated by digital storytelling in the EFL context, highlights the active role of students in co-constructing social values in practice.Ítem Co-construcción de modelos autoiniciados de enseñanza de profesores en formación de inglés como lengua extranjera en una universidad pública: un enfoque narrativoMosquera Ñáñez, Óscar Andrés; Quintero Polo, Álvaro; Quintero Polo, Álvaro [0000-0002-0315-8802]This thesis presents a narrative study that researches the experiences of one pre-service teacher to co-construct her theories of practice in the form of a self-initiated model to teach English. The study was conducted in an English language education undergraduate program at a public university in Bogotá, Colombia. The data was collected through non-structured online interviews that were transcribed to answer the research question: How does a pre-service EFL teachers configure her self-initiated model to teach based on her lived experiences in an English education undergraduate program in a public university? The narrative data come from the reflexivity upon experiences and decisions that the participant made during her practicum, her seminars at the language program, and teaching moments outside the scope of the language education program. The data analysis was conducted from an inductive thematic analysis approach. The results are condensed into one main category; What I believe is right to teach English is... and four subcategories; What I do in the classroom, Recognizing my students..., Within EF knowledge: this is the way to teach English! and Outside EFL knowledge: why not to use this to teach English? The self-initiated model is presented using a metaphor, The Voyage. In this model, the Captain, Victoria, is the protagonist of its creation. The Voyage is composed of three primary constituent elements. In the first component, Taking the helm to command the ship, the principles of common sense, adaptability, efficiency, and meaningfulness take form to represent Victoria’s experiential knowledge. In the second element of her model, The map and the compass, Victoria’s evaluations of her teaching realities and assessment of her students as individuals and pupils serve as her guide for her teaching acts. In the third one, Stations: docks, ports, and lighthouses, Victoria's formal scholar knowledge to teach inside and outside ELT is represented. In her model, Victoria reconciles her experiential knowledge and her acquired formal scholarly knowledge for instruction. However, she provides critical views on impositions on the application of academic knowledge to teach in practicum scenarios. The proposal of pre-service teachers' self-initiated model to teach as a novel form to conceive theories of practice serves to strengthen their agency and make their voices more visible. In this sense, pedagogical interventions that consider the contributions from this study may take place at both pre-service and in-service levels.Ítem Posiciones y posicionamientos de los profesores de Inglés hacia los alumnos con diversidad funcional: un estudio narrativoBarrero Rico, Cristhian Camilo; Aldana Gutierrez, Yeraldine; Aldana Gutierrez, Yeraldine [0000-0001-6655-2041]This study has addressed and challenged the discourses and practices surrounding human rights, inclusive policies, and norms that support a positivist and the deficit-based view of students with disabilities in their EFL education, influencing the pedagogical practices, social reality, and decision making of English language teachers. This research departs from a critical disability interpretative framework. In this study, three main constructs were identified: human rights-based deficitarian representation(s), political disability discourse(s), and English language teachers’ positions and positionings. These constructs highlight the diffuse terminology and understanding of inclusive education; likewise, the discursively political conditions under students with functional diversity are legitimized, and the multiple positions and positionings of English language teachers. The participants were Colombian English language teachers-in-service who were beneficiaries, informants, participants, and co-interpreters of the present inquiry. The data were collected through written narratives, and semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that teachers normalize and simultaneously denaturalize deficitarian representations through human rights models (i.e., social, medical, and moral models) that reproduce Western images of disabilities. Those images are materialized through positivist and neoliberal language enacted by standardizing norms and policies.Ítem La (re)construcción de mi yo docente a través de la reflexividad antes, en, y después del Covid 19Posada, Laura; Quintero, Álvaro; 0000-0002-0315-8802This study aimed to make sense of my self-as-teacher before, during, and after the recent pandemic we all had to go through due to the COVID-19 virus. This resulted from my interest in relating this personal phenomenon to the (re)construction of language teacher identity (LTI) and reflexivity. The literature review was used to a) highlight the (re)construction of LTIs as a never-ending process that accounts for the instances teachers adopt thanks to their experiences (Varghese et al., 2005); b) show reflexivity as mechanism language teachers use to position themselves and practice agency (Edge, 2011; Kumaravadivelu, 2012); and c) show how reflexive self-positioning and interactive positioning, along with professional development (PD), are the result of the reflexiveness applied throughout the personal, professional and academic practices (Davies and Harré, 1990). Subsequently, the study adopted a self-reflexive/auto-ethnographic approach, since I played the only participant and researcher in this project (Ellis and Bochner, 2000). In the same way, my written stories were the main data; these were based on my personal, academic and job experiences. Then, this study adopted an introspective approach (Quintero, 2016), where teaching experiences were explored through a narrative inquiry perspective (Barkhuizen and Wette, 2008). Moreover, this study also analyzed six turning points (TPs) of my career experiences. The conclusions revealed that the critical awareness I have had throughout my career is the result of a 3R-EC framework (Reflection, Reflexivity, and Resolved Action for Epistemic Cognition) (Lunn Brownlee et al., 2017). Also, the idea of continuing to perform the 3R-EC framework in daily living tasks so that I can progress as a coherent mom, teacher, researcher, and meaningful other, which aligns with the fact that LTI is an ongoing process that implies experiencing forward and backward.Ítem Convertirse en profesores-investigadores: identidades de los profesores de inglés en un programa de maestríaLargo Rodríguez, José David; Quintero Polo, Álvaro Hernán; Quintero Polo Álvaro Hernán [0000-0002-0315-8802]This study sought to understand the ways teachers shape and negotiate their identities as teacher-researchers at a graduate program in a public university. This resulted from my interest to explore the intricate paths teachers traverse to become teacher-researchers and to problematize the growing interest in teacher research in the framework of a neoliberal panorama. The study adopted a poststructuralist perspective on identity that revolves around the works of Barkhuizen (2021), Norton & Early (2011), and Rudolph et al. (2018) to understand the contingent, ongoing, fluid, and ever-changing nature of identities present in teachers’ life stories. In the same vein, this perspective opened the scope to analyze external and internal elements (Borg, 2010; Edwards & Burns, 2016) intersecting teachers’ identities while they learn about research (engagement with) and conduct research (engagement in) (Xu, 2014). Through a narrative lens, this study analyzed nine teachers’ meaning of their lived experiences while storying their trajectory in being and becoming teacher-researchers. Findings revealed that teachers construct initial ways of being and becoming while they learn about research and conduct their research agendas. In this process, the available discourses, practices, and methodologies shape initial ways of being. Similarly, the sociocultural contexts and communities of practice teachers inhabit, and their inner capacities afford or constrain the constructions of their identities. Nevertheless, teacher-researcher identities do not lie fixed or complete but are fluid and ongoing as teachers deconstruct their past experiences in the master’s program. At this point, teachers experience epistemic breaks that allow them to (re)construct renewed ways of being teacher-researchers. In the end, their identities are constantly shaped in a pull-and-push relationship with their past experiences, their present constructions, and their imagined prospections.Ítem Desarrollo de habilidades analíticas y alfabetización informativa en estudiantes mediante mnemotecniasFlórez Espinosa, Alan Stick; Pineda Báez, Clelia; Pineda Báez, Clelia [0000-0002-1369-4190]This research explored the impact of mnemonic techniques and informational literacy on the analytical skills of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students. The primary objective was to investigate how the utilization of mnemonic devices influenced students' analytical abilities and their application of information in the development of their critical thinking. Mnemonic techniques are memory aids that help students to remember information by associating it with something else. They can be used to remember facts, concepts, or even entire procedures. This study adopted a qualitative methodology descriptive methodology to gather and analyze data. Students were actively engaged in activities that involved information analysis, source evaluation, and creation of mnemonic devices. The data was collected through learners’ reflections, observations, and artifacts analysis. The findings of this research demonstrated that the process of constructing mnemonic devices significantly enhanced students' analytical skills and fostered more robust critical thinking abilities. Moreover, students exhibited a heightened level of critical and reflective information processing, effectively assessing the reliability and relevance of various sources. The implications of the results are of great pedagogical significance, as they underscore the importance of instructing analytical skills and cultivating critical thinking within the EFL classroom. Educators are encouraged to integrate information literacy and mnemonic techniques into their teaching practices to effectively foster the development of analytical skills among students. Furthermore, it is recommended that students are sensitized to ethical concerns associated with the use of copyrighted materials and are taught to respect the rights of creators. In summary, this research provided empirical evidence to support the claim that mnemonic techniques can be an effective way to improve students' analytical skills. Second, it identified specific mnemonic techniques that are particularly effective for EFL students and third it presented a framework for integrating mnemonic techniques into EFL instruction.Ítem Re-significando mi yo culturado como resultado de una autoetnografía alrededor de interacción croscultural en línea de inglés como lengua extranjeraPérez Bonfante, Carolina; Bonilla Medina, Sandra Ximena; Bonilla Medina, Sandra Ximena [0000-0002-6625-501X]The present thesis goes over the phenomenon of online EFL cross-cultural interaction between a teacher (researcher) and her students (co-researchers) in order to account for the way in which my (inner) cultured self is re-signified, as a result of said interaction and autoethnographic reflection around it. Through observation and analysis of critical-cultural episodes, and retrospection into my experiences as an EFL teacher, learner, and researcher, as well as my students’ experiences, I was able to find that an individual’s cultured self is a layered construction. The study led me to conclude that, in situations where (collective, individual, corporate, academic, etc.) culture plays a key role, a teacher’s cultured self is flexible enough to adapt to contextual demands, exerted by factors such as personal (research, pedagogical or ideological interests) and interpersonal (rapport with students) motivations, school’s corporate rules (teaching methods, customer service, quality control), which are all linked to broader cultural values. Nonetheless, the principles that individuals are brought up with, as well as turning points and experiences that we have had throughout our lives, exert a very considerable –at times unconscious– influence on our cultured selves, too. Even when our more recent affiliations and convictions clash with these ‘elemental’ tenets. The autoethnographic exercise also revealed that some of the cultural biases that have shaped our cultured selves respond to historical relations of subordination, exclusion, and discrimination of oppressed groups by dominant ones, based on social and economic aspects (race, gender, class, nationality, or religion.)Ítem Perspectivas de los estudiantes sobre la construcción de la paz a través de las prácticas de literacidad en los mediosRodríguez, Sindy; Aldana, Yeraldine; 0000-0001-6655-2041; 0000-0002-3820-4194Observations of high school students in a Colombian public institution in the south of Bogotá showed that they faced personal conflicts with partners and authority role models (teachers and parents). They seem to naturalize and legitimize violence encoded in their everyday interactions. This research reports a qualitative, descriptive, and interpretive study that sought to understand high school students´ perspectives about peace that are collectively created when involved in EFL media literacy practices. The pedagogical intervention is built on the principles of media literacy and integrated social studies and EFL. The curricular platform supported all instructional activities and allowed using different forms of knowledge representation that facilitated the elaboration of students’ ideas about peace. Data collection included artifacts and field notes of all sessions. Preliminary findings suggest that students transform their understandings of peace as they collectively work with their families and close people. These re-constructions contributed to creating students’ inner sense of peace. Participants demonstrated freedom to express their feelings and discuss the importance of mental health, particularly during the quarantine caused by Covid-19.Ítem The depiction of language school EFL Teachers’ beliefs and issues through discourses found in memesMenses Perdomo, César Andres; Castañeda Trujillo, Jairo EnriqueResearch worldwide has focused on EFL teachers within the context of public and private schools and universities. Although studies have examined the context of EFL teachers in language schools, including their policies on skills such as reading, the use of textbooks, and cultural identities, as well as their salaries and descriptions of settings in countries such as Malta, Spain, or Canada, there has been a lack of attention paid to the phenomenon of EFL teachers' discourses in memes to comment on their beliefs and struggles within language schools. This study aims to expand on research into EFL teachers from private language centers, particularly their use of discourse and humor in memes to depict their experiences. Teachers in this setting have created humorous memes uploaded to social media sites such as Reddit, and these memes may contain discourses that inform us about EFL teachers' issues, struggles, and perceptions of the ELT field. Thematic filtering, multimodal discourse analysis, and cyber-pragmatic analysis are used to extract discourses and humor styles from image macro memes. Data were collected from posts made during the months of May, June, and July 2021. It has been found that teachers use metaphors, sarcasm, and text-image incongruities to not only change power relations within language schools or reinforce bonds with members of the ELT community, but also depict EFL teachers as creative, playful, knowledgeable individuals who imbue discourses with humor for purposes beyond entertainment.Ítem Nativespeakerism and english teachers’pedagogical discoursesEstupiñán Castellanos, Germán Enrique; Aldana, Yeraldine; Aldana, Yeraldine [0000-0001-6655-2041]Abstract The native speaker fallacy elicits both support and resistance within ELT settings. Nativespeakerism (NS) seems to create alienation and resistance mechanisms towards teachers’ and institutions’ pedagogical discourses in an informal teaching setting. The goal of this project is to understand teachers’ pedagogical discourses regarding NS within an EFL setting, to identify NS aspects within EFL teachers’ and institutions’ pedagogical discourses and to analyze relations of power derived from that dichotomy. This qualitative descriptive investigation took the critical perspective (Merriam, 2009) and the post-structuralist approach (Kincheloe, 2008) as frameworks of reference. The theoretical framework discusses the most relevant theory that backed up this qualitative investigation. In addition to, participants involved in this research were 3 English teachers from an EFL teaching setting, and the instruments were semi-structured interviews used to collect teachers’ pedagogical discourses regarding NS, and Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) was the data analysis approach applied to systematize data. To illustrate, two findings contracted in this study were: first, the way mainstream pedagogical discourses impact in the same way to teachers and institutions; and second, how non-native teachers develop pedagogical positionings regarding the native speaker privileges and upon NS. Finally, findings displayed as conclusions that inner-circle countries are set as norm-providing models with an ELT industry exported to the expanding circle countries which turn only into non-dependent countries or consumers. Key Words: Nativespeakerism, teachers, institutions, pedagogical discourses, alienation, resistance, self-positioning.Ítem Creencias de los estudiantes sobre los exámenes estandarizados en el contexto de la enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera en Nicaragua.Torrez Miranda, Cristopher Alejandro; Pineda, CleliaThe area of language testing in the EFL context has been severely criticized by the educational community, particularly in relation to standardized forms of evaluation. Standardized tests are tools that perpetuate segregation, discrimination and injustice, leaving aside students' experiences, lived stories, and beliefs. This thesis aimed at deepening the understanding of standardized testing in an international setting. Nicaragua, provides a new perspective to the critical language testing field, hence the importance of this study to the region. This descriptive, interpretative, qualitative, and phenomenological research study sought to reveal the essence of the lived experiences of a group of students who took the Versant English exam at a private high-level institution in Nicaragua. It also intended to unveil students’ beliefs about EFL testing. In-depth interviews along with students’ journals were used to collect data. The data analysis shows that students’ have inner visualizations of the exam that generate a constellation of feelings that impact their academic and social dimensions. The findings also reveal that students believed that the exam works as a mere instrument to measure their linguistic proficiency and it is a way to control their personal, and academic decisions. The results indicate that the EFL community must look for alternative and enriching ways to assess and evaluate students.Ítem Transiciones de la aritmética a la matemática crítica en InglésOlaechea Rojas, Nasly Katherine; Pineda Báez, CleliaThis descriptive and interpretive study responds to the need to transform a rigid structure of math practices in an EFL math classroom that followed a proficiency-oriented approach. Fifteen EFL Math students in the age range between 8 and 10 participated in six Critical Math Literacy didactic units (CML) at a private bilingual school in Bogotá-Colombia. Data were collected during six months, classroom observations, students' artifacts, and six Critical Math literacy units. The results showed students' engagement, participation and text production about the economy, healthcare, and environmental issues in inquiry and math tasks. The enhancement of the English language and concepts that merged content areas developed in sophisticated repertories. Student artifacts revealed initiatives about caring for natural resources and people to understand societal structures as citizens informed. Additionally, students' outcomes unveiled how learners raised environmental awareness through transitions from numeracy to critical math literacy. The results indicated that careful consideration of learners' constructions and social reflections enables math education to propose more emancipatory pedagogies that significantly foster a critical perspective in young learners’ engagement.Ítem Comprensión de las representaciones sociales en un aula de idiomas a distancia de EFLQuete Alarcon, Lina Paola; Pineda Baez, ClecliaThis research sought to understand how high school students from a private institution located in the south of Bogota represented themselves, others and their community during the adjustments caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It also aimed at examining how their representations were connected to their EFL learning process, especially, while interacting in remote language classes mediated by different digital tools. The study was framed in a netnographic, qualitative, descriptive, and interpretive standpoint. Different modes of communication that were available in video conferencing tools were analyzed, along with observations from regular classes to examine interactions and ways by which students represented themselves and their environment. Findings revealed that students modified and adjusted available icons and images to fit their interests, moods, and features of authenticity as individuals. Additionally, they disclosed aspects of their daily life and situations that they were dealing with during remote modality of schooling. On the one hand, the results are aligned with George's theory (2009, 2007) about self-representation to understand the way students view themselves and how they connect with others and with the world during disruptive times. The results show the importance of examining social representations as alternative to address socio-emotional and socio-affective issues in remote learning environments. As Bozkurt and Tu (2016) stated, social representations increase learning experiences, emotional presences, and active engagement, especially in digital learning environments.