Involucramiento de los estudiantes de grado décimo con literacidades locales mediante relacionalidades alternativas en tunjuelito

Abstract

This qualitative study, grounded in a descriptive and interpretive methodology, explores the reflections co-constructed by tenth-grade students from a public school as they engaged in a local literacy inquiry framed by alternative relationalities in Tunjuelito (in Bogotá). It challenges traditional instrumental approaches to English language teaching—focused on grammar, vocabulary, and structural correctness—by incorporating sociocultural, emotional, and critical dimensions that confront deficit narratives, stigma, and marginalization. Drawing from concepts such as reading the world, critical pedagogy, and local literacies as culturally situated practices, the research used grounded theory to analyze data collected from students’ artifacts, semi-structured interviews, and discussion groups. The analysis identified local knowledge as the central category, supported by three subcategories that shaped students’ construction of critical language learning. Findings reveal that students developed complex reflections marked by dualities—such as beauty and adversity—and affective ambivalences. Their voices demonstrated the ability to reframe stereotypes, confront injustice, and enact resistance. The process fostered a strong sense of belonging, community identity, and critical awareness, underscoring the value of humanizing pedagogies in English language education. This study highlights the importance of engaging students in reflective learning rooted in their lived experiences. It contributes to critical language education by valuing local knowledge as a tool for questioning dominant narratives. Through place-based pedagogy, students were empowered to become active agents of transformation, using their voices and reflections to imagine alternative futures. In doing so, the English classroom emerges as a space for social inquiry and change, where students read their world and assign new meaning to language learning. In reading their world, students learned not only a language, but alternative ways of naming and transforming their realities.