Confrontando los derechos de los niños: Un ejercicio en las prácticas de escucha

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to understand the social representations of children´s rights that may emerge when discussing this topic in the English classes. The study was conducted in a 10th grade at a school in Bogota D.C. The main variables identified by the authors were Children´s Rights Education, Social Representations and the development of Listening Competence. In this qualitative action research study, data collection instruments included observations, questionnaires, and artifacts in order to identify the students’ perceptions and understandings of the rights of the child. The authors acknowledge the contributions of Howarth (2006) on social representations, Anckar (2011) on listening comprehension, and Flowers (2009) on Children’s Rights Education. The findings indicate that the rights of the child are understood as the main instrument to ensure child protection. Besides, the learners became aware of the problems that figures of authority such as the government, parents, and teachers represent in regards to the promotion and protection of the children’s rights. Moreover, pupils stated that the promotion of their entitlements should be considered as a social responsibility. Likewise, students highlighted the role of education in order to ensure their protection and personal development. As for language proficiency development, the population developed listening for gist and listening for specific information. The data indicates that participants gained learning strategies such as making notes, and translating, it also reveals that learners grasped vocabulary related to the discussion of rights.