Interpretación de las costumbres gastronómicas: un estudio de aprendizaje experiencial

Abstract

Culture in education is an important area, and schools should promote cultural competence to discourage ethnocentric practices. This monograph reports an investigation conducted in Colombian with two eleventh grades, with a sample of twenty students with an average age of sixteen years old. This paper analyzes the learners' perspectives of daily breakfast gastronomy. The pedagogical intervention proposes an alternative syllabus, incorporating authentic materials that allow participants to reflect upon their beliefs and behaviors through English production. The data collection techniques were diaries, student artifacts, and a Likert scale questionnaire. Findings showed that the syllabus adaptation to the students' context using a Task-Based approach constituted a pedagogical contribution for EFL learning. The results demonstrated that interlanguage, affective filter, and experiential learning played an essential role in foreign language acquisition. Likewise, the integration of participants' culture and the target language boosted the ability to give meaning to the family breakfast rituals while comparing and interpreting morning meal practices. More research is needed to identify ways to extend gastronomy to promote cultural awareness and language acquisition.