Third graders as community inquirers writing their worlds

Abstract

This action research study attempts to portray the literacy development of a group of third graders through two main pillars: Community Based Pedagogies (CBP) and inquiry oriented learning. This work came about in the bilingual international environment of a private school in Bogota and as a response to an educational situation in which the institutional requirements arisen from an international curriculum and the literacy practices conducted in the language classroom seemed to be divorced. The objectives it addressed were, firstly, to portray the development of children as inquirers through community based tasks; secondly, to evidence the manner in which they develop a sense of community throughout their inquiries; and thirdly, to determine the formal aspects of text that might be developed in EFL writing on community issues. Attempting to use CBP and inquiry as a means to educate children as thinkers, inquirers, and good communicators, this research was founded on a qualitative methodology in which the main methods for data gathering were students’ artifacts and field notes. The results show that CBP provide language learners with inquiry talents that allow them and their teachers to co-construct curriculum on the basis of the local knowledge embedded in their communities and to become lifelong learners through their own meaning making. Furthermore, place-oriented inquiries fostered a sense of belonging to the local communities through the acknowledgement and appreciation of the assets immersed in their barrio, city, and school; developing a critical view towards community issues was also initiated among students. An enhancement of students writing with regards to the formal aspects of textual genre was also an outcome of the innovation.