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DECOLONIZING THE EFL MATERIALS:
A STRATEGY TO TEACH ENGLISH TO
CHILDREN AND FOSTER THEIR ICC
DESCOLONIZAR MATERIALES DE INGLÉS: UNA
ESTRATEGIA PARA ENSEÑAR INGLÉS A LOS NIÑOS
Y FOMENTAR SU COMPETENCIA COMUNICATIVA
INTERCULTURAL
Valentina Charry Londoño
Universidad El Bosque, Colombia
Jason Fabian Laguna Pulido
Universidad El Bosque, Colombia
Cristian Felipe Campos
Universidad El Bosque, Colombia
Karoll Valentina Linares Velasquez
Universidad El Bosque, Colombia
Ingrid Johanna Rodríguez Granados
Universidad El Bosque, Colombia
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.37811/cl_rcm.v8i2.11093
Decolonizing the EFL Materials: A Strategy to Teach English to Children
and Foster their ICC
Valentina Charry Londoño 1
vcharry@unbosque.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8206-5660
Universidad El Bosque
Colombia
Jason Fabian Laguna Pulido
jlagunap@unbosque.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0941-5654
Universidad El Bosque
Colombia
Cristian Felipe Campos
ccamposq@unbosque.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6450-9503
Universidad El Bosque
Colombia
Karoll Valentina Linares Velasquez
klinares@unbosque.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5452-5967
Universidad El Bosque
Colombia
Ingrid Johanna Rodríguez Granados
rodriguezingrid@unbosque.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8121-4008
Universidad El Bosque
Colombia
ABSTRACT
The teaching of foreign languages emphasizes communicative and intercultural skills; however,
Colombian education often neglects local cultures, leading to cultural alienation. This research aims to
investigate the role that a digital booklet, designed from a decolonized perspective, plays in the EFL
learning process and the development of intercultural communication competence of a group of young
learners. This research follows a qualitative action research design and the participants are four children
from Puerto Gaitan, Colombia, who took EFL lessons online, and whose parents are active members of
a social foundation located in the same municipality, which is interested in fostering their
communicative skills in the target language to help them become cultural ambassadors of their region.
The instruments used to collect data were transcripts from the video recordings of the lessons, field
notes and the students’ productions. Findings show that the booklet played the role of a motivational
source, a facilitator of context and language and a provider of interaction among cultures by means of
its features and activities. Likewise, the use of the booklet fostered the children’s development of
intercultural attitudes, knowledge and skills, which represent the basis of their intercultural
communication competence.
Keywords: language teaching, intercultural competence, cultural significance, decolonized digital
resource
1
Autor principal
Correspondencia: vcharry@unbosque.edu.co
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Descolonizar Materiales de Inglés: Una Estrategia para Enseñar Inglés a
los Niños y Fomentar su Competencia Comunicativa Intercultural
RESUMEN
La enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras enfatiza las habilidades comunicativas e interculturales; sin
embargo, la educación colombiana a menudo descuida las culturas locales, lo que lleva a una alienación
cultural. Este estudio busca investigar el papel que juega un librillo digital, diseñado desde una
perspectiva descolonizada, en el proceso de aprendizaje de inglés y el desarrollo de la competencia
comunicativa intercultural de un grupo de jóvenes estudiantes. Esta investigación sigue un diseño de
investigación acción cualitativa y los participantes son cuatro niños de Puerto Gaitán, Colombia, que
tomaron clases de inglés en línea, y cuyos padres son miembros de una fundación social ubicada en el
mismo municipio, la cual desea fomentar sus habilidades comunicativas en el idioma para ayudarlos a
convertirse en embajadores culturales de su región. Los instrumentos para recolectar datos fueron
transcripciones de grabaciones de video, notas de campo y producciones de los estudiantes. Los
resultados muestran que el librillo desempeñó el papel de fuente de motivación, facilitador del contexto
y del lenguaje y proveedor de interacción entre culturas a través de sus características y actividades.
Asimismo, el librillo fomentó el desarrollo de actitudes, conocimientos y habilidades interculturales de
los niños, representando la base de su competencia comunicativa intercultural.
Palabras clave: enseñanza de idiomas, competencia intercultural, significado cultural, recurso digital
descolonizado
Artículo recibido 28 marzo 2024
Aceptado para publicación: 20 abril 2024
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INTRODUCCIÓN
In recent years, the field of teaching foreign languages has emphasized the relationship that is
established between the development of communicative and intercultural skills that allow students to
interact effectively and share information about L1 and L2 cultures into the classrooms. However, in
Colombia, English as a foreign Language (EFL) has focused mainly on the foreign language culture,
relegating "local needs, interests, and life experiences of the learners in their own context" (Núñez and
Téllez, 2020, p. 23). Hence, learning EFL in our territory implies a power relationship between a
dominant group, mainly the American or British culture, and a subordinate group, which is the
Colombian one; therefore, the dominant culture tends to superimpose its practices and knowledge on
the local one.
Moreover, deculturation is a growing concern in Colombia. In recent years, the spread of EFL has led
to a cultural alienation, which makes people tend to abandon their own traditions and heritage (Mann,
2001). This situation is worsened inside the EFL classrooms since the majority of materials and
textbooks to teach this language tend to constrain the students' intercultural communication
competence. The production of EFL educational resources in Colombia is scarce; the majority of these
materials are designed by international publishing houses that do not understand the complexity of local
contexts and communities, nor do they truly promote awareness and sensitivity towards sociocultural
diversity (Núñez and Téllez, 2020). What is more, school curricula address very few topics related to
our own culture, which does not foster its recognition and value.
Following the aforementioned, a change of paradigm to embrace our own southern epistemologies and
decolonize the EFL learning and teaching practices is paramount. It implies understanding that there is
an imposed worldview that should be negotiated and mixed with the local one. In this regard,
developing materials which reflect a more diverse and inclusive range of cultures and perspectives,
recovering pedagogies which have been marginalized by the dominant approaches from the northern
epistemologies, and exploring local contexts by incorporating our own cultural and social backgrounds
are key strategies to decolonize the Colombian EFL classrooms.
Consequently, this research arises, first, from our observations and reflections as EFL pre-service
teachers. We have realized the emergent need of creating EFL materials that do not prevent learners
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from valuing and learning about their own culture along with the foreign one as these resources tend to
emphasize heavily on foreign cultural traits as if they were superior to our own, instead of valuing
standard English varieties which have their own richness (Pennycook, 1994). Furthermore, this research
emerged from the challenge we had to face when having a social practice to teach synchronous online
EFL lessons to a group of young children whose parents belonged to a social foundation in Puerto
Gaitan, Meta in Colombia. These learners had little to no knowledge of English, nor did they have
sophisticated electronic devices, just their parents’ cell phones; however, the foundation's interest was
to support the children’s EFL learning as a way to empower them to become the cultural ambassadors
of their region, which is a tourist destination, so that they could bring prosperity to their community in
the future. Therefore, the design of a digital decolonized booklet that could support their learning and
foster their intercultural communication competence (ICC) emerged as our main strategy.
Thus, the following research questions guided our research: What is the role that an EFL digital booklet,
designed from a decolonizing perspective, has on the learning process of a group of young children,
from the rural and the urban area of Puerto Gaitan, Colombia, who are taking lessons in a synchronous
virtual environment? and second, to what extent can the use of these material foster this group of
students' ICC?
Accordingly, this research may promote EFL classrooms where the L1 culture is valued and considered
as a source of knowledge and topic of interest just as much as the English one. This could boost the
learners' effective communication, and serve as an example for teachers who seek to satisfy their
students’ L2 learning needs without forgetting their cultural wealth, which may result in a more
meaningful and engaging language learning experience.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Decolonization
The term decolonization can be defined as the process of removing dominance and power from a
colonizing group. It implies a cultural, economic, psychological, and political liberation that allows the
right to exercise self-determination over one's own land, culture, politics and economy. In fact, it aims
to create new symbolisms and realities based on the local context of subordinate groups to challenge
hegemonic and discriminatory hierarchies (Gómez et al., 2017).
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In the educational context, decolonizing means rebuilding a system that is already predetermined,
examining its limitations and biases. It questions patterns of knowledge and power instituted by
colonialism (Fandiño, 2021). Thus, decolonized education breaks the traditional ways in which things
are conceived and done for the mere fact that they have always been that way, and proposes a decoupling
of forcibly imposed cultural and linguistic concepts and terms, to give way to the creation of context-
specific instructional strategies based on local sociocultural, historical-political, and educational needs
(Fandiño, 2021).
Different authors have focused on the decolonization of EFL classrooms from different perspectives.
Among them, Nuñez (2020) explains that the content of EFL textbooks, from the ways of being,
knowing and exercising power, misrepresent and hide the realities of the local context. Also,
Kumaravadivelu (2016) emphasizes the potential benefits of incorporating decolonial perspectives in
ELT, such as promoting social justice, empowering subaltern learners, and enriching the overall
learning experience.
Intercultural Communication Competence
The intercultural communication competence (ICC) has had a positive influence on the field of
languages education. In the current globalized, interconnected and interdependent world (Munezane,
2021), full of opportunities for people to interact with others from different contexts, fostering
intercultural communication becomes a must to succeed in creating citizens of the world. Hymes
(1972) defines the ICC as the ability of an individual to express him/herself effectively and
appropriately in diverse cultural contexts, taking into account their native communicative structures and
relating them to foreign ones. Also, Byram (1997) proposes a five dimensions model of the ICC that
characterizes a competent intercultural speaker. These five dimensions are solidly interconnected,
hence, not developing one implies not achieving the others.
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Table 1 Five dimensions of ICC
Savoir
knowledge about the communication participants -oneself and the other-, the
interaction happening and the individual-society relationship.
Savoir être
attitudes towards the self-strengthening and valuing others
Savoir comprendre
skills to interpret and relate information
Savoir
apprendre/faire
discovery and interaction skills
Savoir s’engager
cultural awareness from a critical perspective
Note. Adapted from Byram, 1997. p. 34)
However, authors like Hymes (1972), Byram (1997), Byram et al. (2002) and others are focused on the
study of ICC on the adult population. It opens the door to creating a new field of research to understand
the functioning of the ICC in the younger population. One pioneering investigation in the study of
Children’s ICC was developed by Gerlich et al. (2010); they identified skills, knowledge, and attitudes
related to ICC in a preschool group of children aged three to six.
This study allows to raise the conceptualization of children’s ICC in a bilingual education environment.
It was was based on the observation of children during 4 school days where cultural exchange activities
were carried out in order to analyze their behavior towards the ICC. It demonstrated the importance of
meaningful developmental environments that promote students’ exposure to language and culture in
bilingual institutions at early ages and the key teacher's role as a linguistic and behavioral model.
Therefore, fostering children’s ICC contributes to their adaptation to the uncertainty when interacting
with other cultures by developing behavior strategies of exploration and negotiation with proper
confidence.
MATERIALS DESIGN
The process of developing or selecting suitable and effective resources for language teaching and
learning is known as ELT material design (Tomlinson, 2011). This practice objective is to create
resources that are in line with the needs, interests, and skills of the learners as well as with the objectives
of the educational programs. Tomlinson (2011) asserts that there are three key steps to material design:
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
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Teachers or material developers identify goals and students needs during the analysis stage. Later they
must aim at developing relevant, authentic, and meaningful materials. They should provide
opportunities for learners to practice all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing)
and to interact by using the language in meaningful contexts. Hence, designing materials with a clear
purpose in mind is key, as well as setting opportunities for their regular evaluation; it allows to measure
their effectiveness and fosters improvement (Richards, 2013).
There have been different studies focused on the design of materials in EFL classrooms. Howard &
Major (2004) emphasize language levels proficiency and cultural appropriateness considerations as
guidelines for creating effective English language teaching materials. The authors stress the significance
of aligning materials with learning goals and objectives, as well as providing a variety of activities and
assessments that allow students to practice and apply new language skills. Rico (2012) also reflects
upon the role of designed teaching materials for ICC development; he explains that traditionally
designed materials prevent learners from developing their communicative skills and successfully
participate in an intercultural encounter due to the stereotypes and colonizing perspectives they
promote. Therefore, materials design and decolonizing education may serve as drivers of change
towards effective and culturally enriched communication that opens doors to a more inclusive and
assertive world.
METHODOLOGY
This study follows the principles of qualitative research, which aims to comprehend complex social
phenomena with an emphasis on the viewpoints and experiences of individuals and groups (Bryman,
2012). Likewise, it is framed in the action research design, which is commonly used in the educational
field as an improvement-oriented strategy. It involves cycles of planning, acting, observing, and
reflecting upon practice as a strategy for professional development (Burns, 2019).
Accordingly, this research involved four cycles, each one with five main steps. First, the planning of
lessons and materials embedded in a digital booklet took place. It was developed according to the
syllabus provided, the children’s needs, their context and the institution’s requirements, which mainly
emphasized on the foundations needed for students to be able to interact in EFL about their region and
in the future, become their territory ambassadors. Second, activities and lessons of the digital booklet
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were developed; this step was a critical one since several different modifications were required due to
the children and their parents’ lack of knowledge about the use of platforms and ICT tools, which made
us focus on the basics. Third, the lessons were developed online; the children’s processes and the use
they made of the material were observed, recorded and reviewed for further analysis. Fourth, there was
a reflection and assessment stage based on the data collected, considering the kids’ EFL learning process
and ICC development, and the weaknesses and challenges of the material. Finally, decisions regarding
the way to present the language contents, the narrative used and design elements were made to improve
the quality of the material and so, the learners process.
Our participants were a group of four students aged between five and eight years old. Their parents
were active members of a Colombian social foundation located in Puerto Gaitán, Meta, whose main
purpose is to promote the formation of skills in order to contribute to the prevention of drug
consumption among the indigenous population living in the Wacoyo reserve, although they also work
with the non-indigenous community from the municipality. They focus on making the most of leisure
time and seek to develop autonomy and social cohesion among the members.
These children had almost no knowledge of EFL. Their parents attended a campaign made by the
foundation to teach their kids English online during two hours a week for ten weeks. Then some
informed their interest and joined the foundation's objective of starting training their children in this
language so that in the future they could share their traditions, customs and values as a strategy for their
community to make their culture known and learn from others around the world. These kids were in
elementary school; some of them were becoming literate and others were perfecting their reading and
writing skills, so their written productions involved words as well as drawings. Moreover, due to their
ages, some of their oral production was difficult to understand, so Spanish was used as a tool to confirm
understanding and sometimes to deliver instruction.
Due to their location and economic situation, they did not have high-tech devices, but their parents’ cell
phones. Furthermore, the poor Internet quality and continuous power outages were issues that affected
the class delivery; hence, lessons tended to be paused, some restarted more than once, and it was not
possible to develop interactive online activities.
We implemented three instruments to collect data. First, according to Creswell (2016), recordings can
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be a rich source of data, especially in qualitative research, where varied and detailed data are often
needed to understand complex phenomena; therefore, every online lesson was video recorded and later
transcribed to get detail of what had happened. Second, we took field notes, which allowed us to record
our class observations; as Emerson et al. (2011) explain, field notes help capture detailed descriptions
of the activities, the class environment, the methodologies implemented, the people involved. Third, we
collected the students' productions. We took pictures of their written samples and drawings as evidence
of their outcomes based on the activities proposed in the digital booklet. These instruments allowed us
to analyze the learners’ EFL learning progress, the development of their ICC, and the strengths and
opportunities for improvement of the material.
Likewise, in order to analyze the data, first, we carried out a process of triangulation. It is a method that
involves the utilization of multiple data sources, methods, theories, or researchers to study a
phenomenon, with the aim of enhancing the credibility and validity of the information through cross-
verification (Creswell & Plano, 2017). This approach helped us to avoid biases and get a more
comprehensive understanding of the findings. Second, we developed a thematic analysis, a powerful
method for uncovering meaning. It is a strategy used to carry out complex interpretations of qualitative
data by identifying and analyzing data thematic patterns (Braun & Clarke, 2012).
Besides, it is important to mention that we carefully emphasized the ethical principles that must be taken
into account when conducting research. We acquired the consent to carry out this research directly with
the foundation by presenting a letter where we requested authorization to proceed with the study,
explaining important information and main objectives. to ensure full understanding of the study
objectives, procedures, and benefits. In addition, absolute confidentiality of their personal information
was guaranteed by codifying the data and ensuring that no individual could be identified. Also,
methodological rigor was applied at all stages of the process to guarantees transparency in the
presentation of the methods used and honesty in the interpretation of the results.
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Table 2 Codification of the data collected
Instruments
Transcripts from video recordings
Field Notes
Students documents
Students
Note. Own Elaboration.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This research aims at analyzing the role an EFL digital booklet, designed from the decolonized
perspective, played in the EFL learning progress of a group of Children from Puerto Gaitan, Colombia,
and to what extent it fostered their ICC. For that purpose, two categories and subcategories emerged as
it is shown in table 2.
Table 3 Research questions, categories and subcategories
â–ª What is the role that an EFL digital booklet, designed from a decolonizing perspective, has on the
learning process of a group of young children, from the rural and the urban area of Puerto Gaitan,
Colombia, who are taking lessons in a synchronous virtual environment?
â–ª To what extent can the use of these material foster this group of children's ICC?
Categories
Subcategories
The roles of a decolonized digital Booklet on
the children’s EFL learning process.
The booklet as a source of motivation
The booklet as a facilitator of a context and language
items to understand how language works
The booklet as a space of interaction among cultures
Young learners’ ICC development through
the use of a decolonized EFL digital Booklet.
Attitudes
Knowledge
Skills
Note. Own elaboration.
The roles of a decolonized digital Booklet on the children’s EFL learning process.
According to the data analysis, there are three main roles the digital booklet played along the process.
They are explained as follows.
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The booklet as a source of motivation
According to Sedarmayanti (2017), motivation is a mental condition that encourages activity and
provides energy that leads to the achievement of goals or reduction of imbalances. After collecting and
systematizing the data, the analysis we carried out about the role of the booklet we designed showed
three ways in which this material constituted a source of motivation for the participants.
First, we identified the motivational power of the digital booklet on the participants by integrating the
idea of a trip around the world for learning EFL. The booklet presents the idea of a trip to visit three
different English speaking countries, Colombia, The USA and Australia, whose cultures were portraited
throughout different environments and situations. This feature followed Mirza’s idea regarding the
importance of giving learners enough opportunities to receive language input used in meaningful
situations, thereby enabling them to exploit such situations (2021). Then the students’ motivation was
marked by their positive response towards the places they were going to see while using the booklet;
the idea of visiting unknown countries and using English in situations proper for a trip fostered their
wish to keep working in class and participating while focusing their attention. What is more, the
presentation of different scenarios and situations embedded in the contexts of every country not only
aroused the children’s interest, but also arouse their curiosity and anticipation to the class contents.
Then, we introduced the material from the book (whose name is not mentioned), which drew a
lot of attention because it sparked curiosity about a journey. The children began asking
questions like: "Where are we going to travel?" and "How are we going to travel?" (FN 1).
Secondly, the use of meaningful characters along the journey was a factor that highly motivated the
learners. There were three colorful digital animals who were presented as their traveling companions.
Paco, the main character, shared the children’s nationality and social context. The children were very
excited when they recognized him as a typical animal of their geographical region. Also, John, an eagle,
and Luke, a kangaroo, were two characters typical from the United States and Australia. They called
the students’ attention since they did not have much knowledge of these animals’ origins. Thus, it also
had not raised their curiosity and engaged them in multiple activities that fostered interaction. Students
had different reactions, such as shouting, moving towards their screens and asking about them. It
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boosted the learning atmosphere and made them feel eager to continue learning about them and their
context by using the target language.
Students showed excitement to answer by showing a smile and jumping in their seats. They
showed that they remembered that they had talked about greetings. In the same way, the students
remember Paco's friends, their names, nationalities and which animal they were. FN2
Finally, the use of cultural items and situations proper of the explored countries was another source of
motivation. It seemed that topics such as typical food, traditions, celebrations, curious facts, tourist
places, among others, created a novel environment since the students did not have previous knowledge
regarding the foreign cultures. In response to this, they generated attitudes of curiosity and discovery
toward a cultural exchange. As Kashdan & Silvia (2009) explain, these attitudes potentialized the
learners wish to explore new scenarios, no matter how novel and challenging the experiences could be,
which in turn, promoted their active learning while sharing ideas about their own contexts and enhanced
their understanding about their own culture and the foreign ones.
(After discussing the vocabulary in the booklet) The teacher asked the student what the perfect
accompaniment could be for a hamburger in Colombia. The student thought a lot and the
teacher decided to suggest French fries as an example. The student smiled and mentioned
Creole potatoes. The teacher congratulated him … the teacher explained that the activity would
continue, but now Paco, the Colombian capybara, would help them (FN4).
The booklet as a facilitator of a context and linguistic items to understand how language works
When using the digital booklet, the students received instruction and developed different activities
immersed in specific contexts, such as dialogues, stories or informative blocks that were written or
presented through audios and images. The teacher acted as a facilitator while reading, explaining, and
playing the audios of the material. Then instead of memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary, students
seemed to understand the language's meaning and function to achieve specific communicative goals
and connect it to real life situations. This was evident during the lessons as students’ participation
focused on their understanding of circumstances in which the characters were involved, such as filling
a passport with their personal information in English to be able to travel, comparing their tastes
regarding food, finding equivalents from the other cultures and learning about the types of animals they