Abstract

PAREDES-MENDEZ, Lucelly; TRONCOSO-RODRIGUEZ, Ingrid Alexandra  and  LASTRA-RAMIREZ, Sandra Patricia. Enacting Agency and Valuing Rural Identity by Exploring Local Communities in the English Class. profile [online]. 2021, vol.23, n.1, pp.125-142.  Epub Feb 08, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790.  https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v23n1.85984.

This article reports on an action research study about the exploration of local communities to enact agency and value rural identity. Thirty-three students from a rural public school in Colombia participated in the study. Our aim was to examine ways in which students enacted agency as a result of participating in local community inquiry to realize the predominant value of their identity as farmers. Data were gathered through a focus group, interviews, students’ artifacts, and teacher journals. Results showed that when communities are linked with classroom practices and foreign language learning, English becomes a vehicle to explore their places, who they are as members of the community, and how to promote decision making to help others.

Keywords : agency; community teacher; rural identity; situated pedagogies.

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