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Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

Jennifer Alejandra Delgado, MA Claudia Marcela Chapetón, PhD

Catalogación en la fuente - Biblioteca Central de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. Delgado, Jennifer Alejandra y Claudia Marcela Chapetón Getting the picture of iconography an innovative way to teach English to young learners / Jennifer Alejandra Delgado y Claudia Marcela Chapetón. Germán Vargas Guillén y Víctor Eligio Espinosa Galán, editores. — Bogotá : Editorial Aula de Humanidades, 2015. 184 p.: il (English Language Research and Pedagogy Series) Incluye Referencias bibliográficas. Incluye 10 apéndices. ISBN: 978-958-58685-5-7 (versión rústico) ISBN: 978-958-58685-6-4 (versión digital) 1. Iconografía – Inglés. 2. Inglés – Metodología. 3. Inglés - Enseñanza para Niños. 4. Inglés – Enseñanza – Aprendizaje. 5. Métodos de Enseñanza – Inglés. 6. Estrategias de Educación - Inglés. 7. Planes de Estudio – Inglés. 8. Libros y Lectura para Niños. I. Chapetón, Claudia Marcela. II. Vargas Guillén, Germán, editor. III. Espinosa Galán, Víctor Eligio, editor. IV. Tít. 372.6521 cd. 21 ed.

ISBN: 978-958-58685-5-7 (rústico) ISBN: 978-958-58685-6-4 (digital) © Editorial Aula de Humanidades, S.A.S © Jennifer Alejandra Delgado, MA, Claudia Marcela Chapetón, PhD English Language Research and Pedagogy Series Editorial Aula de Humanidades Dr. Germán Vargas Guillén Director Víctor Eligio Espinosa Galán Editor Mauricio Salamanca Diseño y Diagramación Evaluación académica y científica: Febrero 2015. Hecho el depósito legal que ordena la Ley 44 de 1993 y su decreto reglamentario 460 de 1995 www.editorialhumanidades.com

We dedicate this book to our families for their love and support during this fascinating research journey. To Blanca, Jesus, Diego, and Dairo Jennifer Alejandra To Nino and Juan Miguel Claudia Marcela

Contenido Introduction ...............................................................................................11 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................... 13 Statement of Purpose.............................................................................. 15 Rationale ................................................................................................ 16 Theoretical Foundations .............................................................................19 Understanding Iconography .................................................................... 21 Early Literacy: A Visual Process and a Socially Situated Practice............... 29 English Language Teaching to Young Learners ......................................... 34 Researching Iconography in the EFL Pre-School Classroom ......................47 Type of study .......................................................................................... 47 The context of the research .................................................................... 49 Data Collection: Instruments and Procedures.......................................... 53 Procedures for Data Analysis................................................................... 60 Iconography as a semiotic literacy practice where icons and symbols are used to convey meaning.............................................................................65 Icons and symbols as EFL meaningful images .......................................... 67 The combination of icons and symbols as a communicative system ..................................................................... 71

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Iconography as a socially situated semiotic practice................................. 75 The uses of Iconography in the EFL classroom: a socially situated semiotic practice .................................................................................................. 78 The post-method as the pedagogical underpinning that guides the EFL teaching practice based on Iconography ...................................................81 Pre-school as a particular context ............................................................ 82 Iconography as a fusion of personal and professional theories ................. 84 Experiences that shape the teaching practice .......................................... 88 Unveiling the EFL Teaching Practice in Pre-school ....................................91 Teaching techniques used in the classroom ............................................. 91 Principles involved in the teaching practice ........................................... 104 Procedures that encompass the whole practice ..................................... 117 Participants’ perceptions about the use of Iconography in pre-school ...123 Challenges faced by Iconography .......................................................... 123 Opportunities for Iconography .............................................................. 127 Synthesis and future directions ................................................................133 Conclusions .......................................................................................... 134 Implications of the study ....................................................................... 137 Limitations ............................................................................................ 139 Further research ................................................................................... 139 References ................................................................................................141 Appendices ...............................................................................................147 Appendix 1. Principal’s Consent Form ................................................. 147 Appendix 2. Students’ Consent Form .................................................. 149 Appendix 3. Teacher’s Consent Form ................................................... 150 Appendix 4. Parents’ Consent Form ...................................................... 151 Appendix 5. Field Notes Format ........................................................... 153 Appendix 6. Principal’s semi-structured interview ................................. 154 Appendix 7. Sample Teacher’s Interview .............................................. 155

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Appendix 8. Cuestionario Padres De Familia ........................................ 156 Appendix 9. Students’ Questionnaire.................................................... 159 Appendix 10. Transcription Conventions .............................................. 163

List of graphs Graph 1. Graph 2. Graph 3. Graph 4. Graph 5.

The relation of sign, icon, and symbol ........................................24 Visual understanding of sign, icon, symbol and image ................25 Icon and symbol comparison .....................................................71 Visual understanding of the pedagogic parameters of the postmethod ......................................................................................82 Procedures evidenced in the teaching practice. ........................118

List of tables Table 1. Table 2. Table 3. Table 4. Table 5. Table 6. Table 7. Table 8. Table 9. Table 10. Table 11. Table 12. Table 13.

Definition of Teaching Concepts ................................................36 Principles presented by Larsen-Freeman (2000). ........................39 Participants of the study .............................................................51 Data collection matrix ................................................................53 Data collection plan ...................................................................60 Coding process ..........................................................................62 Categories resulting from the analysis .........................................62 Icon and symbol comparison .....................................................66 Degrees of Iconicity ...................................................................69 Teaching techniques used in pre-school .....................................92 Principles evidenced in the teaching practice ...........................105 Analysis of students’ questionnaire, Question #9 .....................124 Analysis of students’ questionnaire, Question #5 .....................129

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List of figures Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Figure 6. Figure 7. Figure 8. Figure 9. Figure 10. Figure 11. Figure 12. Figure 13. Figure 14. Figure 15. Figure 16. Figure 17. Figure 18. Figure 19. Figure 20. Figure 21. Figure 22. Figure 23.

SCISSORS (T.E. S3) ...................................................................66 Pencil (T.E1. S13) .....................................................................66 In (T.W3. S10) ..........................................................................66 HOUSE (T.W3. S10) .................................................................67 TABLE (T.W3. T).......................................................................68 Apple (T.W. S5) ........................................................................69 House (T.W. S3) .......................................................................69 Hospital (T.W. S5) ....................................................................69 In (T.W. S10) ............................................................................69 On (K.A. T) ...............................................................................69 IS (T.E1. S4) ..............................................................................70 THE (T.E1. S4) ..........................................................................70 The pencil is on the table. (K.A. T) ............................................72 The cat is in the house. (T.W3. S6) ...........................................72 The apple is on the table. (T.W3. S11) ......................................73 Item from an exam (T.E. S15) ...................................................76 THIS (T.W3. T) .........................................................................76 THESE (T.E1. S13) ....................................................................76 The doctor is in the hospital. (T.W3. S5) ...................................77 Sammy: the EFL class pet..........................................................93 Handicraft of a face ..................................................................99 Handicraft of a dog.................................................................100 First period monthly achievement test transition Item 1. .............................................................115

List of abbreviations EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching MEN: Ministerio de Educación Nacional, Colombia

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Introduction Teaching English to young children has been a great challenge for preschool teachers. Firstly, because people consider that teaching English to young children involves taking care of them, sometimes assuming a somehow mothering role. Secondly, there is a misleading perception that children only learn simple language (Cameron, 2001). This situation has led teachers and theorists to reflect upon teaching young learners and the implications this practice has in the English as a Foreign Language –EFL classroom. This situation is familiar to English language teachers at the private Colombian School where this study took place. These EFL teachers decided to change their practice by implementing a new way of teaching English in the pre-school class. They started to think about the reality they were living in the class and the difficulties their students were facing when conventional English literacy was taught1. When one of the authors of the present book assumed the position of the head of the English Department in the school, she realized that the existence of this practice, which for her was unknown, was particular for the context. Then, she started asking to teachers and principal about it and, in informal talks, 1

The evidence gathered from the interviews will be presented and interpreted in the data analysis (See chapter 4).

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she started to understand a little bit about how this practice was used. However, when she asked about the documents where iconography was supposed to be explained or characterized, the principal said that the documents had been lost and thus, not existing. After some search, it was found that the only document where Iconography was mentioned was the School English Project: “La iconografía es el enfoque usado de prescolar a tercero, ya que permite al estudiante enunciar sus sentimientos e ideas a través de iconos (dibujos, imágenes) que posteriormente son expresados de forma oral. Por otro lado, la iconografía respeta las etapas de desarrollo del estudiante, quien no ha terminado de adquirir los conocimientos de la lengua materna y debe adquirir, en este caso inglés. Por ende, este método ha permitido que el estudiante desarrolle las estrategias comunicativas que el departamento de inglés busca que el estudiante cultive en esta etapa” (School English Project, 2006).

As can be seen, in the little information present in the document, there is not a definition, not even a methodological or theoretical description of Iconography. Also, as evidenced not only in the document but in her experience in the school as a teacher and as the head of the English Department, this practice is referred to as “the Iconography approach”. With these issues in mind, the purpose of this research is to characterize the way Iconography works, understand its pedagogical and theoretical underpinnings, and find out if it is an “approach” or not. For this reason, in the present book this innovation is referred to as Iconography. In the present study, Iconography is described and characterized. This is done with the purpose of providing feedback to the school community in order to qualify Iconography as well as the teaching practice held in pre-school in this particular context. A case study was carried out in order to characterize this EFL teaching practice; the case study included the use of class observations, interviews, questionnaires, and documents. In order to conduct the present study, it was necessary to gain a deep understanding on three concepts: semiotics, because Iconography has as

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

its basis the use of icons (drawings), literacy, since it was used as part of the English literacy process, and teaching English to young learners, due to the fact that the population involved in the use of Iconography are pre-school children.

Statement of the Problem Teaching English to children has been a great challenge in the educational system, as is shown by Rodriguez and Varela (2004) and Cameron (2004) who are concerned with the English Language Teaching -ELT practice with young learners. In the ELT history, there have been different methods and approaches to teach English as a foreign language but, as Garton, Copland and Burns (2011) claim, not all of them are focused particularly on teaching young children (e.g. Communicative Approach, Direct Method, Suggestopedia, etc.). For this reason, teachers have tried to adapt the existent methods and approaches to young learners. Also educational institutions, as the school where this study was conducted, have implemented methods and approaches in the way they think best fit the purpose they have. However, there is not a clear guideline for teachers who are teaching the foreign language in pre-school; in fact, this educational level is not included in the standard documents of the National Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación Nacional -MEN, 2006). As far as this school is concerned, teachers reflected upon the circumstances they faced in their teaching practices in pre-school, such as the confusion students had between English and Spanish literacy or the problems students had learning both literacies at the same time.2 Thus, they created Iconography. From informal talks, it was discovered that EFL teachers took the main theory about icon from the semiotics perspective, and they created this new practice in order to teach English to students at pre-school. Iconography was created with the main purpose of allowing students to have the first language literacy process without inserting the foreign language literacy process at the same time; 2

This issue is addressed deeper in chapter 4.

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this means that with the use of Iconography students could achieve their early Spanish literacy without the use of the English conventional literacy at the same time. Another aim Iconography has is helping students to achieve a successful English learning process without inserting the foreign language into the academic subjects or following a complete bilingual school model, where all the subject areas are taught in English. With Iconography as an “approach” to teach English as a foreign language, preschoolers have been developing the ability to communicate their own thoughts and ideas through icons (images) and they can show this in an oral way. Thus, Iconography consists of a view of literacy different from the conventional one, in which students express their ideas through icons instead of written words, but they still can produce orally in the foreign language. During the time Iconography has been applied, Iconography has never been systematically observed or characterized by the institution, the parents, or teachers. Besides, as previously discussed, there is only a written document at school where Iconography is mentioned but Iconography is not described or characterized in detail. In an informal conversation with the principal, she said that the project got lost when there was a change of principal five years ago; then, some teachers created the new project for the English area but they included little information about Iconography. Moreover, Iconography has been carried out during six years and it has never been observed systematically, not even characterized in a serious exercise of documentation. Here lies the importance of characterizing it in the context where it is used. On the other hand, there is just one expert teacher in the use of Iconography at school. In spite of her efforts to train the new teachers in the use of this innovative practice in their EFL classes, the lack of an official document has become a problematic situation for the school community, and especially for the EFL Department. These educational problematic situations showed the need to conduct research in order to characterize Iconography and find out the implications it has upon the foreign language teaching processes of the students at pre-school levels and the way this practice is performed by the teacher.

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

Statement of Purpose The purpose of the present study is to characterize Iconography, an innovative practice used to teach English to young learners in pre-school level. In doing so, this study focuses on the EFL teaching practices in order to figure out what Iconography is, what its characteristics are, and what theoretical and pedagogical perspectives underpin it.

General objective To examine and characterize the way Iconography works in the EFL preschool classroom at this particular school context.

Specific objectives 1. To identify and describe the pedagogical underpinnings of the EFL teaching practice held in this particular school context when this is based on Iconography. 2. To characterize the way the EFL teaching practice is developed in pre-school when using Iconography. 3. To investigate the perceptions that the educational community has of the use of Iconography.

Research Questions The following research questions arose in relation to the previous research objectives:

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Main research question How does Iconography work in the EFL pre-school classroom?

Sub-questions 1. What are the pedagogical underpinnings of the EFL teaching practice held in this particular school context when Iconography is used? 2. How is the EFL teaching practice developed in pre-school when using Iconography? 3. What are the perceptions that the educational community has of the use of Iconography?

Rationale Teaching English as a foreign language has been a concern for the ELT community in Colombia. Several research studies have been done in the field, and some have focused on teaching English to young learners. Some examples include Rodriguez & Varela (2004), who studied the use of pictures in an EFL class with young learners, or Rodriguez (1999), whose research was about pictograms used to introduce English syntax to children. These types of studies are important because they help teachers in their classes when they have young learners as their main population. This situation was present some years ago at the school where this study was developed, when the teachers there started a reflection about their EFL teaching practice. However, there was not a formal research carried out. English teachers at this particular school were concerned about their teaching practices in pre-school and primary levels, and they incorporated an innovative practice for them: Iconography. This research project came up due to the need of knowing more about Iconography because there was no document at school nor has it

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

ever been examined or characterized by the institution. Besides, taking into account that Iconography is an innovative practice to teach English used by this particular school and that it has been applied since 2007, it is necessary to find out how this teaching practice is carried out in this context. The main aim of this study is to provide a description and characterization of how iconography works. This is important for four main reasons. First of all, at a local level, the educational community can be informed about the pedagogical underpinnings that support this EFL teaching practice and the way it is implemented in the daily performance in the pre-school classroom. Secondly, those teachers at this school (and those to come) who have to teach using iconography at pre-school may find this characterization helpful to gain understanding of its nature and particularities. Thirdly, the institution will be favored from this study in the sense that it will help the directors make important decisions about the use of Iconography at the school, having then an impact upon the institution policies regarding the EFL teaching practices. Finally, at a broader level, unveiling the way iconography works may provide the EFL community with an innovative teaching possibility to be considered in the pre-school classroom. The structure of this book is organized in eight chapters. Having provided a general introduction in this chapter, in the next one we discuss the constructs that provide the theoretical foundations of the study along with a brief review of the main related previous research. Chapter three explains the research methodology of the study and provides details about the setting and participants, the instruments and procedures for data collection and data analysis. Chapters four, five, six, and seven present a discussion of the analysis and the main findings of the study. The book closes with chapter eight where the conclusions and implications of the study are discussed along with an account of the limitations and the avenues for future research on the field. We also provide the corresponding appendices.

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Theoretical Foundations This chapter deals with the theoretical background of the present study. The theoretical support includes three main constructs: Iconography, early literacy, and EFL teaching to young learners. It is important to mention here that these three constructs were established to make sense of the data gathered; and thus, in this chapter, we present the concepts relevant to this study as they emerged from the understanding of the very data. In this chapter, first of all, a general overview of each construct is presented; then, we discuss the theory that supports each of these constructs as well as relevant previous research studies that have explored them. Iconography is used by teachers in order to teach English as a foreign language to pre-school, first and second graders in the particular school setting where this study was developed1. The idea of Iconography came up from the understanding of the icon as a means to communicate and the way students use the images in the class to help them learn English. In the English project of the school, Iconography is understood as a way to teach English where the concepts are represented through pictures or drawings that keep a strong connection with the object that is represented (School English Project, 2010). 1

Considering ethical issues in educational research, the school name is kept confidential in this study.

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According to Davies (2004), literacy acquisition is one of the domains of applied linguistics. The domain considers different issues related to literacy. First of all, according to Pennycook (2004), literacy is a social practice that takes place in a specific context. Additionally, Williams (2004) states that literacy in applied linguistics focuses its attention on the deployment of literacies in different contexts. This issue is present in this study because literacy is seen in the specific context of the school where Iconography is used. Secondly, as Davies (1999) asserts, the meaning of literacy has changed during the last century. Literacy is not only a matter of reading and writing, it has broadened its connotation. Actually he uses the term multiple literacies to refer to the new approaches that literacy practices have had. Referring to the same issue, Williams (2004) explores the field of new literacy practices presented by the New London Group, related to the use of different elements as videos, images, and gestures in the pedagogy of literacy. This view is connected with this study since the use of visual elements as images is present in Iconography. Finally, in order to comprehend the teaching practices at this school, it is necessary to understand that this teaching practice is an EFL teaching practice. Thus, it is necessary to differentiate EFL from English as a Second Language -ESL. According to Richards & Schmidt (1992), ESL is understood as “the role of English in countries where it is widely used within the country” (p. 93); this implies that the language is used for instruction at schools, or it is used in everyday communication; however, it is not the first language in the country. Otherwise, EFL is “the role of English in countries where it is taught as a subject in the schools but not used as a medium of instruction in education nor as a language of communication within the country” (Richards & Schmidt, 1992, p. 93). Bearing in mind the definitions above, in this study English is conceived as a foreign language. First of all, because in Colombia English is not used as the language to communicate; secondly, English is taught at this school setting as a subject students learn but they do not use it in everyday communication nor in the instruction at school.

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Having provided this general overview of the three key constructs, we now proceed to go deeper into each one of the concepts related to the constructs that support the study.

Understanding Iconography In this section the theoretical background that supports Iconography will be explained. It includes the semiotic concepts relevant to this study: sign, icon, symbol, and image, which are considered essential in understanding Iconography. Semiotics: One of the most relevant constructs for this study is semiotics since this science allows us to comprehend and explain the way Iconography works. Saussure (1916, cited in Eco, 1976) and Morris (1985) assert that semiotics is the science that studies signs in society. The study includes the way in which the signs are used to convey meaning. According to Morris (1985), semiotics cannot be conceived as the science that studies every kind of signs but it focuses on the signs that are involved in semiosis, which is the process of interpreting signs in meaning making. In other words, semiosis is the process where signs are used (Morris, 1985). As Locke (1886) asserts, semiotics has two basic functions: first, it focuses on signs as means of communication and how they help us to establish relationships with society; secondly, it studies the way signs help us achieve knowledge and transmit it. For the present study, the first function semiotics has is relevant since Iconography is seen as the means students and the teacher use to communicate in English. In order to comprehend Iconography, it is necessary to understand some basic concepts that belong to the field of semiotics and which are strongly connected to the teaching practice carried out in pre-school. These are: icon, symbol and image which are considered signs. Signs: A sign is a unit consisting of an expression and a content which are connected with each other by a mutual correlation or ‘sign function’ (Eco, 1976). It means that a sign is an entity that represents another entity

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because there is a clear relation between the objects represented and the sign. Eco (1976) defines a sign as anything which may be interpreted to ‘stand for’ (or substitute for) something due to some characteristics that the represented object has. Moreover, Ong (1982) states that “a sign refers primarily to something visually apprehended” (p. 73). He means that the signs are produced by human beings because there is a contact with the object, which is the visual experience that allows them to make the connections. Likewise, according to Peirce (1998), a sign has as primary function to evoke the meaning of the object it represents in the interpretant’s mind, because of the characteristics the object has. Besides, a sign is conceived as an element involved in the communication process. According to Eco (1986), a sign is used to transmit any kind of information. For this reason anything used to communicate can be considered a sign. However, Peirce (1977) makes a distinction of signs and proposes a specific typology. This typology includes, among others, two different types of signs which are relevant to this study: icons and symbols. Depending on the relation established with the object they represent, these can be seen as images. These three concepts, icons, symbols, and images, are now discussed. Icon: There are few theoretical documents on the study of icon. One of the most recognized is the one presented by Peirce (1977) who defines an icon as a sign that refers to the object it denotes. He states that this connection is achieved “merely by virtue of characters of its own and which it possesses, just the same, whether any such object actually exists or not” (Peirce, 1977, p. 291).With this definition Peirce gives the icon a special feature, the fact that the object represented could be concrete or abstract; this means everything in the world can be represented even if it just exists in the mind of people. Moreover, an icon is a sign that is defined by Leibniz (cited in Beuchot, 2004) as the image that we create because it is joined with something else due to a previous experience. This means that an icon can just be created by a person when he/she has enough experience to connect it with something else. For example, when we think of a house and we

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

have to represent it, we usually draw a square with a triangle at the top; it is because of the visual experience we have had with a house. In addition to these definitions, Beuchot (2004), following Peirce, defines an icon as an intermediate sign that has a natural and an artificial part, due to the fact that it is created by human beings, but it must keep relation with reality. This perspective gives humankind the responsibility in the creation of icons, as it is the case in the present research in which students and the teacher create the icons that are used in class. Hence, the icon will be understood in this study as a type of sign which represents something in the world by keeping a strong relation with the qualities the object has. Those qualities are given to the icon because of the experience someone has had with the object it represents. Moreover, as a vehicle of meaning it must be clear and understandable for a specific group of people. The previous definitions of icon are useful to this research because they help to understand how an icon works as a tool of communication in any language, as it is the case of the students at EFL pre-school classrooms. Symbol: Another important concept for the present study is symbol since it is a kind of sign but it is different from an icon. A symbol is a sign related arbitrarily with the object it denotes (Eco, 1986). This means that the connection between this type of sign and the object it represents is not clear. Additionally, Eco (1986) claims that a symbol contains an idea that has an arbitrary relation with the image that was codified to represent. Besides, he asserts that a symbol is a vague sign because it has a relation with a number of meanings. It means that a symbol could have several meanings but they rely on the context where the symbol is used. Peirce (1931) defines a symbol as an arbitrary sign that determines its relation with the object it represents by a law, for instance the linguistic sign. It implies that the symbol is created by another entity with the purpose of representing something else. Besides, to encode and decode a symbol it is necessary to recognize the laws that rule the existence of them.

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Graphic 1 portrays a visual understanding of the relationship between sign, icon, and symbol. Sign is the umbrella term that encompasses icon and symbol. They are different because the icon has a clear relation with the object represented, while the symbol is connected with the objects represented arbitrarily. Icon: a sign that represents an object due to the characteristics it has Sign: anything which may substitute or represent something else

Symbol: an arbitrary sign that does not have a clear connection with the objects represented

Graph 1. The relation of sign, icon, and symbol

Image: Beuchot (2004) states that an image is a kind of icon that is seen as a copy of the object that is represented by an analogy. In fact, Peirce (1998) talks about the image as an icon asserting that the icon exists in our consciousness because when we think of the object, we evoke an image. Besides, Peirce (1998) asserts that an image is an icon in itself because it represents the whole characteristics of the object it represents, since it evokes the whole objects in the interpretant’s mind. Moreover, an image may not be only understood as a passive sign, an image goes beyond the object itself. According to Vitta (1999), we are in a society dominated by visual communication, which implies that the use of images is very common in our daily interaction. Then, an image is not a static entity but it is open to different interpretations. In addition, Zamora (2006) asserts that the object that is represented in the image cannot be separated from the context where it appeared, which means that it can also work as a symbol. Thus, the interpretations given to the image must be associated with its contextual background. Besides, images are divided depending on their function. According to Zender (2006), there are different functions of an image

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

depending on its degrees of abstraction; they are: picture function, symbol/icon function, signs function, and evocative function. The picture function means that the image presents some features of the object represented in order to evoke it; the symbol/icon function refers to the generalized connection an image has with a group of objects that are represented the sign function refers to the abstract meanings an image has; and the evocative function implies the way an image evokes different meanings without including any of their features in it. To sum up, Iconography is a communicative system which employs signs. Thus, in order to comprehend the way it works, it is necessary to comprehend that a sign is a concept that encompasses different types, such as icon and symbol. The icon is a sign that keeps a relation with an object because of the qualities it has, while symbols are arbitrary signs because they do not have a clear relation with the object they represent. An image is context-dependent (Zamora, 2006) and it can work either as an icon (Beuchot, 2004; Peirce, 1998) or as a symbol (Zamora, 2006). A visual understanding of these constructs and how they are related is shown in Graph 2: SIGN (Unit that represents ICON

something else)

(Consistent relation with the object it represents)

SYMBOL (Arbitrary relation with the object it represents)

IMAGE (Could be an icon or a symbol)

Graph 2. Visual understanding of sign, icon, symbol and image

One of the most recognized uses of signs in education is the Bliss System. The Bliss System or Semantography appeared as answer to a need to make communication possible among people of different countries with different languages. The Bliss System “was considered

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as an ideographic writing system called Semantography consisting of several hundred basic symbols, each representing a concept, which can be composed together to generate new symbols that represent new concepts” (Bliss, 1985, p. 1). The system was based on two semantic premises. The first one is the ideographic language, which is the basis of the Chinese characters that show how a concept can be represented through a figure. The second refers to the way people make meaning, supported by Orgen and Richards (1923) and their triangle of reference, in which three parts are essential: the reference, the meaning, and the word. These premises are relevant for the use of symbols not only in the Bliss System but also in Iconography. However, later, semantography became a method to teach people with specific problems to engage in a communicative process. This method is considered a literacy process where students learn to communicate having fun through the drawings. Besides, they acquire vocabulary by making connections between the picture and the concept. Moreover, with the use of the symbols, learners start recognizing that they convey meaning and that this meaning has a structure (Blissymbolics Communication International, n.d.). As it was presented, the Bliss system is the beginning of the use of symbols in education to teach students to communicate. This use of icons and symbols in education is useful for the present study because it allows us to comprehend how these types of signs are employed in communicative processes in class. Also, because in Iconography, concepts and ideas are represented through symbols and icons, and this involves the process of meaning making and communication. Some research studies have been carried out related to the use of images in the EFL classroom. One of them is Sarmiento (2010), who used images in a third-grade classroom in order to develop critical thinking and communicative skills. She realized that students did not have enough opportunities to develop their first language –L1 literacy process, they had low academic achievement, and they were not motivated to learn English as a foreign language. Then, she decided to carry out a descriptive research using a guided reading of images where she could describe the

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role of images in the EFL classroom. Her theoretical perspective was taken from two concepts: critical thinking and visual literacy. The first finding presented is related to the role the images had on the motivation of students; it means that students were motivated to look for different meanings of the images in different contexts. In the second finding, the images were seen as an activator in the critical thinking process. This study is relevant here because it included the use of images in the EFL classroom. As Sarmiento (2010) asserts in her research, “students should learn to construct meaning from any type of image as part of their literacy practices” (p. 73), which is basically what Iconography is doing in the English class; that is, to use images in the development of their EFL literacy. However, the use of images in Sarmiento’s study is different from the one in this study because of the purpose. In Sarmiento’s study, images are used in order to develop critical thinking, but in the present study they are used to introduce students to EFL literacy practices. The inclusion of icons in language teaching is also shown in a research developed in the United States and presented by Guinan (1997). The main purpose of that project was to naturally teach a second language through icons in a computer system, which represents the parts of speech. The idea of the project came up because there were other programs which used a visual system but they did not represent all parts of speech. Besides, the new system created by Guinan’s project included the pronunciation of the word, which aims at helping students to learn the spoken language. One of the advantages of the system is that it represents the tenses with icons as well as with numbers. Another positive aspect is that it can be used to teach any language. Moreover, there is no reliance on the L1 because the images help people understand the meaning of each sentence. It is also useful for those with special intelligence who use their right-brain visual memory the most to create relations between the image and its meaning. This project is useful for the present research because it has the same purpose, which is teaching a foreign language through the use of icons. However, it differs from the present study since its agent was a computer

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system which involves other applications, such as the voiced one, which helped students to learn pronunciation. The last study we mention here is titled Stick writing stories: a quick and easy narrative representation strategy. This study carried out by Ukrainetz (1998) introduces the use of pictography in order to help students in their written narratives, since it was evidenced that oral narratives are forgotten by students. The theoretical framework presented by the author focused on three main themes: writing, drawing, and pictography as an alternative notional form. In the first construct, the author emphasizes the idea that writing is a complex task because children find it difficult to generate ideas, organize them, and develop a procedural plan. When she presents drawing, it is conceived as a pre-writing activity that stimulates the development of communicative skills and cognitive potentials. Finally, pictography is a semantic organizer that “does not represent language directly, on a word-by-word basis” (Ukrainetz, 1998, p. 198) but it conveys the meaning of the whole idea. The study consisted of an intervention of pictography in the narrative process. The way learners used the pictograms was observed as well as the pictographic narratives students created. Also, students were asked about their pictographic representations. Findings revealed that the use of pictograms was positive since it provided a visual base for working on the narrative structure. Also, the use of pictograms facilitated to sequence the time in the narrative, because they could organize the order of the narrative before writing it. Finally, students achieved a higher level of performance in their compositions. This study is relevant for this research in two aspects. First of all, it is important to see that semiotic components such as drawing and pictograms are involved in the writing process. This is interesting because the inclusion of these in the class has helped students in their writing process. The second aspect that is significant for the present study is the fact that Iconography differs from pictography because in Iconography the icons convey the meaning word by word while the pictograms convey the meaning of a whole idea or a whole part (scene) of the narrative.

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Bearing in mind that Iconography involves more than the semiotic practice, it is relevant to see it from literacy perspectives, due to the fact that Iconography is applied to teach a foreign language involving a literacy process. In the next section, we proceed to present early literacy.

Early Literacy: A Visual Process and a Socially Situated Practice According to Baynham (1995) “literacy is not the same thing to everyone” (p. 6); this means that there have been different perspectives about this wide term. For the present study early literacy is emphasized due to the age of the pre-school learners involved in the use of Iconography. Early literacy is defined by Gillen and Hall (2003) as “an all-embracing concept for a rich range of authorial and responsive practices using a variety of media and modalities, carried out by people during their early childhood” (p. 9). This definition presents the conception that literacy is not only reading and writing but, as the same authors claim, “it had to be recognized as a much more complex activity involving cognitive and strategic behavior” (Gillen and Hall, 2003, p. 5). This conception of literacy allows us to conceive literacy as more than just reading and writing but as a set of multimodal activities developed in class to involve students in language learning and in the use of the foreign language in classroom context. Besides, early literacy is characterized by Ferreiro (1995) as the process that involves the recognition of the signs used to communicate, but not only to encode and decode, but also to interpret messages conveyed by different means. This characteristic is relevant for the present study since literacy is not seen from the conventional point of view that involves reading and writing linguistic messages but, it is seen as a process of meaning making that involves the recognition and use of particular signs (e.g. images, colors, shapes). As Christie and Roskos (2003) assert, the first contact children have with literacy is drawing. This is one characteristic of early literacy because

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through drawings children construct their world. This characteristic is appropriate for this study because Iconography includes the drawing of icons that students use to communicate. According to Gillen and Hall (2003), children have the same mechanism as adults to make meaning, which is the result of the social context; however, they also assert that “they utilize whatever they feel is appropriate in whichever ways they want to intend a meaning” (p. 9). The elements used could involve maps, drawings, diagrams, and pictures. This is relevant for this study since pre-school students in classroom context use icons and symbols to convey meaning in the foreign language they are learning. Moreover, as Lancaster (2003) asserts, children use different types of marks to make meaning; what is important to highlight here is that they use them consistently and systematically, and this is their way of expressing meaning.

Early literacy as a visual process Wileman (1993) defines visual literacy as “the ability to ‘read’, interpret, and understand information presented in pictorial or graphic images” (p. 114). In this perspective, literacy goes beyond the use of linguistic signs; it includes the understanding of images as part of the literacy process. According to Debes (1969), “visual literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences” (p. 27). Those competences help the person to interpret what he/she sees in the environment. Besides, when the person develops those competences, he/she is able to use them to communicate with others. Additionally, according to Elkins (2008) visual literacy is the understanding of the way objects are perceived, interpreted, and what people learn from this experience. In this sense, visual literacy is related to all the visual experiences the person has. Moreover, Lund and Poole (2008) claim that visual literacy requires students to ‘read’ and ‘write’ visual language. In other words, students learn to recognize and interpret

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

visual information and compose their own meaningful forms of visual communication. This perspective is meaningful for the present study, since students communicate visually their ideas through icons and signs.2 On their discussion of visual literacy, Kress and Leeuwen (1996) affirm that there are two kinds of literacy: the old literacy and the new literacy. The old one refers to the literacy where images are used as a second source in communication and are understood as “unstructured replicas of reality” (p. 23). They contend that the new literacy is where the visual aspect has the same level of relevance the spoken language has. This distinction of literacies is significant in this study because here images are not used as a copy of the reality or as a second element used in communication but, in fact, images are at the core of communication in Iconography.

Early literacy as a social situated practice Baynham (1995) defines literacy as a complete process which comprises listening, speaking, reading, writing, critical thinking, and numeracy; moreover, “it includes the cultural knowledge which enables a speaker, writer or reader to recognize and use language appropriate to different social situations” (p. 9). In this sense, literacy cannot be understood as a universal fact but as a socially situated process that is constructed in a culture. Furthermore, as literacy goes beyond a process of coding and decoding (Chapetón, 2007; Ferreiro, 1995; Gee, 2003), it must be understood as a social process. Barton (2007) states that “literacy can only be understood in the context of the social practices in which it is acquired and used” (p. 25). Barton not only refers to society but he also talks about something really important for this study, the fact that literacy is not a universal item but that literacy belongs to a society and as soon as people understand their literacy process, it exists.

2

This is presented and discussed in chapter 4.

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Besides, society plays another important role. Grossi (1990) talks about the role of interaction in the literacy process, in the sense that interaction allows people to understand the established criteria related to the written signs and their meaning. It means that the codes are established by a group of people who share them in the society. In addition, Cope & Kalantzis (2000) assert that the literacy process “is something people do and learn by engaging in communicative interactions with other people in social settings” (as cited in Makin, Jones, & McLachlan, 2007, p. 46). This is important in this study, because this interaction in the classroom allows students to create the icons and to comprehend their meaning as a socially situated literacy practice. As far as this study is concerned, literacy is seen as a coding and decoding process that starts in early school years, where students are able to code and decode meaning through icons and symbols. However, this process is not isolated from society; indeed, it is constructed in the interaction within the society and the culture which surround the students. Bearing in mind that literacy is part of our lives and is constructed through interaction, it is important to understand that “literacy is a tool with which our values, attitudes , aspirations, opinions, dreams, goals, and ideas about the world are constructed, shared, represented, reconstructed and deconstructed” (Makin et al, 2007, p. 32). This conception is relevant for this study because the construction of the world made by students is represented in each icon they draw. Furthermore, Gee (1996) states that literacy goes beyond the knowledge of a text and that it is a process of apprehending a way of being, which involves different ways of talking, thinking, interacting, valuing, and believing. Moreover, Cameron (2001) asserts that “socially, literacy provides people with opportunities to share meanings across space and time” (p. 123). This implies that the literacy process is shaped by the culture where it takes place as well as the moment when it develops. We will now discuss two research studies that are connected to the construct presented above and thus to the present study. The first study was conducted in Colombia by Rodriguez (2007). It is a qualitative

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case study that had as its main purpose to understand early literacy teaching and learning through a discussion among a group of six preschool teachers. The study was carried out because it was important to discover teachers’ understanding of early literacy in an EFL context. The instruments used to gather data were questionnaires, field notes, group discussions, and teachers’ journal. The theoretical framework used in the study was strongly related to early literacy. In that study early literacy is understood as the ability children have to understand and produce written information. Different authors are presented to support that claim; one of whom is Zuñiga (2001), who asserts that children learn to read by getting in contact with the written language in early stages. The author also presents a discussion on how children learn to read and write; additionally, the author presents the steps children follow to get involved in the literacy process supporting her claims with Ferreiro’s (1995) theory. Findings show that teachers recognize the importance of developing early literacy based on students’ needs and the context they are involved in. Besides, they remarked the inevitable connection between L1 and L2 at school. Rodriguez’ study is relevant for this research because after having the discussions about early literacy processes in pre-school, the teachers suggested that early literacy should be taught in the specific context where the early literacy process takes place as it is the case of Iconography and the EFL teaching practice in pre-school at the particular setting where the present study takes place. Another research study related to the writing process in pre-school is the one carried out by Beltran (2009). The researcher was concerned about the way children develop their L2 writing. So, she decided to conduct a qualitative interpretative case study with the purpose of analyzing and describing the responses of kindergarten students towards the writing process through the use of fables, rhymes, and songs. The study was carried out with five kindergarten students of a private school. Field notes, conferences, and writing samples were used to collect the data.

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Early literacy was one of the constructs of the research; it was conceived as a process children develop before getting engaged in conventional literacy (conventional reading and writing). Moreover, Beltran (2009) claims that early literacy is developed in a playful and motivating environment so children can learn to write and read. Besides, Goodman (1996) is cited by Beltran (2009) to affirm that children need to experience with different types of activities and opportunities to get involved in the literacy process. One of those opportunities is pictures since children’s literacy process begins with them (Mckeown, 2001). Another important concept is “invented spelling”, conceived as the children’s attempt to write by arranging invented words. Findings show that students started getting involved in the literacy process by using different drawings to communicate. Also, the data revealed that beginning to write relies on phonemic awareness since it allowed them to get more in contact with the language used. The last finding shows that children use literacy to express their feelings and emotions; for this reason, it is important to give them the freedom to express what they want to say. Beltran’s study contributes to this research in two basic ways. Firstly, the theoretical framework provides insights in the understanding of early literacy. Secondly, the findings reveal the importance of using pictures during the children’s early literacy process, which is one of the aspects involved in Iconography. As Iconography and early literacy were just presented, now we proceed to discuss the third construct: EFL teaching to young learners.

English Language Teaching to Young Learners Brown (2007) defines teaching as “showing or helping someone to learn how to do something, giving instructions, guiding in the study of something, providing with knowledge, causing to know or understand” (p. 8). This is a wide term that refers to different actions performed by

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

someone who takes the responsibility of guiding and teaching another person. Besides, Richards (2001) states that “the teaching of any subject matter is usually based on an analysis of the nature of the subject itself and the application of teaching and learning principles drawn from research” (p. viii). In this sense, teaching English as a subject matter in the pre-school classroom should be based on research conducted in the particular setting where it takes place, as it is the case of the present study that aims at characterizing a new way of teaching English to young children at a particular classroom context. Furthermore, Richards (2001) asserts that “the teaching of any subject has been characterized by a search for more effective ways of teaching” (p. viii). In the development of the present research, it was important to consider that EFL teaching to young learners encompasses two main aspects: firstly, the teaching concepts in the EFL field; secondly, the EFL teaching processes focused on young learners. In this section, we present theories related to both.

Language Teaching Concepts: an overview Bearing in mind that the purpose of the present study is to characterize Iconography and to set down what it is,3 it is necessary to have a theoretical discussion where different key concepts are defined. These key concepts include approach, method, technique, methodology, principle and procedure. This discussion will be done taking into account the perspectives of different authors. Table 1 portraits these perspectives, making a distinction among them. In the first column the concept to be defined is mentioned, in the second column the authors are presented and, in the last one, the definition of each concept is given. Table 1 closes with a definition of the post-method, which is central to the development of this study.

3

See the discussion presented in the introductory chapter of this book.

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CONCEPT

APPROACH

METHOD

Includes “different theories about the nature of language and how languages are learnt” (p. 15) “It is axiomatic” It “is a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the process of teaching” ( p. 24) It “is an enlightened viewpoint of teaching” ( p. 123) It embraces: A goal of teaching The role of the teacher A perspective of the teaching-learning process The evaluative techniques The teaching methods to be employed “Theoretically well-informed positions and beliefs about the nature of language learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings” (p. 15) “Refers to theories about the nature of language and language learning that serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching” ( p. 20)

DEFINITION

Richards & Rodgers, (2001) Antony (1963) cited in Kumarava“Set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language teaching and learning” (p.84) divelu (2006) Richards et al, (1985) “A way of teaching a language which is based on systematic principles and procedures” (p. 176) “It is procedural” Garcia (1989) “Is an overall plan for orderly presentation of a lesson” (p.24) A method assumes that “there is a single set of principles which will determine whether or not learning Nunan (1991) will take place” (p. 3) It is part of the approach. Acero, Javier, & Castro (2000) “Refers to an organized, orderly, systematic, well-planned procedure” (p. 122) It consists of steps organized logically; these steps help the teacher to develop the class. “A generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives. Methods tend to be concerned primarily with teacher and student roles and behaviors and secondarily with such features as Brown (2001) linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials. They are almost always thought of as being broadly applicable to a variety of audiences in a variety of context” (p. 15)

Brown (2001)

Acero, Javier, & Castro (2000)

Garcia (1989)

Richards et al, (1985)

AUTHOR

Table 1. Definition of Teaching Concepts

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PROCEDURE

METHODOLOGY

TECHNIQUE

METHOD

CONCEPT

DEFINITION “A method is theoretically related to an approach, is organizationally determined by a design, and is practically realized in procedure” (p. 20) For them the method is constituted by the approach, the design, and the procedure.

“The study of the practices and procedures used in teaching, and the principles and beliefs that underline them” (p. 177)

Richards et all, (1985)

Richards & Rodgers, (2001)

“The subcomponent of the curriculum concerned with selecting, sequencing and justifying learning experiences as well as the study of the theoretical and empirical bases of such procedure” (p. 215)

Nunan (1991)

It is the level of conceptualization. “This encompasses the actual moment-to-moment techniques, practices, and behaviors that operate in teaching a language according to a particular method” (p. 34). In this level the tasks and activities are integrated into lessons. There are three dimensions at the level of procedure: a) the use of teaching activities (drills, dialogues, information-gap activities, etc) to present new language and to clarify and demonstrate formal, communicative, or other aspects of the target language; b) the ways in which particular teaching activities are used for practicing language; c) and the procedures and techniques used in giving feedback to learners concerning the form or content of their utterances or sentences” (p. 31)

“Methodology denotes the study of the system or range of methods that are used in teaching” (p. 604)

“Pedagogical practices in general (including theoretical underpinnings and related research). Whatever considerations are involved in ‘how to teach’ are methodological” (p. 15)

Adamson, (2004) in Davis & Ellis (2004)

Brown (2001)

Antony (1963) cited in Kumarava“Overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material” (p. 85) divelu (2006) “Any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or tasks used in the language classroom for realizing lesson Brown (2001) objectives” (p. 15) Antony (1963) cited in Kumarava“A particular trick, stratagem, or contrivance to accomplish an immediate objective” (p. 85) divelu (2006) Larsen-Freeman (2000) “Techniques are the actions that carry out a method” (p. 1)

Richards & Rodgers, (2001)

AUTHOR

• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

POST-METHOD

PRINCIPLE

PROCEDURE

CONCEPT

DEFINITION “Set of teaching strategies adopted/adapted by the teacher in order to accomplish the stated and unstated, short and long-term goals of language learning and teaching in the classroom. Classroom events, activities, or techniques can be covered under procedures” (p. 89)

Arikan, A. (2006)

Kumaravadivelu (2008)

It is a three-dimensional system consisting of three pedagogic parameters: particularity, practicality, and possibility. (p. 170) “The construction of classroom procedures and principles by the teacher himself/herself based on his/her prior and experiential knowledge and/or certain strategies” (p. 29) “Refers to the qualities of the contemporary era in English language teaching in which previously well trusted methods are put under serious scrutiny and in which a body of methods and techniques collected from all previous methods and approaches are used pragmatically with a belief that such an eclectic practice leads to success.” (p. 1)

The principles are the thoughts (p. 1)

Larsen-Freeman (2000)

Kumaravadivelu (2006)

The principles are the theories. (p. 54)

Brown (2001)

Adams, (2004) in Applied linguis“Procedure means the techniques and activities that are used in the classroom” (p. 605) tics eds Davis & Ellis (2004)

Kumaravadivelu (2006)

AUTHOR

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

As presented in the table above, each pedagogical concept has different features and encompasses characteristics that accentuate the differences among them. For instance, an approach includes the entire theoretical framework (Acero et al, 2000); a method is part of an approach and it refers to the process of carrying and approach out (Garcia, 1989); and methodology refers to practices and procedures used in the actual teaching moment (Richards et al, 1985). For the convenience of the present study, two of the concepts presented above are worked deeply in the following section; they are principles and post-method. Principles: Larsen-Freeman (2000) asserts that principles in language teaching are those thoughts that are involved in the teaching practice. She proposes ten aspects that help to identify the principles that underlie the teaching practice. In Table 2 the principles presented by LarsenFreeman are displayed. In the first column the aspect is presented, in the second column the meaning of each is explained. Table 2. Principles presented by Larsen-Freeman (2000). PRINCIPLE Goal of the teacher Role of the teacher Teaching/learning process Students-Teacher interaction Student-Students interaction Feelings of students Language and culture view Language areas and language skills Role of the students Evaluation Teacher’s response to students errors

MEANING Those purposes and goals the teacher has in carrying out her/his practice The way the teacher assumes his/her position in the class The way the teaching/learning process is seen The way the participants of the class interact among them The way the feelings of students are dealt with during the class The perspectives on the language and the culture of the language taught The language areas and skills that are emphasized during the class The way students assume their position in the class How evaluation is accomplished The way the teacher responds to students’ errors during the class

As presented in Table 2, Larsen-Freeman (2000) proposes ten aspects that are taken into account in a teaching practice and that help to build up the principles which underlie the whole teaching practice in a classroom.

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Post-method: According to Arikan (2006), post-method refers to the qualities of the contemporary era in English language teaching in which recognized methods are evaluated, and several aspects of methods and techniques are gathered to be used pragmatically in an eclectic practice with the purpose of being successful. It means that the view of method breaks down and the idea of combining techniques taken from different methods that have been proposed in the history of language teaching comes into the language field. Kumaravadivelu (1994) states that the post-method is “the construction of classroom procedures and principles by the teacher himself/herself based on his/her prior and experiential knowledge and/or certain strategies” (p. 29). This idea implies that the teacher adjusts the procedures and principles of his/her class based on the knowledge she/ he has by combining a number of strategies. Kumaravadivelu (2006) also asserts that post-method is a threedimensional system consisting of three pedagogic parameters: particularity, practicality, and possibility. The first one implies that a teaching practice must be thought of taking into account the particular context where it is held; it means that everything comes from the participants of the practice itself. The parameter of practicality refers to the relationship between theory and practice. Kumaravadivelu (2006) states that there are two kinds of theories: the professional and the personal. The professional theories are those created by experts in the field; the personal are those theories generated by the teachers while they are carrying out their teaching practice. This kind of theory comes from the practice itself and the action research that is conducted by the teacher on his/her own job. Possibility is the parameter that deals with the experiences the participants bring into the pedagogical setting and that shape the teaching practice. These experiences are not only the experiences the participants live in the class, but also those which come from “a broader social, economic, and political environment in which they grow up.” (Kumaravadivelu, 2006, p. 173)

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Teaching young learners in the EFL classroom Additionally to the teaching concepts aforementioned, it is relevant to characterize teaching young learners in the EFL classroom. According to Cameron (2001), teaching children is assumed “as an extension of mothering rather than as an intellectual enterprise” (p. xii). This definition means that most of the theories that have been presented in the language teaching field with respect to young learners are related to taking care of the children at school as mothers do at home. However, there have been different perspectives presented by some authors about teaching a second or a foreign language to children which are more connected with activities and strategies to use in the class. Related to foreign language teaching, some authors talk about different strategies or activities that should be developed in an EFL classroom. First of all, it is essential to talk about Bruner’s view (1983). He talks about the routines that may be generated in the classroom; they help students to get used to the use of language in different situations. Moreover, this routine may seem quite natural as “people learn a language because they are in real situations communicating about important and interesting things” (Genesee, 1994, p. 16); thus, students will not get involved in the teaching process if it takes place within a context or situation unknown for them. Secondly, it is important to mention that “children learn best through games, make-believe, storytelling, and songs. Both the context and the content of the activities need to be varied, holding the children’s interest, and giving them the opportunity to participate at their own level” (Ashwoth & Wakefiel, 1994, p. 34). This idea implies that activities used in the class must be varied and provide students with opportunities to improve their English proficiency. Activities must also be comprehended as the tools used by the teacher in order to help students to achieve a successful learning. Another issue that arises in teaching young children is age, which is one of the determinant factors in teaching children. According to Brown (1994), age is a variable in the learning process that affects the teaching

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practices. He provides five categories that must be taken into account when carrying out the teaching practice. Firstly, it is the intellectual development that implies that children need concrete activities, for example no grammatical explanations. Secondly, he mentions the attention spam that suggests that the activities must call students’ attention in a short period of time. Thirdly, the sensory input that refers to the five senses; thus, teachers must create activities where the five senses are stimulated. Fourthly, affective factors are a key issue since teachers must be able to create an environment where students feel comfortable. Finally, it is the use of authentic and meaningful language, which means that the activities must be connected with the context where students are involved. Scott (1990) characterizes children’s learning of different ages. Taken into account that the participants’ age in this study ranges from 5 to 8, the characterization of this group of learners is presented here. According to Scott (1990), children at this age are called beginners in the learning process, they learn by watching and listening, which implies that they are concrete, which in turn means that they need to perceive the objects, to learn with their five senses. They are not aware of the language skills, although they develop them every day; they learn by doing. Children learn because they follow the social processes they are involved in. Therefore, to accomplish a meaningful learning process, students “should first be given opportunities to learn language in conjunction with experiences that are compatible with their current abilities and knowledge” (Genesee, 1994, p. 4). In the present study, EFL teaching to young learners is understood as the process of fostering and enhancing the learning of the foreign language in children. Besides, teaching to young learners is affected by age; therefore, there are some aspects to bear in mind, such as the intellectual development, the attention spam, the affective factor, the sensory input, and authentic and meaningful language use. Four research studies that illustrate previous research connected to this study and that back up the construct of EFL teaching to young learners are presented as follows. The first research study was carried out by Garton,

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

Copland and Burns (2011). It is about global practices in teaching English to young learners that include key aspects in EFL teaching processes. The problematic situations of the study include three main concerns: 1) the approaches to language learning that are implemented in children’s classrooms, because they are adapted from theories of adults’ learning processes; 2) the lack of policies in the countries towards the teaching of young children; and 3) the teachers’ proficiency level of English. It is an interpretive-exploratory research that took place in several countries where English is taught as a foreign language, including Colombia. Researchers used a survey of perceptions of Teaching English to Young Learners-TEYL practices from a global sample of teachers of English and detailed case studies of the contexts, practices and perceptions of five teachers in different continents. The findings of Garton, Copland, and Burns’ (2011) study show that the practices followed by teachers to teach preschoolers are guided by the national policies of the country, local documents and the Common European Framework. Another finding related to class methodology revealed that there are different activities used by teachers in order to teach children; those include: children repeating after the teacher, playing games, singing songs, role-playing, listening to a tape-recorder, using flashcards, among others. Finally, the most striking finding is related to the problems teachers find in teaching children. They state that it is difficult to work with children with learning difficulties as well as to motivate students to learn a language that is not used in their immediate context. Besides, teachers said that it is hard to explain grammar rules to young learners. This study is relevant for this research because it encompasses all the elements that are relevant in the process of teaching young children as the policies, the approaches to language teaching and learning used in pre-school classrooms, and the pedagogical issues that characterize this particular context. In addition, it provides a wide view of the existing teaching processes with children at this particular stage around the world and particularly in Colombia.

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One research study where the post-method condition is evidenced was carried out by Huang (2009). Its title is A Post-method Condition Pronunciation Teaching Approach in an EFL Classroom in Taiwan. The researcher decided to implement a new culture-related and mnemonicsbased pronunciation teaching approach based on the post-method condition presented by Kumaravadivelu (1994). She took into account the context where the teaching practice was carried out and included the Taiwanese pronunciation instruction in the new approach. The theoretical background of the study is based on Prabhu’s (1990) ideas about method, and Kumaravadivelu’s (1994) proposal about the postmethod condition and the macro-strategies it implies. It also includes a definition of mnemonics devices and its uses in language teaching. Finally, techniques of teaching pronunciation are presented including the activities used in teaching pronunciation. Two instruments were used to collect data: class observation and interviews. The implementation consisted of a story made up of 24 consonants and 17 vowels represented through pictures; that received the name of Wowo’s adventure. It was used to teach pronunciation. Findings in the study revealed that students learnt better with the use of this approach because they felt motivated and interested in learning pronunciation. Also, the teacher liked it because she evidenced that the visual representations intensify her students’ memorization of consonants and vowels, and this helps her students to produce correct pronunciation. This research is relevant to this study in two main ways. Firstly, it helped us to achieve a better understanding of the post-method condition used in a teaching practice. Secondly, it provided important insights to reflect about changing the EFL teaching practices in order to make them more connected to the reality students live in. Another relevant study is the one carried out by Porras (2010), which had as its main purpose to find a fun and meaningful way to teach English to children. The problem the research posed is the fact that public schools do not have good teaching/learning material and, in some cases, qualified teachers for teaching English to young learners. The theoretical foundations of this study are based on Krashen and Terrell’s

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(1983) statements related to the affective filter and input hypothesis in which learners are expected to receive a qualified input in a friendly environment. As it is an action research, they proposed using storytelling and story reading as teaching strategies because they can provide children with a lot of enriching and interesting input. After implementing the proposal, Porras (2010) found out that not only stories are a good and enjoyable strategy for teaching English to children but also games. This study explores aspects that are interesting for the present research. It involves the use of different teaching techniques with children, including storytelling and games. It shows that these techniques are not only fun and enjoyable for young learners but also bring a lot of possibilities for children to learn, including vocabulary practice, real opportunities for communication, fostering the use of productive and receptive skills at the same time. Teaching English to Young Learners in Colombia: Policy, Practice and Challenges, is a discussion presented by Truscott de Mejía (2009). The article’s main purpose is to discuss the implications of the National Bilingual Program created by Colombia’s government in order to improve the English language proficiency. In Truscott de Mejía’s discussion, some research studies carried out in different parts of Colombia were presented to show the application of the national policy with young learners. In the discussion three main topics arose. Firstly, the lack of contextualization of the National Bilingual Program since it is based on the Common European Framework and does not take into account the reality of students in different areas of Colombia. Secondly, the inclusion of the descriptors for the different proficiency levels helps the teachers to sequence and organize their teaching practice, if they take them into account. Thirdly, the change of mind towards bilingualism; because before, bilingualism was understood as being proficient in two languages: Spanish and English; currently, bilingualism is understood as the use of different languages, including also the indigenous languages in Colombia. Finally, some challenges in teaching to young learners in Colombia are addressed. Firstly, universities should start preparing teachers to

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face the situation of teaching English to young learners. Secondly, the government needs to focus on the primary educational levels since most of the policies are focused on high school levels. Finally, policy makers should be aware of the gap between the implementation in the classroom and what it is stated in the policy documents. Truscott de Mejía’s discussion is useful to this study because it presents a general view of what happens in Colombia in terms of teaching young learners. It helps us to understand the policies related to young learners and how the National Bilingual Program has been implemented in our country. The three constructs presented in this chapter can be interrelated and understood as a coherent whole in order to understand Iconography as an EFL teaching practice. The first construction, Iconography and the concepts related to it are useful to understand Iconography from the semiotic perspective. Early literacy is connected with Iconography since Iconography can also be understood from the literacy point of view and can be implemented with pre-school students. Finally, EFL teaching to young learners provides a general view about the conceptual and theoretical background for the teaching practices in the EFL classroom with learners of a very young age. In the next chapter, the methodological design and data collection procedures followed during the research process are described.

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Researching Iconography in the EFL Pre-School Classroom In this chapter, the research design followed in this study is described. The chapter begins by explaining the type of study that was conducted including both the research paradigm (qualitative) and the research approach (case study). A description of the context of the research, that is the setting where the study was developed, the participants, and the researcher’s role that was assumed while the study was conducted is also presented. The next section provides an account of the instruments used for data collection and describes the procedures followed to collect the data. The final section is concerned with the analysis of the data and the coding procedures used to develop this study.

Type of study This research study is framed within the qualitative research principles. According to Merriam (2009), qualitative research seeks information related to the way people interpret experiences and the way they have impact in their lives. In this study, what Merriam asserts is a key factor, because the whole study is focused on the participants’ experiences with Iconography.

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A characteristic of qualitative research is that it is “concerned with understanding human behavior from the actor’s own frame of reference” (Nunan, 1992, p. 4). Regarding this, this study has as its purpose to collect information from individuals who are involved in the practice of Iconography and understand the context where Iconography is used without manipulating it (Johnson & Christensen, 2004). This paradigm is appropriate in order to analyse data collected related to Iconography, since this study aims at producing qualitative holistic knowledge about it. In addition, this study aims at investigating the perspective of the community involved in the use of Iconography, which is strongly connected with Denzin and Lincoln’s (2011) claims that a “qualitative research stresses the socially constructed nature of reality” (p. 8). This is a qualitative case study due to its purposes. “A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context” (Stake, 1994, 1995, p. 13 as cited in Merriam, 1998, p. 27). In this study, this claim is central since Iconography is investigated in the context where it is used, involving the students who learn English with it, and the teacher who uses it, the parents whose students are learning with it, and the principal of the school. According to Merriam (1998), case studies “are intensive descriptions and analyses of a single unit or bounded system such as an individual, program, event, group, intervention, or community” (p. 19); taking into account that this study aims at characterizing a specific EFL teaching practice (Iconography) used in a particular context (a private school in Colombia), with a particular population (pre-school students), the case study is the best research approach to carry out the research. Case study is characterized by the fact that it “is employed to gain an in-depth understanding of the situation and meaning for those involved” (Merriam, 1998, p. 19). This characteristic is relevant for the present study since the main purpose is to achieve comprehension of Iconography and to characterize it. Moreover, according to Bell (2005), case studies allow researchers to identify the features of any implementation and how it affects the context where it takes place, which is basically the main objective of the present study. Additionally, as Gray (2004) asserts, a case

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study “is ideal when a ‘how’ or ‘why’ question is being asked” (p. 124). This is the major characteristic of the present study taking into account the main research question about how Iconography works. To sum up, a qualitative case study is the best research type to carry out this study since all the features of a case study fit with the purpose, context, and characteristics of the study and the use of Iconography.

The context of the research The study was conducted at a private school in Colombia. The school is situated in a small village in a central county (Cundinamarca). The school was founded in 2006. The school has five basic notions as its ideological basis: conflict, which is conceived as an opportunity to solve difficulties in order to grow up, to learn and to confront any life situation; communication, which is the means that allows discussion and daily interaction; truth, which is the result of a good communicative process; restoration, conceived as the recovery of the relationships through communication; and peculiarity, which refers to the individual characteristics each person has and which make him/her different from others (School Educative Project (PEI), 2006). These are the basic elements in the teaching-leaning process which teachers must take into account when preparing and teaching classes. Moreover, the emphasis of the school is on humanities, in which the foreign language is included as an important subject in the application of the five notions. The school mission is to educate holistic students who can understand their existence in a society and take active part in it. On the other hand, the institutional vision is to become an institution that promotes social opinion in order to encourage a social change (School Educative Project (PEI), 2006). This is evident in the five notions mentioned above because this is a school concerned with the social and personal development of students. For this reason, in the English classes it is important to develop the ability to communicate instead of providing the students with countless grammar rules.

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Related to the English project that the school is implementing, it has as main its purpose to create an environment in which the students can communicate their ideas, thoughts, and feelings using English. The project aims at having a high and qualified quantity of input. Thus, preschoolers and primary students have six English class sessions each week, and high school students have eight class sessions; each class session lasts 50 minutes. Besides, the project presents two pedagogical parameters to follow: Iconography -for pre-school, first and second graders, and the communicative approach from third to eleventh grade. (School Educative Project (PEI), 2006). In spite of the fact that these are the main pedagogical parameters, the project also includes other teaching concepts which are relevant in the English classes, such as teaching for comprehension, total physical response, and English for specific purposes in the high school grades. The principal of the school, as the person responsible for most of the processes at the institution, provided the institutional consent for conducting the study there (see appendix 1).

Participants and sampling The participants in this study were the community involved in the use of Iconography at school. They were the students who were directly implicated in the process; the teacher who was working with this “approach”, the parents whose students were involved in the process, and the principal of the school. Table 3 shows the participants who were involved in the study.

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Table 3. Participants of the study PARTICIPANT Students

Parents

GRADE

NUMBER

Pre-kinder Kinder Transition Pre-kinder Kinder Transition

Nine (9) Nineteen (19) Twenty-five (25) Nine (9) Nineteen (19) Twenty-five (25)

Pre-school Teacher School Principal

One (1) One (1)

Fifty-three students participated in the development of this study: thirty-one boys and twenty-two girls. They were in the three grades of pre-school: pre-kinder (nine students), kinder (nineteen students) and transition (twenty-five students). They were between 5 and 7 years old. Most of them had been studying in the school since they started their educational process. They have been learning English with Iconography and they recognized the characteristics of it. This implies that they were familiar with the icons, the construction of them, and their intended meaning. Forty students live in the village were the school is located while reside in Bogotá. In spite of the fact that their permission depends on their parents due to their age, they gave consent for their participation in the study by a consent form created for them (see appendix 2). The teacher who works with this approach is a lady. She is a zoologist who decided to teach English some years ago, so she decided to train herself in pedagogy at a university in Bogotá. She is one of the teachers who started Iconography in 2006. She has been working in the school since 2006 with pre-school and primary students, teaching English using Iconography. She provided consent to participate in this study (see appendix 3). In spite of the fact that there is another EFL teacher in second grade, she is the only teacher interviewed because the second grade teacher was new at the moment the study was conducted. Besides, data were only collected in pre-school grades. The parents who are part of this study are the ones whose children are participants too; it means fifty-three Pre-school parents. As their children, they have been part of the institution during a short period of time (0, 1 or 2 years). They receive the consent form for their children’s

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participation as well as their own (see appendix 4) and they all accepted to participate voluntarily in this research. The principal is a lady. She has been the principal of the school since 2006, except in 2008 when another principal was in charge of the institution. She studied Social Sciences and Educational Administration. She is strongly interested in the English learning process students have in the school because she emphasizes the importance of being bilingual in a globalized world, even though she does not speak English. The sample procedure followed in order to select the population participating in the study is a unique purposeful sampling (Merriam, 1998) because participants are just found in the specific context where Iconography is used. However, two main criteria for sampling were considered. First of all, participants should be involved in the use of Iconography in the EFL teaching practice. Secondly, participants should be in pre-school level, since this is the first stage where Iconography is implemented.

Researcher’s Role The role of the researcher in this study was complete observer since she did not take part in the activities proposed by the teacher, but just observed the way they were carried out. According to Marshall and Rossman (1999), the researcher is considered the instrument of a qualitative research, being her role a very important issue in the present study. The technical aspects related to access the setting have been elucidated since the consent form letters were provided and signed by the different participants. In addition, all the participants were informed about what the research was about through the consent forms. With regards to the ethical issues (Punch, 1994), the code of ethics assumed during the research process included and guaranteed: privacy, confidentiality of data, respect for the agreements, trust, and honesty.

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Data Collection: Instruments and Procedures According to Seliger & Shohamy (2008), instruments are conceived as the tools employed by the researcher in order to collect the information. In this study four instruments were used to gather data: observation, questionnaires, interviews, and documents. They were four because it is necessary to show validity and reliability in the research development. These are evident in triangulation (Sagor, 2000), which means the use of different perspectives to support a claim and strengthen its validity and reliability. As each instrument has a different data collection purpose, it was necessary to create a triangulation plan in which each instrument helped to corroborate the findings by looking at them from different perspectives. According to Sagor (2000), this plan takes different sources for each question, as is shown in table 4. In the coming section, each instrument for data collection is explained and a description of their importance and usefulness for this study will be given. Table 4. Data collection matrix Research question How does Iconography work in the EFL pre-school classroom? What are the pedagogical underpinnings of the EFL teaching practice held in this particular school context when Iconography is used? How is the EFL teaching practice developed in pre-school when using Iconography? What are the perceptions that the educational community has of the use of Iconography?

Data source #1

Data source #2

Observation (Class sessions)

Questionnaire (students and parents)

Observation (Class sessions)

Interview (teacher)

Documents

Observation (Class sessions)

Interviews (teacher and principal)

Documents

Questionnaire (students and parents)

Interviews (teacher and principal)

Observation (Class sessions)

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Data source #3 Interviews (teacher and principal)

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Observation, field notes: According to Merriam (1998), field notes are the written account of what the observer observes. However, they are not just a narrative of what is happening in the class but are focused on a particular aspect of teaching and learning. (Wallace, 2006) Besides, according to Burns (2003), observation is the mainstay data collection instrument of qualitative research. Observation allows the researcher “to document and reflect systematically upon classroom interactions and events, as they actually occur” (Burns, 2003, p. 80). Observation is characterized by the fact that it takes place in the natural field. In this study, the observations were undertaken in the pre-school classroom, which is the real environment where Iconography is used. This instrument gives the opportunity to have a first-hand experience with the participants, which is an important aspect for a qualitative study. Besides, another advantage is that “the researcher can record information as it is revealed” (Creswell, 2003, p. 214). This is something that makes this instrument special, because it reveals the data from the very moment they are gathered. Nevertheless, the main disadvantage it has is the lack of good attending and observing skills the researcher may have. In this research, this disadvantage was overcome by observation training before starting to collect data through field notes. This observation training consisted of visiting and observing the classes and recording with a camera and later through, field notes, recording what the researcher was observing. The second weakness it has is that the researcher may be seen as someone intrusive in the class environment. This difficulty was solved during the observation training and piloting because the students and the teacher were accustomed to the researcher’s presence in their classroom during this process. As Merriam (1998) asserts, “field notes based on observation need to be in a format” (p. 105). For the field notes the format was created in order to help the researcher, to write down the information relevant for the study. This format is divided into three parts (see appendix 5); the first part includes general characteristics such as date, the name of the school, the setting, grade, activity, and the page number. The second part has the research questions, which are included as a guide for the

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researcher during the observational process. The last part is distributed into two columns, the observation itself and the comments or reflections. Additionally, video recording of sessions were used as a support for the observation because “it can make a permanent record of contextual and paralinguistic data, such as chalkboard work, the layout of the classroom, movement, gestures, facial expressions and so on” (Wallace, 2006, p. 107). This strategy was chosen because some data from the observation could get lost, so in a review of the recording any missing piece could be identified. As Burns (2003) asserts, a useful approach could be “to review short segments of the recordings, particularly those which represent critical points in relation to the research issues” (p. 96). This was done even if this was not the main instrument but a support to the field notes in order to obtain reliable data. Interviews: The interview is defined by Merriam (1998) as a dialogue with the purpose to gather singular kind of information. This instrument helps to obtain data the researcher cannot observe. This instrument “involves respondents reporting on themselves, their views, their beliefs, their interactions, and so on” (Wallace, 2006, p. 13). In the case of this study, the semi-structured interview was used. In this type of interview, there is an interview agenda already prepared by the interviewer but it may change during the interviewing process (Wallace, 2006). With this prepared plan, the main purpose was to guide the conversation to explore the research topic. This instrument was useful in this study because the perspectives and perceptions of the other participants (the teacher and the principal) were taken into account. Moreover, with this instrument the opinions of these participants were gathered and became a very important source in the understanding of Iconography. The main advantage of this type of interviews is its flexibility because, as a researcher, one can guide the interview towards the purpose of the study. As Merriam (1998) asserts, the researcher can face the situation in the moment it is happening by changing the questions when he/she considers it necessary or just reformulating them. Another advantage is the non-verbal answers one can obtain which are excluded in a written document.

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However, it has as its main disadvantage that it is a time-consuming instrument (Merriam, 1998). This shortcoming was solved by making the interviews at different moments during the research process so that there was time to transcribe them. The first semi-structured interview was designed for the principal (see appendix 6). It was written in Spanish because she does not speak English. The questions aim at obtaining her opinion and perceptions of Iconography as the main and legal head of the institution. The second was planned for the EFL teacher, but for her four semi-structured interviews were designed (see appendix 7). The interview protocols were written in English but the teacher asked to have the interviews in Spanish, so the interview questions were translated into Spanish. The questions of these interviews aimed at gathering information about the beginnings of Iconography, the way she understands the EFL teaching practice with it, and her position towards it. Questionnaires: Questionnaires are “self-report data collection instruments that each participant fills out as part of a research study” (Johnson & Christensen, 2004, p. 164). According to Johnson & Christensen (2004), there are different types of data one can collect with this instrument such as behavior, experiences, attitudes, knowledge and background. In this study, this instrument was important because it helped to obtain two types of information. The first one was about the profile of the participants; this implies demographic information and their background. The second type was the one related to the research itself; it means their experience, attitude, knowledge, and opinion about Iconography. The main characteristic of this instrument is that it contains multiple questions and statements (Johnson & Christensen, 2004). There are some aspects mentioned by Bell (2005) which must be taken into account when the researcher is preparing the questionnaire. They are question wording, appearance and layout, drawing a sample, and piloting it. Those aspects were considered during the elaboration of the questionnaires because we were careful with the layout due to the fact that it was designed for little children. Besides, the piloting process was essential

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because we could realize the mistakes in terms of wording so children could comprehend its content. The great advantage of questionnaires is that they help to save time (Wallace, 2006). This instrument has some disadvantages according to Merriam (1998). The first one is the ambiguity that questions can have; in this research, this was handled with a previous check of the wording of each item stem as well as seeing the students’ reactions during the piloting process. Another disadvantage is intrusiveness. This was dealt with in this research by the use of the consent form as a way to present the research; secondly, by using a familiar and kind language in the presentation of the instrument; and finally, by applying it after some observations in the classroom. In this study, questionnaires were applied to two groups of participants: parents and students. The difference between those questionnaires was that the one prepared for parents (see appendix 8) aimed at gathering information about the family context the students were involved in and the perceptions, opinions and experiences of the parents with Iconography. In this questionnaire the terms “method” and “approach” were used indistinctively to refer to Iconography because when the questionnaires were applied, it was not clear what Iconography was. In addition, the questionnaires designed for students (see appendix 9) were more focused on Iconography itself except for some personal questions such as age, gender, and people who live with them. Documents: According to Merriam, (1998) documents are an umbrella term which refers to written materials, visual, and physical material relevant to the study. This instrument is characterized by documents being ready-made; then, the researcher has to look for them and analyze them. There are different types of documents: public, personal, and physical material. For this study, two types of documents were used: public school documents and artifacts. Public school documents include the EFL syllabus, curriculum, lesson plans, and class material used when Iconography was utilized in pre-school grades. Artifacts were the exams, the visual material used in the classroom and the activities made by the students.

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These types of documents were useful for the present study because they revealed things that cannot be observed as goals and decisions about using Iconography (Merriam, 1998). This issue is relevant because it is one part of Iconography that could not be evidenced in class observation but that could be found in different written documents. Moreover, documents not only “provide valuable information about the program itself, but they can also stimulate thinking about important questions” (Merriam, 1998, p. 114). It implies that during the research process the use of those documents can make the research questions change or be reformulated. In regards to artifact, it “consists of physical objects found within the study setting” (Merriam, 1998, p. 117). In the present study the artifacts were those materials used or created in class. The ones used in class refer to the exams and workshops that the teacher generated with a specific teaching purpose. The materials created in class are those artifacts that students made on their own following specific instructions in class sessions such as handicrafts, drawings, and objects molded with clay. With documents it is difficult to determine their authenticity and accuracy; this is a disadvantage they have. In this study, it was dealt with by taking the original documents from the school. However, the use of documents has some advantages; the first one is that they are readymade saving time in the collection process. Secondly, documents are “free, and contain information that would take an investigator enormous time and effort to gather otherwise” (Merriam, 1998, p. 125). This was important for this study because it helped to save time which was valuable in the collection of data from other sources.

Data Collection Procedures The data collection in pre-school grades began on February 4th, 2013, with the reading of the documents, and finished on June 11th, 2013. This period comprehends two academic terms when the students did not change and were working with the same teacher. The class observations were carried out weekly, twice a week during five months including the

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four grades, one session per grade was observed each week. The class observation started on March 12th and finished on June 11th. Each class was observed and recorded, and then the observations were written down in the field notes. Four different grades were observed: pre-kinder, kinder, transition A, and transition B. The interview for the principal was made during the second month of the observational process (March 21st) because from observations, questions for the principal arose. The interview was recorded and then transcribed. The four interviews for the teacher were conducted at the beginning, during, and after the observation (March 13th, April 7th, May 13th, and June 18th). As well as the interview for the principal, these interviews were recorded and then transcribed using specific transcription conventions taken and adapted from Chapetón (2007), (see appendix 10). With respect to the questionnaires, two were applied: one for students and one for parents. For students, the questionnaire was applied on April 17th; it was simultaneous with the class observation. Questionnaires for parents were conducted in the middle of the process on April 23rd. It was done in that moment because some information about Iconography could be forgotten by parents during vacation time. After both questionnaires were applied, they were analyzed by grouping the data collected. Finally, two types of documents were collected: public documents from the institution and artifacts. The public documents were revised since the first day because it was necessary in order to compare the classroom practices with what was written in the official school documents. Artifacts were gathered as they were produced by students or by the EFL teacher. Table 5 presents the data collection plan including the month when data was collected, the instrument that was used each month, and the participants involved in the process.

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Table 5. Data collection plan MONTH February

March

April

May

June

INSTRUMENT Documents check Observation (Pre-kinder, kinder, transition) Observation (Pre-kinder, kinder, transition) Interview Interview 1 Documents check Observation (Pre-kinder, kinder, transition) Interview 2 Questionnaires Questionnaires Documents check Observation(Pre-kinder, kinder, transition) Interview 3 Documents check Observation(Pre-kinder, kinder, transition) Interview 4 Documents check

PARTICIPANT Teacher and Students Teacher and Students Principal Teacher Teacher and Students Teacher Students Parents Teacher and Students Teacher Teacher and Students Teacher

Having collected the data in a systematic way, the process for data analysis and coding started. The next section of this chapter provides an account of the way this process was carried out.

Procedures for Data Analysis During the analysis process the grounded approach was used (Merriam, 1998); thus, all the categories and theory that emerged from this study came from the very data. The process of analysis started by reading the data gathered with the field notes, questionnaires, interviews and artifacts. Bearing in mind that data analysis is an ongoing process (Merriam, 1998); the data was read several times. Simultaneously, units of analysis started to be identified, understanding them as the smallest but significant pieces of data that lead to find patterns (Merriam, 1998). At the same time, the microanalysis was done, which, according to Corbin and Strauss (2008) is “the detailed line-by-line analysis necessary at the beginning of the study to generate categories” (p. 57). The purpose of this microanalysis was to

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establish a connection with the data and finding the hidden information provided. After that, the search for patterns and themes which were repeated began; different questions were asked in order to find the relationships among them (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). These patterns were underlined in the different instruments with different colors; then the coding process was done by giving a name to each color bearing in mind the theme they shared. Later on, concepts were identified and grouped into categories, recognizing their properties and dimensions; this was done by making diagrams. According to Corbin and Strauss (2008), the first ones are those aspects that characterize the category; and the dimensions are variations of the characteristics within a category. During this process, having in mind the research questions, data were reassembled as many times as it was necessary in the diagrams until a clear understanding of them was reached. Bearing in mind that theorizing is the process by which a theory is developed to explain “some aspects of educational practice and allows one to draw inferences about future activities” (Merriam, 1998, p. 141), the process of building theory started by looking for the connections among categories and explaining the way Iconography works; afterwards, the links were made with the theoretical framework. To ensure validity and reliability, the findings were examined to find consistency with the data collected (Creswell, 2003). Additionally, triangulation was confirmed by considering all the data collected and organizing them in different ways to comprehend them (Freeman, 1988). In order to process and manage the data, the artifacts were organized taking into account three aspects: First, the grade were the artifact was collected; second, the type of artifact collected; and third, the participant who worked on the artifact. A code was given to each aspect, and thus, different codes were assigned to the different artifacts. This coding procedure is presented in table 6:

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Table 6. Coding process ASPECT OF THE ARTIFACT Grade

Type Participant

CODE PK K T W E A S1, S2, S3… T

MEANING Pre-kinder Kinder Transition Workshop Exam Activity Student Teacher

These codes were used to identify the data that illustrate each one of the emergent categories and subcategories. Thus, an excerpt taken from grade Kinder, from an exam, produced by the teacher, would be identified as K.E.T. As stated in the first chapter of this book, this study attempted to characterize Iconography as used in pre-school, not only focusing on Iconography as an isolated aspect but as a part of the whole EFL teaching process held at that level. Table 7 shows the categories and the subcategories that emerged from the analysis and their relation to each one of the research questions guiding this study. Table 7. Categories resulting from the analysis RESEARCH QUESTIONS

CATEGORIES

SUBCATEGORIES Icons and symbols as meaningful images for EFL

How does Iconography work in the EFL preschool classroom?

The combination of icons and symbols as Iconography as a semiota communicative system in EFL ic literacy practice where Iconography as a socially situated semiotic icons and symbols are used to convey meaning practice The uses of iconography in the EFL classroom: a socially situated semiotic practice

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS What are the pedagogical underpinnings of the EFL teaching practice held in this particular school context when Iconography is used?

CATEGORIES

SUBCATEGORIES Pre-school as a particular context

The post-method as the pedagogical underpinning that guides the EFL teaching practice

Iconography as a fusion of personal and professional theories. Experiences that shape the teaching practice Teaching techniques used in the classroom

How is the EFL teaching practice developed in pre-school when using Iconography?

Unveiling the EFL teach- Principles involved in the teaching pracing practice in pre-school tice

What are the perceptions that the educational community has of the use of Iconography?

Participants’ perceptions about the use of Iconography in pre-school classrooms

Procedures that encompass the whole practice Challenges of Iconography

Opportunities of Iconography

As seen in Table 7, the emergent categories are presented taking into account the order in which the research questions are posed. The first category is Iconography as a semiotic literacy practice where icons and symbols are used to convey meaning. This category is related to the first research question and explains the way Iconography works from the semiotic point of view, in the specific context where it takes place. The subcategories that emerged in regards to this category are: Icons and symbols as meaningful images for EFL, the combination of icons and symbols as a communicative system in EFL, Iconography as a socially situated semiotic practice, and the uses of iconography in the EFL classroom: a socially situated semiotic practice. The post-method as the pedagogical underpinning that guides the EFL teaching practice is the second category that emerged from the analysis. It deals with the second research question related to the pedagogical underpinnings of the EFL teaching practice in the context studied. It

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shows the post-method as the answer for this inquiry. The subcategories are: Pre-school as a particular context, Iconography as a fusion of theory and practice, and experiences that shape the teaching practice. The third research question deals with the way the EFL teaching practice is developed in pre-school. The emergent category regarding to this question describes how the teaching practice is carried out: Unveiling the EFL teaching practice in pre-school. Three subcategories arose: Teaching techniques used in the classroom, principles involved in the teaching practice, and procedures that encompass the whole practice. The last question is focused on the perceptions of the community involved in Iconography; thus, the category that emerged is: Participants’ perceptions about the use of Iconography in pre-school classrooms. Two subcategories emerged: Challenges of Iconography, which refers to those perceptions that are negative. The second subcategory is opportunities of Iconography, which is related to those positive perceptions. After having made a general description of the categories and subcategories that emerged from the analysis, a detailed description and discussion of each category is now presented in separate chapters.

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Iconography as a semiotic literacy practice where icons and symbols are used to convey meaning This chapter describes the way Iconography works in the pre-school EFL classroom. It relies on semiotics as Iconography includes two kinds of signs: icons and symbols, and they are used in the classroom as a means to teach English and convey meaning through their use. Although all of the instruments were taken into consideration, artifacts were fundamental in order to figure out how Iconography works, to distinguish the icons from symbols, and to identify their role in meaning making and communication. Iconography is a semiotic practice for four main reasons. Firstly, taking into account that semiotics is the discipline that studies the signs and how they work (Saussure, 1916 cited in Eco, 1995), Iconography is a semiotic practice because in order to comprehend it icons and symbols must be studied and described. Secondly, icons are used in order to represent an entity, which is the main characteristic of a sign. As Eco (1998) asserts, a sign is an entity that represents another entity based on its characteristics. The following image shows how a drawing represents the concept scissors for students. The drawing was made by a student who wanted to use the word scissors in a sentence; he used the shape as the main characteristic in order to represent the object:

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Figure 1. SCISSORS (T.E. S3)

Thirdly, in the present study, a distinction between the signs used in Iconography is necessary. This is another aspect worked on by semiotics: the classification of signs, which in the case of the present study are icons and symbols. It is necessary because Iconography uses several images; some of them have an explicit meaning, which is the case of icons; and the others, which is the case of symbols, carry implicit meaning. In the following two images used in class, the two types of signs are shown (see Table 8). In the first one a pencil is represented explicitly since it has the same shape of it. The second image represents the preposition in. It has an implicit meaning since there is no evident relation with the prepositional meaning. Table 8. Icon and symbol comparison ICON

SYMBOL

Figure 2. PENCIL (T.E1. S13)

Figure 3. IN (T.W3. S10)

In order to achieve a better understanding of the way Iconography works, four subcategories were established. These are: Icons and symbols as meaningful images for EFL, the combination of icons and symbols as a communicative system in EFL, Iconography as a socially situated semiotic practice, and the use of Iconography in the EFL classroom: a socially situated semiotic practice.

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Icons and symbols as EFL meaningful images This subcategory shows how icons and symbols work, their characteristics, and how they are used in the class to represent a concept or object instead of using the linguistic sign1. Data revealed that icons and symbols used in class are presented in two ways: images taken from the web or books, and drawings made by students and teachers. First of all, it is necessary to deal with each concept individually, then to compare them as a part of the Iconography system. As Peirce (1977) asserts, an icon has the qualities of the object that it represents; thus, it has a strong connection with it. Most of the images and drawings used in class are icons since the connection with the object represented is evident. For example, the icon of house is a drawing that contains most of the properties a house has. Figure 6, taken from a workshop, shows a drawing of a house made out of geometrical figures that represent the parts of the house: the triangle is the roof, the squares are the windows and the semi-circle is the door:

Figure 4. HOUSE (T.W3. S10)

Another example of the icons used in class is the one used to represent a table. The image below shows the icon used by the teacher in a workshop to represent the word table. It is composed by a rectangle that represents the top, and four vertical lines as the legs of the table:

1

A linguistic sign is understood as any unit of language used to designate an object, for instance, a word, phrase or sentence. It has two components: a signifier (phonic component) and a signified (concept of object) (Cobley & Jansz, 2001).

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Figure 5. TABLE (T.W3. T)

Additionally, the analysis of data showed that there are different degrees of iconicity in the icons used in the EFL class. According to Eco (1976), icons may have a high degree of iconicity because they have more similarities with the objects they represent, while others can have a low degree when they are created arbitrarily. Table 9 shows some different degrees of iconicity found in the Iconography used in the EFL classroom. This classification is done based on the images or drawings selected, as shown in the table; it means that the classification could change if other images were taken into account since it depends on the similarities with the object represented. This variation also relies on the origin of the icon, that is, whether it is an image taken from any source, or a drawing made by the teacher or the students. The few examples, presented in the Table 9 show how Iconography uses different degrees of iconicity to convey meaning, it goes from a high degree to a lower degree: from the most concrete to the most abstract. Besides, it can be observed that some of them have an evident connection with the object represented, as is the case of apple because it is a concrete object. On the other hand, icons that represent abstract concepts such as the prepositions in and on have the connection established by a relation that is not evident and seems to be implicit.

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Table 9. Degrees of Iconicity2 HIGH DEGREE

ICON

MEANING

EXPLANATION

apple

The icon used to designate an apple has a high degree of iconicity because it has a lot of qualities of an apple, such as the shape and the leave.

Figure 6. (T.W3. S5)

house Figure 7. (T.W3. S3)

LOW DEGREE

hospital Figure 8. (T. W3. S5)

in Figure 9. (T.W. S10)

on Figure 10. (K.A.T.)

The icon of a house has the shape of a common house with a roof, a door, and windows. However, it is not clear since someone could associate the geometrical figures with something else. The icon of hospital has a lower degree than a house, because it has the same characteristics of the house, except that e it is bigger and has a cross on the roof. The cross could represent a hospital or a church2. The icon of in has a relation of position represented by the arrow; however the icon just represents one part of the characteristics that is not completely evident, since is an abstract notion. The icon of on shows the relation of position between two objects; however if the person does not know that it is representing that relation, it is difficult to recognize its meaning.

The other type of sign used is symbols. Symbols are created arbitrarily (Eco, 1986) and do not have a clear connection with the concept they represent. For instance, the symbol that represents the word is, is a spiral; 2

This ambiguity is resolved when the context in which the icon is used is looked into. See discussion on Iconography as a social situated practice in section 4.3.

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the image below shows this symbol. This is an arbitrary connection since a spiral does not have any of the conditions that is conveys such as quality or position.

Figure 11. IS (T.E1. S4)

Another example of a symbol used in the class is an arrow that represents the word the. It is a symbol since there is not an evident connection between the definite article and the drawing used.

Figure 12. THE (T.E1. S4)

After presenting a general view of icons and symbols as signs used to convey meaning in English, it is necessary to compare them in order to gain a clear understanding of them and their work in Iconography as a semiotic practice. They are different because of the connection they establish with the objects they represent; in the case of icons this connection is explicit, while with symbols this connection is not manifested and is rather arbitrary. However, in Iconography both work as a whole system in order to teach English as a foreign language to this group of preschoolers, a communicative system that replaces the linguistic signs (see next section). The following graph presents a comparison between the two kinds of signs involved in Iconography.

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ICON Clear connection with the represented object

SIGN Image that conveys meaning in EFL

SYMBOL No evident relation with the objects represented

Graph 3. Icon and symbol comparison

The images presented above show how each drawing or picture conveys the meaning of a word in English. Some of them are easy for students to recognize because of the strong connection they have with the object represented, that is the case of icons, making the vocabulary learning easier and faster since students associate the object with the meaning in English; symbols, instead, are created arbitrarily and do not have a strong connection with the concept they represent.

The combination of icons and symbols as a communicative system Bearing in mind that each icon and symbol convey meaning, the combination of them creates sentences which have a clear message that is understandable by the students and the teacher. This combination allows students to convey meaningful messages that are understood in the foreign language. The following excerpt, taken from an activity the teacher prepared to work on school materials, shows how a sentence is drawn and how it conveys a message in English that is: The pencil is on the table.

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Figure 13. The pencil is on the table. (K.A. T)

As was explained in the previous section, this sentence contains six different meaningful drawings that together create a communicative system. The arrow is used as a symbol that represents the word the; the pencil is an icon that represents a pencil; the spiral is the symbol that represents the verb is; the fourth drawing that is a semi-circle with a line on it, is an icon that represents the preposition on; the arrow again as the article the; and a drawing of a square with legs is an icon that represents a table. The combination of three symbols and three icons creates a meaningful sentence in English that conveys the message related to the location of a pencil. Another example of how Iconography works as a communicative system is presented below. In this case, in a workshop, students drew the sentences based on an image, which in this case was a house; they used the icons they considered appropriate to refer to the house. The sentence means: the cat is in the house. In this case, the student chose the icons of the cat, imagining that the cat was in the house; hence, the other icons chosen by her are strongly linked to the communicative purpose the student had. This sentence includes six signs: an arrow which is the symbol of the word the, the icon of the word cat, the symbol of the word is, the icon of the word in, the symbol of the word the, and the icon of the word house:

Figure 14. The cat is in the house. (T.W3. S6)

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Taking into account the examples presented above, it can be said that Iconography is a communicative system in the foreign language used by students and teacher in order to learn and to teach English by using icons and symbols instead of the conventional written system. Data revealed that different skills can be worked through Iconography. These include reading, writing, listening and speaking. The following excerpt is an example where students read and write a sentence presented in a workshop for them. The workshop included two items; in the first one, they had to write a sentence based on an image; in the second they had to draw the image based on the sentence, which is the case of the present excerpt. Students read the sentence created by the teacher, and then they drew the meaning of the message as part of a workshop in the EFL class.

Figure 15. The apple is on the table. (T.W3. S11)

The sentence says the apple is on the table. The six signs used in the sentence convey a clear meaning for the student, who in this case drew the situation presented in the sentence which is represented below with an apple on a table. This example shows how Iconography helps students to communicate and to convey meaning. Besides, as the following excerpt shows, Iconography is used by students not only in the written form, but also orally. It means that it is a communicative system in the foreign language since students read them using the words in English and show understanding:

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The teacher writes 2 sentences in icons on the whiteboard. The teacher starts giving the instructions in English, she reads the first sentence “this is a house” then she says they must mold a house. She reads the other sentence “The bathroom is in the house”. One student says “El baño está dentro de la casa”, the teacher says “very good”. (Field notes, Transition, April 8, p. 1, lines 15-18)

In the situation presented above, students had to use their listening skills in order to comprehend the instructions the teacher was giving. Besides students read the sentences written on the board, practicing two language skills at the same time (listening and reading). Another example is presented below; in this case the students practice the listening and writing skills because they have to listen to a sentence in English, and then they have to write the sentence in icons on the board: The teacher draws 2 squares in the whiteboard, and asks one student to pass to the front and write the sentence that she will say. Then, the teacher shows a pencil and says “this is a pencil”, the student writes the sentence in icons on the whiteboard. (Field notes, Transition, April 1, p. 1, lines 9-11)

The excerpt above illustrates the use of two language skills in the class through the use of Iconography, which means that Iconography is not only a written system but a whole communicative system. The skills are not only practiced in activities in the class, but they are also evaluated in the exams:

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Figure 16. Item from an exam (T.E. S15)

As presented in the excerpt above, in the exams the listening skill is evaluated by listening to a command and drawing the corresponding icon or symbol. As was presented in this section, Iconography is a communicative system that encompasses the use of two kinds of signs to communicate. Moreover, it allows students to practice the four language skills used to communicate.

Iconography as a socially situated semiotic practice The use of different icons reveals that Iconography is a socially situated practice because the students and the teacher recognize the icons they create and use; as Barton (2007) claims, it is understood in the context where it takes place. One example of this situation is evidenced with the demonstrative this, which is represented with a pointing hand; the icon below is the image used in the class to represent that word (figure 13). This icon could mean hand or finger because of the image that is used, but for the students and the teacher it conveys a different meaning: referring, indicating, or pointing at an object, person or idea. The same happens with the plural demonstrative these which is represented by two hands (figure 14):

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Figure 17. THIS (T.W3. T)

Figure 18. THESE (T.E1. S13)

Another aspect to take into account related to the socially situated facet of Iconography is the creation of the icons. Sometimes this creation process is done by the students and the teacher together, which implies that they are established through a social practice. The following sample shows how the creation of an icon is carried out. Also, it reveals how the imagery students have about one entity guides them to create an icon. Teacher draws squares on the white board, then she draws some icons that make the sentence: “Can I ___ you?”, but it is missing the word help. Teacher asks students to help her to create the icon for the missing word. Students do not understand the instruction. Teacher says that Sammy is going to be the waiter and he is going to say: Can I help you? Students understand the question and they suggest her to draw a policeman or a fireman. Then teacher draws a person helping another. (Field notes, Transition, March 19, p. 1, lines 17-21)

In the situation above students are asked to create the icon of the word help and they suggest a policeman or a fireman because for them they

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are people who help others. This means that when students are asked to create a sign, they start making connections with the concept they are trying to represent creating icons using their background knowledge. Thus, when the students and the teacher see the icon they created (the image of two people, one on the floor and the other giving a hand) they recognize it, but probably external people to this context will not. In this situation, one aspect mentioned by Grossi (1990) related to the social literacy process is evident: interaction allows people to establish the criteria of creation, use, and meaning of signs, and the exclusion of others. Another example of this social situation is presented in the image below where a sentence is written in icons. The sentence is the doctor is in the hospital. Each icon could communicate a different idea or concept; however, as it is a socially situated construction, this sentence is meaningful for the preschoolers and for the teacher:

Figure 19. The doctor is in the hospital. (T.W3. S5)

All in all, Iconography is a socially situated semiotic practice because it takes place in a specific context with particular characteristics shared by the group of preschoolers and the teacher at this particular school context. Besides, all of them understand the way Iconography works, the meaning of the icons, and all of them are able to communicate in English using it.

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The uses of Iconography in the EFL classroom: a socially situated semiotic practice Iconography is a practice that encompasses two aspects: semiotics and literacy. As was presented in one of the previous sections, Iconography is a semiotic practice because of the use of signs. Therefore, the use of these signs encompasses a communicative system for the students and the teacher to communicate in the foreign language classroom. Then, taking into account that literacy is the process in which people engage in communication (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000), Iconography becomes the socially situated semiotic practice in the class. In spite of the fact that Iconography is a type of literacy, different from the conventional one3, there is a socially situated semiotic literacy practice in the class that is present when Iconography is used. In the following excerpt it is shown how Iconography works in the moment that the teacher needs students to use literacy; this use means she needs to write a sentence to guide the students in a class activity, and so they read it: The teacher gives each student another piece of paper; she says they are going to write some sentences about the bathroom there. The teacher writes 3 sentences in icons on the board. The sentences are: “This is a toilet paper, this is a toilet, and this is a mirror”. Students copy from the board the sentences on the piece of paper. (Field notes, Transition, April 2, p. 1, lines 1-6)

In the excerpt above, the need of writing descriptive sentences that students can read is illustrated. This situation implies that literacy is seen as a part of the process to be developed in pre-school. In addition, this socially situated semiotic practice is carried out by using icons. During the second interview, the teacher said that she uses icons so students can work on their reading and writing skills in the class, while learning a song: 3

Conventional literacy: It is understood as the use of formal English spelling in reading and writing.

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T: En este momento por ejemplo, en kínder, eh se está, hice toda una canción en forma iconográfica, toda la canción, ellos no saben leer ni escribir en español ni obviamente en inglés, entonces se coloca toda la canción con iconos y excelentes resultados. (Second Teacher’s semi-structured interview, May 7, 2013. p. 4.)

This affirmation supports the claim that Iconography is used as a socially situated semiotic literacy practice since the teacher recognizes the fact that students do not have command of conventional literacy but they understand icons and the messages conveyed with them. As Gillen and Hall (2003) claim, all the activities carried out during early childhood in order to convey messages are understood as literacy. Moreover, data revealed that sentences written in icons were used in class when it was necessary to involve students in the literacy process; this is conceived by Holme (2004), as encoding and decoding visual signs, which in this case are the icons. As is shown in the following excerpt, students were asked to read the commands of school which were written in icons for them: The Teacher asks one student to be her assistant helping her to present a poster where the school commands are written in icons. The Teacher holds the poster with her assistant in front of the class so they read the sentences; students look at the icons and say what it means. (Field notes, Transition, March 19, p.1, lines 1-3)

Reading commands is a normal activity in an EFL classroom but the variation in this case is the use of icons as the communicative system to communicate and convey meaning. In some other cases, Iconography is used because it is necessary to clarify an oral message; the following piece of data shows a situation where there was that need: Then the Teacher says they have to say “I am”. One student says he does not remember how it is; the teacher says she would help him and

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then she starts writing a sentence in icons on the whiteboard and reads it aloud, the sentence is “I am”. (Field notes, Pre-kinder, April 8, p.1, lines 8-9)

Iconography was shown to be the moment where students have the opportunity to practice reading and writing, to work on the other activities carried out in class such as songs, and the chance to comprehend messages that were not clear for them in an oral way. To sum up, Iconography is a socially situated semiotic literacy practice used to teach English to a group of pre-school students. In order to achieve this goal, two kinds of signs are used: icons and symbols. The role of them is to replace the conventional written linguistic sign; thus, they are meaningful in the context where they are used; and they communicate students and teacher’s ideas when they feel the need to write/read them.

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The post-method as the pedagogical underpinning that guides the EFL teaching practice based on Iconography The present chapter of this book discusses an emergent category evidenced in the data analysis which revealed that the teaching practice developed in pre-school at this particular school context is supported on the postmethod’s principles. The subcategories emerged from the very theory proposed by Kumaravadivelu (2008) who asserts that the post-method consists of three pedagogical parameters: particularity, practicality, and possibility. Based on them, the subcategories that this chapter develops are: Pre-school as a particular context, Iconography as a fusion of personal and professional theories, and Experiences that shape the teaching practice. Bearing in mind Kumaravadivelu’s position towards method, and how it is necessary to change the perspective of method, the analysis of data evidenced that Iconography is shaped and developed within the post-method condition. As Kumaravadivelu asserts, “A product of the post method condition, (…) is shaped by three operating principles: particularity, practicality, and possibility” (p. 69). These pedagogical parameters were found in the teaching practice at pre-school. Graph 4 presents our visual understanding of the pedagogic parameters of the post-method, evidenced in the practice. Then, each subcategory is presented and discussed.

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Pre-school as a particular context

Particularity

Post-method (Pedagogic parameters )

Personal theories

Iconography

Professional theories

Techniques and principles taken from theorists

Practicality

Participant's experiences

Possibility

Graph 4. Visual understanding of the pedagogic parameters of the post-method

Pre-school as a particular context This first subcategory refers to the particularity that the EFL teaching practice represents. It implies that this pedagogical practice must be seen in the light of this particular context and the characteristics it has as an educational institution with a particular PEI and curriculum. Bearing in mind that particularity refers to the local conditions of a teaching practice (Kumaravadivelu, 2008), it was found that pre-school is a particular context where there is a situational understanding of the students’ needs. As argued by the principal, Iconography came up because of some specific characteristics of the students and the school context: “Como nos dimos cuenta que uno de los grandes retos era enseñarle inglés a niños que no vivían en un entorno que les facilitara eso, que sus padres poco sabían de inglés, que no había libros de inglés, no habían, no había películas en inglés, entonces decidimos marcar la diferencia pero indudablemente no podíamos ser bilingües por los costos (Principal’s interview, March 21, 2013. p.2)

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The principal assured they had to face the challenge to teach English to students in a context where English is not spoken beyond the classroom bounds and the foreign language may not be seen as an important tool in life. Thus, Iconography was created towards the need of teaching English in a different way to students and because of the specific socio-cultural background they live in. Also, because the school noticed that there were some lacks in terms of resources (e.g. teaching materials) and also in the students’ context referring to the scarce use of English at home. Another reason of the implementation of Iconography was highlighted by the EFL teacher who said that it was because students had problems when they had to read in conventional English spelling: Cuando nosotros empezamos en [el colegio] pues, se empezó a nivel convencional, escribiendo, y se veía la dificultad que [se] tenía con los niños con esta metodología del inglés tradicional o grafía estándar; entonces se buscó que los estudiantes solamente practicaran su pronunciación, todo su conocimiento solamente oral, pero también se notó que habían dificultades porque cómo hacíamos para que ellos pudieran recordar lo visto en clase en sus casas, entonces por esa razón empezó a surgir la iconografía. (First Teacher’s semi-structured interview, March 13, 2013. p.1-2)

As the teacher assured during the interview, the school started to teach conventional literacy in English, but they realized that students presented difficulties with this way of teaching the foreign language; thus, they decided to transform the practice. It was a process where several factors were taken into account: the need of teaching English differently, the limited access to EFL teaching materials (books, movies), the lack of a bilingual environment in the students’ context, the difficulty faced by students when they had to use conventional English literacy, and the need of taking notes in English without using the conventional literacy. As the teacher expressed, Iconography was the result of facing the difficulties experienced in the particular EFL pre-school classroom and the opportunity to see language learning from a different perspective.

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As Kumaravadivelu (2008) asserts, “any actual post-method pedagogy has to be constructed by teachers themselves by taking into consideration linguistic, social, cultural and political particularities” (p. 69). Iconography appeared from those very particularities of the context that the school identified and face, and the idea came up from the EFL teachers at the school. Moreover, in the decision made by the teachers and the institution, there is an evidence of critical awareness towards the local conditions of the students at the school, which is part of the particularity of the postmethod condition (Kumaravadivelu, 2008). This particularity involves observing the teaching practice, detecting the problems and finding a solution. In the case of this particular school, teachers evidenced different problems but they saw them as the opportunity to improve their practice; then, they started implementing Iconography as the new teaching perspective in the EFL pre-school classroom.

Iconography as a fusion of personal and professional theories This subcategory emerged from the principle of practicality that refers to the relationship between professional and personal theories (Kumaravadivelu, 2008). According to Kumaravadivelu (2008), there are professional theories generated by experts and personal theories developed by the teachers while they are carrying out their teaching practice. The EFL teaching practice carried out in pre-school at this particular school context has a fusion of the teacher’s theory with professional theory. The teacher’s theory is present in the principles that support the practice and Iconography itself. On the other hand, the professional theory is displayed by the use of different teaching theories and techniques in the class proposed by different language learning authors. Kumaravadivelu (2008) claims that personal theories come from the research teachers carry out. As the following excerpt shows, the teacher

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in this study started investigating about the use of images in class in order to propose Iconography as a project for the school: Empezamos a volverlo proyecto, empezamos a investigar que era iconografía y comunicación oral, y desde ahí se empezó a implementar a nivel institucional. (First Teacher’s semi-structured interview, March 13, 2013. p.2)

The academic and teaching struggle led teachers to reflect and read about the ideas they had in order to improve their EFL teaching practice. Iconography has those inner ideas from teachers but these were supported on an academic inquiry. The inner ideas the teacher had came from the pedagogical reflection the teacher did about her practice, as Kumaravadivelu (2008) asserts “the parameter of practicality, then, focuses on teachers’ reflection and action, which are also based on their insights and intuition” (p. 173). This is also evidenced in the fact that Iconography is an empirical practice where the teacher was more concerned about developing and improving her teaching practice in the classroom than writing a theoretical document to support her practice. With regards to the professional theories, several theories were found to be part of the teaching practice: teaching for comprehension, communicative approach, total physical response, suggestopedia, audiolingual, and contemporary music approach. The use of this sort of theories in the teaching practices makes the principle of practicality evident. Teaching for understanding is one of the theories that support Iconography. Teaching for understanding is an approach that aims at making students transform their knowledge into information useful for their daily lives (Blumenfeld, 1997). The teacher said that for the implementation of Iconography in class, teaching for understanding is a key concept: “Pensaría que la enseñanza para la comprensión es la base, es el estándar de dónde puedo aplicar la iconografía. La enseñanza para la comprensión hace que el docente tenga un objetivo y que tenga preparados unos

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pasos para llegar a esa meta. Uso la iconografía para la enseñanza de inglés, pero uso la enseñanza para la comprensión para tener el método y el enfoque para llegar a eso.” (Fourth Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 18, 2013. p.3)

Teaching for comprehension provides the teaching standards the teacher follows in the preparation of the lessons, such as the comprehension goal, the objectives, and the generative topic; with these elements the teacher prepares her classes where Iconography is used. It is widely acknowledged that in the ELT field there is a variety of theories that aim at providing background and explanation to the teaching process. Within these, there are also different teaching techniques1, evidenced in practice and taken from different language methods and approaches. One example of these is the communicative approach. It is understood by the school as the approach that has communication as its basis, so the teachers need to create an environment where students get involved in communicative situations. The techniques taken from this approach are role-plays and games. They are considered a tool in the communicative approach since they create authentic communicative performances. Guevara and Ordoñez (2012) state that through role-plays the teachers can create a learning environment close to the communicative situations students face out of the school. They also highlight games as another technique used in the communicative approach as a fun way to approach the language, since they make the learning of the foreign language enjoyable for students. Another professional theory is the Total Physical Response –TPR proposed by James J. Asher (1969). This method claims that students learn the language by internalizing it and showing its understanding through physical movements (English School Project, 2013, p. 9). As is mentioned in the English project of the school, Total Physical Response is a method used in two grades of pre-school (Pre-kinder and kinder):

1

The teaching techniques used in the EFL classroom will be discussed thoughtfully in section 6.1.

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

De pre-kinder a kinder se usará el TPR, ya que este permitirá a los estudiantes el acercamiento a la lengua extranjera desde el seguimiento de comandos que son familiares para los estudiantes. (English School Project, Proyecto de Inglés 2013, p. 12)

Total Physical Response is incorporated in the class not only as the method used to teach commands but also as a complement of the other techniques and theories that the teacher and the institution have decided to implement. The technique that displays the use of this method is the use of songs that in some cases are sung and complemented by some movements which are related to the vocabulary of the song. Connected with the use of songs there is another method evidenced, which is suggestopedia. This method is defined by Richards and Rodgers (2001) as a set of learning suggestions for improving the learning, including the use of music, furniture, decoration, among others. As will be discussed in chapter 6, songs are used to create an English learning environment as it is the purpose of using music presented in suggestopedia. The last theory is evidenced in the use of handicrafts. As Bass (2008) claims, they are “extremely useful as learners can develop their listening and reading skills while following the written or oral instructions” (p. 3). The use of handicrafts in the EFL class will be discussed later in section 6.1. The theories and techniques used in the teaching practice in preschool have been used in EFL teaching before, the difference in this practice, and as the post-method predicament asserts, is the use, purpose, and combinations with other practices based on the particularity of the context and the experiences of the participants involved in the process. So, the teaching practice conducted in pre-school at this school context is particular because of the way the teaching theories are implemented. To sum up, data revealed that the teaching practice held in preschool in this setting is a fusion of the personal theories the teacher has built with her experience and reflections on her practice, and different teaching theories that have been applied taking into account the context

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where the practice is carried out and the purposes the institution and the teacher have.

Experiences that shape the teaching practice This subcategory is related to the principle of possibility, which, according to Kumaravadivelu (2008), refers to the importance of the participants’ experiences in the construction of the pedagogical practice and how those experiences shape the classroom. Besides, Kumaravadivelu (2008) argues that the social experiences students and the teacher bring into the pedagogical practice affect the teaching practice in different ways. The teaching practice carried out in pre-school at this school involves four participants: the students, the teacher, the institution, and the parents. This means that experiences from four different participants influence the teaching practice. The first experience that shapes the practice comes from students, who in spite of their short age, express their ideas, opinions, and suggestions about different aspects of the class. The following excerpt shows how students can shape aspects of the practice in the EFL class: A los niños en pre-kinder, para ver el video [of the song] en determinada situación o en determinados sitios, ellos dicen, no hagámoslo en círculo, bueno es aceptada su sugerencia y se hacen en círculo. O ellos mismos cogen su mesita y se ubican como quieren, entonces no se les dice que no. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.8)

As the piece of data above shows, the students reflect about the dynamics of the class when watching a video and propose ways to develop the activity. This suggestion implies that the students take active part in the teaching practice in pre-school, showing that they are active learners.

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In regards to the teacher, the experience she has had as part of her pedagogical training shapes the teaching practice since she brings into her practice ideas that were shared in a seminar she took during her teaching training. The following excerpt illustrates this point: T: El año pasado estuve haciendo un curso de pedagogía, en el cual una psicóloga utiliza un muñeco, pero ella lo utiliza es con el objeto de que los niños de segundo de primaria aprendan a leer, entonces se enfocaba en toda la parte emocional que involucra esta actividad con los estudiantes para que ellos empezaran a leer. De ahí me surge la idea de que también se podría implementar en el colegio esta misma metodología, pero enfocándolo en el departamento de inglés. (Second Teacher’s semi-structured interview, May 7, 2013. p.2)

The teacher is constantly thinking about her practice, and as is shown in the piece of data above, she takes elements from her teaching development and brings them to the class. For instance, Sammy2, a pet, which is an important element in the class, came up from one of the experiences the teacher had in her professional development. The school has been shaping its experience from the process of growing as an educational institution. In one of the school’s documents, the concern about the use of conventional English literacy is evidenced: “Se cuestiona la pertinencia de exponer a los estudiantes de niveles primarios de escolaridad al proceso de lecto-escritura de la lengua extranjera cuando este mismo proceso apenas está tomado lugar en su lengua materna” (School Document, Proyecto de inglés 2013, p. 6)

In the document of the institution, the ideas the institution has towards the use of conventional literacy are displayed providing a background 2

Sammy, the EFL class pet, will be presented thoughtfully in section 6.1.

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and need to the creation and development of Iconography in the EFL class in pre-school. Besides, it is evidenced that the institution is thinking about the students and their language learning processes in the classroom context. With regards to the parents, they also have an impact in the practice since their comments and suggestions concerning the teaching practice are taken into account by the teacher and the institution: Se implementó un diccionario con los iconos, el cual se coloca en un blog, en el blog de inglés, para que los padres tengan acceso a ese blog y a la misma metodología, para que ellos puedan entender. (First Teacher’s semi-structured interview, March 13, 2013. p.6)

In this case, the practice is shaped because the experience of the parents with Iconography led the institution to implement a technological tool which is used to involve the parents in the EFL teaching practice carried out at the school. All in all, different experiences from the different academic community members shape the pedagogical practice in pre-school showing the postmethod condition where this practice, that involves iconography, is in constant transformation.

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Unveiling the EFL Teaching Practice in Pre-school This category refers to the way the teaching practice is carried out in preschool at this particular school setting, where Iconography includes the specific group of participants, the teaching purpose, and the set of elements that compound the practice found to be pedagogically underpinned on the post-method pedagogy. Findings show that the teaching practice in this specific context is made up of three components: techniques, as the actions carried out (Larsen-Freeman, 2000); principles, understood as the theories that support the practice (Brown, 2001); and procedures, which refer to the actual “moment-to-moment techniques” (Richards and Rodgers, 2001, p. 34). For this reason three subcategories emerged which explain how the teaching practice is carried out. The subcategories are: techniques used in the classroom, principles involved in the teaching practice, and procedures that encompass the whole practice.

Teaching techniques used in the classroom A technique, as defined by Stern (1992, cited in Kumaravadivelu, 2006) refers “to the specific practical action” (p. 68) carried out in class. Data revealed that the teaching practice held in pre-school included different

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techniques. As Garton, Copland, and Burns (2011) claim, in teaching English to preschoolers teachers include different techniques such as games, songs, role-plays, and the use of flashcards, among others. In this study it was observed that those techniques have as their main purpose to support Iconography; it means, that Iconography is not an approach or method and not even the central practice of the class, but it is the socially situated semiotic literacy practice of the class which is accompanied by a set of teaching techniques. The following table shows the techniques used in the teaching practice, their purpose and their percentage of use in each one of the observed grades. Table 10. Teaching techniques used in pre-school TECHNIQUE Sammy

A pet used as an affective and motivational factor Used to create an English language learning environment

Songs Handicrafts Role-plays Games

PERCENTAGE OF USE

PURPOSE

Used as previous knowledge activators Conceived as the opportunity to practice the language learnt Used to make English language learning enjoyable

Pre-kinder

Kinder

Transition

75%

78%

50%

100%

100%

100%

38%

22%

69%

0%

11%

25%

25%

45%

31%

Table 10 shows the five techniques evidenced in the practice, the purpose each technique has, and how frequently they are used in the different grades. The following excerpt, taken from one of the teacher’s interviews, shows how the teacher incorporates different techniques in her teaching practice. As Brown (1994) asserts, teaching children involves the use of different activities in the class, and this is basically what the teacher does in her teaching practice: T:Utilizo canciones, utilizo actividades manuales, ehh juegos, juegos donde ellos tengan que expresarse oralmente; ehh utilizo también, hay una parte de la clase que es formal, como escriba, sobre todo en este año

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en transición: escribamos la oración ehh (..) ¿Qué más? Ehh rondas en este momento se está utilizando una mascota en los Arrayanes a partir del 2013 (.) la cual se llama Sammy. (First Teacher’s semi-structured interview, March 13, 2013. p. 4)

Thus, different teaching techniques were evidenced in the practice and each one with a specific purpose as presented in table 10. The first technique is Sammy. Sammy is a teddy monkey (Figure 16) used by the teacher in the class as an affective factor. He is part of the classes because he is considered by students as another student and their friend. As can be seen in figure 16, Sammy wears the school’s uniform as any other student. Besides, he has an active role since the teacher uses him to catch students’ attention and to give instructions to the students.

Figure 20. Sammy: the EFL class pet

Sammy was created to approach students’ emotions and feelings, so the English class becomes an affective space and a beneficial learning environment for them. In the following piece of data, the reason of creating Sammy is shown: Sammy entonces ella [la mascota] ha sido creada para que haya un mayor acercamiento a la lengua, (…) para que el docente o en este caso

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personalmente, llegue más a la parte afectiva del estudiante, entonces si llego más a la parte afectiva, si yo toco sus sentimientos y afectos hacia mí, también hay un mayor entendimiento de la lengua. (First Teacher’s semi-structured interview, March 13, 2013. p. 4)

As the teacher asserts, Sammy was created by her, because she considered that the emotions of students play an important role in the learning process. She succeeded with the implementation of Sammy because students feel Sammy as part of the class and their lives. When students were asked in a questionnaire if they liked the class, they assured they like it because of Sammy; it implies that they consider him a friend to play with. The fact that they can take him home seems to strengthen the affective relation students have with Sammy and consequently their likeness of the EFL class. According to Brown (1994), motivation plays an important role in learning a language. Then, Sammy is used as this motivational factor that urges students to participate in class. The following excerpts show the use of Sammy in the class to motivate students to take active participation in the learning process: Then she holds Sammy and says: “Sammy says” immediately she translates it into Spanish “Sammy dice”, she continues speaking in Spanish “Cuando Sammy diga pencil ustedes hacen pencil” (Field notes, Transition, March 12, p. 1, lines 15-16) The teacher says “Sammy dice que primero hay que cantar” (Field notes, Transition, March 12, p. 1, lines 18-19) The teacher says that Sammy is going to teach them a game. (Field notes, Kinder, March 12, p. 1, line 18)

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In the first excerpt, Sammy is used in a game to motivate students to participate in it. Sammy has an active role because he is the one who gives the instructions to play the game. In the second one, the teacher gives voice to Sammy to say something that is part of the class but she wants that students feel it not like mandatory but as something else that Sammy suggested. In the last one, the teacher assigns Sammy the role of the teacher to make the game they are about to play more attractive for students. Therefore, Sammy is an active agent in the class because for students he is real and they do what he says. For the teacher, he is an important factor in her class because he helps her motivate students to participate. She realized that during the second interview, where she affirmed that Sammy is a support in the class when she notices that students do not understand. T: Cuando veo que los estudiantes no están entendiendo entonces hago que Sammy les explique o que Sammy atienda para que él sea como un apoyo en la misma clase. (Second Teacher’s semi-structured interview, May 7, 2013. p. 2)

As is displayed in the excerpt above, Sammy is not only used to motivate students but also as a support in the explanatory moments. Another technique used in the classroom is songs. They are always used at the beginning of the class to break the ice and create a foreign language environment where students feel involved. Moreover, they are used to introduce or practice new vocabulary. Data evidenced that songs are used in the classes to get students involved in the English learning environment. The following sample shows the way students get involved in the class while singing a song: The teacher arrives and asks students to sit on their seats, she says: “sit down”. She counts and students sing, while they sing the greeting song they perform some movements. Then one student says “El de los

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indios”, so they sing the song ten little Indians. Another student says “El de one, two, three”, they sing the song of the number sequence and at the end of the song the teacher says: “sleep” and students perform it. (Field notes, Kinder, May 28, p. 1, lines1-4)

As the previous excerpt shows, students get involved in the class by singing the songs and they ask to sing them at the beginning of the class. Additionally, it was evidenced that singing a song motivates students to learn the language and take it beyond the class. They not only sing the songs in the class as a requirement, but they learn and like to sing them in the class. The following excerpt shows how a student took the song beyond the class and enjoyed singing it in a different context. One student tells the teacher that she had looked for the song Five little monkeys on the Internet at home and had sang it. Then students sing the song Five little monkeys, the teacher takes Sammy around the classroom, students sing aloud the part “no more monkeys jumping on the bed”, the teacher says “very good”. (Field notes, Transition, April 1, p. 1, lines1-5)

As is shown in the excerpt above, songs motivate students to approach the English language in a context different from school without being considered as mandatory homework. According to Ashwoth and Wakefield (1994), children learn best when they sing songs. Data showed that songs are used to generate connections between the topics learnt in class and the activities students perform there. This connection allows the learning of English by associating their actions in class with the songs they sing, which include the new vocabulary they are learning. The following excerpt from a class observation shows how movements and songs are connected to learn English:

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Students sing the song This is the way I wash my hands, while they sing they perform the movements the song is talking about. While they sing, they scrub their hands, their faces, and the other parts of the body the song mentions. (Field notes, Transition, April 22, p. 1, lines 2-3)

As is shown in the excerpt, the students connected the vocabulary with the song with some specific movements and parts of the body. Moreover, data gathered from interviews showed that the teacher used the songs in order to make students feel involved in the foreign language learning process. The following excerpt is the answer of the teacher when she was asked about the reason of using songs in the class: T: Siempre las utilizo [las canciones] al principio de la clase como para llamarle la atención a los estudiantes para que ellos reconozcan que empezamos, empezamos nuestras actividades en inglés. Mmmm a los estudiantes les encanta cantar, es una forma fácil de enseñar vocabulario, es una forma de que ellos empiecen a interiorizar el idioma y a disfrutarlo. (Second Teacher’s semi-structured interview, May 7, 2013. p. 2)

The excerpt above supports the claims argued before. Firstly, that they are used in order to get students involved in the English class environment; secondly, that students like singing the songs; thirdly the use of songs in order to teach vocabulary, and finally, a way to make students interiorize and enjoy the language. Another teaching technique evidenced in the pre-school classroom is the use of handicrafts. This teaching technique is used in order to activate students’ previous knowledge. Handicrafts used in the class include figures made of paper, objects molded with clay, drawings decorated with colors and wool, and figures made by folding paper. As was stated in chapter 2, learning is an active process in which the learner constructs new ideas based on knowledge he/she has already

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acquired (Ausubel, 1963). The use of craft activities was evidenced as a means to activate students’ previous knowledge because they were asked to do different handicrafts which are related to the vocabulary they are learning. So, handicrafts are used to create connections between the vocabulary learnt in class and its meaning. For instance, in the following excerpt it is shown how handicrafts are used to create a link with food, its meaning, and the situation of a role-play: The teacher gives students color papers to draw food, the idea is that they draw food and then they will have the role-play of the restaurant. Students start drawing and saying in Spanish the name of the object they are drawing, the teacher corrects them saying the word in English. When they finish drawing, the teacher asks them to color arguing that it must look delicious to eat. (Field notes, Transition, March 19, p. 1, lines 9-12)

The piece of data above shows how a connection is established between the new vocabulary (food) and the drawing they do. Besides, the handicraft is going to be used in another class activity, the role-play. The activation of previous knowledge through the use of handicrafts has as purpose to generate connections between the object that is represented and the meaning. Thus, the handicrafts done by students in class represent or symbolize the meaning of the word that is about to be taught. Figure 17 shows a boy’s face decorated with colors and wool by a pre-kinder student. It was done when students were learning the parts of the face:

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Figure 21. Handicraft of a face

The figure of the face helped students to learn the vocabulary related to the parts of the face by creating connections between the face they decorated and the word in English. The following excerpt illustrates how the connections between the object and the meaning are established in the class by doing the object itself: The teacher gives to students one piece of paper where the face of a boy is drawn. The teacher says they are going to do the hair; she touches her hair and continues explaining. Then she says: “lo primero que vamos a hacer son los eyes”, one student says: “los pies” but the teacher corrects her saying the eyes and pointing at her eye, then the students says: “los ojos”. (Field notes, Pre-kinder, April 22, p.1, lines 13-16)

Moreover, the teacher recognizes that she uses handicrafts in order to help students to create connections between the vocabulary they are leaning and the crafts they do. In the second interview, she said that the use of crafts is a useful tool in the class, because it generates a connection between what they are leaning and the craft they are doing, and it helps her to work with Iconography:

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I: ¿Por qué usas las manualidades en clase? T: También se utilizan las manualidades para que ellos tengan una conexión entre lo que se va a ver y lo que ellos pueden hacer con sus manos, entonces habitualmente hago que ellos lo creen, entonces cuando ya la crean es algo más propio hacia ellos, puede ser que ante los ojos de un adulto no sean bonitos pero es su creación. I: ¿Y esas manualidades tienen alguna conexión con la iconografía? T: Claro en, el objeto que se hace manualmente después se involucra en las oraciones y se involucra su tamaño, su forma, su color (.) entonces es como la base para después empezarlo a describir. (Second Teacher’s semi-structured interview, May 7, 2013. p. 3-4)

Handicrafts allow the practice of the language not only because of the connections mentioned previously but also because, as the teacher expressed in the interview, the handicraft can be described using English. The following picture is an example of an artifact made by one student in Transition. It was done after a class where they started working with vocabulary related to animals. The purpose of doing this handicraft is to create a visual representation of a dog; thus, the students can establish the connections and describe it.

Figure 22. Handicraft of a dog

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The handicraft of the dog was made by folding a yellow paper and drawing the face of a dog with colors. Then, students painted the eyes, eye-brows, nose, and ears; this handicraft represented a dog and it was useful in the class since it was related to animals. Another technique displayed in the analysis is the use of role plays in the EFL class as a means to practice the vocabulary learnt, having fun, and simulating a real life situation. The role-plays used in pre-school at this school are characterized by being related to the vocabulary students are learning. Besides, they require clear instructions, given by the teacher, of how role-plays should be carried out: The teacher tells students that they are going to work in a hospital, and she tells them that they have to speak in English if they want to work there. She tells them that she is going to write on the board the sentences they will use at the hospital. She writes in icons the sentences: “I am doctor; my name is” Then she tells them that after the second sentence they have to say their names; one student says: “mi nombre es”, the teacher tells him that he must tell the sentence in English. On the other half of the board, the teacher writes two more sentences in icons: “My name is, I am a nurse”. She explains that those are the sentences, and that they could use both depending on the job they want to have at the hospital. She explains that the activity consists of being a doctor or a nurse working at the hospital. (Field notes, Transition, May 20, p. 1, lines 3-10)

As is evidenced in the excerpt above, the role play includes the vocabulary they are learning: doctor and nurse, and some other sentences they have already learnt: “I am a doctor, My name is”. Moreover, the instructions for participating in the role-play are clear as well as the sentences they have to use, which are written in icons on the board. Therefore, role-plays allow students to practice the language in the context where it is used.

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According to Genesee (1994) people are engaged in an efficient language learning process because they are involved in real communicative situations. Consequently, role plays allow students to feel like in a communicative situation making the English language learning process more connected with reality. The following is another illustrative example: The teacher explains the activity. It consists of having a table in the middle of the classroom. Then, students are going to go to the restaurant, Sammy is going to be the waiter and will ask them how many people and they have to say the number. Then, Sammy asks for the order and students say what they want, and then Sammy will bring the paper with the drawn food. One student says that there are some missing objects in the table such as the dishes, the forks, and spoons. The teacher answers to the student that by the moment they have to imagine that this is a restaurant. (Field notes, Transition, March 19, p. 2, lines 21-26)

The situation presented in the excerpt above is in a restaurant where students have to use the vocabulary related to numbers, food, and the expression Can I help you? The teacher creates a communicative situation where all these aspects of the language can be used. Then, roleplays are a technique which has as purpose to practice the language in communication. Games are another teaching technique used in the EFL class in preschool at this school. The games evidenced in the practice are competitive. Students participate in competitions related to what they are learning. In the following piece of data taken from field notes, it is displayed how listening skills and the vocabulary of the session are practiced through a game, and how it is competitive: The teacher tells them that they are going to play following a song, the game consists of performing the movement that the teacher says as soon as they finish singing the sequence of numbers until Ten, for

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example if she says sleep they have to sleep. The teacher starts singing the number sequence, when she said sleep, students put their heads over the table as if they were sleeping; one student did not do the activity so the teacher writes his name on the board and says he has lost and draws a sad face in front of his name. (Field notes, Kinder, April 30, p. 1, lines 9-13)

Games allow the practice of the language by engaging students in competitions. Field notes revealed that games help students to comprehend and assign meaning to the vocabulary they are learning in a pleasant way, because they laugh and participate actively when they are involved in those activities. Brown (1994) points out the importance of the intrinsic motivation since students may feel motivated by the activities because they are fun. Basically, this is the main purpose of using this technique, to show students English learning as a fun, enjoyable process where they can actively participate: The teacher continues giving instructions of the game, she says “La primera persona que termine, raise the hand”, she performs the movement at the same time she says the sentence; one student says “levantar la mano”. She explains that they do not have to write the sentences but draw the situation she is going to say. She provides one example on the board which is “the ball is on the table”, she draws the situation. The teacher gives general instructions, related to their behavior that they should not start yelling or standing up from their seats, and that they must not cheat from their partners. The teacher says “the book is on the table”, one student says “libro”, the teacher replies “do not say, draw”. One student draws the situation, she shows the drawing to her classmates; the teacher writes her name on the board and draws a happy face in front of her written name and tells her that she had won. (Field notes, Transition, April 16, p. 1, lines 12-21)

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The excerpt above shows how games are used in the class to practice the language in a way different from role-plays or written activities. As Porras (2010) found out in his research, games are an enjoyable way to teach English to children. Besides, as was mentioned previously, games involve competition, which in this case is represented by the happy or sad face drawn on the board. Another characteristic is the clear instructions the game has, which means that in spite of the fact that it is an enjoyable activity, there are established rules of behavior which should be taken into account by students so that the game works. To sum up, there are five techniques used in pre-school to teach English to children at the school setting this study was carried out. Those techniques complement the socially situated semiotic literacy practice (Iconography) providing more opportunities for children to practice the foreign language. As stated by Scott (1990), children learn by doing, which in those classes is applied by drawing, singing songs, doing handicrafts, acting, and playing games. Besides, as is mentioned in the post-method condition, teachers must be autonomous in their teaching practice by including the pedagogical issues, in this case the techniques she/he considers appropriate for the context where the practice is developed.

Principles involved in the teaching practice This subcategory is related to the principles that were evidenced in the teaching practice. Being principles the theories and thoughts behind a teaching practice (Brown, 2001; Larsen-Freeman, 2000), this category deals with those thoughts evidenced in the teaching practice in pre-school at this school. Data was analyzed taking into account Larsen-Freeman’s (2000) principles (see chapter 2) since she presents the aspects and poses questions to figure out the principles that underline a teaching practice. Table 11 shows the principles that emerged from the data analysis. However, it is important to clarify that not all the principles presented by Freeman (2000) were found in the observed teaching practice. As it was explained in category 2, in the teaching practice the teacher includes

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the theoretical concepts she considers relevant taking into account the particularities of the context (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). Table 11. Principles evidenced in the teaching practice ASPECTS

PRINCIPLE EVIDENCED - To teach English avoiding the use of EFL conventional literacy Goal of the teacher - To focus on oral practice and production Role of the teacher Active and reflective role towards her practice Language learning process Relies on memory and repetition Role of the students Active and passive depending on the moment of the class - Spanish as the basis in the explanatory moment Role of the language - Spanish used to tell off students - English as the target language Students’ feelings Motivation as an essential issue in the learning process - Students present written exams as an institutional requirement The evaluation - The evaluation is a continuous process

The first principle presented in Table 11 is the goal of the teacher. It refers to the purpose the teacher has in her teaching practice. Data revealed that the goal the teacher has is to avoid the use of conventional English literacy in the class. In the first interview she mentioned that Iconography appeared because the institution wanted to focus on oral production and at the same time elude the use of conventional literacy: T: Ok (.) ehh cuando nosotros empezamos en el colegio pues ehh se empezó a nivel convencional escribiendo (..) ehh y se veía la dificultad que se tenía con los niños con esta metodología del inglés tradicional o grafía estándar, (..) entonces eh se busca que los estudiantes solamente eh practicaran su (..) pronunciación toda su conocimiento solamente oral (..). (First Teacher’s semi-structured interview, March 13, 2013. p.1-2)

Iconography emerged because of the need to replace conventional English literacy and focus on oral practice and production. Therefore, it was observed that in most of the activities the teacher emphasizes on using the language orally and practicing it in an oral way. Activities like a

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role play in a hospital and the presentation of the homework show how the teacher makes students practice the language orally. The following excerpt shows how the teacher uses the different teaching techniques explained in the previous section to make students use the target language orally: The teacher tells students that they are going to work in a hospital, and she tells them that they have to speak in English if they want to work there [role-play]. (Field notes, Transition, May 20, p. 1, lines 3-4) The teacher takes out some booklets [handicrafts] students did as homework (…). The teacher organizes them in pairs and tells them that they have to read their booklet in English to their partners. One student shows the booklet she did to her partner and she says the name of the parts of the body that appear in the booklet.” (Field notes, Pre-kinder, May 20, p. 1, lines 7-12)

Activities like the ones presented above show that the teacher generates situations where the speaking skill is practiced. However, the emphasis on the oral skills is not only related to the students’ production, but the teacher creates an environment where the language is orally used. For instance, the teacher uses the language constantly in class to generate an English-speaking environment and to involve students in the oral practice. The following excerpt shows how the teacher integrates the language providing oral input to students while they are performing another activity: Students work in silence on their places. The teacher speaks in English to students while she draws the leaf on the board. (Field notes, Transition, May 7, p. 1, lines 8-9)

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The oral use of the language is perceived in the input and the output. It implies that the input provided is only oral since there is not written input in the class, except from the use of Iconography to write or read sentences or follow the song lyrics. This is basically because Iconography aims at working on the oral skills instead of on conventional literacy. In regards to the written input, it is not present in conventional literacy but it is displayed in icons (see chapter 4). The second principle is the role that the teacher assumes during the teaching practice. The teacher has an active and reflexive role towards her practice. As Kumaravadivelu (2006) asserts, the post-method teacher is autonomous in the teaching practice when deciding how to teach. In the interview, she mentioned the fact that she is an active teacher since she prepares her classes; she tries to be connected emotionally with the students and to make them feel part of a group: T: Mi rol como docente es activo, trato de que siempre, el hecho de preparar las clases, de estar pendiente que haría falta de estar pensando continuamente, que no está resultando y porque no está resultando, en que se está fallando es un rol activo, es una actitud activa. Ehhh también el rol de acercarme a (…) I: ah ok, bueno T: Reflexivo también I: ¿Reflexivo? T: Si, siempre siempre estoy pensando que está pasando para que no se llegue a perder el tiempo. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.8-9)

She also said that she has a reflective role because she keeps thinking on her practice and how to improve it. There is an active and reflective role since the teacher is not only concerned about the contents she is

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teaching but the teaching-learning process in the class. She is evaluating her practice and trying to innovate all the time in order to help her students. Also, the teacher said that she controls everything in the class including the activities. This control means that most of the times it is a teachercentered class; however, as presented in section 5.3 and later discussed in the students’ role this section, sometimes students make decisions in the class, too. In the same interview she also mentions that she respects students’ decisions: T: Yo soy la que manejo, la que controlo todas las actividades que se realizan. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.7-8) T: (…) la aceptación de no quiero participar. En pre-kinder hice unas orejitas y una nariz y una boca para que ellos se fueran disfrazando poco a poco y un estudiante dice yo no me voy a colocar esas ears, está bien se acepta tu posición, no lo tienes que hacer; entonces también me parece importante ese rol de respeto. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.7-8)

The excerpts above show a contrast in the teacher’s role. In the first excerpt she sees herself as a controller. In the second, she refers to the respect of students’ decisions, which means that in spite of the fact that she controls all the activities, she takes students into account when she is developing the activities. The teacher also highlights the importance of respecting the others’ thoughts and ideas, which means that students also have the opportunity to make decisions about the class based on their personal choices. In regards to the principle of the language learning process, it was found that it relies on memory and repetition. It was evidenced in the class because students were asked to repeat the sentences pronounced

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by the teacher several times. The following excerpts show how repetition is part of the class and involved in the learning process: Teacher says hello, students repeat what the teacher says. (Field notes, Pre-kinder, March 18, p. 1, lines 1) The teacher says sad and happy and the students repeat. (Field notes, Pre-kinder, March 18, p. 1, line 13) Two students pass. The teacher explains one student how to ask the questions. The teacher asks the students to repeat the question she just posed, then the student asks the question and the student secretary answers it. (Field notes, Transition, April 29, p. 2, lines 36-37)

In the first excerpt, repetition is related to greetings where students memorize the way to greet by repeating during the greeting moment. In the second one, repetition is presented in the interaction where the teacher says the sentences to be used in the interaction, and students have to repeat them. Moreover, when the teacher was asked about the importance of repetition in class, she assured it was important because children tend to have short-term memory; then it is necessary to repeat the key vocabulary or even the lesson content: T: porque ellos eh ellos tienen periodos de olvido muy fácil (…) entonces ehh ellos son por ejem[plo] se evidencia ahorita a mitad de año, por ejemplo cuando ellos regresen se ha olvidado, entonces toca estar siempre siempre siempre repitiendo, ehh los colores hay que repetir, en grado prekinder volvemos a repetir los colores, volvemos a repetir. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p. 3)

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The teacher has a view of a learning process relying on memory, for this reason repetition is evident in most of the classes. It implies that learning with the use of Iconography is conceived as a process based on students’ memory. Another principle evidenced in the data is the role of students. It was found that it is active and passive at the same time. The students have an active role in the class in terms of reminding the teacher to sing a song. Also, as the following piece of data shows, students can express their ideas to the teacher; thus, they feel that they are part of the class and can suggest or remind aspects to the teacher: One student says they have forgotten to sing a song, then they start singing: “I am the best, I am happy today”. (Field notes, Kinder, March 12, p. 1, lines 16-17) Students suggest draw a policeman or a fireman. Then the teacher draws a person helping another as a policeman or a fireman does. (Field notes, Transition, March 19, p. 1, lines 19-20)

On the other hand, a passive role was also seen. First, students were receiving the input provided by the teacher all the time, and also, because the interaction they have in the class is controlled by the teacher. The following excerpt displays how the teacher controls the oral production of students and how they just follow what the teacher says: The teacher tells them that she is going to write on the board the sentences they will use at the hospital. She writes in icons the sentences: “I am doctor; my name is” The teacher tells them that after the second sentence they have to say their names; one student says: “mi nombre es”, Teacher tells him that he must tell the sentence in English. (Field notes, Transition, May 20, p. 1, lines 2-6)

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The students are not generating their own interaction as active agents in their learning process but they are following a conversation given by the teacher. In the third semi-structured interview, the teacher recognizes that students have both roles, the passive one because of the control she has over the class; and the active one because students have the opportunity to propose or suggest changes related to the activities, in spite of their short ages: I: ¿Cuál es el rol que los estudiantes tienen en la clase? T: Activo en el momento en (…) el que ellos propongan y sea aceptado por mí. ¿Por qué no hacemos tal cosa? Entonces bueno, entonces proponlo y hagámoslo como lo dicen ellos, cosas tan simple como tengo distribuidos a los niños en pre-kinder para ver el video [of the song] en determinada situación o en determinados sitios (…) O ellos mismos cogen su mesita y se ubican como quieren, entonces no se les dice que no. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.7-8)

Students have an active role in the class because they can propose activities or make suggestions about different aspects of the class. As Kumaravadivelu (2006) claims, the post-method learner is characterized by being autonomous and a decision-maker; which can be seen in these students who in spite of their short ager are able to give their opinions, make suggestions and propose. Bearing in mind that English is seen as a foreign language, there are two language roles to take into account and that were evident in the data. First of all the role of the mother tongue, Spanish, is presented; and secondly, the role of English as the foreign language. Spanish is used as a pivot in the class in order to clarify instructions and tell off students. As the teacher affirms, Spanish is necessary in the class since students do not have enough vocabulary in English to comprehend the whole message that is conveyed:

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T: En determinados momentos (…) se usa el español cuando hay que dar unas explicaciones muy largas o cuando, cuando se hace necesario, porque ellos no tienen toda todo el vocabulario para para entender. (Second Teacher’s semi-structured interview, May 7, 2013. p.4)

The teacher affirms that Spanish is used when she gives a long explanation to students so that they can understand her. Additionally, as the excerpt taken from the field notes below shows, Spanish is used to maintain discipline in class and tell off students: The teacher scolds students in Spanish telling them that they have to be organized. (Field notes, Pre-kinder, April 1, p. 1, lines 19)

In some cases, the teacher translates into Spanish the instructions she gives, to make the message understandable to students. The following excerpt shows how Spanish is used simultaneously in the class to convey the message to students. The tool used to integrate both languages is translation: Then, the teacher holds Sammy and says: “Sammy says” immediately she translates it into Spanish “Sammy dice”, she continues speaking in Spanish “Cuando Sammy diga pencil ustedes hacen pencil” She continues explaining the game in Spanish. (Field notes, Transition, March 12, p. 1, lines 15-17)

Secondly, in most of the cases, English is seen as the language that is taught; it means that it is not seen as the language used to communicate but the language that students must learn. This conception implies that the teaching activities are focused on using the language, but when students are doing other activities they use Spanish in order to express themselves.

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One student says to the teacher: “mira my bathroom”, showing her his drawing. The teacher asks him to repeat the names of the parts of the bathroom in English. (Field notes, Kinder, March 19, p. 2, lines 37-39)

As is seen in the piece of data above, the teacher focuses on teaching vocabulary which in this case is the parts of the bathroom, and then the use of English is on behalf the vocabulary she is teaching. This use of English means that the teacher uses the language to introduce students in the use of specific vocabulary. Students’ feelings is another principle presented by Larsen-Freeman (2000), which refers to the way students’ feelings are seen and managed in the class. In the EFL class hold in pre-school, great attention is given to students’ feelings; this is connected with students’ motivation towards the class and the English learning process. The teacher uses Sammy in order to motivate students to learn English. The data from the first interview showed that the teacher started to use Sammy as a tool to stimulate students in their learning process: Sammy (…) ha sido creada (…) para que el docente o en este caso personalmente llegue más a la parte afectiva del estudiante, entonces si llego más a la parte afectiva si yo toco sus sentimientos y afectos hacia mí, también hay un mayor entendimiento de la lengua porque ellos asocian docente y lengua. (First Teacher’s semi-structured interview, March 13, 2013. p.4)

In the previous excerpt it is evidenced how the teacher considers the students’ feelings an important aspect in the learning process. The following piece of data shows how Sammy is used in the class to motivate students to participate in a class activity. This situation means that students’ feelings are taken into account when the teaching technique is implemented:

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The teacher explains a game in Spanish that consist of imagining it was a real bathroom so they have to make Sammy perform some activities in this bathroom. The teacher says “Go to the bathroom and take a shower”; she moves Sammy and makes him to perform the movements. She also makes him to perform the movements of taking a shower and washing hands. (Field notes, Transition, March19, p. 1, lines 15-19)

In that situation, Sammy was involved in the activity; thus, the students felt confident to go to the front of the class and make Sammy perform the movements. This implies that the teacher deals with students’ feelings and emotions by providing them confidence through Sammy. In regards to the evaluation process, data showed that in spite of the fact that there is an emphasis on the oral production students are evaluated through written tests. Besides, the test relies on memory of the icons; it means that students have to memorize the icons in order to solve the test. This fact backs up the principle related to the language learning process, too. The following excerpt taken from a test of Transition presents the first item where students are asked to answer a question written in icons based on a picture which is presented in the upper part of the test:

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Figure 23. First period monthly achievement test Transition Item 1.

The piece of data presented above was taken form an achievement test. Students were asked to answer a question by drawing sentences in icons based on a picture. This item evaluates vocabulary and sentence construction, but it does not evaluate communicative skills. The teacher recognizes that the use of written tests is due to the institution criteria. In her answer she shows that the exams rely on memory since they need a previous workshop where they are trained and prepared to answer the exam:

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T: Según la institución se tiene que hacer un examen escrito con todo el contenido que se ha visto hasta este bimestre, entonces se realiza, se hace la evaluación escrita utilizando obviamente Iconografía y se trata de hacer un taller previo a, y explicación previa en la clase para que ellos puedan responder el examen. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.10)

However, the teacher affirms that she implements another type of evaluation that consists of assessing the students as individuals and not as a group as in the written exams. This evaluation involves following the process the student has in his/her own learning process: I: ¿El proceso de evaluación sólo se da al final del bimestre? T: (…) lo que se busca es eso, que desde el comienzo, ¿qué dificultades tienes? ¿Por qué no lo has logrado? ¿Qué te falta?, pero no es ahorita al final, este del final es solamente el reflejo de todo un bimestre, y sí sigue ahí teniendo fallas pues se sigue manejando para que sigan mejorando. Nunca se va a acabar esa evaluación siempre va a seguir constante. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.10-11)

As presented in the excerpt above, evaluation is conceived by the teacher as a holistic, constant process where the whole learning process is important, including the final test that is applied at the end of the term. To sum up, different principles support the teaching practice held in preschool at this particular school setting. Those principles are associated because of Iconography and its use as a socially situated literacy semiotic practice there.

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Procedures that encompass the whole practice As defined in chapter 2 by Richards and Rodgers (2001), a procedure is the way in which techniques are applied in the teaching practice. The three courses observed presented the same procedures in the use of techniques, evidencing a clear procedure in the class. In spite of the fact that in this category the general procedure of the class is presented, it might undergo changes if the teacher considers them necessary, because as a post-method teacher she evaluates her practices constantly and she receives suggestions from her students. In the third interview, the teacher explained that the classes were divided into five moments: T: Llegamos, cantamos la canción, después explico entonces voy a explicar la actividad: ehh vamos a entregar los materiales, después de entregar los materiales se va a realizar eso, tienen que ser varios momentos I: y ¿cuáles son esos momentos? T: Mmm según la actividad que que vaya a hacer: introducción con una canción habitualmente lo hago, explicación de la actividad, ehh distribución de cómo lo voy a hacer (…) I: Ok T: Después la realización de la misma actividad, y termino con la canción de despedida. (Third Teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.2-3)

As was stated by the teacher, she recognizes important moments in the class; however, she does not mention specifically the techniques to be used in each moment. This sequence was also evidenced in the class observation. Graph 5 shows the procedures the teacher follows in the EFL teaching practice where Iconography is used:

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1. Arrival and greeting All classes start by having a greeting moment: a short greeting or a greeting song 2. Singing a song The class sings one of the songs they have learnt during the academic year. 3. Teacher's explanation The teacher explains what they are going to do in the class. This includes explaining new vocabulary, giving instructions or distributing materials. 4. Students doing an activity In this moment of the class students perform any of the techniques explained in the previous section (handicrafts, games, role -plays, etc) 5. Singing a farewell song At the end of the class, a farewell song is sung.

Graph 5. Procedures evidenced in the teaching practice.

As is displayed in the previous graph, the class is divided into five moments. In the first arrival moment there is an informal greeting which includes singing a greeting song. This moment has as its main purpose to create the language environment for students, as was explained in a previous section. The following excerpts taken from field notes show how all classes have the same moment at the beginning of the class: The teacher says hello, students repeat what she says. (…) students sing a greeting song following Sammy who is singing (The teacher performs the voice and movements of Sammy). (Field notes, Kinder, May 12, p. 1, lines 1-3) The teacher asks “are you ready?” and says “hello, how are you?” She says “one” and students continue counting, at “three” they start singing the greeting song and performing different movements, Teacher says “excellent”. (Field notes, Transition, April 13, p. 1, lines 1-2)

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Besides, this moment implies code switching from Spanish into English for students. As the teacher affirmed in the second interview, songs are used at the beginning of the class in order to make students comprehend that they are in a class where a foreign language is used: Las canciones siempre las utilizo al principio de la clase como para llamarle la atención a los estudiantes para que ellos reconozcan que empezamos, empezamos nuestras actividades en inglés. (Second Teacher’s semi-structured interview, May 13, 2013. p.2)

The second moment is when they sing a song they have learnt in the English class during the year. By singing these songs the students feel motivated to participate in the class not only singing but also giving their suggestions about what they are doing. The following excerpt shows this moment: Then the teacher sings the song ten little Indians while she sings some the students try to follow her and all of them perform some movements. One student asks to sing the monkey’s song. Then the teacher starts singing 5 little monkeys and the students sing with her, they perform some movements, too; especially in the part of the doctor. The teacher asks them if they want to sing another song, one student answers that she wants to sing Bingo. Then they sing it and perform some movements related to the song. One student says “Ahora la de bañarnos”, then they sing a song that says “This is the way a wash my hand” and mentions other parts of the body, while they sing they perform the movements as if they were in the shower. (Field notes, Kinder, April 16, p. 1, lines 3-10)

As the piece of data above shows, the singing moment is more than just singing a song, it includes movements where the students connect the song they are singing with its meaning. Also, it is a moment where

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students suggest the songs they want to sing, and the teacher listens to their voices and follows them. The third moment is the explanation time. This moment is the time to introduce new vocabulary to students, as is shown in the following excerpt where the teacher uses a song to teach new vocabulary to students: The teacher stands in front of the class and says that Sammy is going to teach a song, the teacher performs Sammy’s voice. The teacher draws a bed on the board; one student says “cama”. The teacher writes the numbers from 1 to 5 on the board. She says little, and asks for its meaning, meanwhile, she indicates in Sammy’s hand a size. One student says “pequeño”. She continues saying monkeys, students say monos. (Field notes, Kinder, May 12, p. 1, lines 9-12)

Also, sometimes in this third moment, the teacher gives the instruction of the activity they are going to do during the class. During the explanation the teacher uses English as well as Spanish, and the purpose of this moment is to make students comprehend the activity they are going to perform during the class. In the following excerpt the moment in which the teacher distributes materials and gives instructions to the students as a part of the class is displayed: The teacher says they are going to play. The teacher handles some pieces of paper, one student says enthusiastically that they are going to do a dictation, and that it was so nice in the other school he studied. The teacher gives the instruction to student to handle one piece of paper to each student. The teacher asks the students to take out the pencil and colors; she gives the instruction twice, one in English and the other in Spanish. (Field notes, Transition, April 16, p. 1, lines 9-12)

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The fourth moment is the practice. As was previously mentioned, there is a variety of techniques used by the teacher in the classroom in this class moment. Therefore, during this stage of the class any of them is used depending on the needs the teacher has. It could be a practice through role-plays, or to generate connection with the handicrafts, or play a game, among others. The activities are performed by the students under the supervision of the teacher, who is praising the work done by them all the time. The following excerpts illustrate this situation: The students show the teacher their drawings. She says “excellent, very good” (Field notes, Transition, March 19, p. 1, lines 12) The teacher continues asking student to read the sentences when a student answers correctly, she says excellent or very good. (Field notes, Transition, April 2, p. 1, lines 13-14)

As the excerpts above show, the teacher praises students work all the time, she always has a positive comment towards students’ performance. This is connected with two themes: motivation and students’ feelings. Motivation is implied because through positive reinforcement she motivates students to continue working. And students’ feelings, because the teacher make students feel good with the work they have done. The last moment is the closing time. As the class was started with a greeting and a song, the closure is done by singing a farewell song. The song is the same in all the classes and as soon as they sing the song, students understand that the class is over. For instance, in the following excerpt is shown how this closing time is relevant for the students and the teacher and how it signals the end of the class: Another teacher knocks at the door, then, the teacher says that they have to stop the game because they have to go to the restaurant. Then

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students start singing: “Good bye teacher, good bye teacher, good bye teacher, see you soon” and students get out. (Field notes, Transition, March 12, p. 2, lines 27-30)

In short, procedures used in the EFL class in pre-school at this particular school context involve five moments in which a set of techniques are used as well as Iconography. However, these techniques are not used all the times with an established order, they are part of what we call the practice moment but the teacher varies their use according to the need of the class.

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Participants’ perceptions about the use of Iconography in pre-school Keeping in mind that in a teaching practice there are different participants involved, it is important to take into account the perception and opinions they have about it. Thus, this chapter refers to the perceptions the school community involved in the use Iconography in the EFL teaching practice in pre-school have about the use of Iconography. Two themes emerged from the data analysis. The first theme evidenced aims at analyzing Iconography by giving feedback to it in order to improve the practice. These are considered the challenges Iconography faces (or the weaknesses perceived by the school community). The second theme evidenced refers to those perceptions the participants have towards Iconography that aim at recognizing the achievements and the strengths of Iconography. Those are considered as the opportunities for Iconography (or the positive perceptions).

Challenges faced by Iconography Participants expressed that there are two aspects which should be considered carefully since they think those aspects need to be evaluated and improved to achieve the EFL teaching-learning process with the

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use of Iconography. Those are: activities that should be included in the teaching practice and the possibility that a student has to move to another school to continue his/her learning process. In spite of the fact that in the teaching practice a variety of techniques was evidenced, participants stated that there is a need of including more activities into the class. When students were asked what they would like to do in class, they answered they want to work more on activities such as games, reading, painting, physical activities such as dancing and jumping, activities that include the use of numbers, and letters. The following table shows a summary of the answers given by pre-school students: Table 12. Analysis of students’ questionnaire, Question #9 50%

Class activities such as numbers, letters, songs, drawing, molding with clay, reading, and painting

29,2%

Playing more in the class

12,5%

With a lower percentage, they would like to perform physical activities such as dancing, jumping, or walking around

8,3%

Speak in English

As was expressed by students, there are some activities they would like to be included into the teaching practice like the ones mentioned before. These perceptions are considered a challenge for Iconography because the practice should be seen from the participants’ points of view, in this case the students, in order to be improved. As well as students, parent 27 considers that there should be the inclusion of writing activities in the class: “Iconografía sí, pero no como único método ya que la parte escrita también debe desarrollarse en paralelo con la del idioma natal” (Parents’ questionnaire, parent 27, April 23rd, Question #16). As was expressed by this parent, it seems that the writing skill should be developed in the class. On the other hand, the teacher thinks that in her teaching practice the listening skill is not worked on properly, so she suggests including more activities that develop the abilities in her students. The following excerpt shows the teacher’s ideas in this regard:

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Hace falta ejercicios más de listening, se me hace a mí, no solo que sea conmigo sino traer actividades que ellos escuchen de otra persona, que vaya pronunciando (…) eso sí creo que hace falta. (Third teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.7)

The teacher expressed that she notices a lack in activities to develop the listening skills in the class. For this reason, she considers it necessary to include more activities whose main purpose is to work on the ability to understand conversations or other people speaking. This is an issue to consider since the learning of a language includes the understanding of the spoken language produced by different speakers. The second challenge Iconography faces is to consider the possibility that a student who started his/her English language learning process in this particular school has to move to another school. This situation is considered an important issue for the school, because if any student has to move to another school, he/she will face a new teaching practice where probably conventional English literacy is used. This is one concern presented by the principal who expressed it during the interview: Cuando los niños cambian de colegio, entonces ellos van a enfrentarse a que en tercero, cuarto de primaria, quinto de primaria se estén ya utilizando estructuras gramaticales. (Principal’s semi-structured interview, May 21, 2013. p.5)

The principal, who represents the institution, stated the possible struggle students will face if they change school. This is something that should be thought about by the institution since it is a real possibility in students’ academic lives. Not only the principal considers it as a problematic situation but two parents also expressed this concern in their answers to the questionnaire:

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“más que desventaja mi duda es si el niño se retrasará en el proceso de aprendizaje del idioma ya que venía manejando como apoyo un texto guía.” (Parents’ questionnaire, parent 27, April 23, Question #19) “Es un método excelente para el aprendizaje del inglés, pero puede traer desventajas si en niño cambia de colegio” (Parents’ questionnaire, parent 43, April 23, Question #20)

When parent 27 was asked if she/he considers that Iconography has had any negative aspect in the learning process of his child, he answered negatively, but he still expressed a concern related to the fact that her child came from another school, where a different teaching practice was carried out, and that it could affect the language learning process of her child. In the case of parent 43, when she/he was asked what he thought about Iconography, she/he expressed a concern related to the fact that a child could have difficulties if he/she had to move to another school. As well as the principal and these two parents, the teacher considers that one challenge Iconography faces is related to the possibility that a student has to be moved to another school: Cuando los niños se van a otro colegio, entonces, si presentan un examen escrito, sé que no están en capacidad de contestar. (First teacher’s semi-structured interview, March 13, 2013. p.5)

In this case, her concern is more related to the selection process the new school could have, because she considers that the students are not able to answer the written exam. It could be because the students are not able to read instructions written in conventional English literacy and because they cannot answer the questions they will be asked using English conventional literacy.

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Thus, two challenges for Iconography were identified: the inclusion of more varied activities and the possibility that a student has to move to another school where Iconography is not used. In the next section the opportunities evidenced through the data analysis are presented.

Opportunities for Iconography This section refers to those perceptions that point out the positive aspects that the school community consider as an opportunity that Iconography as a teaching practice has to offer. In this category two themes emerged: the motivational factor involved in the use of Iconography and the way Iconography has helped students to learn English. As was presented in the previous chapters, motivation is a factor that is involved in the EFL practice; then, participants think Iconography motivates the students to learn English. The parents who are familiar with Iconography state (in their questionnaire’s answers) in different ways, that Iconography motivates their children to learn the foreign language: Parent 14: “Me parece que es un método muy atractivo para los niños, así absorben más sobre la lengua extranjera y no es aburrido.” Parent 22: “Es una manera didáctica y fácil para que los niños se motiven a aprender inglés.” Parent 25: “Con esta nueva forma de aprendizaje, los niños se sentirán más motivados a aprender.” (Parents’ questionnaire, April 23)

As the pieces of data above show, parents think that Iconography is a new way of learning that motivates their children to learn the language; it facilitates the language learning process perhaps because it is easier than other methods parents may know. Through the data analysis it was identified that there are two facts that generate this motivation in the students. First of all, it is thought by the parents that the use of images

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motivates children to learn the language due to the fact that at their age they are attracted to pictures, images, and enjoyable activities. The following answers, provided by the parents in the questionnaire, show how parents connect motivation with the use of images in the class: Parent 7: “Me parece bueno porque por medio de imágenes y símbolos el niño tendrá un mejor conocimiento y desarrollo del tema” Parent 12: “El aprendizaje de los niños se basa en juegos, cosas nuevas y llamativas como imágenes” Parent 38: “Una imagen vale más que mil palabras” Parent 44: “Los niños son muy visuales y se les facilita más el aprendizaje” Parent 47: “Me parece un excelente método ya que por medio de varias imágenes y símbolos representamos palabras. En mi concepto es muy bueno el aprendizaje, es mucho más fácil” (Parents’ questionnaire, April 23)

Parents express in different ways that the use of images in order to teach English is motivational, because their children learn, they have fun, and they have easy access to the language. Besides, in spite of the fact that there was no document that explains Iconography, parents recognize that Iconography uses symbols and they represent words and meanings. Secondly, parents affirm that Iconography motivates students to learn the language by generating enthusiasm through creativity, and because students feel confident of their process. In their answers to the questionnaire they pointed out that Iconography makes the language learning process attractive for their children: Parent 14: “Es algo bueno, ya que por medio de esto les transmite atracción a la segunda lengua, y así adquieren más conocimiento en una forma divertida”

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Parent 16: “Dice varias palabras en inglés y hay seguridad en él al decirlas y pronunciarlas” Parent 35: “Es una forma didáctica y lúdica que hace que el estudiante muestre interés por la lengua extranjera” Parent 43: “Favorece la creatividad y la participación en la construcción de su conocimiento” (Parents’ questionnaire, April 23)

As presented above, parents think that with the use of Iconography in the EFL class children are motivated to learn the language, because as parents consider, the class is catchy for students, helping them to improve their creativity and their confidence because students feel selfassured when they say and pronounce words and messages in English. The students also asserted they like the English class with Iconography because they enjoy it; it means that they feel that the class is fun, they laugh, and they feel they are happy during the class time (Students’ questionnaire analysis). Most of the students (84, 9%) like learning English with icons. However, 5, 7% like it a little and 7, 5% do not like it at all. When students were asked about why they liked the EFL class, they gave different reasons. The most important reasons students mentioned are summarized in the following table: Table 13. Analysis of students’ questionnaire, Question #5 48,9%

Because they enjoy the class, they feel they have fun when they are using the icons.

22,2%

Because they like drawing different objects and they like the icons.

17,8%

Because with the icons they can learn English.

As was expressed by the students, they like the class. This implies they feel motivated towards it. On the other hand, some students (7,5%) do not like to learn with icons, because of two reasons: they do not know the icons (8,9%); or because it is difficult for them (2,2%).

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Even though the present study is not focused on the learning process, there are some perceptions related to this aspect. Participants agree that Iconography has helped students to learn English. Firstly, parents said that they liked that the school includes in its teaching practice Iconography because with the icons their children learn English, they have seen that their children have learnt English easily; it includes vocabulary, interaction in English, pronunciation, and the understanding of specific concepts: Parent 3: (Hablo por la experiencia de mi hijo mayor) Él adquirió mucho vocabulario con este método y pues él entendía, que era lo más importante. Parent 14: “Ha venido con nuevas palabras y lo hace presente en lo cotidiano, como llamando a su abuela en inglés, colores, cosas, etc.” Parent 15: “Ya identifica los colores, los saludos y los nombres de papá y mamá en inglés” Parent 16: “Hasta el momento él ha aprendido, en lo poco que lleva todo lo que le han enseñado no se le ha olvidado” Parent 36: “Ha aprendido muchas cosas nuevas y se interesa por aprender más” (Parents questionnaire, April 23)

Parents consider that their children have learnt English through Iconography. Their children show this learning at home and use it in everyday situations. Also, some parents consider that Iconography is an innovative pedagogical practice that facilitates the language learning process. They consider it innovative because it uses images to teach a new language. As well as parents, students asserted that they like to learn with icons because they learn English using them. Both parents and children perceive

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students are learning English with the icons and the whole practice that is carried out in pre-school. The teacher also expressed that Iconography helps students to learn English because they make connections between the new vocabulary they are learning and the previous knowledge they already have. The following excerpt shows the teacher’s perception related to the use of Iconography: Cuando se usa la iconografía, el hecho de que la entiendan fácilmente, que la comprendan, es porque la están relacionando con lo que ellos ya tiene en su mente; esto hace que ellos mismos empiecen a utilizarlo, empiecen a hablar, lo entiendan (…) tanto así que en pequeñas edades les afirman a sus padres yo ya se inglés, entonces eso hace que sea más fácil. (Third teacher’s semi-structured interview, June 13, 2013. p.1)

The teacher perceives that with Iconography students understand easily, because of the connections they can do with their background knowledge. Also, she sees that her students learn the language since they use it in contexts different from school such as home, even at their short age. All in all, participants have different perceptions towards the teaching practice carried out in pre-school at this school. There were two types of perceptions, first those that aim at viewing the weaknesses of the practice, specifically Iconography. For the present study, these are seen as the challenges the teaching practice faces. The second are those that point out the strengths it has, which for this study are seen as the opportunities; it means those aspects that characterize Iconography in a positive way.

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Synthesis and future directions The preceding chapters have documented the main features of the use of Iconography in the teaching of English as a foreign language in the pre-school classroom. The data analysis revealed that Iconography is a semiotic literacy practice where icons and symbols are used to convey meaning. It has also been shown that the post-method is the pedagogical underpinning that guides the EFL teaching practice based on Iconography which includes different features particular to the school setting and the pre-school classrooms were this study was conducted. Different perspectives from the school community were also investigated that point to the challenges and the opportunities of the use of Iconography. This chapter deals with the main conclusions of the study based on the emergent findings. It also discusses the implications of the research for the ELT community in Colombia and the field of teaching to young learners; for the institution where the project was developed, and for the participants in the research. An account of the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further research are also presented. The chapter closes with some recommendations in regards to the use of Iconography.

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Conclusions As stated earlier, this qualitative case study aimed at characterizing Iconography, a practice used to teach English as a foreign language to young learners in pre-school. There are several striking findings that emerged from this study. In response to the first research question: How does Iconography work in the EFL pre-school classroom? The data showed that Iconography works as a socially situated semiotic literacy practice where two types of signs are involved: icons and symbols. Icons are the signs that convey their meaning by a concrete relationship with the object represented; on the other hand, symbols establish the connection with the object represented arbitrarily. Thus, there is a degree of iconicity in the use of Iconography since not all of them are connected with the object they represent in the same degree. The use of these signs turns Iconography into a semiotic practice. Besides, Iconography was identified to be an EFL teaching practice that encompasses three aspects that characterize it: it is socially situated, semiotic, and a literacy practice. It is a socially situated practice because it takes place in a specific context, which is the school where this research was conducted; the participants share certain characteristics and conditions that are evident in the teaching practice, such as the lack of access to EFL teaching material, the context at home where there is no use of English, among others. Moreover, the construction of the meaning of each icon and symbol is done in the particular context that the institution and the classroom represent. The second characteristic is the semiotic issue. Iconography is a semiotic practice because it involves the use of two signs: icons and symbols which combined are the communicative system used in EFL classroom in pre-school. They are considered a communicative system because when they are used in a sequence they convey the meaning of a sentence. Finally, Iconography is a literacy practice because it involves the whole EFL teaching process in that context; it means that the students are developing their early literacy with the use of it and the use of some EFL teaching techniques (songs, Sammy, games, role-plays, handicrafts).

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Considering the second research question of this study: What are the pedagogical underpinnings of the EFL teaching practice held in this particular school context when Iconography is used?, the data revealed that the whole EFL teaching practice carried out in pre-school at this setting is framed into the post-method condition for three main reasons. First of all, the EFL teaching practice is held in a particular context where some local conditions are evidenced in the teaching practice. It implies the particularity of the teaching practice where the use of Iconography is the best example of how the needs of this particular group of students are taken into account in the EFL classroom. Secondly, data showed that in the teaching practice there is an evident fusion of professional and personal theory that the teacher integrates into the teaching practice. This fusion makes the teaching practice particular because it does not follow a specific method or approach but it combines different teaching issues the teacher considers relevant and necessary for the EFL teaching practice. Finally, the EFL teaching practice developed in pre-school has been shaped by the experiences of the school community involved in the practice. The teacher’s experiences are the ones that influence the teaching practices the most, since she brings all her teaching background and personal experiences into the classroom. The institution, the students, and the parents also contribute with their experiences in the construction of the teaching practice. In relation to the third research question: How is the EFL teaching practice developed in pre-school when using Iconography?, it is possible to conclude that the EFL teaching practice consists of three main aspects: techniques, principles, and procedures, which combined make the teaching practice in pre-school a singular practice. The techniques used are taken from different methods and approaches, but they are used in the practice with a specific teaching purpose. The techniques are: Sammy, the teddy monkey who works as the EFL class pet; songs; handicrafts; games; and role-plays. Different principles were evidenced in the teaching practice; each one is related to a relevant aspect of the class: the goal of the teacher, the role of the students, the role of the teacher, and the languages, the language learning process, students’ feelings, the evaluation, and the teacher-students interaction. The

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combination of all those principles makes the EFL teaching practice in pre-school at this school setting different from other teaching practices. Lastly, the procedures seen in the class involve the techniques mentioned above but with the particular intention expressed in the principles. Finally, regarding the last research question: What are the perceptions that the educational community has of the use of Iconography? It is possible to conclude that there are two types of participants’ perceptions. The first type that emerged is related to those perceptions that consider that there are weaknesses in the teaching practice, but they are still seen as the challenges the teaching practice faces. Those are: activities that should be included into the teaching practice and to consider the possibility that one student moves from this particular school to another one. The second group of perceptions is the one that points out the opportunities offered by Iconography as part of the EFL teaching practice. It includes two main aspects: motivation and learning. It was shown by the school community that Iconography motivates students to learn the language, which is something that should be strengthened since it helps students in their learning process. A second aspect is the learning process, which, according to the participants, has been positive for students since Iconography was seen as innovative and facilitating. In sum, it was revealed in this study that Iconography is a socially situated semiotic literacy practice that is used in the EFL teaching practice in pre-school at this school context. This teaching practice not only includes Iconography but it also involves a set of techniques, principles and procedures that makes it singular and distinctive from other EFL teaching practices with young learners. Therefore, the post-method condition was evidenced in the teaching practice due to its particularity, the way theory is combined, and the way experiences permeate it. Such a practice may be taken into consideration in the EFL young learners teaching field because of its innovative and facilitating nature.

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Implications of the study Some implications arose from the development of this project. In the first part of this section, we present the implications related to the ELT community in Colombia; then, the implications for the institution where the project was developed and for the participants of this study are discussed. The first implication is related to the ELT policies in Colombia, due to the fact that most of the policies created in the country conceive the teaching of a foreign language from first grade, leaving aside preschoolers. For instance, the basic standards in competences in foreign language (MEN, 2006) start the standards with the contents for first graders. Thus, it is necessary to include into Colombia’s educational policies the teaching of a foreign language in pre-school; thus, schools and teachers who are in charge of this process could have a common guide to follow in their teaching practices. The second implication this study has is related to teacher development. Taking into account Gonzalez’ (2007) definition of teacher development, referring to Johnson (2000), it is “a permanent process that initiates when they are learners in classrooms and schools, and continues (…) when they learn from their experience teaching in their own schools” (p. 310). Due to the fact that EFL teaching in pre-school is not included in Colombia’s policies, it seems that EFL teachers are not prepared to face the processes of teaching this particular population. Thus, as Truscott de Mejía (2009) asserted, B.A. programs at universities should include in their curriculum specific seminars for teaching young learners due to the fact that teaching young learners is different from teaching populations of other ages. There is another implication linked to the theory. As there are few theories related to teaching English to young learners in pre-school levels, Iconography as a socially situated semiotic literacy practice has emerged from this study to contribute to the theoretical understanding of EFL teaching practices at this level. It can also be seen as a good practice to be used in the EFL classroom as a tool to introduce foreign language literacy to young children.

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In regards to the institution where the research was conducted, there are some important implications. The first implication is a change of mind related to Iconography. It should be understood as a practice instead of a method or an approach; because as the findings show, in real teaching practice it is neither an approach nor a method. Another implication is the need of professional development programs for those teachers who have to teach using Iconography, since it should be taught to other teachers to expand its use in the EFL classes. Finally, bearing in mind that Iconography is part of a pedagogical project, it must be evaluated regularly in order to improve it. Also, institutional documents showing how it works should be developed and published. Regarding the participants of the study, the first implication for students is the view of the learner this teaching practice has, because the conception of learner that underpins the use of Iconography is the leaner as an abstract entity. As stated by Norton and Toohey (2001), a good learner is the one who can engage in communication in different contexts without having any problem; but this is not evident with Iconography because all of them are asked to follow the same formula and write the same sentences, as it was seen in the findings. Therefore, there is a mismatch regarding the vision of the learner between the vision related to Iconography in pre-school and the rest of the practice at school. This implies for the school and teachers to rethink the vision of the learner they are having in the pedagogical practices. Another implication for students is connected with the gap between practices at pre-school and the first grades of elementary school, since students have to adjust to the change from the use of Iconography to the use of conventional English literacy in third grade. Finally, some implications for novice teacher-researchers may arise from this study. First of all, this study has highlighted the importance of reflecting upon one’s own pedagogical practices all the time not only to understand them from a theoretical perspective but also to identify ways in which these practices can be improved. Developing this research also allowed us to become more aware of the gaps between official documents and classroom practices, since this research showed that in spite of the fact that official documents are written, they may not be

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comprehensive and thus, classroom practices may not be are carried out in harmony to them.

Limitations The experience in conducting this study was rewarding and enriching; however, there were certain limitations with regards to time. The main limitation was related to the institutional schedule and activities. Some sessions could not be observed for different factors: students had to be in a flag raising ceremony, school meetings were schedule at the same time EFL sessions were programmed, the pre-school teacher had to attend a meeting, or pre-school students had a different activity from the regular one. Thus, sessions that were cancelled had to be re-scheduled in order to fulfil the observation plan.

Further research After conducting this study, several questions and concerns emerged regarding Iconography and the ELF field. Due to the fact that this study aimed at characterizing Iconography in pre-school, further research is needed in first and second grades since the practice continues in those grades at this school setting. This could widen the characterization of Iconography obtaining a general perspective of it, from the very first grade were it is used until the moment when the process ends. Another interesting research would be to explore how students face the transition from Iconography to English conventional literacy in third grade. It is very connected to the previous idea, since it is important to see how it is incorporated in the whole language learning process an EFL student faces at this particular context. There were two processes that were left aside in the present research and that are worthy to be studied since they are part of the process. First of all, the cognitive processes in the use of Iconography. It could give a different perspective of Iconography since it will be seen from another

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discipline that would allow us to understand what cognitive processes are carried out in a student when Iconography is involved in the EFL learning process. Secondly, a study focused on the learning process would be enriching for the characterization of Iconography since the present study only emphasized on the teaching processes. Another interesting issue to consider for carrying out a research is related to the use of the first language (Spanish) by the teacher and the students in the EFL class, since it was evidenced that the role Spanish has is essential in the development of the teaching practice. Issues such as code-switching and cross-linguistic influence could usefully be investigated. An even more important extension of the present study is to examine what happens when implementing reading of short stories since there was no evidence of their use in developing the early literacy process in this particular classroom context. Short stories have been used with young learners in learning a foreign language (Loukia, 2006) and good reasons have been given in support to their use at this level (Ellis & Brewster, 1991): first, they motivate students; second, they allow students to use their imagination; third, listening to the stories in the class is a social practice; also, listening to the stories repeated times allows students to acquire the language, and finally, listening to stories develop students’ listening skills and motivation.

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APPENDICES Appendix 1. Principal’s Consent Form Febrero 14 de 2013 Señora ANONYMOUS NAME Rectora School Name Como parte del proceso académico e investigativo que se adelanta, se planea realizar una investigación en la institución educativa. Ésta investigación tiene como propósito hacer un proceso analítico del proyecto de iconografía que el departamento de inglés ha venido trabajando durante los últimos siete años. El objeto de esta investigación es hallar las implicaciones que el uso del método iconográfico tiene en el proceso de enseñanza- aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera. Los procedimientos a seguir en la investigación incluyen la recolección de datos con estudiantes, docentes, padres de familia y directivos docentes. Dicha información será recolectada a través de diferentes instrumentos como entrevistas, observación, recolección de trabajos de los estudiantes y cuestionarios. La información obtenida se mantendrá en total confidencialidad, así como los nombres de los participantes.

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Los resultados de ésta investigación le traerá como beneficio el mejoramiento de la calidad educativa de la institución en lo relacionado con el proyecto del departamento de inglés. Razón por la cual, al finalizar la investigación usted recibirá los resultados obtenidos de ella, aunque al hacerse participe de la investigación puede preguntar acerca de ésta en el momento que usted lo disponga. Vale la pena resaltar que esta investigación no incluye un costo adicional para la institución. Por otra parte, en algunos casos, este tipo de investigaciones son publicadas en revistas especializadas, por ende es pertinente mencionar el hecho de una posible publicación en el futuro. Consentimiento informado institucional:

Yo _____________________________________________ rectora del School Name autorizo el trabajo investigativo sobre el proceso iconográfico.

Firma_______________________________ Fecha ___________________

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Appendix 2. Students’ Consent Form

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Appendix 3. Teacher’s Consent Form Dear Pre-School EFL Teacher, You are being asked to take part in a research study of the advantages and disadvantages of the iconography approach. I am asking you to take part of it because as you are teaching English as a foreign language with this approach, thus the information that you can provide to this study is very relevant. The purpose of this study is to gather information about the iconography approach in order to get some conclusions about the implications it has upon the English learning-teaching process. This will not have any cost for you. In some cases a study like the one I am holding can be published in a journal, so it important for you to know that it can be published at any time in the future. Do you agree to be in the study? Yes ___ No ____ If you do so: - I will conduct an interview to you during you time work at school. - The information I will get from it will be confidential. - You can ask about the research anytime you want to - Your real name won’t be used in the report - You can withdraw at any time Taking part of this study is voluntary. You might skip any questions that you don’t want to answer. I, ________________________________, agree to be part of the project. Signature ______________________________________ Date________

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Appendix 4. Parents’ Consent Form Febrero 14 de 2013 Estimado padre de familia Cordial saludo Este año se llevará a cabo una investigación en la institución académica. Ésta investigación tiene como propósito hacer un proceso evaluativo del proyecto de iconografía que el departamento de inglés ha venido trabajando durante los últimos siete años. El objeto de esta investigación es hallar las ventajas y las desventajas que la aplicación de este enfoque tiene en la lengua extranjera, para así mejorar las prácticas educativas. Por tal razón, es importante usar los trabajos producidos por los estudiantes y la información obtenida de algunas preguntas para esta investigación. Por ende su consentimiento como padres de familia es de vital importancia. Además de ello, ustedes como padres de familia pueden ser participes de la investigación mediante la respuesta a un cuestionario que puede arrojar información pertinente para el estudio anteriormente mencionado. La información obtenida se mantendrá en total confidencialidad, así como los nombres de ustedes y sus hijos si así lo desean. En algunos casos, este tipo de investigaciones son publicadas en revistas especializadas, por ende es pertinente mencionar el hecho de una posible publicación en el futuro. Si decide hacer parte en la investigación podrá preguntar sobre el proyecto en el momento que usted lo desee, puede retirarse de la investigación cuando lo desee y podrá ver los resultados de la investigación. Vale la pena resaltar que esta investigación no incluye un costo adicional a los servicios educativos prestados por la institución. Finalmente, si no está de acuerdo con la participación de su hijo en la investigación se garantiza que se recibirá el mismo trato mientras se realicen trabajos en el aula respecto a la investigación.

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Consentimiento informado Padres de Familia:

Yo _____________________________________________ padre del estudiante ______________________________________________ SI ___ NO ____ autorizo la participación de mi hijo y la mía en la investigación.

Firma_______________________________ Fecha ___________________

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Appendix 5. Field Notes Format FIELD NOTES N° ______ DATE: __________________ SCHOOL: ____________________________________________________________ __ SETTING: _____________________________________________________________ GRADE: ______________________________________________________________ ACTIVITY: PAGE #: RESEARCH QUESTIONS - How does Iconography work in the EFL pre-school classroom? - What are the pedagogical underpinnings of the EFL teaching practice held in this particular school context when Iconography is used? - How is the EFL teaching practice developed in pre-school when using Iconography? - What are the perceptions that the educational community has of the use of Iconography? OBSERVATIONS

COMMENTS/REFLECTIONS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

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Appendix 6. Principal’s semi-structured interview INTERVIEW FORMAT PRINCIPAL’S SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW Date: ________________________________ Place: ___________________________ Interviewer: ___________________________ Interviewee: ______________________ Intended duration__________________ Interview began at (time): ___________ Interview finished at (time) _________________ El propósito de esta entrevista es hablar sobre su opinión como rectora del colegio sobre el método iconográfico que el colegio ha venido aplicando en la enseñanza del inglés en pre-escolar: pre-kinder, kínder y transición, y en los grados, primero, segundo y tercero. 1. ¿De dónde surgió la idea de enseñar inglés con este método? 2. ¿Cuál es su posición como directiva de la institución frente a la aplicación del método iconográfico? (¿De acuerdo? ¿Desacuerdo?) 3. Desde su perspectiva como directiva ¿cuáles cree usted han sido las ventajas del uso del método para la institución y cuáles las desventajas? (Aprendizaje de la lengua, procesos académicos) 4. ¿Cuáles han sido las desventajas? 5. Cuando se habla de la implementación de un programa a nivel pedagógico se debe hablar también de un seguimiento y una evaluación constante sobre éste. ¿Cómo ha sido este proceso con la iconografía? 6. ¿Qué espera del uso de este método en la institución? 7. ¿Cómo ve usted el enfoque en unos años?

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Appendix 7. Sample Teacher’s Interview TEACHER’S INTERVIEW FIRST SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW Date: ________________________________ Place: ___________________________ Interviewer: ___________________________ Interviewee: ______________________ Intended duration__________________ Interview began at (time): ___________ Interview finished at (time) _________________ The purpose of this interview is to talk about some specific aspects of the iconography approach: 1. As I know you were part of the group of teachers who started this project, I would like to know: Where did the idea of the Project come from? 2. What can you tell me about the features of the iconography approach? 3. You are one of the teachers who have been working with this approach for a long time: what kind of activities do you develop in class, which make the iconography approach different from other approaches? 4. What is the objective you have when you plan those activities? 5. From the development of the activities what can you tell me about the children’s performance? 6. Do you think the iconography approach has any advantage? (Which ones?) 7. And what about the disadvantages of using this approach? 8. You have been teaching with this approach for at least 6 years, why do you think it is still used at the institution? 9. Can you suggest anything that could be done to improve the approach?

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Appendix 8. Cuestionario Padres De Familia Estimado Padre de Familia: Se está llevando a cabo una investigación sobre el método iconográfico que se utiliza en la clase de inglés en el colegio. El presente cuestionario tiene como objetivo conocer acerca de su entorno familiar y de su opinión frente al método iconográfico utilizado en la enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera con su hijo/hijaa. Agradezco responda con el mayor grado de sinceridad y objetividad. La información suministrada será completamente confidencial.

ENTORNO FAMILIAR 1. Nombre del estudiante: ______________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2. ¿Quién diligencia el cuestionario? Padre__ Madre__ Otro___ ¿Quién? __________________ 3. Lugar de residencia: _________________________________________ 4. ¿Cuántas personas conforman el hogar? ________ 5. Edad Padre menor de 20___ 21-24___ 25-28__ 29-33__ Mayor de 34__ Madre menor de 20___ 21-24___ 25-28__ 29-33__ Mayor de 34__ 6. Nivel educativo Padre __Primaria __Bachillerato __Técnico __Universitario ___Otro Madre __Primaria __Bachillerato __Técnico __Universitario ___Otro 7. En el entorno familiar ¿Alguien habla inglés? Si ___ No ____ Si su respuesta es afirmativa ¿Quién? ___________________________

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8. ¿Cuántos años lleva su hijo estudiando en el colegio? ______ 9. ¿Cuánto tiempo comparte diariamente con el estudiante? ____ horas 10. De las siguientes actividades ¿cuáles realiza con el estudiante? Marque las opciones necesarias __ Leer __ Ver televisión __ Hacer las tareas __ Jugar __ Ir al parque __ Ir al cine __ Asistir a actividades culturales (museo, teatro, etc.) __ Otras ¿Cuáles? __________________________________________ MÉTODO ICONOGRÁFICO 11. ¿Sabe que es el método iconográfico? Si___ No___ (Si su respuesta es afirmativa continúe respondiendo el cuestionario, de lo contrario acá termina. Gracias.) Marque con una (X) frente a las opciones que considere respecto a su experiencia con la iconografía Siempre 12. Puedo ayudar a mi hijo con la tarea de inglés 13. Comprendo los apuntes de inglés de mi hijo 14.Puedo ayudar a mi hijo a estudiar para las evaluaciones de inglés 15. Mi hijo entiende sus apuntes

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A veces

Casi nunca

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16. ¿Está usted de acuerdo con el uso del método iconográfico en las clases de inglés? Si ___ No ___ ¿Por qué? ___________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 17. ¿Considera usted que las actividades que se realizan en la clase de inglés ayudan al aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera? Si ___ No ___ ¿Por qué? _____________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 18. ¿Considera usted que el método iconográfico ha tenido aspectos positivos en el proceso de aprendizaje de su hijo? Si ___ No ___ ¿Cuáles? ______________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 19. ¿Considera usted que el método iconográfico ha tenido aspectos negativos en el proceso de aprendizaje de su hijo? Si ___ No ___ ¿Cuáles? ______________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 20. ¿Qué piensa acerca del uso del método iconográfico en la clase de inglés? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ¡Gracias por su colaboración!

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Appendix 9. Students’ Questionnaire CUESTIONARIO

QUERIDO ESTUDIANTE, ¡HOLA! Como parte de una investigación sobre la iconografía en tu colegio, me gustaría que tú me ayudaras respondiendo las siguientes preguntas con toda la verdad. Todo lo que digas será confidencial. PERFIL DEL ESTUDIANTE Nombre: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Fecha: _____________

Curso: _____________

1. Tengo ______ años de edad

2. Soy

Niño _____

Niña ______

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3. Vivo con: (Marca las opciones necesarias) ___ Papá ___ Mamá ___ Hermanos ___ Abuelos ___ Tíos ___ Padrinos ___ Otros ¿Quiénes? _______________ ICONOGRAFÍA 4. ¿Te gusta la clase de inglés? a. Mucho b. Más o menos c. Un poco d. Nada ¿Por qué? _________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 5. ¿Qué es lo que te gusta de la clase de inglés? ____________________ ____________________________________________________________ 6. ¿Te gusta aprender inglés con iconos? a. Mucho b. Más o menos c. Un poco d. Nada ¿Por qué? _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ 7. De los siguientes elementos ¿cuáles utiliza la profesora en la clase? Marca con una X los que ella use:

___ Tablero

___ Marcadores

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___ Grabadora

___ Televisión

___ Láminas

___ Fotocopias

___ Libros

___ Juguetes ___ Otros ¿Cuáles? __________________________________________________ 8. De las siguientes cosas ¿Que hacen en la clase de inglés? Marca con una X las que ella haga ___ Saludar ___ Cantar ___ Preguntar sobre la clase anterior ___ Dibujar los iconos en el tablero

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___Preguntar sobre el significado de los iconos ___ Calificar la tarea ___ Mostrar objetos relacionados con los iconos ___ Leer ___ Dictar ___Otras. ¿Cuáles? _________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 9. ¿Qué te gustaría que se hiciera en la clase de inglés? _________________________________________________________ 10. La profesora habla en inglés a. Siempre b. Casi siempre

c. Casi nunca d. Nunca

11. ¿Quién crea los iconos? (Marca las opciones válidas) ___ La profesora ___ Tú ___ Tus compañeros ___ Otro ¿Quién? __________________________ 12. Entiendes todos los iconos a. Siempre b. Casi siempre c. Casi nunca

d. Nunca

13. Si no entiendes un icono ¿qué haces? Preguntarle a la profesora Preguntarle a un compañero No preguntas Otros ¿Qué? ___________________________________________

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Appendix 10. Transcription Conventions SYMBOL

MEANING

The subjects Student Teacher’s intervention Interviewer’s intervention

S T I

The words Themselves (???) (word?)

Unintelligible text Guess at unclear text

Pausing Micropause Pause of indicated length

(.) (3)

Relevant additional information Descriptive comment

[laughts]

Taken and adapted from Chapetón (2007).

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Author index A Acero Adamson Arikan Ashworth

36, 39, 141 37, 141 38, 40, 141 96, 141

B Barton Baynham Bell Beltran Beuchot Bliss Blumenfeld Brown Bruner Burns

31, 75, 141 29, 31, 141 48, 56, 141 33-34, 141 22-25, 141 25-26, 142 85, 142 34, 36-38, 41, 91-92, 94, 103-104, 142 41, 142 13, 43, 54-55, 92, 142, 143

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C Cameron Castro Chapetón Christensen Christie Copland Corbin Creswell

11, 13, 31, 41, 142 36, 141 31, 59, 142, 163 48, 56, 144 29, 142 13, 43, 93, 143 60-61, 142 54, 61, 142

D Davies Debes

20, 143 30, 143

E Eco Elkins

21-23, 65, 68-69, 143 30, 143

F Ferreiro

29, 31, 33, 143

G García Garton Gee Genesee Gillen González Gray Grossi

36, 39, 143 13, 42-43, 92, 143 31-32, 143 41-42, 102, 143 29, 30, 143 137, 143 48, 143 32, 77, 143

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Guevara Guinan

86, 144 27, 144

H Hall Huang

29-30, 79, 142-144 44, 144

J James Javier Johnson Jones

86, 144 36, 141 48, 56, 137, 144 32, 144

K Kumaravadivelu

38, 40, 44, 81-82, 84-85, 88, 91, 105, 107, 111, 144

L Lancaster Larsen-Freeman Locke Loukia

30, 144 9, 37-39, 91, 104, 113, 144 21, 144 140, 144

M Makin Marshall McLachlan Merriam Morris

32, 144 52, 144 32, 144 47-48, 52, 54-58, 60-61, 144 21, 145

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N Norton Nunan

138, 145 36-37, 48, 145

O Ordoñez

86, 144

P Peirce Pennycook Porras Prabhu Punch

22-25, 67, 145 20, 145 44-45, 104, 145 44, 145 52, 145

R Richard Richards Rodgers Rodriguez Roskos Rossman

145 20, 26, 35-37, 39, 87, 91, 117, 145 36-37, 117, 145 13, 16, 32-33, 146 29, 142 52, 144

S Sagor Sarmiento Schmidt Scott Selinger Shohamy Strauss

53, 146 26-27, 146 20, 145, 42, 104, 146 53, 146 53, 146 60-61, 142

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T Truscott de Mejía

45-46, 137, 144

U Ukrainetz

28, 146

V Varela Vitta

13, 16, 146 24, 146

W Wakefield Wallace Wileman Williams

96, 141 54-55, 57, 146 30, 146 20, 146

Z Zamora Zender

24-25, 146 24, 146

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Subject index A affective factor applied linguistics approach

42, 93 20 13-14, 20, 35-39, 43-44, 50-51, 55, 57, 85-86, 92-93, 96, 135, 138, 150, 155 arbitrary 23-25, 68-71, 134 artifact (see data collection instruments) aspects in EFL teaching 37, 39, 43, 45, 61, 88, 102, 111, 131, 134 authenticity 42, 58, 86

B background background knowledge bilingual bilingualism Bliss system

24, 56, 83, 86, 90, 77, 131, 135 14, 45-46, 52, 83 45 25-26

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C case study class activity class observation class session classroom context classroom practice challenges children

code-switching command communicative approach communicative performance communicative process communicative situations communicative skills communicative system consent conventional English literacy conventional literacy conventional written system critical thinking cross-linguistic influence curriculum

12, 33, 47-49, 134 78, 98, 113, 124 12, 44, 58-59, 96 50, 53 29, 35, 140 138-139 8, 45, 63-64, 123, 127, 131, 133, 136, 11, 13, 16, 28-30, 33-35, 41-45, 51, 56-57, 92, 96, 104, 109, 126130, 137 140 75, 79, 87 13, 50, 85-86 86 26 86, 102 26, 28, 115, 7, 25, 62-63, 66, 70-71, 73-75, 78-79, 134 8, 50-52, 57, 147-152 11, 83, 89, 125-126 14, 34, 78-79, 83, 89, 105, 107, 126, 139 73 26-27, 31 140 37, 57, 82, 137

D data analysis

7, 11, 17, 60, 81, 104, 123, 127, 133

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grounded approach microanalysis data coding data collection instruments artifact(s) documents (official, public, institutional) field notes

interview (semi-structured interview)

questionnaire decode degrees of iconicity drawings

60 60 9, 32, 47, 61-62 56 57-62, 65, 100 12-13, 22, 43, 46, 53, 57-60, 89, 138 8, 33, 54-55, 59-60, 74, 76, 78, 80, 94, 96-99, 101-103, 106, 109-110, 112-114, 118-122, 153 8, 11-12, 44, 51, 53, 55-56, 5960, 78-79, 82-83, 85-86, 88-90, 92, 95, 97, 99-100, 105, 107-113, 116-117, 119, 125-126, 131, 150, 154-155, 163 9, 12, 33, 53, 56-57, 59-60, 94, 124-130, 159 23, 29, 31-32, 79 9, 68-69 13, 19, 26, 30, 34, 58, 67-68, 72, 97, 121

E early childhood early literacy early literacy as a social situated practice early literacy process early Spanish literacy emotions 34, 93-94, English as a Foreign Language

79, 143-144 7, 19, 29-31, 33-34, 46, 134, 140 31 33-34, 140 14 114 10-11, 13, 16, 26, 70, 133-134, 150

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English class EFL classroom EFL literacy practice EFL pre-school classroom EFL teacher EFL teaching practice

English Language Teaching English literacy ethical evaluation experience

27, 49-50, 93, 97, 119, 129 8, 11, 26-27, 41, 44, 46, 65-66, 78-79, 86, 134-135, 137 27 7, 16, 23, 83-84, 134, 153 11, 13, 51, 56, 59, 84, 137, 150 8, 12, 15-17, 33, 44, 46, 52-53, 56, 63-64, 84, 90-91, 117, 123, 133-136, 153 7, 10, 13, 34, 38, 40 11, 13, 83, 89, 105, 125-126 19, 52, 145 39, 105, 114, 116, 135 8, 12, 22-23, 30, 34, 40, 42, 47, 54, 56-57, 63-64, 81-83, 87-90, 135-137, 139

F field notes (see data collection instruments) figures 10, 67, 69, 97 geometrical figures 67, 69 figures made of paper 97 flashcards 43, 92

G game

41, 43, 45, 86, 92, 94-95, 102104, 112, 114, 118, 121, 124, 134-135 20, 55 43, 49 42

gestures grammar rules grammatical explanations greeting song (see song) grounded approach (see data analysis)

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H handicraft (s)

10, 58, 87, 92, 97-101, 104, 106, 118, 121, 134-135

I icon

icons and symbols iconography

iconography is a literacy practice iconography in pre-school iconography in the EFL classroom iconography in the EFL teaching practice 52, iconography as a socially situated semiotic practice image

images in the EFL classroom the use of images interaction

7, 9, 12-14, 20-28, 30-32, 51, 62-63, 65-81, 101, 107, 110, 114-115, 129-131, 133-134, 160, 162 7, 26, 30, 32, 62, 65-67, 70-71, 80, 133-134 7-8, 12-17, 19-21, 25-31, 34-35, 46-59, 61-70, 72-86, 89-92, 99, 104-105, 107, 109-110, 116-117, 122-131, 133-140, 150, 153, 155 134 8, 64, 123, 138-139 8, 66, 78 123, 133 8, 75 7, 9, 14, 19-27, 29-31, 62-63, 6568, 70-73, 75-77, 85, 127-128, 130, 146 19, 26-27, 85, 128 27, 85, 127-128 24, 32, 39, 49, 54-55, 77, 109111, 130, 135

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K kinder kindergarten students

51, 59-60, 62, 86-87, 92, 94, 96, 103, 110, 113, 118-120, 154 33

L language learning

29, 36, 38, 43, 83-84, 90, 92, 102, 105, 108, 125-127, 130, 135, 139 language literacy 13 language skills 39, 42, 74 language teaching concepts 35 learning environment 86-87 literacy 7, 11, 13-14, 19-20, 26-27, 2934, 42, 62-63, 65, 77-80, 83, 89, 92, 104-105, 107, 116, 125-126, 133-134, 136-140 literacy practice 7, 20, 27, 32, 62-63, 65, 79-80, 92, 104, 133-134, 136-137 literacy as a social situated practice 31 literacy process 13, 26, 29, 31-34, 77, 79, 140 listening 31, 42-43, 73-75, 87, 102, 124125, 140 listening skills 102, 125, 140

M materials teaching materials meaning making convey meaning

36-37, 44, 57-58, 71, 83, 117118, 120, 134 83, 134 21, 26, 29, 65 7, 26, 30, 62-63, 65, 68, 70-71, 73, 79

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meaningful images memory method methodology microanalysis (see data analysis) moment-to-moment motivation motivational factor

7, 62-63, 66-67 27, 105, 108-110, 114-115 13, 26, 35-40, 44, 57, 81, 86-87, 92, 127, 135-136, 138 17, 35, 37, 39, 43 37, 91 27, 94, 103, 105, 113, 121, 127128, 136, 140 94, 127

N numbers

23, 27, 40, 51, 54, 96, 102-103, 120, 124

O object representation observation

19, 22-25, 67-68, 71, 98, 134 12, 44, 53-55, 57-60, 96, 117, 139, 153

P painting parents participants particular context pedagogical parameters particularity practicality possibility

124 8, 14, 48, 50-51, 53, 57, 59-60, 88, 90, 124-130, 135, 151 17, 39, 40, 42, 47, 50-52, 137 8, 12, 43, 48, 63-64, 81-82, 134135, 139 50, 81 38, 40, 81-82, 84, 87, 135-136 38, 40, 81-82, 84-85 38, 40, 81-82, 88

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perception (s)

perspective (s)

pet (sammy, a teddy monkey) pictograms picture (s) piloting policies political post-method

pre-kinder pre-school

pre-school as a particular context pre-school classroom pre-school level pre-school teacher (s) preschoolers principles

8, 11, 15-16, 43, 53, 55-57, 6364, 123-124, 127, 130-131, 136, 153 13, 15, 23, 27, 29-31, 35-36, 39, 41, 46, 48, 53, 55, 81, 83-84, 133, 138-139 10, 76, 89, 92-96, 102, 112-114, 118, 120, 134-135 16, 28 16, 19, 25-26, 30, 34, 44, 71, 100, 114-115, 128 54, 56-57 17, 43, 45-46, 76, 110, 137 40, 84 8, 35, 38-40, 44, 63-64, 81-82, 84, 87, 91, 104, 107, 111, 117, 133, 135-136 51, 59-60, 62, 80, 86-88, 92, 9899, 106, 108-109, 111-112, 154 7-9, 11-17, 19, 21, 23, 29-30, 33, 35, 43, 46-48, 50-54, 57-58, 6265, 78, 80-84, 86-88, 90-92, 97, 101-102, 104, 113, 122-124, 131, 133-139, 141, 146, 150, 153 8, 63-64, 81-82 7, 16-17, 23, 35, 43, 64, 83-84, 97, 133-134, 153 14, 52, 137 51, 139 14, 43, 50, 70, 77, 92 8-9, 35-40, 47, 63-64, 81-82, 8485, 88, 91, 104-105, 107-108, 110, 113-114, 116, 135-136

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procedure

pronunciation

7-9, 17, 35-40, 46-47, 52-53, 58, 60-61, 63-64, 91, 117-118, 122, 135-136 27-28, 44, 130

Q qualitative research 47, 48, 52, 54 questionnaires (see data collection instruments)

R reading reality repetition research approach research purpose research questions role of images role of the L1 role of the researcher role of the students role of the teacher role-play

20, 26, 29, 31, 34, 45, 58, 60, 7374, 78-80, 87, 124, 140 11, 23, 31, 44-45, 48, 102 105, 108-110 48 12, 15, 35 15-16, 49, 53-54, 58, 61-64, 134136, 154 27, 65, 80 111-112, 140 52 39, 105, 135 36, 39, 105 43, 86, 92, 98, 101, 104, 106, 121, 134-135

S school

11-17, 19-20, 32-33, 41, 44, 46, 48, 49-54, 57-59, 63, 71, 77, 79, 82-91, 93, 96, 101-102, 104116, 120, 122-127, 130-131, 133-139, 147-148, 150, 153

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Jennifer Alejandra Delgado • Claudia Marcela Chapetón •

school community school context school setting semiotic components semiotic literacy practice

12, 123, 127, 133, 135-136 87, 136 20, 104, 133, 136, 139 28 7, 63, 65, 79-80, 92, 104, 133, 136-137 semi-structured interview (see data collection instruments) sign (s) 9, 21-26, 28-32, 37, 46-47, 52, 56-57, 60-61, 65-67, 69-73, 75, 77-80, 95, 103, 121, 134, 150, 162 linguistic sign 67, 70, 80 sing/singing 43, 95-97, 102-104, 110, 118, 122 socially situated construction 77, 79-80 socially situated semiotic literacy practice 79-80, 104, 137 society 21, 24, 31-32, 49 songs 33, 41, 43, 78, 80, 87-88, 92, 9597, 102, 104, 107, 110-111, 118121, 124, 134-135 greeting song 118 Spanish 13-14, 45, 56, 94, 98, 105, 111112, 114, 119-120, 140 speaking 31, 73, 94, 106, 112, 15 storytelling 41, 45 strategies 38, 40-41, 44-45 symbols 7, 22, 25-26, 30, 32, 62-63, 6567, 69-73, 80, 128, 133-134

T teacher

8, 11-14, 16-17, 19, 21, 23, 33, 36, 38-45, 48-56, 58-60, 62, 67-68, 71, 73-80, 83-90, 92-122,

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• Getting the Picture of Iconography: An innovative way to teach English to young learners

teacher development teaching children teaching English to young learners teaching English to young learners in Colombia teaching practice

teaching technique theories personal professional teaching theoretical background Transition

triangulation

124-126, 131, 135, 137-140, 150, 155, 163 137 41, 43, 92, 142 11, 13 16, 44-46, 137 45 8-9, 12-13, 16-17, 20-21, 39-40, 44-46, 64, 81-82, 84-85, 87-92, 104-105, 107, 116-118, 123-127, 130-131, 134-138, 140 8-9, 45, 63-64, 86, 91-93, 97, 102, 106, 113, 134 35-36, 38, 40-41, 43, 63, 81-82, 84-87, 91, 104, 137 84, 87 8, 40, 63, 81, 84-85 84, 87 19, 21, 44, 46 10, 51, 59-60, 62, 74, 76, 78-79, 92, 94, 96-98, 100-103, 106, 109-110, 112, 114-115, 118, 120-122, 139 53, 61

V validity visual communication visual experience (s) visual literacy visual representation (s) visual understanding vocabulary

53, 61 24, 146 22-23, 30 27, 30-31, 143 44, 100 9, 24-25, 81-82 26, 45, 71, 87, 95-103, 109, 111, 113, 115, 118, 120, 130-131

181

Jennifer Alejandra Delgado • Claudia Marcela Chapetón •

W whiteboard writing activity writing process writing skills

74, 80 28, 124 28, 33, 141 74, 78

Y young learners

7, 11, 13, 15-16, 19, 34-35, 4146, 134, 136-137

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Este libro se terminó de imprimir y encuadernar en los talleres del grupo Dao Digital en marzo de 2015, con un tiraje de 300 ejemplares. Se empleó la tipografía ZapfHumnst