1117542162

IMPROVING THE WRITING SKILL
Improving Writing Skill Using Short Stories at 10th Grade of Juan Bautista Migani High
School in Florencia, Caquetá.
Viviana Castañeda Silva

C.C.1117542162
William Steven Rivera Plazas
C.C. 1117543368
Director:
Mg. Julian David Mejía Vargas
Universidad de la Amazonia
Education Sciences Faculty
English Language Teaching Program
2018
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Improving Writing Skill Using Short Stories at 10th Grade of Juan Bautista Migani High
School in Florencia, Caquetá.
Viviana Castañeda Silva

William Steven Rivera Plazas
Director:
Mg. Julian David Mejía Vargas
Universidad de la Amazonia
Education Sciences Faculty
English Language Teaching Program
2018
2
ACCEPTATION NOTE
The present final document has been

reviewed and scored with the note of
Approved according to Art. 10 paragraph 2
from the agreement 21st of October 6th, 2009,
from the CSU – Universidad de la Amazonia.
____________________________________
Juror 1
____________________________________
Juror 2
“Neither the director nor the jurors of this research project are responsible of the ideas and
conclusions emitted within this document. They are the sole responsibility of its authors”
“El Director y los Jurados del presente Trabajo, no son responsables de las ideas y
conclusions expuestas en esto; ellas son exclusividad de sus autores”
Florencia. Enero, 2018
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Dedicatory
To our parents, director and professors that gave us unconditional love, inspiration, time,
support and guidance in this knowledge and academic path. Thanks for holding our hands in every
step we did, in every mistake we learnt.
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Acknowledgement
Our gratitude is, first, to our parents that were a lovely lighthouse in this deep knowledge
ocean, to the Magister Julián David Mejía Vargas for the time, guide, support and affection that
helped us in this research project.
To our academic advisors for their feedback and their advices in the creation of this project.
To all the professors and classmates that had a big impact and influence in our degree.
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Abstract
This research project emerged with the intentions of improving the writing skill by using
short tales in Juan Bautista Migani High School 10th grade´s students, building the writing and
reading culture, as an autonomous expression, and encouraging students in a context where people
can find a lack in it, improving and increasing the English level in students, and implementing a
new and different strategy in teaching/learning English. In order to carry out the research project,
the authors used short and entertaining stories, and the creation of them, for catching students´
attention and guiding them through the learning process, improving students´ English skills,
especially the Writing Skill and promoting the writing habit in a region where the lack of writing
culture is notorious.
KEYWORDS: Writing Skill, Bilingual Education, Teaching, Learning, Writing Culture
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Content
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 9
2. Problem Statement ................................................................................................................ 12
2.1. Description of the Problem ............................................................................................ 12
2.2. Research Question (s)..................................................................................................... 14
3. Justification ........................................................................................................................... 15
4. Objectives ............................................................................................................................. 19
4.3. General Objective ........................................................................................................... 19
4.4. Specific Objectives ......................................................................................................... 19
5. Literature Review.................................................................................................................. 20
5.1. State of the Arte.............................................................................................................. 20
5.1.1. International ............................................................................................................ 20
5.1.2. National ................................................................................................................... 25
5.1.3. Regional .................................................................................................................. 26
5.2. Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................. 27
Bilingual Education: ............................................................................................................. 28
Writing-for-Learning. ........................................................................................................... 28
Writing-for-Writing. ............................................................................................................. 29
Tales/Short Stories: ............................................................................................................... 29
5.3. Normativity .................................................................................................................... 29
6. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 32
6.1. Type of Research ............................................................................................................ 32
6.2. Phases, Activities ........................................................................................................... 33
6.2.1. Phase 1. Diagnostic and Description. ..................................................................... 33
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6.2.2. Phase 2. Development and Production. .................................................................. 33
6.2.3. Phase 3. Analysis. ................................................................................................... 35
6.2.4. Phase 4. Report. ...................................................................................................... 35
7. Time Table ............................................................................................................................ 36
8. Budget ................................................................................................................................... 38
9. Results ................................................................................................................................... 39
9.1. Phases ............................................................................................................................. 39
9.1.1. Phase 1. Diagnostic and Description: ..................................................................... 39
9.1.2. Phase 2. Development and Production. .................................................................. 41
9.1.3. Phase 3. Analysis. ................................................................................................... 44
9.1.4. Phase 4. Report. ...................................................................................................... 49
10. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 50
11. Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 52
12. References .......................................................................................................................... 53
13. Annex ................................................................................................................................. 56
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1. Introduction
The Colombian Political Constitution recognizes, in the tenth article, the Spanish and the
native or indigenous languages as official ones (Constitución Politica de la República de
Colombia, 1992). There is no mention about English as a Second language. On that way, it can be
understood as a foreign language.
In addition, Colombian government and Ministry of Education have applied some policies
such as National Bilingual Program (2004-2019), Basic Standards of Competences in Foreign
Languages: English, and Curriculum Guidelines in Foreign Languages, which go together
attending to the necessities and requirements of the Globalization phenomenon, international
standards and requirements for economic openness and competitiveness, and also, marginalizing
and not recognizing the reality and needs of the education in each “culturally diverse communities,
urban and rural areas” (Bolivar, 2016, p.14), the lack of economical investment and support of the
Educational Community, suggesting and following some blind goals to reach.
Nevertheless, as the whole Educational Community’s wishes and needs seem to be neglected,
they should follow an Educational System implemented and designed by the Government and the
Ministry of Education that every day increases the gap between high and low social levels in the
path of blind goals or high standards with “an increasing debt of 13 billion of pesos, deep view of
the education as a business and not as a fundamental right, and corruption in education.” (Mesa
Amplia Nacional Estudiantil, 2015, translated from its original language by William Steven Rivera
Plazas). As a sample, “a Central Bank investigation from September 2013 found that 90 percent
of secondary school students reach a maximum level of A1 (…) and that that only 6.5 percent of
secondary education students finish with a B level, the minimum level that could be considered
bi-lingual” (Corbett, 2014). This underlines some problems and factors to be considered and
improved, in the development of the bilingual program around the country, being this a slow
motion to the aims.
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Additionally, the Colombian Ministry of Education carried out a study in 2012 which results
have shown and demonstrated that the 60% percent of the Colombian students have a text
production loosely organized, with an undeveloped central idea, incomprehensible and without
information (MinEducacion, 2012). This highlights a strong necessity for improving the
production of texts, whether academic or literary, and for supporting the whole educational system,
starting with economical help to teacher’s preparation, schools’ infrastructure and teaching and
learning tools and artifacts too.
Another important factor to consider is that just as there is no culture of reading books for
autonomy, there is no culture of writing, and that is why the lack in text production occurs in
education. For that fact, The Ministry of Education and Culture designed the “Reading and Writing
National Plan” with the main aim of “ensuring that Colombians incorporate reading and writing
to their daily lives, and that our children and young people, read and write more and better and
enjoy it” (Colombia Aprende, n.D. translated from its original language by Viviana Castañeda).
Besides, Caquetá´s high schools´ performance in English is the 4th lowest area with 45.27 in
the average score (Boletín Estadístico, 2014, p.37). In 2015, most of Juan Bautista Migani high
school´s 11th grade students reached an A1 level in English (Archivo Colegio Migani, 2015).
Florencia’s Mayor, the Municipal Education Secretary and some Specialized English teachers
from several public schools created a “Municipal Bilingualism Program” as a meaningful tool for
teachers and students in order to promote the bilingualism joined to the tourism of the Amazon
region and focused on the majority of Public schools in the city.
Also, although in Juan Bautista Migani High School a journalism meeting takes place every
year with “the participation of educators, students, indigenous communities and journalist of the
department as a strategy that promotes the development of Communicative competences and the
training of core values” (Ortiz, 2016), there is a poor culture of reading books autonomously and
writing. The researchers had a big challenge applying short tales and writing activities in the
classroom for improving writing skill due to very few teachers do so. Furthermore, “Short stories,
for example, help students to improve the four skills—listening, speaking, reading and writing--
more effectively because of the motivational benefit embedded in the stories. In addition, with
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short stories, instructors can teach literary, cultural, and higher-order thinking benefits” (Erkaya,
2005). This is in order to build the writing culture, to encourage writing in teaching English, to
increase the level of writing skill, to improve and to promote it through the use of short tales, so
that, the deficit in text production could start to decrease.
Finally, this project had the intention of improving the writing skill by using short tales in
Juan Bautista Migani High School 10th grade´s students, following the phases of diagnostic,
development, analysis of the tales created by the students and the presentation of the final report
(books), implementing the Action Research as method. The Ethnographic Approach and
Interpretative Hermeneutics for seeking data, describing the events and answering the problems
too. The researchers applied this project during 16 weeks. Besides, the data collection tools used
were Field dairy, Reflections and Photographs. Didactically, students were exposed to a
continuous assessment and feedback as well.
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2. Problem Statement
2.1. Description of the Problem

The use of Literature to teach ESL/EFL started in the nineteenth century in Grammar
Translation Method, but later, when the method was replaced by new methods, literature was no
longer used. “In fact with the advent of structuralism and audiolingual method, literature was
downplayed and ergo discarded to the periphery” (Collie & Slater, 1987, p.2, quoted by Khatib,
Rezaei & Derakhshan, 2011). Maley (2001, quoted by Khatib, Rezaei & Derakhshan, 2011) argues
that this attitude toward literature is due to a paucity of empirical research confirming the
significance of literary input for language classes. Some practitioners and scholars resurrected
literature in teaching EFL/ESL in the middle of the 1980s (Duff & Maley, 1991), and nowadays,
the academic community can find very few instructors and teachers who carry out literature
activities in EFL/ESL classes.
Colombia, since its independence in 1819, has tried to establish an educational system that
fits the people’s needs, prepared to face modern challenges (Bolivar, 2016, p.9). Thus, the
necessity of the encouragement of globalization and the adaptation of it in our country comes with
developed countries’ policies; the Common European Framework refers to the fact of being at the
vanguard of economic openness and competitiveness joining languages and cultures. Besides, the
programs and policies applied by the Colombian Government and the Ministry of Education such
as Bilingual Program and the Basic Standards of Competences in Foreign Languages: English,
seek to improve the quality of education in a general way, but the reality is that Colombia and each
region of it are facing standards miscontextualized, they have several characteristics and other
factors that do not allow the good progress of the policies and increase a gap in education.
Some Colombian students from different levels of education present difficulties in the
moment of writing texts or expressing their point of view. As a sample of the situation lived with
the writing production, in 2012, the Colombian Ministry of Education conducted a study in which
students of the country demonstrated some weaknesses. One of them is that 60% of Colombian
students have a lack on texts production and organization, with an undeveloped central idea,
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incomprehensible and without clear information. Considering that based on Tench, (2003, cited
by Wise, 2005), “writing is one of the foundations of a successful public relations practitioner and
the ability to communicate messages clearly and concisely is one of their differentiating skills”,
students´ writing weakness represents a huge problem for the students of English as a Foreign
Language.
Based on professor Jiménez’s (2010) statement, reading and writing skills are not being well
worked in the department of Caquetá or in any peripheral region of the Colombian territory
because the strategies for promoting those skills are poor and are attached to scholar institutions.
“Las prácticas de lectura y escritura de textos literarios que se ejercen en el ámbito público
en el Departamento de Caquetá son incipientes, precarias y, en gran parte, permanecen ligadas a
las instituciones escolares. Esta afirmación también podría aplicarse a cualquiera de las regiones
periféricas del territorio de nuestro país” (Jiménez, 2010).
In general, Caquetá´s high schools´ performance in English is the 4th lowest area with 45.27
in the average score (Boletín Estadístico, 2014, p.37). Also, we can assume that there is not a
specific way to measure the writing skills in students. On the other hand, at Juan Bautista Migani,
the English level reached by 11th grade students was A1 (Archivo Colegio Migani, 2015). To
conclude, after analyzing the difficulties presented with the weakness of the writing skill in this
problem statement, researchers proposed to implement or to use short stories at 10th Grade of Juan
Bautista Migani High School in Florencia, Caquetá for improving the Writing Skill.
In this way, the researchers suggested implementing this strategy during 16 weeks at school
for promoting meaningful learning, improving and promoting the writing skill (those last one items
as objects of study), because this could be an engine for building a writing habit at Juan Bautista
Migani High School 10th grade´s students (starting just in one group) and as a guide for them, and
the whole high school to progress or advance on their abilities. Likewise, the findings of this
problems may contribute to future scholar generations at Juan Bautista Migani high school and
others in their capabilities, the writing skill and composition.
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2.2. Research Question (s)

What is the effectiveness of improving writing skill using short stories at 10th grade of Juan
Bautista Migani High School in Florencia, Caquetá?
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3. Justification
This project emerged from the necessity of implementing a strategy for improving the writing
skill after living the academic experience as students and as Colombian’s future teachers of English
in a country in which the first language is Spanish. For that reason, some important factors must
be considered in order to talk about teaching English in Colombia and are going to be explained
in the following lines, starting with the article 10 of Colombia´s Political Constitution.
“Artículo 10. El castellano es el idioma oficial de Colombia. Las lenguas y dialectos de los
grupos étnicos son también oficiales en sus territorios. La enseñanza que se imparta en las
comunidades con tradiciones lingüísticas propias será bilingüe.” (Colombian´s Political
Constitution, 1992)
Based on the article 10 of Colombian´s Political Constitution, Spanish is considered as the

official language considering that the ethnic languages are official in their territories. Also, it says
that the bilingual education is the one given in the communities with linguistic tradition. From this
article, it can be inferred that English cannot be considered as a second language in Colombia
because of two reasons. Firstly, English is not a dialect of any ethnic community of the country.
Secondly, bilingual education with English is not possible because it is not part of any linguistic
tradition by the communities of the nation.
“El Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo es una estrategia del Ministerio de Educación, en

el marco de la pertinencia educativa y la competitividad, para la formación de ciudadanos más
competitivos que estén en capacidad de interactuar en la sociedad a nivel global.” (Colombia
aprende, n.d)
Colombia´s government applies a bilingual policy called “Programa Nacional de

Bilingüismo” (2004-2019), as a necessity and response of the Globalization phenomenon and the
global standards raised for international requirements, economic openness and competitiveness.
This program is joined to new policies and papers such as Basic Standards of Competences in
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Foreign Languages like English and Curriculum Guidelines in Foreign Languages. All of them
share some characteristics: they are not contextualized to each region of the country,
misrecognizing the reality and needs of the education in the “culturally diverse communities, urban
and rural areas” (Bolivar, 2016, p.14). Suggesting some blind goals to be reached at the moment
of teaching English as a Foreign Language in Colombia.
According to the results obtained in a study carried out in 2012 by the Colombian Ministry
Education, Colombian students are weak in the production of texts or in writing activities.
Considering that “writing is one of the foundations of a successful public relations practitioner and
the ability to communicate messages clearly and concisely is one of their differentiating skills”
(Tench, 2003, cited by Wise, 2005), strategies for improving Colombian students´ writing
weaknesses should be implemented in classrooms.
Even though, Caquetá´s high schools´ performance in English is the 4th lowest area with
45.27 in the average score (Boletin Estadistico, 2014, p.37). In 2015, most of students at Juan
Bautista Migani got an A1 Level in English, and a very few got a B1 level; within 72 students who
presented ICFES test at 11th grade (Archivo Colegio Migani, 2015).
Florencia and Juan Bautista Migani High School 10th grade´s students (just in one group),
were the city and school-group, respectively, where the project took place trying to be an engine
for building a writing habit, promoting the writing skill, improve and contribute to some teaching
strategies and as a guide for the students, the whole high school and city to progress or advance on
their capabilities. Besides, English teachers can find a “Municipal Bilingualism Program”, a guide
created by some Specialized English teachers from several public schools and the Secretary of
Education. One of the objectives of the program is “to achieve an improvement in the Level of
English Proficiency of Children and Youth from Florencia” (Secretaría Municipal de Educación,
2010).
Harmer (2010) states that “writing gives them more ‘thinking time’ than they get when they
attempt spontaneous conversation. This allows them more opportunity for language processing -
that is thinking about the language - whether they are involved in study or activation.” Due to the
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fact that writing involves thinking about the language according to Harmer (2010), it demonstrates
the importance of developing the writing skill during the process of learning a foreign language.
Besides, Divecha and Stern (2015) argue, “emotions drive attention, learning, memory, and
decision-making”, that means that if students feel interested in something, it is easier for them to
learn it. Taking into account the previous statement, teachers have the duty of attracting learners´
attention for facilitating them the learning process. If students are guided for analyzing, changing
or adapting what they read or what they are given, their emotions can get involved and their
attention can be caught. Hence, learners have the possibility of having a meaningful learning
process in which they can express their points of view or feelings promoting and improving the
writing skill.
To conclude, the researchers wanted to improve and to promote the writing culture and the
development of it in the grade in which the research was applied. For this, a different strategy was
used (short tales) and not only the traditional ones (copies, grammatical books, etc.). That made
comfortable and interesting the pupils’ learning process taking into account the advantages of
implementing short stories for learning: “First, short stories are practical as their length is long
enough to cover entirely in one or two class sessions. Second, short stories are not complicated for
students to work with on their own. Third, short stories have a variety of choice for different
interests and tastes. Finally, short stories can be used with all levels (beginner to advance), all ages
(young learners to adults) and all classes” (Collie and Slater (1991: 196, cited by Pardede).
In this way, the researchers wanted to innovate the learning-teaching English process in Juan
Bautista Migani High School with that literary expression, guiding students in the improvement
of their writing skill giving them the possibility of expressing their feelings, ideas, thoughts and
customs among others. This proposal is considered of importance because taking into account the
results previously mentioned, students had the possibility of overcoming some of their weaknesses,
and at the end, the final product would be a published book with some tales written by the students.
The book would be a memory for the high school.
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Thus, the intention of “Improving Writing Skill Using Short Stories at 10th Grade of Juan
Bautista Migani High School in Florencia, Caquetá” as a research proposal, was to encourage
writing in teaching English and to increase the level of writing skill in the learning English process
guiding students through the project´s development.
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4. Objectives
4.3. General Objective
• To improve the writing skill at 10th grade of Juan Bautista Migani High School in Florencia,
Caquetá.
4.4. Specific Objectives

• To diagnose the English, the Writing Skill Level and needs of the students from the 10 th
grade.
• To analyze the process of improvement in writing skill by using short tales in students at
10th grade.
• To organize and share the results in a final report.
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5. Literature Review
5.1. State of the Arte

The following lines show some research studies and researchers that were analyzed and are
related to this research’s variables such as bilingual education, the production and analysis of tales,
improvement of writing skills and promotion of critical thinking. For doing so, in this section of
the project, those studies and researchers are presented in the following order: International,
National and Regional Researches.
5.1.1. International
5.1.1.1. “How to Teach English”
The book published by Jeremy Harmer consists in guides, suggestions, activities and tools
for having a better idea of how to teach English to learners through the different English
communicative skills. It contains different chapters that are helpful for teachers and for training
teachers who may need an extra help because it offers explanations on what to do in the classroom
and why to do it. In addition, it explains the importance of working on the communicative skills.
That is why the book gives strategies that can be used for developing the abilities for reaching the
objectives planned for students´ learning process by teachers.
This book was considered by the researchers, specially the chapter about teaching writing,
in the development of the project and methodologies, planning contextualized, useful and
meaningful activities for the students at Juan Bautista Migani high school. The writing chapter
gives an idea of promoting collaborative writing. Some activities´ samples shown by the author
are explained according to and focus on students´ English level, skills, interest and likes (genre),
and focused in teaching composition and grammar. Thus, the teachers can use teaching strategies
such as post cards, music lyrics, pictures, newspapers, magazines and many more.
Correcting written work is highlighted, mentioning to avoid over-correction because this may
have a bad influence in students´ writing learning and process. It has a demotivating effect in
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scholars. “Rather than this, the teacher has to achieve a balance between being accurate and
truthful, on the one hand, and treating students sensitively and sympathetically, on the other”
(Harmer, 2010, p.120). Moreover, another important fact to be consider is handwriting because
“teachers cannot ask students to change their handwriting style, but they can encourage neatness
and legibility” (Harmer, 2010, p.121).
5.1.1.2. “The Importance of Writing Skills”
Wise, as an educator, mentioned that he has been stressing the importance of quality writing
skills. Also, he highlighted that the writing skills have a relevant axis in public and professional’s
relations and in young people seeking their first job. The author expressed “that kid´s writing skills
are outstanding”. Especially, Wise’s study is focused in investigating “the opinions of public
relations agency personnel concerning the writing skills of entry-level practitioners”. Besides, the
educator quoted an assessment offered by Tench (2003 a) in which “writing is one of the
foundations of a successful public relations practitioners and the ability to communicate messages
clearly and concisely in one of their differentiating skills” (p. 139). Some Writing-related issues
investigated by other researchers are mentioned in this paper, such us writing courses, use of
technology, students’ perceptions of their own writing skills and courses, and the influence of
ideological and political issues.
5.1.1.3. “Improving the Writing Skills Of College Students”
This article’s authors are Ronald T. Kellogg and Bascom A. Raulerson III from Saint Louis
University, St. Louis, Missouri. The researchers started mentioning that “Advanced writing skills
are an important aspect of academic performance as well as of subsequent work related
performance. However, American students rarely attain advanced scores on assessments of writing
skills (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2002 cited by Kellogg and Raulerson,
2007)”. Less than a third of students in 4th grade (28%), 8th grade (31%), and 12th grade (21%)
scored at or above proficient levels, and only 2% wrote at an advanced level for all three samples.
This academic panorama is not alien to the Colombian situation. The author established a writing
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process in order to write well composed by the interaction of the whole stages: planning, generation
and reviewing.
Also, they suggested to reduce the working memory demands of writing processes in order
to achieve higher levels of writing performance, so that executive attention is free to coordinate
interactions among them. Besides, the authors recognized that “Writing well is a major cognitive
challenge, because it is at once a test of memory, language, and thinking ability”, the part of
cognitive control in writing having a relevant, and mentioned some problems in writing practice
such us space to practice, timely and useful feedback. Representations of the author’s intended
ideas, the meaning of the text as it is written, and even the possible meanings of the text as
construed by the imagined readers need to be transiently maintained during text production
(Traxler & Gernsbacher, 1992 cited by Kellogg and Raulerson, p.237). To conclude, they
suggested “deliberate practice” as a fundamental principle that guides the instruction and training
of student writers.
5.1.1.4. “Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context”
The purpose of this article is to familiarize EFL instructors with the effectiveness of using
literature in language instruction. The use of Literature to teach Second/Foreign language started
in the nineteenth century in Grammar Translation Method, but later, when the method was replaced
by new methods, literature was no longer used. This continued happened in the following years.
In the two final decades, instructors realized that literature could be useful for reinforce and
complement language skills. Some of the benefits of using short stories to teach ESL/EFL,
advocated by researchers, include motivational, literary, cultural and higher-order thinking.
Short stories allow instructors to teach the four skills to all levels of language proficiency.
Murdoch (2002) indicates that “short stories can, if selected and exploited appropriately, provide
quality text content which will greatly enhance ELT courses for learners at intermediate levels of
proficiency” (p. 9). He explains why stories should be used to reinforce ELT by discussing
activities instructors can create such as writing and acting out dialogues. All this can be reached if
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teachers choose and carry out a variety of writing activities and tasks for improving their skills
such as write dialogues, short stories, re write creating new versions, among others.
Besides, developing reading comprehension, teaching vocabulary can be benefited of using

literature. Another important factor is motivating students, to encourage students from the
beginning of the writing process to the end is an engine for language proficiency. Elliott (1990),
for example, affirms that literature motivates advanced students and is “motivationally effective if
students can genuinely engage with its thoughts and emotions and appreciate its aesthetic qualities”
(p. 197). The author stressed that “short stories are effective when teaching culture to EFL
students. Short stories transmit the culture of the people about whom the stories were written. By
learning about the culture, students learn about the past and present, and about people’s customs
and traditions. Culture teaches students to understand and respect people’s differences”. In this
way, we can assume that teachers should focus not only on linguistic benefits, but also on other
benefits.
5.1.1.5. “Literature in EFL/ESL Classroom”
This paper is a review of literature on how literature can be integrated as a language teaching
material in EFL/ESL classes. First, it tracks down the place of literature in language classes from
the early Grammar Translation Method (GTM) to Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) era.
Maley (2001) argues that this attitude toward literature, when it was neglected, is due to a paucity
of empirical research confirming the significance of literary input for language classes. Some
practitioners and scholars resurrected literature in teaching EFL/ESL in the middle of the 1980s.
The authors expressed a list of researchers and professor who confirmed this.
Besides, scholars in the field have proposed various advantages for the use of literature in
EFL/ESL classes. Those advantages involve Authenticity in input for the language, Motivation
due to literature authenticity and the meaningful context it provides (Ghosn, 2002, Van, 2009),
Cultural/Intercultural Awareness and Globalization promoted by Literature, Intensive/Extensive
Reading Practice because practice will double up their reading speed and also encourage meaning
guessing in reading, Sociolinguistic/Pragmatic Knowledge manifested in communicative
23
competence models (McKay, 2001), Grammar and Vocabulary Knowledge (Improvement),

Language Skills involved and promoted in teaching, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) dealing with
affection, feeling and emotion, and Critical Thinking enhancement among language learners
(Gajdusek & van Dommelen, 1993, Ghosn, 2002, Van, 2009).
On the other hand, some of the ideas against the use of literature are related in Syntactic
difficulty inherent in literary texts makes reading a cumbersome task, Lexis, Phonetics and
Phonology, Semantics, Selection of Materials, Literary Conceptions and Notions, Literature and
Academic Language, Cultural Barriers. Thus, some recommended methodological approaches to
teach literature are 1. The Critical Literary Approach, that according to Maley (1989) in this
approach we focus on the literariness of the texts including such features as the plot,
characterization, motivation, value, psychology, background, etc.; 2. The stylistic approach that is
closely in tandem with what EFL/ESL teachers need for their language classes (interpretation); 3.
Language-based Model, in this model the aesthetic aspect of literature is achieved only through
the linguistic and discoursal quality of literature (Lazar, 1993); 4. Literature as Content or Culture
Model, in this model, literature is an ideal vehicle for presenting the cultural notions of the
language such as the history, literary theories, theory of genres, biography of the authors (Carter
& Long, 1991; Lazar, 1993), geography, custom, politics, art, etc; 5. Literature as Personal Growth
or Enrichment, in this approach personal experience is capitalized upon as a way to engage the
students in literary works (Carter & Long, 1991; Lazar, 1993), among many more.
5.1.1.6. “Using Short Stories to Teach Language Skills”
Parlin Pardede highlights the importance of integrating literature in teaching English to

foreign learners. The article states that short stories generate a positive impact in EFL learners
because it is easier for them to understand the story than if they were learning with a long story
because of different reason. Pardede cites “Collie and Slater (1991: 196) when they list four
advantages of using short stories for language teachers. First, short stories are practical as their
length is long enough to cover entirely in one or two class sessions. Second, short stories are not
complicated for students to work with on their own. Third, short stories have a variety of choice
24
for different interests and tastes. Finally, short stories can be used with all levels (beginner to
advance), all ages (young learners to adults) and all classes.”
The article mentions that short stories encourage students to have a successful learning
process because “short story can be a powerful and motivating source for writing in ESL/EFL”
due to the fact that it involves students’ creativity and can be used for planning different and
entertaining activities that students may enjoy. Besides, it highlights the importance of this strategy
saying that “short story creates a meaningful context to teach different language focuses and to
improve the students’ interpretative strategies.” According to the previous statement and taking
into account the importance of the context for learning, the use of short tales for teaching English
to no native learners is an excellent strategy.
5.1.2. National
5.1.2.1. “Some Issues for the Teaching of Writing”
Professor Claudia Helena Lombada is the creator of this article published in the magazine
PROFILE of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, university in which is professor of the
Foreign Languages Department in Universidad Nacional de Colombia. The article´s intention is to
make teachers aware of the moment of selecting written tasks for teaching writing taking into
account that according to the author “Writing, on one side, is a means of instruction and can help
the students to learn the other skills” (Lombada, 2002).
Besides, the author states, “Writing is the most difficult language skill to master in both, the
native language (L1) and the second/foreign language (L2). This is so because real effective
writing requires to be aware of a series of aspects essential to convey meaning: a high degree of
accuracy to avoid ambiguity of meaning, the use of complex grammatical devices for focus and
emphasis; a careful choice of vocabulary, grammatical patterns, and sentence structures to create
a style which is appropriate to the eventual readers (Hedge: 1988, cited by Lombada, 2002). On
this way, teachers have to take into account the impact and characteristics of the written tasks
asked to students for doing a good selection and providing students with meaningful learning
experiences.
25
The writing skill is very important because it can help students to learn and improve the other
skills too, requiring a high proficiency and creativity on the part of the teacher in order to get a
successful learning process. Besides, professor Lombada recommends “not to expose students
directly to free writing in L2 at once, but prompt guidance in the stages of writing”, and that
“successful writing also depends on the practice students have had in their native language” (p-
51).
5.1.2.2. “Teaching English Through Stories: A Meaningful and Fun Way for Children to
Learn the Language”
This study took place in a Colombian public elementary school in Bucaramanga, in first,
second and third grade where some students-teachers from Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia
applied a research project based on using stories from teaching in a meaningful and fun way.
Students-teachers found stories as a great tool for teaching English in context and developing
children's cognitive and language skills. Teaching the language through stories allowed them to
use varied strategies from different language methods. This combination had a great impact on
learners because learning became fun, motivating, rememberable and lasting. The main objective
of the project was to use story reading and storytelling for teaching English to young learners in a
fun and meaningful way.
Total Physical Response (TPR) and Natural Approach were the outstanding methods applied
in the project development. Two main sources from which students receive input are listening and
reading. Storytelling and story reading become two powerful strategies in the early stages of
language development because they provide learners with a lot of interesting and enriching input,
this creates a good learning environment and provides meaningful and comprehensible input. What
helped children learn in a fun and meaningful way were stories created based on children's likes
and interests, games and other kinds of motivating activities.
5.1.3. Regional
26
5.1.3.1. “Designing contextualized didactic material for teaching English as a third

language to first grade Huitoto children community from High School Campo
Elias Marulanda (Solano, Caquetá)”
This research project is about the creation of didactic materials for teaching English in an
indigenous community. For this, the author Jhon Fredy Bolívar Cantillo considers the cultural
diversities that exist in Colombia and focuses in the social group known as Huitoto located in the
region of Caquetá. In addition, the author takes into account that for the community, after learning
English it would be considered as their third language. The project is a guide for the researchers
of this proposal because Bolivar contextualized teaching English in a community that belongs to
the same department in which the proposal takes place, overcoming the difficulty of teaching
English out of context. Taking into account that the previous difficulty is present in most of the
cities and towns of Colombia, the researchers have the support of how to adapt the English classes
to the context of the students. That makes it easier for the students to have a meaningful learning
process and easier for the researchers to apply the different strategies proposed for promoting the
critical thinking and improving the writing skill in students.
5.1.3.2. “Maniguaje. CUENTOS DESDE EL CAQUETÁ”
The book called “Maniguaje. CUENTOS DEL CAQUETÁ” was written by Hermínsul
Jiménez Mahecha, as the director, and other authors and published in 2010. The written is a
compilation of stories created by students and teachers from the department of Caquetá, starting
from the fact that Caquetá has a poor development, promotion and production of the reading and
writing culture, and that this needs to be changed. Thus, the authors send a kind of SOS to the local
and national community due to Caquetá has been recognized as a warlike territory, and local people
can change that stereotype through new civic and educative strategies and expressions such as
tales. Those stories are an expression of the cultural identity of the people who live in that region
of Colombia.
5.2. Conceptual Framework
27
This research proposal has some main concepts that are very important to know because with
them, the research proposal’s idea can be understood in a better way. The terms are going to be
explained in the following lines.
Bilingual Education: For explaining the idea of Bilingual Education, some authors have
expressed their beliefs. "Bilingual education is the use of two or more languages as the medium of
instruction in a part of the school curriculum or all" (Cohen, 1975, cited by Bolivar, 2016). Based
on the previous statement, bilingual education is the one given when two or more languages are
implemented as much as possible in the development of the classes. Due to Colombian´s
government has developed and worried about the globalization process and the competition, the
country has been implementing the “Plan Nacional de Bilingüismo” since 2004 using English as
a foreign language for the program´s execution.
On the other hand, Bolivar (2016) states “The concept of bilingual education is about
ambiguity, arising from the very complexity of the situations in which programs that respond to
this designation are developed.” That means that there is not a clear concept of bilingual education
in Colombia using English as a referent language in the “Plan Nacional de Bilingüismo”. For the
reason that according to the article 10 of Colombian´s Political Constitution, bilingual education
is the one taught in societies that have their own linguistic traditions, referring to the ethnic
communities that have their native traditional language and Colombian´s official language that is
Spanish.
Writing-for-Learning. Harmer (2010) says that “writing is used as an aide-mémoire or

practice tool to help students practice and work with language they have been studying.” It is
focused on reinforcing students´ knowledge for them to have a meaningful learning and an accurate
process of education. Writing for learning is a process with the finality of improving any skill,
acquiring knowledge or putting into practice something that has been learned previously, for
example, for learning how to use a new structure or how to write a text with the parts that compose
it in a correct way. It is important to take into account that according to the characteristics of the
learners such as age, level, interests and/or purpose of the learning, the implementation of the
28
activities in which students write for learning must be designed. Because, if the activity success, it
represents an opportunity for strengthening knowledge and creating meaningful learning.
Writing-for-Writing. It focuses on the improvement of the learners´ writing skill. “The

main purpose for activities of this type is that students should become better at writing, whatever
kind of writing that might be.” (Harmer, 2010). According to the same author, writing for writing
is not only about the use of the language, but also is about the esthetic of the text and the intention,
among other characteristics, considering the relevant axis that writing skills have for public and
professional’s relations and in young people seeking their first job (Wise, 2005).
Also, the writing process activates and tests the language, the memory and the thinking
ability following the grammar rules and composition stages. In this way, “writing is the most
difficult language skill to master in both, the native language (L1) and the second/foreign language
(L2) (Lombada,2002). The writing skill is very important because it can help students to learn and
improve the other skills too. The way in which students learn and improve writing highly depends
in the tasks and workshops their teachers applied linking students´ capabilities and experiences.
Tales/Short Stories: The late novelist Walker Percy (…) argued that literature, especially
fictional stories, has portrayed a clearer and far more cohesive picture of the human condition than
any of the social sciences, including history (Sanchez & Randy, 2005). Thus, tales can be a portray
of an individual's (or group's) characteristics; in relation to the feelings, situations, experiences and
factors he/she has lived, due to a story is essentially driven by the author, characters and their
actions. Morson (1986, p.80 cited by Dyson, 1993) explains that each time speakers or writers
compose a fictional story or any kind of text or genre – any patterned way of using language –
they “temporarily crystallize a network of relations between themselves and other people.
5.3. Normativity
The researchers considered the laws of the national system of education in Colombia related
to the teaching of English as a foreign language that were mentioned and used as support for the
construction of this research proposal.
29
República de Colombia (1994). Ley General de Educación 115/95. Ministerio de

Educación Nacional. This national law defines, organizes and establishes a guide for Colombia´s
educative system. In addition, it explains everything about formal and informal education at
different levels, the goals to develop (knowledge, attitudes, abilities, levels, etc.), teachers,
students, high schools, subjects, among others. Also, it stipulates “how public and private
institutions must operate within the Colombian territory in order to ensure equitable education for
all citizens” (Bolivar, 2016, p, 29). This is the principal paper when talking about teaching in
Colombia.
República de Colombia (2004). Lineamientos Curriculares Idiomas Extranjeros.

Ministerio de Educación Nacional. English is being taught as a foreign language in Colombia.
This document is a guide about the things that high schools and teachers have to take into account
for teaching English to Colombian learners. Moreover, it shows some goals and parameters for
preparing Colombian according to the current globalization process. This decontextualized
document is part of the National Bilingualism Program which “is done in order that Colombians
are prepared for globalization and they could have better opportunities of treaties and opportunities
offered by some foreign countries and because English is the universal language, leaving side our
context since it took as a reference to the European framework” (Bolivar, 2016, p.29), but ignoring
the real needs following each different region (decontextualized).
República de Colombia (2006). Estándares Básicos de Competencias en Lenguas

Extranjeras: inglés. Ministerio de Educación Nacional. This document is a specific guide for
teaching English in Colombia as a foreign language. It is divided according to the different English
skills and competences developed by students at schools based on the grades. Furthermore, they
are stated following the European Common Frame. Giroux expresses that “a contextualized
education is that which motivates the relationship of knowledge to the real context of the individual
and that leads to knowledge beyond examining the situations in other contexts, analyzing their
contradictions and encounters"(2004), and this document is decontextualized when trying to attend
each region characteristic and needs, creating a gap between levels in education according to the
regions.
30
República de Colombia (2010). Florencia Ecoturística Hablando Inglés, Programa

Municipal de Bilingüismo. Secretaría de Educación Municipal. This program is designed
according to the requirements for teaching English in the department of Caquetá. In addition, it is
based on the “Estándares Básicos de Competencias en Lenguas Extranjeras: Inglés. On this way,
it is a guide for the teachers of the region that helps to improve the quality of education that is
given to learners.
República de Colombia (2011). Plan Nacional de Lectura y Escritura de Educación

Inicial, Preescolar, Básica y Media. Ministerio de Cultura. The project intends to promote
reading and writing through the program “Leer es mi cuento”. The program is adapted to different
parts of Colombia’s society and is executed using diverse strategies such as libraries, interesting
publications and virtual education.
31
6. Methodology
6.1. Type of Research
The researchers applied Action Research. Action Research was applied due to this project
and method implicate a social and academic practice which are focused on solving particular
problems in the English learning process and its qualities of the population involved. Also, it could
allow to build a new learning process trying to improve and promote the English Writing Skill.
“Action research represents a transformative orientation to knowledge creation in that action

researchers seek to take knowledge production beyond the gate-keeping of professional knowledge
makers” (Bradbury, 2010, p.1). Besides, the application of some interviews and questionnaires
were useful for getting a diagnostic and describing the situation, characteristics and level of the
students, this as a part of the data analysis and following a mixed method. Thus, Zapata and Mejia
(2013, translated from its original language by William Steven Rivera Plazas) established that “the
Grounded Theory and the Interpretative Hermeneutics are intertwined successively, in a cyclical
way, in a process of gathering information and interpretation of itself, that feedbacks and enriches
the research experience”. Interpretative Hermeneutics had a big role in the project development
when collecting, analyzing assessing the short stories written by the students.
Additionally, this research project used an Ethnographic Approach that according to

Charmaz (2006, quoted by Bolivar, 2016) allows to “seek data, describe observed events, answer
fundamental questions about what is happening, then develop theoretical categories to understand
it”. Through the surveys and questionnaires applied in the community, all the information related
to the life styles, characteristics and needs were collected for a diagnose and description of the
students’ English Writing Skill situation.
There are three separate issues to be considered in order to help students to write successfully
and enthusiastically in different styles: a) Which Genres are important and/or engaging for our
students giving them models to follow? b) the writing process in which students plan what to write,
32
draft, review, edit and produce a final version, and finally, c) building the writing habit through
encouraging students in doing so (Harmer, 2010).
The research tools implemented during the development of this proposal were: Field diary,
Interviews, Surveys, Reflections and Photographs.
6.2. Phases, Activities

6.2.1. Phase 1. Diagnostic and Description.
This initial phase was developed through some surveys and questionnaires applied to one
Spanish Teacher, the English teachers and needs analysis to students in 10th grade from Juan
Bautista Migani, in order to get a diagnostic and description of the English level, the Writing skill
and Critical thinking levels of the students, and needs in the academic environment, and also, about
their behaviors, interactions, perspectives and characteristics around them.
For this, it was necessary to adopt an ethnographic approach because it “describes the many
forms of life of the human beings” (Malinowski, 1994: 10) giving the diagnostic, helping to
analyze and find the description, both related to the lifestyles, and features (learning styles, ages,
levels, among others) of a highlighted group of individuals.
6.2.2. Phase 2. Development and Production.
After getting the diagnostic and description taken from the research tools mentioned
previously, the researchers took in mind the strengths and weaknesses of the whole educational
community to start carrying out some contextualized writing (reading too) activities, and the
analysis and reflection of those determining how effective they are and how to improve it, using
strategies such us short stories (principally), English songs, pictures, newspapers and opinions,
brochures, postals and emails, in the writing axis, and also, following some teaching writing tips
written by Jeremy Harmer joined with the assessment and company of the English teachers as a
guidance. The idea was that researchers started the execution of the project contextualizing the
33
contents of the course in short stories meanwhile the styles of tales (Mystery, horror, romance,
action-adventure, science fiction, fantasy) were exposed to students.
Students had to develop activities such as analyzing for writing alternative versions of stories,
creating stories by groups, complementing a classmate´s tale/story, or editing any writing
presented by the researchers during the class. On that way, students had the opportunity of working
on their thinking abilities according to their creativity, thoughts and representing their points of
view meanwhile, they improved their writing skill in the classroom. The guidance provided by
English teachers was so important due to the fact that they have a degree and experience in teaching
at Juan Bautista Migani High School, and also, they already know tips and the needs based on the
context.
However, the development of the writing activities should reach the students’ qualities and
needs related to the language (Writing Skill) and thinking skills, and some basic standards
established by the bilingual programs and policies in Colombia. The interventions of the research
project were settled in several sections during sixteen weeks, beginning from an adaptation of the
activities following students´ characteristics such as age, level, learning styles and interest
(Harmer, 2010). Thus, a meaningful learning could be facilitated to the population involved
recognizing the writing as a “practice tool to help students practice and work with the language
they have been studying” (Harmer, 2010).
Hopefully, the implementation of the writing and strategies tried to build a writing habit, and
a reading too, defeating the spectrum of “the incipient development and the scarcity of the regional
literary scenario that affect, also, the history of the workshops of literary creation in Caquetá’s
department during the last twenty-five years” (Jimenez, 2010 translated from its original language
by William Steven Rivera Plazas) from young people, and it tried to increase the thinking abilities
in the students involved. Some additional writing strategies were that students from 10th grade
started writing free-short stories born of agreed topics based on their characteristics and likes. The
ideas of the free-short tales were planned, drafted, read, re-planned, edited, re-read and re-written
until getting a good product. This happened involving the knowledge acquired in the English
learning and writing teaching, and engaging students in the writing process.
34
6.2.3. Phase 3. Analysis.
During the writing production, the short stories were discussed, analyzed and assessed by the
students, teachers and researchers. In the third phase, the evaluation and feedback of the activities
and writing processes were studied by the researchers. According to that, the researchers analyzed
and verified the effectiveness of the project comparing students´ writings during the process and
checking their improvements in writing and critical thinking. At the end, some tales created by
students would be selected by the researchers and students for publishing them in the general final
product: Book.
In this order of ideas, the researchers working together with English teachers and students,
gathered, corrected and would published the book with the idea of encouraging students to walk
in the Writing path and highlighting the talent of the High school and region, building a solid
identity and culture of writing too. In this way, the English learning and the writing skill could be
promoted involving a better development of their thinking abilities.
6.2.4. Phase 4. Report.
After the previous phase, the researchers organized and shared the findings of the
implementation of the project. For this, the authors would use the published book and the different
activities, evidences such as photographs, questionnaires, rubrics, needs analysis and field diary in
which the effectiveness of the project is presented. The findings will be shared in three manners:
CD/pendrive, in a written report and during an oral presentation. The CD/pendrive and the written
report are going to be given to the judges of the project, the oral presentation is planned to take
place with the judges and other members of the educative community. This will be done with the
purpose of sharing the different findings that may result of the research proposal and demonstrate
its impact in a classroom.
35
7. Time Table
The research proposal was developed in around 16 weeks of the second semester of 2017;
meanwhile the one researcher was at the end of his practices intervention and after them. The
activities applied were joined to the objectives of the research (General and specific objectives).
Time Table
Period 1 2 3 4
Concept May/August September October November
General
Objectives:
Analysis,
To improve Assessment, Feedback, Compilation,
the writing skill at Data Data Analysis, Field Correction
10th grade of Juan Collection, Field Dairy, Dairy, and Publication of
Bautista Migani Field Dairy Reflections, Reflections, Findings and Book
High School in Photographs Photographs
Florencia, Production
Caquetá. of Texts
Specific Weeks 1-2

Objective: Interviews,
To diagnose Questionnaires
the English, the Assessment, Data
Writing Skill Analysis,
Level and needs of and
36
the students from Needs

the 10th grade. Analysis
Specific Weeks 3-4

Objective: Analysis, Analysis,
To analyze Analysis, Feedback, Feedback,
the process of Feedback, Production Production
improvement in Production of Texts and of Texts and
writing skill and of Texts and Reflections Reflections
the production of Reflections
the short stories by
students at 10th
grade.
Specific Compilation,
Objective: Correction
To edit and and Publication of
publish the short Findings, Meeting
stories written by and Book
the students.
Specific
Objective: Compilation,
To organize Correction
and share the and Publication of
results. Findings, Meeting
and Book
37
8. Budget
In the development of this research proposal, the researchers spent and invested some
thousands of Colombian pesos with the intention to finance their research project. This is just an
approximation for the development of this, they know and recognize that in the process some
additional expenses could appear.
En miles de pesos
CONCEPT Total
I. GASTOS DE
FUNCIONAMIENTO
1 Servicios personales
1.1 Nómina
2 Gastos generals
2.1 Materiales y suministros $100
2.2 Servicios públicos
II. GASTOS DE INVERSION
1 Gastos operativos
1.1 Gastos de personal
1.1.1 Equipo ejecutor
1.1.2 Asesorías y consultorías
1.1.3 Mano de obra no calificada
1.2 Viáticos y gastos de viaje
1.2.1 Transporte $100
1.3 Impresos y publicaciones
2. Gastos de inversion
2.1 Maquinaria y equipo
TOTAL $200
38
9. Results
9.1. Phases
9.1.1. Phase 1. Diagnostic and Description:
• To diagnose the English, the Writing Skill Level and needs of the students from the 10 th
grade.
This research project was developed on the 10th grade of Juan Bautista Migani High School,
in Florencia, Caquetá. This high school is one of the oldest school of the city, and in its classrooms,
many personalities from the region had studied. Nowadays, students from 1 to 3 socio-economics
levels go across this institution. Also, the institution counts with 3 English teachers and 3 Spanish
Language teachers.
The data collection tools used in this first phase were several surveys to teachers, three
English teachers and students´ Spanish Language teacher, and students. Students received a needs
analysis, an English proficiency test and a survey about the writing skills too. Following the
ethnographic and action research approach, photographs, a field diary, surveys and reflections
were implemented in this first phase, and the whole development of the project, for getting a better
understanding and analysis of the context and students´ needs and wishes.
According to the English proficiency test applied, the average level of the students was -A,
and most of the students got a grade between 1.1 to 2 (See figure 1). This remarked the needs and
weaknesses in English. Researchers evaluated grammar, vocabulary and reading comprehension
in this test too. Besides, the three English skills got an average score of 1.53, from 0 to 5 (See
figure 2). Also, teachers´ survey showed that they often plan writing activities to strengthen
student´s writing skills, dedicating an average of 1,25 hours per week to the activities, 6 per month
and 30 per year. Thus, taking into account that students have 3 hours of English classes per week
and 4 hours of Spanish language classes, teachers dedicate an appropriate time for the writing skills
(See figure 3 and 4). Students´ aptitude during the activities, according to teachers, is mostly active,
being a very positive work in class. Thus, teachers think that the aspect “Content” has the less
39
difficulty for students´ writing, and “Orthography” and “Coherence” are the most difficult aspects
for students.
STUDENTS
0-1 1.1-2 2.1-3 Above 3
0%
21%
32%
47%
Figure 1, Students´ grades
Language Skills Average

1.8
1.6 Vocabulary, 1.7
Grammar, 1.6
1.4 General Average,
1.2 Reading 1.5
1 Comprehension, 1.3
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Grammar Vocabulary Reading Comprehension General Average
Language Skills Average
Figure 2, Language Skills Average
Moreover, the needs analysis reflected that students recognized their weaknesses and low
English and writing level involving all the language skills. Most of students considered the English
learning and writing important in their lives and were interested in learning, having a habit and
improving their English and writing level in all the language skills and aspects involved.
40
¿Con qué frecuencia plantea actividades

que fortalezcan el nivel de escritura de
los estudiantes?
8% Nunca
17% Algunas Veces
8% Muy Seguido
67%
Siempre
¿Cuánto tiempo de las clases dedica a que los

estudiantes fortalezcan el nivel de escritura?
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Horas semanales Horas mensuales Horas anuales
Figure 3 and 4, Teachers´ survey
Also, the priorities in topics and activities in a) Reading are related to Biology and
Entertainment, b) Speaking are Chat, Videocalls, Conversations with foreigners and presentations,
c) Writing are Vocabulary, Writing Tips, Reports and Postcards/Emails, and d) Listening are
Presentations (as TedTalk) and songs.
9.1.2. Phase 2. Development and Production.
41
For developing the second phase of the research project, it was necessary to take into account
the strengths, weaknesses and results of the data analysis applied to the students of the 10th grade
of the educative institution in order plan contextualized activities. According to the previous
statement, the researchers developed some following activities:
Write one chapter of a story: For this activity, the researchers shared the first chapter of
the book “Robinson Crusoe” with the students. After discussing the facts of the first chapter,
students had to imagine how the story would continue during the second chapter called “The
Storm”. This activity allowed students to write their own versions of the story, giving them the
possibility of analyzing the first chapter for writing an alternative version of it. In spite of the fact
that the first chapter of the story was discussed and analyzed during the class, students could not
finish the second chapter in the stablished time. That is why it was assigned as homework. For the
next class, students were supposed to have their second chapter written, but just 10 students (of a
group of 39 students), did it. The researchers noticed the lack of interest from some students for
developing the activity.
The alternative versions written by students, demonstrated lack of grammar structures and
unknowing of the parts of a paragraph such as topic sentence and supporting ideas. After that, the
researchers had to explain to the students how to write a paragraph correctly.
Organize the sentences of a news: During this activity students worked by groups. Each
group was integrated by four students and was assigned a different news that they had to organize
because its sentences were in disorder. So, students had to identify the tittle, main sentence and
supporting ideas of the news for doing the exercise. In general, students achieved the goal of the
activity demonstrating that they were able to identify how a paragraph is formed.
Am I a morning or a night person?: The researchers showed students how to do a

brainstorming for them to write if they were a morning or a night person. Taking into account the
tips given by the researchers, students had to choose one of the two parts of the day for doing their
own brainstorming and sentences supporting their position. After checking the sentences and ideas,
students had to write a paragraph with the information that they had. Then, students´ writings were
42
exposed like if the classroom were an art exhibition. At the end, students had to say how many
morning and how many night people were in the classroom. This activity helped students for
having a better writing, giving feedback to their classmates when they were checking their texts
and improving their own writings.
Postcard: Students wrote a postcard to a friend. For this, students had to imagine that they
had not seen one of their classmates for a while, that is why they had to write a letter to that person.
This was the last writing activity developed. During its development, some students, not all of
them, demonstrated enthusiasm for doing the exercise, even though, just 19 of 39 students
completed the activity. Due to the lack of participation in the activity, some students did not want
to write the letter to another classmate who was not doing the activity.
My own story: During the implementation of the project, students had to write a story freely,
with a frequent checking, revising and editing. In spite of the fact that the activity was well
understood by the students who started working on it and shown advances every two weeks, no
one delivered the final product, demonstrating lack of commitment and responsibility.
Tongue twisters: Tongue twisters were used in the implementation of the classes with the
finality of improving students´ speaking and listening skills. In spite of the fact that this activity is
not directly connected with writing, it was interesting for the students as warming up because they
made a lot of effort for correcting their pronunciation and learning new words. The only problem
of this activity was that not all the students felt comfortable for saying the tongue twister in front
of the class.
Songs: Some songs were used as stimuli for writing and improving listening. On that way,
after listening a song or piece of music, the researchers could contextualize students to the type of
writing that was required. For example, if the story of the class was about an island, the researchers
played a song with the sounds heard in a beach or in the sea. If the activity was writing a letter, the
researchers played a song related to postcards or letters and gave students the lyrics for them to fill
in the blanks. This kind of activity allowed students to stimulate their imagination, write freely and
catch their attention.
43
Shipwreck Letter: By showing students the trailer of “Cast Away”, students imagined
themselves as shipwrecks in a lost island and wrote their final letter to a special person who they
wanted to know how they survived, what they did in the island and their wishes. This activity was
well developed by the majority of the students because they felt really interested in the peculiar
situation of been alone in an island.
9.1.3. Phase 3. Analysis.

• To analyze the process of improvement in writing skill by using short tales in students at
10th grade.
In order to achieve the third specific objective, it was necessary to analyze, assess, study and
reflect on the activities and writing processes developed during the project. According to the
proficiency test and survey applied to the students, their English level was -A and their writing
production had many weaknesses, and some students expressed a big intention of improvement
that most of them did not show through the development of the whole project. Through the
different writing activities and classes, students´ aptitude started interested and active, but
developing them, their attention and behavior was changing to bad. Even though, some students
kept active in the activities, their classmates´ misbehavior affected them, and sometimes, they
worked in class and did not do the homework.
Besides, researchers left homework or tasks as an intention of checking how autonomous the
students were, and gave relevant rolls to problem-students trying to avoid problems during the
classes´ development. The participation in the activities always belonged to the same students,
even though researchers gave the chance to others for participating and expressing themselves.
Moreover, one of the goals from the project could not be reached because most of the students just
did the in-person work (Planning, drafting, read), and although researchers gave them a target date
for presenting the tales, very few students did the autonomous work (Re-planning, re-writing, re-
editing and re-reading), and none of them presented the tales, affecting the creation of the book.
Also, the last English proficiency test applied, exhibited that the average level of the students
was, again, -A, but the average score was 1.9, and most of the students got a grade between 1.1 to
44
2 (See figure 5). A particularity was that just four students approved the exam remarking the less
interest showed by students and gap in autonomy for practicing at home. Researchers evaluated
grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing skill. For the writing skill, researchers
used a rubric (See Annex 1) as a tool for assessing Punctuation/Capitalization, Grammar,
Content/Ideas, Organization and Vocabulary.
Hence, the researchers found that students writing skill improved. At the beginning most of
the students wrote poor and no well-organized paragraph with just three not well-structured
sentences and lines, showing that they were used to right simple sentences and unknew how to
write texts, but and the end, most of the students were able to write better-structured paragraphs
with a better coherence and cohesion in the sentences filling an entire notebook sheet and giving
a good writing expression of themselves (See Picture 1 and 2). Besides, only 18 presented the text,
and the 78% of students approved it with an average score of 4.02 (See Figure 6). The improvement
in Punctuation/Capitalization, Grammar, Content/Ideas, Organization and Vocabulary exposed no
significant difficulties in this activity.
Thus, researchers concluded that maybe because of the time, two last academic periods, and
that most of the students got good scores in the first two periods, they relaxed themselves because
they did not need a score for approving the subject, focusing in other subjects. Also, this
demonstrated a culture of pression in students when they only think in getting scores and not
learning meaningfully, and that the whole education system seems to instill grades-consumerism,
learning “empty-contents” instead of educating for the culture, for peace and for the developing of
students and society. The lack of autonomy and promotion of it was evidenced, as some students´
persistent work and responsibility too. Finally, it is tough to develop a research project that needs
person by person work and assessment in a big group.
45
Picture 1, Students´ First Paragraphs samples.
46
Picture 2, Students´ final letters samples.
47
STUDENTS
0-1 1.1-2 2.1-3 Above 3
11% 8%
19%
62%
Figure 5, Final English Test
STUDENTS´ WRITING SKILL

0-1 1.1-2 2.1-3 3.1-4 4.1-5
0%
11%
11%
61% 17%
Figure 6, Writing Skill
48
9.1.4. Phase 4. Report.

• To organize and share the results in a final report.
To conclude, the researchers organized the findings of the implementation of the project with
the evidences showing how effective was the research project in three manners: CD/pendrive, a
written report and an oral presentation, to the academic judges and other members from the
University. This will be done with the purpose of sharing the different findings of the research
proposal and demonstrate its impact in a classroom.
49
10. Conclusions
The researchers of the project called “Improving Writing Skill Using Short Stories at 10th
Grade of Juan Bautista Migani High School in Florencia, Caquetá”, could conclude the following
aspects after the implementation to the project:
• The project developed by the authors of this research may have a great positive impact for
improving students writing skill through didactic and funny activities such as short stories that
catch students´ attention.
• The effectiveness of implementing short stories for improving the writing skill and
teaching English was demonstrated, even though some factors such as autonomy, responsibility
had significant implications in the process.
• The participants demonstrated a low English level at the beginning of the implementation.
It generated a delay in the implementation of the planned activities because the researchers had to
show videos about present and past simple to the students.
• Students do not practice a lot the process of linking phrases in English, showing difficulties
for linking phrases and writing paragraphs.
• Students did not have the same level of knowledge about the language. That fact created a
difficult situation because meanwhile some students could develop the activities in the stablished
time, others needed much more time.
• There is a big problem in the educational system which promotes a consumerism culture,
pression for excellent grades and learning of non-meaningful contents instead of educating for the
culture, for peace and for the developing of students´ capabilities and society.
• Education and high school teachers must promote and instill autonomy, core values and
critical thinking in students, no matter the subject and with the intention of helping to solve some
society´s problems.
• The writing skill should be taught using dynamic and didactic teaching strategies, and have
the same importance as the other language skills in order to get a balance and reach the goal in the
English Foreign Language learning process, considering the writing skill important in students´
professional lives.
50
• It is tough to develop any class and project with big groups that demands more attention
and more than 1 teacher. Also, the two last periods have several implications in students´ behavior
related to the pression of the end of the scholar year and in class/project development due to the
different extra-curricular activities and the holidays.
51
11. Recommendations
The researchers make the following recommendations:
• It is important to develop activities in which students create structured and coherent

sentences linked to others for having a better cohesion in English as a non-native language,
especially in writing.
• Students´ lack of knowledge about the target language can generate complications at the
moment of writing simple phrases or a paragraph.
• It is important for the participants to have an average level of knowledge about the
language, considering that the activities need to be developed at the same time by the students in
the classroom.
• The number of participants (students) in a school may affect the good development of
writing activities. It is recommendable to develop this type of project with smaller groups of
people.
• The participants must demonstrate responsibility and interest in learning English. The
autonomous work is important for improving any of the four skills of the language (reading,
writing, speaking and listening), especially when writing activities such as writing a story need to
be done.
• The use of stimuli plays an important role in the creation of writings. Students can be
stimulated through songs, sounds, images and videos among others, their implementation may
cause a better development of the written activities working with students´ imagination and
catching their attention.
• The learning process of English and any other subject must be focused in teaching for the
culture, peace, students´ capabilities and society development.
52
12. References
• Bolivar, J. F. (2016). Designing contextualized didactic material for teaching English as a

third language to first grade Huitoto children community from High School Campo Elias
Marulanda (Solano, Caquetá). (Tesis de Pregrado). Universidad de la Amazonia, Florencia,
Caquetá.
• Boletín estadístico 2014, departamento del Caquetá, oficina de planeación de Secretaria de
educación departamental.
http://www.sedcaqueta.gov.co/BOLETIN%20ESTADISTICO%202014/BOLETIN%20ESTADI
STICO%202014.pdf
• Bradbury, H. (2010). What is Good Action Research?: Why the Resurgent Interest?.
Retrieved from: http://arj.sagepub.com/content/8/1/93.full.pdf
• Corbett, C. (2014). Colombia’s bilingual program failing, scoring very low in
world ranking. Retrieved from http://colombiareports.com/national-bilingual-program-
failing-level-english-colombia-low-world-ranking/
• Divencha, D. & Stern, R. (2015). American Teens Are Stressed and Bored. It´s Time to
Talk About Feelings. Retrieved from http://time.com/3774596/american-teens-emotions/Dyson,
A.H. (1993). The Social Worlds of Children: Learning to Write in an Urban Primary School.
• Duff, A. & Maley, A. (1991). Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Erkaya, O. R. (2005). Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context. Asian EFL
Journal v 8 Nov 2005. ISSN 1738-1460.
• Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. London: Weidenfeld
and Nicholson. New York, USA: Teachers Collegue Press.
• Giroux, H. (2004). La educación es más que un logro corporativo. Higher Education is
More Than a Corporate Logo.
• Harmer, J. (2010). How to Teach English. Edinburgh, England: Pearson Education
Limited.
• Institución Educativa Juan Bautista Migani (2015). Reporte Resultados – Pruebas Saber
11 – Archivo 2015. Ministerio de Educación Nacional.
53
• Jiménez, H. (2010). Maniguaje, Cuentos desde el Caquetá. Florencia, Caquetá: Los

Conjurados.
• Khatid, M; Rezaei, S; & Derakhshan, A. (2011). Literature in EFL/ESL Classroom.
Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran. English Language Teaching Vol. 4, No. 1; March
2011.
• Kellogg, R. T., & Raulerson, B. A. (2007). Improving the Writing Skills of College
Students. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03194058
• Lombana, C. P. (n.d). Some Issues for the Teaching of Writing. Retrieved from
https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=4858684
• Malinowski, B. (1994). The problem of meaning in primitive languages. Language and
literacy in social practice: A reader, 1-10.
• Mesa Amplia Nacional Estudiantil. (2015). Carta Abierta en Rechazo al Plan de
Desarrollo. Retrieved from http://manecolombia.blogspot.com.co/2015/04/carta-abierta-en-
rechazo-al-plan-de.html
• Porras, N. I. (2009). Teaching English through Stories: A Meaningful and Fun Way for
Children to Learn the Language. Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia.
profile vol.12 no.1 Bogotá Jan./June 2010.
• Ortiz, P. (2016). Finalizó con Éxito el 19 Encuentro Departamental Y 3 Regional de
Periodismo Escolar. Taken from http://www.iemigani.com/index.php/2015-06-16-22-03-42/edpe
• República de Colombia. (1991). Constitución Política de Colombia. Corte Constitucional.
Imprenta Nacional. Bogotá.
• República de Colombia. Colombia Aprende. (n.d.). Plan Nacional de Lectura y Escritura.
Bogotá. Taken from http://www.colombiaaprende.edu.co/html/competencias/1746/w3-article-
244105.html
• República de Colombia. Colombia Aprende. (n.d.). Plan Nacional de Bilinguismo. Bogotá.
Retrieved from http://www.colombiaaprende.edu.co/html/competencias/1746/w3-article-
244116.html
• República de Colombia. Ministerio de Cultura. (2011). Plan Nacional de Lectura y
Escritura. Bogotá. Retrieved from
54
http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/artes/publicaciones/Documents/Plan%20Nacional%20de%2
0Lectura%20y%20Escritura,%20PNLE.pdf
• República de Colombia. Ministerio de Educación Nacional. (2012). Mineducacion e Icfes
entregan resultados de las pruebas SABER PRO. Bogotá. Retrieved from
http://www.mineducacion.gov.co/cvn/1665/w3-article-299905
• República de Colombia. Ministerio de Educación Nacional. (1994). Ley General de
Educación 115/94. Imprenta Nacional. Bogotá.
• República de Colombia. Ministerio de Educación Nacional. (2004). Lineamientos
Curriculares Idiomas Extranjeros. Imprenta Nacional. Bogotá.
• República de Colombia (2006). Estándares Básicos de Competencias en Lenguas
Extranjeras: inglés. Ministerio de Educación Nacional. Imprenta Nacional. Bogotá.
• República de Colombia. Secretaria de Educación Municipal. (2010). Florencia
Ecoturistica Hablando Inglés, Programa Municipal de Bilinguismo. Imprenta Municipal.
Florencia.
• Sanchez, Tony R., and Randy K. Mills. 'Telling tales': the teaching of American history
through storytelling". Social Education, vol. 69, no. 5, 2005, p. 269+. Academic OneFile.
• Wise, K. (2005). The Importance of Writing Skills. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/openview/f2bd6a42441a40dffb9d9176abc54620/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar
• Zapata, J. & Mejía, J.D. (2013). Re-conocimiento de la naturaleza y el territorio a través
de la experiencia estética. (Tesis de Especialización). Universidad Pedagógica Nacional: Bogotá,
Cundinamarca.
55
13. Annex
The researchers designed the following rubric as a way to assess writing activities in the
development of the project.
Need
Improvement Fair Good Excellent
Punctuation/Capitalization
The text has no mistakes in
punctuation and capitalization. It 1 2 3 4
has accurate sentences.
Grammar
The text has no grammatical
mistakes, making sense in text´s 1 2 3 4
sentences.
Content/Ideas
The text has coherence and
cohesion, topic and details, giving 1 2 3 4
an understandable description to the
reader.
Organization
The text structure is well-
organized and developed. It has a 1 2 3 4
good sequence in text´s body.
Vocabulary
The text has interesting
words, showing a clear description 1 2 3 4
of feelings, actions and things.
Final Score ______
56

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IMPROVING THE WRITING SKILL

Viviana Castañeda Silva

Viviana Castañeda Silva

The present final document has been

Florencia. Enero, 2018

KEYWORDS: Writing Skill, Bilingual Education, Teaching, Learning, Writing Culture

2. Problem Statement ................................................................................................................ 12

2.1. Description of the Problem ............................................................................................ 12

2.2. Research Question (s)..................................................................................................... 14

4.3. General Objective ........................................................................................................... 19

4.4. Specific Objectives ......................................................................................................... 19

5.1. State of the Arte.............................................................................................................. 20

5.1.1. International ............................................................................................................ 20

5.1.2. National ................................................................................................................... 25

5.1.3. Regional .................................................................................................................. 26

5.2. Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................. 27

Bilingual Education: ............................................................................................................. 28

Tales/Short Stories: ............................................................................................................... 29

5.3. Normativity .................................................................................................................... 29

6.1. Type of Research ............................................................................................................ 32

6.2. Phases, Activities ........................................................................................................... 33

6.2.1. Phase 1. Diagnostic and Description. ..................................................................... 33

6.2.2. Phase 2. Development and Production. .................................................................. 33

6.2.3. Phase 3. Analysis. ................................................................................................... 35

6.2.4. Phase 4. Report. ...................................................................................................... 35

7. Time Table ............................................................................................................................ 36

9.1. Phases ............................................................................................................................. 39

9.1.1. Phase 1. Diagnostic and Description: ..................................................................... 39

9.1.2. Phase 2. Development and Production. .................................................................. 41

9.1.3. Phase 3. Analysis. ................................................................................................... 44

9.1.4. Phase 4. Report. ...................................................................................................... 49

10. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 50

11. Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 52

12. References .......................................................................................................................... 53

13. Annex ................................................................................................................................. 56

2.1. Description of the Problem

2.2. Research Question (s)

Based on the article 10 of Colombian´s Political Constitution, Spanish is considered as the

“El Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo es una estrategia del Ministerio de Educación, en

Colombia´s government applies a bilingual policy called “Programa Nacional de

4.4. Specific Objectives

5.1. State of the Arte

5.1.1.2. “The Importance of Writing Skills”

5.1.1.3. “Improving the Writing Skills Of College Students”

5.1.1.4. “Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context”

Besides, developing reading comprehension, teaching vocabulary can be benefited of using

5.1.1.5. “Literature in EFL/ESL Classroom”

competence models (McKay, 2001), Grammar and Vocabulary Knowledge (Improvement),

5.1.1.6. “Using Short Stories to Teach Language Skills”

Parlin Pardede highlights the importance of integrating literature in teaching English to

5.1.3.1. “Designing contextualized didactic material for teaching English as a third

5.1.3.2. “Maniguaje. CUENTOS DESDE EL CAQUETÁ”

5.2. Conceptual Framework

Writing-for-Learning. Harmer (2010) says that “writing is used as an aide-mémoire or

Writing-for-Writing. It focuses on the improvement of the learners´ writing skill. “The

República de Colombia (1994). Ley General de Educación 115/95. Ministerio de

República de Colombia (2004). Lineamientos Curriculares Idiomas Extranjeros.

República de Colombia (2006). Estándares Básicos de Competencias en Lenguas

República de Colombia (2010). Florencia Ecoturística Hablando Inglés, Programa

República de Colombia (2011). Plan Nacional de Lectura y Escritura de Educación

6.1. Type of Research

“Action research represents a transformative orientation to knowledge creation in that action

Additionally, this research project used an Ethnographic Approach that according to