53
Literary center to promote the study of
contemporary Colombian literature
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez
1
Mireya Castellanos León
2
To reference this article / Cómo citar este artículo / Para citar
este artigo: Watts-Rodríguez, K. P. & Castellanos-León, M. (2023).
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian
literature. Revista UNIMAR, 41(2), 53-65. https://doi.org/10.31948/
Rev.unimar/unimar41-2-art3
Reception Date: 26 de marzo de 2023
Review Date: 31 de mayo de 2023
Approval Date: 23 de julio de 2023
Abstract
This study aimed to propose a literary center of interest as a playful method
to strengthen the meaningful learning of contemporary Colombian literature in
eighth-grade A students of the Institución Educativa Agropecuaria Rosa Jaimes
Barrera. Methodologically, the study was located in the post-positivist paradigm,
from a qualitative approach, framed in participatory action research, considering
the following phases: deconstruction, reconstruction, and evaluation of practice.
38 students of grade 8-A constituted the unit of analysis. The survey and
observation (techniques) and the questionnaire, logbook, and rubric (instruments)
were used for data collection. The results show that the playful activities allowed
the students to realize the relevance of literary learning to strengthen linguistic
expression. It is concluded that the literary works and the design of collaborative
and participatory play activities strengthened the students’ meaningful learning.
Keywords: literary center; learning; contemporary literary.
1
Master’s student in Pedagogy, Universidad Mariana; Bachelor’s degree in Educación Básica, Humanidades, Lengua Castellana e Inglés,
Corporación Universitaria del Caribe (CECAR). Teacher at Institución Educativa Agropecuaria Rosa Jaimes Barrera. E-mail: karenpa.
watts@umariana.edu.co
2
Master’s student in Pedagogy, Universidad Mariana; Specialist in Lúdica Educativa, Universidad Juan de Castellanos; Bachelor’s
degree in Ciencias Fisicomatemáticas, Universidad del Magdalena. Teacher at Institución Educativa Agropecuaria Rosa Jaimes Barrera.
E-mail: mireya.castellanosle@umariana.edu.co
Article resulting from a research project: Centro de Interés Literario como método lúdico para fortalecer el aprendizaje signicativo de
la literatura colombiana contemporánea en estudiantes del 8°A de la I.E. Agropecuaria Rosa Jaimes Barrera de Pailitas, Cesar, carried
out from March 2021 to December 2022.
54
Centro literario para el fortalecimiento del
aprendizaje de la literatura colombiana
contemporánea
Resumen
El objetivo del presente estudio fue proponer un centro de interés literario
como método lúdico para el fortalecimiento del aprendizaje signicativo de la
literatura colombiana contemporánea en los estudiantes del grado 8-A de la
I.E Agropecuario Rosa Jaimes Barrera. Metodológicamente, el estudio se ubicó
en el paradigma pospositivista, desde un enfoque cualitativo, enmarcado
en la investigación acción participativa; considerando las siguientes fases:
deconstrucción, reconstrucción y evaluación de la práctica. La unidad de
análisis la constituyó 38 discentes del grado 8-A. Para la recolección de
datos, se utilizó la encuesta y la observación (técnicas), y el cuestionario, la
bitácora y la rúbrica (instrumentos). Entre los resultados, se resalta que las
actividades lúdicas permitieron a los estudiantes percatarse de la relevancia
del aprendizaje literario para aanzar la expresión lingüística. Se concluye
que, las obras literarias, el diseño de actividades lúdicas colaborativas y
participativas fortalecieron el aprendizaje signicativo en los estudiantes.
Palabras clave: centro literario; aprendizaje; literatura contemporánea.
Centro literário para promover o estudo da literatura
colombiana contemporânea
Resumo
Este estudo teve como objetivo, propor um centro de interesse literário como
um método lúdico para fortalecer a aprendizagem signicativa da literatura
colombiana contemporânea em alunos do oitavo ano A da Institución
Educativa Agropecuaria Rosa Jaimes Barrera. Metodologicamente, o estudo foi
situado no paradigma pós-positivista, a partir de uma abordagem qualitativa,
enquadrada na pesquisa-ação participativa, considerando as seguintes fases:
desconstrução, reconstrução e avaliação da prática. 38 alunos da 8ª série A
constituíram a unidade de análise. Para a coleta de dados, foram utilizadas
a pesquisa e a observação (técnicas) e o questionário, o diário de bordo e
a rubrica (instrumentos). Os resultados mostram que as atividades lúdicas
permitiram que os alunos percebessem a relevância do aprendizado literário
para fortalecer a expressão linguística. Conclui-se que as obras literárias e a
concepção de atividades lúdicas colaborativas e participativas fortaleceram a
aprendizagem signicativa dos alunos.
Palavras-chave: centro literário; aprendizagem; literatura contemporânea.
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian literature
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez
Mireya Castellanos León
55
Introduction
International criteria for evaluating educational
progress are increasingly focused on learning
acquisition, inclusion, and educational quality,
considering academic as well as psychological
and social aspects. Thus, since 1990, Latin
American countries have begun to outline
educational policies and action strategies to
improve the quality of education, inuenced
by the recommendations of the United Nations
Educational, Scientic, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO, 1990) in the World Declaration on
Education for All and the Framework for Action
to Meet Basic Learning Needs.
UNESCO’s concern with the quality of education
is not new; more than 20 years ago, the report
Learning: The Treasure Within (Delors, 1996)
reected on the link between quality and equity.
The report argued that an educated society
requires quality basic education, for which good
teachers are essential. The strategies proposed
in the report relate mainly to the social situation,
teacher training and teachers’ working conditions.
The report proposed that lifelong education
should be based on four pillars: learning to know,
learning to do, learning to live together, and
learning to be. This conceptualization implied an
integrated and comprehensive view of learning
and quality education (Delors, 1996).
Among the strategies proposed at the
international level, a Global Network of Learning
Cities (UNESCO, 2022) has been established,
based on policies that provide inspiration, know-
how, and best practices to promote lifelong
learning for all. In this way, UNESCO species a
series of characteristics that this network must
meet, through which the city improves individual
empowerment and social inclusion, economic
development and cultural prosperity, as well as
sustainable development.
In the search for improving the quality of
education and excellence in learning, low
interest in reading is an issue that has been
the subject of concern for decades, both for the
educational institutions of the countries and for
UNESCO (Pérez et al., 2018). There is sucient
evidence of the importance of supporting the
habit of reading from an early age, making
reading a pleasurable act that has a positive and
signicant impact on the child (Soto, 2007), since
it aects not only their cognitive development,
but also their procedural development, for the
management of words, phrases and grammar,
and their socio-aective development.
Despite its advantages, learning to read seems
to arouse little interest among students, which
is a great weakness, given that written materials
make other learning visible, allowing those who
read to approach information, whether through
books, study guides, advertisements, or the
Internet; therefore, it is necessary to know
how to read to know what one wants to know
by oneself, without having to ask others. Thus,
some might think that, by stimulating interest
in reading, they should “improve literacy to
the maximum, because it is essential for the
scientic, technological, and cultural progress of
a country” (Domínguez et al., 2015, p. 95).
In this sense, the role of educational institutions
is fundamental to contribute to the meaningful
learning of reading; for this, it is essential not
only to teach how to read but to do it with
meaning and signicance, thus promoting the
pleasure of reading, familiarizing children with
books, stories, poems, which allow them to open
their minds to real and fantastic scenarios, thus
nurturing the intellect, thinking, and emotion.
Therefore, the teaching of reading should
seek new experiences aimed at stimulating
students’ reading skills so that they understand
that it is a means for their linguistic growth,
which contributes to the improvement of their
vocabulary and the broadening of their horizons
of knowledge (Domínguez et al., 2015). The
school must assume its role of responsibility
in teaching reading and promoting the habit of
reading to achieve signicant student learning
in this important area. In the same way,
parents are called to support the school in this
transcendental task by helping their children
in the practice of reading and by setting an
example of reading in the family (Ayala and
Arcos, 2021); these strategies that involve the
family are a support to the school.
In the Colombian education system, there is
evidence of low levels of reading comprehension
among the country’s children and adolescents
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian literature
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez
Mireya Castellanos León
56
at dierent levels of schooling, which is reected in the low results of the various evaluations at
the national and international levels, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development tests (OECD, 2019), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a three-
year study focused on 15-year-old students to assess levels of “knowledge and skills that are
essential for their full participation in modern societies” (p. 7). The assessment focuses on reading,
math, and science skills, as well as student well-being.
In the most recent OCED-PISA test assessment, conducted in 2018, results by country “show an
overall score of 412 in reading, 391 in mathematics, and 413 in science, all three below the OECD
average, which is set at 487, 489, and 489, respectively” (Portafolio, 2019, para. 2).
Although these gures represent weaknesses in Colombian participants, a problem that has been
systematically reected for several years, certain improvements in progress in this competency
can also be seen since the country entered this assessment of an international nature, given that
“even if Colombia’s performance in reading was lower than that recorded in 2015, if a longer period
is considered, it has improved in all subjects since the country rst participated in PISA in 2006”
(Portafolio, 2019, para. 3).
It should be noted that since 2006 Colombia has participated in the PISA program, a standardized
test that evaluates the quality of education in OECD partner countries every three years. The
Colombian Institute for the Evaluation of Education (ICFES) is responsible for administering the
test in Colombia. From the results of this test in 2018, specically in the area of Language, several
conclusions were obtained (see Table 1).
Table 1
Summary of the results of the PISA 2018 tests
PISA 2018 Test Results
Language
Area
The performance of Colombian students was below the average of OECD countries
50% of Colombian students achieved reading prociency at level 2 or above (the
OECD average is 77%)
About 1% of Colombian students were among the top performers in reading,
scoring at levels 5 or 6 on the PISA reading test (the OECD average is 9%).
Source: ICFES (2020).
Although the above results are part of the
general vision of the actions taken by the
Colombian education system to achieve real and
meaningful learning in the classroom, as well
as to strengthen the teaching profession and
thus achieve quality education, the measures
and evaluations applied still show unfavorable
results, since progress has been minimal. Thus,
it can be interpreted that the strategies applied
by the Colombian education system to achieve
quality have had an impact on improvements,
they are still not enough because:
The actions developed to overcome this
problem have been insucient, mainly due
to the lack of a public policy that integrates
them, not only to improve their eectiveness
but also to achieve a greater national coverage
since there are regions of the country that are
largely unattended. (Ministerio de Cultura,
2009, p. 1)
From the above, we can conclude the existence
of strategies that are not adapted to the reality
of the country in general and of the regions
in particular, since there are departments
with a predominantly rural and/or indigenous
population that deserve adapted practices; their
lack leads to problems in educational quality and,
therefore, in learning. Given that this problem
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian literature
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez
Mireya Castellanos León
57
has been identied in specic areas, such as the
learning of reading among students, the following
question was formulated: How does a literary
interest center as a playful tool strengthen the
signicant learning of contemporary Colombian
literature among eighth-grade students at the
Institución Educativa Agropecuaria Rosa Jaimes
Barrera in the area of Spanish language?
Based on this question, the general objective
was formulated: To propose the literary center
of interest as a playful method to strengthen the
meaningful learning of contemporary Colombian
literature in eighth-grade students.
Once the horizon was claried, the search for
previous studies began. Thus, in the international
research scenario, the work of Jumbo and
Delgado (2019) was studied, which was a great
contribution to the present study since it allowed
the validation of the pedagogical assumptions
proposed.
In the national geography, the research
presented by Salamanca and Vanegas (2021)
was analyzed, which contributed to the present
research in relation to play, since it allows the
construction of meaningful learning, a fact that
became the essential purpose of this research
proposal.
In the local scenario, the research of Oñate
(2016) attracted attention. This work contributed
to the object of the present study, as it sought
the transition from momentary learning to
learning for life; that is, meaningfully, from
the intervention of teaching practices in the
traditional methodology, with the application
of new learning strategies that motivate and
arouse the interest of students.
We resorted to the review of the theoretical
approaches that support the research,
considering the approach to the concept of
meaningful learning described by Rodriguez
(2011), who argues that it can be conceived as
the process that occurs in the human mind when it
subsumes new information in a non-arbitrary and
substantial way. Similarly, the comments on the
principles and advantages underlying signicant
learning by Ausubel (1961) were taken up, who
proposed a set of principles that teachers should
follow to ensure that their students achieve
signicant learning; the essential thing is to
start from their previous knowledge, which the
teacher should contemplate to organize the new
information in relation to a direct link with what
they already know.
Methodology
The research was approached from the
postpositivist paradigm, adopted from the
propositions of Hernández et al. (2014), which
state that reality can be known imperfectly;
the researcher can be part of the phenomenon
of interest; the object of study inuences him
or her and vice versa. Likewise, the theory or
hypothesis on which the study is based inuences
its development, and the researcher must be
aware that his or her values or tendencies may
inuence his or her work.
The research was developed from a qualitative
approach, based on the postulates of Taylor
and Bogdan (1994), for whom qualitative
methodology is a way of approaching the
empirical world; they point out that, in the
broadest sense, it is research that produces
descriptive data: people’s words, spoken or
written, and observable behavior. For the
qualitative researcher, all settings and people
are worthy of study; no aspect of social life is
too trivial not to be studied.
In accordance with the paradigm and approach,
the research was framed within the framework of
Participatory Action Research (PAR), conceived
as a qualitative method of study and action that
seeks to obtain reliable and useful results for
improving collective situations, based on the
participation of the individuals to be studied, in a
learning environment that promotes critical and
reective reasoning about reality, which serves
as input to improve and enhance the teaching
and learning process (Evans, 2010; Sandi and
Cruz-Alvarado, 2016).
Under these premises, in PRA the teacher acts
as researcher and researched at the same
time (Evans, 2010), since his participation in
transformative actions necessarily involves him
and leads him to a process of reection on his
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian literature
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Mireya Castellanos León
58
practice, on what and how to do it; thus, he
transforms himself in the search for positive
results, in accordance with the purposes of
pedagogical inquiry.
Therefore, and according to Restrepo (2011),
PRA has three phases: Deconstruction,
Reconstruction, and Evaluation of the practice,
which are repeated cyclically; these phases make
it possible to identify strengths and weaknesses
through a diagnosis of the situation. From there,
improvement alternatives were designed and
proposed, and the eectiveness of the proposed
alternatives was evaluated. The unit of analysis
consisted of 38 eighth grade students.
To collect the information, we rst used the
survey technique, which is a “research method
capable of providing answers to problems, both
in descriptive terms and of the relationship
between variables, following the collection
of systematic information according to a
previously established design that ensures the
rigor of the information obtained” (Buendía et
al., 1998, p. 120).
For the analysis process, the technique of
data triangulation was used, which allows the
researcher to “use dierent points of view that
guarantee greater precision in the observation
and increase the validity of the results by
obtaining data from dierent sources, thus
oering the complementarity required for this
type of study” (Vallejo and Finol, 2009, p. 120). To
collect the information obtained from the rst to
the third phases, the instruments used were the
questionnaire for the diagnosis of the situation,
the observation log to record the development
of the activities, and a rubric for the evaluation
of the learning during the activities carried out.
Results
Phase 1, deconstruction of the pedagogical
practice, included the diagnostic activities within
the research procedure under the PRA method,
which allowed the teacher-researchers to know
the reality from the perspective of the actors,
placing the student in the subject under study
and, at the same time, activating the previous
knowledge (Novak 1982, as cited in Prieto and
Sanchez, 2017). Under these considerations,
and as a product of the researchers’ concern,
described in the problematic situation that
revealed weaknesses in the students of grade
8-A of the IE under study, regarding the learning
of the Spanish language, especially in what is
related to contemporary Colombian literature, a
diagnosis was made within the initial phase of
the PRA.
To know the situation of the students regarding
the learning of contemporary Colombian
literature, a diagnostic questionnaire was
designed and applied, lled out through the
Internet application Google Forms, consisting
of twelve items with open and closed questions,
oriented to respond to the purpose of identifying
the factors that inuence the signicant
learning of contemporary Colombian literature
among students of grade 8-A in the area of
Spanish language.
Regarding item 1: When you read a text, do you
easily narrate the content of the topic, 50% of
the students answered yes, 35% said no and
15% said sometimes. It was evident that the
highest frequency was represented by those
students who armed that when they read a
text, they can easily narrate the content of the
read topic.
In item 2: When you read a text, why do you
easily narrate the content of the topic? there
were some coincidences in the answers, since
the ease of narrating a read text was for many
of the students due to the pleasure of such
reading; however, sometimes they have to take
notes to explain the content.
About item 3: Do you use any strategy or method
to learn the content of the texts you read? 60%
(twelve students) said yes; 20% (four students)
said no, and another 20% (four students) said
sometimes. It is evident that the tendency was
that most of the students do use or apply some
reading strategy or method to learn the content
of the texts they read.
To item 4: What strategy or method do you
use to learn the content of the texts you read?
the students gave several answers; among
them, it stands out that the strategies and
methods most used by them are: taking notes
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian literature
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez
Mireya Castellanos León
59
and reading many times to learn the content
of what they read. Also, a preference for quiet
environments for reading and highlighting the
content were observed.
In item 5: Do you nd it easy to explain the
content of the text you have read? from the
answers, it was interpreted that the students
think that the ease of explaining the content of
the text is given by the attention they pay to the
reading, that they have to read several times
to memorize, with the interest of being able to
explain in their own words what they interpret;
however, it is dicult for them to concentrate
and to nd the right words to explain.
When analyzing item 6: Do the teaching
strategies used by the teacher facilitate their
learning of Spanish? 65% of the students (13)
answered no; 25% (ve students), sometimes,
and 10% (two students) said yes. From these
results it can be concluded that most of them
think that the strategies used by the teacher do
not facilitate their learning.
Regarding point 7: What do you think about
the strategies used by the teacher to facilitate
the learning of Spanish? there was agreement
in the answers about the strategies used: the
classes are traditionally oriented, the texts are
presented in old copies, the students do not nd
the topics interesting, they do not understand
the readings, and therefore the classes become
boring for them.
In point 8, the students were asked if they liked
the environment in which the Spanish classes
were held. In general, it was found that they
prefer a fresh and pleasant environment for
reading, with interesting topics; most of them
think that the classes tend to be boring, without
interest, which causes them to be distracted and
annoyed during the activities in this area.
About point 9: Do you like the reading activities
developed in the Spanish class? Why? the most
repeated expressions were that despite the
use of old texts in copies, which some of them
considered boring, some students were able
to read and obtain interesting information that
allowed them to learn. Nevertheless, they would
prefer to read in books and work on reading
outside the classroom.
Concerning point 10: Why did some of the texts
you read in Spanish class arouse your interest?
they expressed that some texts tell stories that
attract their attention; others feel bored; some
said they were annoyed and disgusted by the
texts they read.
The question for item 11 was: What reading
activity would you like to see developed in
the Spanish classroom? Among the activities
mentioned by the students were: dramatizations,
analysis of pictures and songs, interpretation
of drawings, interactions, socialization,
text analysis, summaries, discussions, and
conversations.
In relation to the question of item 12: Why
would you like to do the activity indicated in the
previous item? the students pointed out that
the activities they suggested would be a great
support to do reading activities with interest,
to be able to understand them, while allowing
them to learn by having fun together, acting,
drawing, and sharing with classmates, through
group work, fostering healthy competitiveness;
therefore, the classroom environment would
not be boring and, would call their interest and
motivation to learn by listening to others and
thus being able to understand what they read.
Thus, the diagnosis of the situation about the
identication of the factors that inuence the
signicant learning of contemporary Colombian
literature among students of 8
th
grade in the area
of Spanish language allowed the researchers,
during the phase of deconstruction of the
pedagogical practice, to determine that the
strategies and resources used by the teachers of
this area did not give results, since they did not
arouse the interest of the students in reading
because they were not motivating; therefore, the
learning that took place was of low level, rote,
repetitive, without meaning for the students.
In the Phase 2, Reconstruction of Pedagogical
Practice, Design, and Implementation of the
Playful Strategy Literary Interest Center, we
took into account the diagnostic results and the
review of authors and preliminary research; it
was oriented to the second objective: to design
the pedagogical axes of a Literary Interest
Center as a playful method for strengthening
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian literature
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez
Mireya Castellanos León
60
the meaningful learning of contemporary Colombian literature in students; for this purpose, the
strategy described in Table 2 was designed.
Table 2
Activities and purposes
Literary Interest Center “Héctor Abad Faciolince”
Pedagogical
axes
Activities to be
developed
Purpose of the pedagogical axis
Observation • Reading of the
contemporary
Colombian literary
work El olvido que
seremos (The oblivion
we will be)
• Screening of the
audiovisual version in
a biographical novels
format.
• Encourage multi-sensory intervention in the
interaction with the play to allow students to
observe the characteristics of the characters
beyond what they have read and to compare them
with what they have imagined from reading.
Assimilation • Conversation on the
themes addressed in
the play.
• Sharing experiences around reading and seeing
the play, comparing events: dierences and
similarities in relation to current events.
• To be able to order, compare, serialize, typify,
abstract, and generalize from what has been
observed.
• To establish cause and eect relationships.
Expression • Conformation of work
• Denition and
development of leisure
activities around the
work studied.
• To represent in oral, written, drawn, and acted
form, what has been explored and what has been
constructed in thought, about what has happened.
Once the strategy was designed and organized, the teacher-researchers proposed to implement
the literary center of interest through literary play strategies to strengthen the meaningful learning
of contemporary Colombian literature in students of grade 8-A in the area of Spanish language.
They managed the strategies through seven workshops, organized to work collaboratively.
Workshop 1 was carried out through individual and socialized readings, stimulating the construction
of collective memories; it was developed in a synchronous and asynchronous way in dierent
scenarios, so that the students could analyze the work through collective and individual experiences,
as part of the pedagogical axis of Observation. This activity allowed those who did not have the habit
of reading to become interested in history and to start reading, a fact that was gradually achieved,
given the relevance of the topic in the Colombian social context, which aroused their curiosity.
At the attitudinal level, students showed respect for the opinions of their peers; they identied
the characters and situations and were able to make inferences about them, processes considered
within the pedagogical Observation axis.
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Mireya Castellanos León
61
Workshop 2 worked with the play El olvido que
seremos, an activity that allowed the students to
work on their skills of analysis, comprehension,
and argumentation, being the latter outstanding
for some of them, while others were somewhat
self-conscious in presenting their reasoning. With
regard to the competencies observed, in addition
to the capacities of analysis, argumentation,
comprehension, and establishing a position on
what was read, the activity promoted signicant
learning through more structured ways of
thinking, as evidenced by the intertextuality in
relating what was seen in the lm, with what was
read in the book, and with what some of them
had experienced in similar situations, which is
part of the pedagogical axis Association.
Workshop 3 was oriented by a playful activity
to set the scene. After reading the book and
watching the movie about the play, the teacher-
researchers asked the students to mark a phrase
or part of the play that they identied with to
develop the activity of decorating the room.
With the phrases written on the cards, the group
worked together and enthusiastically pasted the
phrases from the play, strengthening teamwork
as the students spontaneously agreed to do it in
an organized manner.
The relevance of experiential learning was
demonstrated, which gives meaning to the
educational process based on the interest
and motivation of the students. The skills
of text analysis and interpretation were
the most outstanding, together with the
uency of expression and argumentation
typical of the Assimilation pedagogical axis.
Collaborative learning and teamwork were
strengthened through the selection, analysis,
and argumentation of that sentence of the work
that provoked teaching and reection in each of
them, aspects that reect signicant learning.
In Workshop 4, the students gathered with great
enthusiasm in their respective working groups,
which had been formed beforehand; they were
informed about the organization of the activity;
one group after the other would act out the
fragment of the play that had been selected
and organized beforehand through mime, using
verbal and non-verbal language. Within the
pedagogical axis of Expression, uency was
observed in the use of body language in relation
to the content of the fragment of the play they
were representing, which also demonstrated a
good level in their ability to write and interpret
scripts, as well as for analysis, synthesis, and text
comprehension, which was strengthened within
the pedagogical axis of Assimilation, through
successive activities; in particular, this allowed
them to contextualize what they had read, as
evidence of signicant learning achievements.
In Workshop 5, the activity consisted of having
the students highlight the parts of the work
that had caught their attention and use their
creativity, supported by the pedagogical axis
of Expression, to design friezes that showed a
good level of coherence, cohesion, and ingenuity
in textual production, since it required them to
analyze and understand the text at the time of
graphic representation, also allowing them to
strengthen the competence of intertextuality,
proper to the pedagogical axis of Assimilation.
Through the expression, the students were
able to resort to processes of observation and
assimilation, with which they worked supported
by the three pedagogical axes of the literary
center of interest.
Workshop 6 consisted of the performance of
dramatizations, which caused some anxiety
among the shyest students, who expressed
concern and even stated that they did not have
the talent for this type of activity; however, a high
level of signicant learning was demonstrated,
both in the expression and in the assimilation
of concepts and propositions, expressing the
questioning of the facts presented. The evidence
of the students’ work stood out for its creativity
and recursion for its development, as a result
of teamwork. There was also evidence of the
strengthening of skills for textual analysis and
production, writing scripts with coherence and
cohesion, which implied good management of
verbal and non-verbal language.
For the last activity planned within the strategy
Center of Literary Interest, it was necessary for
the students to produce asynchronously a written
text as a conclusion to the work developed from
the work of contemporary Colombian literature
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian literature
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez
Mireya Castellanos León
62
mentioned. Thus, the observation protocol
of Workshop 7 shows the activity carried out
by the group as a whole, which had the total
agreement, expectation, and motivation of the
students, since they were able to express their
perceptions about what they were working
on through the resource of their preference;
therefore, it was an open activity where they
chose according to their criteria and freedom.
To achieve Phase 3, Evaluation of the
Eectiveness of Pedagogical Practice, whose
objective was to evaluate the implementation of
a literary interest center through literary ludic
strategies to strengthen meaningful learning of
contemporary Colombian literature in students
of grade 8-A in the area of Spanish language, it
was found that during the overall development
of the strategy, their interest was gradually
awakened through the planned ludic activities.
At the end of the last workshop, the teacher-
researchers made not only a nal evaluation of
the performance of each student, but also the
general observations of the group through the
evaluation rubric designed for this purpose; in
particular, the evaluation criteria were considered
based on what was determined for meaningful
learning: of representation, of concepts, and of
propositions, in terms of high, medium, and low
levels of evaluation, for the learning of literal,
inferential, and argumentative reading in the
reading work done with the Colombian literary
work El olvido que seremos by the author Héctor
Abad Faciolince.
For the general evaluation of the unit of analysis,
four criteria were used: context, school climate,
pedagogical practice, and teacher-student
interaction. In the analysis of the students’
results in both rubrics, it is observed that in both
groups, the levels of assessment of signicant
learning are between high and medium; none
of them is at a low level for the criteria of
learning of representation, corresponding to
competencies for text analysis, text-meaning
relationship, acquisition of vocabulary, and
setting; likewise, the situation is similar for
learning of concepts, represented by skills
for interaction, resignication of knowledge,
teamwork, and experiential learning. The same
occurs in the case of propositional learning,
where students showed high and medium levels
of intertextuality, objective and subjective
argumentation, uent expression, creativity,
and leadership.
Discussion
The documentary review, from the centers of
interest proposed by Decroly (1871-1932),
oered an ideal methodology for researchers,
in their teaching role, to become facilitators
of the students’ educational process. In this
sense, from the perspective of Lukács (cited in
Chuaqui, 2002) on the value of literature, it was
considered relevant to adopt a strategy that
would allow students to analyze, understand,
and appreciate the fact that society, as a
process of historical construction, is reected in
the narrative; this social process is what allows
human beings to be aware of their environment.
In this scenario, to undertake the design of
the strategy, it was assumed that to produce
eective learning, it is necessary to design,
promote, and create favorable educational
environments, attractive to students, focused
on their tastes and interests, involving a uid
communication between the dierent actors of
the teaching and learning process, as expressed
by Isaza (2014). It is also essential to consider
that meaningful learning requires pedagogical
strategies that lead to attractive, motivating
academic practices, capable of arousing the
interest of students.
The design of the strategy of the Centro de
Interés Literario Héctor Abad Faciolince was
aimed at achieving a signicant learning of
contemporary Colombian literature in the
students, taking into account the following
basic principles: (a) considering their previous
knowledge; (b) motivating them by designing
and carrying out activities that arouse their
interest; (c) presenting the content in an
organized, comfortable way, and following a
logical sequence; (d) creating a classroom
climate that is conducive to harmonious
interaction between them and the knowledge to
be built; e) explain through examples, where
the classroom space allows the practice and
application of the knowledge to be learned; f)
participate in class to debate, confront, and
Literary center to promote the study of contemporary Colombian literature
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez
Mireya Castellanos León
63
argue opinions, search for other materials and
bring them to class to expand the information
through all possible resources (Ausubel, 1961).
Equally, for the pedagogical work, playfulness was
used as an eective tool that allows integrating
play into the dynamics of the classroom and
achieving eectiveness in learning (Azúa-
Menéndez and Pincay-Parrales, 2019).This is
evidenced by the variety of activities planned
and developed around interaction, knowledge
sharing from collaborative group work, which
motivated and excited students about their
own learning, conrming that playfulness as a
pedagogical resource contributes signicantly.
The results of each of the workshops planned as
part of the strategy demonstrated the work of
innovative activities based on the participatory
dynamics of play, based on the need to
communicate, to feel, to express oneself,
through a series of emotions oriented towards
entertainment, fun, and recreation, leading to
enjoyment, laughter, and expressiveness as a
source that generates emotions.
Conclusions
In response to the rst specic objective, aimed
at determining the structure of a literary center
of interest, the review of authors allowed us to
know the characteristics of a center of interest,
as well as its constitution, functions, and main
objectives.
Regarding the objective: to design the
pedagogical axes of a literary interest
center, considering the axes of Observation,
Assimilation, and Expression, combining the
benets of playfulness for the well-being of
the human being, the activities planned and
developed within the framework of the Centro
de Interés Literario Héctor Abad Faciolince made
possible for the students a series of experiences
centered on creativity and the interaction of all
for the achievement of the objectives of each
activity.
For the objective: to evaluate the
implementation of a center of interest, the
continuous assessment through the recording
in observation logs was crucial, which then
supported the application of the evaluation
rubric designed by the researchers under the
criteria of meaningful learning; this made
it possible to conrm the eectiveness of
the strategy through the performance of the
students.
Conict of interest
The authors of this article declare that they have
no conict of interest in the work presented.
Ethical responsibilities
For the development of the research, the
request was submitted to the Rector’s Oce of
the institution; the Rector accepted and gave his
approval for the application of the instruments
and the strategy. Parental consent was also
obtained for the use of student photographs.
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Contribution
Karen Patricia Watts Rodríguez: writing
the nal report, processing the results, writing
the materials and methods, and obtaining the
results.
Mireya Castellanos León: writing the nal
report, processing the results, writing the
materials and methods, and obtaining the
results.
The authors participated in the preparation
of the manuscript, read, and approved it.
