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This qualitative action research study explores six reading strategies to engage students in more dynamic reading through the implementation of workshops focused on the cross-curricular approach to develop critical reading skills among ninth graders at a public school. The study was conducted with 22 students selected, in the city of Manizales, Colombia. The data collection instruments were students' artifacts, teachers' field notes, focus group questionnaires, survey questionnaires, and documentary analysis. The findings demonstrate that the use of reading strategies within a cross-curricular approach facilitates the development of critical reading in students. In addition, the design of materials (workshops), based on topics related to the students' environment, has an impact that not only contributes to improving their knowledge of English but also to expanding their knowledge in other areas of the academic field.

The objective of the study was to recognize the self-perception of students linked to undergraduate programs of a faculty of business sciences regarding the development of transversal learning. It corresponds to research designed under the empirical-analytical paradigm, the quantitative approach and the nonexperimental deductive method - transectional of descriptive level. Considering a population of 4,000 individuals enrolled in the School of Business Sciences, the sample was estimated at 369 participants -95% reliability and 5% margin of error-. An instrument of 32 items with five dimensions was used for data collection: critical reading and writing, assertive communication, quantitative reasoning, citizenship exercise and responsibility, and appropriation/use of information and communication technologies. The data were processed and analyzed through descriptive statistical procedures. The findings show that most of the study participants were located in the 'moderately developed' options for each of the formulated items, which shows that cross-cutting learning requires further strengthening from the pedagogical strategies of teachers for comprehensive training. Therefore, it is concluded that the transversal learning of students enrolled in programs in the area of business sciences for the context of study requires further development and strengthening, especially those associated with critical reading and writing both in the mother tongue and in a second language, assertive communication in a second language, and quantitative reasoning.

Critical exploration of socio-political issues has been a topic strongly carried out in English classrooms in the last decades. This article is the result of a research study that shows what the use of political cartoons reveals about the promotion of critical reading in an EFL classroom at a private university in Colombia. The study was developed with fourteen students under a qualitative case study method. Workshops, teacher journals and focus-group interviews were used to collect data. The emerging categories show the positive results of using political cartoons and the change that the students had in their thoughts and actions in both the academic and social context. In the results, the students portray how they have perceived the ELT classroom, the importance of being a critical reader of texts and contexts, and how the different activities helped them construct their own critical awareness concerning social and political issues.

Today's media spectacle is shaping societies, cultures, and even our own values and identities at a global scale. Even though media can be used to promote education, democratic self-expression, and social progress, it is often used to perpetuate social injustices, prejudice, and violence. Media texts are exponentially displayed in physical and virtual public spaces and their impact on humanity is unimaginable. Teachers of all fields face the challenge and the responsibility to educate sensitive humans who are able to critically consume or produce media messages. English language teachers are no exception. In this paper, the author describes a qualitative research study conducted by a teacher educator exploring how a group of Colombian pre-service English teachers developed critical awareness of media as they critically deconstructed advertisements displayed in the public spaces of their rather rural communities. Implications for teacher education emerging from this study and new questions for further research will be presented.

This article presents a reflection on the educational scenario that permeates the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) in its political, methodological, didactic, curricular and investigative dimensions. A description of the current English reading comprehension level in the national context is presented. On the other hand, from a transformative conception in which educational practices must be developed, different elements aiming to the development of formative practices are explored. This is achieved, with the active participation of all the subjects that participate in the educational process by conducting research, which plays a fundamental role that contributes to achieve the emancipation of human beings and the transformation of the environment where they live. Furthermore, this article invites readers to think about and transform the pedagogical practices that are around the teaching of English as a foreign language in Colombia, Latin America and the whole world. This is possible to be achieved, from a resignification of the curriculum and emerging didactics, focused on research and the multidimensionality of human beings.

Copyright of Lenguaje is the property of Universidad del Valle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Facultad de Ingeniería - UPTC is the property of Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnologica de Colombia, Facultad de Ingenieria and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Profile: Issues in Teachers' Professional Development is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Teacher quality, its effect on students' outcomes, and the association of these with economic growth, is the core of recent discussions in Latin America given the region's weak results in international learning assessments. This paper investigates whether there is an effect of philosophy on the outcomes of critical reading for students in B.Ed. programs in Colombia. Relying on exact matching combined with propensity score matching with regression adjustment, we use national data from Colombia to show that students in B.Ed. in philosophy outperformed students in other B.Ed. in critical reading test (0.401–0.124 SD), and, importantly, with higher effects observed for students with lower prior academic achievement (0.44 SD). This suggests that philosophy can help to narrow educational outcomes of students whose socioeconomic conditions are disadvantageous, contributing to social justice in education. • Students in B.Ed. in philosophy outperform students in other B.Ed. in the test of critical reading by 0.401 SD on average. • They also outperform students in B.Ed. in literature or Spanish by 0.124 SD. • The effect is higher for students more exposed to philosophy and with a lower prior academic achievement. • There is also a significant gender gap, negative for female students. • The effect was lower for students in programs with high-quality accreditation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Iberoamericana de Educación (Version impresa) is the property of Organizacion de Estados Iberoamericanos (OEI) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article presents the methodology and results of a study on writing within the discipline and academic literacy, completed in 2016 at Universidad Escuela de Administración y Negocios, in Bogota, Colombia. The study's strategy consisted of working with seven defined subjects, in order to add a component of critical reading and argumentative writing. Activities were designed for each subject and data were compiled through an analysis of the documents produced, interviews with participating teachers, and focus groups with students. The results show contradictory conceptions of writing, in addition to findings regarding the educational or professional use of certain textual genres and teachers' considerations of the specificgenres of their academic disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Papeles: Revista de la Facultad de Educación Universidad Antonio Nariño is the property of Universidad Antonio Narino and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article develops a theoretical approach and a "critical reading" of the concept of violence. It highlights the difficulty for its conceptualization due to the semantic range of the word, which, as the article shows, is huge and ultimately refers to quite dissimilar things. The author focuses on the discussion of this issue in Colombia, using very broad theoretical references that have been present in her research over the past 20 years (1989-2009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]