Language and Literacy Practices in Teacher Education: Contributions from a Local Agenda

Main Article Content

Amparo Clavijo-Olarte
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3752-7020

Abstract

Language and literacy practices in teacher education are decisive in the education of future language teachers. In this article, I share my beliefs as a teacher educator about language and literacy practices constructed with teachers in Bogota. Thus, my intention is to weave my professional narrative through the connections I can make from theory and praxis to explain teachers´ understandings of language and literacy through their life and literacy experiences and the way they organize their practice as language teachers. My research trajectory of thirty years documenting the local literacy practices within the research area of literacy studies and local pedagogies for social transformation has significantly informed my practice. University-school partnerships and international collaborations for research and teaching in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Manchester, in the USA, and Dundee, in the UK, have nurtured me personally and professionally. My understanding of literacy as a social practice evolved to critical literacies and I developed knowledge in community pedagogies and city semiotic landscapes through reflections and collaborations via working with teachers. Community-based pedagogies (CBPs) invite teachers to see their life and work in relation to places they live and teach as meaningful content for linguistic, social, cultural, ecological, and economic resources to inspire students´ inquiries and teachers´ transformative practices. The city semiotic landscapes are powerful literacies for language learning; therefore, they currently adhere to the research group´s agenda (2019-2021). I describe my understandings, contributions, and suggestions as concerns in the field of teacher education in Colombia. My conclusions raise awareness about the need to address these topics in teacher education programs in Colombia.

Article Details

How to Cite
Clavijo-Olarte, A. . (2021). Language and Literacy Practices in Teacher Education: Contributions from a Local Agenda. HOW, 28(3), 47–61. https://doi.org/10.19183/how.28.3.680
Section
Reflections and Revision of Themes
Author Biography

Amparo Clavijo-Olarte, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas

She is a professor of literacy and qualitative research and a researcher in the areas of Local Literacies and Teacher Education at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas in Bogotá, Colombia. Her most current research is on the city as curriculum: opportunities for literacies, ethnography, and pedagogy of place.

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