By Laura Heredia

Chapter 1

Context

The school Técnico Domingo Faustino Sarmiento I.E.D is a public institution located in
TV 60 # 95 – 51, Rio Negro neighborhood, Barrios Unidos locality, in the northwestern area of
Bogotá. The school Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was inaugurated in honor of the Argentine
politician, educator, and military with the same name in 1972. Currently, the school is directed by
the principal Marco Aurelio Vargas Morales. Besides, the institution has four headquarters in the
same area. The action research project was carried out in the branch B which is located on the
Calle 91a # 38 – 02. In front of the institution there is a private school with only elementary
education. On the other hand, the school is surrounded by family houses and a few blocks to the
south is Escuela Militar de Cadetes.

Concerning the physical plant of the building, it is surrounded by a fence, and it has one
floor and ramps in places where they are necessary as the slopes to access the classrooms and the
restrooms. Besides, the school has a game room, a computer classroom, a music classroom, a
teachers’ lounge, and the coordination room. In this branch is the fourth and fifth grades of the
institution; there are three course for each grade. This way, there are six classrooms, one for each
course. Moreover, there is a football court in the front of the school while in the back there is a
garden where students cultivate … .

The school Domingo Faustino Sarmiento provides academic degrees since kindergarten to
eleventh grade. Moreover, the institution offers an academic shift in the morning and afternoon
for elementary and high school while the educative activities of kindergarten are developed in a
single shift in the morning. Furthermore, the school manages the academic calendar A. As for the
educational training of students, this institution promotes human development and the formation
of citizens through the recognition of individual differences and diversity as elements that enrich
the society. In that sense, the institution emphasizes values as solidarity, respect, responsibility,
justice, and equity as well as critical thought to contribute to the transformation of the
environment and social construction.
 Then, the school Domingo Faustino Sarmiento applies a constructivist perspective and
pedagogical model in the training of students. Thus, students develop an own construction of
their reality since their first experience and through interaction with others to get involved in …
society. Moreover, the school uses a pedagogical approach called sociocultural paradigm where
the individual is not the only component of the learning process but also all his component
aspects such as his personal history and social environment. This way, students are characterized
by their commitment and responsibility to their life project and their contribution to the
community.

Participants:

Concerning the participants of this research project, they belong to fourth grade,
specifically 402; there are 17 boys and 13 girls for a total of 30 students in the course, and their
ages range from 8 to 9 years old. They are in the morning shift that starts at 6:50 am to 12:00 pm.
They take two hours of English per week on Thursdays at 9:30 am to 11:30 am. With regard to
students’ context, the majority of them live in Suba, Rio negro and a few of them in Chapinero,
that said, their socio-economic strata is between 1, 2 and 3. On the other hand, their family unit is
composed in some cases by the two parents, in others only by one parent, and other students
come from foundations.

Additionally, three tools were applied to know the interest and the English level of the
students; a questionary, an interview and field notes of the class observation are the instruments
that were used with that purpose. Regarding to the students’ preference, the questionary and the
field notes showed that they are interested to do different activities in the classroom such as
draw, games and listening activities with music. On the other hand, the interview with the teacher
in charge of the course showed students feel comfortable to go to the school and participate in the
classroom without fear.

Concerning the English level of the learners, they are aware of … necessity to improve all
the skills in the foreign language, mainly the writing skills, even this is the ability they think they
need to work on the most according to the questionary. Besides, the majority of the students like
to learn English and all of them think the foreign language is important for their lives in terms of
communication, traveling, and learning. Nevertheless, the constantly use of Spanish in the
English class is a factor that hinders the process of learning in the students.
 Research Question

What are the implication, if any, of using 21st century skills to improve writing abilities on
4th graders at Domingo Faustino Sarmiento school to foster communication?

Research Objectives

General Objective

To establish the implications of 21st century skills in the improvement of writing abilities
as a way to foster the … communication of 4th graders at Domingo Faustino Sarmiento school.

Specific Objectives

 To identify the opportunities of using 21st Century Skills in the English context of
4th graders at Domingo Faustino Sarmiento school.
 To implement activities related to creative writing that promote the students’
participation, understanding creativity as one of the components of 21st Century
Skills.
 To analyze the result of the students’ development in writing activities through the
use of 21st Century Skills.
 Literature Review

Table 1

Studies related to 21st Century Skills, creative writing, and communication.

Title Institution / place Year Author(s)

Design of a Bilingual Learning Universidad Santo 2023 Hernandez, Mauricio
Environment framed in a Pedagogical Tomás de Aquino de Jesus; Contreras,
Project and the 4 C’s of 21st Century María José; Ardila,
Skills as a teaching strategy aimed at Nathaly.
improving Second Language Learning
processes, two primary English teachers
from a private school in Norte de
Santander (Colombia). An Exploratory
Research.
Components of Education 4.0 in 21st Mexico 2022 González, Laura;
Century Skills Frameworks: Systematic Ramírez María.
Review
Fostering writing skills in students from Universidad 2020 Navarrete, Carolina.
tenth grade at a public school through Pedagógica
creative writing strategies and process Nacional
writing approach.
Write creatively to think and think Universidad 2020 Benitez, Cristian.
creatively to write. Pedagógica
Nacional
Project-based Learning: The Promotion (Universidad de 2022 Becerra, Tatiana;
of Communicative Competence and Córdoba) Bogotá, García, Paula; Sagre,
Self-Confidence at a State High School Colombia Ana; Cárcamo,
in Colombia. Isabel; Herazo, Jose
Developing Students’ Initial EFL Universidad 2020 Bernal, Milena
Communicative Competence. Pedagógica
 Nacional

The first study, considered as relevant for this research project, is called Design of a Bilingual

Learning Environment framed in a Pedagogical Project and the 4 C’s of 21st Century Skills as a

teaching strategy aimed at improving Second Language Learning processes, two primary

English teachers from a private school in Norte de Santander (Colombia). An Exploratory

Research by Hernandez, Contreras and Ardila (2023). It was a mixed research with an

exploratory design focused on creating an environment to improve the English learning process

of 4th graders in a private school in Santander; additionally, two English teacher were involved to

improve the teaching process too. The authors implemented four 21st Century Skills (creativity,

communication, collaboration, critical thinking) through a Project Based Learning to motivate the

students’ participation.

The results of this research project regarding the 21st Century Skills showed that many

students did not have any idea of this kind of skills, except for the importance of teamwork and

the development of critical thinking in different activities. As a consequence, they did not

recognize the benefit of applying the 21st Century Skills for their future lives. On the other hand,

the participants were students that started classes face-to-faces after a virtual process. For that

reason, there were many factors that affect their learning process and interaction in the English

class such as demotivation and lack of autonomy. Eventually, this research is important for this

proposal because it evidenced that the application of 21st Century Skills has a positive impact not

just in the learning process of the students but also in the teaching because the classes are not

based on just transmitting information, but the use of these competence creates new situation

related to students’ environment and it generates new tools to develop in real life.
 Another remarkable study is Components of Education 4.0 in 21st Century Skills

Frameworks: Systematic Review presented by González and Ramírez in 2022. This study was a

systematic review of 56 articles related to the application of 21st century skills in the foreign

language classroom to identify which teaching and learning strategy is the most successful for

developing future skills. The authors followed five steps in the project: the first one was to create

research questions to guide the process; the second one was the article search; the third one was

to select the most relevant articles according to the criteria; the fourth one was to validate the

information; and finally present a synthesis of the selected works.

This research emphasized the 21st Century Skills as support abilities for students to solve

different problems that may arise in their future, considering the changes that society has.

Moreover, the results of the systematic review showed the use of these tools could improve other

areas in students’ learning process such as motivation and interaction in the classroom.

Nevertheless, teachers should be prepared to assume this new way to teach and explore the

different possibilities the methodology provides in education. Besides, according to the study, it

is necessary to have not just knowledge about the use of these abilities but also the resources to

implement it in the English class as technology. Finally, 21st Century Skills allows for developing

future abilities in students, in the same way, “the necessary changes to construct a sustainable

development future in all disciplines of knowledge” (Gonzales & Montoya, 2022).

Moving on, the next research considered important for this study is Fostering Writing Skills in

Students from Tenth Grade at a Public School through Creative Writing Strategies and Process

Writing Approach by Navarrete (2020). It was a qualitative action research study where the main

idea was to analyze the implications of using creative writing strategies with a group of 12 tenth

graders at a public school in Bogotá. In that sense, the author implemented three cycles with nine
interventions where students were introduced in the writing process. Additionally, Navarrete used

different writing strategies from author such as Rodari, Flower and Hayes.

This research project showed the creative writing has to be considered as a continuous process

with different stages for the creation of a text. Moreover, the results of the study pointed out the

necessity of different stimulus as … complement of the creative writing such as images and input

to facilitate the writing process. Additionally, literature input was applied to motivate the

learners’ creativity, complemented their vocabulary, and brought some grammar structures

necessaries for express their ideas. In that sense, students were more aware of their own process,

and they improved their writing level in English. Besides, creative writing permitted freedom in

students’ productions, that said, they did not feel pressure to accomplish teacher’s expectations.

Therefore, this work is important for this research as it shows a broader perspective of the

benefits of creative writing and how it helps not just to improve the learners’ level in English but

also, how students can find their own voice, and improve their self-expression.

Another relevant study for this project is Write Creatively to Think and Think Creatively to

Write presented by Benitez in 2020. It was a qualitive action research focused on improving

creativity of students of the Language Centre of Pedagogic University through creative writing.

To achieve this objective, the author used visible thinking routines that awakened this ability of

the learners. Therefore, Benitez proposed two areas where this skill can improve the learning

process of students: in their thinking, making connections between different ideas and developing

the skill of solving-problems; and in their writing, where they could reflect their personality.

The findings that were obtained in this study demonstrated creative writing reinforced the

students’ motivation in the foreign language through different activities that caught the learners’

attention. Additionally, the results of the research evidenced that the use of creativity in the
classroom improves different areas such as thinking and skills in the foreign language. In that

way, learners could express their own point of view in distinct situation through writing

reinforcing their originality. Besides, according to this study, creative writing could be

implemented to increase the students’ independence in their productions. Therefore, this research

is important for this project because the connection between 21st Century Skills and the

opportunity to improve the English level of students in a different way that focus on their interest.

Another significant study that needs to be highlighted is Project-based Learning: The

Promotion of Communicative Competence and Self-Confidence at a State High School in

Colombia by Becerra, García, Sagre, Cárcamo, and Herazo (2022). This research was a qualitive

action research where the authors introduced the project-based learning methodology in the

context of one pre-service EFL teacher and a group of 32 eighth graders of a school in Monteria,

Colombia with the aim of improving the communication and trust of the participants in that area .

In that sense, the PBL program consisted of a six-lesson project developed in six weeks about

Colombian traditional food where students had to share their experience and knowledge about the

topic with others.

The result of this research project showed the use of project-based learning bring

opportunities to do communicative activities for students than generate self-confidence and

collaborative work. Actually, the environment in the classroom changed because students

avoided laughing at their peer but help them in the pronunciation. As a consequence, students

developed different communicative competences. In conclusion, it is important … generate a safe

environment to improve communicative skills of students, besides, the collaborative work is a

good strategy to manage the learners’ shyness and implement their scaffolding and correction

during their performance.

 The last research considered essential to this proposal is named Developing Students’ Initial

EFL Communicative Competence carried out by Bernal in 2020. This study was a qualitative

action research with the aim of identifying the implication of Communicative Language Teaching

in … fifth graders’ context. In that sense, the author used three stages where the first one was to

introduce new vocabulary and grammar structures, the second one was to use those tools in

communicative situations and finally, exchanging of ideas and messages. That said, both written

activities and pre-communicative activities were applied at the same time to reinforce the

participation of students. Besides, the development of this project was divided into three modules

where students spoke about their daily routines, their favorite activities, and hobbies.

The result of this research revelated that the CLT helped to improve not only the students’

communication but also their recognition of grammar structures as these were used during the

construction of the message given by students. Therefore, the finding of the study showed the

relation between writing and oral skills to build meaningful communication. Besides, the CLT

was useful to stimulate initial communication through interaction between the learners and the

creation of an environment to practice and appropriate of the target language. Additionally, the

participants felt more comfortable to ask questions and repetition without feeling fear to be judge.

Finally, these studies allowed to know the scope of each of the topics addressed in this

research within the teaching of English as a foreign language, that said, the benefits of their

implementation and the different forms to manage them in the classroom. Additionally, these

studies showed some tools and information to guide this process, besides, some limitations to

consider during the development of the research that are key to understand the future results.

Theoretical Framework
 21st Century Skills

Nowadays, the educational system has adapted to current developments by integrating

different strategies so that students have a learning process that provides tools for their life in …

society, this is the purpose of implementing 21st Century Skills in the classroom regardless of the

academic subject. The Partnership for 21st Century (2009) … divided into four areas with

different skills as is showed in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Elements of 21st Century Skills

Note. Taken from P21 Framework Definitions (p.1), by Partnership for 21st Century, 2009.

The Learning and Innovation Skills area is integrated by four important abilities according to

the Partnership for 21st Century (2009) that will be considered for this research which are

creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. Gomez (2022) defined creativity

as a way to achieve an objective using new approaches, innovation, and invention; critical

thinking as a form to analyze a situation since different perspectives to find solutions;

communication as interaction with others to share ideas clearly; and collaboration as working in

team to achieve a common goal.

Therefore, Erdoğan (2019) emphasizes the implementation of 21st Century skills in the four

language skills as a way to enrich the learning and teaching process because students can develop

different competences to use the foreign language in real situations, besides, the integration of

21st Century skills in the English classroom prepares learners to their futures and the demands of

the society. Additionally, Ananiadou and Claro (2009) define 21st Century Skills as “those skills

and competencies young people will be required to have in order to be effective workers and

citizens in the knowledge society of the 21st century” (p.8).

Finally, Erdoğan (2019) suggests teachers analyze the integration of this tool in the English

classroom as a complement of the different language skills and as a way to bring elements for

young people citizenship. Moreover, all the 21st Century Skills are connected, so it is possible to

work in several areas at the same time. In that sense, teachers should implement 21st century

skills as a complement to English classes by understanding that education is not unrelated to the

social, political, and economic situations that occur in … society of which students will be future

participants.

Creative Writing

To begin with, creativity is a complex concept with many different definitions and

applications in education, for instance, Oxford University Press ELT (2013) postulates “Creative

activities allow students to express what they’ve learned in a new way. This synthesizing and

personalizing of knowledge consolidates learning and creates an experience that remains with

students long after the class is over”. On the other hand, Boden (2001, as quoted in Tin, 2013)
states “creativity is considered as the ability to come up with new ideas that are surprising yet

intelligible, and also valuable in some way” (p.386). In that sense, creativity is composed by

elements as originality, innovation, and express … personality, besides, according to Tin (2013)

“language creativity can be defined as the playful use of language to construct new and surprising

meaning” (p.387).

Additionally, there are many benefits of creativity as Read (2015) remarks “through the

integration of creative thinking in English lessons, children develop relevant cognitive skills,

such as observing, questioning, comparing, contrasting, imagining, and hypothesizing” (p. 29)

even the students' motivation increases because there is a connection with their experiences, that

said, there is a personal relationship between learner and production creating interest in the

English activities.

Moving on, creative writing is defined by Schneider and Killick as (2002) a tool for the self-

exploration where it is not necessary … explanations of the production because writing is related

to the thought and ideas of its creator. Additionally, creative writing permits a deeper process and

develops a personal approach, besides, it helps to develop a writing habit in learners. On the other

hand, Clark (2022) states original writing that expresses ideas in an imaginary way is …

simplistic definition of creative writing, for that reason, he mentions about creative writing that:

Naturally, as the name suggests, it is all built around the idea of being creative or

imaginative. It’s to do with using your brain and your own thoughts to create writing that

goes outside the realms of what’s expected. This type of writing tends to be more unique

as it comes from a personal place. Each individual has their own level of creativity,

combined with their own thoughts and views on different things. Therefore, you can

conjure up your own text and stories that could be completely different from others.
 In that sense, creative writing is a form to know the different perspective, ideas, thoughts,

feelings, and imagination of students through their production. Moreover, it allows learners to

approach to their own process of learning the foreign language leaving the standardization of

rules for writing, that is, evaluating each composition in a different, unique, and specific way to

each student as mentioned by Clark.

Nevertheless, according to Brand (1980) creative writing is not a substitute of academic

writing “But free writing also offered an ideal medium for practicing and developing correct

sentence structure, clarity, and form” (p. 66). That means, it is necessary to bring grammar

structures, vocabulary, and organization in this kind of production without intervening in the

students’ process of creating, in this way they will have the tools to express themselves using the

target language correctly.

Communicative skills

Erdoğan (2019) expresses that “one of the main goals in learning a foreign language is being

able to communicate in that language, EFL classes are perfect environments for boosting

communication skills of students” (p.118). Additionally, he states that communication is not only

the use of grammar and vocabulary, tools that are obtusely necessaries, but “it also involves the

ability to express oneself clearly and appropriately depending on … situation, interlocutors, topic,

time and place” (p.118). That said, there are several factors involved in communication and they

have to be considered in the classroom to develop the students’ oral performance and motivate

their participation, even more in the learning of a foreign language.

In fact, Rickheit, Strohner, & Vorwerg, (2008) state communication competence has a part

directly connected with the results of the communication and interaction with other in the

context.
 Communicative competences is a complex term with a rich internal and external

structure. Regarding the internal structure, we have to relate it to subordinated terms such

as effectiveness and appropriateness. Whereas effectiveness describes the outcome of

communicative competences, appropriateness connects it with the situational conditions

of the actual social interaction. (p. 16)

Therefore, communicative skill are composed not only of oral production but also of the

meaning given by its participants so that the interaction between them is clearly and effectively.

About this Littlewood (1981) … “The most efficient communicator in a foreign language is not

always the person who is best at manipulating its structures. it is often the person who is most

skilled at processing the complete situation involving himself and his hearer” (p.4). At the same

time Arias, Gómez, and Vera (2015) states that communicative skill refers to the speakers’ ability

to express and understand a message, besides, considering the meaning within a particular speech

community.

In sum, communicative skills are abilities to interpretate a message within an interaction

using appropriately the target language and understanding meanings that go beyond grammatical

structures. For that reason, students need space to use the foreign language in real situation, in

that sense, teachers must promote participation in the English classroom introducing linguistic

and functional knowledge that … be useful in social interactions.

Reference

Arias, L., Gómez, L., & Vera, E. (2015) Fostering Listening Skills and Initial Intercultural
Communicative Competence in EFL Pre-Service Teachers Through the Use Of ICT.
Universidad Pedagógica Nacional.
Ananiadou, K., & Claro, M. (2009). 21st century skills and competences for new millennium
learners in OECD countries. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 41, OECD
Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/218525261154.

Becerra, T., García, P., Sagre, A., Cárcamo, I., & Herazo, J. (2022) Project-based Learning: The
Promotion of Communicative Competence and Self-Confidence at a State High School in
Colombia. HOW, 29(2), 13-31.
https://doi.org/10.19183/how.29.2.560.

Benitez, C. (2020). Write creatively to think and think creatively to write. Universidad
Pedagógica Nacional.

Bernal, M. (2020). Developing Students’ Initial EFL Communicative Competence. Universidad

Pedagógica Nacional.

Brand, A. (1980). Creative Writing in English Education: An Historical Perspective. The Journal
of Education, 162(4), 63–82.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/42742016

Clark. (2022). What is creative writing? The ULTIMATE guide! Oxford Royale. Retrieved from:

https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/what-is-creative-writing/

Erdoğan, V. (2019). Integrating 4C skills of the 21st century into 4 language skills in EFL
classes. International Journal of Education and Research, 7(11), 113- 124.
https://www.ijern.com/journal/2019/November-2019/09.pdf

Gomez, M. (2022). What are the 4 c's of 21st century skills? - Southwest Charlotte STEM

Academy. Southwest Charlotte STEM Academy. Retrieved from:

https://scstemacademy.org/4-cs-of-21st-century-skills/

González, L., & Ramírez M. (2022). Components of Education 4.0 in 21st Century Skills
Frameworks: Systematic Review. Sustainability 14, 1493.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031493.
Hernandez, M., Contreras, M., & Ardila, N. (2023). Design of a Bilingual Learning Environment
framed in a Pedagogical Project and the 4 C’s of 21st Century Skills as a teaching
strategy aimed at improving Second Language Learning processes, two primary English
teachers from a private school in Norte de Santander (Colombia). An Exploratory
Research. Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, Colombia.

Littlewood, W. (1981). What is communicative ability? In Communicative Language Teaching.

An Introduction. Cambridge.

Navarrete, C. (2020). Fostering writing skills in students from tenth grade at a public school
through creative writing strategies and process writing approach. Universidad
Pedagógica Nacional.

Oxford University Press ELT. (2013). 5 Ways to prepare your students for the 21st century.
Retrieved from https://oupeltglobalblog.com/2013/10/09/5-ways-to-prepare-your-
students-for-the-21st-century/

Partnership for 21st Century. (2009). P21 framework definitions: Partnership for 21st Century
Skills. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED519462.pdf

Read, C. (2015). Seven pillars of creativity in primary ELT. Creativity in the English language
classroom, 29-36

Rickheit, G., Strohner, H., & Vorwerg, C. (2008). The foundations. In Handbook of
Communication Competence (pp. 15-62). Walter de Gruyter.

Schneider, M., & Killick, J. (2002). Writing for self-discovery. A personal approach to creative
writing. Vega.

Tin, T. B. (2013). Towards creativity in ELT: the need to say something new. ELT Journal 67(4),
385–397.
https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/cct022

The organization of ideas is mostly good.

Investigate the approach integrated skills to use it in your teaching or any other approach to guide
the design of your lesson plans.

Expand the information of creative writing, making emphasis on the steps to apply them.

The information is very complete and well-written.

You need to think of a specific methodology to apply the 21st century skills. Think about it:
integrated skills or the communicative approach.

What kind of activities are you going to create in order to foster 21st century skills? Think of a
specific context or specific topics to apply in your research.

Check the corrections and comments made.

4.7