Latin American Bildungsromans : constructing identities in an EFL classroom.

Abstract

The present qualitative action research project aims to identify how Bildungsromans written by Latin American women might impact identity construction while fostering writing skills through a diary creation in eighth grade female students at Lorencita Villegas de Santos school located in Bogotá, Colombia. The project was developed in an EFL classroom with 25 students aged between 13 and 17 years old. For this proposal, data was collected through instruments such as surveys, interviews, field notes and artifacts, ensuring reliability and data triangulation. During the intervention two specific Bildungsromans were used: “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, and “Eva Luna” by Isabel Allende. During the reading of the texts, three pedagogical cycles were implemented, while fostering writing skills and identity construction. The data demonstrated that Bildungsromans written by Latin American women have a significant impact on the construction of identity and reinforcement of writing skills for the LVS eighth grade students. Through the reflective activities based on the readings, the students managed to explore personal matters such as family origins, emotions, likes or dislikes, values, and aspirations.