The didactics of the mother tongue for the strengthening of culture identity

The didactics of the mother tongue for the strengthening of culture identity

La didáctica de la clase de lengua materna para el fortalecimiento de la identidad cultural

**Cite as**
Leiva Ramírez, D., Hernández Mayea, T., Enebral Rodríguez, R., García Echemendía , T. (2023). The teaching of the mother tongue class to strengthen cultural identity. Mendive. Journal of Education, 21 (4), e3264. https://mendive.upr.edu.cu/index.php/MendiveUPR/article/view/3264

The teaching-learning process of the mother tongue in the Bachelor of Education, Spanish-Literature course and the strengthening of cultural identity are based on the contributions of Cuban pedagogy, the dialectical-materialist method whose most current expression in Cuba is it manifests itself in the cognitive, communicative and sociocultural approach, 6 on the conceptions of the historical-cultural school and the developer teaching. Also in the educational framework, from the interrelation of the student with the cultural context in which he develops. The objective was to characterize the components of the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue in the Bachelor of Education, Spanish-Literature degree at the University of Sancti Spíritus "José Martí Pérez" for the strengthrning of cultural identity from the study of marti´s work. During the investigative process the methods were applied: analytical-synthetic and document analysis. A characterization of the aforementioned components is proposed. This evidenced the potential of the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue to strengthen cultural identity based on the treatment of language as an expression and support of cultural identity and the use of marti´s work.

El proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la lengua materna en la carrera Licenciatura en Educación, Español-Literatura, para el fortalecimiento de la identidad cultural, se sustenta en los aportes de la pedagogía cubana y el método dialéctico-materialista, cuya expresión más actual en Cuba se manifiesta en los enfoques cognitivo, comunicativo y sociocultural, a partir de las concepciones de la escuela histórico-cultural y la enseñanza desarrolladora; también en el marco educativo, a partir de la interrelación del estudiante con el contexto cultural en el cual se desarrolla. El objetivo se dirigió a caracterizar los componentes del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la lengua materna en la carrera Licenciatura en Educación, Español-Literatura, de la Universidad de Sancti Spíritus "José Martí Pérez" para el fortalecimiento de la identidad cultural, a partir del estudio de la obra martiana. Durante el proceso investigativo se aplicaron los métodos: analítico-sintético y análisis de documentos. Se propuso una caracterización de los mencionados componentes. Ello evidenció las potencialidades del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la lengua materna para fortalecer la identidad cultural, en función del tratamiento de la lengua como expresión y soporte de identidad cultural y el empleo de la obra martiana.

O processo de ensino-aprendizagem da língua materna no Bacharelado em Educação, Literatura Espanhola, para o fortalecimento da identidade cultural, baseia-se nas contribuições da pedagogia cubana e do método dialético-materialista, cuja expressão mais atual em Cuba se manifesta em abordagens cognitivas, comunicativas e socioculturais, baseadas nas concepções da escola histórico-cultural e do ensino desenvolvimentista; também no âmbito educacional, a partir da inter-relação do aluno com o contexto cultural em que se desenvolve. O objetivo foi caracterizar os componentes do processo de ensino-aprendizagem da língua materna no curso de Bacharelado em Educação, Literatura Espanhola, da Universidade de Sancti Spíritus "José Martí Pérez" para o fortalecimento da identidade cultural, a partir de o estudo da obra de Martí. Durante o processo investigativo foram aplicados os seguintes métodos: analítico-sintético e análise documental. Foi proposta uma caracterização dos componentes mencionados. Isso evidenciou o potencial do processo de ensino-aprendizagem da língua materna para fortalecer a identidade cultural, a partir do tratamento da língua como expressão e suporte da identidade cultural e do uso da obra de Martí.

Students of the Bachelor's Degree in Education, Spanish - Literature, have the responsibility of directing the teaching-learning process aimed at the comprehensive formation of the personality of their future students, through linguistic and literary content. Specifically, in Study Plan E of this degree, one of its objectives is that students must be able to: "Reveal in their personality the qualities inherent to a Spanish-Literature teacher, such as: respect and care for the language as a tool and expression of Cuban cultural identity, and being a good reader […]". It is also added that: "In the pedagogical process, the Spanish -Literature teacher [...], in addition to transmitting culture, has the responsibility of transmitting values, such as patriotism, love of independence and national sovereignty, justice social and national unity, solidarity and rejection of imperialism and all forms of exploitation and oppression of human beings (Study Plan E, 2016, p. 10).

In tune with these social demands, knowledge of language is added as a tool of cognition and communication. Specifically, the disciplines that are oriented to this end in the first year are: Language and Communication, Linguistic Studies and Literary Studies.

The Language and Communication discipline enables students to develop linguistic macro skills to reach desired levels as a linguistic model and critical reader, in order for them to achieve ways of thinking and acting typical of what is aspired from a Spanish teacher - Literature; It includes the programs of the subjects Communication and Text, Comprehension and Construction of Texts and Regulations.

The Linguistic Studies discipline continues the preparation of students as models in oral and written communication in the Spanish language, depending on whether these competencies serve them for the direction of educational processes, as part of their professional performance. In this discipline, the programs for the subjects Introduction to Linguistic Studies and Spanish Phonetics and Phonology are taught in the first year.

With the discipline of Literary Studies, the student's literary competence is aspired, based on the taste and enjoyment that any relationship with books and literature in different formats implies. The ideas that appear in this program are significant regarding:

This discipline is integrated into the programs of the subjects Introduction to Literary Studies and General Literature I, in the first year.

These reasons require these disciplines to be perfected and revitalized to strengthen the cultural identity of the students, whose treatment has been left to spontaneity. It is inferred, then, the need for its projection to achieve new ways of thinking and acting typical of what is aspired from a Spanish -Literature teacher in the current context.

So much so that, in January 2017, as part of the effort of the Ministry of Higher Education (MES) aimed at the process of perfecting the strategy for the mother tongue, there was a debate about the urgent need to enable its proper use in undergraduate studies. and in postgraduate studies. Subsequently, in February 2020, in an exchange carried out by President Miguel Díaz-Canel with professors from the "Enrique José Varona" University of Pedagogical Sciences, under the question of how to defend the Spanish language as a symbol of cultural identity, it was suggested to promote a campaign for the good use of the language, raise the quality of teachers who teach the Spanish language and literature, establish necessary alliances with the Cuban Academy of Language and other organizations to glorify being Cuban through the use of the language.

It was also urged to include classic and contemporary literary works in the study plans, to promote reading as Martí's method of delving into life, and to design a linguistic policy that goes through all training processes. In these interventions, references were made to the figures of Martí and Fidel, who always used language as a weapon of struggle. This demonstrates the maximum interest of the MES and the political will of the leadership of the country in which they feel proud of the Cuban variant of Spanish, in which the language is assumed as an identity value, contrary to the growing deterioration among Cubans in employment. this.

The deepening of the topic has allowed the author to consider the studies of Romeu (2007, 2013); Burbano (2018); Calderon (2018); García (2018); Duarte, Sobrino and Acosta (2019); Fierro (2019); Martínez (2020); Leiva, Bonachea and Enebral (2021), who have enhanced their research on the teaching-learning process in the Spanish -Literature degree.

These fundamentally refer to the cultural coating that reading means for the human being, to reading as a way to strengthen identity and cultural heritage, to the didactic resources of literature as culturally rooted content and have also deepened, in the axiological-identitarian potential of historical and linguistic-literary content, in a general sense.

The purpose was to characterize the components of the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue in the Bachelor's degree in Education, Spanish - Literature at the University of Sancti Spíritus "José Martí Pérez" for the strengthening of cultural identity, based on the study of Martian work.

The University of Sancti Spíritus "José Martí Pérez" was selected as the setting or scope of the research and the unit of study was the teaching-learning process. The population was considered to be the 28 students who are studying the Bachelor of Education, Spanish - Literature, at the University of Sancti Spíritus "José Martí Pérez" in the 2017-2018 academic year, and the 23 professors who are members of the group of said career. The six first-year students and the 14 professors who were members of that group in the aforementioned period were intentionally selected as a sample. The intentional selection of the sample was due to the results of the pedagogical observation, the criteria of the head of the brigade of the University Student Federation (FEU) in the wandering stage, the availability of the rest of the students' members of the group of first year to cooperate and participate.

The methodology used was based on the dialectical-materialist method as a general method, which based on its principles, laws and categories, outlined the guidelines for investigative operations.

In the research process, the qualitative methodological approach was assumed as a way to understand the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue and improve its educational practice.

In planning the investigative process, it was also necessary to determine the methods and techniques of the theoretical and empirical levels:

The theoretical method used was the analytical-synthetic method, which was used in the study and processing of the information collected about the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue in the Bachelor of Education, Spanish-Literature degree.

The empirical method used was document analysis; Study Plan E, the programs of the disciplines Language and Communication, Linguistic Studies and Literary Studies with their respective subject programs were studied.

The discipline programs are aimed at promoting education in political and ideological, aesthetic and ethical values that are based on the analysis of texts related to Martí's ideology and work.

These were almost exclusively from practicing teachers, unlike previous moments, and the analyzes were based on theoretical positions in the educational sciences. Its authors focused on searching in Martí for ethical and humanist references of social significance, in favor of education, culture, ideology, among others.

With the current E study plan, which began in 2016-2017, the treatment of Martí's work appears inserted in all discipline programs, which led to its didactic-methodological implementation, avoiding imposition. Its planning from the teaching-learning process responds to the new national and international conditions in which the construction of Cuban society continues. However, knowledge of the life and work of José Martí is still insufficient, which was confirmed in different investigative studies carried out, consulted for this investigation.

Among the reasons were that it is not considered fundamental in careers other than history and literature, the freedom that the different specialties have for the definition of their own and optional-elective curricula, the limited linking of the contents related to the work. and life of Martí with a general system of knowledge, the lack of knowledge on the part of university students of previous content on this topic, their poor preparation for the understanding of Martí's texts together with the apathy for these contents due to the saturation of their study with incorrect practices.

Also, in general, a lack of culture and preparation of teachers was found, the assumption of inadequate models, the misrepresentation of their thinking, failures in the planning of improvement and methodological work, among others. Knowing this, the current historical, economic and sociocultural conditions impose new concerns among university teachers of different generations who seek confirmation, direction or foundation for their educational performance in Marti's ideas. That is why it became necessary to characterize the components of the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue in the Bachelor of Education, Spanish - Literature degree from a perspective that made it possible to strengthen cultural identity.

What has already been explained led to a characterization of the components of the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue in the Bachelor of Education, Spanish -Literature degree. Next, the objectives of the different disciplines in the first year of the aforementioned degree are presented. These were essentially aimed at the comprehensive training of students, based on linguistic and literary content.

- Characterize the communication process and the elements that intervene in it; Identify the functions of communication.

- Characterize the text taking into account its dimensions and construction levels.

- Classify the different types of text according to their code, elocutionary form, function and style.

- Develop critical, intelligent and creative understanding in cognitive activity.

- Analyze the text semantically, syntactically and pragmatically, based on the textual understanding process.

- Demonstrate mastery of literature as an art of the word and expression of the cultural imagination.

- Conduct the teaching-learning of literature, through the application or creation of methodologies and strategies that facilitate the enjoyment of literary reading.

- Contribute to raising their aesthetic, cultural, scientific, ideological, political, economic, legal, ethical and environmental training to enhance in a coherent way the analysis and in-depth assessment of the literary work.

- Master the mother tongue as a support for literary communication, in particular, linguistic properties and structures as an expressive instrument of literature.

- Know how to contextualize the aesthetic, cognitive, ethical and recreational values of literary works in the comprehensive education of the student.

The content is linked to the processes of understanding, analysis and construction of texts. In this sense, it was important to exploit the possibilities offered by the aforementioned disciplines to work on Marti's texts of diverse typologies that contribute to permanently raising the ideological and political, economic and legal, scientific, environmental, and comprehensive general cultural preparation of the students.

Emphasis was placed on the structure of the discourse and the characteristics of the communicative means (verbal and non-verbal), and their use in different texts, according to the demands of the year. In this way, how language is used in different contexts, the modes of action and cognitive and metacognitive strategies to understand, analyze and construct texts in different styles were illustrated. The historical contextualization of literary texts and their analysis also made it possible to analyze the use of language for the transmission of feelings and educational, political and ideological influence and for the formation of values.

Of the methods, productive ones were preferably used, since they guaranteed the acquisition of new knowledge, taking into account different levels of cognitive activity. Of them, heuristics, since they involved the partial or total search for knowledge, which can take place through the teacher's presentation, conversation or independent work. That is why the use of the heuristic conversation method was essential in the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue; This turned the class into a communication scenario where students and teachers are sometimes senders and other times receivers.

The following procedures were used: questions and answers, reading, copying, making cards, diagrams, concept maps, dictation, and dramatization.

The teaching aids were: Cuaderno Martiano II, Cuaderno Martiano III and Martí at Universidad IV, dictionaries, photos, videos, electronic presentations, in addition to traditional media.

The evaluation was conceived as a process aimed at evaluating the level of development of the cognitive-communicative and sociocultural competence of the students, taking into account the specificity of the year's objectives.

The fundamental form of organization of the teaching-learning process in the Bachelor of Education, Spanish -Literature degree, was the class, in which the necessary conditions were created to merge teaching and education into a single process and thus provide students with students of knowledge, skills, habits in order to develop their cognitive abilities.

The teacher, responsible for teaching and learning, acted as a mediator in the student's development process; He created an atmosphere of trust, security and empathy in the group and thus his work had an impact on the personality of the students. He organized learning situations based on real problems with reasonable levels of challenge, which expanded the zone of proximal development of his students.

Coupled with this, he supported his students to accept the challenges of learning. He provided them with the necessary help to reach the solution to the problems, individualizing them according to each one's diagnosis. He encouraged the participation of all members of the group. It facilitated expression, the communication of ideas and served as a model.

For his part, the student was the protagonist of the teaching-learning process where he developed a productive and creative activity and proposed learning goals, for which he established action plans to achieve them. He knew his strengths and limitations; he was able to self-evaluate his own progress and the results of his work. He actively participated in the communication and cooperation processes that took place in the group.

Every student had opportunities to learn and grow according to their potential, which depended on what they contributed from themselves and the influence of their closest environment. He was also aware that he learns from others and understood that others can also learn from him, which is why he valued learning as an intrinsic part of his life and as a source of personal growth, not only intellectual, but also emotional and social.

Regarding the group, the space where learning occurred, it was made up of interactions and communication, which generated a special dynamic where the qualities and values of the students' personalities were formed, due to its interactive essence. Therefore, the group was taken into consideration at all moments of the developer teaching-learning process. It was emphasized that group learning occurs as a process of participation, collaboration and a tool for attention to diversity.

Teaching planning offered attention to the diversity of students' learning modes and styles, based on the specificity of individual learning and collective and cooperative learning. Group work and individual work became elements of the same system, in which each one took their place at the convenient time and space.

Added to this was another aspect to take into account for the strengthening of cultural identity from the teaching-learning process of the mother tongue in the Spanish - Literature degree, which was to conceive the treatment of the language as an expression and support of cultural identity; Through it, the conditions are created to identify people, to recognize themselves, based on what others say about them and differentiation from others. Indeed, language is the process by which human beings can communicate with each other. It is also the vehicle with which all socially produced cultural products are transmitted.

For the narrative perspective of the study of identity, language is the tool that allows us to interpret who we are, what the world is like and how we differentiate ourselves from it, build that image of ourselves and communicate it to our social environment. It would be the vehicle by which we build and share who we are and how others see us. "Identity would become a communicable subjectivity, symbolic and inherent for humans" (Iñíguez, 2001, p. 78).

In other words, it is the main instrument in the interpretation of oneself and others, it is the essential mechanism in the construction of culture. The symbolic nature of language also means that this representation constitutes a communicable subjectivity, of a strictly symbolic nature and characteristically typical of human beings.

Access to literary texts also promotes the development of reading skills and habits, understanding them stimulates the imagination and creative capacity, contributes to the formation of feelings and values, helps decipher the aesthetic message, which has an ambiguous character, it makes it possible to establish a dialectical relationship between the denotative and the connotative, the explicit and the implicit, the concrete and the abstract. With literary texts we pay tribute to the unraveling of a world of emotions, feelings, collective or individual passions that the student must experience and with which he becomes humanized. Furthermore, the perception of literature does not simplify the perception of reality, but rather makes it more complex to create a dynamic and flexible reading posture.

Definitely, the literary text is projected in an omnitemporal and omnispatial way, since the writer constructs his text in a specific cultural, historical and social context, but tries to influence the minds and hearts of men of any time and space; However, this projection for all time and all space is made concrete through readings in specific times and spaces, historically and culturally conditioned. It aspires to influence the intellect and sensitivity of men beyond their context and their present.

The study of the mother tongue and literature puts the student in contact with texts that are the result of the intellectual and creative activity of many men, through which they can reflect on their ideas, value attitudes, debate human behavior, learn about works of artistic creation from Cuba and other peoples, learning to love and respect the native language, traditions, artistic manifestations, all of which contributes to the development of an awareness of Cuban culture and identity.

These reasons support the relevance of the use of language and literary texts in terms of strengthening cultural identity. Furthermore, the theoretical foundations that support the teaching of language and literature today are given by the conceptions of text linguistics and the communicative approach, which focus their attention on the study of language as an essential means of human social communication, and they place emphasis on the characterization of speech in the different communicative situations in which man makes use of it. Such interest in the study of communication has led to making evident the role of language in the construction of thought, which reveals its noetic function, as well as in its externalization, in which its semiotic function is manifested.

When addressing the problem of communication, it is assumed that it takes place through non-verbal and verbal resources, which the individual uses according to what he or she wants to mean, the communicative intention and the context in which it means. Linguistic means (phonic, lexical, morphological, syntactic, stylistic and rhetorical) are acquired in the process of communicative interaction where individuals intervene and, in the first years of life, communicative needs can be satisfied with these resources. However, as the individual becomes socialized, new demands are presented, more complex roles are assumed, which require knowledge of more elaborate forms of interaction and more varied linguistic means.

The approach assumes the text as a fundamental category, since communication involves the exchange of meanings in the form of texts. This requires reflecting on their characteristics, according to the context where they are produced and the use made of the communication media, taking into account the demands of communication.

In this sense, students must be able to apply knowledge and skills in new communicative situations, use language with different intentions, intelligently and creatively, recognize the role of language as a means of human social communication, a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge. , feelings and educational, political and ideological influence and for the formation of values, the significance of the correct use of the language with adjustment to socially established norms and the importance of caring for the Spanish language as an expression of national identity and cultural heritage of the Spanish-speaking nations.

It will then be possible to speak of cultural identity, exemplifying the high sense of dignity of Cubans, reflected in history, and their humanism, seen in their solidarity, which gives rise to culture and identity as essential components of the nation.

The work will then be conceived with the disciplines Language and Communication, Linguistic Studies and Literary Studies, so it will have a marked interdisciplinary character. Different texts should be used to show how to proceed with these, in order to strengthen cultural identity. For this, the principle of unity of content and form and the principle of selectivity will be necessary. The first is based on the fact that the text is a structural unit of content and form, so a link must be established between the semantic, structural and linguistic components. The second is based on the fact that for a correct analysis of the text, those fragments, chapters, scenes that are essential for its understanding must be selected, based on the objectives of the subjects.

Due to the length of the literary texts, a deep analysis cannot be done in class, so the most significant fragments will be chosen. The first thing that will be done is the complete reading of the text by the students, in order to comply with another principle, that of the integrity. This selection will respond to the objective with which the literary texts will be analyzed in classes, which will be aimed at strengthening the cultural identity of the students, based on the study of Martí's work, supported by the objectives and methodological guidelines of the aforementioned disciplines. Specifically, the following will be considered: Cuaderno Martiano II, Cuaderno Martiano IIIand Martí en la Universidad IV, as transmitters of ideas, inheritances of a thought that constitutes a cultural reference, values such as patriotism, anti-imperialism, Latin Americanism, independence, anti-racism, his love for Latin America. The conception of the written work as a linguistic model that will enable the development of communication skills in students will also be assumed.

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The authors participated in the design, analysis of the documents and writing of the work.