TEACHING ENGLISH IN BASIC EDUCATION: A REFLECTION BASED ON THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH ALLIED TO THE USE OF ACTIVE METHODOLOGIES

Resumen

Given the challenges society imposes on us, we are required to communicate in different languages, especially English. For professional, academic, or personal reasons, understanding a foreign language in a globalized world is of paramount importance. Given this observation, the objective of this work is to reflect, as a Basic Education foreign language teacher, on how different teaching methods, which deviate from traditional methods, can enhance pedagogical practices and provide more meaningful
learning for students. To this end, this work will be based on empirical classroom observation and a literature review that reflects on the use of the Communicative Approach, a specific language teaching method, combined with Active Methodologies, teaching methods in which the student is the protagonist of their own learning process, no longer a mere spectator but rather an active participant. Empirically, what is observed in the classroom is a maintenance of traditional language teaching, which continues
to focus on grammatical structures. By combining the aforementioned methodologies, the goal is to achieve more meaningful learning that takes into account students’ real communication needs. To this end, the use of technology can be a valuable ally in fostering greater interest and development in these students. As a result, it is hoped that this reflection will lead to a paradigm shift in pedagogical practices, seeking new paths to redefine tradition and take students out of their comfort zones so they can also
seek to be immersed in their own learning. Therefore, this work seeks to contribute to the exploration of new pedagogical practices, given students’ contemporary needs, ensuring that teaching takes their context into account and, thus, enabling them to have a more productive learning of the IL. The summary is a mandatory element, consisting of a sequence of objective sentences summarizing the topic in question, the objective of the study, the methodology, and the final considerations reached.