CRITERIOS DE EVALUACIÓN

The thematic analysis of the first interview indicates that three main themes emerged regarding Laura’s beliefs and emotions about peace and the teaching of peace before the practicum. These included Laura’s beliefs about the purpose of teaching English to young learners in the Argentine setting, her understanding of peace before the MPLA intervention, and her beliefs and emotions about the idea of enhancing peace in her own classroom in the future.

The purpose of teaching English at elementary level in the Argentine context

Based on the analysis of the first interview, before the practicum Laura believed that teaching English at elementary level in the Argentine context involved the fostering of peace at different levels, even if she did not make an explicit reference to peace dimensions. As she

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expressed in the first interview,

I think that when we teach English we not only teach the language itself like the grammar, the rules, but we also teach like values because as teachers we’re gonna try our students to be polite, respectful, to be kind with each other, so I think, yeah. We’re going to teach values and at the same time culture. Not only like of places where language is the first, where English is the first language, but also around the world. (Interview 1, March 28, 2016)

According to Laura, the purpose of teaching English had to do not only with enhancing the linguistic and the intercultural competences, but also the fostering of human values to help them become better persons.

Participant’s understanding of peace

Before the practicum, Laura associated peace with a quite traditional concept of peace, that is, peace as the absence of violence and the absence of negative emotions. In her first interview she stated: “I only think about peace when thinking about war”. (Interview 1, March 28, 2016). Moreover, for Laura peace involved three dimensions mainly, includinginner, intergroup and intercultural. As she associated peace with the absence of violence, she thought achieving peace was important in order to avoid both physical and verbal violence.

Peace is like no violence, like no negative things, so like everyone is like happy, they feel relaxed. There can be peace inside, like in oneself, but there can be peace among people, in a neighborhood, in a community, so I think peace is very important in relation to life, we need to try to stay peaceful all the time. So as not to fight, and I don’t know like end up in those all like aggression and violence, not physical but with words too. (Interview 1, March 28, 2016)

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Laura said that in general she had not been conscious of peace neither in her personal nor in her academic life. As for her personal life, she expressed that “seeing” the absence or presence of peace, for example, in movies or books, helped her become conscious of its importance. As for her academic life, she was not sure of what would be considered peace activities, and she did not have memories about having worked with peace related activities in her previous experiences as a learner.

Mode for the implementation of MPLAs in the EFL classroom

In regard to how she imagined the classes involving the teaching of peace, Laura thought she could cultivate peace through the teaching of culture or history, and by teaching about conflict resolution. Laura also thought peace could be fostered implicitly in the classroom by being a role model with students, that is, by acting and behaving peacefully as a teacher. In her first interview, Laura remarked:

Well, I guess like you could teach it in the sense of like culture, history, like, or some issues about the natives and colonizers, so all those things of nowadays like wars, or news, maybe you can show the news. Maybe also with words, right? When there is an issue between two students you don’t need to start fighting with them, I mean through your own words. Like, if you’re gonna go there and fight too and start shouting, and screaming, I don’t think that that is a good idea. (Interview 1, March 28, 2016)

Before the practicum, Laura had not thought about the importance of fostering peace in the language classroom. However, she came to think it would be important for teachers to teach peace in every educational level, not only as part of the intervention carried out for the purpose of this study.

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Emotions about incorporating MPLAs in the EFL classroom

Laura believed it would be exciting to cultivate peace in her future EFL classroom so as to transform people’s reality in a specific context, as well as positively impact society and the environment in general. She showed interest when talking about the value of fostering peace in her future classes, and said she felt excited about thinking of the possibility to include peace education in her classes. At the same time, Laura said to be a bit anxious because the

incorporation of MPLAs involved a new experience for her and for her students, and therefore she could not anticipate what would be the outcomes of such implementation in her classroom. In spite of this, during the first interview Laura seemed to be determined to embark in this innovative experience.

4.2.2. Laura’s Beliefs and Emotions About Peace and MPLAs During the