An experience of place, inquiry and community-based pedagogies for enhancing learning and engagement of English learners at higher education context

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Published: Apr 13, 2026
Updated: 2026-04-13
DOI: https://doi.org/10.19183/how.33.1.844
Keywords:
Place, Inquiry, Community, Learner’s engagement, English Learners, Higher Education

Main Article Content

Adriana Castañeda-Londoño
Universidad Nacional de Colombia-UNAL
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8360-4528

Abstract

Abstract


This paper introduces the affordances of leveraging principles from place, inquiry and community-based pedagogies to foster self-directed learning, engagement and community awareness in a group of ten intermediate English learners enrolled in a languages and culture higher education program. A learning unit was designed to guide them into exploring key places in the districts around the university campus with the aim of introducing them to inquiry processes concerning some outstanding educational places. Using two examples from learners, the article showcases a steady application of higher order thinking skills (e.g., comparison and contrast), engagement with the themes discovered and heightened  awareness of place and community.

Article Details

How to Cite
Castañeda-Londoño, A. (2026). An experience of place, inquiry and community-based pedagogies for enhancing learning and engagement of English learners at higher education context. HOW, 33(1), 68–81. https://doi.org/10.19183/how.33.1.844
Issue
Vol. 33 No. 1 (2026): January/June
Section
Pedagogical Experiences
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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The authors of the manuscripts accepted for publication in HOW journal are required to sign a nonexclusive license agreement allowing ASOCOPI to reproduce the full text on the Internet or in any other available source. Authors retain copyright of their manuscripts with the following restrictions: first publication is granted to ASOCOPI; nonexclusive agreements with third parties can be established as long as the original publication in the HOW journal is properly acknowledged.

Author Biography

Adriana Castañeda-Londoño, Universidad Nacional de Colombia-UNAL

She is a DrE from Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. Adriana is a full-time professor from the Department of Foreign Languages at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Her research interests are teacher knowledge, intersectionality, gender studies, discourse analysis, writing, and critical pedagogy. She is a member of the Profile research group

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