Revitalizar la lengua totonaca desde la escuela: una experiencia pedagógica en Poza Larga, Papantla, Veracruz

Erika Ticante Atzin; Alma Gisela Ruiz Delgado; Elizabeth Us Grajales

doi:10.32870/vel.vi28.420

Authors

Erika Ticante Atzin Autonomous University of Chiapas
Alma Gisela Ruiz Delgado Autonomous University of Nayarit
Elizabeth Us Grajales Autonomous University of Chiapas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32870/vel.vi28.420

Keywords:

linguistic revitalization, Totonaca language, intercultural bilingual education, action research, language shift

Abstract

This article presents the results of a pedagogical intervention focused on designing, implementing, and evaluating a workshop-course to teach the Totonac language to students at the Emiliano Zapata Telesecundaria School in Poza Larga, Papantla, Veracruz. The intervention sought to contribute to the linguistic revitalization of Totonac among youth in the face of language displacement that threatens its intergenerational continuity—a situation exacerbated by migration and stigmatization (INEGI, 2020). From an intercultural perspective, the study highlights the urgency of implementing systematic educational interventions to raise community awareness of the value of its cultural heritage. Grounded in the qualitative paradigm and using the action-research method, this study aims to understand the experiences of students, teachers, and parents. Techniques such as in-depth interviews, semi-structured observation, sociolinguistic assessment, focus groups, and field diaries were employed; triangulated analysis of these sources strengthened the validity of the findings. The initial diagnosis showed that the student body had an elementary level of Totonac. Following the implementation of the workshop-course—which followed the ADDIE instructional design model and integrated information and communication technologies—the students achieved communicative competencies equivalent to the A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The final results underscore the viability and relevance of implementing systematic native-language teaching programs in secondary education, as well as the urgency of generating educational policies that transcend the official discourse of intercultural bilingual education and translate into concrete, methodologically sound, contextualized, and culturally relevant actions.Keywords: linguistic revitalization, Totonaca language, intercultural bilingual education, action research, language shift.

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Author Biographies

Erika Ticante Atzin, Autonomous University of Chiapas

Erika Ticante Atzin is an Indigenous preschool teacher and a speaker of Totonac. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Indigenous Preschool Education from the National Pedagogical University and a Master’s degree in Language Teaching from the Autonomous University of Chiapas.

Alma Gisela Ruiz Delgado, Autonomous University of Nayarit

Alma Gisela Ruiz Delgado is a full-time faculty member and researcher at the Autonomous University of Nayarit. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from Nova Southeastern University, United States, and an M.A. in English Language Teaching from the University of Southampton, England. She leads the “Language and Culture” Academic Body, which holds Consolidated status, and participates in research projects related to bilingual education and higher education.

Elizabeth Us Grajales, Autonomous University of Chiapas

Elizabeth Us Grajales holds a Ph.D. in Regional Studies from the Autonomous University of Chiapas and an M.A. in Teacher Education from the University of Exeter. She is a full-time faculty member at the Autonomous University of Chiapas and leads Academic Body CA-117, “Professional Development, Inclusion, and Assessment in Language Teaching,” which is currently in the consolidation stage. Her publications focus on assessment, teacher education, resilience, regional studies, and language and culture.