Philosophy of language and meaningful learning in lower secondary education: A mixed-methods pedagogical intervention

Abstract

Objective: This article analyzes the effects of a pedagogical intervention grounded in philosophy of language—particularly Wittgenstein’s language-games and Chomsky’s notion of linguistic competence/structure—on the consolidation of meaningful learning in Spanish as Mother Tongue, Phase 6, within Mexico’s 2022 Nueva Escuela Mexicana curriculum. Method: An applied mixed-methods study with qualitative predominance was conducted through a classroom case-study design and a single-group quasi-experimental pretest–posttest component. Participants were 30 ninth-grade students from a public lower secondary school in Iztapalapa, Mexico City. The intervention was implemented over nine sessions between May and July 2023. Instruments included a metalinguistic competence test, an attitudes-toward-linguistic-diversity questionnaire, debate and argumentative-writing rubrics, portfolios, reflective logs, and classroom observation. Results: Mean metalinguistic competence increased from 58.4/100 (SD = 8.2) to 75.6/100 (SD = 7.4), an absolute gain of 17.2 points and an estimated effect size of d ≈ 2.20. The central item on valuing linguistic diversity rose from 3.2 (SD = 0.9) to 4.6 (SD = 0.5), with d ≈ 1.92. Final debate performance reached 10.8/14 (SD = 1.9), and argumentative essays averaged 14.8/20 (SD = 2.5). Qualitative evidence showed shifts from unsupported assertions toward practices of justification, reformulation, argumentative listening, and contextual appreciation of linguistic variation. Conclusion: Philosophy of language, when translated into explicit didactic mediations, can function as an articulating axis linking curricular content, discursive practice, and metacognition, thereby strengthening transferable learning and a socioculturally situated understanding of language.