Language Preferences of Bilingual Indigenous Children to Label Items of Their Drawings: Draw and Write Technique

This article examines the language in indigenous students within bilingual schools of the indigenous communities, through the "draw and write" technique. The study sets out to visualize the relationship(s) between the language children used and their representations of the environment in which they live. The total participant sample was two hundred and twenty-five primary school students. The aim is to see whether there is any relationship between the language used and the conception of the children in their environment. The type of methodology used was qualitative, following Wimmer’s proposal, with twelve categories emerging. The findings indicate that the choice and characteristics of the elements chosen by children are related to the spontaneous and determined use of a language. In conclusion, not surprisingly, it can be affirmed that with the sample obtained and the methodological design applied, a greater use of non-indigenous language (Spanish) is detected in these indigenous children when they want to show their life and their environment representing a decline of their indigenous language. On the other hand, children who prioritize the indigenous language (Kichwa) tend to project more defined elements and use larger dimensions (larger size) than the elements related to the Kichwa culture; In spite of this, it can be concluded that the use of one or other language does not reflect a departure from the values, organization or cultural elements of these indigenous communities.


Introduction
This article shows the extent of the use of the Kichwa language at early ages through the graphic representation by a sample of indigenous pupils between 5 and 7 years old using the draw and write technique [1]. The studies presented indicate that the samples tend to be made up of more adult populations, ten years old and older [2], wh ich means that this study already represents a step forward in this regard. It is important to take note of the fact that studying only older age groups up to now has made it impossible to analyse the use of language in ages at wh ich it is a key element in the processes of the revitalisation of indigenous languages and as a cultural symbol. Th is article sets out to provide knowledge concerning the first stages of children's schooling through the analysis of their drawings and the identarian relation they bear to the kich wa language, thus significantly contributing to the existing literature on the subject.

Draw-and-Write Technique
Based on 'draw-and-write', the method is guided by research questions, namely what conceptions do indigenous children make o f their cultural environ ment? And what language do they spontaneously use in these conceptions? The ethical part of the investigation has also been considered as having proceeded with the assent of participating pupils as well as the consent of parents and teachers. It is important to state here that the draw-and write technique was first introduced in the 1980s and has become one of the most common tools for the investigation of children's understanding. It allows the little ones to participate through graphic expression and writing. Also, with 'draw and write', children can exp ress concepts of themselves and the environment [3].It is used to explore children's views on a variety of abstract and conceptual topics such as technology, health, ideal person, themselves, including latest studies on representing the interaction between children and clinicians [4] or describing the obesity in Malta for young kids [5].The most appropriate age group for "draw and write" are young child ren, because their verbal and written skills tend to be less developed and researchers have argued that, at the end of childhood, children prefer written co mmunication and they are no longer involved in the spontaneous production of drawings.

Analysis of the Drawings: Literary Contributions
Graphic language is one of the ways in which very young children most fluently give expression to comp lex concepts. According to the classification formu lated [6], it is fro m the age of 7 onwards that the stage of evolutive attachment to cultural in fluences begins, and they can be seen to manipulate models intrinsic to their culture. In a pedagogical setting, graphic symbolisation is relegated to a play-related function; however, drawing allows representations of great interest [7]. A significant connection of the current emotional states of pupils of different ages with the shapes and colors they use to compose drawings on the perceptions of the self and of particular environ ments has been identified. Chacón and Morales [8] found that 4-year-old recreated in their drawings fantastic environments and effortlessly accessed the collective imagination. Benavides [9] correlates the drawings of children between 4 and 12 to the family and discovers that children express more elements than they would verbally. A lso, by drawing, children better articulate the cognitive, cultural, political and ecological phases. Another study, taking a different approach, explores 7-year-old children's identificat ion with role models, concluding that children identify mo re with television characters than with members of their own families; shows the relevance relational and moral aspects have for young children, the relevance of people, act ions and objects [10]. Moragon and Martinez [11] state that drawing can promote understanding of children's play with the aim of showing alternatives to the dominant models of physical culture imposed on them since early childhood [12]. A study of the indigenous communit ies of Paraguay indicated that indigenous children who drew the shapes in which they thought of themselves and their co mmunity viewed the family and co mmunity differently fro m the way traditional indigenous community did : language, clothing and aspects of their culture had been replaced by Western trends [13]; Other study with 8-year-old indigenous children found that that indigenous children in northern Ecuador expected to imitate more privileged urban children but continued with their cultural-religious process unaffected; In their drawings, the children expressed their antipathy towards their school; they did not feel respected in their classes, or in the social, cultural, linguistic or ethnic groups that they belonged to [14].
Finally, the Saraguro children show a clear interruption in the intergenerational transmission of the language despite their positive attitude towards the language and observe a predominance of Spanish over all the indigenous languages of the country in children fro m the Cañar province. There has been a decline in the number of children speaking Kichwa due to the lack of oral literature created in Kich wa, and the Kich wa books availab le in schools. The use of Kichwa with in families also contrasts with the language used in schools, in the majority of wh ich only Spanish is used [15].

Method
The methodology was used for the study in qualitative-descriptive [16] with an emergent design [17], which stresses the importance of the theory arising from the data rather than from a system of predetermined categories, and is based on "an open coding from wh ich the categories emerge and then interconnect to produce a theory" [18]. Validity and reliability were provided by using two experts going through the 225 drawings separately to categorize the elements being drawn, following two cycles of categorization. During the first cycle, the t wo experts came up with 40 d ifferent categories, which then were analysed and further refined until the final number of 12 categories was reached.

Participants
The participants in the study are two-hundred twenty-five indigenous children (127 girls and 98 boys) between 5 and 7 in six bilingual intercultural co mmunity schools: sixty fro m the ABC school in the Membrillo community; forty-six fro m Mushuk Rimak; thirty-four fro m Inti Raimy; twenty-nine fro m In ka Samana; and nineteen from the Gera Community in San Francisco.

Instrument
The study is based on emergent data collection theory [19], and protocols, the emphasis being placed on cultural approximation [20]. Using the approach with the children being given freedom to draw, then after a careful analysis of the drawings produced, certain recurring elements are identified, wh ich will constitute the final analytical categories.
The model proposed is used as a reference for the analysis of the use of colour, and the p lacing and size of objects in the drawings [21]; this procedure was twofold: firstly, the colorurs, shapes and sizes were analysed, particular attention was being paid to the precise ways in which they mimic the real wo rld [22], and secondly in terms of the actual size of each variable in relat ion to the whole drawing [21,22]. Finally, this study follows the application of categories to analyse the composition of the drawings and procedure for the applicat ion of factorial analysis techniques and classification [23].

Procedure
In order to obtain the graphic material fro m the students, a set of six instructions was formulated and shared with the teachers in the six schools taking part in the study. The instructions for the drawings are provided in both Kichwa and Spanish. The instructions follow 5 steps: a) On an A4 sheet of paper, draw your community. b) In the drawing of your commun ity you must include yourself. c) Write the names o f the objects which you draw in your drawing (labels) d) Paint the drawing, and e) Write your name and class.
In order to assess the spontaneity of the language in instruction c), they are not told which language they should use, and nor are they told which objects they must include. The drawing sessions were conducted in the classrooms and within class-time for each course. No time limit was set for the drawings or for the conclusions, and they were given as much time as they needed.

Organization of the Drawings in Groups
The 225 drawings are classified, in the first place, according to the language used to label the different elements included (categories of analysis). In this way, four groups were obtained: a) drawings in Spanish; b) drawings in Kichwa; c) bilingual in Spanish and Kichwa; and, d) Unspecified language.

Categories
A total of 12 categories were analysed, equally, fo r the four groups: 1) sun, 2) countryside, 3) family, 4) house, 5) pets, 6) me, 7) tree, 8) cloud, 9) water, 10) flo wers, 11) family gardens and 12) b irds. The analysis by category is determined by its size in the drawing. In this way, we can observe the degree of importance that each pupil assigns to the elements represented in the drawing [24]. Thus, another variable, corresponding to the size of each category, is introduced: small, medium-sized or large.

Analysis
The 225 drawings are codified in terms of the four groups according to which they are classified. To each group a letter is assigned, as well the number that corresponds to the number of graphic examp les they contain.

Group A: Spanish
This is the most numerous of the four groups, with 104 drawings covering 46.2% of the total. They are codified fro m the series (a1) to (a104). In this group the category that features most often is family, with 60 drawings, representing 60.6% of the group. In family most of the representations, 24, are small, as can be observed in drawing (a51); 20 are large like examp le (a15); and 19 med iu m-sized like drawing (a5). The house category has 29 med iu m-sized representations like drawing (a25); 22 large as in drawing (a52); and 11 small ones. The tree category appears 40 t imes, the mediu m-sized ones like (a26) and the small ones (a28) are more frequent by far than the large ones, which only appear eight times. The sun category follows with 35 occurrences, the small (a1), med iu m (a22) and large (a30) being of similar size. The Mountain features 29 times: 26 of them large like drawing (a24).
There are 25 drawings, both small and med iu m, under the pet category; drawing (a30) contains an examp le of small pet animals and med iu m-sized are featured in (a18), while the only large examp le is (a36). The clouds category occurs 15 t imes, s mall ones like (a27) and med iu m-sized like (a10). There are also flowers, with 15 d rawings, most of them s mall like (a5). Family gardens are included in 13 drawings, as in nu mber (a10). The water category appears 10 t imes and almost all of them are med iu m-sized like (a31). The final two categories are birds, 8 times, most of them small (a37) and, the me category occurs 6 times, 3 times small and the others medium-sized, as in (a49).
In Figures 1-7, we can see a clear examp le of the fact that the family category is represented as small, with the house category as mediu m-sized being the majority in this group.

Group B: Kichwa
Under this group, there are 30 drawings covering 13,3 % of the total. It corresponds to the group with fewest representations of the four. The codes represent the sum total of the drawings with the letter b. The house category is the most numerous, with 18 occurrences, an equal number of s mall and large as in (b2)

Group C: Billingual
The third group is made up of 28 drawings covering 12.4% of the total. They are classified under the letter c. There are 17 representations of the house category, most of them large (c13), with six med iu m-sized examp les, as in the case of (c10). Then there is fa mily, most of them small (c3) and four of them either med iu m (c7) or large (c9). There are ten tree drawings, six large (c6) and four mediu m-sized (c8). Flowers appear eight times, four mediu m-sized as in drawing (c1). In the sun category there are four med iu m-sized dra wings like (c5). There are three categories with four drawings: Mountain, pet animals and clouds; the mountains are large, as in picture (c5), the pet animals are med iu m-sized (c3) and the clouds are large (c11). For the water category, there is one repres entation for each size: s mall (c14), mediu m-sized (c6) and one large one (c12). The me category is also represented, with t wo small-sized drawings (c3) and (c6). There is one med iu m-sized drawing in the family garden category (c4) and the bird category is not represented by group C. Figure  10 and 11 we can see an examp le of a large-size drawing in the house category.

Group D: Unspecified Language
In the last group there are 63 drawings classified under the letter d covering 28% of the total. This is the second most numerous group in terms of graphic representation. The category with the largest representation is the house with a total of 58 d rawings, 25 of them large (d48), twenty-four mediu m-sized (d7) and nine small (d 12). Next is the fa mily category with 48 examp les, 19 s mall (d 6), 14 med iu m-sized (d13) and 12 large ones, as in (d1). The next category is Sun, 37 t imes, sixteen mediu m-sized (d 2), 12 large ones as in drawing (d20) and (d 44) representing the small size. The tree category is next with 27 representations, ten large ones (d4), ten small ones (d27) and seven mediu m-sized ones (d25). After that, the Mountain category with 22 representations, of which 17 are large like (d3). There are three categories, clouds, family gardens and pet animals all with 17 examples. Most of the examp les of the first of these categories are med iu m-sized, as in drawing (d 4); almost all the drawings in the second are mediu m-sized, like (d31); and in the third category ten are small (d 25). The flowers category is represented by 11 small (d5) and mediu m-sized (d3) drawings. Unlike in the other groups, the me category is featured in 10 drawings. Seven of wh ich are sma ll (d 2), two large (d 13) and one mediu m-sized. Water appears 5 times, with four large drawings like (d69). Finally, the bird category is represented in small size in (d 17) and large in (d30). Figure 12 offers an example of the fact that the House category is represented by a large and fine-grained detail drawing and is featured in this way in most of the unspecified language.

Discussion
The discussion is twofold: In the first place, the relationship between the spontaneity of the language and the most constant elements across the four variables; secondly, between the composition of the drawings and the observation of patterns applicable to the study of Kichwa cultural components common to all the groups.
In the group of drawings labelled in Spanish, group A, the most concurring elements that the indigenous children have chosen for their co mpositions are family and house, followed by the natural elements of their neighbourhood. This is the most nu merous group and indicates in the Saraguro children a certain predo minance of Spanish over Kich wa in terms of how they perceive th ings [24] and it also confirms the interruption of intergenerational transmission of Kichwa in the towns of the Andes. Despite their being asked to include themselves, the results show that they barely do so in the drawings, and in the few cases where they do, there is no ind ication that they see themselves as superior to other family members, like their siblings or grandparents. Thus, we have an individual who conceives and communicates his or her environment as it is, a context configured by the Kichwa culture, which always emphasises the community as a construction within wh ich the collective self is defined. The family always appears with its indigenous characteristics, for who m the children saw themselves as separate from their indigenous identity. The children in the study view the family with its distinctive indigenous features in its forms and activ ities. The findings also contrast with the view of Ximhai [25] with regard to the influences of the urban context, as the Saraguro child ren, despite being very close to their urban environment, demonstrate a very clear idea of their o wn cultural identity. The houses in the drawings have a design that is exclusive to the region; for examp le, they have tiles wh ich are made of mud and wood. Between the family and the house category there is a strong cultural correspondence in which they both conserve the image and the design of their cultural setting. There is a cultural coherence linking people, actions and objects [26]. The natural elements that the Saraguro children draw symbolise the worldview, culture and landscape representative of the region. These elements contain an inherent knowledge, not only as their indigenous identity, but also as an exp lanation and a mean ing of the world [27]. Th is reflects a mimesis of the real object. The large mountains, the shiny sun and the abundant trees are a replica of nature, and at the same time is transmitted as cultural icons [28].
On the other hand, in the Kichwa group, group B, the house and the sun are the most frequent elements. The numerical difference with respect to the first group is a litt le more than three-fo ld. Two things are worth noticing here, the linguistic antagonism, with Spanish used being the overruling language; and the cultural elements. In the Spanish language, it is the social elements that are predominant, wh ile in Kich wa it is the house, that is to say, the elements that are most closely aligned with the Saraguro culture. Th is can be explained fro m the Kichwa culture, because it reflects their way of thinking; it is also comprehensible in terms of the phenomenon which refers to as dysfunctionality [29] which the ch ild experiences between the family language and the school language. This phenomenon is also imp lied by Enriquez (2015) when he refers to the failure of schools when it comes to oral and written production in the indigenous language, and to their failure to include a Kichwa bibliography in the learning and teaching processes.
Although the four groups are antagonistic in terms of language, processes of social and cultural integration, of adaptation of the patterns and harmonious development still co me to light [30], because the portraits of the drawings, the environments, the relationships and the cultural d istinctive do not get lost in the two groups of drawings, but reassert themselves despite the difference in spontaneous language, and external factors such as the external policies relating to the country's indigenous culture and language.
The greater presence of a specific language is reflected by the priorit ising or observing of certain elements. In the case of the Spanish language, the family appears as an element in more than half of the drawings; by contrast, in the case of Kichwa, the predominant elements are those that relate to indigenous culture, like house and sun. Everything is neatly packaged within the collective imagination [31]. In the drawings with bilingual labelling house and family are the most frequent elements. This reinforces the content of group A. After that appear the natural elements of fauna and flora, always in their natural context, and in a real, natural way. The natural elements, while they are less frequent than social or cultural ones, are always present and highlighted in their natural condition and environment, with a certain ecological and cultural connotation [32].
Last but not least, in the group of drawings where the written language is not present, the family, the house, and the sun are the elements which appear more o ften and followed by the natural elements. The fact that the local, social and cultural elements persist in the Saraguro boys and girls confirms the influence, fro m the very first years of life in indigenous communit ies, of the culture of the ethnic group by contrast with the central reg ions of the Ecuadorian mountain range on indigenous and non-indigenous elements in the format ion of children's identities.
The indigenous take has been present across all the variables, and the children include it in all the categories, despite the fact that Spanish language has given rise to such a remarkable linguistic difference. This phenomenon is partly attributable to the homogenisation of the Kichwa language [33], which results in the suppression of non-standard variants that are popular and still part of the everyday speech within families, but which are not taken into account in schools on account of the national p lan for bilingual, intercultural co mmunity education. This plan sets out to incorporate, not only the native language, but also the intrinsic value of both the indigenous culture and the cultures it is in contact with, as well as the holistic training of the indigenous peoples, the inclusion of indigenous teachers in teaching programmes and a deep appreciation for hereditary knowledge [34]. The me category is not very prominent. When it appears, it is in a balanced emotional and sociocultural context [35]. Indigenous children communicate feelings of well-being in relation to their environment, and they appear in activities appropriate for their age. This trait also appears in children of the same age, as suggested which exp lains it as the way in which one sees oneself and projects oneself.
Finally, the results also reflect a contradiction between the Use o f language scheme as implemented in the bilingual pedagogical process, and the linguistic reality of the Saraguro children. The pupils at the stage of Cognitive affective and psychomotor reinforcement, between the ages of 5 and 7, should use their native language 50% of the time Spanish 40% and a foreign language 10%. Ho wever, what the findings show is slightly difference: 46% of the children use Spanish, barely 13.3% Kichwa, and 12.4% use both.

Conclusions
In conclusion, we can argue that there is a clear predominance of the Spanish language in the drawings produced by indigenous Saraguro pupils, as a result of which, in the spontaneous use of language to name the components of their cultural environment, they prioritise the elements that constitute the community, the fa mily, themselves and the nature in any given drawing. Thus, the family, the house and natural elements, in that order, are much stronger and mo re recurrent in the ch ildren who chose to use only Spanish, or both spanish and Kichwa. By contrast, in the case of the children who spontaneously only used Kich wa, the order is modified in that they prioritise first the house, then the sun and then the family and the natural elements. The Kichwa language in children is more closely associated with the cultural conception of the environment, whereas Spanish is more linked to social organisation.
While it is true that the spontaneous use of language reflects the importance hierarch ies of the social, cultural and natural environment in a bilingual context, and in a context of cultural contact, this does not mean that Saraguro children are inclined towards a community identity that is shaped by superficial factors, or factors of social organisation, imposed from the outside, or in accordance with model project ions configured by some kind of culturalisation. On the contrary, in their drawings , children co mpose scenarios that are fulfilled with elements that are native to their own culture, with the forms, landscapes, customs, social and social and work-related activities that comprise their indigenous identity. These findings are of crucial, because it proves that they feel deeply attached to the cultural identity that is constructed within the family and the indigenous community fro m which they derive their sense of belonging.