Guerrero, C. H. (2008). Bilingual Colombia: What does it mean to be bilingual within the framework of the National Plan of Bilingualism? PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 10(1), 27–45. Retrieved from http://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/profile/article/view/10563/11023
In this paper, Dr. Guerrero presents a critical discourse analysis of the document “Estándares básicos de competencias en lenguas extranjeras: inglés. Formar en lenguas extranjeras: ¡el reto!" Among the findings, the author argues that a) in the PNB, biligualism is understood only as speaking English, b) the program comes from a packed monolithic and homogenous concept. We highly recommend this paper to those interested in learning about a review of the "estandares" which is a reference document in the Colombian FLEP.
González, A. (2007). Professional development of EFL teachers in Colombia: Between colonial and local practices. Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje Y Cultura, 12(18), 309–332. Retrieved from XXXX
To our understanding, Dr. Adriana González critically reviews the national program of bilingualism from the perspective of teachers' profesional development. The author divides this paper in 3 parts. Firstly, the author discusses the imposition of the CEFR, the view of bilingualism reduced to English-Spanish, the leading role of the British Council, the lack of validity of the teachers' language proficiency assessment tool, and the inadequacy of TKT and ICELT as models of teachers' professional development. Secondly, Dr. González introduces the way local knowledge and needs have been disregarded by the language educational policymakers at the top. Finally, the author calls out for a policy that is responsive to a postmethod pedagogy, local knowledge, and counterdiscourses of teacher education. We highly recommend this paper to those interested in learning about a critique of colombian FLEP from the view of teachers' professional development.
De Mejía, A.M. (2006). Bilingual education in Colombia: Towards a recognition of languages, cultures and identities. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, (8), 152–168. Retrieved from http://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/ojs/index.php/calj/article/view/176/288%5Cnhttp://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/ojs/index.php/calj/article/view/176%5Cnhttp://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/ojs/index.php/calj/article/view/176/288%5Cnhttp://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/
To our knowledge, this paper is divided into three main sections. The first one refers to the concept of egualitarian language policies, that during the last years, have all focused mainly on English- Spanish bilingualism. The author cites different educators to exemply how concerned they are in regard to the emphasis on exolingual multilingualism, leaving behind Colombian local languages. In the second part, De Mejia critizises the way identity is taught within our classrooms, in which the foreign culture is over-emphasized and the valuable cultural aspect of bilingualism is not even considered in formal teaching. Last but not least, the author briefly ellaborates on six different implications. According to her, (a) the policies should be critically adopted; (b) bilingual programs should be strengthened in public schools, so as to close the gap with the private sector; finally, there is a need of (c) teacher professional development related to intercultural awareness, (d) a coherent view of interculturalism, (e) an acknowledgement of the role of Colombian bilingual educators and (f) teachers and administrators who have a deeper understanding of what bilingualism is.
Cárdenas, M. L. (2006). Bilingual Colombia: Are we ready for it? What is needed? 19th Annual English Australia Education Conference 2006: Re-Evaluating Methodologies: How We Teach, Who We Teach. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/17543725/Bilingual_Colombia_Are_we_ready_for_it_What_is_needed
From our understanding of this paper, Cárdenas reflects upon three main aspects of the Bilingual Colombia Program. At first, the author introduces a brief review of the policy which determines the English proficiency level that teachers and students should have by 2019. At the core of this paper, however, is a critical review of three aspects of the policy: the decontextualized adoption of the CEFR to our local diverse context(s), the emphasis on accountability while disregarding curriculum development and self development, and the prescriptive view of teacher development. We recommend this paper to those interested in reading about these issues which became a point of discussion for those studying foreign language educational policies in Colombia.
Ayala, J., & Alvarez, J. (2005). A perspective of the implications of the Common European Framework implementation in the Colombian socio-cultural context. Colombian Applied Linguistic Journal, 7, 7-26. Retrieved from http://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/ojs/index.php/calj/article/view/162/260
From our reading, the article is divided in two main sections. In the first one, Ayala and Álvarez set out to define national and international standards, including ISO, ICONTEC and the CEFR. In doing so, the authors also set a critical tone when pointing at the mitmatch between those standards and the Colombian reality. In the next section, the authors show the sociocultural, economic, geographical, linguistic and academic differences between Europe and Colombia, while arguing that an adoption of international standards may not be appropriate to our local needs. Thus, the authors invite the academic community to rethink language educational policies to be responsive to our local context. We recommend this reading to those interested in learning about the implementation and impact of the CEFR in Colombia.
De Mejía, A.M. (2004). Bilingual education in Colombia: Towards an integrated perspective. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 7(5), 381–397. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0123-46412006000100008
In this article, there are three main sections. In the first section, the author describes the particular sociolinguistic conditions pertaining bilingual education in Amerindian and Afro-Caribbean communities. These communities and their languages are officially recognized before the Colombian Constitution. However, the promotion of those languages is limited mainly by the lack of resources and low status of those languages. In the next section, De Mejía describes how English and French built up a high reputation in Colombia giving birth to a growing number of private bilingual schools that started to appear in urban areas for people in middle and upper socio-economic strata. In the last section of the paper, the author attempts to describe a bilingual K-11 school program. We recommend this paper not only to those interested in learning about some minority and majority languages in Colombia, but also to those who want to know more about private English-Spanish bilingual schools.
We are willing to acknowledge the work of others. Here and elsewhere in this blog we use APA. If you see anything that is not properly cited or not cited at all, please let us know. You can contact us too if you see any other mistake or would like to contribute to our blog. (interpretations)
packed-monolithic- homogenous-intercultural, multicultural.