The Crucial Role of Educational Stakeholders in the Appropriation of Foreign Language Education Policies: A Case Study

Oscar Peláez; Jaime Usma

doi:10.15446/profile.v19n2.57215

Published

2017-07-01

The Crucial Role of Educational Stakeholders in the Appropriation of Foreign Language Education Policies: A Case Study

El papel crucial de los actores educativos en la apropiación de la política lingüística: un estudio de caso

Keywords:

Bilingualism in Colombia, foreign languages, language policy, policy appropriation, rural Colombia (en)
apropiación de política, bilingüismo en Colombia, Colombia rural, lengua extranjera, política lingüística (es)

Downloads

PDF
HTML

Authors

Oscar Peláez
Jaime Usma

Abstract (en)
Abstract (es)

Drawing on the concept of policy appropriation, this study investigates how different education stakeholders in a rural region of Colombia perceive foreign language education policies, and how these perceptions shape the way they recreate these reforms at the ground level. Contributing to the field of language policy analysis in Colombia and abroad, findings in this study not only provide knowledge on foreign language policymaking processes in rural areas in Colombia, but also shed light on the active role played by different stakeholders in the continuous recreation and appropriation of language education reforms.

Con base en el concepto de apropiación política, en el presente estudio se investiga cómo los distintos actores de la educación en una región rural de Colombia perciben las políticas lingüísticas y cómo esto determina la forma en que ellos reconstruyen estas reformas a nivel local. Como una contribución al análisis de la política lingüística en Colombia y en el extranjero, las conclusiones de este estudio no solo proporcionan conocimientos sobre los procesos de formulación de la política lingüística en las zonas rurales de Colombia, sino que arrojan luces sobre el papel activo que los distintos agentes de la educación juegan en la continua recreación y apropiación de las reformas educativas lingüísticas.

References

Bastidas, J. A., & Muñoz, G. (2011). A diagnosis of English language teaching in public elementary schools in Pasto, Colombia. HOW, 18(1), 95-111.

Bonilla, C. A., & Tejada-Sanchez, I. (2016). Unanswered questions in Colombia’s foreign language education policy. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 18(1), 185-201. http://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v18n1.51996.

Bonilla, S. X., & Cruz-Arcila, F. (2014). Critical socio-cultural elements of the intercultural endeavour of English teaching in Colombian rural areas. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 16(2), 117-133. http://dx.doi.org/10.15446/profile.v16n2.40423.

Bray, M., & Thomas, R. M. (1995). Levels of comparison in educational studies: Different insights from different literatures and the value of multilevel analyses. Harvard Educational Review, 65(3), 472-491. http://doi.org/10.17763/haer.65.3.g3228437224v4877.

Brown, K. (2010). Teachers as language policy actors: Contending with the erasure of lesser-used languages in schools. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 41(3), 298-314. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1492.2010.01089.x.

Cárdenas, R., & Chaves, O. (2013). English teaching in Cali: Teachers’ proficiency level described. Lenguaje, 41(2), 325-352.

Cárdenas, R., & Hernández, F. (2012). Opportunity to teach and learn standards: Colombian teachers’ perspectives. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 14(2), 77-94.

Correa, D., & Usma, J. (2013). From a bureaucratic to a critical-sociocultural model of policymaking in Colombia. HOW, 20(1), 226-242.

Correa, D., Usma, J., & Montoya, J. C. (2014). El Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo: Un estudio exploratorio en el departamento de Antioquia, Colombia [National Bilingual Program: An exploratory study in the Department of Antioquia, Colombia]. Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura, 19(1), 101-116.

DANE. (2016). Demografía y población: proyecciones de población [Demographics and population: Population projections]. Retrieved from https://www.DANE.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/demografia-y-poblacion.

Dávila Pérez, D. M. (2012). Capital lingüístico en inglés y desigualdad de oportunidades educativas: Exploración en dos colegios oficiales de Bogotá [English linguistic capital and inequality in opportunities for education: A study in two public schools in Bogota] (Master’s thesis). Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá D.C.

Davis, K. A. (2014). Engaged language policy and practices. Language Policy, 13(2), 83-100. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-013-9296-5.

de Mejía, A.-M. (2011). The National Bilingual Programme in Colombia: Imposition or opportunity? Apples, Journal of Applied Language Studies, 5(3), 7-17.

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.

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.

Guerrero, C. H. (2010). The portrayal of EFL teachers in official discourse: The perpetuation of disdain. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 12(2), 33-49.

Hart, G. P. (2002). Disabling globalization: Places of power in post-apartheid South Africa. Berkeley, US: University of California Press.

Heineke, A. J., Ryan, A. M., & Tocci, C. (2015). Teaching, learning, and leading: Preparing teachers as educational policy actors. Journal of Teacher Education, 66(4), 382-394. http://doi.org/10.1177/0022487115592031.

Hornberger, N. H., & Johnson, D. C. (2007). Slicing the onion ethnographically: Layers and spaces in multilingual language education policy and practice. TESOL Quarterly, 41(3), 509-532. http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2007.tb00083.x.

Levinson, B. A. U. (2004). Hopes and challenges for the new civic education in Mexico: Toward a democratic citizen without adjectives. International Journal of Educational Development, 24(3), 269-282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2003.11.013.

Levinson, B. A. U., & Sutton, M. (2001). Introduction: Policy as/in practice: A sociocultural approach to the study of educational policy. In M. Sutton & B. A. U. Levinson (Eds.), Policy as practice: Toward a comparative sociocultural analysis of educational policy (pp. 1-22). Westport, US: Ablex Publishing.

Levinson, B. A. U., Sutton, M., & Winstead, T. (2009). Education policy as a practice of power: Theoretical tools, ethnographic methods, democratic options. Educational Policy, 23(6), 767-795. http://doi.org/10.1177/0895904808320676.

Maturana, L. M. (2011). La enseñanza del inglés en tiempos del Plan Nacional de Bilingüismo en algunas instituciones públicas: Factores lingüisticos y pedagógicos [Teaching English in times of the National Bilingual Program in some state schools: Linguistic and pedagogical factors]. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 13(2), 74-87.

Menken, K., & García, O. (Eds.). (2010). Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers. New York, US: Routledge.

Ministerio de Educación Nacional. (2014). Orientaciones para la implementación de proyectos de fortalecimiento del inglés en las entidades territoriales [Guidelines for the implementation of projects towards strengthening the English language in territorial entities]. Bogotá, CO: Author. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/z9ohqt.

Miranda, N., & Echeverry, Á. (2010). Infrastructure and resources of private schools in Cali and the implementation of the Bilingual Colombia Program. HOW, 17(1), 11-30.

Miranda, N., & Echeverry, Á. (2011). La gestión escolar en la implementación del Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo en instituciones educativas privadas de Cali (Colombia) [School administration in the implementation of the Bilingual Colombia Program in private educational institutions in Cali (Colombia)]. Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura, 16(29), 67-125.

Nation, I. S. P., & Macalister, J. (2010). Language curriculum design. New York, US: Routledge.

Parra, J. D. (2009). Education and public policy in Bogotá: Guarding the public interest. GIST Education and Learning Research Journal, 3, 107-122.

Pease-Alvarez, L., & Schecter, S. R. (2005). Learning, teaching, and community: Contributions of situated and participatory approaches to educational innovation. Mahwah, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Quintero, Á. H., & Guerrero, C. H. (2013). “Of Being and not Being”: Colombian public elementary school teachers’ oscillating identities. HOW, 20(1), 190-205.

Ricento, T. K., & Hornberger, N. H. (1996). Unpeeling the onion: Language planning and policy and the ELT professional. TESOL Quarterly, 30(3), 401-427. http://doi.org/10.2307/3587691.

Sánchez, A. (2012). El bilingüismo en los bachilleres colombianos [Bilingualism in Colombian high-school students]. Cartagena de Indias, CO: Centro de Estudios Económicos Regionales, CEER.

Sánchez, A. (2013). Bilingüismo en Colombia [Bilingualism in Colombia]. Cartagena de Indias, CO: Centro de Estudios Económicos Regionales, CEER.

Shohamy, E. (2009). Language teachers as partners in crafting educational language policies? Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura, 14(22), 45-67.

Spolsky, B. (2004). Language policy. New York, US: Cambridge University Press.

Steiner-Khamsi, G. (Ed.). (2004). The global politics of educational borrowing and lending. New York, US: Teachers College Press.

Sutton, M., & Levinson, B. A. U. (Eds.). (2001). Policy as practice: Toward a comparative sociocultural analysis of educational policy. Westport, US: Ablex Publishing.

Usma, J. (2009). Globalization and language and education reform in Colombia: A critical outlook. Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura, 14(22), 19-42.

Usma, J. (2015). From transnational language policy transfer to local appropriation: The case of the National Bilingual Program in Medellín, Colombia. Blue Mounds, US: Deep University Press.

Varghese, M. M., & Stritikus, T. (2005). “Nadie me dijo (Nobody told me)”: Language policy negotiation and implications for teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 56(1), 73-87. http://doi.org/10.1177/0022487104272709.

Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed., Vol. 5). London, UK: Sage.

How to Cite

The Crucial Role of Educational Stakeholders in the Appropriation of Foreign Language Education Policies: A Case Study. (2017). Profile: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 19(2), 121-134. https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v19n2.57215

Download Citation

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

You are authorized to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format as long as you give appropriate credit to the authors of the articles and to Profile: Issues in Teachers' Professional Development as original source of publication. The use of the material for commercial purposes is not allowed. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

Authors retain the intellectual property of their manuscripts with the following restriction: first publication is granted to Profile: Issues in Teachers' Professional Development.