Panorama of bilingualism in Colombia

Panorama of bilingualism in Colombia

Diana Carolina Patiño

Globalization is a phenomenon that has changed the dynamics of the world, more and more

countries share social, cultural, political and economic features. English as an international

language is the result of this phenomenon. Colombia prepares its citizens to be competitive in the

global community, through the creation of a bilingual program that still has several challenges to

face. This article describes the panorama of bilingualism in Colombia, paying special attention to

the situation in rural areas.

Researchers and linguists pecialists have paid attention to the history of English and its

role in the international community; like no other language in the past, it is now considered an

international language due to the increasing number of native and non-native users around the

world (Mckay, 2002). Moreover, phenomena such as the non-stop denationalization and

renationalization of the language among outer circles countries (Kachru, 1992), show that it has

detached from its territory and it is being used for a variety of purposes, not only for communicating

with users from the inner circle. In recent years, the discussion has taken place from diverse fields:

politic, economy, education, scientific, social, and cultural, among others, concluding that English

is the legacy of the great powered countries from the years of geographic imperialism (Dator, Pratt,

& Seo, 2006).

This dynamic of the language is the result of globalization. As the countries got closer,

the need for communicating with others, from different geographical places around the world,

arose. Thus, the great variety of existing languages, and the economic power of the countries of the

inner circle, allowed English to become “the chosen” one. Nevertheless, this does not mean that

English is the most spoken language of all, but most of the world’s stored information is in this

language (Trudgill & Hannah, 2017) because it has permeated media contents, science, technology,
Panorama of bilingualism in Colombia

culture, and, arts, among other aspects of people’s lives. In fact, Chinese language users double the

number of English users, but English has the most number of countries where this language is

spoken. The Washington Post, (2016).

Conscious of this global phenomena, and about the importance of training citizens to

be part of the current dynamics, in 2005, the Colombian minister of education designed a

bilingualism program that sought to improve skills in this foreign language “Programa de

Fortalecimiento al Desarrollo de Competencias en Lenguas Extranjeras” by the National Minister

or education (MEN, 2013). The purpose of this policy was to have citizens capable of

communicating in this language, and to improve the levels of competitiveness in relation to other

countries of the region (Roldan & Peláez, 2017). The British Council office in Colombia asked one

thousand Colombian citizens about their perceptions and believes regarding this foreign language;

47% of the interviewed answered that they could notice a link between English and job

opportunities; another 48% associated English to a better income and to a better quality of

education (British Council, 2015).

Up to this point, the project seemed promising, but when the implementation started,

the misinterpretations started as well. The government thought that bringing native speakers of the

language would significantly increase the competitiveness of the students, because thisese group

of people would provide the best model, the native model, and without taking into account several

aspects of a language teaching and learning, the program was launched.

On the one hand, the first native speakers were not qualified teachers, but they were

volunteers who wanted to have the experience of living in a foreign country and learning a foreign

language. Moreover, the country was sold as a tourist destination, and they were received with a

party in the Caribbean (El Tiempo, 2015). In any case, the factor that was really worrying was the

lack of training of the volunteers, whose results in teaching the language were negative. In the
Panorama of bilingualism in Colombia

news, the unprofessionalism of the volunteers was denounced, as well as the salary discrimination

forof the local teachers (Semana, 2016).

On the other hand, the dichotomy of the native versus the non-native teacher appeared.

Aneja (2016) stated that the only real difference between native and non-native teachers is the

pronunciation of the language, moreover, Kirkpatrick (2007) explained that people learn English

for different reasons, not necessarily to communicate with natives, for this reason, the

pronunciation of the language is not as significant as intelligibility is. On the contrary, he

highlighted the importance of knowledge, skills, and experience in language teaching.

Another criticism of the bilingualism program was made by the ELT experts in the

country, who reported that the government had overlooked the suggestions made by this guild,

while others have also expressed that bilingualism is the result of a natural process and that I should

not be forced by governments (Cardenas, 2006).

After obtaining results contrary to what was expected, the government allowed the

volunteers to continue coming to the country due to the lack of English teachers, however, in recent

opportunities, the ministry of education has trainsed foreigners with strategies to teach, and

citizenship competencies. To contextualize them with the reality of the country. Since then, not

only volunteers arrive from English native speaker countries, but also from different countries such

as Iran, Russia, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Island, Italia, among others, where English is not

necessarily an official language. fFrom this perspective, it can be inferred that the government

understood that it is not necessary to follow an endonormative or exonormative model, but, to

consider English as a lingua franca, opening opportunities for young people to understand that there

is a great variety of Eenglishes in the world, that there is not one that is correct, and that in Colombia

we can also have our own variety.

Panorama of bilingualism in Colombia

One of the main social problems in Colombia is poverty especially in rural areas

(Salazar, Díaz, Pinzón, 2014). Historically, there has been an enormous difference between rural

and urban public educational services (Perfetti, 2003). The MEN itself, reported low coverage in

these areas of the country, as well as low quality in education and a standardized national education

plan for both rural and urban areas, rather than a plan that is coherent with the different realities of

the country. Deeper in this situation, Betancourt-Pérez, & Martínez-Vásquez, (2016) described in Commented [LLCB1]: What do you mean here?

their findings that a large number of English teachers in rural Colombia do not know the

government policies regarding this foreign language, neither do they have training in teaching the

language; another finding was that most of these teachers have diplomas in “educación básica”,

therefore they do not have the necessary training to teach the language. Added to the lack of

equipment, didactic resources, books, there is also violence, forced displacement, lack of job

opportunities, limited access to higher education, and corruption (Martinez, 2011). Commented [LLCB2]: Very important remark 

Native indigenous communities are also part of rural communities. These ethnic

minorities have not received the policies of bilingualism positively because they consider that they

jeopardize their aboriginal languages (García-León & García-León, 2012). In this sense, Mejía,

(2006) considers that to speak of bilingualism in terms of Spanish / English, is to deny the

multiculturalism and the identity of many Colombians. For this reason, there cannot be such thisng

as a bilingual program, because there are more languages in Colombia than just Spanish. The fear

of thieses communities is language shifting that leads to the death of languages; Dressler (2009)

asserts that in a competitive situation the language with fewer power; shifts away as surrendering

to language with the most power.

Urban public education does not escape from this reality either. Although there are

more control entities, better resources and more coverage in education, students still fail to achieve

the goals expected by the government (Semana, 2018). Furthermore, the “Centro de Analisis
Panorama of bilingualism in Colombia

Dialogos Interamericanos (2017), revealed a lack of three thousand two hundred English teachers Commented [LLCB3]: Is the name complete? You´re
missing the final quotation marks…
to meet the needs of the whole country, a general panorama in the region.

Fandiño-Parra, Bermúdez-Jiménez & Lugo-Vásquez (2012) suggested the challenges

that the Colombian government faces in order to reach the goals of the bilingualism program:

“Understanding that the a project of this scale must be re-evaluated and constantly
improved, since the curricular adaptations take time.

Establishing objectives that are in agreement with the realities of the inhabitants in the
different zones of the country.

Finding support fromof the members of the educational community, as well as training
local teachers with the appropriate strategies for teaching the foreign language.

Creating institutional policies that transcend control or verification and facilitate

ongoing monitoring and follow-up processes”.

In conclusion, Colombia recognizes the advantages of speaking English in terms of

competitiveness and opportunities inside and outside the country. Still, there is a long way to go

before reaching the goal of becoming bilingual, due to social problems, access and inequality. In

addition, the pluricultural and multilingual nature of the Colombian population must be taken into

account. Even though every country is different from one another, the Colombian government

could take some examples from Nigeria, a country with an extensive socio-cultural variety that has

managed to promote pidgin languages in spite of having English as their official language.
Panorama of bilingualism in Colombia

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Diana, very interesting reflection regarding the situation of bilingualism in Colombia, I encourage you to

consider the possibility to conduct research on this field as it seems this is something that you really enjoy.

Please check some corrections and suggestions made directly to the document.

Grade: 4,6.