Discurso sobre la Enseñanza y el Aprendizaje del Inglés en Colombia: Diversidad, Pensamiento Crítico e Interculturalidad

Abstract

This doctoral research addressed the problem related to the limitation and reduction of objectives and approaches at the time of planning and developing the teaching and learning processes of English in Colombia since their priority is to prepare students, especially in the linguistic formalities of the language. In this sense, this study recognized that when the teaching of English focuses exclusively on training students in the mastery of linguistic signs or cultural data, educational scenarios are not spaces where, in addition to taking these aspects into account, students learn to think critically and, from this position, become citizens who, with their ideas and actions, build more inclusive, participatory and fair societies. For this reason, it is crucial to identify the specific proposals made by some leaders in English Language Teaching to promote practices that enable students to think critically, analyze social realities, and play an active role in society. Furthermore, since all discourses have intentions, analyzing discourses referred to English language teaching and learning is necessary, mainly considering their explicit and underlying meanings. In this sense, the research applied a qualitative paradigm and a critical social approach to examine, through Critical Discourse Analysis, official discourses and those made by researchers and teachers of English. The analysis and conclusions were crucial for developing curricular principles to benefit Colombian and Latin American society. The central question was: how to formulate curricular principles for an English language teaching and learning that contributes to the benefit of Colombian and Latin American society, taking into account the analysis of educational leaders' discourses in the area of English in Colombia? In this way, the research first argued why discourses strengthen or limit diversity, the development of critical thinking, and interculturality. Secondly, the speeches evaluated how power relations between educational leaders and their perspectives prevent or promote a process of teaching and learning that supports critical thinking, diversity, and interculturality. Finally, as the third step, the research proposed curricular principles to create an English teaching and learning process that benefits Colombian and Latin American society. In this order of ideas, the research achieved depth because it identified three emerging categories during the information analysis process, which enriched its reflections and suggestions. The first was English teachers with low development of critical thinking, the second was the resistance of researchers against teachers' passivity, and the third was the distortion of the concept of critical thinking by educational leaders. Likewise, the research raised curricular principles according to the analysis of the contributions, limitations, and resistances expressed in the speeches concerning diversity, interculturality, and the development of critical thinking, which the educational leaders must consider as approaches that transform their conceptions of English and their daily professional and pedagogical decisions. The purpose is to pave the way toward evaluating and re-elaborating existing educational policies on bilingualism to forge positive impacts in the transformation of Colombian and Latin American society.