¿Inglés para la paz? Colonialidad, ideología neoliberal y expansión discursiva en Colombia Bilingüe

Abstract

In this case study on the ideologies and discourses undergirding Colombia’s national foreign language policy, Colombia Bilingüe, I draw on theories of coloniality, decolonization, and ideology in critical theory to analyze changes in official discourses as they relate to the construction of peace in Colombia. Data sources include official government documents (manuals and curricular documents, brochures, websites, and videos produced by the Ministry of Education), ethnographic work in focal schools, and semi-structured interviews with local and foreign English teachers forming part of Colombia Bilingüe. I argue that along with an explicit neoliberal legitimation of English language teaching, another contemporary and context-specific discourse has emerged, “English for peace.” This discursive expansion coincides with Colombian scholars’ widespread critiques of Colombia Bilingüe and its implementation. Despite this criticism, the educational practices of Colombia Bilingüe continue without interruption, demonstrating neoliberalism’s ideological hegemony and control over many aspects of school curriculum. I argue that the discourse of “English for peace” ends up externalizing both peace and conflict within a broader technification of language that makes English language teaching even less likely to contribute to the construction of peace at this historic moment in Colombia. I conclude with some curricular ideas based on decoloniality and regionalization with the purpose of announcing (or really echoing) other possibilities for schooling that in certain cases could include English language teaching.

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