The role and status of English in Spanish-speaking Argentina and its education system: nationalism or imperialism?

There is a lot of controversy nowadays in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) in the context of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) regarding the status and role of English in non-English speaking countries, in particular in developing countries, as well as in English-speaking countries with a history of colonialism. In these settings, the discourse of English as a form of imperialism requires a reconsideration of the role and status of English in the national school curriculum in primary and secondary school contexts. It also requires the exploration of the connections with nationalism and national identity, for within this discourse of imperialism, English tends to be seen as detrimental to the national identity, which education explicitly aims to form and develop through formal schooling.Fil: Porto, Melina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; Argentin

Enseñanza del inglés en la escuela primaria pública en Argentina

This article describes public primary English language education in Argentina. I begin with background information about the country and a brief historical overview of education in general, accompanied by a portrait of primary schooling in particular. This overview involves local, political and economic considerations but also international influences that have played a key role in shaping the direction of language policies in primary education at the provincial and national levels in the country. I describe the national curriculum guidelines (Núcleos de aprendizaje prioritario, NAP) for foreign language education, contextualising them within the national education policies for primary school in force since 2003 and the new National Education Act (Ley Nacional de Educación 26.206). These guidelines and policies adopt an intercultural and plurilingual approach in the teaching of foreign languages, including English, at all levels of education and embrace a social justice conceptualisation of education in all cases. This approach has been materialised in ELT curriculum developments and programs in several of the 24 jurisdictions of the country with different degrees of development. I illustrate with the cases of the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Entre Ríos and Chubut using interview data collected in 2015. Program leaders in these provinces describe their local initiatives. The article closes with a brief account of the affordances observed and the challenges ahead

Enseñanza del inglés en la escuela primaria pública en Argentina

This article describes public primary English language education in Argentina. I begin with background information about the country and a brief historical overview of education in general, accompanied by a portrait of primary schooling in particular. This overview involves local, political and economic considerations but also international influences that have played a key role in shaping the direction of language policies in primary education at the provincial and national levels in the country. I describe the national curriculum guidelines (Núcleos de aprendizaje prioritario, NAP) for foreign language education, contextualising them within the national education policies for primary school in force since 2003 and the new National Education Act (Ley Nacional de Educación 26.206). These guidelines and policies adopt an intercultural and plurilingual approach in the teaching of foreign languages, including English, at all levels of education and embrace a social justice conceptualisation of education in all cases. This approach has been materialised in ELT curriculum developments and programs in several of the 24 jurisdictions of the country with different degrees of development. I illustrate with the cases of the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Entre Ríos and Chubut using interview data collected in 2015. Program leaders in these provinces describe their local initiatives. The article closes with a brief account of the affordances observed and the challenges ahead.Este artículo describe la enseñanza del inglés en la escuela primaria pública en Argentina. Comienzo brindando información contextual acerca del país y una descripción histórica de la educación en general, acompañada de un panorama de la escuela primaria en particular. Esta descripción incluye consideraciones locales, políticas y económicas, pero también influencias internacionales que han cumplido un papel en la dirección que las políticas lingüísticas para la educación primaria han adoptado tanto a nivel provincial como nacional en el país. Describo los Núcleos de aprendizaje prioritario (NAP) para la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras y los enmarco dentro las políticas nacionales de educación para el nivel primario que rigen desde 2003 y dentro de la Ley Nacional de Educación 26.206 vigente. Estos lineamientos y políticas adoptan un enfoque intercultural y plurilingüe en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras, incluido el inglés, en todos los niveles de la educación, y en todos los casos se enmarcan en una concepción de justicia social de la educación. Este enfoque se ha materializado en desarrollos curriculares y programas en ELT en varias de las 24 jurisdicciones del país con distintos grados de desarrollo. Los casos de las provincias de Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Entre Ríos y Chubut, basados en datos recolectados en entrevistas llevadas a cabo en 2015, ilustran esta descripción. Los líderes de los programas de ELT en dichas provincias describen sus iniciativas locales. El artículo cierra con un panorama de los desafíos y las posibilidades a futuro.Este artigo descreve a educação primária pública de língua Inglesa na Argentina. Eu inicio com informações básicas sobre o país e um breve histórico da educação em geral, acompanhado por um retrato do ensino primário em particular. Esta visão geral envolve considerações locais, políticas e economicas, mas também influências internacionais que têm desempenhado um papel fundamental em dar forma a um rumo das políticas linguísticas no ensino primário em níveis provinciais e nacionais do país. Eu descrevo as diretrizes curriculares nacionais (Núcleos de aprendizaje prioritario, NAP) para o ensino de línguas estrangeiras, contextualizando-os dentro das políticas nacionais de educação para a escola primária em vigor desde 2003 e da nova Lei de Educação Nacional (Lei Nacional de Educação 26,206). Estas diretrizes e políticas adotam uma abordagem intercultural e multilingue no ensino de línguas estrangeiras, incluindo Inglês, em todos os níveis de educação e abraça uma conceptualização de justiça social da educação em todos os casos. Esta abordagem tem sido materializada em desenvolvimentos curriculares e programas ELT em várias das 24 jurisdições do país com diferentes graus de desenvolvimento. Usando dados de entrevistas coletadas em 2015, eu ilustro estas conclusões com os casos das províncias de Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Entre Ríos e Chubut. Líderes do programa nestas províncias descrevem suas iniciativas locais. O artigo finaliza com um breve relato das proporções observadas e desafios futuros.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

The role and status of English in Spanish-speaking Argentina and its education system: Nationalism or imperialism?

There is a lot of controversy nowadays in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) in the context of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) regarding the status and role of English in non-English speaking countries, in particular in developing countries, as well as in English-speaking countries with a history of colonialism. In these settings, the discourse of English as a form of imperialism requires a reconsideration of the role and status of English in the national school curriculum in primary and secondary school contexts. It also requires the exploration of the connections with nationalism and national identity, for within this discourse of imperialism, English tends to be seen as detrimental to the national identity, which education explicitly aims to form and develop through formal schooling.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

‘Yo antes no reciclaba y esto me cambio por completo la consiencia’: intercultural citizenship education in the English classroom

This article describes a telecollaboration project about the environment in the primary English as a foreign language classroom carried out in 2013/ 2014 between Argentina and Denmark. It combines English language teaching with intercultural citizenship education and forms part of a network of projects in Europe, the US and East Asia. This is the only one set in the primary school context and in Latin America. After some preparatory work, the Argentinian and Danish children met online through Skype, using English, Spanish and Danish, to design a collaborative poster to raise awareness of the importance of taking care of the environment. Conversational and documentary data were collected and analysed qualitatively, in this case focusing on the Argentinian perspective. With a critical literacy conceptualisation, the project demonstrates growth in self/intercultural awareness, criticality and social justice responsibility, and the emergence of a sense of community of transnational peers amongst the children involved.Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociale

Language and Intercultural Citizenship Education for a Culture of Peace:The Malvinas/Falklands Project

In recent decades the critical turn in language education has gained tremendous teaching and research attention. Within this context, this chapter describes an online international project with university language students in Argentina and England as an approach to create a culture of peace through the discussion of the Malvinas/Falklands Conflict. Given the sensitive nature of this topic, the chapter examines the active political engagement and civic participation of the students to promote self and social change. It also offers an analysis of the levels of criticality achieved and the intercultural citizenship competences developed. An overview of the implementation of IT tools used in the online intercultural communication phase of the project is also provided, such as Wiki, Facebook, Skype and Elluminate Live! (a virtual classroom made available for the project by the University of East Anglia). This chapter reveals that the confrontation the students experienced with linguistic and cultural otherness stimulated their critical analysis, whilst focusing on developing a respectful understanding of the event and the need for cooperative conflict resolution

Human Rights Education in Language Teaching

As intercultural communication in language teaching is extending to citizenship education, there is an increasing need for research focusing on the implementation of theory into practice. With Critical Pedagogy as its driving principle, this chapter examines an online international project between language undergraduates within Argentina and the UK as an approach to human rights education in language teaching. It provides an overview of the pedagogical interventions designed to enhance awareness of democratic participation by empowering the students to become ‘transformative intellectuals’, engaged in self and social change through knowledge and action. The findings show the educational value of the project through the development of intercultural citizenship competences, such as decentring, empathy and solidarity, whilst creating an international community of ‘naming’ the world through photos, quotes, images, symbols and slogans

The Role of Literature in Intercultural Language Education: Designing a Higher Education Language Course to Challenge Sentimental Biopower

In this article we discuss how the design of a higher education language course can challenge the power of sentimentality in the classroom. In particular, the paper analyses the role of literature in intercultural language education through the lens of affect theory, while focusing on minimizing sentimentality in the classroom, especially when the literary texts used confront students with trauma-related content involving human rights abuse, death and suffering, and trigger discomforting emotions in students such as sadness, anguish, fear and more. We suggest that it is important for educators and students in higher education to recognize the affective and biopolitical dimensions of literature teaching in intercultural language education. This is illustrated through the design of an English language course syllabus in an Argentinian higher education setting. The paper concludes with a discussion of the curricular and pedagogical implications for intercultural language education.Fil: Porto, Melina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Zembylas, Michalinos. Open University Of Cyprus; Chipr

Educating Democratically and Interculturally Competent Citizens: A Virtual Exchange between University Students in Argentina and the USA

In this paper we present the analysis and interpretation of data collected during an intercultural virtual exchange undertaken in 2020 in which students from Argentina and the USA explored how trauma and suffering associated with COVID-19 can be channeled through collaborative artistic multimodal creations, and how approaching this in a productive way can lead to self-transformation in terms of intercultural and civic growth. To obtain unbiased data, we did not give the students information on the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC; 2018) which was fundamental to our conceptualization. Here, we apply an ex post facto research method to explore which of the 20 competences for democratic culture included in the RFCDC were mobilized and deployed by our students during this project. We do so by analyzing their multimodal artistic creations, social actions, and their civic statements from the perspective of the RFCDC definitions and descriptors. Findings indicate that the virtual exchange project contributed to the cultivation of ‘democratically and interculturally competent citizens’ as conceptualized in the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture.Fil: Golubeva, Irina. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Porto, Melina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; Argentin

A curriculum for action in the community and intercultural citizenship in higher education

The purpose of the project described here is to demonstrate how the introduction of subject matter and principles from citizenship education into foreign language education combines objectives from both in order to give meaning to language education on the one hand and extend citizenship education beyond a focus on the local and the national on the other. In doing so, the educational aims of foreign language teaching – as well as its instrumental purposes – can be met and the scope of citizenship education is extended to include intercultural citizenship. The project was located in Higher Education in Argentina, where 76 students were learning English, and in Britain, where 23 students were learning Spanish. It focused on human rights violations during the football World Cup that took place in Argentina in 1978 during a period of military dictatorship and it was carried out in 2013 during a fourth-month period. Data were collected then and comprise documentary data (posters, PowerPoints, videos, etc.) and conversational data (online communication between the Argentinian and British students using Skype). This article describes the processes of the project and the ways in which students reacted, particularly the Argentinian students who felt personally involved, and demonstrates how the combination of language and citizenship education, when given the additional viewpoint of an insider and outsider perspective, leads to significant developments in learners’ lives: an identification with a transnational group and perspective, and a willingness to become directly and critically involved in action in the community.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació