Profile: Issuers in Teachers' Professional Development, 2024
This multimodal/multimedia discourse analysis explored institutional practices regarding native a... more This multimodal/multimedia discourse analysis explored institutional practices regarding native and non-native English speaker teachers in five language centers in Medellín, Colombia, as reflected in interviews with coordinators and teachers, language centers' websites, social media, and recruitment materials. Data were analyzed using content and multimodal discourse analysis. Findings unveiled that, in general, these language centers favor native English speaker teachers and discriminate against nonnative English speaker teachers in multiple ways, as the former are privileged in job searches, are asked fewer hiring requirements, have more room for negotiation, earn higher salaries, and enjoy more perks.
In an effort to increase the English proficiency level of their citizens and thus become more com... more In an effort to increase the English proficiency level of their citizens and thus become more competitive in the global economy, many Latin American countries have resorted to the importation of foreign English teachers (FETs) to support local English teachers (LETs) in schools. The phenomenon has been widely documented by the Colombian press, which exerts a strong influence on people's opinions. This article reports the results of a case study which explored the representations of these FETs in three major Colombian newspapers published between 2010 and 2015 and the linguistic mechanisms employed to represent them this way. The study drew on critical linguistic theories and used Fairclough's (1992) model for critical discourse analysis (CDA). The analysis reveals a systematic attempt on the part of the Colombian press to represent FETs as superior, which is achieved through the use of several mechanisms, such as stressing their foreignness and voluntariness; raising their status from inexperienced teachers to tutors, advisors and benefactors; making them the actors; and attributing them superpowers. It is concluded that by doing this, newspapers are contributing to the discrimination of local English teachers, perpetuating native-speakerism ideologies, and disregarding the enormous benefits of having LETs in the educational system, among other aspects.
Acknowledging the need for pre-service teachers to learn about language structures, many teacher ... more Acknowledging the need for pre-service teachers to learn about language structures, many teacher preparation programs have incorporated grammar courses into their curriculum. Recently, there has been a push from Systemic Functional Linguistic (sfl) scholars to switch to more functional views of grammar in these courses. Such a switch, scholars claim, can better prepare pre-service teachers (pst) for writing across the curriculum and for teaching writing to their prospective students. Despite the potential benefits, many efl teacher preparation programs are still cautious about providing instruction on sfl. This has created a gap in terms of how pre-service teachers would respond to this type of instruction. Considering this gap, scholars from a university in Medellín, Colombia implemented a three-month pedagogical unit within a grammar course, which intended to move pre-service teachers from traditional to functional views of grammar. As they did this, they conducted a case study which explored how psts responded to the implementation of this unit. Data analysis shows that psts’ responses do not always move in a straight line, that is, from resistance, to caution, to openness, but may very well vary depending on the sfl concept or premise that is being taught. The results suggest that English grammar courses offered in teacher preparation programs can have traditional grammar as a starting point and then move psts towards more functional and critical views. They also suggest the need to identify some strategies that could be used with psts who show either caution or resistance.
Cosmetic surgery has become a widespread phenomenon in the last
decades, especially in Colombia w... more Cosmetic surgery has become a widespread phenomenon in the last decades, especially in Colombia where a large number of women undergo it every year. This surgical boom is reflected in several Linguistic Landscape (LL) resources including the internet, where a growing number of cosmetic surgery centers advertise their procedures. Particularly common among these procedures is breast augmentation, which many Colombian women undergo at a young age. This article reports on a study which drew on critical LL and feminist theories to explore how local cosmetic surgery websites contribute to the commodification of women’s breasts, and its implications for users of these websites. Data collected for this study included text and images from 12 local websites advertising cosmetic surgery in Colombia, including breast augmentation. Data analysis showed that these websites contributed to the commodification of women’s bodies by using a series of ideological mechanisms: normalization of modification, pathologization of the normal, trivialization and naturalization of cosmetic surgeries, and surgeon deification. Implications for users of these public spaces include asking critical questions about these websites and becoming more socially active in their consumption.
This article reports partial results of a qualitative study which explored the gains and challeng... more This article reports partial results of a qualitative study which explored the gains and challenges encountered by two groups of English as a foreign language pre-service teachers from a public university in Medellin, Colombia, in developing a situated view of academic writing through a systemic functional genre-based instructional unit. The unit was part of a written communications course and used an approach called the teaching-learning cycle. Results from the study suggest that one of the main gains was related to pre-service teachers’ emerging understanding of context, purpose, and audience. One of the main challenges concerned pre-service teachers’ difficulty with shifting their former views of grammar as a fixed system of rules.
In an effort to become more competitive in the global market, Colombia, as many other Latin Ameri... more In an effort to become more competitive in the global market, Colombia, as many other Latin American countries, has declared English the dominant foreign language to be taught in
In the context of the National Bilingual Program 2004-2019, currently called “Program for Strengt... more In the context of the National Bilingual Program 2004-2019, currently called “Program for Strengthening the Development of Competencies in a Foreign Language,” the Colombian government has implemented a series of actions to raise the level of English proficiency of teachers and students and insert the country into globalization processes. The purpose of this article, which is the result of a project conducted by the authors in Antioquia (Colombia) about the stakeholders’ views of the program, is to show how these actions fit a bureaucratic policymaking model which has been highly questioned by policy experts and to propose a new model which can be used to make deep changes in the program with the participation of all stakeholders.
En este reporte de investigación se presentan los resultados obtenidos en un estudio exploratorio... more En este reporte de investigación se presentan los resultados obtenidos en un estudio exploratorio sobre la visión de algunos actores educativos con respecto a la forma en que el Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo se venía implementando en el Departamento de Antioquia, Colombia. Los resultados del estudio sugieren que si bien los participantes de este estudio no tenían mucha información con relación al programa, sí tenían mucho que decir con respecto a las acciones que el Gobierno había puesto en marcha para su implementación en Antioquia y sobre cómo lograr que estas pudieran contribuir de manera más efectiva y eficaz al desarrollo de los objetivos de la política.
Traditionally, at universities, English as a foreign language instructors have used a series of a... more Traditionally, at universities, English as a foreign language instructors have used a series of approaches to teach students how to write academic texts in English from both teacher preparation and regular programs. In spite of this, students continue to have problems writing the academic texts required of them in the different courses. Concerned with this issue, a group of English as a Foreign Language writing instructors from a Teacher Education Program in Medellín engaged in the study of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The purpose of this article is to report the insights that one of these instructors gained once he began using these theories to analyze a narrative text produced by one of the students in his class.
Profile: Issuers in Teachers' Professional Development, 2024
This multimodal/multimedia discourse analysis explored institutional practices regarding native a... more This multimodal/multimedia discourse analysis explored institutional practices regarding native and non-native English speaker teachers in five language centers in Medellín, Colombia, as reflected in interviews with coordinators and teachers, language centers' websites, social media, and recruitment materials. Data were analyzed using content and multimodal discourse analysis. Findings unveiled that, in general, these language centers favor native English speaker teachers and discriminate against nonnative English speaker teachers in multiple ways, as the former are privileged in job searches, are asked fewer hiring requirements, have more room for negotiation, earn higher salaries, and enjoy more perks.
In an effort to increase the English proficiency level of their citizens and thus become more com... more In an effort to increase the English proficiency level of their citizens and thus become more competitive in the global economy, many Latin American countries have resorted to the importation of foreign English teachers (FETs) to support local English teachers (LETs) in schools. The phenomenon has been widely documented by the Colombian press, which exerts a strong influence on people's opinions. This article reports the results of a case study which explored the representations of these FETs in three major Colombian newspapers published between 2010 and 2015 and the linguistic mechanisms employed to represent them this way. The study drew on critical linguistic theories and used Fairclough's (1992) model for critical discourse analysis (CDA). The analysis reveals a systematic attempt on the part of the Colombian press to represent FETs as superior, which is achieved through the use of several mechanisms, such as stressing their foreignness and voluntariness; raising their status from inexperienced teachers to tutors, advisors and benefactors; making them the actors; and attributing them superpowers. It is concluded that by doing this, newspapers are contributing to the discrimination of local English teachers, perpetuating native-speakerism ideologies, and disregarding the enormous benefits of having LETs in the educational system, among other aspects.
Acknowledging the need for pre-service teachers to learn about language structures, many teacher ... more Acknowledging the need for pre-service teachers to learn about language structures, many teacher preparation programs have incorporated grammar courses into their curriculum. Recently, there has been a push from Systemic Functional Linguistic (sfl) scholars to switch to more functional views of grammar in these courses. Such a switch, scholars claim, can better prepare pre-service teachers (pst) for writing across the curriculum and for teaching writing to their prospective students. Despite the potential benefits, many efl teacher preparation programs are still cautious about providing instruction on sfl. This has created a gap in terms of how pre-service teachers would respond to this type of instruction. Considering this gap, scholars from a university in Medellín, Colombia implemented a three-month pedagogical unit within a grammar course, which intended to move pre-service teachers from traditional to functional views of grammar. As they did this, they conducted a case study which explored how psts responded to the implementation of this unit. Data analysis shows that psts’ responses do not always move in a straight line, that is, from resistance, to caution, to openness, but may very well vary depending on the sfl concept or premise that is being taught. The results suggest that English grammar courses offered in teacher preparation programs can have traditional grammar as a starting point and then move psts towards more functional and critical views. They also suggest the need to identify some strategies that could be used with psts who show either caution or resistance.
Cosmetic surgery has become a widespread phenomenon in the last
decades, especially in Colombia w... more Cosmetic surgery has become a widespread phenomenon in the last decades, especially in Colombia where a large number of women undergo it every year. This surgical boom is reflected in several Linguistic Landscape (LL) resources including the internet, where a growing number of cosmetic surgery centers advertise their procedures. Particularly common among these procedures is breast augmentation, which many Colombian women undergo at a young age. This article reports on a study which drew on critical LL and feminist theories to explore how local cosmetic surgery websites contribute to the commodification of women’s breasts, and its implications for users of these websites. Data collected for this study included text and images from 12 local websites advertising cosmetic surgery in Colombia, including breast augmentation. Data analysis showed that these websites contributed to the commodification of women’s bodies by using a series of ideological mechanisms: normalization of modification, pathologization of the normal, trivialization and naturalization of cosmetic surgeries, and surgeon deification. Implications for users of these public spaces include asking critical questions about these websites and becoming more socially active in their consumption.
This article reports partial results of a qualitative study which explored the gains and challeng... more This article reports partial results of a qualitative study which explored the gains and challenges encountered by two groups of English as a foreign language pre-service teachers from a public university in Medellin, Colombia, in developing a situated view of academic writing through a systemic functional genre-based instructional unit. The unit was part of a written communications course and used an approach called the teaching-learning cycle. Results from the study suggest that one of the main gains was related to pre-service teachers’ emerging understanding of context, purpose, and audience. One of the main challenges concerned pre-service teachers’ difficulty with shifting their former views of grammar as a fixed system of rules.
In an effort to become more competitive in the global market, Colombia, as many other Latin Ameri... more In an effort to become more competitive in the global market, Colombia, as many other Latin American countries, has declared English the dominant foreign language to be taught in
In the context of the National Bilingual Program 2004-2019, currently called “Program for Strengt... more In the context of the National Bilingual Program 2004-2019, currently called “Program for Strengthening the Development of Competencies in a Foreign Language,” the Colombian government has implemented a series of actions to raise the level of English proficiency of teachers and students and insert the country into globalization processes. The purpose of this article, which is the result of a project conducted by the authors in Antioquia (Colombia) about the stakeholders’ views of the program, is to show how these actions fit a bureaucratic policymaking model which has been highly questioned by policy experts and to propose a new model which can be used to make deep changes in the program with the participation of all stakeholders.
En este reporte de investigación se presentan los resultados obtenidos en un estudio exploratorio... more En este reporte de investigación se presentan los resultados obtenidos en un estudio exploratorio sobre la visión de algunos actores educativos con respecto a la forma en que el Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo se venía implementando en el Departamento de Antioquia, Colombia. Los resultados del estudio sugieren que si bien los participantes de este estudio no tenían mucha información con relación al programa, sí tenían mucho que decir con respecto a las acciones que el Gobierno había puesto en marcha para su implementación en Antioquia y sobre cómo lograr que estas pudieran contribuir de manera más efectiva y eficaz al desarrollo de los objetivos de la política.
Traditionally, at universities, English as a foreign language instructors have used a series of a... more Traditionally, at universities, English as a foreign language instructors have used a series of approaches to teach students how to write academic texts in English from both teacher preparation and regular programs. In spite of this, students continue to have problems writing the academic texts required of them in the different courses. Concerned with this issue, a group of English as a Foreign Language writing instructors from a Teacher Education Program in Medellín engaged in the study of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The purpose of this article is to report the insights that one of these instructors gained once he began using these theories to analyze a narrative text produced by one of the students in his class.
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implementation of this unit. Data analysis shows that psts’ responses do not always move in a straight line, that is, from resistance, to caution, to openness, but may very well vary depending on the sfl concept or premise that is being taught. The results suggest that English grammar courses offered in teacher preparation programs can have traditional grammar as a starting point and then move psts towards more functional and critical views. They also suggest the need to identify
some strategies that could be used with psts who show either caution or resistance.
decades, especially in Colombia where a large number of women undergo it every year. This surgical boom is reflected in several Linguistic Landscape (LL) resources including the internet, where a growing number of cosmetic surgery centers advertise their procedures. Particularly common among these procedures is breast augmentation, which many Colombian women undergo at a young age. This article reports on a study which drew on critical LL and feminist theories to explore how local cosmetic surgery websites contribute to the commodification of women’s breasts, and its implications for users of these websites. Data collected for this study included text and images from 12 local websites advertising cosmetic surgery in Colombia, including breast augmentation. Data analysis showed that these websites contributed to the commodification of women’s bodies by using a series of ideological mechanisms: normalization of modification, pathologization of the normal, trivialization and naturalization of cosmetic surgeries, and surgeon deification. Implications for users of these public spaces include asking critical questions about these websites and becoming more socially active in their consumption.
One of the main challenges concerned pre-service teachers’ difficulty with shifting their former views of grammar as a fixed system of rules.
insert the country into globalization processes. The purpose of this article, which is the result of a project conducted by the authors in Antioquia (Colombia) about the stakeholders’ views of the program, is to show how these actions fit a bureaucratic policymaking model which has been highly questioned by policy experts and to propose a new model which can be used to make deep changes in the program with the participation of all stakeholders.
Antioquia y sobre cómo lograr que estas pudieran contribuir de manera más efectiva y eficaz al desarrollo de los objetivos de la política.
implementation of this unit. Data analysis shows that psts’ responses do not always move in a straight line, that is, from resistance, to caution, to openness, but may very well vary depending on the sfl concept or premise that is being taught. The results suggest that English grammar courses offered in teacher preparation programs can have traditional grammar as a starting point and then move psts towards more functional and critical views. They also suggest the need to identify
some strategies that could be used with psts who show either caution or resistance.
decades, especially in Colombia where a large number of women undergo it every year. This surgical boom is reflected in several Linguistic Landscape (LL) resources including the internet, where a growing number of cosmetic surgery centers advertise their procedures. Particularly common among these procedures is breast augmentation, which many Colombian women undergo at a young age. This article reports on a study which drew on critical LL and feminist theories to explore how local cosmetic surgery websites contribute to the commodification of women’s breasts, and its implications for users of these websites. Data collected for this study included text and images from 12 local websites advertising cosmetic surgery in Colombia, including breast augmentation. Data analysis showed that these websites contributed to the commodification of women’s bodies by using a series of ideological mechanisms: normalization of modification, pathologization of the normal, trivialization and naturalization of cosmetic surgeries, and surgeon deification. Implications for users of these public spaces include asking critical questions about these websites and becoming more socially active in their consumption.
One of the main challenges concerned pre-service teachers’ difficulty with shifting their former views of grammar as a fixed system of rules.
insert the country into globalization processes. The purpose of this article, which is the result of a project conducted by the authors in Antioquia (Colombia) about the stakeholders’ views of the program, is to show how these actions fit a bureaucratic policymaking model which has been highly questioned by policy experts and to propose a new model which can be used to make deep changes in the program with the participation of all stakeholders.
Antioquia y sobre cómo lograr que estas pudieran contribuir de manera más efectiva y eficaz al desarrollo de los objetivos de la política.