The rise of the English-Speaking citizen: Interrogating elite bilingualism in the Americas

• In Event: Language issues and education in the Americas

Abstract

Introduction: As a colonial language, English has been associated with high socioeconomic status and placed at the top of linguistic hierarchies, becoming a valued commodity. As the language of commerce, travel, research, higher education, and technology, “English is highly regarded as a gateway to wealth for national economies, organizations, and individuals” (Graddol, 2000, p. 38). Thus, nations endorsing neoliberal values have equated the English proficiency of their citizens with desirable competitiveness in the global market. In the English frenzy, governments around the world have worked diligently to meet the demand for a growing number of English learners. In recent decades, many countries in Latin America have established national English teaching and learning policies and laws to increase their access and competition in the global market. In the United States, English-Only sentiments and legislation at both the federal and state levels continue permeating education in public schools. In both of these contexts, children and youth with multiple linguistic identities are often dehumanized and their linguistic human rights threatened.

Objective: The purpose of this presentation is to examine and interrogate contemporary neoliberal trends influencing language education policy in countries in the American continent, with an emphasis in the United States, Costa Rica, and Colombia. In particular, I set out to understand the historical and sociocultural contexts of such trends and the voices of their participating actors, among them governmental agencies, educators, and students.

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework: Using a Critical Applied Linguistics (CAL) framework, I approached English learning and teaching as a resource for power, oppression, and liberation (Macedo, Dendrinos, & Gounari, 2003; Pennycook, 1994, 2001, 2007).

Mode of Inquiry and Data Sources: I relied on historical, theoretical, and empirical studies on language teaching and learning in the Americas, particularly in the United States, Costa Rica, and Colombia. I complemented the information in these sources with data from a qualitative study of an English as a Foreign Language (ELF) classroom in Costa Rica, where I conducted fieldwork for four months (including ethnographic observations, interviews, and focus groups) and content analysis of language policy, curriculum, and textbooks.

Results/Conclusions: Recent trends in the Latin American region point towards increased privatization and commodification of English instruction, consistent growth of ‘elite bilingualism,’ persistent competition and divide between public and private “bilingual” institutions, growing unequal access to and quality of English instruction among underrepresented populations [the English learning gap], frequent implementation of teacher-centered and banking education language methodologies in public schools, and constant emphasis on the linguistic rather than the ideological dimensions of language learning.

Significance to the Field: Graddol (2006) affirms that it is likely that “the distribution of poverty in the future will be closely linked to the distributions of English” (p. 38). My findings reveal that, indeed, instead of promoting a linguistic Ubuntu, contemporary English teaching and learning policies across the continent perpetuate linguistic hegemony and promote linguistic barriers for children and youth of underrepresented backgrounds. This is not an isolated issue, but a trend that is present and rising throughout the Americas, and in particular in Latin America. Studying this phenomenon in more depth is important to find avenues for its contestation.


References
Graddol, D. (2000). The future of English? A guide to forecasting the popularity of the English
language in the 21st century. The British Council.
Graddol, D. (2006). English next. The British Council.
Macedo, D., Dendrinos, B., & Gounari, P. (2003). The hegemony of English. Boulder, CO:
Paradigm Publishers.
Pennycook, A. (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language. London:
Longman.
Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical applied linguistics: A critical introduction. Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
Pennycook, A. (2007). Global Englishes and transcultural flows. NY: Routledge.

Author

• Ana Solano-Campos, University of Massachusetts-Boston