This qualitative research study delves into elementary school teachers' beliefs and the potential contribution of reverse mentoring to improve English language teaching for children. The purpose was to explore how elementary in-service teachers' beliefs could be transformed after participating in a reverse mentoring experience. A group of…

Drawing upon Bourdieu's concept of capital, this article examines the enactment of the "Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo" (National Bilingual Program), a policy that aims to provide Colombian students equal opportunities to learn English. In this exploratory, sequential mixed-methods study, data were collected from teachers and students…

This phenomenological study explores students' perceptions about the relationship between foreign language learning and culture when using telecollaboration. Three main concerns underlie this work: the lack of studies that explore how students perceive the relationship between foreign language learning and culture in the local context, the need to…

Despite evidence on the benefits of mentoring with beginning teachers, little is known about the impact of mentoring on experienced teachers. Based on a qualitative research design, this study explores mentoring with 11 teachers of English as an additional language (four mentors and seven mentees) during the COVID-19 epidemic. Data were gathered…

Although an international teaching practicum is assumed to broaden teacher candidates' cultural, linguistic, and pedagogical knowledge, the nature of this growth and its relation to teacher education practices have yet to be fully explored. Using a sociocultural perspective and drawing on the concepts of teacher socialization and a growth mindset,…

This paper reports an exploratory, descriptive study on the emotions of content and language-integrated learning preservice teachers. The study, carried out in a Spanish university, aimed at analysing the internship experience of 19 preservice teachers in the context of a master's degree in bilingual education (Spanish-English) for primary and…

This paper aims at showing how a bottom-up approach of the study of educational policies can shed some light on how elementary school teachers deal with educational policies to make them work. This is a partial report on a larger focus group study conducted in Bogotá, Colombia, where a group of elementary school teachers shared their opinions…

This article reports the findings of a qualitative interpretive research study that explored the social representations children have about the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language in elementary schools in Medellín, Colombia. Sixty children in first, third, and fifth grades of public and private schools participated in the study.…

This paper presents a study on the employment criteria used by school administrators and their views on the strengths and weaknesses of local teachers and expatriate teachers. This study aimed to provide a perspective on the issue from an English as a foreign language context. Questionnaires collected from administrators of 94 private primary and…

This article focuses on Mexican students' perceptions of learning the history of Mexico in English through content-based instruction, which is one of many types of bilingual pedagogical approaches that are now considered established approaches in Mexico and around the globe. A phenomenological approach was chosen in order to understand and examine…

This article reports on a qualitative and interpretative case study conducted at a high school located in the southeast of Bogotá. The case is comprised of a group of fifty-one eighth graders who had had little contact with English. It aimed at exploring how these adolescents made sense of the culture-based materials implemented in the English…

Seventh grade teachers at a Colombian public school chose cooperative learning as a strategy to improve student's social performance and as a tool to get learners to enrich their academic level. This article reports on an action research and innovation project focused on the results eight students obtained in their written performance in English…

The main objective of this study was to identify 6th to 11th grade students' beliefs about their English class in a public institution in Armenia, Colombia. By means of interviews, drawings, and focus groups with 30 students, four beliefs were established. It was found that students' beliefs are attached to the experiences they have lived in their…

This study focused on investigating whether the teachers' geographical distribution influences their attitudes towards their students' use of code switching. The study was guided by the following research question: Are there differences between teachers' opinions of the north elementary schools and teachers' opinions of the south elementary…

In this article we aim at showing partial results of a study about the profiles of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers in both public and private primary and secondary strata 1-4 schools in Cali, Colombia. Teachers' methodological approaches and practices are described and analyzed from a sample of 220 teachers. Information was gathered…