The professional development of English teachers is a significant area in language teaching and learning, as well as in teacher education. On the one hand, at least in theory, professional development initiatives respond to the teachers' changing needs. On the other hand, it reflects the beliefs that different educational authorities and…

English is core to HE (higher education) globally, with both HE and English seen as pathways to success for students. Yet, access to English is unequal and colonial ideologies associate English with Anglophone settings. Much of the research on English in HE has focused on elite institutions and students, while the majority of the world's HE…

This case study reports how three high-school teachers from two state schools in Colombia enacted the National English Suggested Curriculum by the Ministry of Education. The teachers' trajectories of action were analyzed through semi-structured interviews, teachers' narratives, and lesson observations. Using the ecological model of agency as a…

Coloniality in education and language policies continues to impact Indigenous communities in implicit and complex ways. In this article, we describe the case of Colombia where, like in many other countries in the Global South, educational policy messages are contradictory. While ethno-education policies purport to sustain Indigenous languages and…

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 article analyzes the results of the Saber Pro, the state exam for students completing higher education, during 2007-2017 concerning the English language section. This analysis uses the reports and databases from the Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Educación (ICFES) repository and explains the policy in its historical context.…

Research related to English as Foreign Language (EFL) curricula in Colombia is scant and mainly focuses on the analysis of policies and the challenges they pose to institutions. Consequently, there is a need for studies of EFL curricula in place in Colombia to serve as basis for evaluation and adjustment of current educational policies. This…

There is a rich body of studies on the implementation problems of curricular changes comprising more student-centred methodologies in English as a foreign language education around the world. Focusing on these global-wide studies within the context of the Ecological System Theory, this meta-synthesis aims to identify the common factors that hinder…

English teachers' professional development responds to individual needs and societal discourses about teaching, learning, and language use. This paper reports the findings of a case study that explored the factors that increased or limited the active and committed participation of nine Colombian teachers of English in professional development…

The last events developed in the dimension of teachers' training have defined new rules which they must be trained in. This article points out some aspects and considerations that emerged from the resolution 2041, on February 3rd, 2016, which introduces different perspectives that must be taken carefully into account, and an analysis, specially…

Most education systems propose policies in pro of the benefit of society. However, successful application of these is unknown in consequence considering teachers voices is needed to understand the situations in the classroom. This study analyzes some English language teachers' stories that served the purpose to construct themselves as…

The promotion of language ideologies, policies and pedagogies that treat languages as separate and hierarchical has become a central concern for critical education scholars. In this case study, I explore how school actors at Colegio Colombiano (CC), an international school in Colombia, engaged with critical approaches to bi/multilingual education…

Drawing on a larger study of the current state of affairs of English language teaching (ELT) in rural Colombia, this paper interrogates the social impact which education policies promoting English have been associated with. Informed mainly by Nancy Fraser's theory of social justice, I analyse teachers' narratives (obtained through interviews and…

In June 2015, the Colombian government via the Labor Ministry announced a project for young workers called "40.000 Primeros Empleos". In the framework of this project, the Ministry of Labor signed an alliance with the language platform Duolingo as a strategy to provide participants with English learning opportunities and a free language…

This article reports the results of a study whose purpose was to trace the configuration of professional subjectivities by analyzing the narratives of four Colombian non-native English speaking teachers in the framework of language policies. In this qualitative-narrative study we used written narratives and narrative interviews as instruments to…