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Critique of Colombia's Standards for English Teaching
Victor Valencia Ramirez
Department of Education, Universidad Santiago de Cali
Methods and approaches for teaching a foreign or second language
Camilo Andrés Bonilla Carvajal
November 7th, 2021
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Critique of Colombia's standards for English teaching and assessment
In 2004, the Colombian government, headed by the Minister of Education at the time,
launched one of its most ambitious plans, the national bilingualism program, which aimed to
implement a methodological proposal that would allow high school students in the country to
communicate in English and be certified at the level suggested by the Common European
Framework B1 (MEN, 2005).
After many years, since the beginning of this project, and seeing how the date for the
achievement of its objectives has suffered several extensions, it is impossible not to wonder
ourselves why the national bilingualism plan implemented in Colombia does not seem to be
working?
Although the program seeks to prioritize the learning of English as a second language
throughout the country, so far it has not been consolidated in most of its schools and contrary to
the apparent interest that the government claims to have in making the country's youth bilingual,
in many schools the subject has been reduced to being just one more in the academic calendar, as
it continues to be taught as a foreign language, applied specifically to primary and secondary
students.
Likewise, but in clear contradiction to the government's stated desire to improve performance
levels in this area, very few programs have been implemented to train teachers, because although
most of them know the structure of the language, it is evident that some do not know how to
teach it, and therefore, as an alternative solution, foreign teachers who don’t know the context of
our students are hired Linares (2011).
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According to Cárdenas, (2014) the implementation of the bilingualism program
presents a series of unfortunate facts, which underlie at the moment of the practice, among which
we can start with the detriment in the teaching given the deficient training given to the teachers
of this area; In addition to this, the methodologies, which although it seeks to bring the school
population closer to the multiculturalism competence, it has the same capacity in terms of
resources, especially in remote areas of the country, although it seeks to approach the common
European framework, it does not have the methodologies and much less the resources, since
among its multiple proposals are face-to-face education (the most used), virtual education
(Matias, 2020) there is no connectivity throughout the territory and immersion in particular
scenarios to get in touch with the language first hand (not applicable to a percentage that
consolidates the proposal).
It is important to start from the fact that the program has been postponed, which would
roughly mean that it is not complying with the proposed model; initially, it was prioritized from
2004 to 2019, but in 2015 it was replaced by the "National English Program - Colombia Very
Well", with observable results by 2025.
However, Moreno (2009) expresses that the greatest difficulty is related to the social
character of the population, although it seeks to reach a large number of students, only 2% speak
the English language, even referring to this fact as a classist act, since it determines that only
those who have purchasing power have access to the labor market with this language.
According to Stufflebeam & Shinkfield (1995) evaluation is the process of identifying,
obtaining, and providing useful, descriptive information about the value and merit of the goals,
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planning, accomplishment, and impact of a given object in order to guide decision making, solve
accountability problems and promote understanding of the phenomena involved" (p. 183).
Likewise, these authors propose four phases that examine the curriculum in four different
moments: assessment of national, local and particular institutional needs, inputs: written
curriculum or curriculum design seen from its objectives, strategies, procedures, resources, and
contents, implementation of the designed curriculum, analysis of the results in relation to the
objectives and identified needs.
Cárdenas (2006) considers that: "Colombia is not in favorable conditions to implement
bilingualism due to reduced timetable intensity, student overpopulation, poor language
preparation of teachers, limited resources and the absence of an environment in which to
establish real communicative processes" (p.23). ), which leads to questions about the
methodologies used and the teaching conditions themselves, which, by strengthening these
aspects, could lead to feasibility that approaches a global perspective and the expected results.
Therefore, the role of the teacher is fundamental in this process as stated by Bonilla and
Galvis (2012), "the quality implicit in the work of teaching is a determining factor in the level of
results expected from students" (p.17). And the qualification of teachers is important to face
coherently the pertinent pedagogical processes in the education of students.
On the other hand, for Caicedo (2020), in his article, the failure of "bilingual" education
in Colombia, became a survival strategy for higher education students, since most of the
scientifically rigorous consultation articles appear in English, but the error for basic and
secondary education even resides in the nomination of the term, since to achieve bilingualism
should be based on teaching all areas in this language and not in the extension of hours for this
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purpose; The answer is also given by the fact that professionals in this area are rarely found
formulating learning strategies since, in the end, those who wish to learn this language must
enroll in institutes or specific academies for this purpose (Caicedo, 2020).
Thus, David Bish, explains that the backwardness of the initiative of the Ministry of
Education lies in the precarious preparation of teachers in this field, considering that it is the
mission of the state to train them pedagogically and even in the salary issue, in addition to the
above, he proposes the use of new technologies, he also affirms that the government should be
stricter and demand that those who teach in this area have total knowledge not only in the
domain, but also in pedagogy and teaching and that they can resort to strategies that are close to
their tastes and contexts: Movies, songs, series among other alternatives, but it is paradoxical,
because while looking for results the teaching of this second language has not been a priority in
the Colombian official system.
"In 2015, the proportion of students from official schools who graduated at PreIntermediate B1 level was 3.2 percent. By 2018, the goal of the Colombia Bilingüe program is to
raise this percentage to 8 percent. The way the education portfolio measures the progress of the
goals is based on the Saber 11 tests. Since 2008, the percentage was 1.4 percent and has
increased 1.8 percent to reach 3.2 percent in 2015. Although the progress seems noticeable, in
the EF study it is not so much. In fact, it concludes that in 2014 it managed to go from a very low
level to a low level" (Matías, 2016).
According to Data show above, the road to bilingualism in Colombia is far from being a
reality, so it is urgent to review teaching and learning strategies that allow a real approach of the
English language to students, especially those in the public sector.
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The issue of whether the bilingualism program has failed or not, has been a topic of vital
relevance mainly for academics, therefore, studies claim that the bilingualism program has
multiple flaws, demonstrated in studies by the Universidad de los Andes and the Universidad de
la Sabana.
It is important to highlight this issue, seeing bilingualism as more than an exercise that
promotes teaching; therefore, it is crucial to find it as a fundamental tool that allows to permeate
global markets of knowledge outside the mother tongue; it is also clear that the sociocultural
context plays a determining role not only in the issue of bilingualism but in all those actions that
involve the commitment of students. Thus, the investment in laboratories as well as in
technological equipment, as well as the rigorous training of teachers should be the priority of the
program, so that by 2025 it will be possible to reflect and evaluate the progress that should go far
beyond the results of a saber test.
References
Bonilla, L. y Galvis, L. (2012). Profesionalización docente y calidad de la educación
escolar en Colombia. Ensayos sobre Política Económica, 30(68), 114-163. Recuperado
de http://www.scielo.org.co/pdf/espe/v30n68/v30n68a04.pdf
Caicedo, A. (21 de septiembre de 2020). Las 2 orillas. Obtenido de
https://www.las2orillas.co/el-fracaso-de-la-educacion-bilingue-encolombia/
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Cárdenas, M. (2006). Bilingual Colombia: Are we ready for it? What is needed? [en
línea]. Ponencia presentada en la 19th EA Annual Education Conference. Disponible
en:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238773867_Bilingual_Colombia_Are_we_re
ady_for_it_What_is_needed. Fecha de consulta: [octubre 4 de 2017].
Linares, A. (1 de abril de 2011). 'El inglés se enseña todavía de forma muy arcaica'. El
Tiempo. Recuperado de http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-4479844
Moreno, M. (2009). Análisis de la implementación de las políticas públicas de
bilingüismo en Bogotá. (Tesis de maestría, Universidad de la Salle). Recuperado de
https://ciencia.lasalle.edu.co/maest_docencia/660
Matías, S. G. (8 de octubre de 2016). El Tiempo. Obtenido de
https://www.eltiempo.com/vida/educacion/bilingueismo-en-colombia-noavanza-42776
MEN. (octubre de 2005). Al Tablero. Obtenido de
https://www.mineducacion.gov.co/1621/article-97498.html