A multicultural approach to english teaching in Buenos Aires : is it happenning?

Abstract: Multilingualism is an old phenomenon which has become a central issue for language teaching professionals in recent years as the world we live in becomes increasingly globalized. While in Buenos Aires the importance of a multicultural and multilingual approach to the teaching of English is acknowledged in official documents such as the Curricular Design for Foreign Languages (Diseño Curricular de Lenguas Extranjeras), the question remains whether this translates into concrete teaching practices or education policies; especially when Native American languages such as Quechua or Aymara are involved. As an attempt to start replying to this question, we chose to work on school districts 13 and 20, where there is a high percentage of Bolivian population. Fifty primary school English teachers were interviewed between November and December of 2014. This article analyses part of the results of these interviews, focusing on three conclusions. Firstly, most teachers do not regard multilingualism as an important component of their classes, which is reflected by their lack of knowledge of their students’ linguistic background. Secondly, teaching practices are only incidentally affected by multicultural environments. Finally, training offered on these issues by the Ministry of Education is scarce and does not reach teachers, who are mostly unaware of its existence and, therefore, do not participate in it.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Bize, Daniela
Format:	Artículo biblioteca
Language:	eng
Published:	Universidad Católica Argentina. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras 2017
Subjects:	ENSEÑANZA DEL INGLES, ENSEÑANZA DE IDIOMAS, MULTILINGÜISMO, DOCENTES,
Online Access:	https://repositorio.uca.edu.ar/handle/123456789/4416
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