Interrogating the social impact of English language teaching policies in Colombia from the vantage point of rural areas

Abstract

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 teaching biographies) in an attempt to point at specific issues that need to be considered, in order to more truthfully account for social development through education policy. In doing so, from the angle of ELT in rural contexts, the paper examines where it is that rural regions stand in terms of cultural and socioeconomic arrangements operating in the country. It is suggested that in order to really make ELT policy socially impactful, these wider cultural and socioeconomic arrangements need to be examined, questioned and indeed integrated into policy making.