THE
NEED FOR REFLECTIVE EFL TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN COLOMBIA
Abstract
This
article analyzes the need for new EFL teacher education programs (TEPs) that not only satisfy the expectations that
Colombia’s society and State have of their EFL teachers but above all respond
to the professional interests and needs of EFL student teachers (STs) and teacher
educators (TEs). The main objective is, then, to argue for reflection and inquiry
as valid options to allow EFL TEPs to move from merely implementing or
transplanting imposed models or concepts to systematically generating
opportunities to construct knowledge from and in their own practices and
realities. The method used in this article takes principles and techniques from
documentary research in order to inquire, present, and interpret specialized
literature about EFL teacher education. The main findings are a set of basic
aims, guidelines, principles, and focuses proposed for the creation of solid
EFL university programs.
Key words
Teacher training, professional training, foreign
language instruction, student teachers, teacher education schools (Source:
UNESCO thesaurus).
LA
NECESIDAD DE PROGRAMAS REFLEXIVOS DE FORMACIÓN DE DOCENTES EN INGLÉS COMO
LENGUA EXTRANJERA EN COLOMBIA
Resumen
El problema que este artículo analiza es la
necesidad de nuevos programas de formación docente (PFD) en inglés como lengua
extranjera (ILE) que no sólo satisfagan las expectativas que la sociedad y el
estado colombianos tienen de sus profesores de inglés sino que sobretodo
respondan a los intereses y las necesidades profesionales de los
estudiantes-profesores (EP) y los formadores de profesores (FP). El objetivo
principal es, entonces, abogar por la reflexión y el cuestionamiento como opciones
válidas para permitir que los programas de formación docente en inglés como
lengua extrajera (PFD ILE) pasen de simplemente implementar o trasplantar
modelos o conceptos impuestos a generar sistemáticamente oportunidades para
construir conocimiento de y en sus propias prácticas y realidades. El método
que el artículo sigue toma principios y técnicas derivadas de la investigación
documental para indagar, presentar e interpretar literatura especializada sobre
la educación docente en ILE. Los hallazgos principales son un grupo de metas,
guías, principios y focos para la creación de sólidos programas universitarios
en ILE.
Palabras
claves
Formación
de docentes, formación profesional superior, enseñanza de una lengua
extranjera, estudiante-profesor, escuela de profesores. (Fuente: Tesauro de la UNESCO)
INTRODUCTION
Agray (2008) explains that the expectations that
Colombian society has about the foreign language (FL) teacher are mostly based
on instrumental demands because people want FL teachers to be able to teach
what they need using a fast, easy, effective, and cheap method that does not
imply a lot of time, study, or discipline. For their part, asserts Agray, the
Colombian state and universities conceive the role of FL teachers in connection
to quality practices, social responsibility and critical research. Concretely, the
State and universities contend that the FL teacher should be a professional in
foreign languages, pedagogy, and research equipped with a critical, reflective
and ethical behavior and commitment. In spite of this, Agray maintains that there
is a divorce between what the law establishes and the actions to make it
happen. In other words, the official discourse about FL teaching seems to favor
quality, research, and responsibility, but the everyday reality of FL
classrooms reveals a disarticulation of actions and a lack of resources. That
is why, Agray asserts that FL teachers as professionals and subjects should be
the ones in charge of answering to what society asks not just to fulfill its external
demands but also to satisfy their own internal needs.
Unfortunately, according to Shohamy (2006), most
FL policies, educational reforms, and government regulations are imposed and
manipulated without attention to the needs and wishes of those who are either affected
by them or expected to carry them out. Through a variety of overt and covert
mechanisms used by those in authority, states Shohamy, languages are
manipulated and controlled so as to affect, create, and perpetuate not only the
“correct” (pure, native-like, grammatical) use, but also group membership
(“us/them”), inclusion or exclusion, loyalty or patriotism, economic status
(“haves/have nots”), and classification of people. In a similar vein, Ricento
(2006) claims that language-policy debates are always about more than language.
To him, ideologies about language in general and specific languages in
particular have real effects on language practices, and delimit to a large
extent what is and what is not possible in the realm of language planning and
policy-making.
In this regard, González (2009) states that the
spread in Colombia of the ICELT (In-service certificate in English language teaching)
and the TKT (Teaching knowledge test) play a clear role in the homogenization,
businessification and inequality of EFL policies, reforms, and regulations in
Colombia. To her, “Bilingual Colombia” as a language policy has brought about regulations
on various aspects of the language learning and teaching such as desired
standards, teachers’ qualifications and professional development. These
regulations, explains González, reveal (a) a traditional view of the native
speakers and their supremacy and ownership in the use of the language, (b) a lack
of the analysis of the Colombian linguistic situation as a country placed in
the expanding circle of World Englishes, and (c) a scarce discussion on the
growing role of non-native speaker teachers in the TESOL profession. In 2007, González
argues that the professional development model proposed in “Colombia Bilingüe”
is a representation of colonial, traditional, and central discourses in ELT
that needs to be reshaped by the new, local, and peripheral knowledge
constructed by Colombian ELT scholars and teachers.
It seems then that new EFL teacher education
programs (TEPs) are needed if they are not only to satisfy the expectations
that Colombia’s society has of its EFL teachers but also to respond to the professional
interests and needs of EFL student teachers (STs) and teacher educators (TEs).
This paper argues for regarding reflection and inquiry as valid options to
allow EFL TEPs to move from merely implementing or transplanting imposed models
or concepts to generating opportunities to construct knowledge from and in
their own practices and realities. First of all, a brief overview of EFL TEPs
in Colombia will be provided. Then, some key concepts about teacher education
will be discussed succinctly. Next, EFL teacher education will be presented as a
long-term process aimed at promoting and integrating distinctive but complementary domains and models. After that, some
useful elements and suggestions based on reflective teaching will be suggested
as suitable alternatives for new and improved EFL university programs. Then,
inquiry will be proposed as a fundamental principle for EFL TEPs in Colombia.
Finally, a basic description of what new EFL TEPs should have and do will be
made.
EFL TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN COLOMBIA
Most Colombian universities
offering EFL TEPs assert that research and reflection are key elements in the
formation of pre-service language teachers. National University of
Colombia, for example, states that some of its objectives are: “Reflexionar
sobre aspectos de la lengua, su pedagogía, su cultura” and “impulsar cambios a
través de la investigación y el diario quehacer como educador”. Similarly,
University of Valle maintains that one of its main objectives is: “Desarrollar
en el estudiante competencias investigativas que le permitan indagar, reflexionar
y discutir sobre problemas relacionados con la descripción pedagógica de las
lenguas extranjeras y las áreas disciplinarias”. In a similar line of thought, University
of Antioquia establishes that one of its axes is research since “…la
investigación […] propicia una actitud crítico-reflexiva propia de la
investigación pedagógica”.
These objectives seem to
suggest a strong commitment of Colombian universities to engaging in reflection
and research at every moment or stage of their formative programs. However,
when reviewing the courses of study of 20 universities[1]
is noticeable that most of them offer their pre-service teachers just 3
research-based academic spaces. These spaces usually appear around fifth,
sixth, and seventh semesters as a preparation to the teaching practicum and
previous to 2 thesis seminars. Only 4 universities (District University of
Bogota, National Pedagogic University, National Pedagogic and Technological
University of Colombia and La Salle University) seem to provide their
pre-service teachers with more than 5 academic spaces devoted to research
and/or reflective teaching in addition to teaching practicum and thesis
seminars. Apart from being more numerous, these academic spaces tend to start
from the first semesters of the pre-service teachers’ formative process, which
may have a positive impact on their teaching training because, as Burns (2005)
states, student teachers and teacher educators should be engaged as much as
possible in developing their own theories of teaching, gaining more
understanding of classroom decision making, and using strategies for critical
self-awareness and self-evaluation.
On the other hand, a review
of 10 Colombian academic articles and research studies on reflection and
research[2]
seems to indicate that work with reflective teaching and action research is
highly linked to either pre-service teachers’ practicum or in-service teachers’
professional development. Zambrano and Insuasty (2009), for example, state that
student-teachers demonstrate they gain significant insights as they enhance
features such as evaluating and analyzing their teaching experience critically,
identifying and solving problems, discussing their teaching with others, and
improving classroom processes. Similarly, Muñoz, Quintero and Munévar (2002)
claim that a research-action-reflection approach to practicum helps pre-service
teachers to recognize the meaning of the educational profession, to transform
their own practice and to strengthen the coherence between thinking and doing. For
their part, Vergara, Hernández, and Cárdenas (2009) maintain that the study of
classrooms done by in-service teachers helps in the development of learning and
teaching theories, which ultimately paves the way for them to move from being
mere consumers to generators of knowledge. Furthermore, Erazo-Jiménez (2009)
views reflexive practice as professional metacompetence that is the basis for
updating, furthering and mobilizing the professional knowledge of in-service
teachers. Also, she asserts that it can work as a strategic way to reinforce
the quality of education.
Undoubtedly, Colombian
universities and EFL TEPs have strived to make research and reflection part of
their courses of studies for both pre-service and in-service teachers. However,
this endeavor may have not been enough because, as Calvo, Rendón and Rojas
(2004) claim, most efforts have been a result of national laws and regulations
that may not account for what is really happening inside the teacher education
units. These efforts, argue Calvo et al., may have been obstructed by the
permanence of traditional pedagogical models that privilege technical training,
which go against theoretical, pedagogical, and curricular innovation and restructuring
promoted by research and reflection. Additionally, they point out that although
there have been several proposals to strengthen reflection and research in teacher
education and development, the articulation between the teaching-learning model
of the institutions and their real possibilities for better formative processes
has not been proved. In a similar vein, Caicedo (2008) states that TEPs need to
be reconsidered so that they can implement new curriculum approaches to form
educators able, among other things, (a) to develop critical and creative
thinking, (b) to do and communicate research properly, and (c) to face today’s
challenges holistically.
This brief overview of the
Colombian context seems to suggest that Colombian EFL TEPs need to analyze how
research is carried out in their courses of study and, more specifically, how a
reflective teaching-learning philosophy can be infused in all their academic
spaces and formative processes. Colombian TEPs should move from regarding reflection
as a simple strategy to improve pre-service teachers’ practicum and in-service
teachers’ development to integrating it into all their teaching and learning
practices. Reflective teaching should, then, be considered as a fundamental
approach to observing, criticizing and transforming teacher education, and
ultimately, improving the quality of education. The next section discusses
teacher education in some detail.
TEACHER EDUCATION
[1]
This review was made based on the information that the universities have at their
websites about their EFL TEPs.
[2]
This review was made based on reflective and research articles published in the
last 10 years by long established and well-known Colombian Journals: PROFILE
(National University of Colombia), ÍKALA (University of Antioquia), CALJ
(District University of Bogota), and EDUCACIÓN Y EDUCADORES (University of La
Sabana).
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