Understanding the construction of bilingual citizenship in the Colombian Ministry of Education’s Suggested Curriculum for ELT: A Critical Discourse Analysis.

Abstract

The following research problematizes how the Colombian government understands the construction of bilingual citizenship. This is an interpretative study that follows the postulates of Critical Discourse Analysis to understand which discourse dimensions operate around the concept of bilingual citizenship in the official English Suggested Curriculum proposed by the Colombian Ministry of Education (MEN by its acronym in Spanish)in 2016. The project is based upon critical theories to discuss the pedagogical domain of our inquiry; additionally, it applies an integration of Halliday (1978; 1982) in his proposal of systemic functional grammar and Fairclough’s (1995; 2001; 2003; 2007) model of critical discourse analysis to conduct the research. This study explains the operationalization of bilingual citizenship discourse in the official English Suggested Curriculum in three categories: qualification, cultural assimilation, and contextual impact. As a result of this study, we were able to create points to discuss the role of ELT in the construction of citizens from its social, political, economic, and cultural impact.