The political, cultural, and economical relationship between the United States and Mexico is becoming more interdependent, and in general, Mexico’s participation in the world economy has increased the spread of English as a Second Language (ESL). English is ubiquitous in Mexico’s everyday life, as opposed to indigenous languages which are mostly hidden. The diffusion of English makes ESL learning mandatory if Mexicans want to aspire to a better social and economic life. Nevertheless, this contextual ‘imposition’ highly influences perceptions and attitudes Mexicans have towards the language. This in turn may create a strong barrier to the whole language learning process. Based on student surveys in two different universities, this paper accents negative perceptions and attitudes towards English language learning, and highlights Mexico’s colonial past and the effects of linguistic imperialism. In the conclusion, it will open the discussion on how these attitudes could be managed in the classroom, and will offer possible directions for future research in intercultural language learning. La relation politique, culturelle et économique entre les États-Unis et le Mexique est de plus en plus interdépendante, et en général, la participation du Mexique sur les marchés internationaux a propagé l’enseignement de l’anglais en tant que langue seconde. L’anglais est une langue omniprésente dans la vie quotidienne du Mexique, bien au-delà des langues autochtones qui sont en général plutôt cachées. Pour qu’un mexicain puisse aspirer à de meilleures possibilités économiques et sociales, l’apprentissage de l’anglais devient indispensable. Cette « imposition » contextuelle influence cependant clairement les perceptions et les attitudes que les mexicains ont envers la langue et crée des obstacles souvent difficiles à surmonter lors de l’apprentissage de cette dernière. Cet article met donc l’accent sur les perceptions et les attitudes négatives envers la langue en se basant sur des sondages d’étudiants dans deux universités différentes. Il cherche à expliquer ce blocage en faisant ressortir le passé colonial du Mexique et l’influence de l’impérialisme linguistique. En conclusion, l’article invitera à discuter sur les différentes façons de gérer ces attitudes au sein d’une salle de classe et proposera quelques recherches futures pour l’apprentissage interculturel des langues.
The purpose of this article is to investigate whether, despite a shift in political and educational discourses over the last decades that suggests that Indigenous cultures and languages are recognized, any real change has occurred in terms of Indigenous education in Mexico. It is possible that official bilingual intercultural education is still just a goal. Data presented include four Indigenous students' accounts of their educational experiences in monolingual and bilingual schools. The findings suggest that Indigenous education still has assimilationist tendencies, as far as the mestizo identity and the use of Spanish are concerned, and these tendencies are based on a (neo)liberal vision of multiculturalism that promotes ethnophagy. There is room for more changes to occur. Indigenous education has long been an important topic of discussion all over Latin America. In Mexico, after independence from Spain in 1821, attempts were made to integrate Indigenous peoples into the new ideal of a nation state. In Latin America, in general, and in Mexico, in particular, schools played a fundamental role in assimilating and acculturating Indigenous peoples in the homogenic mold of a unique identity and a unique language represented by the newly independent nation state (González, 2009; López, 2001). In Mexico, the official number of Indigenous peoples varies from one source to another. The Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (i.e., National Institute for Statistics and Geography) reported that 6.5% of the Mexican population in 2010 are Indigenous peoples (who spoke an Indigenous language), whereas the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas (CDI; i.e., National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples) published a national average of 10.5% for 2009 based on self-identification. Today, Indigenous peoples represent 68 linguistic groups (Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas [National Institute of Indigenous Languages], 2008), and the amendment in 1992 to the Mexican Constitution declared the country as being officially multicultural and plurilingual. Although constitutional recognition seems promising, Indigenous peoples have consistently had the highest poverty rates in the country (Bello, 2008; Hall & Patrinos, 2005). According to the 2000 National Census on People and Households, illiteracy among non-Indigenous peoples was 7.54%, whereas among Indigenous peoples, it was 33.7%. Only 8.31% of non-Indigenous Mexicans did not get any official education, whereas 31.35% of Indigenous peoples were
In Mexican higher education, the spread of English has become a tool in the internationalization process of universities. However, language has been sidelined in the discourses of globalization and internationalization. Hence, this ethnographic case study aims to look at the spread of English in Mexican higher education through two private universities. It focuses on the universities’ internationalization process, and how English as a foreign language teachers perceive the role of English in this process. Findings show that while English as a foreign language teachers support linguistic ideologies that promote the spread of English as a natural and apolitical phenomenon, at the same time they also warn of ideological implications such as language hierarchies, cultural homogenization, and English linguistic discrimination.
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