The Doctorado Interinstitucional en Educación (Interinstitutional Doctorate on Education) (DIE) program has a strong history of academic publications and the current volume continues that important tradition. The book takes part in the ongoing Enfasis series and introduces a new line, titled ELT Local Research Agendas. The student chapters found in the current volume are derived from research agenda position papers they wrote during their first year in the PhD program. The position papers are testament to the high quality of scholarship led by the three core ELT Education faculty.
The students have assembled comprehensive literature reviews for each of their selected topics. They engage deeply with theories across interdisciplinary spaces tying together theoretical strands developed in the fields of sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, among others. As position papers, the student texts close with research questions and suggested courses of action. Now placed in this new context, the student chapters read as informed calls to action of high interest to all ELT researchers, both junior and senior, and across contexts. Put another way, they have formulated critical questions of glocal scale in that they are of immediate, timely interest to ELT scholars in the local context of Colombia but also at the much wider global scale across the world. One anticipates the demonstrable impact that these research agendas will have on continued ELT scholarship world-wide.
Also, it is valuable to note that, taken as a whole, the student contributions assert a decolonial and critical stance, and thus speak directly to issues of authority and legitimacy that current ELT professionals are struggling with (e.g., decolonialism, standard language ideology, language identity, teacher education, and poststructuralism). It is my understanding that this positioning within the decolonial and critical literature is part of a strategic effort to develop a local epistemology, or school of thought, to be identified with the ELT Education major. Without a doubt, this movement is clear to see in the current volume and one eagerly looks forward to continued articulation of that epistemology in subsequent edited volumes emerging from the program.
Prologue
It is a sincere pleasure to contribute the prologue for this very important volume. Organized into three individual sections, the book chapters engage critically with issues of high concern in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) at the current time.
Structuralist, poststructuralist and decolonial identity research in English language teaching and learning: A reflection problematizing the field
This chapter is a personal reflection and it takes the form of an exploratory essay with a twofold purpose.
Teacher Educator Interactional Identities in English Language Teacher Education
This chapter presents the interface between teacher educator interactional identities and three fields of inquiry: English language teaching education (ELTE), classroom interactional structure in ELTE, and English language teacher identities.
Exploring imagined communities, investment and identities of a group of English language pre-service teachers through autobiographies
This chapter presents the interface between teacher educator interactional identities and three fields of inquiry: English language teacher education (ELTE), classroom interactional structure in ELTE, and English language teacher identities.
Using the “Epistemology of the South” to document the convergence of ethnic bilingualism and mainstream bilingualism in the multilingual identity of EFL teachers belonging to minority groups
Bilingualism in Colombia is often treated as part of a dualism in which ethnic bilingualism (indigenous language- Spanish) and mainstream bilingualism (Spanish- English) are considered almost as mutually exclusive and regulated by a bifurcated tone in the national language policies.
Problematizing ELT education in Colombia: Contradictions and possibilities
For many scholars, globalization is not a new phenomenon. Some state that for the western world, it started with the expansion of the Roman Empire. We could say that in Colombia globalization became visible with the initiation of the first neoliberal government led by César Gaviria.
Towards the exploration of English language in-service teachers’ ecologies of knowledges
In the following chapter, I aim at describing the reasons to inquire about English language in-service (ELI hereafter) teachers’ ecologies of knowledges.
Voices from the south: English Language Pre-Service Teachers contributions to ELTE
This chapter aims at depicting the role and contributions of English Language Pre-Service Teachers (ELPT) to the field of English Language Teacher Education (ELTE).
Delving into Pre-Service Teachers, Cooperating Teachers and University Mentors’ Positionings in the Initial English Teaching Practicum
Situated within the context of in initial English language teacher education programs (IETEPs) in Colombia, the English language teaching practicum (ELTP), has been considered as a crucial stage in the formation process pre-service teachers go through.
Problematizing English Language Teachers’ Subject Constitution
This chapter discusses the importance of problematizing the constitution of the self as subject from a Foucauldian perspective, which entails a critical revision of how the “form subject” might contribute to the studies of English teachers’ identities and English teachers’ education.
Who teaches the teachers? Analyzing identities of English language teacher educators at English Language Teaching Education Programs
The area of Language Teacher Education (LTE) is relatively new in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT) (Borg, 2011).