Language Ideologies in the Formulation and Appropriation of a Language Policy for the Internationalization of Higher Education in Colombia: A Case Study in a Public University

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Drawing on a critical sociocultural approach, this paper inquires how language ideologies influence the formulation and appropriation processes of a foreign language policy for the internationalization of a Colombian public university. Universities around the Country have intensified their efforts to internationalize in response to national policies that aim at accelerating the participation of the Country in the global economy. This endeavor has pressured these institutions to adopt English. Under such conditions, one recognized Colombian public university produced a foreign language policy to improve its undergraduate students’ English proficiency, meet academic quality indicators, gain international visibility, and strengthen research. This policymaking process occurred in the midst of ideological crosscurrents. In such scenario, competing ideologies conditioned the policy stakeholders’ opinions, decisions and behaviors leading to divergences in the policymaking process. The data analysis revealed that stakeholders perceived English as a quality concern in times of accountability, as a gatekeeper in times of globalization and internationalization, as a dominant language, and as a social responsibility. The findings suggest that instead of becoming a hindrance, competing and crashing ideologies motivated stakeholders to appropriate the policy according to their interests, needs, and concerns opening ideological spaces for negotiation and actively challenging the ideological assumptions behind the policy. As a result, the policy would transform in multiple ways in respond to stakeholders’ agency changing its original goals. Because this last consideration, studies like this one become pertinent given that they can inform policy practitioners and the research field of language policies about the ways in which the negotiation and opening of ideological spaces influence the success of foreign language policies.