The appropriation of the National Program of Bilingualism 2014-2019 in a higher education institution of Antioquia

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Drawing on a sociocultural approach to language education policy and focusing on the concepts of policy appropriation and agency, this study explored the way in which a higher education institution of Medellin has appropriated the National Program of Bilingualism 2004-2019. Findings revealed that the institution has had the will to make policy and has carried out important practices to appropriate policy. Nevertheless, the constraints arisen in the process, and the students and teachers’ reactions before the Institutional Policy of Bilingualism indicated the need for a conscious use of the institution’s agency to introduce changes. Furthermore, the discussion of the findings has provided a general understanding of the appropriation phenomenon, the identification of a normative approach to bilingualism in the institutional practices, as well as the recognition of the role of agency in the appropriation of language education policy.