Contextual Factors that Contribute to the Language Attrition, Retention and/or Improvement of Six In-service English Teachers in the Eastern Region of Antioquia

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The English language proficiency that in-service English teachers achieve at the end of their teacher preparation may fluctuate over time. Once in the profession, some may maintain and/or improve their English language level while others may undergo some loss of their language skills. Teachers may experience language maintenance, improvement, or attrition depending on a range of contextual factors that occur at different levels. The language proficiency variation may be associated with teachers’ individual lives –micro context level—, their undergraduate programs and current workplaces –meso-context level and cultural, social, and political issues –macro-context level. The wider these levels, the less control teachers have over them. Framed in a critical sociocultural perspective, this case study explored the contextual factors that influence six in-service English teachers’ language proficiency who work in public and private institutions in the Eastern region of Antioquia. The data collection involved individual semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, a can-do language scale, and documentary analysis of the Bilingual Plans of the municipalities where their schools are located and the educational project of the teachers’ workplaces. The findings reveal that in-service English language teachers’ individual investment in their language proficiency is not enough to counterbalance language attrition. They also show that factors associated with preservice language education and the settings where teachers work are determining in promoting teachers’ future language retention and/or language improvement, or language attrition. Teacher education programs with lower linguistic standards and public schools, especially those located in non-certified municipalities and in rural areas, tend to fail in the prevention of English teachers’ language attrition. Moreover, national language policies do not seem to implement strategies to effectively avoid these teachers’ language loss. The lack of support from educational authorities widens the quality gap that exists between public and private education and urban and rural contexts. The findings of this study suggest that the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with local educational authorities, should provide teachers with more opportunities to use the English in and out of the classroom, including localized professional development initiatives, and a fairer distribution of English-language resources and teaching materials.