The Language Center of the María Cano University Foundation continues to generate impact news that demonstrates the quality of the professionals assigned to this place of academic training. The coordinating teacher of the «Semilla Bilingüe» project, Catalina Jaramillo Cárdenas, publishes in national indexed language magazines two articles that show the importance of bilingualism for the professional development of the new generations.

The first article entitled: Incorporating an intercultural path in the National Bi/multilingual Program: The challenge; is an analysis of the national bilingualism program in Colombia and the challenges it faces in terms of interculturality, while revealing the way in which the program impacts the country’s schools. It was published in the journal Lenguaje of the Universidad del Valle, which «publishes unpublished articles derived from scientific research in any of the disciplines that deal with language, mainly in the areas of theoretical linguistics, descriptive linguistics (of Spanish, indigenous languages, sign languages ​​and creole languages), applied linguistics (language teaching and learning, lexicography, translation and terminology) and sociolinguistics». The article is focused on the integration of interculturality with bi/multilingual language programs, which is a growing demand from Colombian researchers in the field of English Language Teaching and Language Teaching-Learning. This article answers a question about the role of interculturality in language programs, more precisely in the National Bilingualism Program of my country (Colombia Bilingüe 2018-2022) and its impact on schools. The methodology involves review of Colombian and international academic journals on the teaching of English and languages, as well as official documents of the national policy for bilingualism. The results reveal four challenges in the articulation of interculturality and Colombia Bilingüe 2018-2022. Finally, the conclusions support the call of the academics on the articulation of interculturality and language education and invite the actors involved to assume the identified challenges to undertake an intercultural path in the National Bilingualism Program.

To read the article go here

The second article entitled: Intercultural Communicative Competence Models and Assessment versus an Intercultural Latin America Path; makes a detailed tour of what intercultural communicative competence is and its forms of evaluation. It is the competence that we work in Colombia in teaching English, adapted from the Common European framework and other theorists. In the end, the author argues why Latin America has its own resources to develop or decline our own framework of Intercultural Communicative Competence. It was published in the journal Praxis, Educación y Pedagogía, which «is an open access publication, published online with a continuous periodicity (semester), which has the support and sponsorship of the Faculty of Education and Pedagogy (F.E.P.) of the University del Valle, Cali, Colombia.It is aimed at the national and international community of researchers in education, pedagogy and didactics.It is aimed at strengthening research around educational thought, the debate on pedagogy and didactics and related topics, with the aim of purpose of consolidating a network of researchers in the field, and contributing to the transformation of educational practices in the region.For this reason, the journal promotes the dissemination of theoretical studies (viewpoint), research (original research) or state of the art of highest level (reviews) in the field of education and pedagogy.

To read the article go here

The teacher Catalina Jaramillo Cárdenas is Coordinator of bilingualism projects in the district of Medellín. Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with more than 15 years of experience in public schools and also works as a trainer of trainers at the university level. He has a Master’s Degree in Second Language Teaching and Learning Processes, and is currently in the fourth year of the Inter-Institutional Doctorate in Education at Universidad del Valle in English. His research interests include: multilingualism, intercultural studies and teaching practices in schools.

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