Regresar

Western Linguistic Hegemony: The Teaching of Foreign Languages as a Colonial Imposition

Abstract:

This research aims to evaluate the elements that support Western linguistic hegemony. To achieve this end, the article focuses on the following aspects: 1. It presents the elements that characterize the coloniality of language, a systematic process that denies the word and, consequently, the identity, rationality and culture of indigenous populations. 2. Point out how the teaching of foreign languages has become a colonial imposition, which defines the epistemic, ontological and political relationships in the region, codifies knowledge, existence, culture and promotes the totalizing Western logos, through policies educational programs designed to meet the growing demands of the Global North. 3. Indicates the necessary emancipation of the teaching of foreign languages, assuming the importance of implementing a critical, intercultural and dialogical pedagogy, which rescues the value of the language of the peoples, which has immersed its historical trajectory. In the midst of this, it is hoped to enable the construction of another, inclusive society, whose goal is equity and social justice. The method used is the hermeneutic-documentary. It concludes on the relevance of the decolonization of language, as part of broader intercultural pedagogical projects, which aspire to the liberation of oppressed subjects in Latin America.