ImpactU Versión 3.11.2 Última actualización: Interfaz de Usuario: 16/10/2025 Base de Datos: 29/08/2025 Hecho en Colombia
“Our Nationality or the Groups We Belong to Don’t Define Us”: Language Teachers’ Understandings of Identity, Multilingualism and Interculturality in Colombia
Colombia is a multilingual and pluriethnic country, although this was only officially recognized in the Constitution of 1991. In this context, interculturality has been associated with Indigenous peoples and with foreign international languages. However, there is little connection between these two visions within pedagogical practice or in most educational scenarios. This chapter focuses on a study carried out in a Colombian university with in-service teachers of foreign languages, particularly English. The objective was to provide the participants with opportunities to reflect on their teaching practice and the role of the intercultural dimension within it, leading to the creation of didactic sequences they considered appropriate to promote intercultural sensitivity in their own contexts. An action research methodology was used and the data, consisting of student reflections and materials, were analysed using a thematic content approach. The results evidenced two main themes: reflection on the participants' identities and the questioning of stereotypes, and the use of observation as a basis for action and integration. It is concluded that understanding the complex relationships between languages, interculturality and identities is possible if those involved become aware of their own preconceptions about the other in the process of understanding themselves and others from a critical point of view.