This presentation will call for disruptive research practices that not only can question the rhetoric of modernity and the logic of coloniality, but also position epistemic disobedience and a grammar of decoloniality (Mignolo, 2010) in the production of knowledge in foreign language education programs (Fandiño, 2021). It will do so by first going over coloniality in general and coloniality of knowledge in particular. Then, it will discuss knowledge production in the field of foreign language education. After that, it will propose some preliminary ideas about the decolonization of research in foreign language education programs. Finally, it will encourage participants infuse their own research agendas and research projects with disruptive alternatives.

1. Coloniality and ELT Education Programs: The Need for
Disrupting Alternatives in Research
PhD (c) Yamith José Fandiño Parra

2. I hold a B.A. in English Philology from the National University
of Colombia and an M.A. in Teaching from La Salle University in
Colombia. I am also a specialist in virtual learning
environments from Virtual Educa Argentina. Currently, I am
pursuing a Ph.D. in Education and Society at La Salle University.
My research interests range from teacher education and
language policies to decolonial studies and teacher
subjectivation. At present, I am working for the School of
Education Sciences at La Salle University where I teach both
undergraduate and graduate courses.
Yamith José Fandiño Parra

3. “…teachers are subalterns subjected to center-based methods and center produced materials driven
by a hegemonic power structure that controls them through curricular plans, teaching methods,
standardized tests, and teacher education. This situation demands them to be organic intellectuals
whose work goes beyond the confines of the institutionalized hegemonic order by advocating for the
transformation of their subalternatized communities.
When challenging hegemonic structures, ELT organic intellectuals find themselves decolonizing
structures, discourses, and practices as part of “a long-term process… from below and from
within… of resignification and re-construction towards words and knowledges otherwise”
(Kumaravadivelu, 2016, p. 79).
0. Introduction

4. 1a. ELTEPs in the world
Foreign language teaching (Vez,
2011)
Postmethod pedagogy T (Chen,
2014)
Interculturality and plurilingualism
(Trejo, 2019)
1980’s - 1990’s 1990’s – 2000’s 2000’s – 10’s
ELT education programs (ELTEPs) tend to
organize their discursive structure around
a temporal and consecutive
methodological evolution/innovation that
invites us to think that the changes from
one methodology to another are produced
by the improvement of a product that
expires and gives way to a new and better
form of pedagogical and linguistic
intervention.
From the grammar-translation method to
communicative approaches and classroom
alternatives (tasks, projects, content and
language integration, etc.) = linear
evolution.
ELTEPs incorporate postmethod pedagogy
to cover historical, political, and
sociocultural experiences that influence
ELT… [This pedagogy] involves the
construction of classroom-oriented
theories of practice by practitioners… It
heightens the importance of context
sensitivity in FLT, and stresses thar society,
politics, and education systems have an
important effect on FLT.
From broad-general theoretical principles
to context-situated practical strategies.
ELTEPs are experiencing a transition from a
discipline focused on the teaching/learning
of a precise language (mother, foreign or
second)…, to a discipline that is based on
the subjects and their language repertoires
and in which the goal is the evolution of
these same repertoires.
From communication-based approaches to
intercultural and plurilingual-oriented
perspectives.

5. 1b. ELTEPs in Colombia
Curricular implementation of
EFL (Hernández, 2008)
Foreign language policy (Roldan,
2017)
Educational reforms (Rueda et al., 2020)
1990’s – 2010’s 2000’s – 2020’s 2010’s – 2020’s
1994 = The 115 general law of education.
Mandatory learning of a foreign language
in basic and middle education.
1999 = Curricular guidelines for foreign
languages in basic and middle education.
2001 = The Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages
(CEFR).
2006 = Basic standards of competences in
foreign languages.
2016. Suggested curriculum of English.
English as a study area: Syllabus,
methodology and evaluation.
2004 – 2010. The national bilingual plan =
Standards, evaluation, and improvement plans.
2010 – 2014. Project to strengthen the
development of competencies in foreign
languages = Language proficiency, teacher
training, and institutional projects.
2013. 1651 law of bilingualism = EFL in all the
Colombian educational system // Focus on the
development of communicative skills.
2015 – 2025. The National English Program:
Colombia very well // Basic rights in English.
English as a macro, meso, and micro national
language policy.
2010. Quality characteristics of professional training programs in
education.
2013. Colombian system of teacher formation and policy guidelines.
2014. Quality guidelines for bachelor’s degrees in education.
2015. Granting and renewal of the qualified registration of bachelor's
degrees.
2016. Accreditation of bachelor’s degree programs in education.
2017. Quality characteristics of Bachelor's programs for qualified
registration.
2019. Quality conditions of higher education programs.
English as part of standardization, accreditation, rankings, and
homogenization.

6. 1c. ELT education programs
ELT education
programs
Foreign
language
teaching as a
discipline
Postmethod
pedagogy
Interculturality
and
plurilingualism
Curricular
implementation
Language policy
Educational
reforms
Teacher education
-
- The craft model.
- The technical efficiency model.
- The applied science model.
- The competence model.
- The hermeneutic reflective
model.
- The socio critical model.
- Etc.
Teacher knowledge
- Content knowledge.
- Curricular knowledge.
- General pedagogical
knowledge.
- Pedagogical content
knowledge.
- Knowledge of learners.
- Knowledge of contexts.
- Etc.
Educational research Source: Own elaboration.

7. 2a. Overview of educational research
•Theory-based vs. Practice-based.
•Description-explanation vs. interpretation-comprehension.
•Structured-closed vs flexible-opened.
•Unidisciplinary vs. multidisciplinary.
Research
perspectives (Flores &
Roque, 2021)
•Modernism: Rationality, experimentation, causality,
measurement, objectivity, generalization, etc.
•Postmodernism: Complexity, experience, interdependence,
interpretation, intersubjectivity, transferability, etc.
Research foundation
(Lema-Ruiz, 2022)
•Domain over basic elements of research.
•Resignification of the teaching profession.
•Transformation of practice.
•Knowledge construction about education subjects, contexts,
relationships, practices, etc.
Research aims or
goals (Cabra & Marín, 2015)

8. 2b. Neocolonial context of educational research
• Research as a
service to be
offered and
purchased.
• Search for
sources of
financing in the
external sector.
• Search for
quality,
productivity and
innovation.
• Introduction of
the laws of
market: demand
and supply.
Liberalization Competition
Commercialization
Privatization
(Cuesta-Moreno &
Cabra-Torres, 2022)

9. 2c. Turns in educational research
Changes in
orientations and
modes of
knowledge
production (Rivas,
2020)
Hegemony of positivism and
the scientific method
Observation, control, measurement,
counting, cause-effect, etc.
Qualitative or interpretative
turn
Detachment from the positivist
rationality, questioning of the empire of
numbers and attention to processes
instead of results.
Subjective or narrative turn Centrality of the subject and the
processes of subjectivation, as well as a
commitment to personal, sociopolitical
and cultural stories.
Decolonial or alterative turn Need for an epistemology otherwise
that reconstructs the world system,
legitimizing diverse and different ways
of knowing and being.

10. 3a. Coloniality

11. 3b. Coloniality and ELTEPs

12. 4a. Decoloniality

13. 4b. Decoloniality and ELTEPs

14. 5b. Decolonial research

15. 5b. Decolonial research in ELTEPs

16. 6. Disruptive practices in ELTEPs
To Mignolo (2011), disruptive or transgressive practices are those that refuse to accept the hegemony of Eurocentric
perspectives and strive to decenter them.
An important disruptive practice is the re-evaluation of linguistic and cultural hierarchies, challenging the idea that
some foreign languages are more "prestigious" than others (Heller, 2010).
Transgressive practices may also involve the subversion of power structures by adapting participatory and
collaborative approaches that give voice to students and local communities (Freire, 1970; Menken & Garcia, 2010).
A disruptive practice may also be the implementation of a critical approach that questions how the teaching materials
and methodologies used in foreign language teaching can reflect and perpetuate linguistic and cultural inequalities
(Pennycook, 1998).
Another disruptive practice can be the adoption of intercultural bilingual education that not only involves the teaching
of the target language, but also fosters respect for and appreciation of students' languages and cultures of origin,
recognizing linguistic and cultural diversity as an asset in the learning process (Ricento, 2019).

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