English language education in primary schooling in Argentina

Abstract

This article describes public primary English language education in Argentina. I begin with background information about the country and a brief historical overview of education in general, accompanied by a portrait of primary schooling in particular. This overview involves local, political and economic considerations but also international influences that have played a key role in shaping the direction of language policies in primary education at the provincial and national levels in the country. I describe the national curriculum guidelines (Núcleos de aprendizaje prioritario, NAP) for foreign language education, contextualising them within the national education policies for primary school in force since 2003 and the new National Education Act (Ley Nacional de Educación 26.206). These guidelines and policies adopt an intercultural and plurilingual approach in the teaching of foreign languages, including English, at all levels of education and embrace a social justice conceptualisation of education in all cases. This approach has been materialised in ELT curriculum developments and programs in several of the 24 jurisdictions of the country with different degrees

“I Let Not Just Their Knowledge But Their Worlds Inform What I Teach.” Difficult Knowledge in the Popular Education Classroom in Buenos Aires, Argentina

“…Though it was not a mandatory requirement, it was a regular part of the curriculum. In public schools in Buenos Aires, however, English was a requirement that barred many from progressing in their studies (Adrogué ; Porto ). Where middle and upper‐class school families could afford private tutoring should their kids struggle, for those who could not, meeting this graduation requirement could be a challenge.…”

“…Grinberg () calls this decade in Argentina’s history a “neoliberal factory,” where privatization and laws removed processes that could protect employees, guarantee healthcare, and education to all citizens. Reforms devastated the education system, beginning with federal education laws that decentralized national secondary public schools (Porto ). This change of accountability did not consider the lack of available resources in financially impoverished communities and did not account for technical expertise and management necessary to shoulder new systemic change.…”

English and Bivalent Class Indexicality in Buenos Aires, Argentina

“…Although English language instruction is present in most public schools and nominally required by law, the quality of school-based English-language instruction is perceived to be spotty at best. Thus, many middle-class parents also send their children to additional English-language lessons at private language schools, called institutos de inglés (Porto 2016). The quality of language instruction at these schools is also mixed, but in drawing on British iconography (usually the Union Jack flag or symbols from royal crest iconography) in their branding, they link the learning opportunities at their institute to historical discourses of wealth and privilege ( Fig.…”

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“…In Latin America, the same narratives seem to be repeated since EFL learning is also associated with the socioeconomic development and the opportunity to participate in a global market and economy (Matear, 2008;. Developing Latin American countries such as Argentina and Chile have invested considerable resources in the implementation of macro national educational policies that foster EFL learning, which is considered the language for social mobility (Abrahams & Farias, 2010;Barahona, 2015;Porto, 2016). In the two cases, there are fundamental items considered by the two governments' annual budget.…”