Abstract
This chapter discusses intercultural education (in general) addressing some of its challenges and opportunities within a local context of a public university in Brazil. A review of literature on intercultural education and internationalization of higher education was conducted, followed by a meta-analysis of a corpus composed of 22 studies/documents in the university analyzed, comparing them with the reviewed literature. The study sought to answer the research question of what are the possibilities and limitations of intercultural education in the university analyzed (UFES). The discussion contrasts the analysis of the corpus with the literature reviewed suggesting that UFES adopts English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) approaches and internationalization models from the Global North which in turn, pose more difficulties than possibilities for intercultural education there. The chapter concludes that the use of other languages besides English in approaches such as CLIL, COIL, and Intercomprehension represent relevant alternatives to foster multilingualism and intercultural education in that context.
TopIntroduction
Intercultural and bilingual education are emergent phenomena in Brazil, and (as such) they are not yet supported by official policies. Recent educational reforms that made the teaching of English (as an additional language) mandatory provoked heated debates concerning the role of language teaching/learning and multilingualism in Brazil (e.g. De Oliveira, 2019; De Sousa & Dionisio, 2019; Diniz & Da Silva, 2019; Passoni, 2019). Moreover, side effects of globalization, such as the internationalization of higher education (IHE) and migrations, promoted discussions about the hegemony of certain languages and the need for the preservation of minority languages (such as heritage, indigenous and African-Brazilian languages), along with the necessity to develop intercultural educational policies to deal with the diversity influenced by globalization and migrations.
Current migration flows occur both inside (from the countryside to big cities) and outside Brazil (mainly from Haiti, Peru, Bolivia, Senegal, Ghana and Congo – e.g. Câmara, 2014; and Venezuela – e.g. Camargo & Hermany, 2018) indicating the need to develop intercultural and language skills to welcome immigrants and people from various mobility flows. On the one hand, migration flows may be caused by forced displacement, in which people move due to an element of coercion that often involves some sort of threat to life and livelihood, stemming from man-made causes (such as political repression and development-induced displacement), as indicated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM)1. On the other hand, people look for better opportunities in the labor market and in education, particularly at universities that are well placed in international rankings of higher education.
The flow of people caused by academic mobility is related to the second form of migration described in the previous paragraph. Academic mobility is an important part of the international flows of people because education is “one of the most important aspects of our lives – vital to our development, our understanding and our personal and professional fulfilment throughout life” (Couldrey & Peebles, 2019, p.2). As a key element in human life, people struggle for education even when the conditions in society (whether at home or away) are not favorable, as is the case of forced migrants.
Considering the migration crisis worldwide, the international community seems to have neglected a humanitarian response in the realm of education. According to Bessler (2019, p.4), “food, water, health and shelter” were the priorities during emergencies while education “was considered more of a long-term objective” to be tackled by governments/agencies. The aforementioned author states that the international community underestimated “the impact education can have on peaceful coexistence” and “misjudged the social and economic consequences of the lack of education during displacement for both host and home countries” (Bessler, 2019, p.4).
As such, education (in general) and literacy (in particular) play a key role in everyday life, especially for migrants who represent around 69 million people displaced globally nowadays, 52% of whom are under the age of 18 (Bessler, 2019). In Brazil, data2 from 2018 indicate that around 750,000 foreign residents live in the country, representing 0.4% of the total population. The services of the National System of Health (SUS, in Portuguese) and Education are offered for free to immigrants, but recent cuts in both areas are threatening the social inclusion of both nationals and immigrants in education (in general), and in higher education (in particular) – especially after budget cuts in 2019 by the Brazilian government.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Linguocentric: A belief that one’s own language is superior to other languages.
Collaborative Online International Learning: Approach for developing collaborative learning/teaching, between two or more institutions, in which teachers and students from different geographical regions agree to study a given subject/topic, usually adopting a common/foreign language.
Ethnocentric: A belief that one's own culture is superior to other cultures.
Language Management: Formulation and publication of explicit plans/policies in a formal document, about the use of language(s).
Language Status: The perceived value of a given language, related to its social utility and “market value”, which does not depend (necessarily) on legal/official status.
English as a Medium of Instruction: Approach for delivering content (of various fields of study) through the English language, usually at the higher education level.
Intercomprehension Approach: Approach for communication between speakers of different (but related) languages, in which each person tries to use his/her own language (usually their first language) and tries to understand the language of the other people involved in the communicative situation.
Language Practices: The choices that a speaker makes (consciously or unconsciously) that makes up a conventional pattern of a language variety – which may indicate age, gender, social class, level of education, etc.