Open AccessBilingual Education in Guatemala
Author(s) -
Adriana SotoCorominas
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of literacy, culture, and language education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2642-4002
DOI - 10.14434/ijlcle.v4i0.26917
Subject(s) - indigenous , bilingual education , government (linguistics) , process (computing) , phenomenon , happening , language shift , language education , linguistics , order (exchange) , sociology , political science , mathematics education , pedagogy , computer science , psychology , history , business , programming language , ecology , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , performance art , art history , biology , finance
Language shift is a phenomenon by which one language is lost and replaced by another one. This project focuses on the language shift process happening in Guatemala, a country where the majority language, Spanish, coexists with 24 Indigenous languages. The objective of this project was to assess the role and development of the Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) model, which was implemented with the aim of promoting a type of education that would integrate the cultures and languages of the country. In order to carry out this project, teachers from different schools and members of the government and of the Academy of Mayan Languages were contacted. Data were gathered by means of informal, semistructured interviews. After analyzing the data, it became clear that the IBE model was not being implemented as it was supposed to be and, therefore, the language shift process continues following its course in the country.