Bilingualism in Colombia

Abstract

This study analyzes Spanish-English bilingualism in Colombia’s educational sector, using the European Common Framework of Reference for Languages as an indicative measure of language proficiency. The results show that Colombians have low English language proficiency, a fact that is confirmed by calculating the proportion of students and teachers grouped in levels associated with low language skills, as well as the average scores obtained by Colombians in international tests for nonnative English speakers. This situation is persistent, and conveyed in the evolvement of students’ recent performance on standardized English tests, which has characterized itself by the absence of significant progression. This reflects the decreased likelihood of fulfilling the goals related to foreign language proficiency levels in Colombia, proposed by the Ministry of Education, hence an adjustment recommendation.