The Linguist

16 The Linguist Vol/62 No/1 thelinguist.uberflip.com FEATURES Irene Macías explores how universities might approach the decolonisation of their Modern Languages courses How can we really decolonise Modern Languages in the UK education system and beyond? As universities embrace the project of decolonisation at every level, it is useful to inquire how far and how deep we can go in our teaching and research practice to avoid turning decolonisation into the production of knowledge about 'others'. Interest in decolonisation in the higher education (HE) sector, especially in schools and departments of Humanities and Social Sciences, has seen a significant surge in recent years. 1 In languages it has been embraced with eagerness. A cursory look at the number of papers, publications, articles and workshops with the term 'decolonising' somewhere in their title attests to this interest within the academic community. Among colleagues, there is a palpable buzz, a seemingly genuine interest in undoing hierarchies and questioning privilege, and a general sense that decolonising our curricula can contribute in some small measure to bringing social justice, or at least to laying the groundwork for a more critical approach to the concept of global citizenship. 2 Languages are in a unique position to explore decolonisation. One could argue that any attempt to decolonise that is solely carried out in English would be an oxymoron; it silences other voices and perspectives, arguably reproducing colonial power dynamics. Decolonisation is to be spoken in many languages. A critical reflection on the significance of which language we use to decolonise takes us to the other elephant in the room: the fact that most of the languages taught in UK schools and universities are languages with a colonial past. This means that, as language scholars, we need to start from a place of unpacking our privilege in terms of the value endowed to the languages we teach and their purported usefulness in the academic languages market. This calls for an honest digging into the history, events and trajectories that have resulted in the dominance of these languages over autochthonous languages, which have often been relegated to the margins, or to a slow death. Adopting this critical stance can give way to informed – and ethical – pedagogical possibilities. For instance, one of the corollaries of linguistic colonialism is diatopic variation (i.e. differences based on where the language is spoken). Exploring aspects such as linguistic variety, normativity and symbolic capital through the lens of critical sociolinguistics can lead to fruitful insights for students. 3 Making progress There are already commendable endeavours going on, for example in the field of Spanish as a Foreign/Second Language. 4 As a collective of scholars working from a perspective of inclusivity and social justice, we are addressing the question of which Spanish to teach, critiquing unquestioned assumptions and overhauling our own teaching practice. ELEUK (Association for the Teaching of Spanish in Higher Education in the UK) has set up a Special Interest Group working on how to decolonise the teaching of Spanish. 5 Meeting online once a month, we are working on developing specific teaching materials and pedagogies that foster a critical stance among students. The output will be shared at the annual ELEUK conference in June. 6 We are moving in the right direction. But some honest questioning is required in order to avoid operating in a bubble, divorced from our day-to-day, material and professional reality. How far can we go? Can we really walk the talk? How can we ensure that the momentum that is building is not co-opted by institutions in a box-ticking, marketing exercise? As a community of engaged scholars, we need to recognise that there are fundamental limitations to what we are doing. It is Decolonising spirit Any attempt to decolonise that is solely carried out in English would be an oxymoron

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