Second language learning and socioeconomic development: interrogating anglonormativity from the perspective of pre-service modern language professionals

ABSTRACT In the context of an undergraduate program in modern languages that includes the learning of French, Italian, Portuguese, and German in addition to English, this paper problematizes anglonormativity; that is, the dominant discourses of English as the taken-for-granted language of development. From the particular context of Colombia, where the hegemony of English has notoriously shaped different nation-wide language policies, this study critically analyzes how languages other than English also play a significant role in socioeconomic development. As an important theoretical backdrop, this analysis follows the views of post-development to interrogate the conventional instrumental understanding of development. Based on a mixed-method study involving 407 students, in which Abric’s [1994). Practicas sociales y representaciones [Social practices and representations]] model of social representations was deployed as an analytical frame to examine the meanings students construct around the process of learning international languages. Particularly, three major narratives of social representations emerged from these diverse meanings. These served to scrutinize the essentialized and hermetic discursive construction of English as the quintessential language of progress, economic growth, and intercultural communication. The study highlights the need to deconstruct these hegemonic conceptions and make room for more intrinsically grounded social representations of both socioeconomic development and language learning.