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57
Prole: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 23 No. 1, Jan-Jun, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 57-73
https://doi.org /10.15446/prole.v23n1.83135
Level of English in Colombian Higher Education:
A Decade of Stagnation
Nivel de inglés en la educación superior colombiana:
una década de estancamiento
Jorge Eliecer Benavides1
Universidad de Nariño, Pasto, Colombia
is article analyzes the results of the Saber Pro, the state exam for students completing higher education,
during – concerning the English language section. is analysis uses the reports and databases
from the Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Educación () repository and explains the
policy in its historical context. e results warn of a quite worrying picture between the goals established
by the Ministry of Education and the nal achievements. e level of English of future Colombian
professionals is not only very low but also without improvement from its beginnings in to . As
a conclusion, it would be necessary to review, from the universities’ perspective, the language educational
policy and propose bottom-up structural alternatives that allow a sustained impulse in teacher training,
methodology, and curricular and pedagogical organization.
Keywords: achievement gains, educational policy, Colombian university students, language tests,
prociency tests
En este artículo se analizan los resultados de la prueba Saber Pro, el examen de estado para estudiantes
que terminan la educación superior, en el módulo de inglés del periodo -. Este análisis utiliza
los informes y bases de datos del Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Educación () y
proporciona un breve contexto histórico de la política educativa. Los resultados advierten un panorama
preocupante entre las metas establecidas por el Ministerio de Educación Nacional desde el inicio de la
prueba de inglés y los logros obtenidos. El nivel de inglés de los futuros profesionales en Colombia no solo
sigue siendo muy bajo, sino que además no se observa mejoramiento importante. Como conclusión, se
propone revisar desde las universidades la política educativa con alternativas estructurales que permitan
un impulso a la capacitación docente, la metodología y la organización curricular y pedagógica.
Palabras clave: estudiantes universitarios colombianos, mejoramiento educativo, política educativa,
pruebas de inglés, pruebas de eciencia
Jorge Eliecer Benavides https://orcid.org/--- · Email: jbenavides@udenar.edu.co
is article is part of the institutional project funded by the Sistema de Investigaciones at Universidad de Nariño (Colombia) that seeks
to identify the level of English in all its faculties, programs, students, and teachers for the design of an improvement plan and a policy of
use of the foreign language.
How to cite this article (, th ed.): Benavides, J. E. (). Level of English in Colombian higher education: A decade of stagnation.
Prole: Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, (), –. https://doi.org/./prole.vn.
is article was received on October , and accepted on October , .
is is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives .
International License. Consultation is possible at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/./
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
58
Benavides
Introduction
e importance of not only knowing but also mas-
tering English as a foreign language () is undeniable
in our era of the “Global Village” where information
in the scientic, technological, political, and economic
elds at the spoken and written levels are mostly found
in this language. Hence, we speak of a global language
such as a “lingua franca” that allows dierent peoples,
nations, and races of dierent languages to communicate
through a common code (Cromer, ; Ku & Zuss-
man, ; Ministerio de Educación Nacional [],
a). is characteristic growth of the importance
of English has also produced the phenomenon of the
native speaker displacement as a standard. At the level
of native English speakers in countries such as the
United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, it
has been found that there would be almost ve times
more speakers of than natives throughout the world
(Jenkins, ).
In the educational eld, the importance of English,
especially in developing countries, has been growing
due, for the most part, to frequent opportunities for
educational mobility oered worldwide to students of
higher education (British Council, ; Pennycook,
; Sánchez-Jabba, ). erefore, the inevitable
requirement of mastery or prociency of has been
on the increase. is reality has recently been boosted
by the so-called “internationalization” factor that has
been taken into account by the universities in Colombia
to improve the mobility rates for the accreditation of
programs and eventually of the institution. e national
and international visibility of the universities required
by the Consejo Nacional de Acreditación () as one
of the factors for accreditation (Agreement of )
and the internationalization dimension by the for
the Modelo de Indicadores de Desempeño de la Edu-
cación Superior (, higher education performance
The entity in charge of ensuring high-quality standards of
educational institutions and programs in Colombia.
indicator model) university rankings has very recently
included the results of English from the Saber Pro tests
at university level as one of its indicators, among others
such as student and teacher mobility, and international
co-authorship of articles (, ; Resolution
of ).
According to recent reports in Colombia, the
level of English has been identified as low, when
considering the Common European Framework
of Reference for Languages () adopted by the
Colombian government since (, a).
This drawback has had direct implications for public
education policies aimed at counteracting low lan-
guage proficiency results for university students at
both national (, Saber Pro) and international
level (English Proficiency Index, ) exams for
young professionals. On the other hand, taking into
account the results of standardized tests, student
performance, especially in higher education, has
not changed significantly (Consejo Privado de la
Competitividad, ; Sánchez-Jabba, ).
In this study, the reports from , Saber Pro
exams, and the databases from the repository of the
Instituto Colombiano para la Evaluación de la Edu-
cación () are used for the analysis of the results
in two moments along ten years (–). Aer a
brief historical contextualization of the policy and the
exam, the results that determine the dierent levels
of English are compared with reference to the goals
established by the for that period of time. Finally,
the implications for the future development of the
linguistic and communicative competencies of English
in the Colombian education system are examined in
the discussion and conclusions parts.
Saber Pro is the name of the Colombian state exam used by the
government to test ve dierent competencies, English among them,
in students nishing higher education (, a).
e exam was the original version of Saber Pro and
went on from to . Saber Pro was established by Law of
and started to be administered in .
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Prole: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 23 No. 1, Jan-Jun, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 57-73
Level of English in Colombian Higher Education: A Decade of Stagnation
International Context
In the early s, with the disintegration of the
Soviet Bloc, the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall, the
Cold War, and other political, economic, and cultural
barriers between East and West, there was an increase
in student mobility in European countries, aer more
than years of strong restrictions on entry to the
countries of the Eastern Bloc. e same happened
with the countries of the American continent that
saw greater possibilities of international mobility with
Europe. Both government agencies, industrial and
commercial companies as well as institutions of higher
education launched their dierent policies of rap-
prochement and cooperation with European countries
and vice versa. thus gained greater momentum
as a means of global communication for education
(Council of Europe, ; Gilpin, ; Lasanowski,
; McBurnie, ).
is resulted in the resurgence of interest in learn-
ing and teaching the dierent languages involved,
especially English, from elds such as science, eco-
nomics, industry, technological development, and
the growing impulse of global culture (Nault, ).
Also, the qualication of people in various languages
was particularly important, as was the implementa-
tion of evaluation and measurement mechanisms.
In addition, it was necessary that actors interested in
cooperation and interaction in the new context could
show mastery of the target language, making certain
forms of institutional certication of their competence
in the dierent languages at stake necessary (Coleman,
). is resulted in the need for the standardiza-
tion of assessment and measurement instruments of
internationally validated exams or tests (Benavides,
; Council of Europe, ; Willems, ).
In this way, the option of a standard for the dierent
global certication needs of was born, as well as for
the other languages at stake (French, Spanish, German,
etc.). Since the s, there have existed language
certications from institutions such as (Educational
Testing Service) in America and universities such as
Cambridge and Oxford in Europe that used various
tests to measure linguistic and communicative skills.
Many test developers at that time realized the need for a
standard that could serve as a reference for the various
certications of the mastery or prociency of a foreign
language in the new world context.
In the mid-s, the Council of Europe proposed
a series of guidelines—to be recognized throughout
Europe—for learning, teaching, and evaluating quali-
cations in foreign languages. (Schneider & Lenz,
). e resulting eort was the development of
the standard called Common European Framework
of Reference for Languages () that would even-
tually become a reference manual for aligning tests
for the dierent language competencies: linguistic,
communicative, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic (Wil-
lems, ).
The Common European Framework
of Reference for Languages
e was published as a revised version of a
Council of Europe manual in . It aimed at helping
European countries in their search for standards, criteria,
and points of reference to assess and evaluate dierent
levels of language in order to guarantee and promote
interaction among peoples, especially in the eld of
education. One of its main objectives was:
To encourage practitioners of all kinds in the language
eld, including language learners themselves, to reect
on such questions as: What do we actually do when we
speak (or write) to each other? . . . how do we set our
objectives and mark our progress along the path from
total ignorance to eective mastery? . . . what can we do
to help ourselves and other people to learn a language
better? (Council of Europe, , p. iii)
e main advantage of the from its conceptions
has been, as the name implies, to serve as a common
reference for language teachers, researchers, and policy-
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
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Benavides
makers in establishing their objectives and challenges,
taking into account their needs, interests, and contexts
(Council of Europe, ). However, in recent years
and from the pressure of a global economy and the
need for policymakers for language choices, most of
the attention placed on the has been focused on
the achievement of the dierent levels built around
descriptors and rubrics. In other words, the emphasis
has been put on the adequacy and application of tests
and achievement exams in the areas of international
relations and business and commerce (Neeley, ,
; Spolsky, ). Despite the more pragmatical
orientations and applications from its original aim by
the Council of Europe, it can be of particular interest
to policy designers, agencies and government institu-
tions, curriculum designers, teachers, and institutions
to implement curricula around these new standards to
eventually have programs developed around descriptors
of the international level (Little, ; Westho, ).
The Programa Nacional
de Bilingüismo (National
Bilingualism Program)
Colombia has prepared the path towards com-
mercial, scientic, and educational openness using the
Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo () since
as an ambitious driving mechanism for the country’s
development. Several reforms designed for in the
Colombian educational system preceded this program.
In its design and implementation, however, structural
obstacles were found that prevented its realization.
Among them was the large number of students per
classroom that became a great pedagogical obstacle to
learning objectives. Also, these reforms revealed the wide
gaps between national initiatives issued by the Ministry
of Education for the policy implementation of English
and the development of communicative competence of
Colombians. ese policies have been carried out amid
the lack of continuity in their implementation due to (a)
misconceptions of the term “bilingualism” (Gómez-Sará,
); (b) not enough available resources, the necessary
contextual conditions, and the scarce hourly intensity
and content (Jimenez et al., ; Sánchez-Solarte &
Obando-Guerrero, ); (c) the lack of a culture of
evaluation (British Council, ); (d) disregard of
language educators in policy decision making and in-
service teacher training and preparation (Cárdenas,
); and (e) impoverished opportunities of degree
qualication for primary school teachers by the Ministry
of Education (Bastidas et al., ).
It is noteworthy that during the periods –
and –, and in the context of decentralization
promulgated by the new Colombian Constitution
of , the , supported by several private and
ocial universities and with the logistics of the British
Council, promoted teacher training in the dierent
participating English programs. is led to a mobi-
lization of English teachers from several universities
to enforce internal curricular reforms that would
ultimately leverage English learning processes based
on new approaches, methodologies, and pedagogical
paradigms (Aparicio et al., ). e mobilization
mentioned above nurtured the development in
of the Curricular Guidelines for Foreign Languages
as pedagogical orientations for teachers who could
appropriate conceptual elements and make univer-
sity autonomy eective in guiding the pedagogical
processes for curricular needs (, ).
Only until , and in the context of the “Edu-
cational Revolution,” did the publish the Basic
Standards of Competence in Foreign Languages: English,
a product created by university teachers with experience
in the eld and with the support of the British Council.
ese standards implied the adoption, selection, and
application of the descriptors and rubrics of the ,
which were accepted as criteria to identify the develop-
ment of English language linguistic and communicative
competencies in the country (, a).
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Prole: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 23 No. 1, Jan-Jun, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 57-73
Level of English in Colombian Higher Education: A Decade of Stagnation
e aimed at “achieving citizens capable of
communicating in English, so that they can insert
the country into the processes of universal commu-
nication, in the global economy and that of cultural
openness, with internationally comparable standards”
(, a, p. ). e purpose, made explicit by the
Ministry of Education, was intended to achieve levels
of mastery or prociency of English in Colombia for
. However, it could also have represented the
adherence of the country to globalization as a mass
phenomenon, synonymous with the “commercializa-
tion” of higher education, as seen by some critics of
this process (Brandenburg & de Wit, ; Pennycook,
; Robertson, ). Conversely, Piekkari and Tietze
() have reminded us of the diculty, if not the
impossibility, to dictate general policies for language
use and rather recommended a sensibilization process
before setting any policy implementation. It seemed
that this process was made to appear somewhat easy
to achieve or it was intended to be perceived as too
simplistic, without having considered the complexity
of contextual aspects: needs, interests, motivations, the
programs (form, duration, and orientation), cover-
age, participants, institutions, students, and teachers
at the regional and national levels. Therefore, the
introduction of language policy should have been
for the most part an integration of the many factors,
actors, and conditions of the process in the country
as a precondition to its successful implementation,
without neglecting any of the complexities while
considering most issues at stake.
Analysis of the Goals Projected
for the Development of the
Level of English in Colombia
rough the as a policy for the development of
in Colombia until , the aimed to develop
communication skills in English for educators and
students to favor the insertion of human capital in
the knowledge economy and in the globalized labor
market. For this reason, it considered the achievement
of the goals as mastery of English (, , a,
b). All accomplishments and achievements would
have to be referenced to the standard adopted by
since , that is, the and the consequent use
of the new terminology: levels, performance
descriptors, rubrics, scales, ranges and sub-ranges for
the dierent language and communication skills that
had to be guaranteed.
A scale of three ranks, for the six levels of the
(, , , , , ) was a more simplied manner
addressing the levels: basic user (, ), independent
user (, ), and ecient user (, ). However, the
latter two levels, according to the descriptors, refer
more to the optimal levels of achievement of an ideal
user who would resemble that of a native speaker of the
target language. e basic user and independent user
ranks were further divided as: Beginner , Elementary
, Intermediate , High Intermediate +. ese were
the levels obtained aer the piloting of the test between
and and the rst results appeared in
(see Table ).
With the as a base policy, the considered
that the specic goals for students who completed
basic and middle education would be the achievement
of levels and , respectively, and for teachers.
For students who nished higher education levels,
and also + would be expected, and for graduates
from English bachelor’s degree programs at university
level (see Table ).
However, since the results at baseline (–)
were lower than expected, projected goals were estab-
lished in percentage gures for middle and higher
education levels (see Table ).
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
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Benavides
Table 1. CEFR Descriptors for English: Basic and Independent Users
Independent
users
b+• Exceeds level
• Are able to understand the main points of clear and standard language texts that deal with
everyday issues
• Know how to cope with most situations that may arise during a trip
• Are able to produce simple and coherent texts on topics that are familiar to them or in
which they have a personal interest
• Can describe experiences, events, desires, and aspirations, as well as briey justify their
opinions or explain their plans
Basic users
• Are able to understand frequently used phrases and expressions related to areas of
experience that are especially relevant (basic information about themselves and their
families, shopping, places of interest, occupations, etc.)
• Know how to communicate when carrying out simple and daily tasks that do not require
more than simple and direct exchanges of information
• Know how to describe in simple terms aspects of their past and their surroundings, as well
as issues related to their immediate needs
• Are able to understand and use everyday and frequent expressions, as well as simple
phrases designed to meet immediate needs.
• Can introduce themselves, ask for and give basic personal information about their
address, belongings, and the people they know.
• Can relate to others in a simple way as long as their interlocutor speaks slowly and clearly
Low level - • Does not reach level
Note. From the (), Saber Pro database. Dirección de evaluación.
Table 2. Achievement Goals for English: Basic, Middle, and Higher Education
Basic and Middle Education
Grade students: Intermediate level ()
English teachers: High Intermediate level ()
Higher Education
Future English teachers: Upper Intermediate level (+, )
University students from other careers: Intermediate level ()
Note. From Programa Nacional de Bilingüismo: Colombia –, by Ministerio de Educación Nacional, ,
(https://bit.ly/hBnif).
Table 3. Percentage Indicators, Baseline, and Goals (2011–2014)
Indicators Baseline
Goal
Goal
. of th grade students procient in English at the pre-intermediate level
. of English teachers with an intermediate English prociency
. of English degree students who reach the intermediate level
. of university students from other careers other than degrees in English
that reach the intermediate level
Note. From Plan Nacional de Desarrollo –: prosperidad para todos, by Departamento Nacional de Planeación,
(https://bit.ly/ZsONu).
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Prole: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 23 No. 1, Jan-Jun, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 57-73
Level of English in Colombian Higher Education: A Decade of Stagnation
Given the baseline, an increase of four percentage
points as a goal for (see Case ) could be understood
as moderate. However, an increase of more than
in the following three years () appeared very ambi-
tious. In Case , the goal pointed to more than , an
increase in the same three-year period for teachers of
English in basic and secondary education, something
very dicult or impossible to achieve without having
some kind of special intervention plan.
In the context of a globalized world, pressure for a
foreign language policy has been exerted internally and
externally. First, by governmental agencies such as
and the and the Consejo Privado de la Competi-
tividad that would allow Colombia to be a competitive
country with its insertion into the global economy and
with better preparation for the academic and labor global
world. Second, by international organizations like the
as a demand for the country to be in a better posi-
tion in the education eld by performance indicators
on standardized tests. One of these indicators has been
English as a primary means of communication in all
elds ensuring the educational policies from international
organizations dealing with market participation and
adherence to a global and neoliberal context of higher
education (Apple, ; Olssen & Peters, ; Phillipson,
; Price, ). Within this state of aairs of provid-
ing the expected results satisfying both sides, the
would have adopted two positions. First, a minimalist
position for basic, middle, and higher education cycles,
in the rst three years of the English test for , and
second, a maximalist approach for the next three ()
in the development of foreign language competencies
according to the projected goals.
Results of Saber 11 Exam
e results of the level of English for primary and
secondary education in this study are taken only as a
reference for comparison and the subsequent analysis of
higher education. For consistency purposes, the following
nomenclature is used as terms of the scale: low levels
(- and ), intermediate levels ( and ), and high
level (+) or higher.
e following results of the Saber exams car-
ried out between and could be used to
compare the scope of the goals projected by the
around the levels established according to the
criteria and the real situation of English in basic and
secondary education in Colombia (see Figure ).
100%
80%
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% 2014-II 2015-II
A- A1 A2 B1 B+
2016-II 2017-II
52
45
41 49
35
40
31
28
78
17 14
4597
2 2 2 2
Figure 1. Percentage Results of Saber National Exams (–)
Note. From the (b).
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
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Benavides
In these four years (–), the level of English in
basic and secondary education appears practically as ,
, and of the with their respective achievement
descriptors (see Table ).
In (year of the rst goal of the ), of
the students of th grade who took the test were in the
low levels (- and ), and only reached which,
according to the , for that year should have been .
ree years later, the results are nothing better since the
goal for should have been much higher. However,
was obtained, higher than (), that is a
increase per year. In these four years (–), there
is no signicant change to talk about language “mastery”
as was proposed in the goals for , with for
nishing secondary education (, a, b).
It is worrying to see that practically half of the
population of students nishing Grade in is
at Level - according to the , that is, the student
“does not overcome the questions of less complexity”
(see Table ). If these were the results obtained at the
end of the secondary education for , these would
be the levels of entry of students to higher education.
Seventy-seven percent of the population with low levels
(- and ) are even lower than what should be achieved,
according to the , at the end of primary school.
Without obtaining Level for secondary education,
the projected goals for higher education would suer
in that same proportion aecting the overall level of
English in the Colombian education system.
Results From the ECAES Exam
for English (2007–2008)
With the issuance of Law of , the regulatory
framework of the System of Quality Assessment of
Higher Education was introduced and new criteria for
the English exam were dened. Decree of
regulated the application of the exam, and Decree of
that same year made its completion an additional degree
requirement for students at the end of this level of studies.
Since , with the review of the exam, it was called
the Saber Pro exam, and its results served as a source
of information for the construction of indicators for
evaluating the quality of higher education in Colombia.
e following results (–) are the bench-
mark for subsequent comparison with the period
– and they refer to professional programs at
the university level in higher education. It can be noted
that about of the population that took the English
exam in that rst period is at low levels (- and ),
in the intermediate levels ( and ), and only in
the high level (+; see Figure ).
Figure 2. Percentage Results of ECAES National
Exam, University Programs (2007–2008)
Note. From (, ), results (–).
For the same period (–) the dierences
among the reference groups are notable between the
extremes of the distribution. Mathematics and natural
sciences with of low levels (- and ), in
intermediate levels ( and ), and in the high
level (+). ey are followed, in descending order, by
engineering, architecture, urban planning, and health
sciences. At the lower end are education sciences and
social and human sciences. The education sciences
group has of the students in the low levels (- and
), in the intermediate levels ( and ), and only
in the high level (+; see Figure ).
100%
80%
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0% 2007-2008
A- A1 A2 B1 B+
25
34
17
18
7
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Level of English in Colombian Higher Education: A Decade of Stagnation
For a better comparison within the reference
groups, some of the programs within them at the
extremes of the distribution have been taken for
comparison: mathematics and natural sciences
contrasted with those of education sciences (see
Figure ).
100%80%
718 21 37 18
1126212814
21 32 18 21 7
615163627
25
30 34 16 15 5
711123634
37 18 17 4
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%0%
Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Engineering, architecture, Town Planning
Health Sciences
Economics, Administration, Accounting
Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences
Social and Human Sciences
Education Sciences
A- A1 A2 B1 B+
Figure 3. Percentage Results of ECAES National Exam, Groups of Reference (2007–2008)
Note. From (), results (–).
100%
80% 38
20
19
16 23
28
35 35 35
44
8
29 25 12
2316
20
13
14
4
8
13
7
7 6
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Biology Chemistry Physics Mathematics Geology
A- A1 A2 B1 B+
Figure 4. Percentage Results of ECAES National Exam: Mathematics and Natural Sciences (2007–2008)
Note. From (), results (–).
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
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Benavides
ese programs stand out due to the low percentages
at the low levels (- and ) and high percentages at the
high level (+). It is important to note that the low levels
are between and , while the high between
and , which signicantly dierentiates them from
the results of the population.
For the second case, in the bachelor’s degree
programs from the education sciences group, high
percentages in the low levels (- and ) reaching
about in one of them are observed, and the
absence of the high level (+) in the others (see
Figure ).
Figure 5. Percentage Results of ECAES National Exam: Education Sciences (2007–2008)
Note. From (), results (–).
100%
80%
7
13
37
42
28
41
11
12
710
20
37
15
22
43
26
29
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BA in Natural Sciences BA in Social Sciences BA in Humanities and Spanish BA in Preschool Pedagogy
A- A1 A2 B1 B+
Unlike the programs in the area of mathematics and
natural sciences (Figure ), these would be those with
the lowest performance of the population: the highest
percentages at the lowest levels (- and ) and the
lowest at the high level (+).
However, within the education sciences, the dier-
ences considerably increase when it comes to programs
whose emphasis is foreign languages and particularly
bachelor’s degrees in English (Figure )
Even of low levels (- and ), intermediate
levels ( and ), and at high level (+) in programs
with an emphasis in English, would not be sucient for
the goals established by the in . ese programs,
given their subject matter characteristics, would be the
exception to the rule of what happens with the other
university programs of higher education. erefore, it
would have been necessary to consider them separately.
Figure 6. Percentage Results of ECAES National
Exam: Bachelor’s Degree in Foreign Languages
(2007–2008)
Note. From (), results (–).
100%
80% 49
44
29
49
5
1
5
2
16
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
BA in English BA in French
A- A1 A2 B1 B+
67
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Level of English in Colombian Higher Education: A Decade of Stagnation
Results of Saber Pro for
English (2016–2017)
Aer ten years of the rst application of the English
exam, and with the modication of Level + as aer
a revision of the test, roughly half of the population
() of those who took the test are still at low levels
(- and ), in the intermediate levels ( and ),
and only in the high level (; see Figure ).
Figure 7. Percentage Results of Saber Pro
National Exam (2016–2017)
Note. From (c), database results (–).
e results are similar to those obtained in –
, ten years previously. ere is a decrease of eight
percentage points ( for - and for ) in the low
levels, that is, less than annual improvement for
–. ere is an increase of eight percentage
points in the intermediate level ( and ), less than
annual improvement, and practically no dierence in
the high level () concerning the results of –.
ese do not represent any signicant improvement in
English for higher education over a period of years,
considering the magnitude of the goals established by
the in .
Concerning the reference groups, it is worth noting
a marked dierence in the extremes, like in the period
–. Mathematics and natural sciences with
at low levels (- and ) are far better than education
sciences at those same low levels: in a one-to-three
ratio. In the high level (), for the rst case and
for the second, in a three-to-one ratio. However, there
is a small improvement due to the reduction of the low
levels of the two extreme groups, but more for the second,
. and . annual improvement, respectively. e
rest remains relatively the same (see Figure ).
100%
80%
20
24
31
8
19
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2016-2017
A- A1 A2 B1 B+
100%80%
617 25 32 21
1126292411
19 32 25 17 7
514243522
21
20 28 24 20 9
611193430
32 26 17 4
90%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%0%
Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Engineering, architecture, Town Planning
Health Sciences
Economics, Administration, Accounting
Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences
Social and Human Sciences
Education Sciences
A- A1 A2 B1 B+
Figure 8. Percentage Results of Saber Pro National Exam: Groups of Reference (2017)
Note. From (c), database results (–).
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
68
Benavides
When these results are compared with those of
–, there is consistency at both ends of the two
groups. e only dierence is from social and human
sciences that now rank third in the reference group
scale in . e rest remains relatively invariable. It
can be determined that in ten years, no major changes
are observed. erefore, a relative stagnation is evident
in the development of the level of English as a generic
core from the results of the , Saber Pro exams for
higher education.
Discussion
e results of the English module of the , Saber
Pro exams show that in Colombia, there is a signicant
percentage of university-level students who are still below
the level of the ( in and in ) at
the end of their careers. In ten years, Level - only shows
a reduction of ve percentage points, which represents
an average of . annual improvement. e next level
() has a reduction as an improvement trend of three
percentage points, for a . annual improvement.
e best gain is at Level with an increase of seven
percentage points, for a . annual improvement.
e intermediate and high levels ( and +), which
are the focus of the goals for English projected by the
, remain virtually unchanged with a slight gain of
one percentage point in ten years, from to and
from to from to , respectively, that is,
a . annual improvement in each case.
e improvement trend seems to move towards
Level , which shows the best gain. However, the overall
improvement is too small to be considered important for
the “mastery” of the foreign language. erefore, it could
be said that the results show a process of stagnation of
the development of English competencies in ten years.
For example, the improvement of Levels and + is a
clear indicator of stagnation, because they are the focus
levels by the in setting the goals. If these goals were
applied to as a requirement for graduation (as seems
to be the case in the near future with Resolution
of ), only about of higher education students at
the university level will be able to graduate.
Taking the goals established by the as a point of
reference, and the results obtained, it can be determined
that the level of English in higher education is still very
low, conrming previous analyses (Consejo Privado de
la Competitividad, ; Sánchez-Jabba, ). In other
words, it is not only the level of students who nish
their university level that is very low but also there is
not enough improvement during a ten-year period
(–), as this study shows. In addition, the above
ndings are conrmed by the level of English of young
professionals in the results of international exams where
Colombia appears th among countries in the
world rankings. As for Latin American countries,
Colombia is hardly above Ecuador and Bolivia, according
to the results of the (Education First, ).
e dierences in terms of the results obtained
in the period of this study for English communicative
competence and the goals set by the are so broad
that a considerable gap has been created between them,
and it is safe to say that the State is in debt with the
language education system for the stagnation of the
process of foreign language development. Consequently,
this area would probably take a considerable amount
of time, eort, and investment in order to catch up.
is gap started with the results of the Saber exam,
as seen in , with more than of the popula-
tion at Level -. en the same debt must have been
transferred to higher education in the professional
careers at university level in those ten years and could
be still happening. University programs would have
been carrying that burden without any possibilities of
medium and long-term solutions given the low level
and minimum progress seen in a ten-year period for
the development of English language competencies in
the Colombian educational system.
It is also important to highlight the results of the
reference groups that relate to a greater or lesser degree
with the areas of knowledge. e large dierences shown
69
Prole: Issues Teach. Prof. Dev., Vol. 23 No. 1, Jan-Jun, 2021. ISSN 1657-0790 (printed) 2256-5760 (online). Bogotá, Colombia. Pages 57-73
Level of English in Colombian Higher Education: A Decade of Stagnation
are consistent in the upper and lower end groups, with
no major change in ten years, apart from a small decrease
in the lower levels, . and . per year in the two
extreme groups, respectively. However, it is important to
consider the most likely reason for these dierences in
favor of mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering
in contrast to education sciences. ese dierences
are most probably due to the fact that in the programs
of the first group, the students have to be reading
bibliographic sources directly in English, which mostly
cover up-to-date information on science, research, and
technology. is would imply the use of bibliography
and subscriptions to specialized journals in English and
access to databases of specialized journals in science and
technology over the Internet. e fact that students have
to read directly from these sources in English would be
guaranteeing them the learning through language use
and consequently obtaining signicantly better levels
of English than those of the other programs.
Finally, it is contradictory that Resolution of
demands that by : “Higher education institutions
must guarantee that graduates of all bachelor’s degree
programs in teaching have a or higher level in a foreign
language, according to the .” Equally unlikely, would
be to obtain a level as a requirement for students of
the other professional careers in the country in the long
term. Even the goals required for programs with an
emphasis on English expected to be at level for ,
according to the above-mentioned resolution, would
be currently very dicult, if not impossible to obtain
if the results of this study are taken into consideration.
Conclusions
The very low level of English communicative
competence shown in the period – from
the , and Saber Pro exams for university pro-
fessional programs concerning the English module
reveals a relative stagnation of the development of the
linguistic and communicative competencies showing
the real dicult situation of English in the Colombian
educational system. Despite the overestimated goals
of the that insisted on a “mastery” of English in
Colombia for , the evidence shown by the results
in this study is more than alarming. With the overall
importance attributed to the knowledge and mas-
tery of English as a lingua franca for the purpose of
internationalization, student and teacher mobility,
research and openness to other cultures, there would
be no major change and development in the future
without the redesigning of an eective foreign language
educational policy and innovations and suggestions
for teachers’ professional development at local and
national levels as those proposed from research and
implementation by Alvarez et al. (), Cadavid et
al. (), and Cárdenas et al. ().
e absence of an eective state educational policy
that fosters the development and use of the foreign
language in all its competencies seems to have severely
aected higher education and particularly the university
programs. If there ever was a foreign language policy
or the same with dierent denominations, these have
not worked properly due to several reasons, but mainly
for lack of continuity. e , the Programa para el
Fortalecimiento y el Desarrollo de Competencias en
Lengua Extranjera, the Programa Nacional de Inglés,
and Colombia Bilingüe, however, according to the
results in this study, seem to have stayed on paper, or
in theory, or only in their initial stages in the heat of the
enthusiasm of the participants for the expected goals.
Moreover, it should be taken into account that the
results of the Saber Pro exam are increasingly being
considered by the in order to grant Colombian
universities program and institutional accreditation.
One of the purposes of this exam is to serve as a source
of information for the construction of indicators for
evaluating the quality of higher education programs
and institutions. By evaluating the level of in
the internationalization factor, the assigns a
weight of from the new - . ranking
of Colombian universities.
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas, Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras
70
Benavides
erefore, It would be necessary to undertake a
drastic revision of foreign language policy as a joint
research eort by the dierent English language depart-
ments, language schools, or language centers in charge
of the administrative and academic organization of
English courses and curricula to delve into the analysis
of the foreign language policies of each higher educa-
tion institution. e end result of this eort would be
a more consensual view of foreign language policy
and thereby a shared view of language education in
general. is joint eort by universities would promote
the eective development of English and its linguistic,
communicative, and pragmatic competencies starting at
primary and secondary education as an initial working
platform. Foreign language educational policy should
be revised and implemented, and a series of structural
alternatives that would allow a sustained development
in terms of teacher training, methodology, curricular
organization, and use of the language in the programs
should strongly be considered.
Finally, a macro research project by the universities
in the country is needed. One starting in every institution
that encourages awareness of the need for analysis of
the situational context using the information available
from the databases. is eort would launch a
joint improvement proposal for a medium and long-
term intervention strategy as an active and permanent
mechanism for a foreign language education policy of
development and the use of English in higher educa-
tion. is course of action should eventually involve
and impact the basic and secondary education cycles
through the Municipal and Departmental Secretariats
of Education.
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About the Author
Jorge Eliecer Benavides is a full-time professor and researcher at Universidad de Nariño, Departamento
de Lingüística e Idiomas where he graduated in . He got an in Applied Linguistics from Ohio
University and a h in Education from Universidad de Nariño. He does research in language learning
and testing, and discourse analysis.
