From Global South to Global North: Lessons from a Short-Term Study Abroad Program for Chilean Teacher Candidates in English Pedagogy

Abstract

In this qualitative study of a short-term study abroad program from Chile to the United States, teacher candidates in English pedagogy reported developing globally competent teacher attributes. Through the experiences in the program, the Chilean teacher candidates reported that their international perspectives were enhanced, their repertoire of teaching strategies and skills was broadened, and they felt more equipped to work effectively with multilingual students in their own contexts. There were also challenges related to their own cross cultural learning and English language proficiency. While most research has followed university students from the Global North traveling to another locale, this study is unique in that the participants were from Chile studying in the United States. The impacts of colonialism and anti-colonialism were explored that related not only to the institutional structures and geopolitical frameworks of the disparate regions but also educators’ thinking. Thus, to be globally competent in Chile may encompass different attributes than being globally competent in the United States.

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Journal of Research in Childhood Education
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From Global South to Global North: Lessons from
a Short-Term Study Abroad Program for Chilean
Teacher Candidates in English Pedagogy
Minda Morren López & Pamela Roxana Lara Morales
To cite this article: Minda Morren López & Pamela Roxana Lara Morales (2021): From
Global South to Global North: Lessons from a Short-Term Study Abroad Program for Chilean
Teacher Candidates in English Pedagogy, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, DOI:
10.1080/02568543.2021.1880997
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2021.1880997
Published online: 08 Apr 2021.
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From Global South to Global North: Lessons from a Short-Term
Study Abroad Program for Chilean Teacher Candidates in English
Pedagogy
Minda Morren López
a
and Pamela Roxana Lara Morales
b
a
Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, USA;
b
Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Santiago, Chile
ABSTRACT
In this qualitative study of a short-term study abroad program from Chile to the
United States, teacher candidates in English pedagogy reported developing
globally competent teacher attributes. Through the experiences in the pro-
gram, the Chilean teacher candidates reported that their international per-
spectives were enhanced, their repertoire of teaching strategies and skills was
broadened, and they felt more equipped to work eectively with multilingual
students in their own contexts. There were also challenges related to their own
cross cultural learning and English language prociency. While most research
has followed university students from the Global North traveling to another
locale, this study is unique in that the participants were from Chile studying in
the United States. The impacts of colonialism and anti-colonialism were
explored that related not only to the institutional structures and geopolitical
frameworks of the disparate regions but also educators’ thinking. Thus, to be
globally competent in Chile may encompass dierent attributes than being
globally competent in the United States.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 5 June 2020
Accepted 1 December 2020
KEYWORDS
Chile; critical thinking;
English as a foreign
language; global
competency; global South;
short-term study abroad;
teacher education
There are many motives for increasing globalization and international perspectives in education. For
some, it is a way to educate or even save the world (Andreotti, 2006); for others, it is seen as a way to catch
up economically and compete around the world (Stromquist & Monkman, 2000); and others describe the
need for global education and competence as connected to increased communication needs (Kerkoff,
2018). Although global competencies and perspectives are central to education today (Banks, 2009;
Nieto, 2013), they are complicated by notions of colonization and political power (Sharpe, 2015).
At first sight, the advantages of globalization are countless; global trading has expanded, people are
more cosmopolitan than ever, the growth of contact around the world has created a global cohesion,
and global consciousness has increased thanks to the increased communication flow (Lechner & Boli,
2015). Moreover, such expansion has reached other areas as well, including increased migration across
the entire globe into more and more distant lands (Czaika & De Haas, 2014). Thus, globalization has
transformed the ways we understand human mobility across borders, expanding our cultural reper-
toires and impacting societies. People are part of global communities and diaspora where people and
places are interdependent, yet where differences continue to be valid and people are entitled to their
unique characteristics (Lechner & Boli, 2015).
The complexities of the interdependence that globalization has brought are particularly relevant
when thinking about transnational migration, numbers that have increased dramatically in the last
decade. In 2005, nearly two hundred million people lived in a country in which they had not been born
(Zhao, 2010). This number reached 271.6 million in 2019 (Global Migration Data Portal, 2019).
Accordingly, global migration patterns have become more complicated since people from different
countries are moving to a broader range of destinations that were not available before. Therefore,
CONATCT Minda Morren López minda.lopez@txstate.edu
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2021.1880997
© 2021 Childhood Education International

migration combines people from multi-origins in various new societies hosting newcomers (Czaika &
De Haas, 2014).
The United States is often cited as a country of immigrants; as a result, the education system has
served diverse populations and multiple languages for decades. Chile, on the other hand, has
experienced a massive influx of new immigrants over just the last decade. Without precedent in the
country’s history, this phenomenon is in large part due to the economic opportunities as well as high
social and safety indicators Chile offers in contrast to other Latin American countries (Aninat &
Vergara, 2019; Cano & Soffia, 2009; Tijoux & Córdova, 2015). Thus, in Chile, the education system has
faced many new challenges due to the abrupt increase in immigrant students’ enrollment over the last
five years. Moreover, it has been teachers who have been impacted the most by the increasing diversity
through new demands in schools. Teachers are faced with increasing cultural and linguistic differences
when teaching students, without adequate preparation and training on how to implement or adapt
a rigid national curriculum (Mineduc, 2018). Thus, the new immigrant students are in large part
misunderstood. Most Chilean teachers have limited experience and training necessary to meet
students’ needs and many PK-12 schools, especially public schools in urban environments, have felt
the need to respond to this changing demographic but face challenges doing so, including lack of
resources and support.
Additionally, this process has required administrative changes to guarantee access to education and
the development of new policies that ensure the inclusion of immigrant students, respecting the
principles of equity and nondiscrimination (Mineduc, 2018). However, implementing these policies
has presented severe challenges due to the perceptions the Chilean population has of immigration and
immigrants, which can vary depending on their country of origin (Tijoux, 2013).
In addition to greater diversity, the focus on education policies across the globe increasingly stresses
quality education, with investment in education focused on quality outcomes (Avalos, 2001; Valverde,
2004). Global competence has become a top priority around the world as member states of the United
Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) focus on the
teaching and evaluation of global competency, knowledge, and skills in education (Asia Society/
OECD, 2018). In 2018, global competence was assessed on the Programme for International
Student Assessment (PISA), as more than half a million students representing 79 countries took
part in the assessment covering reading, math, science, and global competence (Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development, 2019). The addition of global competence to the most
widely administered and respected international comparative education assessment points to the
growing influence of globalization processes such as migration and the dynamic development of
communication technologies in relation to learning. It is also a significant move toward increasing
focus on global issues and adds to the urgency for understanding effective ways to implement global
competencies in teacher education (Sälzer & Roczen, 2018).
For the past few decades, researchers and educators across the globe have called for the inter-
nationalization of teacher education through the infusion of global perspectives into preparation
programs in order to better serve all children, regardless of citizenship, location, or status (Apple,
2011; Kissock & Richardson, 2010). National policies throughout the world include preparing citizens
who are globally engaged and considered internationally competitive (Avalos, 2001; Townsend, 2011).
And yet the majority of the research has originated in the Global North. Moreover, teacher prepara-
tion standards and accrediting bodies in the United States increasingly call for including global
perspectives into teacher education (Aydarova & Marquardt, 2016), providing the primary motivation
for globalization efforts.
On the other hand, in Chile the motivation has come not so much from policies and standards but
rather from the current reality in schools as well as economic and political pressures to compete
globally. In the last decade, Chile has become a destination for migrants from neighboring and
Caribbean countries. Discrimination against immigrants has increased due to mounting societal
pressures and competition for resources as well as nationalistic ideologies that have become more
and more prevalent (Stefoni et al., 2016). Recent studies report that immigrant students are
2M. M. LÓPEZ AND P. R. L. MORALES

increasingly victims of racism and discrimination, and that members of education communities are
unaware of this bigotry, underscoring the urgent need for globally competent teachers (Pacheco et al.,
2019; Stefoni et al., 2016; Tijoux, 2013).
Thus, education in terms of both knowledge development and transfer is at the epicenter of the
globalization process (Kissock & Richardson, 2010) in many nations worldwide, but often from
different perspectives and motives. There are often contradictions and even competing motives for
preparing globally competent teachers. Globally competent teachers may serve all students more
effectively (Apple, 2011; Kissock & Richardson, 2010) and equip students to contest social inequalities
and injustices (Andreotti, 2006). On the other hand, they may focus more on the economic benefits of
globalization, resulting in more resources for countries and populations that already have more
resources. Thus, when training globally competent teachers, it is necessary to explore whether our
role as educators is to serve a global economy or to equip learners to be a part of a worldwide society.
From this perspective, the development of global competencies cannot be limited to preparing
students to compete in the global economy and to be complicit in settler colonialism, but expand to
educate world citizens with social responsibility (Byker, 2016; Byker & Marquardt, 2016). It is our view
that we must prepare educators to understand and face the discriminatory practices prevalent in
schools and society in order to effectively meet the needs of all students and to advocate for inclusion,
social responsibility, and opportunity in a global society.
Theoretical framework
Global competence
As a simple definition, Boix Mansilla and Jackson (2013) define global competence as “the capacity and
disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance” (p. 2). PISA defines global competence
as the:
capacity to examine local, global, and intercultural issues; to understand and appreciate the perspectives and
worldviews of others; to engage in open, appropriate, and effective interactions with people from different
cultures; and to act for collective well-being and sustainable development. (Asia Society/ OECD, 2018, p. 5)
And for the Longview Foundation (2008), globally competent teachers possess knowledge of the
international dimension of their subject and a range of issues, pedagogical skills to appreciate multiple
points of view, and a commitment to assisting students to become responsible citizens.
Globally minded teachers help students “identify local issues and connect them to global trends and
employ a range of critical pedagogies to guide students in examining root causes of issues and facilitate
opportunities for students to take action” (Kopish, 2017, p. 21). Producing globally competent teachers
requires more than covering a defined set of requirements, completing a certain number of credits, or
demonstrating an understanding of specific knowledge and skills. Global competencies include skills and
dispositions that strengthen our interconnectedness, affirm diversity, and contribute to enhanced under-
standings of students, families, communities, and colleagues. Educator preparation programs may infuse
these competencies into their programs through various means including international exchanges and
short-term study abroad programs to intentionally foster teachers’ abilities and dispositions for global
learning.
Critical cosmopolitan theory
Considering the relevance that global competence has reached worldwide, Byker (2013), Byker &
Marquardt (2016), Byker & Xu (2019) proposed Critical Cosmopolitan Theory (CCT) to examine
global citizenship development. In his work, the author acknowledges the Greek root of the word
kosmopolit^
es, whose literal meaning is “citizen of the world,” and which he uses to explain how CCT
develops global citizens aware of the wider, interrelated world (Byker, 2016; E. J. Byker, 2019). Thus,
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 3

a global citizen is empathic, inclusive, and works for social justice (Byker, 2016). By highlighting these
characteristics in global citizens, Byker separates his work from what Shultz (2007) describes as the
Neoliberal Global Citizen, whose role is mainly to participate in the global economy. Instead, CCT
aims to develop global citizens who engage in local and global dialogue to challenge oppression and
work collaboratively to fight injustice.
CCT is translated into a framework that blends the global competencies as defined by the Asia
Society/ OECD (2018) and Freire’s (1979, Freire, 1979) notions of education, which he defined as an
act of liberation to emancipate from the social injustices of the system. The link between these ideas is
illustrated in a process that starts with learners reading the world to open their eyes and finishes with
them ready to take action, a continuum of maturation that leads to critical consciousness (Byker, 2016;
Byker & Xu, 2019). This involves analyzing global and personal systems of power, which will guide
learners to denounce social injustices (denunciations) and announce other people’s humanity, dignity,
and future possibilities (annunciations) (Byker, 2016). Finally, once learners’ and teachers’ eyes are
opened, they are ready to start rewriting the world through social action (Byker & Xu, 2019).
Colonialism and anti-colonial education
Colonialism is the practice of a nation or group of people exerting power over another, complete with
systems of rules and laws that determine the rights of peoples. Colonialism includes occupying
a country and exploiting its resources (Nwanosike & Onyije, 2011). The legacies that colonization
has left in societies across the world are far reaching. There is a need to confront the impact of
colonization on present day thought and action in education, although it is very complex and
multifaceted. In our analysis of this short-term study abroad program and global competencies, we
found ourselves looking to anti-colonial thought to understand the perspectives of participants from
the Global South, perspectives that are often left out.
In her study of education abroad from Canada (Global North) to Cuba (Global South), Sharpe
(2015) describes a two-week outdoor education program through a post-colonial lens. She portrays
colonialist tendencies of participants through moments and dynamics of the course. For example,
although participants were located in Cuba, they maintained comfortable styles of pedagogy and
routines, reifying what some have called the tourist gaze, further reinforcing “othering” between the
visitors and the host community. In addition, the motives for participation were tightly bound to
colonialist views such as consumerism, economic advancement, and personal discovery.
In another example of global perspectives skewed toward the Global North, reflecting privilege and
positioning through the lens of colonialism, Tiessen (2012) explored the motives for 68 young adults
who participated in short-term voluntourism trips out of Canada. The majority were motivated by
personal growth, travel, and adventure. These motives are one-way benefits in favor of the Global
North that can reify colonialism. Furthermore, social justice and solidarity were absent. Tiessen (2012)
urges educators to examine the ethics around such trips and calls for more critical reflection in order to
understand the legacy of colonialism in global education.
The legacy of colonialism includes the production of dichotomies in thought, such as native/non-
native speaker, expert/novice, and legitimate/illegitimate and shapes ideologies of the colonized where
they desire the language of the colonizer (i.e., English) (Said, 1978). Colonialism in relation to English
education has been widely studied and English is often recognized as the most salient example of the
colonizer’s language, although Spanish is another example (Shin & Kubota, 2008). On the other hand,
English has been positioned as a neutral language, useful as a tool for advancing communication,
travel, and educational and business endeavors as the world becomes more interconnected (Crystal,
2003). Today, English is required as part of the national education curriculum in Chile. Whether this is
a result of colonialism or is merely a tool for advancing education is up for debate. In the case of the
Chilean teacher candidates who participated in this study, there were many discussions around
teaching English as a foreign language in Chile as contested and complex.
4M. M. LÓPEZ AND P. R. L. MORALES

The power of examining colonialism and how it has shaped thought and practice around the world
and in relation to global perspectives in education lies in offering new insights to challenge Global
North discourses. Anti-colonialism is an approach to analyzing colonial relations and how power
dynamics have impacted institutions, knowledge production, and validation, as well as the pursuit of
agency and resistance (Dei, 2006). Anti-colonial discourse resists practices of domination and oppres-
sion in order to work toward emancipation, particularly of historically subjugated peoples.
Methods and context
Research methods
The aim of this qualitative research study (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) is to understand how future English
teachers from Chile integrate global competencies as part of their disciplinary development after
a short-term study abroad in Texas, USA. This is part of a larger study of the experiences of the
Chilean and Texas teacher candidates who took part in the exchange, and the findings presented here
focus solely on the Chilean teacher candidates, nine students from an undergraduate program at
a private university. Throughout their program, the participants had not been exposed to the global
competencies framework we are using here specifically, but their coursework and field experiences
included concepts connected to critical pedagogy, global citizenship, social justice, and cultural
awareness. This short-term study abroad program was designed to build on that foundation and to
provide the teacher candidates with experiences around these topics in the international context of the
United States.
Two of the professors involved in the grant-funded exchange conducted this study, one from Texas
and the other from Chile. We collected data before, during, and after the exchange. Data collected
included pre- and post-trip lesson plans, journal entries and reflections written during their stay in
Texas, classwork, and other artifacts from their experiences studying in Texas along with
a culminating questionnaire given to the Chilean teacher candidates once they had returned to
Chile. We conducted data analysis separately and then shared to compare our thinking. We analyzed
data over several stages using the constant-comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985), reading and
rereading data independently, and inductively coding for themes. We labeled words and phrases for
open coding (e.g., “critical pedagogy,” “strategies,” “new perspectives”) in a technique designed to
understand the text after multiple readings (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). We defined and categorized
codes into emerging themes (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) and each category was reexamined, redefined,
and combined with other similar categories. To organize the themes for this study, we first used open
coding where we looked for themes. After this initial thematic process, we went back and looked for
how the themes we found correlated with the globally competent teacher attributes (Longview
Foundation, 2008) and present challenges faced by the teacher candidates. We also sought to under-
stand how the participants may have expressed a critical view of globalization and rejected dichoto-
mies, both aspects of CCT and anti-colonial thought. This article presents the results of the data from
the perspectives of the Chilean teacher candidates in relation to globally competent teaching and their
experiences studying English language education in partnership with a College of Education in Texas.
Contexts
The Chilean teacher candidates (three men and six women) were current students in their fourth year
at Universidad Alberto Hurtado (UAH) in the English Pedagogy program. UAH is a private, Jesuit
university established in 1997 in Santiago, Chile, with just over 4,000 students from mostly working-
class backgrounds. Many of the students at UAH are first generation college students. The English
Pedagogy program at UAH is an academic career program that has the aim of training teachers to
make a difference and generate great changes in society through the school system, using English as
a means to reduce inequality and form critical citizens, with self-esteem and dignity. Students take part
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 5

in six different working field experiences at different schools. Throughout the process, students have
the opportunity to be in contact with a diverse range of educational communities that they might
encounter once they graduate, all with the aim of producing teachers who think critically and work for
social justice in Chilean public schools. This short-term study abroad program in Texas took place
during the candidates’ fourth year and in the middle of their fourth field experience. The readings,
classroom activities, and teaching experiences in Texas were planned to support and build on the
curriculum teacher candidates had in Chile and to provide an added international dimension. In
addition to the working field experiences, the teacher candidates take reflective courses that are aligned
with the work they do at schools. Their training also includes curricular activities that address different
methodological components to inform their teaching practice.
Short-term study abroad program
Professors and administrators from the College of Education at Texas State University and UAH were
part of a multi-year partnership which has included several grant-funded graduate program exchanges
and other teaching and research endeavors. The short-term study abroad program described here was
the first undergraduate initiative between the two universities and was supported by a grant from the
100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund. The grant was written by an interdisciplinary team
from Texas State University and UAH, including the two authors.
Since Texas has experienced a long history of intensive migration and linguistic diversity in its
schools, this study abroad program facilitated binational dialogue between the two groups and allowed
Chilean teacher candidates to learn first-hand in PK-12 schools, community organizations, and the
university about the contexts of immigrant families and communities and how these institutions work
to support diverse families in Texas. In addition, experiences were carefully planned to include
meaningful teaching practices for linguistic and cultural diversity. All these activities were an oppor-
tunity that supported learning experiences by allowing UAH teacher candidates and professors to
work together with the professors, teachers, and teacher candidates in Texas to learn about critical
pedagogies and social justice in education. The program sought to integrate pedagogies and knowl-
edge from both countries’ experiences and enrich their perspectives on teacher education, language
teaching, and their personal beliefs regarding their roles as critical educators in their respective
communities.
Participant selection
Due to the nature of the international exchange, there was an application process for teacher
candidates in Chile. The requirements were carefully decided by the faculty of the teacher education
program at UAH, including aspects such as the students’ language proficiency and their participation
in courses linked to field experiences and teaching methods. The main reasons behind the selection of
these criteria were the need for students to be familiar with the contextual characteristics of schools in
Chile and have some teaching experience to compare, contrast, and finally integrate what they would
observe in Texas. Nine teacher candidates were chosen, six women and three men. Among the teacher
candidates, only two had previously been to the United States.
Findings
Globally competent teaching requires teachers to develop dispositions and attitudes needed to work
with all students, their families, and communities, while also instilling global mind-sets in students
(Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2019). In Texas, the Chilean teacher candidates engaged in a series of
experiences designed to foster multiple perspectives and promote multicultural and multilingual
competencies with in-depth study of migration, including educational and social issues relating to
the immigrant experience in the United States. Undergraduate teacher candidates in Texas jointly
6M. M. LÓPEZ AND P. R. L. MORALES

participated in learning activities with the teacher candidates from UAH. The in-country seminar
included readings, class discussions, guest speakers, as well as field-based observations and activities in
local schools and community organizations. Additionally, the teacher candidates also participated in
a conference held at the university. In this instance, they had the chance to present the education
system’s challenges in Chile and share their experiences as EFL teachers in multicultural contexts. This
conference was also an opportunity for the participants to express what they believed would be their
role in society once they graduated.
Through these experiences, the Chilean teacher candidates reported that they expanded their per-
spectives in many ways, their repertoire of teaching strategies and skills was broadened, and as a result
they felt more equipped to work effectively with multilingual students in their own contexts. They also
reported several challenges related to cross cultural learning and English language proficiency.
Education in an interconnected world
This research’s primary purpose was to understand how the Chilean EFL teacher candidates experi-
enced integrated global competencies as part of their disciplinary development. As a starting point, as
critical researchers, we considered it essential to dig deeper into the teacher candidates’ perceptions of
social justice and intercultural awareness when educating learners to be part of an interconnected
world. We did this by asking questions during and after the experiences in Texas so we could
understand the ways they were making sense of their experiences and integrating theories with
experiential learning. In addition, we carefully analyzed the lesson plans they designed before and
after their stay in Texas to identify possible elements that would indicate whether new perspectives
were integrated into their work designing different learning experiences for their students in multi-
cultural contexts.
After the participants had returned to Chile and finished their semester at university, they responded
to a questionnaire that included questions about their perceptions of the experience and their own roles
as teachers of English in an interconnected world. In particular, when asking participants (all names are
pseudonyms) about the integration of social justice and intercultural awareness in educating learners to
be part of an interconnected world, they all reported them to be of great significance in a global society.
Samuel explained education in an interconnected world as follows:
“People find it easier to look away from injustice and tragic events when they do not feel connected to those who
are the victims. Social justice and intercultural awareness serve in becoming aware of other communities’
circumstances, and wishing for them to receive proper treatment. However, I think that the feeling must be
mutual, and thus it is important to give circumstances in which students interact with more people, which can
highly contribute for students to be part of the interconnected world.”
In his response, Samuel articulated many of the stages in the process of Byker’s (2013) CCT, including
the reading or investigating of the world through experiences or circumstances where students interact
with diverse people, which allows people to recognize diverse perspectives or open their eyes to
multiple possibilities so they do not look away from injustice and suffering but instead are moved to
action in order to create a more just world for all. Likewise, Juanita embraced notions of global
competence as citizens with social responsibility. She reported her thoughts on the questionnaire in
the following way:
“We are preparing students not just to be able to communicate in a foreign language, but also, we are
educating global citizens and people with values. We are trying to raise awareness of students on the
importance of being critical in every aspect of our lives and being aware of myself and others and how
I can fight for my rights.”
Her emphasis of educating global citizens and people with values underscores the moral and ethical
reasons for global competences around human rights and dignity. In similar ways, the rest of the
participants referred to the importance of social justice and intercultural awareness to expand
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 7

students’ perspectives of the world, to have a voice and be respectful to others, and to fight discrimina-
tion and xenophobia.
In addition to responses on the questionnaires, we also identified how some participants’ perspec-
tives on social justice and intercultural awareness were incorporated into their lesson plans. This
change was noticed in the materials and pedagogical tools they selected as well as the different
activities they proposed. Before their stay in Texas, most of the materials included in teacher
candidates’ lesson plans covered traditional linguistic elements (such as vocabulary or verb tenses)
in familiar contexts. In contrast, after the experience in Texas, most of the participants responded to
students’ immediate contexts to introduce linguistic elements, creating culturally responsive and
sustaining pedagogies (Paris, 2012). Additionally, some of the participants designed or adapted
material that incorporated cultural aspects from other countries, expanding the potential for devel-
oping global competencies in their students.
The participants’ responses and changes in their lesson plans are indicators of their understanding
of the role of education in an interconnected, global world that focuses more on global awareness and
less on the economic benefits of globalization. These correlate with elements of the first two global
competencies that correspond to investigating the world and recognizing perspectives (Asia Society/
OECD, 2018). Likewise, their answers relate to Freire’s notion of education and what Byker (2016)
describes as the global citizen as well as Shultz’s (2007) Transformationalist Global Citizen. The
teacher candidates expressed not only awareness of the interconnectedness of people and societies
but also the importance of engaging in action to create a more just, equitable world.
Recognizing teaching practices for interconnectedness
During their stay in Texas, the students visited different schools and talked to various community
members, who shared their experiences and answered their questions. They also had the opportunity
to observe teachers teaching in bilingual classrooms, which significantly impacted their perception of
multicultural, translingual classrooms. Through the post-exchange questionnaire, participants were
asked about the relevance of the teaching practices observed for education in an interconnected world.
When analyzing their responses, we noticed how most of them highlighted how the teachers included
relevant topics that would promote critical thinking and social justice. Likewise, many of them
commented on the importance of creating a respectful classroom community, including such impor-
tant aspects such as acknowledging individual and cultural differences, exchanging different points of
view, and promoting respect among the students. In reference to this, Jenny reported:
“There was a teacher who was a teacher of Spanish language and culture. In her class, she asked many questions
about families and what students thought about them and why, fostering critical thinking.”
Sergio also referred to how the methodologies that teachers displayed were highly connected to the
recognition of diverse people’s characteristics and identities. Likewise, Juanita noted that she had
perceived how decisions made inside the classrooms took into consideration valuing different cultures,
respecting others, and being aware of each other’s differences and similarities, and especially how all of
the students contributed to this classroom culture. The participants’ responses reveal that they are
capable of recognizing teaching practices that globally competent teachers would do.
Though the teacher candidates did not have the opportunity to teach in Texas, the exchange
provided them with opportunities to observe teaching practices of globally competent teachers. The
impact of this experience was also noted in the different types of activities the participants planned to
teach and the depth with which the participants were willing to engage in critical issues. In our analysis
of lesson plans written before the experience in Texas, we identified some cases where classroom
activities offered opportunities to explore different realities and cultures, not only from other countries,
but also in Chilean contexts where lifestyles can differ despite being in the same country or even in the
same city. However, there were cases in which initially the activities proposed intended to raise
awareness of cultural differences, but the planned follow-up activities did not include critical discussions
8M. M. LÓPEZ AND P. R. L. MORALES

and instead focused on specific linguistic elements. This made it difficult if not nearly impossible to
make a coherent association between both activities – the critical thinking and language learning.
In addition to a focus primarily on linguistic competence, the purpose of most of the activities was to
develop receptive skills, so despite selecting material of important social and cultural aspects and critical
thinking, these texts were used primarily as a context necessary to present language skills, but not to
address issues or differences in their immediate contexts or to open spaces to refer to their personal
experiences. Finally, one last aspect identified when analyzing the activities proposed before the parti-
cipants’ stay in Texas was the fact that when opening spaces to raise social and cultural awareness, their
main focus was always on the dominant culture rather than on directing the attention to the diverse
cultures or realities in the classroom. The result of this analysis was then compared with the lesson plans
students designed after the exchange program; in most cases, the activities planned invited students to
make connections with their own lives and experiences. In addition to this, when paying closer attention
to the design of the activities, we noted that such tasks did not revolve around linguistic elements
exclusively, but the assignments offered favorable opportunities to present learning using their own
contextual circumstances and to think more critically. A second aspect identified was that in some of the
lesson plans, the tasks that promoted students’ awareness of their own realities were followed up by
questions that would lead them to think about other people’s living conditions and possibilities, offering
an opportunity to expand students’ perspectives and view of the world. However, activities that intended
to focus the class exclusively on language knowledge or the development of the linguistic skills continued
to be present.
These results are important in light of the fact that the teacher candidates had previously reported that
they lacked opportunities to observe teaching in schools where social justice or intercultural awareness
were present and a meaningful aspect of language teaching. The lesson plan analysis along with responses
the participants provided indicate that the opportunities to see such teaching in action in Texas afforded
the teacher candidates the models and the imaginative possibilities so they could incorporate more
meaningful and critical language learning into their own pedagogical plans. Byker explains how “study
abroad trips have been the catalysts for a positive impact on the development of global competencies
among teacher candidates and educators” (Byker, 2016, p. 267), thus recognizing practices to develop
global competencies can be a starting point for developing globally competent teachers.
Expanding perspectives
Prior to traveling to the United States, the teacher candidates took part in several webinars, readings, and
discussions designed to help them understand the history and current context of public education in the
United States, particularly in regard to refugees, immigrants, and long-term English language learners
and emergent multilinguals in Texas. These webinars covered topics such as terminology and policies in
U.S. schools, cultural norms and practices, and teacher education programs. The topics were designed to
provide the participants with a foundation for their understanding of the different systems and
perspectives they would encounter once they were in Texas and visiting schools, which was a different
perspective than the Chilean context they were used to. Through the journals they wrote during their stay
in Texas, most of the teacher candidates expressed how these pre-trip webinars were helpful for their
overall understanding and ease of transition to learning in the U.S. context, providing important scaffolds
for their experiences in the country. After visiting various PK-12 public schools, several universities, and
community organizations, the Chilean teacher candidates were able to lean on the knowledge gained in
these seminars prior to the trip so they were not overwhelmed with so much new material once they were
in the United States. One of the participants, Juanita, described the pre-trip webinars as integral to the
depth of experience she had by giving her insight into what to focus on once she was in Texas. She
described this as pivotal to her learning during the trip, because the front-loading strengthened her
understanding of the new perspectives she experienced while she was going through them.
During the two weeks the Chilean teacher candidates were in Texas, there were many instances
where their points of view were challenged and expanded, but the language they used to describe that
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 9

learning did not include words like “global” or “international.” A few teacher candidates described the
cultural challenges they overcame, which resulted in expanding their perspectives. Jenny wrote,
“I believe that the American/Texan culture was a challenge because things work differently. Indeed, how schools
are structured, universities, relationships, interactions, etc. are different from how they work in Chile. Therefore,
facing these other types of situations was challenging. However, I think I got used to their culture quickly as
I believe that respect is key to live in harmony.”
Jenny noted the differences but was determined to adapt because of her desire to avoid conflict as well
as her position as a Chilean in the United States. She was able to adjust accordingly and integrate new
ideas into her ways of teaching and thinking.
In another example, Samuel discussed the importance of teamwork in boosting teaching skills. He
commented that an important lesson he learned during the trip was to ask for different types of feedback,
and that working with peers to construct knowledge together was incredibly beneficial, as it broadened
one’s way of thinking. In fact, the entire trip was an exercise in broadening one’s thinking, he said.
Although these are both examples of multiple perspectives, most of what the teacher candidates discussed
and journaled about or reported after the study abroad experience related more to pedagogies and less to
their own dispositions, transformations, or even global perspectives.
Less evidence of their own transformations or personal dispositions related to multiple perspectives
may be due to the Chilean teacher candidates being already accustomed to thinking from multiple or
subjugated perspectives, forced to think of others as more powerful or more dominant. Moreover,
respect as key to living together and teamwork as integral to learning is distinct from the ways North
American students describe their learning and perspectives of study abroad in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Instead, students from the Global North focus on personal discovery and transformation
or economic advancement opportunities (Sharpe, 2015).
In analyzing the participants’ responses, we perceived that multiple examples in the category of
expanding perspectives and global competence were different from the pervasive literature on study
abroad from the Global North perspective. We attributed this to the fact that the overall experience
built on their existing perspectives of collaboration, teamwork, and coexisting with cultural differ-
ences. Rather than focusing on their individual experiences as transformative or life enriching and
what they took from it as individuals, the Chilean teacher candidates focused on collective experiences
and the importance of living and working together for the good of the group or of society.
The Chilean teacher candidates possessed dispositions that were globally competent but they did
not necessarily describe it in ways that are congruent with the majority of the literature from the
Global North. We believe this is due in part to their position as Chileans from the Global South visiting
the United States. Despite a complex sociohistorical perspective of Chile as a colonized nation, in
contrast to the U.S. students studying abroad, the Chilean teacher candidates bring a colonized or
Global South perspective rather than that of colonizer or more powerful Global North. For example,
they follow U.S. politics and are keenly aware of how decisions made in the United States impact the
lives of Chileans. They know the names and positions of powerful figures in the United States, while
many Americans cannot even name the president of Chile or find the country on a map. This is an
example of the effects of colonization, that the more powerful (economic, cultural, political) countries
of the Global North impact the lives of those in the Global South in large and small ways, including in
how they perceive and discuss global competence.
Enhanced teaching strategies
By far, the most examples, self-reported results, and lesson plan changes noted from the short-term
study abroad were that the Chilean teacher candidates felt they learned more teaching strategies they
could use when they became teachers of record. Throughout the two weeks they were in Texas, they
visited schools almost daily and talked with teachers about classroom teaching. They also met with
P-20 students and asked them about their experiences immigrating to the United States and learning
10 M. M. LÓPEZ AND P. R. L. MORALES

English in school. Through these experiences, all of the nine Chilean teacher candidates expressed that
they were most excited about the new teaching strategies they could implement in their own lessons.
And of those types of strategies, the most common were around (1) critical thinking, (2) cooperative
learning, (3) community building, and (4) translingual practices.
Critical thinking
Of all the specific strategies the students discussed in their reflections and we saw evidence of in their
post-trip lesson plans, the most cited strategy was critical thinking (six of nine teacher candidates
mentioned it by name). It was during the school visits that students could observe teachers and students
from different schools working together. The lessons observed would correspond to the Spanish-English
lessons from the Bilingual program, Social Sciences, Science, or Literacy. Though they considered all the
experiences to be relevant and quite eye-opening, it was the ones that belonged to the Bilingual program
that specially called their attention because of the focus the classes had. In Chile, most English language
classes are mainly focused on grammatical features, with low or even non-existing opportunities to use
language meaningfully or to discuss relevant issues that would respond to the students’ realities or
immediate contexts. Consequently, discovering new ways of approaching language learning caused
a great impact on the participants, broadening their perspectives and challenging them to try new things.
For example, Mariana wrote in her “lessons learned” reflection that she felt her biggest achievement
during the trip was that she saw and understood how to implement critical thinking strategies into her
lessons with language learners. She wrote that while she used to struggle to connect topics of instruction
with reflection and critical thinking, after implementing some lessons with students, she realized that
reflection is indeed an important component of critical thinking that she could readily implement with
various levels of English language learners. Another student, Katrina, described how she realized her
lessons could develop critical thinking without complex structures or resources. She said, “I learned that
to teach topics such as social justice, diversity, etc., it is not necessary to have very complex activities or to
need special resources. Through simple questions, I can both help students develop their critical thinking
and use English.”
Observing teachers in action was an important aspect of this short-term study abroad program that
led to the teacher candidates’ learning. The ability to see pedagogies in action that they had previously
read about was especially eye-opening. When asked about the biggest accomplishment or success to
come out of the program for her, Juanita wrote,
“I was able to learn how to include my students’ backgrounds, necessities, and individualities into the lesson,
using at the same time critical thinking to connect them to the unit topics or the content that I have to teach.
I believe that before this program, I struggled a lot with including critical thinking into my lesson and as well as
with how to make it fun and accessible for children and students. Thus, this program taught me how a system,
which includes students’ needs and fosters critical thinking, can actually combine in a well-planned way critical
thinking, students’ needs, and content.”
When comparing what the participants reported in their journals with the lesson plans they designed
after the exchange, we found that some of them also integrated critical thinking into their planning. As
mentioned previously, before the trip to Texas, the participants planned activities in which their students
could build on the context, but this was interpreted as addressing the overall dominant Chilean culture.
In contrast, some of the lesson plans designed after the exchange show that besides offering opportunities
to recognize aspects of dominant Chilean culture, participants also included questions that would
encourage students to think about people’s living conditions and possibilities in other realities, including
indigenous and immigrant groups. This led to additional inquiry and social awareness.
Cooperative learning
Another example of a strategy that the Chilean teacher candidates discussed was cooperative learning
or group work. During their trip, they discussed the multitude of ways teachers they observed used
group work for language learning and projects. They commented how in nearly every classroom
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 11

observation, teachers engaged their students in meaningful group work. This was reportedly different
from what they witnessed in Chile. Miguel described it this way,
“I have always believed that group work and communication are important when learning a language. We tend to
see teachers leave students to their fate when studying English, and most of the activities are designed to be done
individually. So, I always wondered what the point of learning a language was if you are not using it to
communicate. Thankfully, in Texas I was able to witness how group work is carried out by teachers in the
classroom. This helped me envision how I wanted to promote teamwork and communication in the classroom.”
In addition to critical thinking and group work, the teacher candidates all described both during and
after the program a sense of delight at learning so many new strategies and resources. The excitement
they expressed upon learning novel ideas that were different from what they were used to was
infectious, and their post-trip questionnaires also listed a wide range of strategies and resources they
were excited to learn about, including working with cultural institutions such as museums and cultural
centers for teaching language and other relevant topics. It is important to note that since this group of
teacher candidates was learning to be English teachers specifically, the materials and lessons they
observed in the United States were especially relevant.
In addition to gaining more strategies for teaching, the Chilean teacher candidates expressed how
much they felt they had learned in their own abilities to serve immigrant and multilingual students in
their own contexts. Responses covered teacher candidates’ growth and confidence in two main ways,
through community building and emotional support as well as using translingual practices (Pacheco
et al., 2019) to teach the target language.
Community building
The Chilean teacher candidates noted how many activities they participated in during the program
and observed in schools fostered a sense of community and how easily they could implement these
same strategies once they were home. At every turn, participants engaged in activities designed to
encourage relationships and build community while learning language. Some examples include
making art and journals by hand in a makerspace workshop, visiting museums to analyze and discuss
art together, presenting group work in university classes, and participating in journaling activities in
schools. Some of the ways teachers built community with multilingual students was to engage in peer
teaching, and Jennifer noted in her reflection how powerful that was for her. She described how
student-centered classrooms become more interesting and it was evident that teachers made an effort
to get to know students and build off of that knowledge in their teaching.
In another example, Julia wrote about an important lesson she took away from the project: “I
learned new strategies to encourage learning while also giving the class an identity. For example, giving
students Post-its to write down an achievement or goal accomplished, then display them publicly to
celebrate everyone’s learning.” The group identity was fostered through setting goals, learning
together, and meeting those goals marked by celebration. Another student, Miguel talked about
how students may be more motivated to learn language if teachers engaged in more cooperative
work and less grammar. Simply put, getting to know students and celebrating their successes and
identities was an important learning for the Chilean teacher candidates.
Translingual practices
In addition to community building, another important strategy specifically for language learners, was
translanguaging or the approach of using all of a learners’ linguistic repertoire in learning
(Canagarajah, 2011; Garcia, 2009). Momentum in the research literature has been building over the
past decade in relation to translanguaging (Garcia, 2009) or translingual practices (Canagarajah, 2011;
Pacheco et al., 2019) as a highly effective, research-based pedagogical approach for multilingual
students. This was a new concept in language teaching for the Chilean teacher candidates. During
their time in Texas, they observed teachers using these more flexible translingual practices in class-
rooms time and time again and found the balance of language use to be an important issue to take into
12 M. M. LÓPEZ AND P. R. L. MORALES

consideration. Miguel said during the trip, “using bilingual materials could actually benefit the
students more than we are taught. We focus so much on maintaining a separation of languages, but
translanguaging may be a viable option as well.” Sergio expressed his learning this way: “We as future
teachers should learn how to measure the coexistence of both languages inside the classroom and how
to balance the use of L1 with the target language.” He went on to write about how students are learning
languages at different rates and translingual practices honor that variability in learning. This was an
important process the teacher candidates were able to witness in the Texas classrooms and he returned
to Chile determined to integrate the full linguistic repertoire of his immigrant students into the English
classes he would teach in the future.
Similarly, Julia described how she was able to observe different communicative methods used to
teach multilingual students. For example, using a student’s dominant language to teach the target
language could be an effective strategy. She saw how teachers would weave languages together into the
same text, crafting a lesson around critical thinking skills using poetry or narratives written in two
languages, such as Spanish and English. As students reflected and analyzed those stories and poems,
they not only were learning important language skills in all domains (listening, speaking, reading, and
writing) but also were able to think critically. Observing this in practice showed her the immense
possibilities in using multiple languages to learn English.
Similarly, Sergio stated in his final reflection, “An important lesson I learned during this project was
that I can allow my students to use their L1 inside the classroom. I still have to balance the amount of
time they use each language, but I definitely have to allow them to use it because it says so much about
their identity, which we must never forget.” So not only are translingual practices important language
pedagogical tools in our multilingual classrooms, they are also identity markers of our students.
The fact that translanguaging practices resulted to be such a relevant finding is connected not only
with colonialism in English language education, but also with the training students have received in
Chile and how teachers of English are trained in language pedagogy. Despite the subject of English
being part of the National Curriculum, English language teaching in Chile is quite complicated for
several reasons. One of the most crucial ones is that “Chilean students’ contact with the English
language and culture is still limited due to Chile’s distant geographical location and the high costs
involved in foreign travel” (Barahona, 2015). Accordingly, the teacher training program at UAH has
encouraged students to use as much English as possible, guaranteeing exposure to the language and
that teacher candidates become good language models for the students. However, Chile’s recent socio-
cultural changes due to the influx of immigrants also have made it necessary to rethink the teaching
methodologies and language teaching purposes. Accordingly, curricular activities pertaining to teach-
ing methodologies have experienced modifications that allow teacher educators in the program to
encourage teacher candidates to open spaces in their classrooms to value students’ individual and
shared Latin American cultural traits. These adjustments have failed to meet the needs society is
already presenting to teachers; thus, teacher candidates find themselves imposing English in the
classroom to guarantee exposure rather than critically thinking about its role in the classroom.
Challenges
During the two-week program, a multitude of challenges arose. Schedules had to be adjusted, schools
sometimes did not provide the content we were looking for, and flexibility was key. However, this is
part of international travel and was expected. When asked at the end of the trip what some of their
most memorable challenges were, some responded that adjusting to the new context was particularly
difficult. The structures of schools in the United States are different from those in Chile and
participants had to shift their paradigms and expectations. In addition, understanding the complex-
ities of the sociohistorical context as well as structures of school institutions and relationships in
a short time frame proved to be difficult at times.
Most of the teacher candidates described their difficulties in communicating in English with
confidence. This admission surprised the host professors and students because the group from Chile
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 13

were very proficient in English and seemed to be very at ease in using English in social as well as
academic settings. However, this lack of confidence may stem from dichotomies of language profi-
ciency and native language pressures in language teaching that have been enforced by colonialism to
privilege so-called native English teachers in language education, called the native language superiority
myth (Kachru, 2005; Phillipson, 2008).
Finally, most of the participants expressed concern that transferring what they learned to the
Chilean context may prove to be difficult due to institutional constraints such as larger class sizes,
language ideologies (i.e., English classes must be taught only in English, not through translanguaging),
and a focus on the economic benefits of English rather than critical thinking. Candidates’ primary
concern was that even after they were able to see how inclusion, social justice, and critical thinking are
promoted in classrooms in the United States, Chilean contexts may not allow them to integrate what
they learned. This is a critical point considering that learning English in Chile has always been
presented primarily as a means to take part in a global economy, offering greater work and life
opportunities. It is within this context that the program at UAH has consistently presented critical
pedagogy and social justice as essential components of the training students receive, but has faced
challenges preparing teachers to promote teaching practices that are congruent with the beliefs that
underpin the program.
Despite these challenges, the nine Chilean teacher candidates felt the short-term study abroad was
an important component in preparing them to be effective English language teachers. The ability to
meet with teachers of immigrant and refugee students learning English, to see innovative pedagogies
in action, and to interact with university students and professors in the United States were all
important aspects of their experience. As Jennifer wrote, “I believe that this program left me with
many accomplishments and learnings that will help me to become the teacher I want to become.”
Discussion
Findings show that the nine Chilean teacher candidates did indeed report developing global compe-
tencies and they began to integrate them into their teaching practice through lesson planning.
Likewise, the participants identified strategies and skills that would contribute to positive globally
competent teacher attributes. Through the experiences they had in their short-term study abroad
program in the United States, the Chilean teacher candidates reported that their international
perspectives were enhanced, their repertoire of teaching strategies and skills was broadened, and
they felt more equipped to work effectively with multilingual students in their own contexts. They also
reported several challenges related to their own cross cultural learning and English language profi-
ciency. While the changes may not have been dramatic, there was added intercultural awareness and
growth in addition to new perspectives and possibilities, all of which are steps on the journey toward
societal and educational change. Moreover, the changes in perspectives are often much more evolu-
tionary than revolutionary (Klein & Wikan, 2019), meaning they are evidenced in small increments
rather than large, transformative changes.
Global competence in the Global South
This study contributes to the growing number of studies on globally competent teacher preparation
through short-term study abroad programs. While most research has followed students from the
Global North traveling to another locale, this study is unique in that the participants were from Chile
studying in the United States. Contrary to the growing body of literature on study abroad and global
competence from the perspective of U.S. teacher candidates engaged in international experiences and
cross-cultural exchange, the participants in this study did not report high levels of personal transfor-
mation. At first glance, it was surprising that the results were not aligned with many earlier studies in
that the teacher candidates did not use international or global perspectives in their language when
reporting their experiences. We thought perhaps the participants did not use the words global or
14 M. M. LÓPEZ AND P. R. L. MORALES

international because they took it as a given that their perspectives would be broadened on an
international study abroad trip. Or perhaps it was the nature of the post-program evaluation; the
questions did not contain language and terms such as international or global. It also may be due to the
fact that this program was created to enhance teacher candidates’ education in learning to teach
English pedagogies, not necessarily to foster international perspectives and global competencies. But
after more analysis and thought, we believe the reason the Chilean candidates did not report high
levels of personal transformation and increased global awareness is directly a result of the perspectives
participants from the Global South bring. The Global South relies on the Global North for much of
their development and are keenly aware of the power dynamics, closely following the political, social,
and economic events in the United States. This creates a lifelong awareness of multiple perspectives on
different levels than the dominant culture in the Global North.
Instead of personal transformation, the participants’ comments and reflections focused on team-
work, collaboration, and working together. These concepts reinforced in the short-term study abroad
program are linked to the concepts of global citizenship and social justice, both important components
of global competence. From this perspective, it is interesting to again think critically about the concept
of global competence. While the vocabulary was not used by the teacher candidates, they did have clear
expectations around their roles as teachers and how they would impact students’ lives. This distinction
from previous studies of global competence also has to do with ways of thinking about the world and
one’s place in it. It is important to note that a globally competent teacher in the Global South may look
different than a globally competent teacher in the Global North. Their perspectives, expectations, and
needs are different. For example, Chileans from the Global South are not accustomed to thinking of
the world as revolving around them, as many students of the Global North studying abroad do
(Larsen, 2014; Sharpe, 2015) and instead are keenly aware of global issues from a position of less
power, compared to the United States. Colonialism exists in Chile, but the dynamics are vastly
different from countries in the Global North such as the United States. This shapes thinking and
perspectives differently. The Chilean teacher candidates come from a colonized country with a unique
history of an indigenous culture and identity was replaced by those of hegemonic cultures, a modern
dictatorship, and a citizenry that often goes on strike and participates in widespread protests led by
university students and teachers. Thus, the way they perceive their role as teachers may differ from
teachers in the Global North, understanding that education is a primary means through which
populations have and can fight injustices that have been perpetrated because of issues of power.
Moreover, the teacher candidates were very aware of the roles they have in their students’ liberation
and actively working against the oppression of immigrants arriving in Chile.
Colonialism
Although Said (1978) presented a critique of the West’s treatment and perceptions of the East and
Middle East, his commentary on hegemony is relevant today and many current scholars of colonialism
and the impacts of colonialism in education draw on his work. Sharpe (2015) uses the term colonialist
tendencies to describe the ways education abroad, particularly in the United States and Canada, has
become obsessed with transformation. She draws attention to how education abroad operates to
maintain ethnocentrism, including through oppressive power relations between local hosts and
travelers. While on the one hand, many short-term study abroad programs promise transformation
and awareness of multiple and global perspectives, many reinforce ethnocentrism through practices
that maintain the visitor at the center, and reify notions of the host country and their peoples (usually
in the Global South) as the needy other. These colonialist tendencies described by Sharpe (2015) were
not visible in this research with this group of short-term study abroad visitors from Chile to the host
country of the United States. A reason may be precisely this idea that in relation to the United States,
citizens in the Global South do not hold such strong ethnocentric beliefs as a result of the impact of
colonization evident in the Global North and Global South. In other words, the Chilean teacher
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 15

candidates did not see themselves as superior to others, steeped in an ideology of “developing” or
helping other countries (Andreotti, 2006; Spivak, 1990)
This legacy of colonialism shapes present-day thinking about oneself, one’s culture, and one’s
language and language proficiency. In relation to language teaching, and in particular EFL teaching,
there are many aspects of English language pedagogy that are steeped in colonialism and colonial
tendencies. The dichotomization of native vs. non-native speaker has long been contested in EFL
education and language proficiency is highly scrutinized (Canagarajah, 2011). Translingual practices
relate to colonialism and monolingual ideologies of language teaching in important ways. The notion
of translanguaging rejects traditional or colonial views of competence and communication in mono-
lingual terms on a false binary that has been present in language education (particularly EFL
education) dominated by the Global North for decades. This is a product of colonialism and the
dichotomies of native vs. non-native fluency (Canagarajah, 2011). Ironically, for the Chilean teacher
candidates, translingual practices deviated from the norm of English language pedagogy that stressed
use of English over Spanish or students’ first language(s) as a teaching tool when translanguaging was
a practice used prior to colonization in rural areas of the Global South, including South America and
indigenous areas of Asia (Khubchandani, 1997; Pollock, 2009). Rural villagers created innovative ways
to communicate with each other in dynamic and multilingual ways and translingual practices were
a fabric of everyday life. Yet colonial ideas of correctness and the need for English became the norm in
Chile through globalization and colonization practices, erasing the very translingual practices they
knew before colonization. What was practiced in Chile before had become unrecognizable to the
teacher candidates and they did not appreciate its worth until they traveled to the United States to see
it in schools. The legacy of colonization made indigenous, everyday practices seem unnatural.
In addition, colonization created geopolitical power dynamics between Chile and the United States,
including a lack of ethnocentrism on the part of the Chilean teacher candidates. This dynamic was also
a contributing factor to the most common responses on the teacher candidates’ post-travel reflections.
Their responses were overwhelmingly focused on learning new teaching strategies and increased sense
of self-efficacy when working with multilingual students. Their responses indicated they gained a new
sense of what was possible in the teaching of English in Chile.
It is possible that teacher candidates’ focus on pedagogical innovations was due to the program
emphasis as a pedagogical training and innovation experience. It is also possible that the dichotomiz-
ing tendencies that are a result of colonizing tendencies were present in the Chilean teacher candi-
dates’ perspectives as well, even if implicitly so. For the historical relationship of the colonizer and the
colonized continues to inform contemporary identities and knowledge production by recreating
colonial ideologies and myths, often without the colonized subjects’ consent (Tuhiwai-Smith, 1999).
While many countries look to the United States for pedagogical innovations (and those of us in the
United States reinforce this practice as it serves us quite well), the participants in this study were not
explicitly positioned as lacking in knowledge or training by any of the participants in the project but
their position as teacher candidates from the Global South set up this very dichotomy. But we didn’t
have to explicitly position them in this way; the very nature of the relationship between universities in
Global North vs. Global South, in EFL as a field, and in the world at large creates this power differential
through both implicit and explicit ways. The program at UAH has been considered exemplary and
innovative for many years, and is recognized internationally as a leader in English language education
(Abrahams & Farias, 2010) and yet the underlying colonial legacies present in both countries
inevitably led to positioning as expert vs. novice. Larsen (2014) posits that education abroad has the
tendency to maintain such binaries such as rich-poor, developed-underdeveloped, democratic-
undemocratic, native-nonnative speaker all under the guise of global and cross-cultural learning.
Moreover, the nature of power relations in university settings also reinforces this dichotomization of
expert vs. novice, wherein the teachers and professors in Texas schools were positioned as experts and
the Chilean teacher candidates were positioned as novices by the nature of their roles as university
students preparing to be teachers. What is salient here with the participants’ responses is that we see
the North-South power hierarchy intact as the Chilean teacher candidates view themselves as the less
16 M. M. LÓPEZ AND P. R. L. MORALES

developed, less knowledgeable partner in this contract of learning. And the participants in the United
States are positioned as more knowledgeable, thus reinforcing the colonialist structures relating to
superiority and inferiority that have been present for centuries.
Limitations
This study has several limitations, including the researchers being involved in the teaching and
implementation of the short-term study abroad program. This relationship may have impacted
participants’ responses and the positionality of the researchers may have introduced additional bias
in the interpretation and analysis of the data. In addition, the study was limited to a small sample size
of teacher candidates from one university in Chile who were very motivated to engage in a unique and
funded program that provided them with the opportunity to experience training in the United States.
A larger sample of teacher candidates from across Chile or other countries in the Global South would
no doubt reveal differences in perspectives and additional insights.
Implications
More research about global perspectives and internationalization must include perspectives from outside
of the Global North. It is imperative that as we analyze how global competencies are manifest in
education and ways people can work together for a better world, we include the perspectives of
participants from the Global South. Colonialism and post-colonialism have been useful theoretical
approaches in the critical analysis of international and intercultural exchanges originating in the
United States and Canada as well as highly developed western European countries. Yet the research
literature rarely unpacks how the constructs of colonialism and post-colonialism have also entered the
consciousness of researchers in the Global North. When creating cultural exchanges, short-term study
abroad programs, and conducting research studies, we must be vigilant about examining the underlying
ideologies and perspectives we often fail to recognize in ourselves. We must turn a critical lens to our own
ways of crafting, implementing, and analyzing programs and research studies. The very research
questions we ask and the lenses we use to study and analyze phenomena are influenced by the socio-
historical and sociopolitical contexts within which we live, work, and study.
Conclusion
Although these teacher candidates developed globally competent attributes, it is important to note that
globally competent teaching may look different in the Global South than in the Global North. The
distinct impacts of colonialism and post-colonialism may be evident in not only the institutional
structures and geopolitical frameworks of the regions but also the ways the diverse contexts have
shaped educators’ thinking as well. Thus, to be globally competent in Chile may encompass different
attributes than being globally competent in the United States. If we define global competence as “the
capacity and disposition to understand and act on issues of global significance” (Boix Mansilla &
Jackson, 2013), we may find more universally competent teachers and teacher candidates around the
world. Under this definition, the teacher candidates in this study possessed global competence in
multiple ways even before they participated in the short-term study abroad from Chile to the United
States. Without a doubt, the program enhanced and contributed to their dispositions and skills in
regard to global significance, because they were able to experience another country beyond mere
tourist-type experiences (Ogden, 2008) and they engaged in critical reflection around their interna-
tional educational experiences.
If global competence is defined more specifically to include knowledge of the international dimen-
sion of the teacher candidates’ subject matter (in this case, teaching English to immigrant and refugee
students), pedagogical skills to teach multiple points of view, and a commitment to fostering
responsible citizenship in their students (Longview Foundation, 2008), the findings from this study
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 17

suggest there was more growth in the first two areas and less growth in how they would foster
citizenship in their students. Although a focus on critical thinking, which all of these teacher
candidates expressed they were committed to, may include responsible citizenship in their future
classrooms and aligns with critical cosmopolitanism (Byker, 2013). This short-term study abroad
program gave Chilean teacher candidates the opportunity to study English language pedagogies in the
United States and to learn and implement pedagogical skills that would teach critical thinking and
multiple perspectives as well as move teachers and students to action to create a more just society.
In a time when most research studies of short-term study abroad programs detail students traveling
from the Global North to the Global South, this study presents a different perspective that is often left
out of the research literature on study abroad programs. The nine Chilean teacher candidates provide
an opportunity to understand differences between the underlying expectations and ideologies of global
education experiences that we can use to interrogate the colonial and post-colonial ideas around global
competencies, both here and abroad. Moreover, this study supports the premise that short-term study
abroad programs have the potential to enrich preservice teachers’ understandings of diversity and
develop competencies and skills in teaching diverse students (Quezada & Alfaro, 2007). More research
is needed on programs from the Global South to determine if and how global competence is
manifested differently. In addition, future research needs to examine how colonialism and post-
colonialism impacts the priorities and perspectives of educators from outside of the Global North.
For educators committed to global competencies and social justice in education, it is imperative that
diverse perspectives from various regions of the world inform our theories, constructs, and research
studies in global competencies in education.
Acknowledgments
This short-term study abroad program was made possible through a grant from the 100,000 Strong in the Americas
Innovation Fund. Negrete Lagos, B. C., Lara Morales, P. R., Gainer, J. S., López, M. M., Colegrove, K., & O’Malley,
M. P. (2018). Migration, inclusion, and diversity in Texan and Chilean K-12 schools and local communities. ($24,300)
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Minda Morren López http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5973-3466
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