Guanajuato, Gto., a 7 de diciembre de 2017.- Professor-researchers of the Languages Department of the Division of Social Sciences and Humanities (DCSH) of Campus Guanajuato, make an exploratory study on discrimination in the English teaching area as a foreign language in Mexico, with the primary purpose to raise awareness, but also to analyze a phenomenon that must be stopped in this entity and in all the country.

The invitation to participate in the study and join the proposals is still open, it will conclude on March 2018. That is confirmed in an interview, Dr. Edgar Emmanuell García Ponce, responsible of the project, and the doctors Irasema Mora Pablo and Martha Lengeling, all of them from the Master degree in Linguistics Applied to teaching English of the Language Department, Campus Guanajuato.

Both Dr. Lengeling and Dr. Mora reminded that they began studying this phenomenon over four years ago, when they saw employment announcements, they found requirements to hire only "native English speakers" from United States or England to teach English in our country.

This topic, they sustained, has affected even transnational who have the English level same as a native, but because of their Mexican look, they're denigrated with pejorative comments such as "cholo", "pocho" or "chicano."

Dr. García Ponce, who incorporated this year to the Department, identified immediately with the subject and designed the study in collaboration with Dr. Mora Pablo and Dr. Lengeling. The three professors develop a continuous research in applied linguistics and the teaching and learning of English as a foreign language.

Dr. García Ponce designed an online survey for the English teachers to talk about discriminatory practices that have experimented while searching for a job or even in functions, because they have found a wide range of discriminatory acts both in private and public schools that affect their perceptions of the profession and the decision making.

The idea is to freely talk about this phenomenon with colleagues and students, in round tables, to understand why it happens and influence and understand the phenomenon.

They seek to promote this study for which they are still collecting data with the only criteria is for the participants to be Mexican English teachers. The way to access the same and participate by answering the survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BMZJ9X2

The name of the study is "Discriminación en el área de enseñanza del inglés como lengua extranjera en México: Un estudio exploratorio", overseen by Dr. Edgar Emmanuell García Ponce in collaboration with Dr. Irasema Mora Pablo and Dr. Martha Lengeling.

Among other things, the study exposes that the discrimination in Mexico has been a topic of great relevance in the las years, it was mostly aimed for racial inequalities but, recently, the phenomenon has widened to consider other actions or omissions that cause inequalities among Mexicans.

The English teaching area hasn't been the exception, they sustain; because English who teach as a foreign language frequently experience situations that put them in a disadvantage, despite the existence of movements and statements of posture that pretend to eradicate the discrimination in this area. However, in Mexico, little has been researched about the discriminatory experiences that teachers in the English teaching area have faced.

They have suggested, doctors Lengeling, Crawford, Mora Pablo and Blomquist, in a 2016 study, that the discrimination that exists in the area is motivated by other linguistic aspects related to non-native speakers, which means, 80% or more of the professors who currently teach the language in our country.

They recognize that this phenomenon is complex by nature, including not only linguistic matters as pronunciation or accent, but also aspects of gender, appearance and physical impediment, race, ethnicity, among others.

This takes a greater importance, the researchers remark, if we consider that the Department of Public Education (SEP) has decided to hire a significant number of teachers for English in a higher level, to which they visualize a stage that could suppose an increase in the discrimination, if this phenomenon is not addressed with effective strategies and measures.

The results of this project are used to inform the educational community –students, professors, administrators, employers and parents—about the discrimination that teachers in the English area face and begin creating an awareness of this phenomena to eradicate in a more effective form.

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