Abstract
Diniz de Figueiredo and Martinez (2021) invite us to adopt a decolonial perspective to confront epistemological myopia by exposing our locus of enunciation. To this invitation I add the need to reflect on the role of our languages of enunciation to decolonize the process of internationalization of higher education (IHE). Based on my experience and locus of enunciation as a teacher educator/researcher/coordinator of the Language Division of the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES) in Brazil, I propose a reflection on the use of multilingual/inclusive approaches to decolonize the process of IHE. With that aim, projects undertaken at UFES using the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) approach and Virtual Exchange (VE) are described. Finardi and Guimarães (2020) suggest that the pandemic brought a series of challenges but also opportunities for the countries of the Global South and, in this paper, I focus on the opportunities afforded by the use of the COIL and VE at UFES. Following Chiappa and Finardi (2021), I understand that internationalization processes that do not reveal/question the colonial legacy tend to reproduce asymmetries in this process and based on this rationale, I question the role of languages in the internationalization of higher education, proposing an ecology of knowledges and languages in this process. Results from the analysis of the COIL and VE projects at UFES suggest that these approaches have a decolonial potential, fostering a more multilingual and inclusive internationalization process in an ecology of knowledges and languages in this context.
Presenters
Kyria FinardiProfessor, Department of Languages, Culture and Education, Federal University of Espirito Santo, Espírito Santo, Brazil
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2022 Special Focus: Intercultural Learning in Plurilingual Contexts
KEYWORDS
Collaborative Online International Learning, Virtual Exchange,Multilingual/Inclusive Approaches, Internationalization Higher Education
