THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS OF LANGUAGES IN MEXICO

• Main Author: Leticia Araceli Salas-Serrano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Autónoma Indígena de México 2014-01-01
• Series: Ra Ximhai
• Subjects: Education; language teaching; social responsibility; plurilingualism and multiculturalism.
• Online Access: https://docs.google.com/a/uaim.edu.mx/file/d/0B3tidJTiCU5eSnhhQnNmUkw1SlE/edit

This paper, the outcome of a Seminar in Language, Discourse and Social Practices which took place at the Instituto de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales “Alfonso Vélez Pliego” belonging to Benemérita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla in 2013, presents a perspective from which, the language class could be used as a space for integration and understanding among individuals from different cultures and who interact in a society. The context of the present paper is the Mexican Society and the ideals of equality and inclusion that the Mexican Constitution established for all Mexican citizens. Language teachers, by representing a different language and a different culture, can be models of social responsibility if they enhance the building of a culture of peace in class, connecting the individuals of different social groups, considering and finding their differences and similarities in the framework of the language classroom. This scenery of language teaching, either a national or a foreign one, can be used as the place where languages can live together and individuals can find and rehearse an intercultural harmony that can be taken to real scenarios in the future.