Raul Mora questions how language and literacies are taught in the current sociopolitical contexts around the world. Raul posits that we should be critical about engaging in discussions about what it means to be multilingual or plurilingual in different contexts in Africa, Latin America or North America. We problematize the reasons why English has become “the second language” by default in research and education without recognizing Indigenous languages as well as sign languages as part of the repertoire of language diversity. We also talked about how the school can become a site that either challenges or supports the learning of languages while there are other multimodal ways of engaging in literacy, therefore the notion of literacy must be flexible, fluid and context based (letramento, literacidad, alfabetización).

Bio

Dr. Raúl Alberto Mora is an Associate Professor of English Education and Literacy Studies at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (UPB) in Medellín, Colombia. He also serves as a faculty affiliate at 2 universities in Colombia and has been a visiting/guest professor at universities in Colombia and abroad. His current teaching duties include preservice language courses and graduate-level seminars on research and literacies in second language contexts as well as advising master’s and doctoral students.

Suggested citation of this podcast (APA):

Ortega, Y. (Producer). (2019, April 10). Chasing Encounters – Episode – 10 – Literacy and Second Languages Research and Education [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://soundcloud.com/chasingencounters

Sources:

Mora, R. A. (2015). City literacies in second languages. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(1), 21–24.

https://www.literaciesinl2project.org/lslpleadership.html