Intercultural bilingual education by monolingual teachers: A case study of the Otavalo Canton in Imbabura, Ecuador

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of bilingualism among the teachers from the Intercultural Bilingual Education System in Ecuador. The objective here was to establish the relationship between the teachers’ linguistic knowledge and the type of teaching generally seen in Intercultural Bilingual Education. To this end, the authors conducted a case study of twenty Intercultural Bilingual Community Education Centers in the Otavalo canton. The document presents an analysis of the dimensions of monolingual teaching in bilingual learning environments. The results offer a diagnosis of the study area and bilingual intercultural education services, considering the bilingualism or monolingualism of the teaching staff and the characteristics of its student population. It concludes with an evaluation of the limits of the Model of Bilingual Intercultural Education while suggesting as a solution the community-based linguistic immersion of monolingual teachers.