Decolonizing language education through internationalization: The case of Nahuatl in U.S. institutions of higher education

This chapter examines the policies, practices, and pedagogies aimed at disrupting and reversing the colonial legacy in language education. These colonial influences manifest in native-speaker ideologies, English medium instruction, Eurocentric teaching methods, and the privileging of European languages in world language education. Efforts to decolonize language teaching include recognizing non-standard English varieties as legitimate in schools, expanding course offerings on minority and indigenous languages, and developing textbooks and materials from the perspective of a local community. The chapter then explores the internationalization of education, which is sometimes critiqued as a modern form of colonialism by romanticizing the Old-World past and the colonial gaze. Three models of internationalization of education – abroad, at home, and at a distance – are discussed as possible ways to challenge Western predominance in global knowledge production and dissemination. Finally, the chapter presents a case study on the revitalization of Nahuatl, an indigenous language spoken by over 1.5 million people in Mexico and the United States. It examines how distance online courses, offered through U.S. universities in collaboration with indigenous language professionals in Mexico, serve as the nexus between internationalization at a distance and decolonization in language education.