Chasing Encounters

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 af