Pedagogical Linguistic Landscapes in the Global South

Raising Awareness of Language Coexistence and Multilingual Practices in Uruguayan EFL Classrooms

Abstract

Linguistic landscapes (LLs) in Uruguay have been studied with a sociolinguistic perspective in the last decade. However, their pedagogical affordances remain unexplored. With this in mind, a comparative classroom-based study combining two cases in Uruguay was implemented. The first case, conducted in an English as a Foreign Language university course,  examines LLs in the border region between Uruguay and Brazil, an area characterized by Spanish-Portuguese bilingualism, and the presence of a local regional dialect known as Portuñol. The second case examines the presence of English in the LL of a well-known touristic city, its analysis, and consequent application in the design of didactic units by pre-service teachers. The overall purpose of this research was to examine how integrating LLs as a pedagogical tool can raise awareness on language coexistence, inclusion, exclusion, and multilingual practices. Findings showed that integrating LLs into pedagogical design enhanced participants’ awareness of the languages that coexist in their environments, the roles each language plays, and the motivations underlying signage choices. Moreover, this approach encouraged stronger identitarian connections to the territories participants inhabit. Contrary to what most participants initially thought, the first case study showed a linguistic imbalance between the languages expected in the border (Portuguese- Spanish) and revealed how pervasive English was in the photographic evidence collected.  Regarding the second one, the analysis highlighted tensions between the perceived prestige of English in the touristic economy and the classroom realities where English is taught as a foreign language disconnected from students’ lived linguistic experiences. Teachers-in-training began to question which languages are visible and legitimized in public spaces, and what implications it had for pedagogical purposes. These findings suggest that incorporating LLs more systematically into teacher education programmes can serve as a valuable tool to connect language pedagogy with local linguistic ecologies and raise awareness on how local linguistic scenery can be linked to power relations.