English language education and educational policy in Myanmar

Similar to other parts of the world, Kurdish speakers of English have been subject to English fever. They have a strong desire to learn and speak English. An army of teachers is currently teaching Kurdish speakers to learn English. However, few of them acquire the required level of English when they move from high school level to university one. This might partly be associated with their attitudes towards not only the English language but the English language policies and practices that are currently adopted. Attitudes towards the English language have been extensively investigated both quantitatively and qualitatively in diversified educational and cultural contexts. Furthermore, a few studies have been conducted to investigate the attitudes of Kurdish students towards the English language, but their attitudes to English language education policies and English language learning purposes have yet remained unknown. Therefore, this study is anchored on investigating Kurdish undergraduate students’ attitudes towards the English language, English language education policies that are currently applied in Iraqi Kurdistan, and students’ purposes for learning English. It further concentrates on the effect of such variables as gender and year of study on attitudes. For this purpose, the study utilized a questionnaire consisting of 42 items on a 6-point Likert scale surveyed online on a sample of 154 students belonging to different ages, genders, years of study, and majors. The analysis of the data showed that Kurdish university students held neutral to mildly positive attitudes to the English language and English learning purposes. Nevertheless, they held slightly positive attitudes towards English language education policies. The study concludes that, although fundamental transformations have been achieved in the past two decades, the neutral attitudes show that efforts are yet to be made to satisfy students’ needs and desires, particularly with regard to the policies and practices that are currently adopted. This study, different from previous ones, reveals students’ attitudes towards English education policies whose findings are significant for English language education policymakers.

This chapter focuses on English language policy and education in Thailand. We begin with a description of the linguistic profile of Thailand and the status of English as part of presumed monolingual and monocultural ideologies. We then discuss the current prominent role of English in Thailand and ASEAN, which has resulted in greater emphasis on English language education. The chapter then turns to a detailed investigation of current policy and its adoption of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) at basic and higher education levels, and reveals the tensions between the multilingual uses of English as a lingua franca across ASEAN and the monolingual Anglophone orientations of current language policy. We highlight the detrimental effects of these Anglophone ideologies on ELT and assessment. The chapter ends with a call for multilingual-oriented policy and practices which reflect the changing roles of English in global contexts, especially in the ASEAN community.

Due to the expected value of English proficiency for living in a global society, acquiring English proficiency has become a major concern for many people in Korea. This attention is because people in Korea believe English is providing them with premium opportunities to better their lives such as being admitted to prestigious schools or getting high-paying jobs. The differential investment in learning English thus has yielded a new form of social inequality, dividing people between the English rich and the English poor. Perceiving the potential negative effects of the English divide and the importance of equipping Koreans’ English proficiency, the Korean government has put effort and strategic investment into improving public English education in Korea. Studies on policies have often been presented in a multilingual context where the concept of language policies, language education policies, foreign language policies, and English language education policies are somewhat blurred. Looking at the English education policies in a monolingual society like Korea exclusively can present a focused view on the effectiveness of English education policies. This study presents the key policies put into practice to improve the quality of English education in Korea and highlights secondary teachers’ responses to those policies in attaining the policy goals. A total of 1039 secondary teachers working in Daegu participated in the survey administered twice: 557 in 2010 and 482 in 2016. The perceptual changes are discussed with the participants’ comments included in the results. The study will provoke discussion and intuition for managing English education policies in similar contexts.

This chapter examines English language education policies in Indonesia and Timor-Leste by paying particular attention to the linguistic ecologies of the two nations. The chapter argues that English continues to become a prestigious language in the linguistic ecologies of Indonesia and Timor-Leste. The chapter shows that the prestige of English has surpassed that of Indonesian in the nation’s dynamic and polycentric linguistic ecology, ‘superglossia’. Meanwhile, English is currently gaining ascendancy in terms of prestige, and will in some way compete with Portuguese in the near future to sit at the summit of the Timor-Leste linguistic hierarchy. The chapter further asserts that a comprehensive language education policy which caters for indigenous languages alongside English and national languages is required for both countries in order for them to be able to increase engagement with ASEAN member states.

This chapter presents different perspectives on, or approaches to, English language teaching (ELT) in the Philippines. It begins with a description of the monolingual bias that is evident in government policies which include the use of English as the language of assessment, especially in national and international tests of English proficiency and literacy. The chapter proceeds with a discussion of three pluralist approaches to English, namely, ‘world Englishes’, ‘multilingualism’, and ‘translanguaging’, that claim to reject this monolingual bias. Language education policies or classroom practices that are informed by each perspective are described. A number of issues about these perspectives in relation to the monolingual bias are likewise raised. The chapter ends by underscoring the agency of Filipino teachers of English who are caught between monolingual and pluralist perspectives on ELT. Three propositions in relation to teacher agency are also put forward.

Introduction by Robert Kirkpatrick & Thuy Thi Ngoc Bui.- English-in-education Policy and Planning in Bangladesh: A Critical Examination by M. Obaidul Hamid & Elizabeth J. Erling.- English Language Education Policies in the People's Republic of China by Jeffrey Gil.- English Language Education Policy and the Native-speaking English Teacher (NET) Scheme in Hong Kong by Mihyon Jeon.- English Education Policy in India by Hema Ramanathan.- Language Policy in Practice: Reframing the English Language Curriculum in the Indonesian Secondary Education Sector by Handoyo Puji Widodo.- English Language Education Policy in Japan by Gregory Paul Glasgow & Daniel Leigh Paller.- The Impact of English on Educational Policies and Practices in Malaysia by Ria Hanewald.- Local-Global Tension in the Ideological Construction of English Language Education Policy in Nepal by Prem Phyak.- English Language Teaching in Pakistan: Language Policies, Delusions and Solutions by Syed Abdul Manan, Maya Khemlani David & Francisco Perlas Dumanig.- English Language Education in the Philippines: Policies, Problems, and Prospects by Marilu Ranosa Madrunio, Isabel Pefianco Martin & Sterling Miranda Plata.- Singapore's English-knowing Bilingual Policy: A Critical Evaluation by Patrick Ng Chin Leong.- English Education Policies in South Korea: Planned and Enacted by Jeehyae Chung & Taehee Choi.- English Language Policy and Planning in Sri Lanka: A Recent Overview by Dilini Walisundara & Shyamani Hetti arachchi.- Timor-Leste by John Macalister.- English Education Policy in Thailand: Why the Poor Results? By Amrita Kaur, David Young & Robert Kirkpatrick.- Standardizing English for Educational and Socio-economic Betterment - A Critical Analysis of English Language Policy Reforms in Vietnam by Thuy Thi Ngoc Bui & Hoa Thi Mai Nguyen

This article critically examines current issues and challenges in policy and practices of English education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It argues that although the current critical decisions on the language education policy being applied in the KSA are driven primarily by the forces of global changes, in order for this policy to be implemented successfully it is essential that a strategic plan to be designed, guided by local intellectual conditions and exigencies. Otherwise, it is likely that these policy changes will not only jeopardize the classical Arabic and national cultural identity, but also they may put Saudi national interests at risk. It further contends that it is crucial for the Saudi government to deeply understand the intersection of current English language policy and practices in both public and higher education, ‘the internationalization of education and ‘national cultural identity’ in order successfully to promote mass literacy in English in the country and at the same time maintain national interests. It also suggests that an epistemic and cognitive shift needs to take place in the English education policy and practices of the KSA in order to effectively realize the intended outcomes of current Saudi education policy: i.e., promoting mass literacy in English, and meeting religious needs as well as the growing economic and social needs of the Saudi nation.

This chapter discusses English language education and educational language policy in the three nations of Indochina: Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. After briefly reviewing history, geography, demographics, and linguistic diversity, the authors of each country study detail the structure of education and the educational language policies in place in the relevant country, giving particular attention to policies supporting the English language. They continue by discussing English language teaching and learning in both formal and non-formal education, with attention to curriculum, pedagogy, textbooks, textbook development, teacher training, and evaluation. They conclude each country study with a brief discussion of anticipated or planned developments in English language policy, teaching, and learning.

Are We Decolonizing or Recolonizing Colonial English Education Policy?

This chapter compares and contrasts the language policy and planning in two neighbouring Southeast Asian nations, Malaysia and Negara Brunei Darussalam. In both, people of Malay ethnicity are in the majority. In both, the role of English can be traced back to the colonial period: prior to the formation of Malaysia in 1963, Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak were British crown colonies, while Brunei was a British protectorate from 1888 until it achieved independence in 1984. Following brief outlines of the historical background and the current language situation, this chapter reviews current language in education policies with particular reference to English. These are then compared and contrasted, and some pointers to future policy directions are discussed.

This chapter provides an overview of English language education and policy in Singapore in relation to a world Englishes perspective, considering policy, practices, and ideologies. It takes a critical view of Kachru’s model as applied to Singapore English(es), noting the complexities of internal variation among Singapore’s English users, and how Singapore has moved from the Outer to the Inner Circle and thus demands a more nuanced framework. Analysis takes a discourse-analytic approach, anchored in Ruiz’s conceptualization of language orientations and applied to Singapore’s secondary English language syllabus. It considers how these orientations frame the narrative of policy, are operationalized into learning targets, and inform teacher practice. To understand further the position of English and Englishes in Singapore, the chapter draws on the Douglas Fir Group’s framework for second language acquisition (SLA), considering the mutually interactive forces of the macro (ideological), meso- (sociocultural/institutional) and micro-levels (human social interaction) involved in language-learning contexts.

This paper provides an overview of English language education policies and practices in Hong Kong. It examines changes and developments in policymaking and implementation across the education system. Based on a qualitative analysis of government documents and empirical studies, this review utilizes a sociocultural framework in characterizing language policy decision making processes and implementation strategies in colonial and post-colonial Hong Kong. Findings revealed a multilayered context within which English language education policies and practices are enacted, highlighting the interplay among political, social, economic and educational agendas in policy formulation and implementation. The incongruence between policy recommendations and actual classroom practices, as well as the relationship between government responsiveness and public preferences suggested the power and agency of multiple stakeholders (e.g. parents, teachers and community members) in the interpretation and appropriation of language education policies. This review provides additional insights to understanding the status of English against the backdrop of changing local conditions and to identifying forces of continuity and change in the development of language education policies and practices in Hong Kong. Implications for practice, policy and research are discussed.

This study aimed to explore the relationship between English language education policy (ELEP) and teacher effectiveness (TE) at grade three senior high schools (G3SHS) in Mashhad, Iran. To this end, the English Language Policy Inventory (ELPI) designed and validated by Khodadady, Arian, and Hosseinabadi (2013) and English Language Teachers’ Attribute Scale (ELTAS) developed and validated by Khodadady, Fakhrabadi and Azar (2012) were administered to 48 teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) and their 1072 EFL learners. The correlational analysis of results showed that the two ELEP and TE domains correlated significantly with each other. The same analysis revealed significant relationships between Harmonic Curriculum, International Interaction, Internationalizing Native Culture, Methodological Development, International Understanding, All-Compassing Improvement and Functional Organization genera of the ELPI and Qualified, Social, Stimulating, Organized, Proficient, Humanistic and Self-Confident genera of the ELTAS. The findings are discussed from both theoretical and empirical perspectives and suggestions are made for future research.

Foreign language education policies constitute an important aspect of China’s reconstruction of its linguistic and cultural identities in an increasingly globalized world. China’s English language education policies in the past three decades have undergone fluctuations, which can be roughly categorized into the following stages: (1) the opening up of English education from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, and related to this, the euphoria for learning English. (2) The speeding up of English education from the mid-1990s to the first decade of the new millennium, and related to this, the anxiety regarding “too much time and too little effect.” (3) The slowing down or losing direction as shown in a recent debate over a proposed English education policy reform from 2013 to 2014. Related to this is the fear that English education will have a negative effect on Chinese language proficiency and cultural identity. These changes have been reflected in and constructed by policy related discourses, including those of the national policy makers, education institutions and experts, and ordinary learners and netizens. The above policy and attitudinal fluctuations over 30 years can be contextualized and interpreted as being emblematic of issues in China’s history over the last 150 years. An ambivalent psychological complex towards self and “the West” is revealed, situated in China’s semi-colonial and semi-feudal history, beginning with the Opium Wars in 1840, when China faced foreign invasions and was forced to open its markets and partially give up sovereignty. It was in that context that the ambivalence was developed, i.e., the strong desire for the English language through which new technologies can be learned to strengthen the nation, and the fear that this foreign language will threaten Chinese identity. A brief historical analysis shows that the status of English in China has been fluctuating for the past 150 years. Such ambivalences and fluctuations have become a “habitus” (Bourdieu, P. Language and symbolic power. (J. B. Thompson Ed.; G. Raymond & M. Adamson Trans.). Cambridge: CUP, 1991), i.e., durable “structuring structures” of the collective mind. English has become a screen with two sides: on one side is projected the Chinese dream of becoming strong; and on the other side is projected the nightmare of losing national identity. This self-perpetuating ambivalence helps to explain the fluctuations of China’s English language education policies. In the context of increased globalization, when English is becoming a de-territorialized resource, the habitual defense mechanism is no longer effective, and it may well hinder national and individual development. The durable yet not eternal habitus can be transformed, and alternative strategies are to be conceived. Instead of a screen, English can be taken as a mirror, from which we can perceive our complex needs, desires, and emotions. With a clear self-perception, we can probably be free from compulsory policy and mood swings, feel more confident about our native cultural identity, and be ready to take on the identity of a “dialogical communicator” (Gao, Lang Intercult Commun 14(1):1–17, 2014) in intercultural communication.

This chapter investigates English language policy and practice in Hong Kong and Macau. The two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of China share similarities such as colonial histories and a multilingual policy. However, with different colonizing languages (English and Portuguese, respectively) and the different status and usage of the English language, the SARs part ways concerning English-related policy and educational practice. This chapter reviews the policy governing the English language in the two contexts and analyses its enactment across levels of education from the primary to the tertiary, on aspects including the medium of instruction, textbooks and language assessment, and human resources management. It also discusses how the policy interacts with the parallel policies and wider geopolitical and social contexts. The implications from the issues highlighted along the way such as educational equity conclude the chapter.