Tacit Rejection of Policy and Teacher Ambivalence: Insights Into English Language Teaching in Bahrain Through Actors’ Perceptions

Abstract

This article develops Phillips and Ochs's (2003) framework for policy borrowing, particularly their theorisations about indigenisation of international programmes. It uses the example of communicative language teaching (CLT) in Bahrain, exploring teacher perspectives regarding the effects of CLT on the preexisting arrangements in the national education system and the impact of contextual factors on the potential for CLT implementation. The author conducted qualitative focus groups with English language teachers in 10 schools. The analysis elucidates how teachers were tailoring their own ways through the new reforms to strike a satisfactory balance between the government's aims and the attitudes of the public. It answers the question, “What happens to English language teaching policy when it is transplanted to a different culture?” and concludes that it becomes actively rejected. The conclusion offers a conceptual development of Phillips and Ochs's framework, adding the option of rejection to the indigenisation stage. The article ends with some practical implications.