English Language Education Policy Research Articles

Eric E. Ekembe, Lauren Harvey and Eric Dwyer (eds): Interface between English Language Education Policies and Practice: Examples from Various Contexts

Eric E. Ekembe, Lauren Harvey and Eric Dwyer (eds): Interface between English Language Education Policies and Practice: Examples from Various Contexts

Disentangling the complexities of English language education policies in diverse contexts: A comparative study

This ecologically framed study highlights the complexities of English language education (ELE) policy making in Indonesia, Spain, and Thailand. The primary objectives are, first, to disentangle the complex influences that may have shaped the English language policies in the three contexts through an ecological lens, and second, to compare the crucial elements in their ELE policy making. Using an analytical model consisting of global, supranational, national, sub-national, and pedagogical influences, we conducted a thematic analysis on 18 documents selected for the purpose. The results identified both similarities and differences in the shaping influences of the ELE policies in the three contexts. This demonstrates that ELE policy is shaped by the nation’s unique characteristics. To improve the applicability of ELE policies, therefore, policymakers need to address the influences particular to the context and to be cautious when adopting or adapting policies deriving from other contexts, as there will never be a one-fit-for-all ELE policy.

Attitudes of Kurdish university students towards the English language, English language education policies, and English language learning purposes

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.

Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Primary School English Teaching Reform in Japan

In Japan, following several other English language education policy reforms, English language instruction was formally introduced to the elementary school curriculum as a subject in 2020. This change affects not only elementary school pupils but, perhaps more drastically, elementary school teachers, who are now required to teach English as a subject in their role as homeroom teachers. This paper reports on a study of Japanese teachers of English enrolled in in-service training workshops, and examines the degree to which the teachers feel prepared to implement the new curriculum, the challenges they may face in their classrooms, and the degree to which they feel these workshops help prepare them to implement the curriculum changes. The findings suggest that while many of the participants perceived that there was a necessity for the policy changes, they recognized how their agency may be constrained due to a variety of factors at the micro- and macro-level. A concerted effort at the level of policy planning, teacher training, and curriculum design is needed to help teachers develop their professional identities to enable the necessary changes.

The Perceptions of the Use of Translanguaging as a Form of Oral Feedback in Indonesian Tertiary English Language Teaching Context

As the practice of using different languages to extend the process of knowledge construction, translanguaging is often performed in teachers’ corrective feedback in foreign language classrooms. The research aimed to analyze students’ perception of the implementation of translanguaging as a form of oral corrective feedback in an EFL-speaking context at a private university in Indonesia. This study used a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design through two phases of data collection: a questionnaire (N=60) and semi-structured interviews (N=8). The findings of this study indicate that students perceive translanguaging as a beneficial practice in implementing oral corrective feedback in the EFL-speaking classroom, such as increasing the chances for language acquisition, empowering students to take educational risks, creating a more welcoming and socially inclusive learning environment due to students’ diverse language proficiency, and increasing in-classroom participation and engagement. However, it is also perceived that translanguaging should not be used too excessively to avoid confusion amongst students with lower target language proficiency. It is recommended that teachers give students a fair chance to interact meaningfully with more than one language by including translanguaging oral feedback as a pedagogical strategy, to help students reach their academic goals, notice differences in language, and promote bilingualism and biliteracy. The students' positive opinions of translanguaging highlighted its potential as an effective pedagogical technique. It is also hoped that this research becomes a basis for establishing English language teaching policies that are appropriate to the multilingual pedagogical context in Indonesia.

Official policies of English language education in Iran: ‘policy as discourse’ in national documents

ABSTRACT Considering the uncontested global status of English today, overt and covert policies of English language teaching (ELT) have shaped a significant area of broader national language (education) policies. In this study we investigated nine major national policy documents to portray the overall official ELT policies in Iran. The documents were explored through qualitative content analysis in search of manifest statements and conceptual categories that provided educational policy directions. Adopting a view of policy as discourse, we coded statements directly related to ELT and those related to language education, as well as generic statements about all subject areas, which were interpreted to include the teaching and learning of English. The discursive climate of the overall official Iranian ELT policy appeared to be mainly shaped by policy directions focusing on Islamic values, Iranian Revolutionism, and character and morality, along with some language-teaching specifics. The findings may indicate that beyond issues of policy incompleteness, the Iranian official ELT policy may be suffering from policy indeterminacy. We argue that in contexts like Iran, more coherent ELT policies may be needed to account for both the ideological nature of English and its practical applicability in the world today.

Whose English gets paid off?—Neoliberal discourses of English and ethnic minority students’ subjectivities in China

AbstractThe study traces the trajectories of Uyghur college students’ subjectivity construction and transformation from Foucault's governmentality perspective. Drawing on ethnographic data of two telling cases, it explores how minoritized students’ subjectivities were linked to neoliberal discourses of English and constituted by power techniques, self‐technologies, and affective dispositions embedded in wider institutional transformations. Participants were found experiencing a shift to the individualistic subjectivity associated with academic achievement and performance in English away from the collective identity of “authentic Uyghur” symbolized by the Uyghur language. Two salient discourses of English, i.e., English as constraints, and English as academic excellence, emerging from the neoliberal‐oriented institutional English language education policies and practices, shaped the participants either as incompetent English learners or elite subjects. Participants learned to responsibilitize themselves through such self‐technologies as confession and preaching, and affective practices. Yet, technologies of hope and optimism became for a few the enjoyment of experiences and performance of elitism while projecting a majority disadvantaged as affectively problematic others. The self‐technologies and affective responses without recognition of larger structures of inequality could further reinforce the neoliberal logic. The affective labor of sense of solidarity, commitment to community, empathy for the deprived ones with critical reflection and collective action, nevertheless, may counter neoliberal logic and point to an alternative path to meaning‐making and social relations.

Repositioning English and teaching practices in global Englishes: A critical perspective from Thai higher education

More English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) scholars are shifting attention to the Global Englishes (GE) paradigm and its attitudinal and functional impacts on English language education. Nevertheless, knowledge of this paradigm is seemingly unclear to many scholars, and there is an enormous knowledge gap on the practicality of GE implementation in Thai higher education. To minimize this gap, the current study explored the attitudes of 10 Thai EFL teachers in 10 universities across Thailand toward GE and the possibility of incorporating GE in teaching practices in Thai higher education. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews were analysed using content analysis. The results revealed that most participants had positive perceptions toward English varieties emerging from outer and expanding circles users with diverse linguacultural backgrounds even though their Englishes have distinctive linguistic features compared to inner circle Englishes. The participants further reported their non-opposition to incorporate GE in Thai higher education, mainly if such GE integration would introduce learners to the target cultures of different English varieties, transform performance assessment, introduce new learning materials of both local and global content, expose them to various English accents, and reformulate goals of English language teaching (ELT). This implies a need for a redesign of Thai higher education ELT policies and curriculums to incorporate the GE paradigm and English varieties from the inner, outer, and expanding circles while also avoiding any biases toward native English in teaching.

Evolution of English language education policies in the Chinese mainland in the 21st century: A corpus-based analysis of official language policy documents

This study analyzes the evolution of China's official English language education policy from 2000 to 2021 using a self-constructed language policy database. Conducting a descriptive and corpus analysis of the database, this study identifies three stages (2000–2006, 2007–2017, 2018–2021) and describes policy changes by using three aspects of Cooper's (1989) accounting scheme as an analytic framework. Result shows that the dominant actors shifted from the Central Government to local governments. In relation to targets, the focus on different levels of school education varied, while attention to outside school education remained relatively stable. As for means, while opportunity- and incentive-oriented means were widely used through all stages, dual means (bilingual programs) were relatively less common in the third stage. With these findings, this study presents new information about developments in English language education in the Chinese Mainland. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods may also bring insights for future research.

English Language Teaching in Saudi Arabia: A World System Perspective

The paper investigates how English Language Teaching has been adopted to support Saudi Arabia’s integration with Wallerstein’s modern world system, to back its progress from periphery to semi-periphery zone, and to push it from semi-periphery to core zone. To this end, the paper unravels the confluence of the socio-political and economic factors of globalizing Saudi Arabia and analyzes Saudi English Language Education Policies documented in the official papers and textbooks to show how they have been designed to gain Saudis’ consent to accept English simply as a tool to be used at the personal, state, and religious levels.

A Review of Pre-university English Language Education Policies in China 2011-2022

Chinese foreign language education policies (FLEPs) are changing during years of development in aspects of national planning, education, and policy formulation. And the most widely acknowledged foreign language in China is English. This paper critically reviews English language education planning (ELEP) in China under the historical context from 2011 to 2022. The ELEP developments are related to the modern era's economic, ideological, and political changes. At the institutional level, English is considered without controversy as a universal language that promotes national development and offers personal opportunity. However, the English-as-threat notion has been repetitively mentioned in the history of policy development. Examining the political alterations shows that even with doubts and concerns, providing pre-university students with English language education is inevitably strategic. And from reviewing a series of officially published documents and relevant research reports, this study ends with the implications for both English learners and educators in China. As the instrumental role of English has remained essentially unchanged, the concept that teaching language with its culture should be emphasized and encouraged in relation to English teaching and learning standards. Learning English is not only about learning a foreign language, it also involves learning a fresh way of thinking.

English Textbooks and the Objectives of ELT in Saudi Arabia: Gaps and Rationale

The paper investigates whether the Saudi state organizes the dynamic between the factors active above and below its level as Blommaert’s (2005) “switchboard” in terms of Saudi English Language Education Policies (SELEP). To this end, it explores the general objectives of teaching English in Saudi Arabia and examines the cultural elements used in the school-level Saudi English textbooks across the country. The paper finds that SELEP could successfully organize the dynamic between the “national” objectives—objectives that are meant to gain Saudi citizens’ consent for learning/teaching English and the “transnational” objectives—objectives that are meant to enable the state to interact successfully with the other states of the world system (Wallerstein 2006). However, in practice, the textbooks produced or selected under the supervision of the Saudi Ministry of Education during the last 33 years are found to be extremely biased either towards the “national” or towards the “transnational” objectives. Therefore, there were and there have been some gaps between SELEP and the textbooks. The paper detects certain reasons behind the dissimilarities between the textbooks published prior to 2013 and the objectives, but fails to find out a single compelling reason why the gaps are not bridged in the books published thereafter.

Problematizing Human Capital Development in English Language Education in Bangladesh

This article draws on a framework based on Bernstein’s three-message systems of schooling and Ball’s notion of policy cycle to examine how the human capital development goal incorporated into the Bangladesh secondary English curriculum has been translated into pedagogy and assessment practices. Data were collected from classroom observations and teacher and principal interviews and document analysis. Findings indicate that while the curriculum has emphasized human capital development as an important English language education policy goal, pedagogy and assessment appear to be pursuing divergent goals and are mediated by local structures shaped by the colonial past and the current political economic context. The article highlights how human capital development is inadequate for substantive pedagogical and assessment practices and contributes to comparative education policy enactment studies by revealing how neoliberally oriented global education policy trends of human capital development unfold locally in schooling contexts in developing societies, namely, Bangladesh.

THE IMPACT OF CODE-SWITCHING IN AFFECTIVE SUPPORT AND LEARNERS’ SUCCESS IN PAKISTANI ESL CLASSROOMS AT UNIVERSITY LEVEL

Background and Purpose: English is an official language of Pakistan and it is not only taught as a subject, but it is also used as a medium of instruction in Pakistan. However, students find English language learning a difficult experience. Their difficulties are compounded by monolingual English language teaching policies and their individual differences which are linked with their motivation, level of anxiety and confidence. This study aimed at finding out the relationship between code-switching and learners’ affective response and its impacts on attaining success in ESL classrooms.
 
 Methodology: Data for this mixed method study were collected through purposive sampling via questionnaires, interviews, and field notes from the students majoring in English at a private university in Pakistan. Quantitative data is analyzed throughSPSS whereas qualitatively the data is analyzed by using constant comparative technique.
 
 Findings: The findings unveil that code-switching is an effective teaching strategy in ESL classrooms to deal with the learning of vocabulary, comprehension of abstract concepts, the performance of a difficult task, participation in classroom discussions, and the clarity of concepts. Moreover, switching to L1 also gives them satisfaction, fosters attention span, creates enjoyment, and boosts confidence, resultantly their performance improves.
 
 Contribution: The study provides implications for stakeholders including teachers, teacher trainers and policy makers to introduce pedagogical code-switching in ESL classrooms to foster the motivation and self-confidence of the students. The study concludes that though code-switching carries benefits, however, it should be used strategically to improve learners’ performance.
 
 Keywords: Code-switching, affective-response, success, ESL classrooms.
 
 Cite as: Nawaz, N., Atta, A., & Naseem, N. (2023). The impact of code-switching in affective support and learners’ success in Pakistani ESL classrooms at university level. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 8(1), 95-116. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss1pp95-116

SAUDIS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS ENGLISH:TREND AND RATIONALE

This paper investigates the trend of Saudis’ attitude towards English and the reasons behind it. To discern the trend of the attitudinal change, the paper analyses the findings of some relevant studies conducted in 1990s and 2000s. Moreover, to find out the raison d'être behind the change, the paper looks into the reasons underlying the introduction and expansion of English language teaching in Saudi Arabia as English language teaching and the positive attitude towards it are supposed to grow concomitantly. The paper focuses on two major contributing factors—Saudi Economy (SE) and Saudi English Language Education Policies (SELEP)—in the expansion of English language teaching in Saudi Arabia. The paper concludes that if the economic trend remains and if SELEP continue to exert their influence on Saudi citizens and the English language teaching, the increasingly positive attitude towards English will prevail in Saudi Arabia.

A Critical Overview of English Language Education Policy in Turkey

The present chapter which sets a critical perspective delves into the English language education (ELE) policy in Turkey in the light of the innovations that have been proposed by the ministry of education (MoNE) at macro level. The study covers a wide range of topics that shed light into the following issues: history of ELE in Turkey, factors affecting ELE namely; geographical and social dimensions, globalization and internationalization. Moreover, the innovations that have been proposed for ELE and their reflections in practice are also discussed from a critical stance. As a final issue, the problems that have been experienced as a result of the implementation of innovations and possible solutions that might help overcome those hardships are explained from a critical point of view.

Micro Language Planning for Sustainable Early English Language Education: A Case Study on Chinese Educators’ Agency

In language education research, micro-level language policy and planning (LPP) primarily concerns local actors’ decision making on matters in relation to language(s) and its users. Despite a growing body of literature focusing on micro-level language planning in educational settings, there is a scarcity of research examining early childhood education settings as the micro-level LPP context for young English language learners. By adopting a qualitative case study approach and drawing on an ecological approach to LPP, the present study examined the educators’ enactment of agency in micro-planning the English language education policy (LEP) in one Chinese kindergarten and the associated factors shaping their agency. Deploying a grounded theory analytical method, this study revealed that the sustainable implementation of the kindergarten English LEP depended on the principal, native English-speaking teachers, and the Chinese assistant teachers’ different degrees of agency. Additionally, the research findings indicated an array of contextual and individual factors nested in a hierarchical structure that facilitated, guided, and constrained the educators’ agency in a role-and circumstance-dependent manner. This study contributes to the pertinent literature by casting nuanced light on the different educators’ contributions to the micro-level LPP against a national policy that does not endorse early-year English language education.

English Language Teaching Policy in Iran and Singapore: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis

English Language Teaching Policy in Iran and Singapore: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis

Primary English Language Education Policy in Vietnam’s Disadvantaged Areas: Implementation Barriers

In the context of English as a global language, compulsory English language education at the primary level has become an inevitable trend in many non-English-speaking countries, including Vietnam. However, there have been concerns regarding how English language policy is realised across contextual settings, especially in rural and remote areas of Vietnam. Based on language-in-education goals, this article investigates English language policy implementation in Vietnam’s rural and remote areas from the perspective of primary English teachers from 2008 onwards. The present paper employs a desk review of existing literature, policy analysis, and semi-structured interviews. Data collected from multiple sources show the inequality of access to English language learning in the rural localities. The findings also indicate a significant gap between the current English language policy goals and implementation in the rural primary sector regarding slow execution, curriculum variations, limited teaching resources, inappropriate pedagogy, and assessment. These problems have been accelerated due to a shortage of teachers as well as inconsistency and limitations related to pre-service teacher training programs and recruitment. Identifying significant challenges of English language policy implementation in the Northwest of Vietnam helps shed light on primary English education in remote and marginalised regions. Therefore, the recommendations target policy makers, teacher educators, and stakeholders to assist primary English teachers in rural areas to improve and advance the success of primary English education in Vietnam’s remote areas and beyond the specific context to which it refers.

Factors Obstructing English Teaching Effectiveness: Teacher Voices from Thailand’s Deep South

Administering English language teaching (ELT) in rural settings of the three southern border provinces has been challenging for both teachers and learners due to two decades of political unrest, eruptions of violence, fears, and insecurity. To enhance ELT, this study aimed to investigate factors affecting the ineffectiveness of ELT in these three educational environments and introduce a new lens of contextualized English instructions for learners in schools located in Southernmost Thailand, where learners live amid linguistic and cultural diversity. In this qualitative study, data were collected from teachers operating in two schools of each province (totaling six institutions) by semi-structured interviews and analyzed by content analysis. Findings revealed that five primary factors deteriorating English language learning efficiency in the three southern border provinces were Implementation of Broad-Spectrum ELT Policies; Insufficient Teaching Integrations with Islamization; Inadequate Awareness of the Significance of English; Inconsistencies between ELT Textbooks and the Sociolinguistic Reality of English; and Impractical Classroom Arrangement. The findings could be beneficial if they are further utilized by the Ministry of Education in establishing policies for ELT in specific contexts as well as school administrators and teachers in formulating instructional approaches, managing learning resources, and arranging classrooms based on local needs and identities. Although this study has a specific spatial scope, which is the three southern border provinces of Thailand, its findings can be adapted for a broader application as a part of the global perspective and a clue to solve language learning problems across ELT communities encountering a similar challenge.