Description
Book SynopsisThe role of English in the global arena has prompted official language-in-education policy makers to adopt language education policies to enable its citizens to be proficient in English and to access knowledge. Local educational contexts in different countries have implemented English education in their own ways with different pedagogical goals, motivations, features and pedagogies. While much of the research cited in English language planning policy has focused on macro level language policy and planning, there is an increasing interest in micro planning, in particular teacher agency in policy response. Individual teacher agency is a multifaceted amalgam, not only of teachers' individual histories, professional training, personal values and instructional beliefs, but also of how these interact with local interpretations and appropriations of policy.
Teacher Agency and Policy Response in English Language Teaching examines the agency of the teacher in negotiating educational re
Trade Review
Teacher agency in TESOL – should we be pessimistic or optimistic? This book provides much needed data and analysis across a diverse range of international sites. Now we can begin to answer the question based on more than just pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will. -- Graham Crookes, University of Hawai’i
Many new policies for the teaching of English give the distinct impression of being introduced, not so much because they are based on sound research and evidence of their success, but because of ‘common-sense’ assumptions about how languages are learned and how they should be taught. Into this equation, in recent decades, has entered a kind of universal anxiety on the part of educational policy makers that without English, their nations will be left behind politically, economically and socially. ... Readers of this volume will find in these pages an intriguing compilation of classroom scenarios, instructional contingencies, and policy responses, at the heart of which is the agency of the language teacher. In response to the currently limited scope of research on micro-level language education policy, the editors have found a niche that is richly filled by the accounts that follow. -- Anne Burns, Foreword
Table of Contents1. Introduction
2. English language teaching in China: teacher agency in response to curricular innovations
3. Acceptance and adaption: teacher agency during the introduction of English activities in Japanese elementary schools
4. Monolingual education in policy discourse and classroom practice: a look into Japanese junior high school EFL classrooms
5. Teacher agency, the native/nonnative dichotomy, and “English Classes in English” in Japanese high Schools
6. Teacher-designed high stakes English language testing: washback and impact
7. ESOL teacher advocacy: a response to teacher education standards
8. Teacher agency and policy response in the Australian adult ESL literacy classroom: a multi-site case study
9. Incorporating academic skills into EFL curriculum: teacher agency in response to global mobility challenge
10. Navigating Change: Kazakhstani English language teachers’ response to multi-scalar education reforms
11. A call for English teachers in Morocco to practice agency through action research
12. Sociocultural factors affecting teacher agency in English-medium instruction in Japan
13. Introducing curricular change in ESL composition: an action research perspective
14. A primary school English teacher’s response to language policy: teacher agency and autonomy in rural Vietnam
