Ethnography of language policy and planning

An inconsistency concerning the medium of instruction policy, since 1947, has rooted three lines of education systems in Pakistan: The “elite” English medium educational institutes, the government-run Urdu Medium schools, and madrassas (educational institutes with major focus on Islamic subjects) using Urdu and Arabic as medium of instruction. This ambivalence in the state language policies intertwines with the language aspirations of the actors at the micro level- institutional management, teachers, and students- to determine the real language practices in the educational site(s).
Ethnography offers a practical way to comprehend how people interpret, negotiate or resist; in short appropriate; language policy and planning (LPP) in accordance with their context. The contention underlying this paper is that the real policy  is not what is stated in the papers but what happens in the classrooms is which indicates what the real policy is.

This introduction conceptualises CLIL as the European practical and ideological apparatus for standardising elite multilingualism. The chapter begins with a brief historicisation of the appearance of CLIL, and discusses the ways in which CLIL has been legitimised and cemented discursively. It then moves on to reviewing existing criticality in CLIL research and identifies the research gaps the volume intends to fill. The remaining of the chapter is devoted to delineating the contours of a new research agenda for the field, an agenda that is critical, interpretive, socially-anchored and socially-concerned. One key focus is the global uptake of CLIL. This chapter argues for the need to comprehend the life of CLIL outside Europe, and the practices and forces of CLIL exportation and localisation.

The childhood national policy in Colombia recognizes the importance of quality in early childhood education (ECE). In this context, the government of the district of Bogota (2012–2016) proposed the program “Quality preschool in the Public Educational System” to expand the coverage of early education and provide comprehensive care to children aged 3–5 years within the public educational system. This article explores the ways in which the policy program is implemented in schools. Employing an ethnographic approach, this study focuses on the experiences of teachers from five schools that have faced the challenges of integrating the two new grades of early childhood education in formal school settings. By analyzing the educational strategies designed and implemented by teachers in their daily routines and the meaning they assign to these strategies, this study provides evidence that teachers do not simply reproduce the institutionalized discourses; instead, teachers negotiate, resist, a...

The childhood national policy in Colombia recognizes the importance of quality in early childhood education (ECE). In this context, the government of the district of Bogota (2012–2016) proposed the program “Quality preschool in the Public Educational System” to expand the coverage of early education and provide comprehensive care to children aged 3–5 years within the public educational system. This article explores the ways in which the policy program is implemented in schools. Employing an ethnographic approach, this study focuses on the experiences of teachers from five schools that have faced the challenges of integrating the two new grades of early childhood education in formal school settings. By analyzing the educational strategies designed and implemented by teachers in their daily routines and the meaning they assign to these strategies, this study provides evidence that teachers do not simply reproduce the institutionalized discourses; instead, teachers negotiate, resist, a...

Focusing on the teacher education in the space-time of preschools, this paper seeks to investigate and understand how teacher education and the daily life of early childhood schools have been thought out. Based on a qualitative and exploratory approach, the research uses data collected by interviews with school teachers and aides. Foucault (2021; 2014), Freire (2019), Rousseau (2004), Santos (2018), Vigotski (2000), among others make up its theoretical background. The growing social changes generated by globalization lead us to reflect on this age group, which is often ignored within these transformations.

Early childhood education (ECE) has been branded as a social equalizer that will reverse poverty trends in Mexico. At the same time, language policies that mandate education in Indigenous languages clash with policies that promote Spanish and English as the languages of instruction in preschools, sending contrasting messages about inclusion and justice through the learning of these languages. When language is included in ECE debates in Mexico, it is often used as a proxy for "school readiness"-as in, students are prepared to attend classes in Spanish, the actual language of instruction-precluding discussions on multilingual education and overlooking the impacts of these policies in Indigenous communities. Preschools, especially Indigenous ones, are the social spaces in which these competing policies first interact, revealing implementation challenges at all levels, from professional development to textbook design. This study provides an ethnographic account of how different stakeholders in one Indigenous community in the Yucatan Peninsula respond to language policies and ECE initiatives that promise quality education under the guise of social justice, inclusive education, and economic returns. Through long-term participant observation in an Indigenous preschool and in family and community spaces, the research also reveals preschool children's dynamic language practices and active engagement as what I call "language policy-doers." Moreover, situated within a region coping with migration and mass tourism, the study also traces the impact of these processes on the compromises parents and teachers make in regard to their children's education. This study deepens our understanding of the ways in which language policies are implemented in ECE settings, but even more crucially, contributes to the design of programs that consider the complexities of ECE in Indigenous contexts.

Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities and driven by neoliberal market economy agendas, has spread across the globe. One example of TNHE is Qatar’s Education City where six prestigious American international branch campuses (IBCs) all administer their degrees through English medium instruction (EMI). While there is a burgeoning amount of research investigating and problematizing issues in EMI higher education institutions, IBCs are a unique EMI setting due to their heavy reliance on importing faculty, staff, curricula and practices from their home campuses. Thus, this study takes an ethnographic case study approach to examine the language planning and policy and linguistic landscape at one IBC in Qatar. Drawing on multiple sources of data, the study reveals both the overt and covert language policies and ideologies of the institution and its various stakeholders, and the extent to which languages other than English are used and accepted.

This Note from the Field is an invitation to education ethnographers to see the important role of everyday aspects—such as shit—as we investigate the role of language learning and schooling, as well as the ways in which everyday aspects impede formal education and schooled learning to happen. This Note argues that leaving everyday activities outside of our scope of research might hinder us from discovering places where languages are practiced and are typically under examined by academic work.

Cultures of Accountability in Indigenous Early Childh ood Education in Mexico. Accountability policies are meant to improve educational quality; yet, too often, they interfere with quality instruction, including bilingual instruction. Drawing on 18 months of ethnographic work in a multigrade Indigenous preschool in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, I describe how Elisa, the teacher, principal and janitor, navigated demanding administrative tasks while implementing different governmental programs, placing on her a significant bureaucratic burden. Also, this led her to shift her attention from a culture of teaching-learning accountability to a culture of bureaucratic accountability. This study shows that early childhood education in Indigenous communities in Mexico depends on the astuteness and preparedness of frontline workers, such as teachers and school supervisors, as they keenly navigate the culture of bureaucratic accountability that governmental policies impose, while trying not to sacrifice an accountability to their own responsibility to the learners.