ERIC Number: EJ1170152
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Mar
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1056-7941
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Tacit Rejection of Policy and Teacher Ambivalence: Insights into English Language Teaching in Bahrain through Actors' Perceptions
TESOL Journal, v9 n1 p114-137 Mar 2018
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.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Educational Policy, Language Planning, Second Language Instruction, Communicative Competence (Languages), Teacher Attitudes, Qualitative Research, Focus Groups, English Teachers, Educational Change, Resistance to Change, Indigenous Populations, International Programs
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Bahrain
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Author Affiliations: N/A