This paper aims to show the complex overlapping and interaction with exogenous influences in the processes of national policymaking by analysing a case of policy borrowing in Japan. Specifically, it explores the political circumstances under which the Council of Europe Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was introduced to…

The paper explores how the discourse of nationalist and neoliberal agendas have shaped the conceptions of literacy education in Nepal, the ramifications for social stratification. As the review shows, the ruling elites tactfully imposed their language, culture, and knowledge in literacy curricula in the name of national unity, but to maintain…

This paper explores language ideology, policies and the role of English in Pakistan and China, two countries in which English plays different roles in education. Owing to globalization and communication development, the role of the English language is changing; thus, there is need to change the policies and ideologies surrounding English…

This article discusses the impact of the worldwide trend to introduce English as a foreign language (EFL) into primary schools at ever younger ages. This trend has gained momentum in recent years, affecting millions of children in countries throughout Asia. A policy decision of this kind has far-reaching implications but it is often made without…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate linguistic and cultural issues around the status of English as a lingua franca and intercultural understanding as presented in one set of Taiwan's (English as a Foreign Language (EFL) high school textbooks. The methodology centres on the analysis of textbook content as categorized in three central themes:…

Australian teacher education programmes that prepare teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) are confronting the nexus of two facets of globalization: transformations in the Asian region, captured in the notion of the "Asian century", and shifting conceptions of professionalism in TESOL in non-compulsory education. In…

By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the English language had become the de facto "lingua franca" of the modern world. It is the most popular second or foreign language studied, such that now there are more people who have learned English as a second language and speak it with some competence than there are native English…

Under the influence of globalization, English has almost become the default language in scientific academia. While the culture-independent nature of scientific research may result in scholars' preference for using one common language, over-reliance on English may shape non-English-speaking scholars' negative attitudes toward their national…

This article discusses the ambitious educational reforms of the Singapore government in response to the challenges of globalization vis-a-vis the specific issues arising from the case of teaching Literature in secondary schools. It shows how the Singapore state is invested in a particular view of globalization and argues how recent scholarly moves…

This paper aims to critically examine the trends, issues and challenges in policy and practice of English language education in Pakistan. This is done first by historically reviewing the English language education policies since Pakistan's independence in 1947, looking particularly at policy objectives, implementation strategies and outcomes, and…

This essay responds to the question of what it might mean to educate "world teachers" for cosmopolitan classrooms and schools through an examination of an ethnographic play entitled "Satellite Kids". The author begins with the idea that teachers need to develop or build up "intercultural capital", that is, knowledge…

In this paper I suggest that as educators we need to understand that the spaces and cultures our students inhabit are to be found not so much in predefinitions of cultural background or in studies of classrooms as cultural spaces as in the transcultural flows with which our students engage. Thus, my argument is not only that, as Singh and Doherty…