Agency in educational language planning: perspectives from higher education in Tunisia

Abstract

Post-modern approaches to language policy have emphasised the role of agency in implementing and appropriating language policies (Ricento, 2000;Johnson and Johnson, 2015). While agency is often perceived in positive terms, Liddicoat (2019) calls on language policy researchers to investigate its problems and constraints. This article discusses the interplay of structure and agency in educational language policies in Tunisian higher education, a sector characterised by a 'benign neglect' (Piller, 2016) approach to language policy. While doing so, it responds to Fenton-Smith and Gurney's (2016) observation that higher education contexts remain largely underexplored in the language policy scholarship. The article uses data from 12 semistructured interviews from local higher education stakeholders in order to explore how their agency is exercised, rejected and contested. The study demonstrates that while agency creates room for flexibility and the ability to respond to changing local demands and aspirations, it can also cause problems such as inconsistency, uncertainty, and the reproduction of social inequalities.

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

“…Drawing on an ecological perspective of LPP, our study found an array of factors nested in a layered structure that impact the educators' agency, leading them to plan the English LEP and keep it sustainable within the kindergarten. This finding broadly supports prior research, which underlines the complex influence of micro-(i.e., factors within the kindergarten), meso-(i.e., factors within family, community), and macro-level (i.e., cultural ideologies and government policies) factors on local actors' agency in educational settings [27,29,67]. Nevertheless, our study revealed more nuanced evidence of these factors' effects.…”

English-Medium Instruction in Tunisian Higher Education: A Desired Target but with Uncertain Consequences

“…To address the uncertainty concerns raised by the lecturers in this study, it is important for policy makers at different levels, be national or local, to engage with a range of language policy influencers such as teachers, students, parents, employers and educational funding agencies in order to develop a coherent policy that aligns the education system with local and global demands (Badwan, 2019b). As part of these wider national consultations, it is crucial to draw attention to issues of language access, inequality and epistemic injustice and to consider policies that address these challenges in order to produce just arrangements.…”

“…Should change start with the language of instruction in HE or should it start with employers changing the linguistic expectations they place on university graduates? Due to the lack of coordination between policy influencers, the lecturers expressed a sense of professional anxiety regarding the shift to English (see also Badwan, 2019b).…”

Agency in the Ecology of Language Policy and Planning: A systematic literature review

“…• first, to study the links between agency and structure (Ahearn, 2001;Johnson & Johnson, 2015;Liddicoat, 2018); • second, to develop a multi-levelled approach to researching language policy and planning (Badwan, 2021;Baldauf, 2006;Bouchard & Glasgow, 2019).…”