From the policymakers’ desks to the classrooms: the relationship between language policy, language-in-education policy and the foreign language teaching-learning process

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the relationship between language policy, language-in-education policy and the foreign language teaching-learning process. In so doing, a critical review of relevant literature is offered with the purpose to clarify how the areas of enquiry related to language and language-in-education policymaking and enactment are intertwined to the practicalities of foreign language curriculum development and syllabus design. Such connection is represented by the politically-, ideologically- and socioculturally-driven choices of policymakers and policy enactors, as well as their influence on everyday foreign language practice. Criticality and authorship are advocated throughout this article as strategies on which teachers and students should rely in order to challenge predetermined and/or decontextualised directives concerning the foreign language teaching-learning process.