Negotiating Language Policy and Practice

Abstract

Arizona language policy now requires English learners (ELs) to enroll in English language development (ELD) classrooms for 4 hr of skill-based, Englishonly instruction. In this article, I describe Arizona teachers' interpretation and negotiation of language policy and practice during this time of change to more restrictive mandates. I conducted this qualitative case study with a teacher study group comprised of six ELD teachers and one instructional coach from an urban elementary school during the first semester of language policy implementation. Using discourse analysis of individual interviews, study group dialogue, and institutional documentation, I investigated teachers' talk as they grappled with restrictive policy mandates and effective classroom practice. Findings indicated that teachers negotiated the cultural models inherent in the institutional policy in the study group setting. In the contemporary context of restrictive educational policies, implications for stakeholders center on professional and collaborative support for educators.

Indigenous Students and English Learner Identification: A Fifty-State Policy Review

“…A second primary limitation of the current study is that it focused on state level policies, as written, and not at their implementation in schools and districts. Ample research on policy implementation (Honig, 2006), including EL policy implementation (Heineke, 2015; Hopkins, 2016; Sampson, 2019), indicates that one cannot assume that policy is being implemented in consistent ways, nor as designed. Instead, local stakeholders, including teachers and administrators at the school and district levels, are interpreting state policies and applying them to their unique contexts.…”

Pre-service Teachers' Language Ideologies of Dual Language Bilingual Education Program : A Discourse in Language Education Policy

“…Research on the dynamic processes of bilingual education across various educational settings has shed light on the pivotal roles of administrators and teachers as policymakers and implementers. Studies by Heineke (2014), Johnson and Johnson (2014), and Menken and García (2010) have delved into these roles, underscoring the significance of educators in executing bilingual education at both classroom and school levels. Further investigations into the roles of teachers and administrators as language policymakers have revealed the ways in which their own language policy ideologies can both expand and limit the potential for bilingual and multilingual learning in educational spaces (Johnson & Johnson, 2014;Palmer & Henderson, 2016).…”

Teaching of Remedial English and the Problems of the Students: A Case of University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Sindh, Pakistan

“…For teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) teacher knowledge is a multidimensional construct and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is closely related to both content knowledge (CK) and general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) of preservice teachers in Germany (König, Lammerding, Nold, Rohde, Strauß & Tachtsoglou, 2016). That's why the cultural models inheritance in the institutional policy was negotiated and demanded by the teachers to avoid the contemporary context of restrictive educational policies and proper and positive implications for all stakeholders in order to get professional and collaborative support for objectives achievement of the course, program and organization (Heineke, 2015). In this regard the aspects and perspectives of classrooms' life and environment which explored and engaged outside the western world at educational institutes (Howe, 2005;Tafa, 2004;O'Sullivan, 2004;Roberts-Holmes, 2003) focus on the English language teaching in classroom particularly (Simon-Maeda, 2004;Al-Belushi, 2003;Tsui, 2003;Canagarajah, 1999b) that positively impacts on the learning of students.…”