scholarly journals CEFR as Language Policy: Opportunities and Challenges for Local Agency in a Global Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-70
Author(s):  
Kristof Savski ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Reference Levels ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Local Agency ◽  
Global Era ◽  
The Common

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has become one of the most widely cited documents in language education across the globe, its influence now felt far beyond the confines of Europe, the context for which it was originally produced. In Malaysia, CEFR was given particular prominence in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 and English Language Education Reform in Malaysia: The Roadmap 2015-2025, both of which positioned the framework as the primary yardstick by which curricula were to be developed and against which achievements (or lack thereof) were to be evaluated. This paper examines CEFR from the perspective of language policy, focussing particularly on the implications this document has for local agency in the Malaysian context. The paper begins by examining the constructs of language and language education underlying CEFR, pointing in particular to how these reflect the socio-political context for which the framework was developed. The next section examines how policy texts in the Malaysian context, in particular the 2015 Roadmap, have interpreted CEFR, highlighting in particular the way that these texts (as other policies across the globe) have tended to treat the CEFR reference levels as a global standard, with little scope for local agency. The final section considers alternative, localized models for using CEFR as language policy in Malaysia, in particular how the framework may be used in support of an inclusive agenda in which diversity and multilingualism are embraced.

English Education Reform in Asian Countries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenyang Sun ◽  
Xue Lan Rong
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Education ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
The Status ◽  
Globalized World

Language education is becoming an increasingly important topic in education in Asian countries, especially as schools in Asian countries have become more multilingual and multicultural as a result of rapid urbanization and globalization. A comparative analysis of the issues in language education reform in Asian countries—using China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore as examples—shows that, historically and currently, English language education policies are shaped by various underpinning ideologies such as linguicism, nationalism, and neoliberalism. English can serve as a vehicle for upward socioeconomic mobility, or an instrument of linguistic imperialism, or both, in Asia contexts. These ideologies, through language education policies and reforms, impact the status as well as the pedagogy and promotion of the English language. There is a trend and a need with regard to addressing critical consciousness in English education in order to counter the forces of linguicism and neoliberalism in an increasingly multilingual, multicultural, and globalized world.

scholarly journals The enactment of the Malaysian common European framework of reference (CEFR): National master trainer’s reflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Hakim Ali Abdul Aziz ◽  
Radzuwan Ab Rasid ◽  
Wan Zhafirah Wan Zainudin
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Training Model ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
International Standards ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Master Trainer ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Second Tier

As Malaysia sets out to realise their plan of the English Language Education Reform, the adaptation and implementation of Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is an obvious choice; however, creating a high-calibre teaching workforce to carry it out poses a significant challenge. This critical reflection article elucidates the implementation of CEFR in Malaysian Pre-, Primary and Secondary schools from the perspective of a National Master Trainer (NMT) who attended multiple courses by Cambridge English Super Trainers (CEST) before going on to train English language teachers using the Cascade Training Model. Based on the trainer’s experience, this article discusses the progress of the training, starting from CEST as the first tier, NMT as the second tier, and District Trainer (DT) as the third tier, until it reaches the teachers who will apply their knowledge and skills in the classroom. We conclude that despite the long and careful planning in terms of teacher training for the CEFR implementation, there are various aspects that need improvements, to better guarantee success in producing an English language programme along with international standards, as the plan dictates.

scholarly journals THE DIFFICULTIES OF WRITING SCIENTIFIC WORK AT THE ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDENTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-60
Author(s):  
Rizkariani Sulaiman ◽  
M. Muhajir
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
English Education ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Scientific Writing ◽  
Education Students ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
The Common ◽  
Academic Year

The purpose of this study was to determine the students’ difficulties in writing scientific papers at the English Language Education, Universitas Muslim Indonesia and to find out the needs and learning objectives of the students. The sample was consisted of 44 English Education students registered at the UMI Faculty of Literature during the 2018/2019 academic year. To examine this problem, the study was conducted in a descriptive quantitative design. The instrument used in this study was questionnaires. Research questions consist of: 1) what are the difficulties faced by English Education major students in academic / scientific writing? 2) what are the common errors of English Education students in writing scientific papers? 3) what teaching approach can facilitate success in scientific writing? Based on the results of the study, the difficulties faced in the process of writing scientific papers were related to aspects of grammar (31%), scientific writing style / rules (24%), vocabulary, spelling and coherence (11%), writing arrangement (7%) and punctuation (5%); Three common errors that occur in writing scientific papers namely spelling (29.2%), use of capital letters (17, 75%), and punctuation (15.27%). The approaches needed by the teachers to strengthen and help students to improve their scientific writing referred to reviewing writing such as the level of words, sentences, paragraphs, and grammar, making outlines, applying three steps in the writing process such as planning, writing and revision, and understanding the formal and informal styles as well as oral and written forms so as to be able to avoid words and phrases that were not needed.

scholarly journals English language education reform in pre-2020 Olympic Japan: educator perspectives on pedagogical change

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (271) ◽  
pp. 107-131
Author(s):  
Michiko Weinmann ◽  
Ryo Kanaizumi ◽  
Ruth Arber
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Pedagogical Change ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Educator Perspectives

Abstract This paper reports on the perspectives of English language teachers and teacher educators on the most recent English language education policy and curriculum reform in Japan, implemented in preparation for hosting the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Previous research has comprehensively analysed how language ideologies based on national imaginaries, native-speakerism and deficit views of Japanese teachers’ pedagogy and practice continue to frame debates about English language education in Japan. Through select thematic episodes derived from the interview data with English language practitioners located in Japan, this paper brings into focus the views of English language educators who articulated insightful counter-positions to taken-for-granted understandings of effective English language use and teaching. The authors argue that in order to effect a paradigm shift in global English language education, in Japan and internationally, it is important to incorporate a critical examination of teacher perspectives that challenge and augment prevalent tropes about English language teaching and learning. The paper concludes with implications for addressing the policy-practice and theory-practice divides in English language education. It argues that a continued engagement with educator perspectives is an important space for bringing about a transformation of language ideologies and pedagogical change at the grass-roots level of the English language classroom.

English for all? Neoliberalism, globalization, and language policy in Taiwan

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 567-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Price
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Structural Function ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Education And Employment

AbstractThis article examines the nexus of neoliberalism, globalization, and the spread of English, using English-language education (ELE) policies in Taiwan between 2000 and 2008 as a case study. Data from ethnographic work, including interviews with school principals and education managers, is contextualized using recent theoretical innovations in the sociolinguistics of globalization and language and neoliberalism. Neoliberalism venerates the ideals of ‘choice’, ‘competition’, and the ‘free market’. For students and parents, English proficiency is less a ‘choice’ than a necessity for success in education and employment. ‘English for all’ policies are thus imperatives rather than opportunities when individuals, schools, and regions are put into deleterious ‘competition’ with each other in public education, and when public education is pressured by a parallel ‘free’ market private education sector. The structural function of English as a valued capital is examined alongside language ideologies regarding the ‘earlier-the-better’ argument for L2 acquisition and the idealization of the native-speaking teacher. (Taiwan, neoliberalism, globalization, English, sociolinguistics, language policy)*

Impacts of Globalization on English Language Education Across Inner, Outer, and Expanding Countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-158
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Yu ◽  
Veysel Altunel
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
English Education ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Common Theme ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
English Curriculum ◽  
Methods And Techniques ◽  
Expanding Circle ◽  
The Common ◽  
Circle Model

This chapter tackles the critical changes that have occurred in English language education in different countries under the progress of globalization. Adhering to comprehensiveness, the changes in representative countries across different categories are discussed. The division of the categories is based upon Kachru's Three Circle Model, namely the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle, and the Expanding Circle. Within each circle, two representative countries are addressed. Major changes related to the field of English language education in these countries include issues such as educational policy, English curriculum designing, English teaching research, methods and techniques, English educators' and learners' perspectives, and so forth. Throughout the synthesizing and comparing process, the common theme that is used to connect the six countries is globalization; discussions are centered on how the changes are influenced by globalization. The chapter concludes by addressing the future issues each country might face and their further directions in advancing English education.

scholarly journals Issues on the initial impact of CEFR in Thailand and the region

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Foley
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
International Language ◽  
Training Materials ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
The Common

This paper outlines the revised version of the Common European Framework of Reference Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment (CEFR, 2018), followed by the Frameworks of Reference for English Language Education in Thailand (FRELE-TH). The approaches taken in Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and China based on CEFR will also be briefly discussed. A number of issues identified by various researchers have affected the implementation of CEFR, such as the lack of background knowledge of the goals of CEFR, the initial stress on language assessment for teachers and learner/users, the apparent lack of follow-up in terms of training, materials and expertise. Finally, the implementation of CEFR in the region will be emphasized in reference to Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL) and reflected on how this approach could be implemented in the local contexts of Asia.

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