Micro language planning for sustainable early English language education : a case study on Chinese educators' agency

Luyao Liang, Hui Li, Alice Chik

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In language education research, micro-level language policy and planning (LPP) primarily concerns local actors’ decision making on matters in relation to language(s) and its users. Despite a growing body of literature focusing on micro-level language planning in educational settings, there is a scarcity of research examining early childhood education settings as the micro-level LPP context for young English language learners. By adopting a qualitative case study approach and drawing on an ecological approach to LPP, the present study examined the educators’ enactment of agency in micro-planning the English language education policy (LEP) in one Chinese kindergarten and the associated factors shaping their agency. Deploying a grounded theory analytical method, this study revealed that the sustainable implementation of the kindergarten English LEP depended on the principal, native English-speaking teachers, and the Chinese assistant teachers’ different degrees of agency. Additionally, the research findings indicated an array of contextual and individual factors nested in a hierarchical structure that facilitated, guided, and constrained the educators’ agency in a role-and circumstance-dependent manner. This study contributes to the pertinent literature by casting nuanced light on the different educators’ contributions to the micro-level LPP against a national policy that does not endorse early-year English language education.
Original languageEnglish
Article number14212
Number of pages21
JournalSustainability
Volume14
Issue number21
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Open Access - Access Right Statement

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Micro language planning for sustainable early English language education : a case study on Chinese educators' agency'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this