The paper explores teachers' language literacy practices in underprivileged, inner-city schools in Athens, Greece, and their implications for student learning and educational inclusion. The current developments of global/European and national education policy agendas on literacy and inclusion inform the research questions of the study. Bernstein's…

Teacher agency in Vietnam is an under-researched area, to the cost of recognising teacher professionalism, the role of teachers in curriculum reform and, consequently, the success of important curriculum improvements. This paper reports on a multiple-case study investigating teacher agency in primary schools implementing the national EFL…

Ofsted's (2021) Curriculum research review for languages (OCRR) draws conclusion on what 'high-quality language education' may look like. This opinion piece problematises the status of these conclusions as 'features' or recommendations. Before delving into a selection of identified 'features' in more depth, the author highlights the complexity of…

National curriculum standards for different countries mean some International Baccalaureate (IB) schools must often balance IB and national standards. Literature on how schools find this balance is limited. Using a qualitative case study design, we examined the perspectives of teachers of English in a Chinese IB school that recently employed a…

With the UK entering its fourth decade of this crisis with no end in sight, it is timely to ask how current policy directions for language learning beyond the compulsory phase (currently age 14 in all 4 UK nations) align with learners' psychological needs in relation to language learning. After a review of these psychological needs within…

China's impressive growth over the last three decades warrants the need to re-evaluate the position and positioning of English in the country's educational system. For long, English has been taught and learned compulsorily alongside Chinese and maths in primary and secondary schools in the mainland of China. It was not until recent years that the…

The government funded two-year project, "Stepping Up in Modern Foreign Languages" (MFL), sought to align MFL teaching across the transition between primary and secondary schools. This paper describes the results of the project evaluation that was conducted using Cultural-historical Activity Theory as its research approach. This approach…

Education policy seeks to define the purpose of schooling and design the educational sphere according to authorities' objectives and people's needs. Governments set policies and principles to reach their intended goals in education, preserving people's values and culture. Many countries provide learning foreign languages in their curriculum to…

This article offers a critical perspective on Ofsted's (2021) "Curriculum Research Review for Languages" (OCRR). Whilst the OCRR contains much that we would agree with (including its underpinning principle of drawing on research evidence to inform policy and pedagogy), we are nevertheless concerned that it could result in unintended…

Tourism is a service industry that demands well-trained professionals with internationally accredited skills including English language proficiency. Meeting such demands has been one of the foremost concerns of the ASEAN ministries of tourism and education. In collaboration with ASEAN member countries and the Australian government, Indonesian…

This qualitative study explores Turkish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' perspectives regarding current English Language Teaching (ELT) policies, ELT curriculum, assessment practices, and teacher motivation in the Turkish EFL setting. The study's participants in this study were three native Turkish EFL teachers, teaching at…

This qualitative study explores Turkish English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' perspectives regarding current English Language Teaching (ELT) policies, ELT curriculum, assessment practices, and teacher motivation in the Turkish EFL setting. The study's participants in this study were three native Turkish EFL teachers, teaching at…

The development of English language learning in any country is interdependent with its socio-cultural experiences. Learning is determined by the social, historical, economic, political, and cultural dimensions of its context. This study aims to explore the socio-cultural challenges of teaching English in a remote area. It was conducted in Pemana…

This article reviews possibilities of raising learners' language and culture awareness or that of multilingualism as subjectively experienced, based on a review of two collections of studies that have made use of arts-based methodologies. This kind of data makes it possible to recollect past experiences, envision future events and reflect on…

The number of pupils learning modern foreign languages (MFLs) beyond the age of 14 has fallen substantially over the last decade. Among other reasons, shortcomings in teaching methodology have been blamed for this situation. The methodology has been accused of applying the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in a selective way and not…