Liang, L.; Li, H.; Chik, A. Micro Language Planning for Sustainable Early English Language Education: A Case Study on Chinese Educators’ Agency. Sustainability2022, 14, 14212.
Liang, L.; Li, H.; Chik, A. Micro Language Planning for Sustainable Early English Language Education: A Case Study on Chinese Educators’ Agency. Sustainability 2022, 14, 14212.
Liang, L.; Li, H.; Chik, A. Micro Language Planning for Sustainable Early English Language Education: A Case Study on Chinese Educators’ Agency. Sustainability2022, 14, 14212.
Liang, L.; Li, H.; Chik, A. Micro Language Planning for Sustainable Early English Language Education: A Case Study on Chinese Educators’ Agency. Sustainability 2022, 14, 14212.
Abstract
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 language planning in educational settings, there is a scarcity of research examining early childhood education settings such as micro-level LPP context for young English language learners. By adopting a case study approach, 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. Our 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. Also, 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.
Keywords
micro language planning; educator agency; Chinese kindergarten; sustainable language policy and planning
Subject
Social Sciences, Language and Linguistics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
