Higher Education Language Policy and the Challenge of

Linguistic Imperialism: A Turkish Case Study

Reagan, T. & Schreffler, S.

(2005)

Functions of Language Planning

• Language purification• Language revival• Language reform

– Lexical, orthographic, syntactic• Language standardization

– Status planning: selection of a single variety as the standard

– Corpus planning: the codification of language in a unified variety

• Lexical modernization– To deal with technological, political, economic,

educational, and social developments and concepts

A Fundamental Tension

• National Languages vs. English (especially in higher education)

• A functional knowledge of English is required.

• If English is the medium of instruction in the university and professional contexts, there will be little support for linguistic development of the national language.

ITU Model

• beginning with the 1997 academic year, the university will be requiring all students to successfully complete English preparatory studies and 30% of each student’s undergraduate studies will be conducted in English. (ITU, 1997: 3, emphasis in original)

ITU Model

• A-Level: Upper-Intermediate (10%)

• B-Level: Intermediate (35%)

• C-Level: Pre-Intermediate

• D-Level: Beginners. (C+D=55%)

• 75% pass the proficiency exam.

Problems• administrative and bureaucratic inactivity• organisational complexity• faculty resistance to change• resource constraints on teaching and learning (including teacher

shortages, large class sizes, limited pedagogical materials, etc.)• lack of consensus about the purposes and nature of the proficiency

examination• disagreements among teachers about the role and purpose of

assessment• challenges related to student motivation (and the lack thereof)• tensions between native English-speaking teachers and non-native

teachers• over-reliance on the selected textbook series in curricular

determination and in terms of the assessment processes• limited opportunities for teacher professional development, coupled

with resistance to such opportunities among some teachers.

Other challenges

• Related to issues of technicism, politics and ideology.• Although the ITU preparatory program was designed and

implemented as a way of addressing the challenge of English linguistic imperialism, it is not at all clear that the majority of either teachers or students involved in the programme are aware of this.

• The organisation and implementation of the programme have remained essentially technicist in nature, in large part because of the inevitable tension between the pragmatic needs of the institution, pre-existing student expectations about the nature of and purposes of English language learning, and the assumptions held by teachers about their professional responsibilities.

• Not only is English-language teaching value-laden, it is also profoundly and deeply political and ideological – and this must be recognised by students and teachers alike.

Conclusion

• What the ITU case demonstrates is how very difficult it is to implement this recognition of the value-laden nature of English-language teaching and learning, especially in institutional contexts.

• The ITU experience appears to be operating reasonably successfully. Most students are learning English, and are doing so in a way appropriate for the contexts in which they are expected to use the language.