Teachers as Policy Navigators amidst Bureaucratized Language Policy Regimes in Pakistan

Abstract

This study examines the agentive role of teachers in the appropriation and implementation of macro-level language policies within government schools in Pakistan. Drawing on qualitative research methods, this study conducted 19 semi-structured interviews with public school teachers and 10 classroom observations of both English and Urdu language classes at the primary level in government schools in Pakistan. The study is grounded in the public sphere paradigm which underlines that language policy and planning should be studied from micro-level contexts and agents. The participants contend that the current language policy implemented in government schools restricts their agency due to macro-level structural barriers. However, classroom observations reveal that teachers exercise their agency by incorporating native languages in most of their interaction categories in their Urdu and English language classrooms, challenging the prescribed top-down language policy for government schools. Based on the findings, this study advocates for an inclusive approach towards language policy and planning in which all stakeholders should be involved including teachers. Additionally, language policies should be contextually sensitive, linguistically responsive, and research based. This approach should prioritise students’ needs, and account for the available infrastructural and teaching facilities in government schools.