Secondary School English

Education in Asia

Continuing on from the previously published Primary School English-Language

Education in Asia: From Policy to Practice (Moon and Spolsky, 2012), this book
compiles the proceedings which took place at the 2011 annual conference of
AsiaTEFL which took place in Seoul, Korea. It surveys the current status, prac-
tices, challenges, and future directions of secondary English education in 11
diverse countries – Israel, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Pakistan, Vietnam and China. Given the importance of secondary
English education as the central feature for continuing development of target lan-
guage and culture in English language teaching in Asia, each contributed chapter
includes key policies, theories, and practices related to the development and imple-
mentation of country-specific curricular and instructional programs in secondary
English educational contexts in these countries. Secondary School English Education
in Asia: From policy to practice critically analyses both sides of the English language
debate – from advantages to complications – in its chapters including:

• Educating for the 21st century: the Singapore experience

• Miles to go …: secondary level English language education in India
• English language education innovation for the Vietnamese secondary
school: The Project 2020
• Exploring the value of ELT as a secondary school subject in China: a multi-
goal model for English curriculum.

Secondary School English Education in Asia will appeal to English Language

Teaching (ELT) researchers, teacher educators, trainee teachers and teachers,
primarily those teaching in Asia.

Bernard Spolsky is Professor Emeritus in the English Department at Bar-Ilan

University, a Past President of International TESOL and of the International
Language Testing Association, and has been Publications Director and Editor-
in-Chief for AsiaTEFL since it was founded.

Kiwan Sung is Professor at the School of Global Communication, Kyung Hee

University, Korea and has served as book-editor-in-chief for AsiaTEFL Book
Series since 2012.
Routledge Critical Studies in Asian Education
Series Editors: S. Gopinathan and Wing On Lee

Primary School English-Language Education in Asia

From policy to practice
Edited by Bernard Spolsky and Young-in Moon

A Critical Ethnography of ‘Westerners’ Teaching English in China

Shanghaied in Shanghai
Phiona Stanley

Controversial History Education in Asian Contexts

Edited by Mark Baildon, Loh Kah Seng, Ivy Maria Lim, Gül Inanç
and Junaidah Jaffar

Internationalization of Higher Education in East Asia

Trends of student mobility and impact on education governance
Edited by Ka Ho Mok and Kar Ming Yu

Creating Multicultural Citizens

A Portrayal of Contemporary Indonesian Education
Raihani

Muslim Education in the 21st Century

Asian Perspectives
Edited by Sa’eda Buang and Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew

Equity, Opportunity and Education in Postcolonial Southeast Asia

Edited by Cynthia Joseph

Multicultural Education in South Korea

Language, Ideology and Culture
Kang Mi Ok

Asia as Method in Education Studies

Edited by Hongzhi Zhang, Philip Wing Keung Chan and Jane Kenway
Secondary School English Education in Asia
From Policy to Practice
Edited by Bernard Spolsky and Kiwan Sung

A Critical Study of Thailand’s Higher Education Reforms

The Culture of Borrowing
Rattana Lao
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Secondary School English
Education in Asia
From policy to practice

Edited by Bernard Spolsky

and Kiwan Sung
First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2015 Bernard Spolsky and Kiwan Sung
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or repro-
duced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Secondary school English education in Asia : from policy to practice /
edited by Bernard Spolsky, Kiwan Sung.
pages cm. – (Routledge critical studies in asian education)
Conference proceedings.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. English language–Study and teaching (Secondary)–Asia–Congresses.
2. Education and state–Asia–Congresses. I. Spolsky, Bernard. II. Sung,
Kiwan.
PE1130.A2S43 2015
428.0071’25–dc23
2014039199

ISBN: 978-1-138-79401-6 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-76063-6 (ebk)

Typeset in Galliard
by Cenveo Publisher Services
Dedicated to Professor Zhizhong Yang, Nanjing University,
President of the College English Teaching and Research
Association of China and for ten years Vice President of the
Asian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign
Language.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents

List of illustrations xi
List of contributors xii
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv

Introduction 1

PART I
Upgrading secondary English teaching
through innovative changes 13

1 English in secondary education in Israel 15

SU S AN H O Lz MA N

2 Secondary English education in Japan:

an overview and a preview 33
J U D Y N O G U C HI

3 Innovating secondary English education in Korea 47

Y O U N G S H I K L EE

4 Educating for the 21st century:

the Singapore experience 65
P ETE R T EO
x Contents
PART II
Bridging gaps in policy development
and implementation 83

5 Secondary English education in Bangladesh:

a critical review 85
A RI FA R A HMA N

6 Miles to go …: secondary English language

education in India 103
RAVI N D ER GA RGES H

7 The teaching of English at secondary schools

in Indonesia 123
D I D I S U KYA DI

8 Globalisation and the evolution of English language

education in Malaysian secondary schools 148
RA J A M AzU IN BT E R A JA A BDU L A z Iz A ND R AMESH NAIR

PART III
Valuing critical needs of society and learners 159

9 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistani

secondary schools 161
S A MI N A A MIN QA DIR A ND S A RWET RA S U L

10 English language education innovation for

the Vietnamese secondary school: the Project 2020 182
L E VA N C AN H

11 Exploring the value of ELT as a secondary school subject

in China: a multi-goal model for the English curriculum 201
YA FU G O N G A ND A DRIA N H O L L IDAY

Index 218
Illustrations

Figures
4.1 The Singapore MOE Framework of 21st century competencies
and desired outcomes 68
4.2 Key features of the 2010 Singapore English Language Syllabus 72

Tables
1.1 English curricular development 21
1.2 Standards for each domain 22
1.3 Table of contents of a 10th grade course book: Unit 1 –
What’s in a name? 25
2.1 Current and new Course of Study Guidelines 38
2.2 Subjects in the 2013 Guidelines and brief descriptions 39
3.1 The number of newly introduced vocabulary for each grade 49
3.2 Number of NS English teachers over the last decade 51
3.3 Number of NS teachers in different regions (April 30, 2010) 52
3.4 Statistics of English Language Teacher Employment
Exam for secondary schools in metropolitan cities
(November 2010–January 2011) 55
3.5 Statistics of English Language Teacher Employment
Exam for secondary schools in provinces
(November 2010–January 2011) 56
3.6 Framework of the NEAT: Levels 2 and 3 57
3.7 Basic plans for NEAT: Levels 2 and 3 58
3.8 Statistics of Speaking and Writing tests
(5th pilot test, Nov 2010) 59
3.9 Plan to recruit certified raters 59
3.10 Plan to set up the IBT sites 60
7.1 Number of secondary teachers per 2009 140
10.1 Teachers’ beliefs about the achievability of the Project goal 190
Contributors

Ravinder Gargesh University of Delhi, India

Yafu Gong National Institute of Education Sciences, China
Adrian Holliday Canterbury Christ Church University, UK
Susan Holzman Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Young Shik Lee Hannam University, Korea
Ramesh Nair Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia
Judy Noguchi Mukogawa Women’s University, Japan
Samina Amin Qadir Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan
Arifa Rahman University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
Raja Mazuin bte Raja Abdul Aziz International Languages Campus, Malaysia
Sarwet Rasul Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan
Bernard Spolsky Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Didi Sukyadi Indonesia University of Education, Indonesia
Kiwan Sung Kyung Hee University, Korea
Peter Teo Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Le Van Canh University of Languages & International Studies, Vietnam
Preface
Bernard Spolsky

At the annual conferences conducted by the Asian Association of Teachers of

English as a Foreign Language, national Associations have been invited to
recommend a senior scholar to present a paper on a selected theme. Edited
versions of these papers have been published subsequently. The first volume
reported the history and policies of English education in Asia, the second dealt
with the development of English curriculum in the various regions, the third was
about teacher education, and the fourth dealt with the topic of assessment. The
papers from the 2010 annual conference were about primary school English
language education in Asia; this was the first volume to be commercially
published (Spolsky and Moon, 2012). In editing this volume, I was ably assisted
by Professor Young-In Moon, who had also helped with the assessment volume
as with the earlier assessment volume (Moon and Spolsky, 2010). It has been a
great pleasure to work with highly qualified Asian scholars like her.
The development of primary schools’ English teaching reflected the greatly
increased emphasis on the English language in Asian societies, responding in part
to evidence of the value of earlier instruction and in large measure to the grow-
ing demand for the economic advantages of mastery of a globally important
language. The present volume, dealing with teaching at the secondary school
level, turns to the long-established practice of initiating foreign language instruc-
tion at this level, boosted now by teaching at the primary level. It serves as a vital
bridge to the mastery level aimed at by tertiary level teaching, but also has to
provide some useful working proficiency for the many who will not go on to
university or advanced instruction. As the papers show, Asian education authori-
ties are struggling with greater or lesser success to meet the enormous challenges
set by the two goals – the need to develop suitable curricula and materials and
to provide adequately trained teachers.
In the preparation of this volume, and of another in press dealing with the
conditions of English language teaching, I have been greatly assisted by Professor
Kiwan Sung on whom has fallen the major tasks of collecting and editing manu-
scripts, maintaining contact with contributors (who have had to find time in their
full schedules for all the work involved) and with the press. I am deeply grateful
to him, and to the contributors and the staff at Routledge for all their hard work.
xiv Preface
We have chosen to dedicate this volume to Professor zhizhong Yang, recog-
nizing his leadership in the field as President of the College English Teaching and
Research Association of China and as Vice President of the Asian Association of
Teachers of English as a Foreign Language for the first decade of its existence.

Moon, Young-in and Spolsky, Bernard (Eds). (2010). Language Assessment in

Asia: Local, Regional or Global? Seoul: Asian Association of Teachers of
English as a Foreign Language.
Spolsky, Bernard and Moon, Young-In (Eds). (2012). Primary School English-
Language Education in Asia: From Policy to Practice. New York: Routledge.
Acknowledgements

This volume was not possible without the generous help from the dedicated
contributors, who did not spare efforts to send in and revise their work on time.
I am also deeply thankful to the many readers who extended much needed
efforts to go through the drafts and provided excellent suggestions and com-
ments. I also thank President Hyowoong Lee for his full support for the publica-
tion of this volume. Furthermore, I truly appreciate the valuable feedback from
Phyllis Ghim-Lian Chew for the earlier proposal and also from the anonymous
reviewers regarding the subsequent proposal and drafts. I am also greatly
indebted to my co-editor, Bernard Spolsky, who provided me with a wonderful
opportunity to work with a senior scholar. Last but not least, my sincere and
deep appreciation also to Christina Low, Yuvaneswari Yogaraja, and the staff at
Routledge who have worked so hard to get this book published despite many
delays and difficulties.

Kiwan Sung
This page intentionally left blank
Introduction
Kiwan Sung

In this volume, the authors from 11 Asian countries (Bangladesh, China, India,
Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, and Vietnam)
offer detailed descriptions of the current status, challenges, and future directions
of secondary English education in their own countries. It reveals how each coun-
try upgrades and expands their primary English education, details of which were
published under the title of Primary School English-Language Education in Asia:
From Policy to Practice (2012, Moon and Spolsky). This volume shows to what
extent secondary English education in each country offers a viable bridge for
individual and national success in terms of college admittance, job opportunities,
or national socio-economic development. There have been continuous efforts
and changes in these countries related to, but not limited to, curricular and mate-
rials development, teacher training, evaluation, use of technology, use of English
as a medium of instruction, designation of special English schools offering
courses in English, and use of content, task, or genre-based approaches.
However, the authors also point out some grave concerns related to ELT in their
own context: bureaucratic difficulty and inefficiency of developing and imple-
menting changes, the gate-keeping roles of English, the issue of balancing the
status of their national mother tongue(s) and English, the valuing of learners’
perspectives in teaching, the influx of native English-speaking teachers, and, more
importantly, securing equal access to learning for all. More specifically, this book
is organized into three parts with the chapters from 11 different countries.
Part I presents the current status of secondary English education in Israel,
Japan, Korea, and Singapore, especially describing their continuous efforts to
establish better curricular and instructional policies but with some expected and
unexpected challenges and even failures during implementation of some new and
innovative changes.
In Chapter 1, Holzman describes the role of English and curricular and
instructional practices of teaching English after the revival of Hebrew to ensure
its national identities during the establishment of Israel. She views English as a
hard currency in Israel in that it is taught along with the official languages
(Hebrew and Arabic). In Israel, as a result of the influx of many Jews from
English-speaking countries after the establishment of the nation, about
40 per cent of teachers were at one time native speakers of English. Accordingly,
2 Kiwan Sung
Israel is better off in terms of secondary teachers’ qualifications and support
systems (e.g. ideological coherence as a people, sabbatical programs for second-
ary teachers).
According to Holzman, ELT in secondary schools is under the centralized
management by the Ministry of Education of curricular and instructional
programs. Therefore, textbooks must be developed and approved according to
the directives and include diverse and authentic texts providing teachers with
online supports for instructional methods and supplying resources (e.g. English
Teachers Network of Israel), audio files for learning disabled students, and other
relevant materials. In fact, Israel seems to provide much care for new immigrants,
less well-off students, and LD students. In addition, the teaching of listed gram-
mar elements and vocabulary for each grade is also mandated, though there have
been some changes toward inclusion of theme-based contents in the 1990s.
The national curriculum also follows TESOL standards set by the US organi-
zation and focuses on four domains (i.e. social interaction, presentation, access
to information, and appreciation of literature and culture). According to
Holzman, the curriculum is organized by levels of proficiency and purports to
emphasize procedural over declarative knowledge even though, due to some
concerns for the lack of grammar teaching in the current national curriculum, it
is allowed to include declarative knowledge of grammar, but, ideally, using task-
based methodologies. Other important aspects are the use of matriculation
exams and the inclusion of critical thinking skills in secondary ELT. All students
were required to take standardized exams at the end of the 12th year beginning
in the early 1990s and the passing rate was only 40 per cent out of 71 per cent
of students who completed secondary education. In order to improve the rigidity
and difficulty of these tests, a module system is now being implemented so that
students can take exams on different dates and for different levels.
In the second chapter, Noguchi explains that the Japanese Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) introduced the
new Course of Study Guidelines in 2002 to upgrade its English education in
order to improve ineffective English education involving a top-down policy
implementation and test-oriented practices. The Guidelines specified the use of
English by the teachers and students in high school but it produced a major
controversy and was criticized due to its impracticality mostly due to university
entrance exams in Japan. The Guidelines include a section which emphasizes
basic listening and speaking skills for actual communication in the lower (junior
high) level and expansion of both skills to the extent that students can express
their own thoughts in the higher level. In addition, the Guidelines also list both
required and elective courses to enhance secondary learners’ communication
abilities by utilizing curricular contents-related reading and writing skills,
computer and network resources, and pair and group work when necessary. In
addition, class hours were increased from three to four in the lower level since
Japan also started teaching English at the 5th and 6th grades of primary school
from 2011. In the upper level, the class hours remain the same, but the Guidelines
encourage the use of English in class, which many consider problematic.
 Introduction 3
According to Noguchi, the Guidelines are regularly updated and a new set was
issued in 2013.
One of the efforts to enhance English education was the establishment of the
Super English Language High School (SELHi) system in 2002. This change was
to promote the level of science literacy. Noguchi explains that there has been a
steady increase in this type of schools, in which innovative methods such as
immersion, multimedia or information technology are used. In addition, these
schools have collaborative programs with schools abroad or nearby universities.
She also reports that the students in these schools learned more than their coun-
terparts in China and Korea and showed an increase in using English both and
outside the classroom.
Noguchi also documents an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) program
named Super Science High School (SSH), which was funded to offer innovative
education in science, technology and math for three years in 2002, for five years
in 2005, and English for science in 2006. As of 2011, there were 145 schools in
SSH programs, which have provided the students with special materials includ-
ing CDs, lectures given by university professors, and opportunities to visit
research labs at higher educational institutes or to go on study trips abroad. The
students have also participated in research, conference presentations, and even in
the publication of papers.
In short, Japan appears to be strengthening its efforts to provide better ELT
for its secondary learners and has garnered some positive results in terms of
students’ content and language learning and the enhancement of their confi-
dence, especially through special programs focusing on English and content
areas. Such efforts will continue as Tokyo was chosen to host the XXXII
Olympiad in 2020 for which MEXT has developed Dream Vision 2020. It
includes the implementation of English language education from the primary
school to prepare for this world event. However, Noguchi points out, the univer-
sity entrance exams in Japan will also have to change to reflect the new
Guidelines.
In Chapter 3, Lee reports that, in order to counter criticisms over the effec-
tiveness of teaching English in Korea such as the poor performance on standard-
ized tests such as TOEFL and IELTS and the lack of communicative abilities, the
National English Curriculum was revised in 2009 to better guide both elemen-
tary and secondary English teachers in the areas of teaching methods, learning
activities, the use of ICT tools, cultural contents, and an evaluative system.
Secondary English education in Korea is divided into middle school (Grades
7–9) and high school (Grades 10–12) and students are taught English for three
to five hours in school. The 2009 revised curriculum mandates English up to the
9th grade and then electives such as Remedial, Basic and Advanced skills courses
are offered for high school students.
According to Lee, ever since communicative language testing became a main
thrust in ELT in Korea, native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) were intro-
duced in 1995 through programs such as English Program in Korea (EPIK).
Since then there had been an increasing number of NESTs except during the
4 Kiwan Sung
IMF crisis in 1997. For instance, there were more than 8,500 NESTs in 2010.
Since then, this number has been decreasing partly due to other budgetary pres-
sures aimed at student welfare such as free lunch for all and also because of
doubts over the qualities and effectiveness of NESTs in school settings. However,
Lee believes that, with the presence of NESTs for more than two decades, both
Korean learners and teachers of English gained more confidence in interacting
with foreigners in English.
The Korean government also reinforced the Teaching English in English
(TEE) policy to counter criticism that English teachers as well as their students
cannot use English communicatively. Therefore, since the late 2000s, under the
direction of the national educational ministry and local educational offices,
different training and workshop programs and TEE certification exams were
offered to increase and improve teachers’ use of classroom English as well as to
develop their teaching skills through English. Accordingly, Lee concludes that,
despite teachers’ different perceptions on TEE and its effect and some teachers’
excessive anxiety because of their low proficiency, the TEE policy has brought
some positive changes in Korea. In line with the TEE policy, the English Teacher
Employment Exam for secondary English was also revamped in 2013 to include
essay writing tests in English and both teaching demonstration and interviews in
English set by each provincial educational office.
Last but not least, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources
Development initiated the development of the National English Ability Test
(NEAT), which continued to be developed until 2012. It was originally aimed
to teach four skills in a balanced manner while the idea of replacing the current
Korea College Scholastic Ability Test with it was considered. However, fearing
the proliferation of another private tutoring frenzy, the NEAT was postponed in
2012 and eventually scrapped by the current government, showing the complex-
ity of English teaching in Korea.
In Chapter 4, Teo discusses Singapore’s vision of education and how it is
reflected in the 2010 English Language Syllabus. He finds that Singaporean
Ministry of Education (MOE) policies focus on curricular, pedagogical and
assessment reform in its “Total Curriculum” by emphasizing soft-skills such as
information and communication skills, civic literacy and global awareness and
cross-cultural skills, and critical and inventive thinking. More specifically, he
explains that the 2010 English Language Syllabus focuses on both authenticity
and multimodality in order to include not only printed materials but also diverse
web-based or digital resources, and other representation tools.
Teo also explains that, over the years, the Centre for Research in Pedagogy
and Practice (CRPP) in Singapore has been evaluating policies, especially to
examine the nature of the related skills other than language skills to help learners
meet individual and social needs in the 21st century. Accordingly, Teo lists the
CRPP’s key findings of the current problems of secondary English teaching in
Singapore: 1) excessive focus on production rather than meaning-based and
process-oriented practices in genre-based language teaching; 2) fragmented and
mechanical focus rather than literacy/cognitive focus of the task; 3) tokenistic
 Introduction 5
and superficial use of multimedia and multimodal texts rather than the develop-
ment of learners’ abilities to engage in diverse thinking; 4) the dominance of
monologic teaching rather than co-construction of knowledge and collaborative
learning community through dialogic teaching; and 5) lack of effort in using
texts and knowledge building to promote students’ criticality in understanding
words and the world. Teo suggests that Singapore could overcome these limita-
tions by engaging in more meaning-focused practices based on the current genre-
based approach, moving away from a test-driven curriculum to curriculum-driven
assessment, valuing different levels of “success” through collaborative learning
rather than establishing a competitive learning environment. Though these
problems are not unique to Singapore and exist in other Asian countries, it seems
that Teo’s suggestions actually betray the common belief that everybody in
Singapore speaks or uses English well since its ELT is better than that in other
Asian countries.
Part II includes Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia, which have
engaged in specific policy development but with some major implementation
difficulties related to their secondary English education.
In Chapter 5, according to Rahman, despite the mandate of Bengali as the
medium of instruction after Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 and the govern-
ment’s lowered emphasis on English education, English has maintained its
robust status mostly due to rich families and the elite minority’s preference for
teaching English to their children in school. As in many Asian countries,
Bangladesh has followed a communicative approach focusing on language skills
and has offered English starting in the 1st grade since 1986. Now there are an
increasing number of English-medium schools following an English curriculum
and an English version of the Bangla curriculum.
Even with such a zeal for teaching English in the country, Rahman thinks that
English teachers lack the English proficiency skills needed for communication let
alone for teaching other key subjects in English. Furthermore, two high stakes
tests (the Secondary Certificate administered at the end of the 10th grade and
the Higher School Certificate at the end of the 12th grade) have exerted signifi-
cant impact on how to teach and learn English despite a series of curricular revi-
sions by the MOE and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB).
That is, teachers focus more on preparing students for tests for college entrance
or jobs using traditional grammar and content teaching and the educational
agencies such as NCTB are resistant in changing these exams. Accordingly,
Rahman points out the incongruence between curricular objectives and testing
practices and calls for major reforms in teacher development programs to assist
teachers who often do private tutoring to make up for their low salaries. Rahman
reports an example of these reform efforts, developing two course materials for
CLT titled English for Today but appears unsure of to what extent such efforts
will help change rigid teaching of English across the country.
Rahman also describes a deep polarization among schools depending on how
much they use English as a medium of instruction in the country. Accordingly,
Rahman argues that English policy makers, administrators, and practitioners
6 Kiwan Sung
should seek a balanced approach by taking into account roles of English in the
context of globalization, substantial changes in the current examination systems,
ongoing research for effective management of developing and monitoring
educational policies and practices, and the adoption of a socio-cultural perspec-
tive to meet students’ actual needs of learning English in various regions and to
secure equity for all.
In Chapter 6, Gargesh notes that a large-scale change in secondary education
in India has recently begun with ‘Rashtriya Madhyamkl Shiksha Abhiyan’
(National Mission for Secondary Education) in 2009. English is learnt as a
second or a third language along with Hindi and regional mother tongues
during the 4-year secondary cycle. However, not all students are benefitting
from the changes due to a range of quality in teachers and schools stemming
from the socio-economic structure of the society. Despite such difficulties, the
Indian Ministry of Education, unlike in the past, is now upgrading its English
programs to serve roughly 51 million students in more than 200,000 schools by
emphasizing the increasing use of English in class along with the use of more
ICT in class.
According to Gargesh, there have been steady changes in curriculum, evalua-
tion, and teacher development since the 1980s in order to emphasize the
communicative nature of English learning. The Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE) initiated a curriculum renewal project called the CBSE-ELT
Project in the late 1980s. Then, under the direction of the National Programme
of Education in the 1990s, the CBSE collaborated with colleges in the UK to
develop a new curriculum, which resulted in the development of materials (i.e. a
main course book, grammar book, literature reader, and teacher’s book). In
2005, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
also developed the National Curriculum Framework 2005. It was to ensure the
connection of knowledge to student life, provision of supplementary materials,
use of flexible and relevant exams, and formation of caring and democratic iden-
tity. This change is based on a cognitive view of learning language and the provi-
sion of comprehensible input in local and other languages as well as English in
order to promote the language-across-the-curriculum under the assumption of
transferability between languages.
Gargesh also notes both speaking and listening skills have not been included
in the evaluation at the secondary level until recently. Therefore, in 2010–11 the
CBSE and the NCERT proposed the Continuous and Comprehensive
Examination (CCE), which eventually allowed students to choose either to be
graded by their classroom teachers or by an external examination as in the past.
As of 2013, more rigorous continuous and comprehensive evaluation is in effect
and the students’ speaking and listening skills are assessed and included in the
final grades. However, as Gargesh asserts, more efforts are necessary especially to
offer better in-service training programs and proper evaluation at the local level.
Such efforts appear indispensable since, according to Gargesh, most English
teachers believe that even though these changes are an improvement, they have
been made in haste. Therefore, Gargesh proposes more field-based and more
 Introduction 7
decentralized in-service teacher training programs should be provided for more
than 200,000 teachers to meet local challenges in language teachings.
Sukyadi explains in Chapter 7 that since the 1990s Indonesia is also adapting
English teaching to current changing needs resulting from globalization for
different secondary schools run by the Ministry of National Education, the
Ministry of Religious Affairs, and private sectors. The Indonesian government
has taken more decentralized approaches in improving secondary English educa-
tion by focusing on policy management and implementation based on specific
needs of local schools in content-based English language instruction for math
and science in international standard schools, and improvement in supporting
teachers in terms of salary, recruitment, and in-service professional training.
Sukyadi judges such a concerted effort for change laudable even though both
textbooks and teaching approaches were still grammar- or vocabulary-oriented
despite the emphasis on communication in the mid-1990s. Therefore, in 2003,
the Center for Curriculum Development revamped the English curriculum in
which specific guidelines for basics, materials, and relevant appendices were
provided based on the systemic-functional grammar and genre-based approaches.
However, due to varied levels of teacher proficiency and a continuing excessive
focus on linguistic aspects, the Board of National Standard of Education omitted
most elements to allow more autonomy to schools and teachers in 2006. As a
result, the 2006 English Curriculum includes a competence-based curriculum
regarding four skills while texts are classified based on themes reflecting the
genre-based approach. However, Sukyadi observes that such changes still raise
many issues because of the different understanding of the standards and compe-
tences among stakeholders and difficulties in identifying the specific genre of
texts and in teaching languages in an integrated manner. Accordingly, the effort
for School-based Curriculum Development has so far fallen short of the govern-
ment and local schools’ expectations even though it aimed to provide more flex-
ibility for secondary schools by reflecting teachers’ and students’ voices.
Sukyadi also reports that the establishment of Fledgling International Standard
Schools (FISS) is part of the efforts to improve education in Indonesia. As of
2009, there are more than 600 secondary schools and almost 300 vocational
secondary schools designated as FISS schools, which should teach math and
science in English following OECD curricular guidelines and also include all
learning domains (e.g. cognitive, social, affective, and physical), specific compe-
tences, values, and behaviors, a number of thinking skills (e.g. critical, creative,
analytic) and decision-making skills, field-based apprenticeship programs, and
information technology. However, FISSs are also being accused of widening the
gap between the rich and poor due to unequal access to these schools, different
use of tax money, and increase in tuition. Therefore, the Indonesian government
is also making an effort to upgrade the 2.9 million teachers who are scattered in
many areas including islands and are not well-paid by providing a professional
educator certification. According to Sukyadi, this certification requires teachers
to have at least five years of teaching experience and there are three ways to be
certified: a teaching portfolio assessment, taking a two-week teaching training
8 Kiwan Sung
program, and joining activities under a Teacher Network called MGMP
(Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran).
In Chapter 8, Aziz and Nair focus on policy changes in education after the
1990s and their impact on secondary English teaching in Malaysia. They briefly
present the British colonial legacy of segregated education for the Malaysians and
the decline of the status of English with the emphasis on their national language,
Bahasa Malaysia, after independence in 1957. However, with the increasing
needs for changes in English education, Malaysia developed Vision 2020 in 1991
as an effort to meet the needs of educating their learners as a competent work-
force in the globalized worlds. Thus, the Malaysian Ministry of Education initi-
ated key changes such as the use of information and communications technology
(ICT) for English teaching at secondary schools as in the Smart Partnerships
with organizations, the implementation of the Upholding the Malay Language
and Strengthening English policy, and the renewed emphasis on literature as a
compulsory component.
Aziz and Nair, however, believe that, despite the initiation of the Smart School
Project in 1999 and designation of English as one of the four subjects for the
integration of ICT to ensure students’ better learning, the effectiveness of such
changes remains to be seen. In addition, they view that the heavy emphasis on
exams in the Malaysian schools prevents effective execution of the Smart School
Project, which resulted in the involvement of private organizations which offer
professional development courses for teachers under the smart partnerships.
Malaysia appeared to be still struggling to strike a balance between the Malay
language and English mainly due to the politics of stakeholders. For instance,
English was chosen as the main medium for science and mathematics in 2003
but this was repealed in 2009 to re-establish Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of
instruction. Such a decision reflects the difficulty of meeting the needs of the
country’s multi-racial peoples and the rural Malay at the same time. Therefore,
the Minister of Education of Malaysia introduced the Upholding Bahasa Malaysia
and Strengthening English policy, which includes training English teachers. More
native teachers of English have been brought in since 2011 despite doubts of
their effectiveness. At the same time, the government unveiled the Malaysian
Education Blueprint 2013–2025, which places more emphasis on enhancing
secondary school graduates’ communication abilities in Bahasa Malaysia and
English and also includes a plan to provide better qualified teachers and remedial
support programs. In addition, unique to English education in Malaysia is the
revival of literature as a key component of the curriculum under the belief that it
helps student language development, cultural enrichment and personal growth.
Part III includes papers on the issues of developing secondary English text-
books in Pakistan, valuing secondary learners’ views on English teaching and
learning in Vietnam, and reflecting regional critical needs in the curriculum and
teaching for secondary learners in China.
In Chapter 9, according to Qadir and Rasul, schooling has three levels in
Pakistan: primary, secondary and higher secondary, and, at the secondary level,
two parallel systems exist; Pakistani and British education systems in which
 Introduction 9
English is taught as a compulsory subject. However, it appears that other
subjects (i.e. mathematics, natural sciences, social studies, and Islamic studies)
are taught in Urdu, which is not contributing to students’ learning of English,
even though some private schools use English as a medium of instruction for all
subjects.
Qadir and Rasul explain that, due to the colonial legacy during the British rule
in the 19th century, and globalization, English has become the prestigious
language and a medium of communication for individual and national progress.
In fact, there are an increasing number of speakers of English in South Asia,
which is more than in the US or UK. However, even though English has been
taught in Pakistan since its independence in 1947, it was mostly tought by non-
native local Indians, which made South Asian English “a distinct variety”. As of
now, English is taught beginning in Grade 1 and is increasingly used as a medium
of instruction in secondary schools.
Qadir and Rasul believe that new English textbooks in Pakistan show the
nature of the curriculum. Thus, they examine English textbooks published by
the Punjab Textbook Board for secondary schools, since Punjab is the largest
province with more than 50 per cent of the nation’s population along with a
better educational system. Pakistan has a centralized educational system with a
National Curriculum under which each provincial textbook board produces
instructional materials to be approved by the Curriculum Wing Branch of the
Ministry of Education. These textbooks are extensively used for both instruction
and examinations for secondary students. In order to develop their students’
thinking abilities through “communicative teaching methodology” in Grades 6
to 10, the Pakistani government revised the textbooks, aiming to counter such
criticisms as the low quality of and many errors in the textbooks to provide free
copies for teachers. The government’s effort for revision of the textbooks is also
a way to enhance the quality of teaching in public schools, which is considered
low than that of teaching in private schools.
Qadir and Rasul performed a comparative analysis of the revised English text-
books in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, and 2012 for Grade 9 and those made in
2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2011 for Grade 10 by the Punjab Textbook
Board. The results show that there were few changes in these textbooks up to
2011. Some lessons were replaced with new lessons while other lessons were
merely reorganized in 2003 and 2004 for both grades. The same is true of the
2010 and 2011 editions of English textbooks, which had the “same number,
themes and contents of lessons as previous editions”. Therefore, despite a long
effort to change the textbooks, there were no organic relations between the
contents, teaching methodology, and the goal of developing secondary learners’
communication skills. More seriously, in these textbooks, there were still many
errors, the same and mechanical exercises, and a gap in language skills and teach-
ing methods despite the goal of teaching English for communication.
Qadir and Rasul, however, report that, in the 2012 English textbook editions
for Grade 9, there are many changes in the topics along with a balanced presenta-
tion of skills and exercises despite the reduced number of lessons. In addition,
10 Kiwan Sung
the topics are more diverse and the textbooks look more modern. Qadir and
Rasul expect that the revised textbooks for Grade 10 will also show positive
changes and it will be interesting how both secondary English teachers and
learners perceive such changes.
In Chapter 10, Canh argues that, with the opening of its market to the world,
Vietnam attaches the importance of English to the nation-building goals, view-
ing Vietnamese youngsters’ competence in English as a national strength.
Towards that goal, the country has, since 2008, implemented “The Project of
Foreign Language Education in the National Educational System for the Period
2008–2020”, which aims to help all secondary, vocational college, and tertiary
graduates to be confident in using English by 2020. More specifically, all lower
and higher secondary English teachers are to be proficient in using English
according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
(CEFR). In addition, new textbooks are going to be published by local writers
based on the new curriculum while some extent of content-based teaching in
math along with the doubling of English class hours will take place in secondary
schools in major cities by 2015.
In the whirlwind of such changes in policies, curricular revision, and the
emphasis on teacher and student proficiency development, Canh notes the
importance of examining the tensions between the intended innovation and the
local practicalities.
Accordingly, he reports on an investigation into the secondary school teach-
ers’ beliefs about the feasibility of the Project. Based on a survey study of 33 EFL
secondary school teachers working in geographically different schools, Canh
found that a majority of the surveyed teachers did not believe in the value of the
intended innovation, i.e., the impact of the innovation on the improvement of
students’ competence in the target language. In addition, all the teachers were
uncertain about the attainability of the innovation goals because of various
contextual constraints such as teachers’ low salaries, low proficiency, limited
opportunities for professional development, students’ low motivation due to the
lack of immediate needs of English, and limited resources. Drawing on the
results of the survey, Canh argues that the intended innovation for Vietnamese
secondary school English education may lead to social inequality rather than
equal opportunity for future education and employability.
Canh, concludes that the attempt at some form of uniformity and standardiza-
tion in teaching and assessment across schools which is based on “one-size-fits-all”
view of ELT innovation is not unproblematic. Therefore, the operationalization
of ELT innovation in an economically developing country like Vietnam needs to
take into account the socio-economic disparities among geographical areas. In
other words, while it is necessary to set educational standards, standardization is
not a good policy because it ignores contextual constraints. Also, there needs to
be an interaction between innovation developers and local teachers if innovation
is to achieve its intended goals.
In the last chapter, Gong and Holliday raise problems in the current frame-
work on teaching English in China for its excessive reliance on the Western
 Introduction 11
pedagogical and cultural framework as manifest in the Chinese textbooks in
which students are compelled to emulate “native speakers” of English from the
Inner Circle, such as the US or the UK. They argue that these textbooks include
cultural content, topics, and activities which are irrelevant to Chinese students’
daily life. Accordingly, as a way to help students as a “whole healthy individual”
as outlined in the new 2010–20 National Mid- and Long-term Educational
Reform and Developmental Plan in China, Gong and Holliday propose a “critical
cosmopolitan approach” of teaching English by focusing on both individual and
social developments of Chinese students. In this approach, both curricular and
instructional goals should reflect diverse regional variability in using English with
speakers from non-English speaking countries and help students make sense of
(or even challenge) socio-cultural norms or values specific to particular places or
people. They also assert that curricular models should be more aligned to inter-
nal goals in which learners’ creativity, autonomy, and authenticity are put into
the equation in order to develop learners’ mental abilities as well as personalities
and social roles and responsibilities. In addition, they also argue for the inclusion
of developing learners’ (critical) thinking as well as linguistic development, which
is really lacking because of the current zeal for teaching the hyper-real “standard
(American or British) English”. In short, rather than limiting English to specific
skills teaching, Gong and Holliday call for changing current English teaching for
Chinese students so that they can be global citizens who are free from the influ-
ence of native speakerism and the dominance of Western ideologies.
In sum, as the key policies and practices are highlighted here based on the
leading scholars, administrators, and educational practitioners in each country,
readers will be informed of diverse views as well as constructive criticisms on each
country’s efforts to improve its secondary English education in a broad, yet
focused manner.
This page intentionally left blank
Part I

Upgrading secondary
English teaching through
innovative changes
This page intentionally left blank
1 English in secondary
education in Israel
Susan Holzman

The present language landscape of Israel is complex and varied. Hebrew, the
dominant language of Israel today, was not a vernacular language in modern
times and only became one about 120 years ago through the conscious efforts
of a people with a mission and its use as the medium of instruction in the schools.
Arabic, the native language of over 20 per cent of the population, shares the
status as an official language together with Hebrew. In addition, there are
numerous languages and dialects spoken among various immigrant groups.
These include Russian and French, for example, and, of course, a number of
Jewish languages such as Yiddish and Ladino. Within this landscape, English has
a strong presence for numerous reasons: immigration, tourism, commerce, and
strong political and cultural ties to the West, especially the United States.
With its undisputed status as the first foreign language of the country, English
is a required school subject from primary school through high school. The
Ministry of Education and the English Inspectorate cooperate to update and
improve education in general and English language education in particular. There
have been a number of innovations in recent years to this end, two stemming from
Ministry of Education initiatives and implemented in coordination and coopera-
tion with the English Inspectorate and one developed by the English Inspectorate.
This chapter introduces an innovative curriculum from 2001 designed by the
English Inspectorate. This curriculum restructured all the thinking about the
English classroom that had preceded it and has been the basis for discussion,
review and modification ever since its inception. This chapter also reviews a
modular examination system instituted by the Ministry of Education for all
school subjects in order to reduce test stress and to encourage pupils to take
advanced level exams to increase their achievements. Modular exams are easier
to carry out when subject matter can be divided and each level of exam assesses
knowledge of different material (e.g. European history or American history).
Because the English exam assesses knowledge of skills such as accessing informa-
tion from written texts and spoken texts, creating modular exams was a much
greater challenge. The Ministry of Education’s recent directive to teach and test
critical thinking in all subject areas has also posed a challenge. This has been met
with a new program integrating the teaching and testing of literature together
with critical thinking skills.
16 Susan Holzman
It is difficult to present a snapshot of English in secondary education in Israel
because the pictures change daily. This activity has not always brought great
improvement, but it has created a vigorous and lively teaching community and
encouraged study and dialogue. The strength of the system lies in the vitality and
the energy of the English teaching community: the teachers, the counselors, the
supervisors, the teacher trainers, and the researchers. Their unique contribution
helps to maintain the status of English in Israel today.

Introduction
The place of English in secondary education in Israel does not stand isolated and
detached allowing for examination under a microscope. Its place is dynamic and
evolving in the context of the languages spoken and used in Israel in general.
Hebrew, as the main language of Israel, holds a unique position which must be
considered vis-à-vis English. Historically, like so many Asian nations, the land
which is today Israel was once controlled by the British, leaving a legacy of
English language administration and tradition.
In Israel, English is a compulsory subject in school and the only required foreign
language in the battery of matriculation exams which serve as the gatekeeper for
employment and tertiary education. The position of English in secondary schools
as demonstrated in this practice is a function of both official language policy and
societal practices. To understand how this transpired, Spolsky (2004) suggests that
three components of a speech community be examined:

…its language practices—the habitual pattern of selecting among the varie-

ties that make up its linguistic repertoire; its language beliefs and ideology—
the beliefs about language and language use; and any specific efforts to
modify or influence that practice by any kind of language intervention,
planning or management.
(p. 5)

The status accorded to English in Israel is not a foregone conclusion. Israel is a

land of immigrants who revived a dead language as their lingua franca. In other
words, the community selected to speak and use a language which was not
among their familiar repertoires. The selection of Hebrew was not an obvious
choice: it was not a status language in the world; it had a different orthography
than the languages they knew; the available opportunities for exposure to the
language had to have been limited and the models for emulation were not native
speakers. On the other hand, the beliefs and ideology of the speech community
were a driving force in the re-creation of Hebrew as the vernacular of the Jewish
people, a force that often led to the rejection of use of other languages. In the
early years of the state, for example, there was no attempt by parents to preserve
their mother tongues. It was not unusual for plurilingual parents, speaking
Yiddish, Polish, German, Russian, French, and Czech to raise monolingual
Hebrew-speaking children. Finally, there were any number of official actions
 English in secondary education in Israel 17
specifically aimed at strengthening and solidifying the hegemony of Hebrew in
Israel. One example was the establishment of the first university in the area; the
Hebrew University was established in 1925, 23 years before the establishment of
the State of Israel in 1948, and effectively intervened, managed and planned the
language of academia for Jerusalem.

General language background

Today, the official languages of Israel are Hebrew and Arabic, two ancient
Semitic languages. According to Crystal, Hebrew was the spoken language of
ancient Palestine until about the third century (Crystal, 1992). However, Myhill
(2004) explains that the date of death of Hebrew as a spoken language cannot
really be discerned. The area was in flux with the Babylonian conquest in 586
CE, the invasion of Alexander the Great 260 years later and the Roman occupa-
tion 260 years after that (Myhill, 2004). Between the linguistic incursions and
the Jewish dispersion, Hebrew waned as the vernacular of the Jewish people.
During the diaspora of the Jewish people, Hebrew transmuted into a number of
Jewish languages: Yiddish, Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-Arabic and others. These
languages were the vernaculars used in Jewish communities all over the world.
However, the Bible as a sacred text preserved ancient Hebrew and was a unifying
factor for the Jewish people throughout their history. Towards the end of the
nineteenth century, the revival of Hebrew as a living language began among Jews
in various parts of world, but particularly among the Jews in Palestine, which was
then part of the Ottoman Empire. Although Myhill (2004) rejects the use of the
word “miracle” to describe the rebirth of Hebrew as a spoken language, he says:

…the revival of Hebrew is, as far as we know, an event unique in human

history. There has never before or since been a case of what I am referring to
as a “revival” a natural language which was previously spoken by native speak-
ers, then ceased to have native speakers and then came again to have an entire
community of speakers—in fact, an entire nation of native speakers.
(p. 74)

Although this revival was not always painless, it seems that the introduction of
Hebrew into the pre-schools, schools and institutions of higher learning was
crucial to the process. The Ottoman Turks had not objected to the use of Hebrew
in Jewish schools (Myhill, 2004) and when the the British Mandate over Palestine
came in effect after World War I, the British continued the existing policy of the
language of instruction for Jewish schools to be Hebrew and the language of
instruction for Arab schools to be Arabic (Spolsky and Shohamy, 1999).

English in Israel
After the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I by the
Allied Powers, Britain accepted the League of Nations’ mandate over Palestine.
18 Susan Holzman
During the 25 years of British control, the British government recognized the
status of the local languages, but English became the language of government
(Spolsky and Shohamy, 1999). English was a required subject in the schools
during the Mandate Period and was taught as the main foreign language. With
the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Hebrew and Arabic were
declared official languages and English lost its status as the language of the
administration and as a required school subject. Nevertheless, English main-
tained its position of importance as the first foreign language in the schools
(Spolsky and Shohamy, 1999).
After 1967, there was a surge of immigration to Israel from English-speaking
countries, which brought many native-speaker teachers to the country. Although
most had not trained as EFL teachers, special retraining courses were offered to
certify them locally. As a result, about 40 per cent of the English teachers in the
Jewish schools in Israel are native speakers of English, either immigrants or the
children of immigrants (Spolsky and Shohamy, 1999). As Judd (2008) points
out, one of the most important aspects of carrying out any teaching plan is to
have skilled teachers. These new immigrants, natives of the United States,
Canada, England, South Africa, Australia and New zealand, injected a cohort of
experienced English native-speaker teachers into the system. The result is that
throughout the public school system, there are significant numbers of native-
speaker English teachers, counselors and inspectors from a variety of English-
speaking countries. These teachers are locals, most know the pupils’ Hebrew, and
they are familiar with local culture, customs and religion. Their backgrounds
contribute to the acceptance of Englishes, the use of a variety of teaching meth-
ods and the richness of English language teaching in Israel, in general.
English in Israel has maintained high status and prestige for many reasons. As
a small language community, English was essential for all business, diplomatic
and academic contacts. Especially important were considerations of tourism as
well as escalating economic and political relations with the United States.

General background on education in Israel

The stated aim of the educational system is as follows: “The educational system
aims to prepare children to become responsible members of a democratic plural-
istic society in which people from different ethnic, religious, cultural and political
backgrounds coexist” (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2010). To further this
aim, there are a number of national education laws, the first of which was passed
in 1949, shortly after the establishment of the state and while the War of
Independence was still being fought.
The 1949 law made one year of kindergarten and eight years of elementary
school compulsory and free for all citizens, Jewish and Arab. The Free
Compulsory Education law of 1953 extended compulsory education attendance
to the age of 16 (through 10th grade). At that time, tuition was charged for the
final two years of high school. Since 1979, 11th and 12th grades are free, but
not obligatory (Ichilov, 2009).
 English in secondary education in Israel 19
The school system has three main divisions: elementary school (Grades 1
through 6), junior high school (Grades 7 through 9) and senior high school
(Grades 10 through 12). Most teachers in elementary schools and junior high
schools receive their training at four-year academic teacher training colleges and
are holders of Bachelors of Education degrees. These teachers have had exten-
sive practical field training in schools during their four years of study in addition
to academic courses in their chosen discipline (e.g., biology, Hebrew, Arabic,
English, Bible). High school teachers have usually completed a Bachelors of Arts
or a Bachelor of Science degree in their chosen discipline at the university level
and, after completing this degree, continue for one more year at the university
in a special program to receive teaching certification. All teachers in the public
school system, from kindergarten through 12th grade, can register for a sabbati-
cal program and are entitled to have a year off for study every seventh year.
Through this sabbatical program, many teachers study for advanced degrees or
specialized training to enhance and further their professional development.
There are a number of school options for high school pupils to choose from:
vocational, technical, agricultural, academic, military, or religious. In addition,
within each school, the pupils have options concerning their course of study and
the subjects they wish to study more intensively. However, there are subjects that
are obligatory in all high schools. These include Bible, math, literature, history,
Hebrew expression, citizenship, and English. For Arab and Druze students, the
requirements are somewhat different and include Arabic language, history and
culture (Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, 2005).
Matriculation exams (The Bagrut) are administered by the Ministry of Education
in the required subjects and in approximately 100 additional electives which have
received authorization. A full matriculation certificate is a requirement for many
jobs and university or college entrance. The Ministry of Education sets the policy
concerning how and when the tests are administered. In recent years a modular
arrangement has been introduced in the assessment system in order to reduce stress
and allow flexibility. Pupils take parts of their exams in 10th grade and complete the
process in the 12th grade. To obtain a matriculation certificate, a pupil must earn
at least 20 credit points through Bagrut examinations plus another 7 credit points
from school-graded subjects. A credit point is given for an hour a week during each
of the last three school years, or for three hours a week during one year. The default
level for a subject is 3 credit points; the higher level (expanded subjects) is 4 or 5
points. University entrance usually demands a 4-point exam in English; more
competitive departments (i.e., law and medicine) require a 5-point exam in English.

General background on English education

English is a compulsory subject from the 4th grade, but there has been pressure
from parents to begin earlier; Spolsky and Shohamy (1999) reported that nearly
40 per cent of elementary school pupils start studying English in 3rd grade and
3–5 per cent begin in 1st grade or 2nd grade. Today, it is likely that there are
very few schools in the country that “delay” English studies until the 4th grade.
20 Susan Holzman
In elementary school and junior high, pupils study from one to three hours a
week. In senior high school, pupils have between three and five weekly hours,
depending on the level of examination they choose to take.

English education in Israel: Curricula

Education in Israel is centralized and official national curricula are published by
the Ministry of Education. There is a Chief Inspector for English whose job it is
to implement general educational policies of the Ministry of Education and to
initiate and carry out, together with an advisory committee, curriculum innova-
tions and assessment practices which will best serve the pupils in their acquisition
of the English language. Over the years, there have been a number of national
curricula in Israel. Table 1.1 presents a simplified picture of the development of
national curricula in Israel. Before the publication of the 1977 Curriculum, the
goal of teaching English was access to general world knowledge because it was
felt that local languages (i.e. Hebrew and Arabic) did not provide such exposure.
The 1977 Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1977) marked a turning point
with the change to teaching English as a means of communication with the
world, a direction which has been maintained to this day. The trends in method-
ology have followed popular changes which have occurred all over the world.
Grammar translation, the audio-lingual method, the direct method and commu-
nicative methodology have all been recommended over the years and used exten-
sively as they appeared in the local approved textbooks published at the time.
The 1977 Curriculum listed grammatical patterns and specified in which grade
they should be taught. The 1988 Curriculum did the same and, in addition,
listed 2,500 specific lexemes, which were the “recommended core vocabulary for
active acquisition in Israeli schools” (Ministry of Education, 1988, p. 69). The
2,500 lexemes were divided into three separate lists, one for primary school (769
lexemes), one for intermediate school (788 lexemes) and one for upper school
(884 lexemes). The locally produced and Ministry-approved textbooks reflected
the changes in methodology. In the 1970s, teachers taught with separate text-
books for grammar and for literature. In the 1980s, textbooks were organized
around grammatical topics. For example, the unit might have been called
“Practicing the present perfect” and the texts in the unit would have been writ-
ten with numerous examples of the present perfect. The 1990s saw the begin-
nings of theme-based units. For example, a unit might have been about
protecting the environment. Again, the text would have fronted a certain gram-
matical form, such as the passive or the conditional. The current curriculum and
textbooks will be treated in detail in the next section of this paper.

The current curriculum

In 2001, a new curriculum was instituted. The curriculum writers used
three documents as models for this curriculum: the “ESL Standards” of the
TESOL Association (TESOL Association, 1997 as cited in Lederfein, 2001),
Table 1.1 English curricular development
Year
Mandate period and post-
independence
1977 (year of publication
of a curriculum)
1988 (year of publication
of a curriculum)
2001 (year of publication
of a curriculum)
Rationale
Having “access to knowledge not
available through Hebrew”
(Spolsky & Shohamy, 1999,
p. 159)
“provide pupils with a means of
communication with the world
at large” (Ministry of Education,
1977)
To give pupils access to “the
principal means of international
communication today…”
(Ministry of Education, 1988)
To prepare Israeli youth for
“international trade and tourism…
higher education and research, and
…the electronic media” (Ministry
of Education, 2001)
Methodology Goals
Modified direct method; grammar Reading good literature
translation (Bentwich, 1939, cited in
Spolsky & Shohamy, 1999)
Oral-aural approach; Modified “make English relevant” “foster
audio-lingual educational values” (Ministry
of Education, 1977)
Grammar-based syllabus Introduction Communicative competence
(presentation), drill-practice
(assimilation), and application
(development, exploitation)
(Gefen, 1986)
The methodology is left “to textbook “Pupils should be able to
writers, schools and teachers [in interact… obtain and make
order to give them freedom] in use of information…present
determining the exact methodology information…and appreciate
and the order of the elements of the literature and culture”
curriculum” (Spolsky & Shohamy, (Ministry of Education, 2001)
1999, p. 181)
22 Susan Holzman
“The Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st
Century” (1996, as cited in Lederfein, 2001), and “Foreign Language
Standards” developed by McREL (Kendell and Marzano, 1998, as cited in
Lederfein, 2001). These documents and the approach they represented
stemmed from a comprehensive educational initiative in the United States,
which aimed at increasing achievement levels there (Lederfein, 2001). These
documents presented new terminology, which was adopted into the Israeli
curriculum: domains, standards, benchmarks and levels of progression.
Domains are “areas of language ability or knowledge” (Ministry of Education,
2001, p. 12); the standards outline “a cumulative body of knowledge and set
of competencies for each domain” (Ministry of Education, 2001, p. 14); levels
of progression “describe the knowledge and abilities that pupils are expected to
achieve in each domain” (Ministry of Education, 2001, p. 14); and benchmarks
are “indicators of progress within a domain” (Ministry of Education, 2001, p.
14). The curriculum did not talk about teaching reading, writing, speaking and
listening; it spoke about social interaction, presentation, access to information
and appreciation of literature and culture and language. Grammar, the mainstay
of all previous curricula, was not mentioned in the document at all. Table 1.2
presents the four domains and the general statement of the standard to be
achieved for that domain. The curriculum places the productive skills of speak-
ing and writing into two domains, “Social interaction” and “Presentation”. On
the other hand, the receptive skills of reading and listening appear under the
headings, “Access to information” and “Appreciation of literature and culture,
and language”.

Table 1.2 Standards for each domain

Domain Standard

Social Interaction Pupils interact effectively in English, orally and in

writing, in varied social contexts with people from
varied linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Access to Information Pupils access information in English, from oral and
written texts, from a variety of sources and media,
making use of that information for a variety of
purposes.
Presentation Pupils access information in English, from oral and
written texts, from a variety of sources and media,
making use of that information for a variety of
purposes.
Appreciation of Literature Pupils access information in English, from oral and
and Culture, and written texts, from a variety of sources and media,
Language making use of that information for a variety of
purposes.
Source: Ministry of Education (2001). English curriculum for all grades: Principles and standards for
learning English as a foreign language in Israeli schools. p. 21.
 English in secondary education in Israel 23
English in secondary education
The Curriculum posits three levels of progression: foundation level, intermediate
level and proficiency level. These might be said to correspond to elementary school,
junior high and senior high school. However, these terms refer to proficiency levels,
not grades in school. Therefore, a weak high school class might be considered to
be working at intermediate level or even foundation level and age-appropriate
materials can be prepared considering these factors. The benchmarks define the
achievements that the pupils should be able to demonstrate at each level. In the
domain of social interaction, pupils who are at the proficiency level (high school)
should be able to “maintain effective communication, using appropriate register for
a wide range of social contacts…[and be able to]…interact using rich vocabulary
and complex syntactic structures accurately” (Ministry of Education, 2001, p. 24).
The specific benchmarks for the proficiency level in social interaction are:

• ask and answer questions on a wide range of general topics, such as social
and global issues;
• express ideas and opinions, providing in-depth explanations;
• interact for purposes such as persuading;
• engage in extended conversations, using language to suit context, audience
and purpose. (Ministry of Education, 2001, p. 25)

The change in terminology allowed for the authors “to characterize more clearly
the goals and levels…[and] are viewed as a tapestry of interwoven areas of
language learning” (Ministry of Education, 2001, p. 12). The use of the term
“domain” instead of “skill” represented a reclassification of knowledge into a
more integrated form and a reconceptualization of the nature and function of
knowledge (Lederfein, 2001).
The 2001 Curriculum was innovative in many ways. On the one hand, it
seemed to offer a great deal of independence and myriad opportunities for crea-
tive teaching according to the particular circumstances of the school. On the
other hand, there was a shift from a syllabus that emphasized declarative knowl-
edge (knowing the rules), which was intended to lead to procedural knowledge
(knowing how to apply the rules) to one that seemingly ignored declarative
knowledge. As mentioned previously, there was no mention of grammar or
grammar teaching in the original document. In the years following the original
publication of the 2001 Curriculum, a number of steps were taken to rectify the
problems that arose. For example, in 2005, a small booklet entitled Prerequisite
knowledge, skills and strategies for achieving the benchmarks at the foundation level
was published. The rationale for this publication was to answer questions
“regarding the role of grammar and accuracy within the domains of the national
curriculum at the foundation level” (Ministry of Education, 2005, p. 3).
Although this was written for the foundation level (elementary school), textbook
writers and teachers were able to apply the revised approach concerning declara-
tive knowledge of grammar to the other levels of progression. As a result,
24 Susan Holzman
grammar explanations and exercises, which had been banished to the back of
textbooks as parenthetical material in an appendix, began to reappear and be
integrated into the teaching units.
The approach which is implied in the curriculum is one of a “task-based”
methodology and teachers are encouraged to use performance-based tasks and
projects in their teaching. The Ministry has offered numerous workshops and
in-service training sessions to familiarize teachers with this methodology. In
addition, there are online resources available to guide, suggest and demon-
strate. One example of this is the Projects in English (PIE) website (n.d.). The
site was created to help teachers in the planning, implementation and assess-
ment of project work. Another example is The Ministry of Education website
which has a section devoted to performance tasks (Ministry of Education, n.d.,
Performance tasks) with guidelines and suggestions. The English Teachers
Network of Israel (ETNI), a professional virtual community of English teach-
ers in Israel (English Teachers Network of Israel, n.d.) has a searchable data
bank of articles, project suggestions, and general information. It also has an
online journal, the ETNI Rag, which can be accessed from the ETNI home
page. The discussion list of the community gives teachers the opportunity to
communicate and share.
There is a strong and active independent teachers’ association, the English
Teachers’ Association of Israel (n.d.), which also offers support and practical
suggestions for teachers in the field through regularly scheduled conferences and
mini-conferences and through their journal, the ETAI Forum (ETAI Forum, n.d.).
The material available online and through in-service workshops about projects
(and other matters as well) offers a vast amount of information to the teachers
in the field. Projects are a required part of the 12th grade program and students
must complete a written project and present it orally (oral and written presenta-
tion). The written project is assessed by the classroom teacher and the oral pres-
entation is part of the oral matriculation exam assessed by an outside examiner.

Textbooks
All textbooks used in Israeli public schools are locally produced and must have
approval of the Ministry of Education. The books must reflect the curriculum’s
goals and terminology. To illustrate this, Table 1.3 presents the table of contents
for the first unit of a 10th grade (proficiency level) textbook. Under the rubric
for “Access to information,” there are various genres of reading texts (literature,
magazine) as well as a listening text. In addition, there are strategies for accessing
information that are explained and practiced in the context of this unit. In order
to further the pupils’ ability to engage in social interaction, several activities are
suggested. The domain of “Social interaction” includes writing activities such as
letters, notes, email. In this particular unit, there are no such writing activities;
however, in the next unit, students are asked to write a reply to an informal
letter. “Appreciation of literature” lists reading a poem and an excerpt from a
story. The particular story that was selected for this unit is an excerpt from the
Table 1.3 Table of contents of a 10th grade course book: Unit 1 – What’s in a name?

Unit 1 Access to information Social Appreciation of Appreciation of Presentation

interaction Literature and culture Language

What’s in a Just Coincidence? – – Sharing information Gogol – excerpts from a Using language – Writing: Describing a
name? magazine article about names story relative clauses person
Page 7 The Power of a Name – – Talking about Everyone has a name – Using words – Task: Write a short
magazine feature personality Poem adjectives – multiple report about your
Gogol – excerpt from a Appreciating literature – meanings name.
story descriptive details Extra task: Report on
Accessing information – the traditions of
understanding another culture.
connotation
Source: Komet, C. and Partouche, D. (2005). Ten. Ra’anana, Israel: Eric Cohen Books.
26 Susan Holzman
novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahari; the characters of this novel are Indian
immigrants in America, and one of the conflicts involves the selection of a name
for a new baby according to Indian tradition. The language element that is
reviewed here might be useful for the writing task presented under the “Domain
of presentation”. The text selection reflects the domain of “Appreciation of
literature and culture and language”.
As specified in the curriculum, there are numerous listening and reading text
types, all of them of an authentic nature and many of them, in fact, authentic.
Pupils read stories, magazine articles, letters, poems, fables, and advice columns.
They listen to interviews, radio dramas and radio talk shows. They practice
discussing, comparing, arguing and expressing an opinion. They write letters,
reports, plays, and plans for events.
The major publishers of approved textbooks maintain webpages with support
for students, support for teachers, audio-files of the reading texts (prepared
specifically for learning disabled (LD) students) as well as other resources
(e.g., Eric Cohen Books online, n.d.).

Pupil diversity
The 2001 Curriculum includes directives concerning pupil diversity. In the 1988
Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1988), the matter of teaching “less-able
learners” was raised and various suggestions were made, such as taking a “tolerant
approach to errors” (p. 30). However, the most recent curriculum takes a wider
approach and raises the issue of the special needs of native or near native speakers
of English, native speakers of Arabic, new immigrant pupils, socioeconomically
disadvantaged pupils and LD pupils. There are accommodations for each group,
which are implemented in various ways. If there are enough native speakers in a
given school, special classes may be organized (Ministry of Education, English
(n.d.) Native Speakers). Recently arrived new immigrant pupils are accorded
special conditions and adjustments for their matriculation exams. LD pupils are
diagnosed by professionals and recommendations are submitted to the schools
and classroom teachers. On state standardized examinations, LD pupils may be
given extra time; they may have the reading texts recorded for them; they may
have a reader sit with them during their exams; they may be allowed to record
their answers instead of writing them; they may have their spelling errors ignored
during evaluation; and/or they may be allowed to use an electronic dictionary.
Most recently, computerized exams have been piloted for use by LD pupils. Such
accommodations fit with national goals of educating all children.

Ministry directives affecting the teaching

of English in the high school
The Ministry of Education sets overall policy for numerous aspects of the
centralized educational system for the State of Israel. For example, two fairly
recent policy directives have had great impact on the teaching of English.
 English in secondary education in Israel 27
One concerns the organization of matriculation exams into a modular system,
and the second concerns the teaching and assessment of critical thinking skills.

Matriculation in English
At one time, students sat for exams exclusively at the end of their 12th year of
studies. They did have some choice in the subjects they could be tested on and
the level of difficulty of the exam. However, in 1993, the Minister of Education
appointed a committee to look into possibilities for overhauling the assessment
system. The main reason for the appointment concerned societal and peda-
gogical difficulties related to the exams. At that time, although 71 per cent of
the cohort of students completed 12 years of schooling, only 40 per cent of
the students received a matriculation certificate. Furthermore, there were note-
worthy differences between various ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The
pedagogical considerations centered on the fact that the main activity of the
final years of school was test preparation rather than meaningful learning
(Ben-Peretz, 2009).
The committee made a number of recommendations, which of course,
impacted on English teaching and assessment. The main recommendation was
that the external matriculation exams should be “modular”. However, other
recommendations pressed for school-based assessment as part of the final grade
that the students received. The school-based evaluations were to employ diverse
approaches, such as project work and portfolios (Ben-Peretz, 2009).
In answer to these recommendations, a six-module exam structure was set up,
allowing students to take different modules on different dates and be tested at a
higher level by adding additional modules to the ones they had already taken.
The final grade written on the pupils’ matriculation certificate was an average of
the external exam results (written and oral) and a school-grade, which was based
on class work, including a major research project, as well as school exams.
Pupils can be tested at the one-point level (Module A), three-point level
(Modules A, B, and C), the four-point-level (Modules C, D, and E) or the five-
point level (Modules E and F). The exams assess “Access to information from
spoken texts” (i.e. listening) and “Access to information from written texts”
(reading). Modules B, D and F test “Presentation” and “Social interaction”
(writing) as well. There is an oral exam (“Presentation” and “Social interaction”)
administered individually at the schools by external examiners. Originally, the
domain of “Appreciation of Literature, Culture and Language” was assessed as
part of the school-based measurement. However, a recent innovation has
changed the teaching and testing of literature and this has been added to the
four- and five-point exams.

Critical thinking skills: Teaching and assessment

The second Ministry of Education directive concerns a policy to integrate critical
thinking skills into the teaching and assessment of all disciplines. Each discipline
28 Susan Holzman
was left to decide how this directive would be implemented. The English inspector-
ate and its advisory committee decided to incorporate the critical thinking para-
digm into the teaching and assessment of literature.
All the English inspectors and counselors were recruited to run in-service
training sessions to prepare teachers for this change. In addition, a literature
handbook was prepared that spelled out the approach to teaching literature that
emphasized teaching critical thinking. The handbook makes practical sugges-
tions and lists literary terms to be used in the classroom (e.g. point of view,
antagonist, paradox, theme, genre, symbolism, imagery and metaphor). The
handbook was printed and distributed, and like most Ministry publications, it is
available online (Ministry of Education, English, n.d., Literature Module).
In addition, a special website was set up, the “Thinking through Literature
and Culture” (TLC) website. This website:

… aims…to help teachers… understand how to plan and implement the

literature program in their classrooms…as well as to be able to keep abreast
of developments, updates and peer sharing.
(TLC Home Page, n.d.)

There is a list of approved literature selections, which includes plays (e.g. All My
Sons by Arthur Miller), short stories (e.g. “Mr. Know All” by Somerset
Maugham) and poetry (e.g. “As I Grew Older” by Langston Hughes). Many of
these can be accessed online at the TLC site. Teachers also have the option of
choosing literary pieces that do not appear on any previously approved list. They
must get prior approval for their selections. There is also the possibility of
in-school assessment for the literature module instead of the external exam. This
allows the classroom teachers more independence in their literature teaching, but
it also places an additional burden of work on the teachers.
The teaching of critical thinking in Israeli high schools has centered on the
distinction between Lower Order Thinking Skills (LOTS) and Higher Order
Thinking Skills (HOTS). The discussion and analysis of literary pieces is meant
to progress from the level of understanding what has happened to whom, where
and when to the level of why and how. Pupils are not only expected to execute
critical thinking, but they should achieve declarative knowledge of the processes
in order to do well on their matriculation exam.
The literature exam begins with LOTS questions. Pupils are asked to give an
example of something or tell what the problem was in the story or explain the
meaning of a quote in their own words. After these questions, there are several
HOTS questions. Pupils must think of an answer, but before they answer, they
must decide which of the thinking skills they would use to answer it and then
explain why they chose this particular thinking skill.
The following questions on Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” illustrate this
approach. A LOTS question might be: “Give one example of how the roads are
the same.” A HOTS question would typically have three parts. The pupils might
be asked: “Why does the speaker say ‘he will be telling this with a sigh/Somewhere
 English in secondary education in Israel 29
ages and ages hence?’” (Bagrut Literature Sample Examination, 2013). First they
must write the “Thinking skill I chose”, which they can select from a list appended
to the exam. The list includes applying, comparing and contrasting, distinguishing
different perspectives, evaluating, explaining cause and effect, explaining pattern,
generating possibilities, identifying part and whole, inferring, making connections,
predicting, problem solving, synthesizing, and uncovering motives. The pupils are
then expected to answer the question using their specified thinking skill. To
complete the process, the pupils must then “Explain why [they] chose this skill to
answer the question” (Ministry of Education, English Literature Exams, n.d.).
This innovation has not been welcomed by many high school English teach-
ers. There were those who claimed that they were language teachers, not litera-
ture teachers, and except for occasional short prose extracts used as texts to
advance grammar and vocabulary knowledge, literature was not useful in their
classrooms. They iterated that there were too many idiosyncrasies in literary
texts and, therefore, they were not worthwhile language models. However,
many high school English teacher opponents of the program loved to teach
literature and thought that literary texts offered an important contribution to
their classrooms. However, they felt that this program and the assessment of
literature that accompanied it detracted from the natural and spontaneous
study of literature. Instead of enjoying literature and improving language skills
through its study, pupils had to spend their time matching an artificial list of
thinking skills to answers to questions and teachers had to spend time teaching
a skill which they thought was of dubious value. Nevertheless, the literature
module has been introduced and is, at present, part of the four- and five-point
exams. Past exams can be viewed on the Ministry of Education website
(Ministry of Education, English, n.d.).
The literature module and the teaching and assessment of critical thinking are
the latest in a series of innovations in the teaching of high school English in
Israel. These innovations began with the curriculum of 2001 that changed termi-
nology, approach and emphasis, and continued with the modular testing model
and the new literature program.
As Trim (2000) has noted, “Effective educational innovation is of necessity a
long-term operation …[and] if the change is at all profound, it encounters not
only intellectual résistance, but also structural and logistical obstacles that are not
easy to overcome” (p. 54). Within ten years, teachers have had to completely
restructure their conceptualization of their craft, rearrange their understanding
of the assessment process and reform their approach to teaching literature.
However, many classroom teachers are part of the change process and, although
not all innovations have been welcomed by all, they revitalize and rejuvenate the
profession and classroom practice.

Discussion
Each nation in Asia has a complicated and unique language history and landscape.
All the forces of religion, ethnicity, commerce, geography, and economics create
30 Susan Holzman
a complex mosaic of linguistic diversity in this sprawling and dynamic continent.
Israel, at the western edge of Asia, located in today’s parlance in the Middle East,
is no exception. Language in Israel is interesting and unusual, even in the Asian
context. Hebrew, the main spoken language of the country, transported, trans-
muted, preserved in Holy Books and little used for everyday purposes for over
2,000 years was resuscitated and reborn, giving Hebrew a status that is highly
privileged based on Jewish nationalism and zionism (Spolsky and Shohamy,
1996). On the other hand, the spread of English is an inevitable fact of the global
society we live in today and it is up to educators to meet the challenge of giving
our pupils the tools and skills to live in the global society. The challenge of teach-
ing English in Israel is being met through four components: curriculum, assess-
ment, materials and personnel.
More than ten years after its publication, the English Curriculum (Ministry of
Education, 2001) is still a work in progress. For example, at the onset, the 2001
Curriculum marginalized grammar. Teachers grappled with the reality of this
approach and found that it was not in the best interest of their pupils. As a result,
the Ministry, working together with teachers, issued new directives and guide-
lines reintroducing grammar into the classroom. More recently, literature came
into focus and underwent a revision in both the approach to teaching and
assessment.
Assessment is intricately interwoven into the curriculum. Due to Ministry
decisions, there have been considerable changes in classroom-based evaluations
and the national standardized matriculation exams. Modular examinations and
the introduction of the assessment of critical thinking skills are two examples of
developments in assessment. All classroom textbooks must have approval of the
Ministry of Education English Inspectorate and must reflect the current curricu-
lum and local assessment formats. As a result, all English course books are locally
produced, written in many cases by classroom teachers.
The final component is personnel: teachers, counselors and inspectors.
Teachers write the course books; teachers give sessions at the many English
Teachers’ Association conferences; teachers influence the teaching of grammar in
the classroom; teachers write and discuss and interact on the ETNI list; teachers
attend and participate in Ministry workshops. There is an active and participatory
cadre of professionals working and contributing to the success of English
language education in Israel. This cadre works as the grassroots and bottom-up
component to influence and shape the top-down decisions of curriculum, assess-
ment and materials made by the centralized educational system.

Conclusions
The language background of Israel, the Israeli educational system as a whole,
and the specifics of English language teaching within the high schools in the
country are unique. Nevertheless, there are the universal elements in this depic-
tion. Small language communities have the polar goals of communication with
the world while preserving and cherishing their national languages. Within this
 English in secondary education in Israel 31
conflict of goals, English language teaching in such a context must maintain a
balance and not become a priority.

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2 Secondary English education
in Japan
An overview and a preview
Judy Noguchi

English education in Japan has not been considered to be very successful, but
changes are underway to deal with the powerful movement toward globaliza-
tion. The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (MEXT) has recognized the growing need to communicate over a
broad spectrum of professional and business situations and introduced new
Course of Study Guidelines in 2009. Also, in 2013, Japan’s successful bid to host
the Games of the XXXII Olympiad galvanized MEXT to propose a Dream Vision
2020 to prepare for this world-class event. This Vision includes efforts to
improve the communication skills of the Japanese at various levels from primary
school to advanced research environments. This chapter presents an overview of
secondary English education in Japan as it was and as it is aiming to be under
the new Guidelines that will implement sweeping changes over the next few
years. They include the introduction of English language teaching from the
primary school level, where it had previously been started from the first year of
junior high school, and the use of a more communicative teaching approach over
the previous grammar-oriented, examination-focused one. In preparation for
these reforms, MEXT piloted experimental initiatives in English and science
education from 2002. Reports from Super English High School and Super
Science High School (English for science course) programs offer promising
evidence that innovative approaches to English teaching can be effective in the
Japanese EFL environment.

Introduction
English education in Japan has received much criticism for not having equipped
the Japanese with the practical ability to use English. The problems with English
education in Japan were summarized by Hato (2005) as unrealistic “top-down
goal setting” with examination-oriented goals. She pointed out that insufficient
class time and negative washback effects from impractical goals only exacerbate
the Japanese inferiority complex with respect to their English ability. This exam-
oriented focus was confirmed by Kikuchi’s (2006) study of entrance exams given
at 20 prestigious public and private universities in the Tokyo metropolitan and
western Japan regions. With these exams maintaining an emphasis on translation,
34 Judy Noguchi
reading comprehension and grammar, the high schools had no choice but to
teach toward such exams if their students intended to go on to college.
Clark (2009) goes as far as suggesting that high school English should be
made an elective. The reason given is that time wasted on ineffectual entrance
exam English to unmotivated students could be well spent on studying other
subjects. Those who do go on to university can study English when they are apt
to be more motivated if they can associate its usage with their field of study.
In response to such criticism about the lack of English language competency
of the Japanese, in 2002, MEXT announced an Action Plan to Cultivate
“Japanese with English Abilities” (MEXT, 2002a). Recognizing the need for
furthering “international understanding and cooperation” and acknowledging
the central role of a common international language, MEXT implemented a five-
year plan with budget support.
MEXT (2011a) is well aware of the need to improve the ability to use English
as a language for international communication. Data on TOEFL (iBT) ranking
in the appendix section of the June 30th report notes that Japan ranked 135th
out of 163 countries and 27th among the 30 Asian countries listed for test data
for 2010. In addition to this poor performance, Japanese students seem to be
less interested in going abroad to study with a drop in the number of high school
and university students, despite the fact that “deepening their understanding of
language and culture, and fostering a positive attitude toward communication
through foreign languages” is part of the overall objective of foreign language
study in the current Course of Study Guidelines (MEXT, 2003).
With calls for more “communicative” English ability, MEXT (2009) announced
a new Course of Study Guidelines, which was implemented in 2013. In order to
expose students to more English language usage, the Guidelines specify that
teaching at high schools be done in English and the students be encouraged to
use English in the classroom. While it may seem to be natural to teach English
using English, the current situation in Japan has led to a storm of controversy.
As described above, most Japanese high school teachers of English are accus-
tomed to teaching toward university entrance exams and find it difficult to
suddenly change their teaching style. Tahira (2012) criticizes MEXT for calling
for communicative approaches to teaching but not offering teachers the mean-
ingful support necessary to realize such goals. Stewart (2009) also questions the
viability of the new Guidelines because of the various agendas of administrators,
parents and students who tend to value entrance exam results which focus on
translation and reading comprehension rather than communicativeness. He
concludes that “a fundamental shift of thinking about both teaching and learn-
ing” will be necessary for the new Course of Study Guidelines to succeed
(Stewart, 2009, p. 12).
Against this background, this chapter first presents an overview of the MEXT
Guidelines, which had been in effect, and an introduction to the changes that are
now underway. The latter portion of the chapter describes the Super English
High School (SELHi) (MEXT, 2002b) and Super Science High School (SSH)
(Japan Science and Technology Agency, 2010) programs initiated by MEXT to
 Secondary English education in Japan 35
probe for ways of raising student motivation and thus aim for more effective
language teaching and learning in Japanese high schools. A grasp of the English
language education situation in Japan prior to the changes now underway should
aid in evaluating the effects of the reforms.

Overview of education in Japan

Compulsory education in Japan covers the elementary to lower secondary
grades, i.e. from Grades 1 through 9 for children aged 6 through 15 years. In
the Revised Basic Act on Education, enacted in December 2006, MEXT states
that the aims of education in Japan are “The full development of character and
nurturing of citizens, sound in mind and body, who are imbued with the quali-
ties necessary for those who will form a peaceful and democratic state and soci-
ety” (MEXT, 2011b).
From a global viewpoint, what is the level of Japanese students? According to
the OECD PISA evaluations of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students
around the world, the overall ranking of Japanese students is rather high (OECD,
2010). However, from 2000 to 2003, reading literacy dropped from 8th of 27
countries to 12th of 29 countries and remained at that level in 2006. Mathematical
literacy went from 1st place in 2000 to 4th in 2003 and then to 6th in 2006.
Scientific literacy also dropped from 2nd place in 2000 and 2003 to 3rd in 2006.
Alarmed by this decline in student performance, MEXT’s efforts to improve
education expressed in the revised act included: “attainment of wide-ranging
knowledge and culture, cultivation of a rich sensibility and sense of morality, and
development of a healthy body; development of the abilities of individuals, foster-
ing a spirit of autonomy and independence, and emphasizing the connections
between career and practical life” (MEXT, 2011c). These efforts seem to have
had some effect as the 2009 PISA report showed that the reading literacy ranking
rose to 5th place, mathematics literacy to 4th and science literacy to 2nd (OECD,
2010). The Japan-focus report stated that the country “has…seen improvements
in students [sic] attitudes and dispositions towards learning and school, which
PISA considers key outcomes of education” (OECD, 2010, p. 3).

Overview of English language education

at secondary schools in Japan
Now let us examine in more detail the Course of Study Guidelines of MEXT. As
implementation of the new Guidelines has just begun and no definite results are
yet available, this chapter will describe the situation as it was just prior to their
introduction and point out what changes are now underway. The former
Guidelines included a section on English language education for the lower
secondary level and also for the upper secondary level (not part of compulsory
education). In a nutshell, the targets for teaching English at the lower secondary
level, or junior high school, were to deepen intercultural understanding, to
promote an attitude of active engagement in communication and to develop
36 Judy Noguchi
basic listening and speaking skills for actual communication. The overall target
for the upper secondary level, or high school, was an extension of these features
with the additional ability to express one’s own thoughts.
Specific goals were outlined for the four skills of listening, speaking, reading
and writing with descriptors for each skill. For example, with respect to listening,
the three-year goals were to be able to: accurately listen for stress, intonation and
pauses; listen to speech or the reading of written material presented at natural
speed with understanding of the content and main points; understand questions
and requests and be able to respond appropriately; and be able to ask for repeti-
tion and reconfirmation to accurately understand content. Three to four specific
goals were given for the other three skills. (More details and information can be
obtained from an unofficial (but available via the MEXT website) English trans-
lation of the MEXT lower secondary English Course of Study1.)
Specific communication settings and functions were also stated in the Course
of Study Guidelines. For example, students should be able to use appropriate
greetings, introduce themselves, respond in telephone interchanges, go shop-
ping, give directions, and handle traveling and eating situations. The functions
to be covered include giving opinions, explaining, reporting, presenting and
describing. Under these former Guidelines, the emphasis was on basic commu-
nication skills as most students first encountered English when they started
junior high school. In the first year, the emphasis was on personal language and
situations. In the second year, the students were expected to be able to express
relationships and make decisions in communication situations. In the third year
of junior high, this ability was extended to learning to communicate ideas and
opinions on a variety of topics.
Very specific guidelines were also given as to what the materials should cover.
For example, block type uppercase and lowercase alphabets and punctuation
marks for reading and writing and the teaching of expressions such as “excuse
me”, “I see”, “I’m sorry”, “you’re welcome”, and “for example”. There was also
a list of about 900 words related to the seasons, months, days of the week, time,
weather, numbers and everyday settings. Grammar items were also very specifically
identified as well as five basic types of sentences (e.g. subject + verb; subject +
verb + complement) and three other types (e.g., There + be verb + ~) that should
be taught.
Interestingly, after such particulars about words, phrases and grammatical
items, the Guidelines ended with cautions about only aiming for understanding
of complex grammatical items and also stated that rather than emphasizing the
individual elements, the aim should be focused on their actual use for commu-
nication. The Guidelines further pointed to the importance of listening and
speaking practice and moving from simpler to more complex materials. Learning
cursive handwriting was an option if it was thought that it would not be too
much of a burden on the students. Also, it was recommended that students learn
the basics of dictionary usage and how to use the computer and network
resources. They could also request help from native English speakers and work
in pairs or groups when necessary.
 Secondary English education in Japan 37
Overall, the English to be taught should be what could be used for actual
communication with consideration for everyday activities, customs, folk stories,
geography and history and should be appropriate for the students’ mental and
physical level of development and interests. Consideration was to be given to
promote understanding of various viewpoints and ways of thinking with the
development of a sense of fair judgment and sentiments, of an interest in and
respect of other lifestyles and cultures, and a sense of international cooperative-
ness from a broad viewpoint of international understanding. These Guidelines
for English language education were to be adapted for the teaching of other
foreign languages.
In 2009, MEXT announced new Course of Study Guidelines and, according
to the MEXT (2011c) schedule, for high schools, preparations were to last until
the end of the 2012 academic year. From the 2013 academic year, the new
guidelines took effect. As the results from the implementation of the new
Guidelines have not yet been formally announced, let us compare the old with
the new to see what changes are taking place in Japan right now.

Comparison of old and new Course of Study Guidelines

The Course of Study Guidelines for the upper secondary level, or senior high
school, as mentioned above, are to build on the lower secondary, or junior high
school, Guidelines and should aim for further understanding and self expression
in actual communication situations. The former Guidelines listed six courses with
descriptions of activities and contents: Oral Communication I and II, English I
and II (II is an elective), Reading (elective) and Writing (elective). Oral
Communication I was to enable students to listen and talk about personal and
everyday activities with a positive communicative attitude. This is followed by
Oral Communication II, which expanded the variety of topics covered and the
ability to discuss them in English. English I and II emphasized being able to
listen and read on everyday topics and then on a wider range of information and
opinions. Reading and Writing were electives which could be offered after Oral
Communication I or English I.
Under the new 2013 Guidelines (MEXT, 2011a), raising communication abil-
ity is the overall aim for foreign language education from the elementary to the
high school level. This is to be done by aiming for deeper understanding of
language and culture, developing a proactive attitude toward communication,
and promoting balanced development of the four skills of listening, speaking,
reading and writing. The most significant change is related to the official intro-
duction of English or foreign language activities at the fifth and sixth grades of
primary school from 2011. The teaching is to be focused on listening and speak-
ing. In the junior high school Course of Study, what used to be three periods
(usually about 50 minutes per period) a week was increased to four. Also, while
aiming for balanced teaching of the four skills, emphasis is to be placed on listen-
ing and speaking. The number of words to be taught will be increased from 900
to 1,200.
38 Judy Noguchi
Table 2.1 Current and new Course of Study Guidelines

Current Course of Study New Course of Study (from 2013)

Subject Credits Subject Credits

English I *
3 Basic Communication English 2
English II 4 Communication English I*1 3
Reading 4 Communication English II 4
Communication English III 4
Oral Communication I* 2 English Expression I 2
Oral Communication II 4 English Expression II 4
Writing 4
English Conversation 2
Source: Daiichi Gakushusha, n.d.; MEXT, 2010a.
*
Compulsory subject.
1
Can be reduced to 2 credits.

Table 2.1 shows how the subjects changed in the senior high school Course
of Study. English I and II became Communication English (Fundamentals) I, II
and III for the cultivation of all four skills. Oral Communication I and II became
English Expressions I and II, to cultivate the ability to express things logically
and to converse in English. Reading is included in Communication English, and
Writing in English Expressions.
The number of words covered by the former Course of Study was 400 words
in English 1,500 words in English II and 900 words in Reading for an overall
total of 2,200 words (tokens, not lemmas) when added to the number taught in
junior high school. In the new 2013 Course of Study, Communication English
I will cover 400 words, and the electives Communication English II and III will
cover 700 words each, and with an increase in the vocabulary taught at the junior
high level, the total coverage will be 3,000 words. The overall class time of 21
hours per week for the 3 years of senior high school English will not change. A
big change, which is the cause for some concern (Yamada and Hristoskova,
2011), is the stipulation that the “English classes should be conducted princi-
pally in English in high school” (MEXT, 2011c, p. 8).
Table 2.2 gives the objectives and a brief description of the subjects.
Communication English I is compulsory and there has been a strong shift to
integrating the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing with active
usage in order to raise communication ability. English Expressions I and II are
to enhance the ability for rational expressiveness in speaking and writing, for
example, via presentations and debates. The English Conversation course will
specifically focus on enabling students to be able to talk about familiar everyday
topics. There is a clear message that grammar and vocabulary teaching should be
related to effective language activity rather than being taught in isolation.
Students should be exposed to opportunities to use English as much as possible
and English should be used as the medium of instruction.
Although the new Guidelines have been criticized (Stewart, 2009; Yamada
and Hristoskova, 2011), they are a step in the right direction, i.e. linking
 Secondary English education in Japan 39
Table 2.2 Subjects in the 2013 Guidelines and brief descriptions

I. Basic English Communication

To develop students’ basic abilities
such as listening, speaking, reading and
writing
II. English Communication I
To develop students’ basic abilities
such as accurately understanding and
appropriately conveying information,
ideas, etc.
III. English Communication II
To further develop students’ abilities
such as accurately understanding and
appropriately conveying information,
ideas, etc.
IV. English Communication III
To enhance students’ abilities such
as accurately understanding and
appropriately conveying information,
ideas, etc., and enable them to use such
abilities in their social lives
V. English Expression I
To develop students’ abilities to evaluate
facts, opinions, etc. from multiple
perspectives and communicate through
reasoning and a range of expression
VI. English Expression II
To further develop students’ abilities
to evaluate facts, opinions, etc. from
multiple perspectives and communicate
through reasoning and a range of
expression
VII. English Conversation
To develop students’ abilities to hold
conversations on everyday topics
Continuity with junior high work
Integration of four skills to understand
information and ideas, grasp outline
and main points; discuss and exchange
opinions; write brief passages
Integration of four skills to understand
information and ideas, read rapidly and
intensively; draw conclusions; write
coherent and cohesive passages
Further development of English
Communication II skills
Impromptu speaking, writing brief
passages, summarizing and presenting
information and ideas
Impromptu speaking; writing various
kinds of passages; summarizing and
present information; deciding a stance;
application to real-life situations;
making use of and respecting each
other’s ideas to solve problems
Understand what others are saying and
respond appropriately; ask and respond
to questions; convey information; hold
conversations when living overseas

Source: MEXT, 2010a.

language learning with language usage. It is hoped that the university entrance
exams will change to reflect the good points of the new Guidelines and eventu-
ally do away with teaching specifically to pass the exams (Clark, 2009).
As raising communication ability is an important objective of the new Course
of Study, the MEXT (2010a) Guidelines include specific examples of appropriate
language-use situations and functions to include in the subjects listed above. The
language-use situations include those in which fixed expressions are frequently
40 Judy Noguchi
used, such as shopping, traveling, letters and e-mail exchanges; everyday life situ-
ations such as school and community activities; and information gathering activi-
ties such as reading books and newspapers, watching TV and searching
communication networks. Also given are examples of language functions for
facilitating communication, including gestures such as nodding; expressing
emotions, such as praising and apologizing; transmitting information, including
explaining, describing and summarizing; expression opinions and intentions,
such as agreeing and disagreeing; and instigating actions, such as requesting,
inviting and advising. If successfully implemented, the new Guidelines should
help raise a population of Japanese people who can more effectively communi-
cate in English.
The objectives for all subjects include “fostering a positive attitude toward
communication through the English language” (MEXT, 2010a).

MEXT programs for innovative English education

In 2002, when MEXT announced its Action Plan to Cultivate “Japanese with
English Abilities” (MEXT, 2002a), it also started the Super English Language
High School (SELHi) system to promote innovative approaches to English
education (MEXT, 2002b) and the Super Science High School (SSH) system, to
raise the level of science literacy (Japan Science and Technology Agency, 2010).
These programs are described here to show how the innovative approaches used
led to positive effects, which suggest that the new Course of Study Guidelines is
a movement in the right direction.

Super English Language High Schools (SELHi)

In April 2002, MEXT (2002b) announced the selection of 16 high schools from
more than 50 schools that applied to implement innovative English education
methods. Since then, a total of 166 projects have been conducted at 169 schools.
Funding is allotted to the selected schools to pursue their plans. Some schools
aimed for immersion, others focused on the use of multimedia or information
technology to promote English language acquisition by the students.
In 2004, a three-nation study already revealed the positive effects of the
SELHi program (Yoshida, 2005). This study compared the performance of more
than 10,000 students in Japan, Korea and China on a standard test and obtained
survey responses as well. The Japanese students included those from high schools
using traditional methods and those from SELHi programs. The SELHi students
performed better than their Chinese and Korean counterparts and showed an
equivalent level of confidence in using English in real world contexts. On the
other hand, Japanese students receiving traditional English education scored
lower on the English test and expressed less confidence in using English. Yoshida
(2005) concludes that the SELHi program is a step in the right direction.
SELHi schools develop their own individual programs but usually teach
English using English in the classroom. They also employ task-based or
 Secondary English education in Japan 41
problem-solving activities rather than grammar-translation techniques. They
emphasize background knowledge and experience with access to English infor-
mation resources, including via the Internet. Some have exchange programs with
overseas schools, others with organizations or institutions within Japan where
students can have an opportunity to actually use English, e.g. an international
department at a nearby university. They try to build research, writing and presen-
tation skills (MEXT, 2002b, 2002c; Education in Japan Community Blog, n.d.).
In 2010, MEXT (2010b) presented the results of a questionnaire of 111
public and 50 private schools that had participated in the SELHi program. The
program involved the entire school in 68 cases and only specific classes or courses
in 89 cases. Improvements in each of the four skills and their teaching methods
were reported by most schools, particularly in the production skills of writing and
speaking. Fifty-seven schools reported development of new syllabi and 42 stated
the creation of Can-Do lists. Such lists were recommended by Hato (2005) who
suggested the use of benchmarks, such as the Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001), which offers very specific
descriptors for language proficiency based on years of research and study.
More than half of the SELHi schools considered that they had achieved their
goals and almost half stated the effects of the program were evident even after its
completion. More than half of the schools reported improvement in student
listening, speaking and writing skills. There was even an advantageous effect on
university entrance exams, reported by about 45 per cent of the schools. What was
most impressive was the almost 70 per cent increase in the amount of English used
in the classroom by the students and the 58 per cent level of intentional use of
English in the classroom. Almost half of the students participated in English-
related activities outside of class. About 65 per cent expressed interest in people
from other cultures and foreign languages. About 46 per cent even responded that
the SELHi program was beneficial for their university entrance examination. This
is a very promising response showing that high schools do not necessarily have to
focus on teaching students test-taking English in order to pass university entrance
exams. The SELHi programs that experimented with English teaching emphasiz-
ing communication ability led to better student performance and motivation.

Super Science High School (SSH) and English

for Specific Purposes (ESP)
The Super Science High School program was also launched by MEXT in 2002
to promote science education to raise the scientists of tomorrow (Japan Science
and Technology Agency, 2010). High schools offering proposals for innovative
education in science, technology and math were selected as designated schools
which would be allotted funding to realize such programs over a three-year
period. From 2005, the period was extended to 5 years and currently,
145 schools are operating SSH programs (MEXT, 2011a).
Described in this section will be a specific example of “English for science”
courses showing how ESP concepts, such as awareness of a discourse community
42 Judy Noguchi
and genre (Swales 1990; Basturkmen 2006), can be used to start the teaching of
English for science at the secondary level.
The emphasis of the Super Science course is on math and science education
(MEXT 2011c). In addition to advanced courses, the students have lectures
from university professors and visit research labs and institutes to encourage their
interest in science. The students also go on an overseas study trip (Finland,
Germany, the United States, Malaysia) during the summer of their first year in
high school to visit university and research institutes and other facilities. Some
even have an opportunity to participate in research with university staff; three
were coauthors of a paper published in 2010 based on a presentation at an inter-
national conference in the United States (Ishikawa et al., 2010).
This presentation of research in English points out a very important part of
science – the sharing of information obtained from research in order to add to
the knowledge base of the discipline. In today’s world, the language in which
this is done is English. As Swales (2004, p. 33) discusses in “The role of English
in the research world”, research journals in vernacular languages are being
replaced by journals in English, and Japanese journals are no exception.
Recognizing the importance of English in science, one school with an SSH
program decided to offer “English for Science” courses for students in the first
through third years of high school.
The course met once a week for 50 minutes during the first and second years
and twice a week during the third year. The three-year course was planned from
an ESP viewpoint, aimed at laying the basis for more advanced language study
after the students enter college. This genre-based approach to language study has
been successfully employed in Australia for first-language teaching (Gibbons,
2005). Another important feature of the course was to encourage active student
participation and lay the basis for self-motivated autonomous learning.
To implement the ESP approach, the basic textbook used for the class was
“First Steps to SciTech English” (Miyama et al., 2007), which is aimed for
university entrance level classes. The topics covered are related to science and
technology (robots, vegetable factories, facial transplants, heat island phenome-
non). The textbook not only focuses on specialist vocabulary and language
features, but also aims to make students aware of different genres, or text types,
by introducing one per unit, e.g. product specifications, business letter, operat-
ing instructions, catalogue and subscription form. The textbook comes with a
CD including audio files of the main text and listening exercises.
The other important goal of the class was the promotion of active participa-
tion and self-motivated learning by creating a supportive classroom environment
in which the students were encouraged to work in groups of two to three and
given points for class participation. To most students, this was a new experience
as Japanese students are usually called upon by the instructor and do not volun-
teer responses.
The grading for the classes was based on a portfolio of the student work done
over the trimester, group participation points and oral presentation points
(group or individual). For the portfolios, the students were told that they were
 Secondary English education in Japan 43
to offer their best work for grading and place all drafts in the appendix. This gave
them the opportunity to learn the importance of editing, rewriting and polishing
their work and learning from the class discussions on the assignments.
The English for Science classes have been offered since 2006 and the student
responses have been very positive. Many go on to study in pharmaceutical
sciences and other science-related areas. Here are some students comments
(translated from Japanese):

These three years of English for Science have been a series of new discover-
ies for me. For one thing, I hardly ever raised my hand in class until now. In
this class, I was able to raise my hand a lot and participate actively. I really
enjoyed the class.
Turning in the Portfolio of my work every trimester made me realize how
I could expand the English world within me. I plan to use what I learned
when I go to university.
Three years ago, when I began this course, I could not have imagined that
I could be where I am today. I can write in cursive script, I can read long
passages of English text, I can give a presentation in English before an audi-
ence.
English for Science required a lot of work but was a lot of fun. Until I
took this class, English was only something to study to pass an exam. But
after going abroad during the summer of the first year, I realized the impor-
tance of English and found that this class was what would be most helpful
to me.
I was able to learn how to write a variety of texts, from recipes to business
letters, specifications and reports and I enjoyed being able to create my own
unique text each time.

These comments are representative of those from the third-year students as they
reflected on their experience with the English for Science courses. The ESP
approach of focusing on different genres and using tasks to learn about them was
able to arouse student interest and raise motivation.

Summary and a look ahead

This chapter has given an overview of the former and new MEXT Guidelines for
English teaching in Japanese junior high and high schools. The new Course of
Study Guidelines are already under fire because they may not suit the agendas of
parents and administrators who want their students to pass university entrance
exams (Stewart, 2009) or are anticipated to put a great burden on students if the
class instruction is in English (Yamada and Hristoskova, 2011). Yet, as Yoshida
(2005) pointed out, the methods used in the SELHi programs seemed to be
successful in raising student motivation and performance. The new Guidelines
use many of the methods and activities that were tried out in the SELHi programs
and also in the SSH English for Science course described above. It is hoped that
44 Judy Noguchi
the 2013 Guidelines, which represent a definite shift in the direction of more
communicative English teaching in Japan, can be successfully implemented.
On September 7, 2013, Tokyo was selected by the International Olympic
Committee to host the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020. This led to a
frenzy of activity to prepare for this world-class event. On January 14, 2014,
MEXT announced Dream Vision 2020, which proposes how the Japanese and
Japanese society can develop to meet the challenge of successfully hosting the
Games. As part of the Vision, the Cabinet Office (2014) has listed the imple-
mentation of English language education from the primary school to enable the
offering of “OMOTENASHI” or the spirit of selfless Japanese hospitality to
visitors from abroad. This word was made famous when uttered with gestures
by Christel Takigawa during the Tokyo Olympic bid to the International
Olympic Committee in September 2013 (Takigawa, 2013; The Japan Times,
2013). The same Cabinet Office Vision (2014) also states the importance of
using English to publicize the high-level research being done in Japan. Thus,
many Japanese from the elementary school pupil to the cutting-edge researcher
will be affected by movements underway to make the Japanese better commu-
nicators in English.

Note
1 http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/new-cs/youryou/eiyaku2/gai.pdf

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46 Judy Noguchi
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3 Innovating secondary English
education in Korea
Young Shik Lee

Introduction
South Korea is often called a model country because it has been very successful
in terms of both democratization and industrialization in a relatively short
period. As Korean society has struggled with globalization over the last decade,
it has been necessary for people to be proficient in English. As a result, English
language education in Korea has experienced vast changes, aiming at more effec-
tive and globalized English language teaching.
Over the past years, there has been an unsurpassed interest in English educa-
tional transformation discourse among many stakeholders. This has been a
consequence of public outcry over the poor performance of Korean students not
only across standardized English tests such as TOEFL and IELTS (ETS, 2010;
IELTS, 2011), but also in actual situations of communication (Shin and Shim,
2011). Although Korean students invested enormous amounts of time and
money learning English, their English proficiency in general was lower than the
world average (Kang, 2009).
The public outcry was also due to huge financial expenses incurred as a result of
dysfunctional English educational systems. South Korea ranked the second among
34 OECD member nations in terms of the ratio of public education spending to
the gross domestic product, and private spending on education was the highest
among OECD countries (Na, 2011). According to the report of the Ministry of
Education, Science and Technology (hereafter MEST), although a huge amount
of money was invested nationally as well as privately on English language educa-
tion, the achievement of English language education turned out to be very low
(MEST, 2010). Thus, the Korean English language education system has often
been criticized as a ‘high-cost low-outcome’ enterprise (W-K Lee, 2010).
To tackle this problem, the Korean government tried to innovatively revamp
the entire secondary English education system over the last decade (H. Lee,
2010). Even the past president has emphasized the need for a transformation of
English language education in Korea since he was elected in 2008. At the heart
of these deliberations is the need to find a lasting solution to English educational
challenges. This has led to a proliferation of English educational initiatives across
the country.
48 Young Shik Lee
In order to understand these English educational initiatives, we need to exam-
ine the important innovations in secondary English education in Korea which
have been made in an effort to globalize Korean students. Among the innova-
tions in secondary English education were the revision of the 7th National
Curriculum of English, the employment of native English-speaking teachers
(English Program in Korea: hereafter EPIK), and the reinforcement of Teaching
English in English (TEE). We also need to look into the current English teacher
employment exam for secondary schools and what kinds of changes have been
made to this exam. Moreover, we need to discuss the recent effort to develop the
national English ability test (NEAT).

Revision of the National Curriculum of English

To gain a better understanding of the current changes which have been made to
the National Curriculum of English, it is essential to look at its history. Since
Korea gained independence from Japan in 1945, the National Curriculum of
English has been revised several times and its revision can be roughly described
as follows:

• Initial Curriculum (1946–1954): Structural Syllabus, Grammar-Translation

Method
• 1st Curriculum (1954–1963): Structural Syllabus, Grammar-Translation
Method
• 2nd Curriculum (1963–1973): Structural Syllabus, Audiolingual Approach
• 3rd Curriculum (1973–1981): Audiolingual Approach, Structural-
Situational Approach
• 4th Curriculum (1981–1987): Audiolingual Approach, Structural-
Situational Approach
• 5th Curriculum (1987–1992): Structural-Situational Approach
• 6th Curriculum (1992–1997): Notional-Functional Approach
• 7th Curriculum (1997–2006): Level-Differentiated Approach
• Partially Revised 7th Curriculum (2006–2009)
• Revised 7th Curriculum (2009–)

If we look at the 6th National Curriculum (1992 until 1997), the major change
was to adopt the communicative approach based on the notional-functional
syllabuses (Ministry of Education1, 1992; Bae, 2008; Jeon, 2011). The curricu-
lum emphasized the learner’s communicative competence focusing on the inte-
grative ability to use English in everyday contexts.
In 1997 the 7th National Curriculum was developed and two big changes
were made. The first major change was to introduce English education at
elementary schools. From 1997 all the elementary school children were required
to take English education from Grade 3 (aged 9). The second significant modi-
fication was to employ the level-differentiated approach for the curriculum.
According to the 7th National Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1997), all
 Secondary English education in Korea 49
the students should take the basic-level course at first and then they can choose
either the lower-level course or the higher-level course depending on the indi-
vidual student ability. Therefore, English courses were provided with different
levels to meet the diverse academic abilities of students.
There were two sub-curricula of English: Common Basic Curriculum of
English and Elective Curriculum of English. The Common Basic Curriculum of
English was from Elementary school 3rd year (Grade 3) to High school 1st year
(Grade 10), and the students were required to take the same English courses,
which comprised four skills in one syllabus. The Elective Curriculum of English
was from High school 2nd year (Grade 11) to 3rd year (Grade 12), and the
students could choose to take more specialized courses such as English conversa-
tion, English reading, English writing, etc.
In 2006 the 7th National Curriculum was partially revised, and this curricu-
lum effectively supported the extension of level-differentiated class plans for
English and Mathematics that were announced at the 2004 ‘Comprehensive
Plan of Education for Excellency’ by the Ministry of Education (Ministry of
Education and Human Resources Development, 2006). The basic principles of
English language education at the elementary and secondary level remained the
same as the 7th Curriculum (J-S Kim, 2009; Ministry of Education and Human
Resources Development, 2008; Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
(MEST), 2008a). The main features of the Revised 7th Curriculum of English
can be described as follows:
1) The amount of newly introduced vocabulary for each grade was modified
in consideration of interrelationship between grades and school levels as shown
in Table 3.1.
Moreover, by reducing the differences in terms of grammar and communica-
tive functions between school levels (the elementary school level, the middle
school level, and the high school level), the pressure on students, who are going
to advance to upper level schools, is expected to be relieved considerably.
2) The overall difficulty level was lowered by deleting the intensive course
achievement standards or by inserting some of them into the basic course

Table 3.1 The number of newly introduced vocabulary for each grade

Grade 7th Cumulative Revised Cumulative

Curriculum Total Curriculum Total

Elementary School 3 80–120 words 110 words

Elementary School 4 80–120 words Within 450 120 words
Elementary School 5 90–130 words 130 words Within 500 words
words
Elementary School 6 90–130 words 140 words

Middle School 1 About 200 words 170 words

Middle School 2 About 250 words Within 1,250 280 words
Middle School 3 About 350 words 390 words Within 1,290 words
words
High School 1 About 450 words 450 words
50 Young Shik Lee
achievement standards. Especially, achievement standards related to the produc-
tive skills (speaking, writing) were more specifically revised to an achievable level
considering the circumstances of English education in Korea.
3) By adjusting and adding ‘communicative skills’ and the sample sentences
and by adopting as many basic words as possible, it is expected to reinforce prac-
tical English study by learning more natural and authentic expressions.
4) Cultural contents of textbooks are reinforced by integrating diverse cultures
into the resource pool.
In short, some of the curriculum was revised and reinforced by clarifying basic
vocabulary principles, separating the objectives among the school levels, and
describing the objectives clearly.
In 2009 the revision of the National Curriculum of English was announced
and it is called the Revised Curriculum (Korea Institute of Curriculum and
Evaluation, 2011b). According to this revised curriculum new English textbooks
were developed in 2012, and the curriculum was incorporated for middle school
and high school 1st-year students in 2013.
This curriculum divides the whole period of the curriculum into four school-
year groups:

(1) Elementary school 3rd–4th year group (Grades 3–4): 136 hrs (2 hrs/week)
(2) Elementary school 5th–6th year group (Grades 5–6): 204 hrs (3 hrs/week)
(3) Middle school 1st–3rd year group (Grades 7–9): 340 hrs (3–4 hrs/week)
(4) High school 1st–3rd year group (Grades 10–12): 255–425 hrs (3–5 hrs/
week)

Like the 7th Curriculum of English, this curriculum also has two sub-curricula, but
the curriculum period is slightly different. The Common Basic Curriculum of
English is from Elementary school 3rd year (Grade 3) to Middle school 3rd year
(Grade 9). The Elective Curriculum of English is from High school 1st year (Grade
10) to 3rd year (Grade 12). Consequently all the high school courses are elective.
The Elective Curriculum (i.e. High School Curriculum) has three programs:
Remedial, Basic and Advanced. The Remedial Program has one course, and it is
for students who are experiencing difficulty in high school. The Basic Program
has two groups: Practical English and General English, and each group has four
courses (8 courses in total). The Basic Program is listed as follows: Practical
English Group (4 courses): Practical English 1, Practical English 2, Practical
English Conversation, Practical English Reading and Composition; General English
Group (4 courses): English 1, English 2, English Conversation, English Reading and
Composition.
The Advanced Program has six courses and they are: Advanced English,
Advanced English Conversation 1, Advanced English Conversation 2, Advanced
English Reading 1, Advanced English Reading 2, and Advanced English
Composition.
To sum up, the main features of the Revised Curriculum are: 1) revising
the details of the curriculum to meet the needs of students as English learners,
 Secondary English education in Korea 51
2) alignment of the curriculum with the assessment, 3) emphasis on productive
skills (speaking and writing), etc.

Recruiting native-speaking teachers of English:

English Program in Korea (EPIK)
The English Program in Korea (EPIK) is a Korean Ministry of Education spon-
sored program that places native speakers of English in public schools through-
out Korea to teach English alongside Korean English teachers. Established in
1995, EPIK was created to improve the English-speaking ability of students and
teachers in Korea, to foster international exchanges, and to reform teaching
methodologies employed in Korean schools. Basic requirements for the program
include being a citizen of one of the six English-speaking countries designated
by the program and holding at least a Bachelor’s degree. The native-speaking
teachers (hereafter NS teachers) were recruited from all over the English-
speaking world, including the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, New zealand, and
South Africa. When the EPIK teachers arrived in Korea, they received an orienta-
tion for 60 hours (10 days); 660 NS teachers were hired in 1996.
After the Korean economy crashed in November 1997 (the IMF package),
however, many NS teachers left. In 1999, the number went down to 262.
During the 2000s the Korean economy recovered, and many EPIK teachers were
hired again. According to the report of MEST (Kim and Park, 2010), as shown
in Table 3.2, more than 500 NS teachers were hired in 2003. Then in 2005,
more than 1,000 NS teachers were hired. Currently more than 8,500 NS teach-
ers are working across the country and each school has one or two NS teachers.
As a result, team teaching between NS teachers and Korean English teachers has
become a common phenomenon at schools.
Table 3.3 (Kim and Park, 2010) shows the number of NS teachers across the
country. With regard to the school level, the elementary schools have the largest
number of NS teachers (52 per cent). With regard to the different regions,
Gyeonggi Province has the largest number of NS teachers with 2,256 (26 per cent),
Seoul Metropolitan City has the second largest number of NS teachers with
1,646 (19 per cent), and Jeju Province has the smallest number of NS teachers
with 150 (1.8 per cent).
Based on three schemes in which native and non-native English speaking
teachers worked together: the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET), the
English Program in Korea (EPIK), and the Primary NET Scheme in Hong
Kong, Carless (2006) described some positive impacts of team teaching and
discussed some characteristics of successful team teaching. Some relevant

Table 3.2 Number of NS English teachers over the last decade

Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

No. 146 139 131 541 866 1017 1909 2937 4332 7997 8546
52 Young Shik Lee
Table 3.3 Number of NS teachers in different regions (April 30, 2010)

Elementary Sch Middle Sch High Sch Etc Total

Seoul 928 401 288 29 1,646

Busan 325 178 65 8 576
Daegu 130 82 35 1 248
Incheon 177 103 74 15 369
Gwangju 100 72 17 7 196
Daejeon 113 69 27 11 220
Ulsan 99 59 8 5 171
Gyeonggi 1,235 591 430 0 2,256
Gwangwon 152 174 65 23 414
Chungbuk 75 75 5 19 174
Chungnam 234 144 102 9 489
Jeonbuk 83 75 56 31 245
Jeonnam 158 133 74 9 374
Gyeongbuk 316 167 106 0 589
Gyeongnam 246 148 35 0 429
Jeju 81 29 22 18 150
Total 4,452 2,500 1,409 185 8,546

literatures reported some positive impacts of team teaching between native

English teachers and Korean English teachers, but noted some problems in the
organization and management of EPIK (Kwon, 2000; I-J. Jeon, 2010; Yoo,
2009; Kim, 2010).
Since EPIK started in 1996, however, many negative aspects have been found,
particularly in terms of the quality of NS teachers. The basic requirement for the
EPIK was for a teacher to be a native citizen of an English-speaking country with
a bachelor’s degree, but this requirement did not guarantee quality teaching in
the classroom since it did not include the necessary training in English educa-
tion. Although the EPIK teachers received an orientation for 60 hours (10 days)
upon arrival in Korea, this orientation did not guarantee good quality teaching
in class either.
Another negative aspect is the lack of cooperation between Korean teachers of
English and the NS teachers. Choi (2001) mentioned that although team teach-
ing was originally intended in EPIK, it was not enforced widely. Thus unqualified
native teachers had the difficulty of conducting English classes. Moreover,
cultural sensitivity is another problem. Ahn, Park and Ono (1998) reported
cultural conflicts between NS teachers and Korean teachers. Some NS teachers
implicitly or explicitly express that their own culture and way of life represent the
norm or are superior to the Korean culture and way of life.
In spite of these negative aspects of EPIK, some positive aspects have been
found. In the past, many Korean students as well as teachers did not have enough
opportunities to meet or communicate with English-speaking people, and they
used to be afraid of talking to native English speakers. With the NS teachers in
the classroom, however, they could overcome their fear of communicating
in English. According to Kwon (2000), the massive influx of the NS instructors
 Secondary English education in Korea 53
in Korea’s secondary schools has left a great impact on the general perception of
the public and the teachers. Both teachers and students began to see the impor-
tance of communicative competence as they were faced with the native-speakers,
both in and out of the classrooms.
The perception of NS teachers by Korean contemporary teachers has changed.
Previously, native teachers were regarded as omnipotent or very capable in teach-
ing English by the ordinary Korean teachers as well as students. With everyday
contact and communication between the native teachers and the Korean teach-
ers, however, this optimistic or somewhat idealistic view of native teachers has
shifted. In fact, native teachers’ lack of teaching experience or teaching qualifica-
tion has been noted as obstacles to the successful team teaching (Choi, 2001;
Jeon, 2010; Kim, 2010; Yoo, 2009). Many ordinary Korean teachers realized
that they could not rely solely on the native teacher in providing high quality
teaching of English for their students, and the Korean teachers began to take
responsibility for their own English teaching.
Under these circumstances, the MEST is currently trying to change the
recruiting scheme of native teachers. From 2016, a much smaller number of NS
teachers are going to be recruited. Then NS teachers will gradually be replaced
with qualified Korean teachers of English who have TEE certificates or the
specialized Korean teachers of English conversation.

Teaching English in English (TEE) Certification

As the 7th National Curriculum tried to reorganize the English education
curriculum focusing on communication ability, the MOE has emphasized
communicative English teaching nationwide. English teachers have been
required to teach integrated language skills (speaking, listening, reading and
writing) to their students and to improve their communicative TEE ability
(K. Lee, 2009). Using English as an instructional language in class has become
mandatory for Korean English teachers. As a result, Korean English teachers are
required to take the TEE certification exam and those who have passed the exam
are awarded the TEE certificate.
The purposes of TEE Certification are: 1) to develop English teachers’ teach-
ing skills through English and promote the teaching of English for communica-
tive purposes; 2) to support the English teachers in their development of
professional skills to become more capable teachers; and 3) to develop commu-
nicative English education nationwide through improving the teachers’ compe-
tence in using effective teaching methods in English and through the English
TEE certification.
As the TEE policy came into effect, many studies have been conducted on the
teachers’ as well as students’ perception about TEE at secondary schools. For
example, S-Y Kim (2002) tried to explore difference in teachers’ perceptions
about TEE in terms of such factors as school, major, teaching experience, and
the amount of classroom English use. Y Kim (2002) attempted to look at the
actual pattern of English use perceived by teachers and students by using a
54 Young Shik Lee
teacher self-report questionnaire and a student questionnaire. J-H Lee (2007)
investigated Korean EFL teachers’ and students’ perceptions about the effective-
ness of teachers’ English use in the classroom. On the other hand, S-A Kim
(2002) reflected critically on the TEE classes, arguing that the English-only
policy in the TEE classes is not realistic in the current Korean context. Recently
S-Y Kim (2008) assessed the effectiveness of the TEE policy from the teachers’
point of view.
Based on these studies of TEE and my personal observations, negative aspects
as well as positive aspects of TEE requirements can be found. One of the negative
aspects is that these requirements have many teachers worried since the teachers
have felt anxious about using English as a medium of instruction. There is also a
problem of English divide among Korean teachers of English. The gap has
widened between the more qualified teachers and the less qualified teachers.
Proficient and capable teachers become more proficient and more capable, whereas
the less proficient and capable teachers tend to remain as weak teachers.
On the other hand, positive aspects of TEE requirements are also found.
These positive aspects can be summarized as follows:

1) TEE projects have motivated teachers to teach English through English in

class.
2) Teachers can create instructional contexts for authentic language practice.
3) Teachers present a role model for authentic language use.
4) Teachers can implement CLT in the classroom.

In order to tackle the negative aspects of TEE, the Education Authorities of

Metropolitan Cities and Provinces in the different regions have provided many
teacher development programs. According to Ahn (2011), the in-service teacher
development program turned out to be very effective in enhancing the ability of
participating teachers to carry out TEE lessons, given the finding that the teach-
ers made marked improvements in both overall teaching skills and the use of
classroom English.

English Teacher Employment Exam

At present, Korean university students who successfully complete the four-year
course in teachers college are given the secondary-school teacher certificates.
However, since teaching positions are limited, they are required to take the
Teacher Employment Exam as an additional step towards securing a teaching
job, which is administered once a year. In 2008 the MEST extended the Teacher
Employment Exam from two stages to three stages, so that the current exam is
conducted as follows (MEHRD, 2007b; KATE, 2008):

• 1st stage: Two sets of multiple-choice tests (general pedagogy + English

language and ELT): Test items developed and provided by Korea Institute
of Curriculum and Evaluation (hereafter KICE).
 Secondary English education in Korea 55
• 2nd stage: Two essay writing tests on English major subjects and English
education principles: Developed and provided by KICE.
• 3rd stage: Writing an essay on educational issues in English, designing a
lesson plan in English, English teaching demonstration (micro-teaching)
and English interview: Assessed by the different regional Education
Authorities in metropolitan cities and provinces.

As the English Teacher Employment Exam was innovated in 2008, the exam
appeared to be more valid than the previous one since it included the English
productive skill tests such as essay writing and the performance-based tests such
as micro-teaching.
However, this exam has been found to have many problems. Since the exam
is very competitive, only highly qualified candidates can pass it. As seen in the
following tables, the passing rate is very low. If we look at Seoul Metropolitan
City, 1,055 candidates applied for the exam for 40 teaching positions in 2010,
but sadly the passing rate is only 3.79 per cent. In other metropolitan cities, the
passing rate is below 10 per cent, while the passing rate is slightly higher than 10
per cent in some regions.
Another problem is that the exam has many re-takers. Since it was difficult for
the graduates of the College of Education to pass the Teacher Employment
Exam the first time, many of them try to take the test two or more times in order
to pass the exam. As a result, the proportion of re-takers is much higher than
those who passed on the first try as shown in Tables 3.4 and 3.5(2). So we have the
question: Although many re-takers pass the exam, are they more qualified teachers
than those who passed on the first try? At any rate, since the teacher candidates
have passed the very competitive exam, they have proved to be qualified teachers in
terms of English teaching knowledge, English language proficiency and English
teaching performance.

Developing National English Ability Test (NEAT)

It has been pointed out that English tests in Korean secondary schools have
remained virtually unchanged over the past decade. At the core of this problem,

Table 3.4 Statistics of English Language Teacher Employment Exam for secondary
schools in metropolitan cities (November 2010–January 2011)

Metropolitan No. of Quota of Passing Pass on 1st Pass on 2nd or

city test-takers English teachers rate (%) try (%) more try (%)

Seoul 1,055 40 3.79 2 (5%) 38 (95%)

Incheon 838 69 8.23 6 (8.7%) 63 (91.3%)
Daejeon 333 24 7.20 4 (16.7%) 20 (83.3%)
Daegu 337 18 5.34 4 (22.2%) 14 (77.8%)
Gwangju 266 20 7.51 2 (10%) 18 (90%)
Ulsan 0 0 0 0 0
Busan 434 25 5.76 5 (20%) 20 (80%)
56 Young Shik Lee
Table 3.5 Statistics of English Language Teacher Employment Exam for secondary
schools in provinces (November 2010–January 2011)

Province No. of Quota of Passing Pass on 1st Pass on 2nd or

test-takers English teachers rate (%) try (%) more try (%)

Gyeonggi 1391 97 6.97 19 (19.6%) 78 (80.4%)

Gwangwon 333 34 10.21 5 (14.7%) 29 (85.3%)
Chungnam 276 28 10.14 3 (10.7%) 25 (89.3%)
Chungbuk 263 33 12.55 5 (15.2%) 28 (84.8%)
Jeonbuk 269 23 8.55 8 (34.8%) 15 (65.2%)
Jeonnam 227 25 11.01 1 (4%) 24 (96%)
Gyeongbuk 367 24 6.54 1 (4%) 23 (96%)
Gyeongnam 849 51 6.00 10 (19.6%) 41 (80.4%)
Jeju 76 4 5.26 1 (25%) 3 (75%)

the productive skills were assessed when students needed to take widely used and
globally standardized tests, whereas the Korean public education focused only on
the assessment of receptive skills (J Jeon, 2010). Taking this discrepancy into
consideration, the MEST decided to develop a national English proficiency test
called the National English Ability Test (NEAT). In July 2007, the government
made a basic plan to introduce the NEAT (MEHRD, 2007a), and conducted
preliminary research from October 2007 to August 2008 (MEST, 2011). In
December 2008, the MEST announced the measures for the development and
operation of the NEAT (MEST, 2008b), and pilot tests were developed and
administered beginning in 2009 (KICE, 2010). The MEST continued to pilot-
test the NEAT through 2011.
Unlike the current Korea College Scholastic Ability Test (KCSAT) of English,
the NEAT has two major characteristics as follows:

1) Whereas the current KCSAT is a receptive skill test of listening and reading,
the NEAT includes the productive skills (speaking and writing) as well as the
receptive skills.
2) The NEAT is an Internet-based test, so all the test-takers take the test using
a computer in a computer lab.

With regard to the framework and item types, the MEST developed the NEAT
in the following three levels:

• Level 1 is a proficiency test for university students and above. It is to be used

in civilian and government sectors for employment, placement and promo-
tion (Business English Test).
• Level 2 is based on the national curriculum of high school 2nd–3rd year
students (Grades 11–12). It is to be used for admission into university
departments which require basic academic English (Basic Academic
English Test).
 Secondary English education in Korea 57
Table 3.6 Framework of the NEAT: Levels 2 and 3

Skills Number of Items Time (Minutes)

Level 2 Level 3
Listening 32 32 35
Reading 32 32 50
Speaking 4 4 15
Writing 2 4 35
Total 70 72 135

• Level 3 is based on the national curriculum of high school 1st year students
(Grade 10). It is to be used for admission into university departments which
require practical English (Practical English Test).

Thus Levels 2 and 3 of NEAT were taken by high school students, and their
framework is shown in Table 3.6 (MEST, 2011; KICE, 2011a).
As shown in Table 3.7 (MEST, 2011; KICE, 2011a), the MEST put forward
the basic plan for NEAT Levels 2 and 3. From 2009 to 2011, the NEAT tests
were developed and pilot-tested. So the preliminary tests were provided and
20,000 students were invited to take the tests. In 2010 the pilot tests were
conducted twice and 30,000 students took the tests, and in 2011 the pilot tests
were conducted three times and 50,000 students took the tests. In 2012 the
actual test was conducted ten times and 200,000 students took the test.
Moreover, MEST made an announcement that a decision would be made in
2012 as to whether the NEAT would replace the current KCSAT in 2015
(MEST, 2008b; KICE, 2011a). However, because the decision was not made in
2012, the NEAT will not replace the KCSAT at all. Since the new President was
elected and the new government took office in February 2013, the plans for
actual testing in 2014–2015 were abolished.
Although the NEAT will not be implemented as originally planned by the
MEST during the previous government, the actual development of the NEAT is
still worth looking at. With regard to the scoring methods of NEAT, the listen-
ing and reading skills (multiple-choice items) were automatically scored by the
computer, whereas the speaking and writing skills were scored online by certified
raters. Table 3.8 shows the statistics of speaking and writing tests which were
pilot-tested in November 2010.
According to this pilot-test result, the reliability coefficients for both speaking
and writing were quite high although the reliability of writing tests was slightly
lower than those of speaking tests. Based on these statistics, it was expected that
the future nation-wide productive skill tests would be reliably scored (MEST,
2011).
Beginning in 2009 certified raters were recruited for the speaking and writing
tests of NEAT with online training available for secondary school teachers of
English. Reliable raters were selected among those who had completed the
Table 3.7 Basic plans for NEAT: Levels 2 and 3

Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Development & Pilot testing Actual testing

Levels 2 & 3 Preliminary Pilot testing Pilot testing Actual testing Actual testing Actual testing Actual testing
(No. of testing 2 times 3 times 10 times 12 times 20 times 24 times
test-takers) 3 times (30,000) (50,000) (200,000) (400,000) (1,000,000) (1,200,000)
(20,000)
Decision as <Period of Notice> Replacing
to whether CSAT based
NEAT would on the
replace CSAT decision in
in 2015 2012
 Secondary English education in Korea 59

Table 3.8 Statistics of Speaking and Writing tests (5th pilot test, Nov 2010)

Skill/Level (Total Score) No. of Min Score Max Mean S.D. Reliability
Students Score

Speaking/Level 2 (20) 1924 .00 19.85 9.32 5.22 .915

Speaking/Level 3 (20) 1817 .00 20.00 11.02 5.19 .909
Writing/Level 2 (10) 1763 .00 9.90 4.89 2.67 .851
Writing/Level 3 (20) 1616 .00 18.65 9.95 4.17 .868

training program successfully. They were then certified by the Director of KICE.
Table 3.9 (MEST, 2011; KICE, 2011a) shows the plan to recruit certified raters
from 2009 to 2014.
Since the NEAT was administered through the Internet, many IBT sites were
required in order to allow more than 600,000 high school students to take the
test twice, i.e. 1,200,000 participants. The last government planned to set up
500 IBT sites from May to November 2011. Preparatory tests were to be
conducted to check up all the IBT sites for system stabilization. Table 3.10
shows a plan to set up the IBT sites from 2009 to 2015. It was expected that
more IBT sites would be set up in 2014–2015 although the exact number was
not fixed (MEST, 2011; KICE, 2011a).
Kwon (2010) surveyed 138 secondary school English teachers in Seoul on
their opinions of the introduction of the speaking and writing tests in the NEAT.
Results showed that 58.4 per cent of teachers were in favor, whereas 22.7 per cent
of teachers were opposed.
The reasons for approval:

• The test maintains its validity through the assessment of various skills.
• The test assesses actual English abilities.
• Developing speaking and writing skills is the ultimate goal of language
learning.
• The test overcomes the limitations of reading-centered English education.
• The test helps develop practical English abilities.

The reasons for opposition:

• The test has the inherent difficulties of objective scoring and practicality.
• The private institutes’ tutoring will increase as students work on preparing
for the examination.

Table 3.9 Plan to recruit certified raters

Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

No. of Raters 100 500 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000

60 Young Shik Lee
Table 3.10 Plan to set up the IBT sites

Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

No. of Test Sites 78 (Pilot 169 (Pilot 500 600 600 – –
testing) testing)

• Schools are not yet prepared.

• It would be difficult for contemporary teachers to teach the productive skills.
• Teaching specifically for the test will increase.
• The examiners may lack expertise and would require additional training.

As shown above, the teachers’ perception of NEAT was quite positive in general.
Since about 20 per cent of teachers had negative views, however, these negative
aspects of NEAT would need to be addressed carefully. It appeared as though
neither the schools nor the teachers were fully prepared to meet the expectations
of NEAT. The MEST then tried to prepare the teachers for the NEAT by provid-
ing appropriate in-service training and teaching support materials in order to
achieve the successful implementation of the NEAT.
With the key policy-making body of MEST and policy-enforcing bodies of
Education Authorities of metropolitan cities and provinces, many schools were
encouraged to run the teacher development programs of improving the English
assessment contents and methods. In order for teachers to participate successfully in
self-training programs at their schools, the KICE provided a substantial amount of
software and training manuals regarding both English speaking and writing assess-
ment. Particularly, the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) provided an online
training program for the conduct and scoring of the new tests (KICE, 2011a).
In February 2013, however, with the installation of a new President and
administration, the MEST was changed to the Ministry of Education (MOE),
with its division of science and technology merged to become part of the
Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. The new MOE tried to suspend
the NEAT, primarily because there was a concern that the NEAT would cause
too much competition among young learners of English and their parents would
be compelled to rely on expensive private English education rather than on
public education in order to get high scores on the NEAT for entrance to univer-
sities. As mentioned previously, unlike the announcement made in 2008, the
MEST of the former government did not make the decision for the NEAT to
replace the current KCSAT of English in 2012. As a result, high school students
should still take the KCSAT of English for university entrance exams. It is likely,
therefore, that the NEAT will be used as a classroom test of English rather than
as the standardized test for university entrance.

Conclusion
This study has investigated the current practice of teaching English in South
Korean secondary schools by examining its past, current and future status and
 Secondary English education in Korea 61
teachers’ perceptions on its effectiveness. Aside from the five major innovations
described in this paper, the current English language education in Korea still has
many problems to overcome, such as heavy reliance on private English learning
institutes and the widening English divide, not only among the students of differ-
ent socio-economic statuses, but also among the students of different regions
such as those from large cities and rural areas (MEST, 2010). It seems that these
reforms were so significant that Korean teachers of English now face the challenge
of having to improve and expand the capacities of English language teaching not
only for communication but also for the continuing efforts at the globalization of
Korea (J-H Lee, 2007; S-Y Kim, 2008; W-K Lee, 2010; Ahn, 2011).
Since the start of public English language education in 1945 when Korea
became independent of Japanese colonization, the major reforms in English
language education have been made nationally, that is, top-down rather than
bottom-up. The Korean central government (MOE, MEHRD, MEST, and
MOE again now) has made key policies of reforms and each education authority
in the metropolitan cities or provinces has been expected to enforce these
reforms. Even in English language education since 2000, these kinds of top-
down education reforms are still being implemented nation-wide. As a result, it
appears that some of the innovations may be over-ambitious, causing concern
and pressure amongst many teachers who are required to leave ‘the comfort
zone’ and participate in programs for which their English abilities or conversa-
tion skills are not yet sufficient, such as having to teach English in English.
Since emphasis in the past was based on creating a centralized curriculum for
which students were expected to simply pass examinations, textbooks and teach-
ing methods often continue in this mindset. Until the NEAT has been devel-
oped, productive skills such as speaking and writing have not been assessed
properly at most secondary schools. As a consequence, although they may appear
in the curriculum, speaking and writing skills have not been sufficiently empha-
sized. However, changes from receptive skills to productive skills as shown in the
NEAT were thought to bring about positive effects on the teaching and learning
of English (Kwon, 2010; Park, 2013), although the NEAT was not incorporated
as a major test of English for the university entrance in 2013.
Whether the innovative initiatives by the government will yield positive results
is a matter of speculation. However, one of the positive signs about these innova-
tions is that many contemporary teachers of English participate voluntarily in the
teacher development programs which are organized by the teachers themselves.
Improved teacher training courses can work to not only foster teacher education
qualification and professionalism of English teachers, but to also improve their
English ability through educational professional programs such as TEE (Kim
and Ahn, 2011). Moreover, contemporary English teachers who passed the
highly competitive English Teacher Employment Exams can also be expected to
accommodate the major innovations and upgrade the Korean secondary English
education system. According to a headmaster of a middle school in Seoul
(Choi, 2013), although many complaints were raised about the lack of English
proficiency of some teachers of English at schools about ten years ago, the
62 Young Shik Lee
complaints are not raised against the contemporary teachers of English at
present. Therefore, it is hoped that all the objectives and all the innovations
discussed thus far would lead to achieving the goal of improving students’
communicative competence in English in the near future.

Notes
1 In 2001 the name for the Ministry of Education (MOE) was changed to the Ministry
of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD). In February 2008,
some departments of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) were merged with
MEHRD to become the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST). Since
the new government came into power in 2013, however, the MEST was changed to the
Ministry of Education (MOE), with its division of science and technology merged with
the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.
2 The figures of test-takers and employment quota were collected by visiting the Education
Authority homepage for each metropolitan city or province. However, the figures of re-
takers were collected by contacting the education officers who were responsible for the
teachers’ employment exam in each city or province’s Education Authority.

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4 Educating for the 21st century
The Singapore experience
Peter Teo

Introduction
In recent years, there has been a call for educators worldwide to prepare students
for the 21st century. This is in response to a need to help students navigate and
optimize opportunities and resources available, in an increasingly globalized
world and inter-connected social landscape. This demands students to go beyond
the learning of content knowledge and examination skills to be equipped with a
more holistic education that emphasizes life skills such as communication, creativ-
ity, cross-cultural collaboration and understandings, and critical thinking.
This chapter discusses the endeavors made by Singapore to prepare students
for the 21st century through the infusion of these competencies in the areas of
curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, and how this impacts the teaching of
English at the secondary level. The discussion is framed against the Singapore
Ministry of Education’s vision for developing the 21st-century competencies and
the 2010 English Language Syllabus. Findings of recent research conducted in
Singapore secondary schools relating to the teaching of English are referenced
to highlight possible gaps in current approaches and practices in the English
classroom. The chapter closes with a discussion of issues and challenges that
educators in Singapore will have to address and confront if Singapore’s vision for
education in the 21st century is to be realized.
As many of us are aware, we are in the midst of a technological and digital
revolution that is already beginning to fundamentally transform the ways we learn,
live, communicate, and relate to one another and the world around us. Some say
that this revolution, which springs from and derives its impetus from the rapid
development and proliferation of information, communication and multimedia
technologies, will have a greater impact on society than the transition from an oral
to a print culture (Kellner, 1999). The challenges that this 21st-century landscape
presents to us ascribe to education the critical role of equipping the next genera-
tion with the skills, competencies and dispositions needed to navigate and find
their bearings in this new digital era. The 21st century challenges educators to
rethink their basic pedagogical principles and approaches in order to harness the
educational potential of these new technologies in creative and productive ways,
and to restructure schooling to respond appropriately and constructively to the
pervasive and profound social changes that we are now experiencing.
66 Peter Teo
This chapter discusses the Singapore experience in terms of the steps taken by
Singapore’s educators to confront the challenges and embrace the opportunities
afforded by the 21st-century landscape, with a focus on the teaching and learn-
ing of English at the secondary level. The chapter is organized into three main
sections. The first begins with an overview of the 21st-century landscape. This is
followed by a discussion of the complex role and status of English in Singapore
society and the official position taken by the Ministry of Education to develop the
so-called 21st century competencies in students through policy pronouncements
and curricular changes. The second section moves from policy to practice by
highlighting classroom research on the teaching and learning of secondary
English in Singapore with a focus on 21st-century skills. This paves the way for
the final section, which discusses some of the key issues and challenges that will
continue to confront classroom teachers and teacher educators in their endeavors
to prepare Singapore students for the 21st century.

English education in the 21st century

The 21st-century landscape

In order to understand what 21st-century skills are all about, it is perhaps useful
to first know what 20th-century skills referred to and why they have been super-
seded. Focus on core content knowledge through an essential transmissionist
mode of teaching in which factual knowledge is unproblematically transmitted
from an authoritative source, such as the teacher or textbook, to the student was
a key feature of the 20th-century classroom. This teacher-centered, textbook-
driven approach encouraged passive learning of discrete facts and isolated knowl-
edge. But with the rapid proliferation and dissemination of knowledge made
possible by the advent of computer technology, particularly the Internet, the
mere ownership or mastery of knowledge has become less important than the
synthesis, evaluation, application, transformation and even creation of new
knowledge. At the same time, with the increased mobility of peoples, cultures
and ideas across geographic boundaries as part of globalization, there is now a
greater need for people to be more open and receptive to cross-cultural and
interdisciplinary communication and collaboration. In response to this changing
landscape, a set of skills, competencies and dispositions have been identified as
imperative for people of the 21st century to live, work and function effectively.
These have been broadly categorized into three key areas: (1) information and
communication skills; (2) civic literacy, global awareness and cross-cultural skills;
and (3) critical and inventive thinking (partnership for 21st century skills; see
also Wan and Gut, 2011).
Singapore, being a modern, developed city-state, is very much part of this new
technological landscape. Singaporeans are reportedly the heaviest Internet users
in Southeast Asia, averaging 25 hours online per week, followed by consumers
in the Philippines and Malaysia who averaged 21.5 hours and 19.8 hours online
per week respectively (Straits Times, 9 November 2011). This is according to
 The Singapore experience 67
Nielsen’s Southeast Asia Digital Consumer study on the digital media habits and
attitudes of Southeast Asian consumers. Based on this study, Facebook has been
identified as the dominant social media site in Singapore, with 77 per cent of
Singaporeans maintaining an active profile on Facebook, followed by YouTube
with 45 per cent having an active profile. According to another news report
(Straits Times, 5 November 2011), social media participation has experienced an
increase across a range of age groups with the increased accessibility of media
‘anywhere, anytime’ through mobile devices.

Educational policy in Singapore

On the educational front, the Ministry of Education has responded to this techno-
logical revolution with a slew of reforms aimed at preparing students for the 21st
century. This is seen in the areas of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment as well as
teacher education. The 21st-century thrust is evident in the ‘Total Curriculum’
envisaged by the Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE) with its emphasis on
presenting opportunities in curricular as well as co-curricular programs for the
development of ‘soft skills’ such as communication, inter-cultural and thinking
skills. In a press release on 9 March 2010, the MOE announced a new framework
to enhance the development of 21st-century competencies in Singapore students,
which ‘will underpin the holistic education that our schools provide to better
prepare our students to thrive in a fast-changing and highly-connected world’
(Ministry of Education). In this framework represented in Figure 4.1 below, a set
of core values that define a person’s character, shape his beliefs and attitudes, and
determine his actions, must underpin the learning of knowledge and skills.
Surrounding these core values at the outermost ring are the 21st-century compe-
tencies of communication, cross-cultural sensitivity and critical thinking, skills
deemed essential in a globalized world. Likewise, in teacher education, a framework
known as Teacher Education for the 21st Century (TE21) has been conceptualized
to redirect teacher education away from a transmissionist approach to teaching and
learning to focus instead on the cultivation of values, attitudes and dispositions that
are conducive to the development of critical thinking, collaborative learning and
teamwork, and communication skills (TE21, 2009). What then is the role of
English and English education in Singapore in this 21st-century landscape?

English education in Singapore

Language is the primary means in and through which skills and competencies are
not only transmitted but also realized. The position of English language in
Singapore not only as a subject of study and a medium of instruction in schools,
but also the lingua franca that facilitates interaction and bonding among the
different ethnic and cultural groups in Singapore is perhaps unique among Asian
countries. This is the result of Singapore’s colonial history and post-independence
language policies, which combine to produce such a trajectory of language
development in Singapore.
68 Peter Teo

X
/A Self-Awareness
““S 0 k \

r/
Self­
M anagem ent V *5.
<5 3
•O O­
c Responsible r>
<q Decision­ Core Values o*
c Mw
o M aking r\
$
5 c
M
Social /,
Relationship
M anagem ent
Awareness
/i
\\ /
v ^ ' and fnventWe^ ^

Figure 4.1 The Singapore MOE Framework of 21st century competencies and desired
outcomes
(Source: Singapore Ministry of Education website)

A language policy introduced in 1979 which privileges English as the ‘first

language’ and local languages such as Malay and Tamil as ‘second’ or ‘mother-
tongue’ languages has been labeled an ‘English-knowing’ bilingual policy (Pakir,
1991), accentuating the special status accorded to English and hence the study
of English in schools. This coupled with the fact that English is internationally
recognized as a global language of the Internet, science and technology, and
world trade make English education in Singapore a critical area that has tremen-
dous social, economic and political implications. Scholars have referred to this
confluence of local and global forces that has shaped the unique role, status and
usage of English in Singapore as glocalization. First used by Robertson (1995)
in the context of economics, the term has been recontextualized by sociolinguists
like Pakir (1991), Bokhorst-Heng (2005) and Alsagoff (2010) in various ways
to describe the development of English in Singapore as simultaneously
 The Singapore experience 69
embracing a global or international ‘instrumentalist’ value and a local or national
‘identity’ signification. The globalist perspective privileges a ‘standard’ variety of
English and produces an imperative to educate Singaporeans to use a variety of
English that is internationally intelligible and therefore carries economic capital.
The localist perspective, on the other hand, recognizes and valorizes a variety of
English imbued with local accents and ethnic associations (commonly referred to
as ‘Singlish’), which therefore bestows the user with considerable cultural
capital.
These two fundamentally opposing perspectives have produced a somewhat
unique, complex and even contradictory sociolinguistic space in Singapore that
English educators and learners have to continually and carefully navigate.
Influenced by the globalist, instrumentalist tendency, policy-makers tend to
advocate and encourage the use of Standard English in public spaces including
classrooms through, for instance, the ‘Speak Good English Movement’ (SGEM).
Launched in 2000, the SGEM is a nationwide movement to encourage
Singaporeans to speak Standard English that is universally understood and to
discourage the use of Singlish (see Rubdy, 2001 for a critique of this movement).
However, in their day-to-day interactions from the classroom to the canteen,
teachers and learners realize that they have to constantly move and (re)negotiate
the boundaries between the public and personal spaces that English simultane-
ously inhabits. These spaces are hardly impermeable as the public and the
personal spaces merge and the globalist and localist perspectives meet. This is
because teachers realize that they have to cultivate rapport with their students in
order to engage them in learning. The problem is compounded for English
teachers, as English is not only a medium of instruction for them but also the
subject and object of study for their students. Teachers are acutely aware that as
much they should model the use of ‘good’ English, they must first engage their
students, which may mean speaking an informal variety of English to build
rapport and solidarity with them. Public policy notwithstanding, Singlish contin-
ues to inhabit spaces and flourish in contexts that draw on and engender familiar-
ity, intimacy and solidarity. Together with the call to prepare the next generation
for the 21st century, this need to negotiate between educational policy and
communicative practice has made the job of English educators in Singapore all
the more challenging.
In the face of these challenges, let us now take a look at the English Language
Syllabus in Singapore for a glimpse into the official stance and philosophy of
English education to gain a better understanding of how some of these issues are
being grappled with.

The English Language Syllabus

The latest 2010 English Language Syllabus underscores language as a means of
meaning-making and communication and is based on a functional model of
language (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004). It builds on the previous 2001 sylla-
bus by retaining its focus on language use and how this is influenced by audience,
70 Peter Teo
purpose, context and culture, which in turn affect the production and consump-
tion of various types of texts or genres in society. In this respect, the syllabus
seems to privilege a view of language that embraces the various functions and
uses of English in different contexts, which then provide the scope for cultivating
an awareness and use of different registers and varieties of English, including
Singlish. However, the syllabus also explicitly states as one of its aims the need
for students to use ‘internationally acceptable English (Standard English) that is
grammatical, fluent, mutually intelligible…’ (English Language Syllabus 2010,
p. 10). The explicit reference to ‘Standard English’ and international acceptabil-
ity is an overt alignment with the globalist perspective, which precludes any space
for Singlish. In this light, it is interesting to note that, in the same sentence cited
above, the syllabus also states the importance for students to learn English that
is ‘appropriate for different purposes, audiences, contexts and cultures’. How
teachers should reconcile and operationalize the syllabus aims which explicitly
and seemingly exclusively advocate the use of ‘Standard English’, while simulta-
neously exposing students to the ‘different purposes, audience, contexts and
cultures’ of English (sans Singlish) usage remains an unanswered question.
One notable departure from the previous syllabus is the recognition given by
the current syllabus that language competency or literacy in the 21st century
goes beyond the four traditional language skills – reading, writing, speaking and
listening – and necessarily embraces a multimodal construal of communication.
To quote from the syllabus again:

The EL curriculum will be enriched through the use of a variety of print and
non-print resources that provide authentic contexts for incorporating the
development of information, media and visual literacy skills in the teaching
of listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing, and representing.
(English Language Syllabus, 2010, p. 9)

Two aspects are noteworthy in this quote. The first is authenticity, which places
emphasis on the use of materials produced and consumed in the real world, as
opposed to textbooks or other instructional materials produced expressly for
consumption in the classroom. Even though the use of materials other than the
textbook for language teaching has been encouraged since the introduction of the
2001 syllabus and many schools in Singapore, especially the more established ones,
have already been using newspaper and magazine articles as teaching resources for
reading and writing, the advocacy for authenticity has not been signaled in such an
explicit manner until the 2010 syllabus. Implicit within this is the acknowledge-
ment that language, in all its multifarious aspects and modes of expression, is best
learnt within natural, authentic contexts, and the incorporation of authentic teach-
ing materials is but one way of narrowing the gulf between the classroom and the
real world outside. The second aspect is multimodality, which refers to the various
modes through which meaning can be represented and expressed. Besides the use
of traditional print texts, films, radio broadcasts, and especially web-based or digital
resources like podcasts, vodcasts and e-books are also encouraged to expose
 The Singapore experience 71
students to a rich variety of texts, in the broadest possible sense of the word, and
to facilitate the development of multiliteracies in students. So, apart from the
teaching of traditional language skills like reading, writing, listening and speaking,
together with grammar and vocabulary, the 2010 syllabus also highlights the need
to teach students how to view both static and moving images and how to express
meaning through such modes of representation as well. This is a reflection of the
cyber-world of video games, weblogs and Internet chat rooms that teenagers in
Singapore and many parts of the increasingly technology-mediated and Internet-
connected world inhabit. Ironically, it is this virtual world which represents the
‘real world’ that youths participate in and identify with outside of the classroom.
At the same time, it is also a reflection of what living in the 21st century entails:
an understanding of how such modes of meaning-making and expression interpen-
etrate with more traditional modes and thereby becoming an integral and insepa-
rable part of the 21st century-communication toolkit. The teaching of these six
skills – reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing and representing – must
therefore also highlight their intertwined and interactive nature. This is reflected
in Figure 4.2 below by the interlocking rings.
Aside from curricular innovations, the Ministry of Education in Singapore is
also cognizant of the crucial role played by tests and examinations. In many
countries, teaching is dependent on and even driven by testing, and Singapore
is no exception. Hence, for these changes in the syllabus to take root and
become part of the classroom culture in Singapore, the way students’ perfor-
mance in high-stakes tests and examinations is measured must give commensu-
rate reward to the display and demonstration of these skills and competencies.
In response to this, the Ministry of Education announced substantive changes
in the English Language examination, which took effect in 2013. Changes
include the introduction of a new section in the comprehension paper which
requires students to answer questions in response to a text which contain visuals
to test their appreciation of how language and visual images interact to create
meaning and impact. Likewise, in the writing paper, students will now have to
write a text based on a given situation which involves viewing a visual text. Even
in the oral communication paper, students have to now view a visual stimulus
in order to engage in discussion with the examiners. These changes in the
examination, no doubt, are meant to broaden the range of competencies and
communicative repertoires that students in Singapore need to possess in order
to function effectively in the 21st century. Another key feature of the 2010
syllabus worth highlighting is the focus on Assessment for Learning (AfL) as
opposed to assessment of learning. This represents a movement away from a
heavy weighting placed on summative testing, which focuses on the product of
learning, to focus more on learning as a process which necessarily reconstrues
and reorients assessment tasks towards developing rather than merely evaluating
students’ learning.
What I have sketched above is a portrait of the latest incarnation of the English
Language syllabus in Singapore with respect to its goals and desired outcomes,
in terms of both curricular content and assessment strategy. But to what extent
72 Peter Teo

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Figure 4.2 Key features of the 2010 Singapore English Language Syllabus
(Source: Singapore English Language Syllabus 2010, p. 13)

is this syllabus being enacted in classroom practices through new approaches to

teaching, learning and testing? To answer this question, let us turn to research
conducted in Singapore that examined the pedagogic practices, teaching and
learning processes and actual classroom talk obtained through empirical,
classroom-based research. This will afford us a glimpse into the Singapore
English Language classroom in terms of its practices, problems and potentials in
teaching and learning in the 21st-century landscape.

Educational research in Singapore

Set up in 2003 to facilitate evidence-based research in educational policy and
pedagogical practices in Singapore, the research agenda of the Centre for
Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP) at the National Institute of
Education (NIE) includes the following priorities:
 The Singapore experience 73
1) Build a comprehensive databank of teaching and learning in Singaporean
classrooms so as to evaluate the impact of policy initiatives and support
evidence-based interventions and policy development.
2) Identify the nature of the skills, understandings, dispositions and values that
young people are likely to need to effectively negotiate the 21st-century
landscape and to lead lives that are meaningful to themselves and valuable
to their communities.

The following findings of CRPP’s early, large-scale research pertaining to English

education summarized below are culled from the research reports produced by
Hogan, Luke, Kramer-Dahl, Lau, Liau, Koh, Kang, Abdul Rahim and Quek
(2006) and McInerney and Liem (2007).

1. Emphasis on product rather than process, form rather than meaning

In implementing a genre-based approach to language teaching (Derewianka,
2003), it was found that the teaching and learning units in EL classrooms were
largely geared towards the production of prototypical text types rather than the
creation of opportunities for the exploration of real-world texts to understand
how and why they are created. Rather than building up the content knowledge
of a particular field first and then introducing the structure and language at a
stage when it is needed for the students to communicate about this field, teachers
tended to front-load the structural and language features of the text type, which
then became the focus and subject matter of the teaching and learning.
Consequently, students tended to produce structured, mechanistic and formulaic
texts, which display a mastery of structural form rather than demonstrate the
effective communication of meaning in a real context (see Wiggins, 2009 for a
discussion on how writing rubrics tend to emphasize structure and mechanics
rather than meaning and impact, resulting in the production of typically lifeless
writing).

2. Superficial, fragmented and reductive teaching

It was also observed that EL teaching tended to focus on vocabulary/spelling
tests, grammar worksheets, comprehension exercises and single draft composi-
tions, without showing how vocabulary, grammar, comprehension and composi-
tion writing are all inter-related. Model texts were shown without modeling the
actual text-construction process. If teachers made explicit the ‘knowing how’
(rather than ‘knowing that’) aspect of a task, the ‘how’ was focused on the
mechanical/procedural rather than the literacy/cognitive dimensions of the task.
As such, students were not taught how to think and apply what they have learnt
about one particular text exemplar to other texts within the same text type, or to
extrapolate what they have learnt about one text type in terms of the importance
of audience, purpose, context and culture to other text types. This ‘recipe peda-
gogy’ stems from and reproduces the ideology that texts have fixed, predictable
and monolithic structures which can simply be reproduced unproblematically.
There is a lack of acknowledgement of the role of multiple and different readers
74 Peter Teo
and writers and how they influence the way a text is produced and consumed. This
creates a disjuncture and a sense of disconnect between the stilted and contrived
classroom texts that are produced and consumed on the one hand, and the
dynamic and often pastiche or hybrid texts that are being created and consumed
in the increasingly digitized world outside, on the other.

3. Misuse of multimedia and multimodal texts

The research also found the use of multimedia to be tokenistic, acting as a source
of motivation and diversion from traditional print materials rather than being an
integral part of learning how multimodal texts produce meaning. Still images
from the Internet or videos from YouTube were sometimes introduced in a
lesson often to break the monotony of, or as a prelude to, a more traditional
pen-and-paper task. Rarely did teachers enter into a discussion of how different
modes of representation have different capacities for creating different meanings
or ‘affordances’ (Kress, 2003). Also, there was limited use of technology to
facilitate the production, assessment and communication of knowledge claims
and meaning making.

4. Monologic rather than dialogic teaching

It was also observed that students were rarely invited or encouraged to speak or
write in an extended manner (except under test conditions) to allow them to
develop their ability to produce a reasoned, substantiated and clearly articulated
opinion or argument. Student talk was typically characterized by fragmented
speech or even monosyllabic responses, and it is the teacher who was engaged in
substantive talk characterized by reason, evidence, logic and coherence most of
the time. This is exacerbated by the fact that teacher questions tended to be
closed rather than open, resulting in limited extended or elaborated text produc-
tion (oral or written). More importantly, teacher talk sometimes lacked peda-
gogic purpose and was used for social control rather than to develop learning in
students.

5. A critical view of texts and knowledge construction

The research also found that students were often left to struggle on their own to
decode passages without adequate instruction on or practice in interpreting and
evaluating texts for how and why meaning is constructed at the micro level and
the ideological assumptions and points-of-view implied within them at the macro
level. Deconstruction and construction of alternative texts rarely took place to
allow for ideological critique.
In addition to the large-scale research which is largely descriptive in nature,
there has also been a suite of smaller intervention studies aimed at improving the
quality of teaching and learning of English which were conducted either in
tandem with or in response to these larger studies. Some of these have recently
been concluded while others are still ongoing.
Kramer-Dahl, Teo, Chia and Churchill conducted a study which examined the
literacy practices and the kinds of opportunities provided for students to expand
 The Singapore experience 75
their textual repertoires in the secondary English, Science and Social Studies
classrooms (see Teo, 2008; Teo and Kramer-Dahl, 2011). Their findings show
that English teachers tended towards template-teaching and offered only
restricted opportunities for students to expand their literacy repertoires using
authentic texts and contexts. Ho, Nelson and Mueller Wittig (2011) is an inter-
vention study involving lower secondary students. It comprises two phases of
intervention in designing a virtual museum as a means through which to explore
multiple modes of communication and, more broadly, the nature of multilitera-
cies and multimodal pedagogy. This virtual museum environment, replete with
models of museum artifacts so that students can interact with the exhibits using
all their five senses, allows them to enter a theatrical set which recreates the situ-
ations and places for them to draw inspiration from for their own creative produc-
tions. The study upholds the philosophy of the 2010 EL syllabus which advocates
a ‘strong foundation and rich language for all’ by enriching the curriculum
through the infusion of authentic, rich texts with extensive opportunities for
students to engage in creative and sustained writing and integration of informa-
tion and media literacies at multiple levels. The study aims to show the viability
of designing an innovative, technologically mediated learning environment
for Language Arts to encourage imagination, create inspiration and develop
innovation – skills acknowledged as critical in this age of interactive digital culture
of the 21st century. Another study (Towndrow, Nelson and Wan Fareed, 2013)
explores the theoretical and analytic issues surrounding a digital story produced
by a secondary school student as an instance of a multimedia literacy performance
and the implications it holds for new literacy scholars and educators. This work
stemmed from a two-year innovation study involving English Language and
Literature (ELL) teachers from one secondary school and the researchers
co-designing, co-implementing and co-evaluating student learning outcomes in
ELL-based multimodal literacy practices. In a similar vein, Chen and Lin under-
took a survey to assess the level of new media literacy of students in Singapore
schools. The project aimed to study the meaning and scope of new media literacy
to develop a conceptual framework for new media literacy. Finally, a recent study
was conducted in 2011 to investigate how secondary school teachers of English
administer classroom assessment and the principles their practices draw on. With
the current thrust towards AfL, an investigation like this would shed light on the
current assessment practices of English teachers to identify gaps in both knowl-
edge and implementation for further teacher education.
The above is a summary of what recent research involving English education
in Singapore has found pertaining to the infusion of the 21st-century compe-
tencies in the EL classroom. From this summary of recent research, it is evident
that there are gaps and issues and hence opportunities and potential for growth
and development in the way English is being taught and learnt in Singapore.
In the following section, I shall sketch in broad-brush strokes some of the key
challenges that will most probably continue to confront classroom teachers and
teacher educators in their endeavors to prepare Singapore students for the 21st
century.
76 Peter Teo

Challenges for English educators

Focusing on meaning rather than form,

process rather than product
At the broader, systemic level, there needs to be a paradigm shift in focus from
what students produce in a test or simulated test situation to what students
discover about what they learn, how they learn and why they learn. This can be
achieved through the use of portfolios as a reflective instrument that documents
students’ learning journey, for instance. At the more micro, classroom level,
there also needs to be a sharper focus on meaning rather than form or structure.
The genre-based approach to English teaching has been shown to be enacted in
a rather mechanistic fashion emphasizing formulaic compositions and stifling
creativity. Meaning, it seems, has been sacrificed at the altar of form and struc-
ture. The current genre-based curriculum that the syllabus advocates and teach-
ers adopt needs to be more open and responsive rather than closed to the
negotiability and indeed creativity of meaning. Teachers should not give students
the impression that the structures and features of the various genres like narra-
tives, arguments and reports presented to them are to be religiously imitated and
reproduced in their own writing. In particular, the genre-based curriculum has
to be situated more deeply and sincerely within the lived experiences of students
and their worlds, rather than have meanings, saliences and values imposed upon
them by well-meaning, far-sighted, but ultimately distant and alien authorities
like the teacher.
Also, the functional approach from which the genre-based approach is derived
is normative and ultimately authoritarian. The functions and purposes of
language are pre-determined and imposed upon students. The purpose of a text
seems to exist outside of the realm of experience of the students, and is some-
thing that the teacher needs to export from the ‘adult’ or ‘expert’ world and
relocate to the students’ domain of experience and reality. Students are seldom
invited to discover for themselves the meanings, intentions and effects of the
texts they encounter in their own world. Even more rarely are they invited to
discuss ‘new media texts’ like those found in Facebook, weblogs, and YouTube
that they encounter, consume and produce in their own worlds, except for the
tokenistic ‘old media texts’ like advertisements or newspaper reports that they
are asked usually in groups to collectively construct.
There is not enough of bringing of the classroom world to encounter with the
students’ world and not enough of the students’ world being brought into the
classroom world. But this is not simply a call to incorporate or even integrate
more information technology into our language classrooms so as to make learn-
ing fun and relevant for our students. Rather, what we want to say to our
students is that what is important is not the use of technology to communicate
but the meanings they communicate with it. Technology is merely the medium
and not the message. If technology enhances meaning, then by all means
embrace it; but if it distracts from or dilutes it, then one must have the gumption
 The Singapore experience 77
to jettison it. Indeed, without proper resources, pedagogy, and educational prac-
tices, technology might be an obstacle or burden to genuine learning and will
probably increase rather than overcome existing divisions of power, cultural
capital, and wealth (Kellner, 1998).
To prevent this from happening, the meanings that are generated and valor-
ized in class must arise from students’ own experiences, world-views, value-
systems, beliefs and opinions. Teachers need to encourage students to express
their own experiences and ideas by sending a strong and consistent signal that
their teacher and their peers really value them. At the same time, there is a need
to stress that the language skills and control over different genres, registers and
varieties of English, including Singlish, that we develop in our students are valu-
able not only within the classroom walls or examinations halls but also in the ‘real
world’. Nothing motivates learning better than relevance (see Wilhelm and
Smith, 2006). If we can signal to students that what we teach them about
English is relevant to them when they graduate and leave school, then they
would be motivated to learn; otherwise, the motivation would only be extrinsic
and transient, if it exists at all.

Raising the intellectual and critical quality

of classroom interaction
One of the gaps identified by researchers is the low intellectual and critical qual-
ity of interaction in the English classroom. One way of improving the intellectual
quality of knowledge work and classroom talk is through ‘dialogic teaching’
(Alexander, 2001). Dialogic teaching does not simply emphasize engaging
students in dialogue but opening the space for students to challenge not just
what their peers say but what their teachers or textbooks say, so that there is a
greater co-construction of knowledge rather than knowledge being unilaterally
transmitted from textbook mediated by the teacher to the student. In Singapore,
the classroom is seldom viewed as a collaborative learning community; rather, it
is dominated by teacher talk where authority resides overwhelmingly in teachers
and students rarely question, let alone challenge, the teacher (Vaish, 2008).
Thus, transforming this monologic style of teaching into a more dialogic
approach will be one of the challenges that educators in Singapore face.
Additionally, there is scope and potential for critical literacy to take a more
prominent place in the EL curriculum. Critical literacy allows students to view
texts through a set of critical lens that exposes the motivations, assumptions and
ideologies behind texts. In this sense, it not only encourages students to see what
they can do with texts but what texts do to them. At the same time, critical
literacy also adopts a comprehensive and holistic view of language and meaning-
making, in that it often focuses on meaning production and interpretation
through a wide range of text forms and modes of communication, including
(new) media texts. As the modern technologies of communication become more
and more accessible to young people and average citizens in the 21st century, EL
teachers could guide students to learn how to deconstruct texts in order to
78 Peter Teo
expose and resist media manipulation, as well as use media materials in construc-
tive ways. In this way, critical (media) literacy could empower students by equip-
ping them with skills that will make them more motivated and competent
participants in social life and ultimately enhance democratization and participa-
tion (Kellner, 1998).

Marrying the ‘old’ and ‘new’ literacies

It seems that teachers are relatively well-equipped to train students in the tradi-
tional literacy skills of reading and writing within a print environment, but when
it comes to the digital environment, it is much less systematic, when most of the
time students are left to explore on their own how to make meaning of visual or
moving images, for instance, and how these interact with the printed word. What
reading strategies should students use to navigate the hypertextual and multi-
modal environment of websites? How do the non-linear reading paths affect the
way students process meaning? How should we read meaning into things like
‘angle of shot’ or ‘frontal’ versus ‘oblique’ perspectives in visual images? What
are the different capacities for meaning-making or what Gunther Kress calls the
‘affordances’ that different modes of representation have? For instance, what can
a moving image convey which words on a page cannot and vice versa? These are
examples of questions that probe at the specific multiliteracy skills which students
are currently ill-equipped with, mainly because the teachers themselves are not
properly trained to teach such skills. Traditional strategies for teaching reading,
writing and oral communication skills would need to be supplemented by new
media pedagogies. This then begs the question of how language teachers can
combine the best of the ‘old’ literacies with the best that the ‘new’ literacies have
to offer, so that we do not perpetuate the awkward situation in which
20th-century teachers are trying to teach 21st-century students using perhaps
19th-century pedagogies!

Moving from an assessment-driven curriculum

to a curriculum-driven assessment
With a shift in the way we construe learning, there has to be a concomitant
change in the way we assess learning. It is a well-known truism that assessment
drives behavior. In Singapore’s education system, high-stakes examinations
remain one of the sacred cows, so entrenched in the system that success not only
in schools but also in life has come to be defined by the grades that one scores
in exams. In such an examination-obsessed climate, innovations in curriculum or
pedagogy will ultimately be frustrated and nullified by the imperative to prepare
students for the test, to teach to the test.
The problem is simple: if the assessment does not change, the pedagogy will
not. The solution, however, is rather more complicated. While Singapore schools
have experimented with new and alternative forms of assessment like project
work, they exist as experimental projects on the periphery of education. They do
 The Singapore experience 79
not permeate and become infused, as they should, into the life and pulse of
everyday classroom practices, if they are to really transform what, how and why
students learn. There needs to be a sea-change if Singapore is to move away from
an assessment-driven curriculum to a curriculum-driven assessment where teach-
ers teach to the desired goals of the 21st-century curriculum rather than the
20th-century test. The message we have to convey to students, parents and
educators is that we have to assess what we value. If 21st-century skills, compe-
tencies and dispositions are indeed what we value, then it is these that we must
assess and not simply pay lip service to while we continue to prime students to
tick the right answers in multiple-choice questions or reproduce model answers
in a timed, individualized testing environment.
As Barack Obama, President of the USA, was quoted to have said in March
2009, ‘I’m calling on our nation… to develop standards and assessments that
don’t simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test, but whether
they possess 21st century skills like problem-solving and critical thinking and
entrepreneurship and creativity’ (Fadel, 2010). So, we need to move beyond
MCQ tests to project-based assignments or problem-based tasks, for instance,
that take students out of their comfort zones of tests and examinations so that
they are encouraged to develop, display and demonstrate the 21st-century skills
of critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration and communication, and
thinking out of the box.

Broadening the definition of ‘success’

and hence the safety-net for failure
Providing ‘more peaks of excellence’ (Ministry of Education, 2010) and more
finely differentiated educational pathways is a step in the right direction, but
persuading the students and their parents that these pathways are equally valued
by society would take more effort and time. When one steps into any Singapore
classroom, one is typically greeted by a set-up in which students are seated in
clusters of four or five, abuzz with activity. One must not, however, mistake
group work for collaborative learning. Students in Singapore schools are typically
put into groups to work together on work-sheets or group tasks, but they are
seldom explicitly taught how to work collaboratively in groups (Lwin, Goh and
Doyle, 2011). If the vision of the 21st-century landscape, which valorizes collab-
orative skills, is to become reality, then the best place for us to develop and hone
such skills would be the classroom. But given the current fiercely competitive
atmosphere and a low tolerance of failure in most schools, it is competition
rather collaboration that seems to rule. Thus, there is a need to examine and test
ways by which true collaborative work rather than facile group work can be
engendered amidst this competitive milieu. Research in this area, focusing on
teacher input and pupil talk and how this contributes to collaborative learning,
would be an important step forward if group work is to transform into collabora-
tive learning. Intervention studies aimed at promoting ‘dialogic teaching’ can
also unlock the resources of classroom discourse so that it can be harnessed to
80 Peter Teo
produce collaborative learning. More fundamentally, however, there needs to be
a movement away from the focus on individual performance, which is prevalent
in extant high-stakes examinations, towards one that gives due recognition and
reward to group collaboration in a fair and consistent manner.

Conclusion
We are already well into the second decade of the 21st century. Yet, research
seems to suggest that Singapore is less than prepared for the 21st century in
terms of educating its students and equipping them with the skills, developing
the competencies and cultivating the dispositions they would require to work,
play and live in the 21st century. As many advocates of the 21st-century compe-
tencies say, we are preparing them to do jobs that do not exist yet, and to solve
problems that we can only imagine now. ‘The illiterate of the 21st century will
not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn
and relearn’, according to Alvin Toffler (cited in Wan and Gut, 2011, p. 1).
Whether Singapore’s English education will succeed in preparing students for
the 21st century remains to be seen. Fortunately, we still have some time to get
it right, and for the sake of our students and the world in which they will inhabit
and help shape let’s hope we will get it right.

Note
1 This remark was made during the candidate’s doctoral confirmation seminar.

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82 Peter Teo
Wiggins, G. (2009) Real-world writing: Making purpose and audience matter. English
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Part II

Bridging gaps in policy

development and
implementation
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5 Secondary English education
in Bangladesh
A critical review
Arifa Rahman

Like most Asian countries, secondary education in Bangladesh is planned and

managed by the education ministry. This chapter analyzes secondary English
education in public and private sectors and the complexities within the delivery
system. A curriculum perspective first highlights background features and varied
attempts at reform. Then a critical stance is adopted regarding issues that impact
on the entire delivery system. This includes a sociological perception of educa-
tional inequalities seen to be perpetrated through the system itself. Finally, an
argument is forwarded for a coherent approach to frame a viable policy that may
be sustainable within the national framework.

Introduction
Bangladesh, a developing country in South Asia, has a population of approxi-
mately 160 million (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2012) within an area the
size of England and Wales combined, making it the eighth most densely popu-
lated country in the world. With an urban population of 25 per cent (UNICEF
Bangladesh Statistics, 2012), a basic literacy rate of 56.8 per cent (Human
Development Report, 2011), and an education budget that amounts to 2.4 per
cent of the GDP, the government faces various challenges in providing access to
quality education for all.
The country follows the traditional three-tier education system introduced by
the British during colonial rule. This comprises the primary level (Years 1–5), the
secondary level (Years 6–12) and the tertiary level (Years 13–16). The secondary
level has recently been re-structured with Years 6–8 being re-grouped into the
junior level and subsumed under the primary tier. The current secondary level
covers four years of schooling comprising secondary (Years 9–10) and the higher
secondary (Years 11–12).
While the Ministry of Education is responsible for formulation of policies, the
Secondary and Higher Education Directorate implements these policies at
secondary and higher secondary levels with the National Curriculum and
Textbook Board (NCTB) providing the educational management body for
primary and secondary education in-country. NCTB is mainly responsible for
developing curriculum and textbooks, providing directives and criteria to the
86 Arifa Rahman
state examination boards for testing, and initiating and planning revisions and
changes from time to time.
The Bangla (Bengali) language is strongly ensconced amongst over 98 per cent
of the population (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2011). Historically, the
Bangla language traces its origin to twelfth-century Prakrit, a derivative of
Sanskrit and has an ancient written literature and a long literary tradition.
English was introduced at the turn of the nineteenth century during British
colonial rule and through a complex series of developments, often influenced by
political and socio-economic factors, it has reached a position today, as in most
Asian countries, of necessity and prestige (Kachru, 2005). And yet, throughout
the period of Bangladesh’s existence since 1971, there has not been any definite
policy regarding the English language (Rahman, 2007).

Chapter overview
The chapter is organized into two sections, the first being a report from a general
curriculum perspective. Some significant interrelated issues are discussed includ-
ing the administration’s attempts, often through donor-aided projects, at updat-
ing English language education at the secondary level. The role of three high
stakes state-level tests is also examined as they are seen to have a strong impact
on teaching and learning practices both in and out of school.
The second section attempts a critical review of the secondary English educa-
tion delivery system in terms of the language education policy and the mismatches
between declared objectives and national directives. In addition, a sociological
insight is forwarded into some of the inequalities that appear to be perpetrated in
the process. In conclusion, certain crucial aspects are highlighted and the need for
a coherent approach through coordinated efforts is emphasized.

Section 1: A curriculum perspective

Some background issues

Immediately after independence in 1971, English, which had had a major pres-
ence in education in previous decades, was relegated to a marginalized position.
The language was taken off the primary level, withdrawn from tertiary education
but remained as a compulsory subject at the secondary stage (school Years 6–12).
Thus during the first decade of independence, Bangladesh felt the political need
to discourage English and promote the national language, Bangla.
At the same time, it is interesting to note that there were no clear directives
for the phasing out of English which had held powerful sway in previous decades
(Rahman, 2007). It has been pointed out that perhaps because this transition
phase was not carefully discussed, planned or managed, English began to make
its presence felt again (Khan, 2004). This may be partly true but it is the complex
interplay of a variety of linguistic and non-linguistic factors as identified by
Spolsky (2004) that negated the predicted demise of English in Bangladesh as in
 Secondary English education in Bangladesh 87
other countries of this region. Instead, English continued to survive like a smoul-
dering fire – it was like ‘experiencing life after near-death’ (Kachru, 1996, p. 20).
This survival of the language was encouraged by the presence of opportuni-
ties, often overlooked by the administration, in favour of those who supported
English. As a result, this allowed them to develop and continue to be fluent in
the language. For instance, although all English-medium schools were ordered
to switch to Bangla, a number of private schools cautiously continued teaching
in English and were discreetly coveted by well-to-do families. As a result, English
during this period survived in two forms – a sterile but compulsory presence in
the school curriculum and a covert but robust presence through the surreptitious
patronage of an elitist minority (Rahman, 1991).
Moreover, as has been the trend in most countries reappraising the importance
of English through updating their language and language-in-education policies
(Tsui and Tollefson, 2007), in Bangladesh too, the initial marginalization of
English gradually gave way to its expanding role in the education sector over the
next two decades. It saw a series of language-in-education planning directives
that focused primarily on giving more space to English in the curriculum. In
1976, it was deemed appropriate to introduce English from school Year 3 and a
decade later, in 1986, from primary Year 1, following the principle generally
upheld in many regions, whether correctly or not, that the earlier learners are
exposed to English, the better it is for them (Nunan, 2003; Medgyes, 2005).
Furthermore, prompted by the recent growing discourse of the rising impor-
tance of English in the global economy, the language was re-introduced at the
tertiary level in undergraduate and graduate programs in 1994. At around the
same time, concerned with overall falling standards of English proficiency, public
universities introduced a one-year compulsory foundation English language course
for all undergraduate students in the first year. Another interesting government
initiative in the late 1990s was to encourage Bangla-medium schools to start an
English version in their institutions. Last, but not the least, a significant develop-
ment was the enactment of the Private University Act of 1992 which encouraged
the establishment of institutions of higher education to be set up in various disci-
plines by the private sector – all of them operating through the English medium1.

Secondary education
The secondary level of education in the country has till recently comprised seven
school years including Years 6–12 but the system has recently been restructured
to focus on the upper four years of secondary education. At the end of the
primary level, students are streamed into junior secondary (school Years 6–8) still
under the primary umbrella, and after that, they enter the post-primary or
secondary education stage consisting of secondary (Years 9–10) and higher
secondary (Years 11–12). Secondary education has three major streams: general
(humanities, science and business education), technical-vocational (graphic arts,
marine, agriculture), and madrasha (Islamic religious education along with
general education) (MOE-Education Structure, 2012). The net secondary
88 Arifa Rahman
school participation of the population is 48 per cent male and 52 per cent female
(Ministry of Education, Government of Bangladesh, Education Statistics, 2012).
The government’s education budget allocates the highest funding for the
secondary level (48.86 per cent), followed closely by the primary sector (33.79
per cent) with tertiary education getting 7.41 per cent. Of the total of 15,391
secondary schools, only 3 per cent are state-run and the rest are privately owned,
administered by local school management committees but receiving substantial
funding and support from the government. In secondary and higher secondary
schools there are 65,96,887 students enrolled (girls 53.38 per cent). School
drop-out rates are high with the urban/rural divide showing higher drop-outs in
rural areas. In 2009, urban secondary school dropouts stood at 38 per cent and
rural dropouts at 61 per cent (BANBEIS, 2011).
Schools at secondary level are mostly Bangla medium. There are only 1 per
cent English-medium schools mostly based in the large cities, which are privately
set up and managed. However, as stated earlier, Bangla-medium schools have
introduced a parallel English version stream. The difference between English
medium and the English version is that the former follows the University of
London’s GCE or the Senior Cambridge curriculum to prepare students for
O/A level examinations while the latter, the English version, is a parallel stream
to the Bangla medium, catering to the same national curriculum and the national
school-leaving examinations but through the medium of English. More than
52 schools mostly in urban areas have started English versions and this is still a
very nominal number. It may be pointed out the NCTB did not provide any
guidelines or resources such as English course books for more than a decade.
Hence it was only a few schools in the capital city that bravely undertook to offer
the English version at the beginning.

English in the curriculum

English is a compulsory subject from primary Year 1 to higher secondary Year 12.
Thus learners get 12 years of schooling with roughly 1,800 hours of English
classes. The NCTB Secondary English Curriculum (1996) states that English has
to be recognized as a work-oriented skill needed for employment, development
and higher education. As such, it proposed in the late 1990s the introduction of
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) as the necessary way forward. It
stated ‘English is not a content-based subject but a skills-based subject’ (p. 134).
As language is not used in a vacuum, topics are included in the CLT curriculum
but ‘they [topics] are not important in themselves, neither are they included for
their own sake. Rather they are there as necessary vehicles for the practice of the
four language skills’ (p. 134).
In tandem, the secondary level English for Today series of textbooks for
English were revised between 1998 and 2000 with a new focus on communica-
tive language teaching incorporating tasks and activities providing opportunities
for language skills practice in order to develop communicative competence.
In spite of these well-intended initiatives, classroom practice showed little change
 Secondary English education in Bangladesh 89
in teaching methodology and students and teachers continued to display poor
ability in communicating effectively in English (English in Action Report, 2009).
Recently, with a call for regions to set up English-medium private schools and
the encouragement of English versions in secondary schools, the NCTB has
been translating primary and secondary level course books of different subjects
into English. The question obviously arises: how will the schools provide quali-
fied teachers to carry out this teaching in the medium of English? Nearly 25 years
ago, a baseline survey (Baseline Survey of Secondary School English Teaching
and Learning, 1990) had found the language proficiency of English teachers far
below the required level. Two decades later, another baseline study (English in
Action Baseline Study, 2009) yielded similar findings. It is therefore quite natural
to assume the English proficiency of other subject teachers will perhaps be lower.
The reason for this state of affairs is discussed in the next section.

The assessment system

There are three public examinations at the secondary level: the Junior School
Certificate Examination (JSC) at the end of Year 8, the Secondary School
Certificate (SSC) at the end of Year 10, and the Higher Secondary Certificate
(HSC) at the end of Year 12. These examinations are organized and adminis-
tered by the seven Education Boards located in the major districts of the country.
The SSC and HSC public examinations are considered high-stake as they
perform a gate-keeping function for university entrance and career paths; 40 per
cent of admission test scores to enter public universities are calculated on the
SSC and HSC grades, and the 60 per cent allotted to actual performance during
admission tests are often nullified by the impact of the combined test scores from
these two school-leaving public exams.
The JSC, SSC and HSC examinations consist of two papers each. There are
two written papers of three hours’ duration weighted at 100 marks each. The test
items cover course book items, reading comprehension, grammar items and vari-
ous guided writing and free tasks. However, an analysis of the test format and
items show that there is a lack of alignment of the test items to the objectives of
the curriculum (English in Action, 2011). Quader (2001) points to the
resistance-to-change phenomenon that is usually evident in attempts at revision
where not only the end-users but even agencies producing and administering the
tests, e.g. the examination boards, are themselves unwilling to change. In the
name of introducing new test items in line with curriculum objectives, test setters
indulge in mere cosmetic touch-ups.
Hasan (2004), through his extensive documentary analysis of test formats and
content of SSC and HSC examination papers of all the seven education boards in
the country, maintains that in spite of efforts to revise the question papers to
match the test objectives with the curriculum objectives, there is a significant gap
between what is intended to be taught and what is measured. This is particularly
true of the Madrasah Education Board. In addition, studies (Khan 2010) have
shown that several of the test items may be tackled through memorization.
90 Arifa Rahman
Haider (2008) points out that although Bangladesh has advocated communica-
tive language teaching for more than a decade, the current SSC test is not in
accordance with the curriculum objectives, as it tests only the two skills of reading
and writing but not speaking and listening. He also maintains that the test items
that are there on writing and reading skills lack both validity and reliability – on
counts of not reflecting the syllabus appropriately, not ensuring a standardized
measure of performance and not maintaining consistency in test scoring.
In order to address this long-standing complaint of learners not developing
speaking and listening skills, the NCTB New Curriculum has included in early
2013, the assessment of speaking and listening skills of learners of English at
secondary Years 9–10 through a school-based continuous assessment system
(SBA), allotting 20 per cent marks to speaking and listening in Paper 1 with the
remaining 80 per cent marks earmarked for testing reading and writing in the
SSC examinations. Paper 2 continues in its previous form to assess grammar
(45 per cent) and composition (55 per cent).
It is relevant here to draw attention to the SBA (school-based assessment of
speaking and listening skills) system in secondary schools. This has come under
criticism from secondary school English teachers themselves. Begum and
Farooqui (2008) in their study on attitudes and practices of SBA express doubts
about the effectiveness of this procedure for the following reasons: first, the
teachers are not trained on how to undertake the procedure in a standardized
manner; second, teachers themselves are involved in private tuition and therefore
scoring of students in their own private tuition classes might become biased;
finally, institutions may want their own students to get high scores as schools are
often judged by test scores of its students, especially schools dependent on
government grants, such as the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) enlisted schools in
which teachers’ salaries are highly subsidized by state grants. Therefore, to what
extent SBA is going to be reliable or effective for assessing English speaking and
listening competence in secondary schools remains to be seen2. Another factor
may be added to this list of concerns – based on the Baseline Studies (1990,
2009), secondary school teachers themselves have poor language skills and may
not be qualified to carry out SBA on speaking and listening.

The washback effect of the public examinations

Language testing and assessment is a complex phenomenon that is an integral part
of education. It affects not only individuals, institutions and systems but also soci-
ety in general. In countries like Bangladesh, which has a centralized education
system, national tests serve to scale and measure the population and wield immense
power and control over a large section of the population. ‘Students are as good as
their grades; it is also their grades which are valued above all in higher education
and the job market’ (Hamid et al., 2009). Thus the public examinations wield a
tremendous ‘backwash’ effect on teaching and learning (Alderson and Wall, 1993).
Classroom-based studies on secondary level teaching since the early 1990s have
consistently shown that English learning is often ineffective because of traditional
 Secondary English education in Bangladesh 91
teacher-fronted, grammar code teaching, little or no practice of the language
skills, large class size and a propensity for rote learning for examinations (Rahman
et al., 2006). The JSC, SSC and HSC tests still remain partly related to content
and are amenable to memorization. Mathew (2012) reports similar findings on
the new secondary curriculum tests introduced in India in the 1990s. Rahman
(2009) points to memorization with little understanding and a heavy reliance on
mass-produced guide/notebooks and widespread private tuition as a lifeline for
students to get through an examination they dread. Khan (2010) reports on how
English teachers’ perceptions of high-stakes testing have a severe washback effect
on their teaching practices. At the same time, teachers are also aware of their own
inability in devising and implementing communicative language test items arising
from the crucial lack of ‘assessment literacy’ (Taylor, 2009).
There is very little confidence among learners on gaining much from class-
room teaching of English in mainstream secondary schools (Hamid et al., 2009).
Hence the culture of private tuition or supplementary schooling (in small groups
or larger numbers) by the very same school teachers or by other interventionist
entrepreneurs is widespread in Bangladesh. Bray (1999) has aptly called private
tuition ‘shadow education’ since it has become a modern socio-educational
macro phenomenon worldwide.
Hamid et al. (ibid) maintain that private tuition is regarded highly by learners,
is desired by educational consumers, and is accepted in the family culture as
providing a helpline to secondary students, even among those from disadvan-
taged communities. Moreover, it serves as an economic booster for low-paid
teachers. More importantly, private teaching-learning is geared mostly to exami-
nation preparation and rote-learning of prepared answers to predicted questions.
This phenomenon of private tuition for English has developed through the
attitudes, expectations, and motivation of students and parents and in fact
consumes a great deal of the teaching/learning energies and finances in formal
secondary education.

ELT reforms at the secondary level

Since independence, Bangladesh had been following a traditional approach to
English language teaching focusing on teaching about the language rather than
on how to use the language (Rahman, 2009). To rectify this situation, several
government initiatives since the early 1990s have been taken through ELT
improvement projects, often donor-aided. Most of the earlier reform attempts
suffered from a lack of insight, for not providing supportive resources, for being
isolated attempts and for lacking a coordinated long-term focus.
Over the last 15 years, under the Directorate of Secondary and Higher
Education (DSHE) of the Ministry of Education, the main thrust has been on
the introduction of CLT on several fronts: (a) developing new textbooks on the
principles of CLT; (b) teacher development, training of teachers and trainers on
CLT classroom methodology; (c) developing an appropriate English syllabus for
the Bachelor of Education courses at teacher training colleges; (d) improving the
92 Arifa Rahman
infrastructure supporting the delivery of secondary education; (e) attempts at
including features that emphasized gender and social development and to raise
the quality of English language education, particularly of disadvantaged groups
(Projects ELTIP, SESIP1, SESIP 2, SEQAIP, TQI, EIA3).
Another area where reform had been attempted during early 2000 was in devis-
ing an appropriate assessment system at the secondary level public examinations that
would test language skills, not the ability to memorize the contents of the text-
books, or even worse, notebooks, without understanding. However, this was almost
futile as the examination boards proved to be citadels of resistance (Quader, 2001).
In addition, ELT reform also focused on a number of national and non-
government educational and administrative management organizations like
NAEM (National Academy for Educational Management) in order to regularly
arrange English teacher development courses for both government and non-
government secondary schools and higher secondary colleges. The National
University also organizes intensive English teacher training courses in CLT for
higher secondary level teachers. Recently, with a call for all regions to set up
English versions in Bangla-medium secondary schools, the NCTB has taken up
the task of translating primary and secondary level course books of different
subjects into English to cater to this demand.
The question obviously arises: how will the schools realistically provide quali-
fied teachers to carry out this massive teaching in the medium of English? As
pointed out earlier, the Baseline Surveys of 1990 and 2009 had revealed poor
language proficiency levels of English teachers, inadequate for the requirement
of their jobs, with an assumption that other subject teachers would also be
linguistically weak.
Whether these curricular reforms or innovations have had any positive effect on
secondary English education in the country will be discussed in the next section.

Section 2: A critical analysis

Language in education policy

Currently, English has become the universally accepted international language
with most developing countries seeing it as necessary to their economic develop-
ment. Graddol (2006) has indicated that one of the significant features of
globalization has been the outsourcing of services to countries with cheap
labour, and Global English has helped to accelerate this phenomenon.
Bangladesh is one of the main contenders in South Asia for this global supply of
cheap labour and the government has correspondingly responded to this
phenomenon. Thus government policy decisions regarding education in general,
and English language education in particular, are focusing on formulating poli-
cies towards achieving this goal.
As expected, these policy documents are steeped in rhetoric that strikes the
‘right’ chords. For example, the Bangladesh National Education Policy 2010
advocates ‘modern, quality, suitable education for all’. Delivery strategies are
 Secondary English education in Bangladesh 93
proposed to be made through the development of ‘a learning environment,
methodology and learning materials that are attractive and enjoyable’. In addi-
tion, as it is clearly accepted now that proposals made at the macro-level of
educational policy depend for their effectiveness on the interpretation by teach-
ers at the micro-level of pedagogic practice and on their abilities to understand
and carry out these proposals, this policy document emphasizes that ‘teachers at
primary and secondary levels need to be professionally trained’. It also lays down
proposals of ways to revise and develop current training programmes to make
them more purposeful and effective.
The NCTB Curriculum document states that to implement the CLT syllabus,
suitable language teaching materials are needed that will allow teachers to deliver
classes in an interactive mode and facilitate the learning of language through
constant and regular practice. To this effect, two course books English for Today
for Years 9–10 and for Years 11–12 were written, piloted and developed by a
team of international and national materials writers in 2000.4
Importantly, policy-makers appear to be aware of the overall problem with
assessment too. The 2009 National Education Policy’s section on Examination
and Assessment states ‘the current method mainly assesses students’ rote learn-
ing. This cannot be proper assessment’ (p. 75). It proposes the need for a regu-
lated system but does not go into finer details. Instead it focuses on the
modalities of testing and its administration rather than on the need for the type
of test that reflects the curriculum objectives.
The Report of the Ministry of Education’s Advisory Committee for the
Development of English (2010) admits that the weakness of the current tests lies
in the fact that ‘question setting in public examination is … not always in accord-
ance with the curriculum. It encourages the teachers to stick to traditional teach-
ing methods’. It goes on to recommend ‘reforming the examination system’
(p. 16) without actually laying down any definite plans for action.
These policy pronouncements indicate that Bangladesh is on track towards an
improved English language-learning scenario. However, studies have shown that
the learning and teaching of English is still quite inadequate (Ahmed et al., 2006;
Rahman, 2007; EIA, 2011), just as in many Asian countries (Baldauf et al.,
2007). In order to understand the reasons that have undermined most attempts
at improving the teaching and learning of English at secondary and other levels,
we need to adopt a socio-cultural perspective to understand the English language
interventionist programmes and its varied delivery systems.

Strategies of meeting declared objectives

As advocated by educational planners today, a policy reform is most effective
when it is planned, managed and implemented ‘holistically’, although it has been
found to be the most challenging way forward (EIA, 2011). When we look at
the administrative directives at implementing the declared objectives of second-
ary English education in Bangladesh, it is apparent that there is an overall lack of
a coordinated approach. As discussed earlier, there has been over the last decade
94 Arifa Rahman
and a half, a number of significant projects dealing with teacher education and
development, materials design, classroom methodology and to some extent, test-
ing and assessment, and lately, on incorporating technology like mobile phones
in teacher training.
Although there has been some continuity in projects along a timeline, there has
often been an absence of continuity on inter-related issues and resulting work.
And where there has been continuity, it is seen that it is limited to certain target
groups and not implemented to the wider community as in the outreach teacher
development programme in the EIA secondary schools project. It therefore
appears to be an anomaly that a centralized secondary school English education
policy whose implementation is expected to be distributed with equal support
systems to all stake-holders is not being offered. In the case of EIA, it might not
be similar due to its project-based focus where certain groups get concentrated
attention in the first phase with up-scaling featured as a project goal.
At the same time, a different matter of concern may be raised from the very
same issue of a central policy and equal distribution and management of delivery
strategies. Does equality of delivery systems provide an equal input in empower-
ing learners or does it perhaps actually create inequalities? For example, how will
the same English course book and the same examination format be handled by
a marginalized rural school with insufficient logistics, attended by children from
a poor socio-economic background? Will the handling be different in urban
schools with better logistics, better teachers, attended by students with a fair
amount of cultural capital (educated parents, opportunities for out-of-class learn-
ing, better living conditions, access to technology)? Hamid and Baldauf (2008)
point to the failures of learning English in a rural community due to a lack of
adequate socio-economic factors. This sociological approach to education points
to the reality that social inequalities are re-produced or perpetrated through
educational inequalities (Hamid, 2009), which may be created by national
centralized policies. This may be viewed as a crucial issue in terms of the reality
that considerable inequity exists in access to effective English language instruc-
tion in many countries (Bruthiaux, 2002; Nunan, 2003).
The above state of affairs in a developing country like Bangladesh actually may
point to the need for policy-makers to realistically consider an ‘unequal’ educa-
tion delivery system, unequal in the sense that marginalized and socially and
economically deprived communities may need to be provided with sensitive and
specialized support systems to help them move at their required pace, ultimately
enabling them to join the larger inclusive community instead of continuing to
remain as excluded entities. Therefore, there is certainly a need to include a
socially informed critique of English language education policy in Bangladesh to
the already existing one which is based on usual curriculum and pedagogic issues.

Ways to move forward

This concluding section highlights the need for a coherent approach for an
effective secondary education programme where success is measured not by
 Secondary English education in Bangladesh 95
mere student enrolment but by the fact that the enrolled students are actually
learning, i.e. learning to be socially responsible and economically productive.
This includes coordinated planning and management, monitoring and evalua-
tion of key areas that contribute to the whole system. These key areas are
discussed below.

Understanding the discourse of globalization

and the pragmatic needs of English
Although not specifically related to secondary education as such, this influential
discourse of the pragmatic virtues of English in today’s world is misleading and
needs to be deconstructed in order to allow people to understand it in all its
complexities. The simplistic notion of English wielding power and creating
opportunities has actually led to social polarization within the community. Imam
(2005, p. 482) speaks of the ‘polarization of English medium schools weak in
Bangla and Bangla medium schools weak in English’. Hassan (2011) examines
the social divide between Bangla and English version students in the same insti-
tution where school policy itself appears to emphasize discrimination against the
Bangla version students by charging higher fees for the elite English version
students and designating different-coloured uniforms and more student-centred
activities to them. She recounts narratives from English version students actually
considering their Bangla medium peers as inferior.
English linked to the concept of globalization is inescapable but we need to
ensure that it is conducted in national terms and with an awareness that English
exists without any conflict to the first language or the national culture. This is an
awareness that needs to be emphasized right from the primary level. As Seargeant
and Erling (2011, p. 269) state, ‘policies need to carefully negotiate people’s
hopes and aspirations’.

Alignment between curricular objectives,

course books, classroom methodology and testing
The secondary education delivery system involves four basic components: the
curriculum, the course book, the classroom methodology and the assessment,
and all these need to be aligned to each other in goals, objectives and in delivery
strategies. If (or when) there is any mismatch between the goals of any or all of
them, there is bound to be a fracture in the system thus leading to problems or
failures. For instance, the NCTB curriculum clearly states that the curricular
objective for secondary school English is the development of a skills-based
language to be used in the modern world today. Accordingly, course books
have been designed to enable learners to practise the four skills in order to reach
this goal.
However, in the matter of assessment, we find a mismatch with the curricular
objective. Testing focuses on superficial reading and writing skills and a range of
discrete grammar items, that is mostly amenable to memorization. So the course
96 Arifa Rahman
book is eliminated from the equation. Teachers and learners prefer not to use the
course book as it does not directly link to the examination. Instead they rely on
the highly popular guidebooks and notebooks. What the course books actually
do is to provide plenty of practice for learners to develop the language skills –
which is not valued as the education culture gives priority to test scores rather
than language competence.
This knock-on effect also stretches to the third component – classroom meth-
odology. Most teachers are forced to teach to the examination rather than to
actual student needs or curricular objectives. Therefore, classroom methodology,
which claims to be communicative, is actually restricted, particularly in the
higher secondary classes, to teacher-fronted, top-down examination practice
exercises. The impact of the influence of so-called ‘good’ test results also
increases the demand for private tuition by the same school teachers.

Understanding the true nature of

Communicative Language Teaching
The most significant single innovation in English language teaching has been the
introduction of CLT in Bangladesh in the late 1990s through the English
Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP). And yet how many teachers,
parents and other stake-holders actually understand what CLT is? Studies have
shown that English teachers who claim to be practising it in their own classrooms
do not have a clear idea of what it entails (Rahman, 2009). They look upon it as
a method or a technique, often with an assumption that it is suitable for a speak-
ing class but inappropriate for large classes. There are also several examples of
CLT-professed classes often taught in a top-down grammar/translation manner
(Rahman et al., 2006; Hamid and Baldauf, 2008).
As there is no clear perception of what CLT is, it is often vilified by critics who
accuse CLT of being at the root of poor learning of English. It is pertinent here
to refer to the advocacy for understanding CLT approaches taken up by the
Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA) in 2012. BELTA
organized a two-day conference on ‘CLT in Bangladesh: Myths and Realities’.
The important thing to understand is, there is no alternative to CLT as it
provides the framework for planning, practice and classroom strategies. Policy-
makers, managers, teachers and all stake-holders need to understand that CLT is
NOT a Method but an Approach based on a number of principles based on
insights from diverse fields such as cognitive psychology, education and Second
Language Acquisition. Some of these principles include common-sense assump-
tions that learning needs to be experienced through real-life, meaningful activi-
ties, with plenty of opportunities for practice, through the use of interesting
materials, employing cognitive learning processes. Learners have diverse learning
styles and strategies and teachers using a CLT approach need to understand the
process of learning and the importance of creating conditions to facilitate the
learning process (Richards and Rogers, 2001). Unless this is properly under-
stood in the language education field, there is little hope for improvement.
 Secondary English education in Bangladesh 97
Developing a valid and reliable form of assessment
Assessment or testing is a complex phenomenon that wields immense power on
the education system. A position paper on education by DFID (2013) indicates
that the most significant influence on education is the role played by assessment.
With developing countries placing undue emphasis on summative assessment, it
has become an imperative for test administrators to understand the guiding prin-
ciples of validity, reliability and practicality that govern good test design
(Hughes, 1989). In the school system there is a great urgency to develop forma-
tive assessment and the positive role that formative approaches can bring to the
learning system. With SBA being introduced in schools, it is all the more reason
for teachers to understand and practise the criteria for valid test design and reli-
able test scoring.
If the tests are not aligned to the objectives of the curriculum, the standard of
English is not likely to improve. Students will continue to rely on private tuition,
note books and guide books. Teachers and learners thus need to understand
clearly the backwash phenomenon of testing on teaching/learning practices. On
the other hand, if test items were to assess the language skills, teachers and learn-
ers would be forced into practising language through meaningful activities – this
would be the positive backwash effect of tests – much to be desired.
It is therefore vital to develop assessment literacy (Taylor, 2009 cited in
Spolsky, 2010). Spolsky (2010) regrets the low level of assessment literacy
among educational professionals, administrators and the general lay public. This
needs to be started early in any teacher education programme, right from the
primary teaching institutions (PTIs), with this training on assessment treated as
an on-going process.

Adopting a socio-cultural perspective towards

innovation and change
Changes are incorporated from time to time into the English education system
at the secondary level. Often there is resistance to innovation, which is natural,
as often emphasized in the innovation literature (Hargreaves and Fullan, 1992;
Fullan, 1993). Therefore it is crucial to adopt a socio-psychological-cultural
perspective in order to understand the dynamics at work. Fullan (2007) in his
seminal work on educational innovation speaks of ‘re-culturing’ as the kind of
psychological acceptance required of users when faced with new or changed
modalities of delivery. Weddel (2009) argues that this same sense of ‘re-culturing’
needs to be undertaken by the change agent too, as a response to an understand-
ing of the culture and the context within which the users operate.
To make innovation sustainable, Holliday (1995) had suggested nearly two
decades ago integrating innovative practices into the ‘local work rhythms’ to facili-
tate acceptability. In this respect, Solly and Woodward (2012) working on a
teacher development project in Bangladesh for EIA, suggest ‘negotiating the
route’ to sustainable ELT improvement in classroom practice. They advise learning
98 Arifa Rahman
from the areas where there are difficulties, leveraging in the innovation with
caution and plenty of support. Obviously all this takes considerable time. There
should not be any attempt at quick fixes but a long-term strategy involving rele-
vant stake-holders needs to be adopted.

Teacher education and continuous professional development

The final key area is teacher education. We need to recognize the teacher as being
at the heart of the educational process. Proposals made at the macro-level of
educational policy depend for their effectiveness on the interpretation by teach-
ers at the micro-level of pedagogic practice and on their abilities to understand
and carry out these proposals. It is universally accepted that what teachers think,
what teachers believe and what teachers do at the level of the classroom ulti-
mately shapes the kind of learning that young people get (Hargreaves and Fullan,
1992). In Bangladesh, however, this awareness among stake-holders is still to
develop. Teachers carry on their routine work of teaching classes in mostly tradi-
tional ways. Self-directed development or independent learning is hardly prac-
tised or encouraged by the system. Any teacher development/training programme
is usually under top-down directives from the authorities and is often seen as an
opportunity to get away from routine work, to enjoy travel and accommodation
allowances and the chance to receive a much-valued paper certificate. Rahman
(2008) therefore argues for a culturally friendly and sustainable framework for
supporting English teacher development.
It has to be realized that due to demographic imperatives, with Bangladesh
among the top contenders, there is a strong demand for qualified professionals
to staff classrooms well into the future. By the same token, it is reasonable to
argue that the need for an effective provision to initiate, develop and sustain
teachers through an appropriate process of education consequently should be
amongst the highest priorities of educational planning.

Recognizing the need for a specialized support system

for marginalized groups
Of all the issues that have been raised so far, this perhaps is the most difficult to
address as it goes beyond curriculum and pedagogic issues. As discussed earlier,
a central education policy and equal distribution and management of delivery
systems among socio-economically marginalized communities may actually back-
fire. It has been argued that instead of creating equal opportunities, it actually
creates inequalities (Hamid and Baldauf, 2008). This sociological approach to
education appears to point to the reality that social inequalities might be
reproduced through educational inequalities.
Given the resource constraints and limitations on goodwill, would it be possi-
ble to consider an ‘unequal’ education delivery system, unequal in the sense that
marginalized groups with lesser cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986) could be
provided with more sensitive, appropriate and specialized support systems?
 Secondary English education in Bangladesh 99
Incorporating a research agenda in the
education management process
Finally, an important parameter which needs to be built into educational delivery
programmes is the R&D (research and development) approach. A provision for
monitoring and assessment with research-based studies that provide evidence of
strengths and weaknesses acts as a discreet watch-dog and assists in assessing and
monitoring as well as reviewing and revising (if necessary) policies along with the
delivery system through an on-going, formative and non-disruptive process.
In conclusion, it may be stated that there needs to be a comprehensive strategy
and a coordinated approach to cope with the challenges of secondary English
education over a long-term period in this region. There are no quick fixes.

Notes
1 BANBEIS (2008) figures record 21 public universities as opposed to 52 private
universities in Bangladesh.
2 Since this chapter was first written in 2012, the education ministry scrapped the idea of
SBA in 2013 but in late 2014, the issue of spoken assessment was revived. Currently,
modalities of introducing speaking assessment at the secondary school level are being
explored again.
3 1997–2002: ELTIP (English Language Teaching Improvement Project).
2001–2006: SESIP (Secondary Education Sector Improvement Project. SESIP II is
estimated to work till 2013.
2008–ongoing: SEQAEP (Secondary Education Quality and Access Enhancement
Project), with a component of TQI (Teaching Quality Improvement), aimed at
institutional capacity-building.
2009–ongoing: EIA (English in Action), nine-year interventionist programme with
primary, secondary and adult initiatives aimed at MDG goals and reaching out to 100
secondary schools throughout the country.
4 In 2013, NCTB has undertaken to substitute these two secondary level course books
with a new set of books. When asked the reason, they were said to be ‘not good’ or
‘too simple’. Asked if there were any studies or research findings to guide the re-writing
process, the reply was ‘no’. It is also rumoured that literature texts will be used widely in
these books. (Personal conversation with curriculum and committee officials, May 2012).

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6 Miles to go …
Secondary English language
education in India
Ravinder Gargesh

Secondary education is a crucial stage in the educational hierarchy as it prepares

students for higher education and at times also for employment. The special
emphasis on secondary education commenced in 2009 with the National Mission
for Secondary Education known as Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
(RMSA), a program of the Government of India, which provided more funds for
secondary education. The secondary school system is huge with approximately
200,184 secondary schools with around 51,195,000 secondary level students
and over 200,000 teachers of English. There are multiple Boards of Education
with a large variety of schools in the public and private domains in rural and
urban contexts. Such variations in types of schools and regions cannot offer the
same standards of secondary English language education in the country despite
the common National Policy on Education and the resulting National Curriculum
Frameworks. The present paper will attempt to critically view English language
education at the secondary level with an aim to highlight the following: (i) the
language policy in school education, (ii) the changing curriculum of English at
the secondary level, (iii) English Language Teaching in India, (iv) the system of
evaluation, and (v) some aspects of teachers and teacher training.

Introduction
English language in India today is a symbol of the rising aspirations of its people
for quality education and upward social mobility. It is no longer viewed as a colo-
nial relic but rather a necessity as it is directly related to the present demand in
both international and globalized local job markets. In India it is believed that
English is crucial for it prepares the young for higher education and also for the
world of work (National University of Educational Planning and Administration
(NUEPA, 2008). This rising significance can be seen from its increasing demand
as a medium of instruction at higher levels of education. The Fifth All-India
Education Survey (NCERT, 1992) shows that only 1.3 per cent of primary
schools, 3.4 per cent of upper primary schools, 3.9 per cent of middle schools,
and 13.2 per cent of high schools use English as a medium of instruction. Also
English in India is offered as a second language (six years of study) in 51 per cent
of rural primary schools, 55 per cent of urban primary schools, 57 per cent of
104 Ravinder Gargesh
rural high schools, and 51 per cent of urban high schools. As a third language (three
years of study), English is offered in 5 per cent of rural primary schools, 21 per cent
of urban primary schools, 44 per cent of rural high schools, and 41 per cent of
urban high schools. These statistics show that as one goes up the educational
ladder, there is an increasing desire to study English even in the rural areas.
At the time of independence, in 1948 there were about 4,000 high and higher
secondary schools in the country (Kabir, 1955; cited in Biswal 2011). By 1990–
91 there were approximately 80,000 secondary and higher schools in the coun-
try, and these rose to 126,000 in 2000–01, 133,000 in 2001–02, 137,000 in
2002–03, 146,000 in 2003–04, 152,000 in 2004–05 (NUEPA, 2008, p. 42)
and by 30 September 2011 these rose to 206,044 (123,479 secondary schools
and 82,565 higher secondary schools) (NUEPA, 2012). In spite of the rise in
number of schools, secondary education has not been very effective throughout
the country. Dr. Humayun Kabir, the Secretary, Ministry of Education,
Government of India, in the early 1950s, had stated that “Qualitatively, second-
ary education has suffered from the lack of a clear definition of objectives and
scope…” (Kabir, 1955 cited in Biswal, 2011, p. 2). Also, out of the total alloca-
tion of the money spent on education, primary education got the major share of
60 per cent of the planned education budget, and secondary education received
less than 10 per cent of this budget (2007–08), until things began to look up in
2009, when there was a new focus on secondary education under the National
Mission for Secondary Education known as Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha
Abhiyan (RMSA), a program of the government (MHRD 2009), under which
the budget outlay for secondary education increased to 14.50 per cent in 2011–
12 (Mukherjee and Sikdar, 2012).
The present paper discusses secondary education and English language in the
country in the contexts of the evolving educational language policy, the chang-
ing curriculum, the teaching methodologies, the method of evaluation and some
issues in teacher training.

Language policy in school education

After independence, the first step towards the improvement of policy planning
for the development of secondary education was the setting up of the Secondary
Education Commission in 1952 (also known as the Mudaliar Commission). The
primary objective of this Commission was to review the pattern of secondary
education and to suggest measures for its reorganization and improvement.
Although the Commission was dealing with issues related to all subjects, its
recommendations are relevant for the teaching of English in the country. About
the teaching methods the Commission said:

Every teacher and educationist knows that even the best curriculum and the
most perfect syllabus remain dead unless quickened into life by the right
methods of teaching and the right kind of teachers.
(Aggarwal, 1982, pp. 112–13)
 Secondary English language education in India 105
The observation is valid since repeated revisions of syllabi have not been able to
achieve the desired goal of making the ordinary students proficient in workable
English. The Commission pointed out that “the emphasis in teaching should
shift from verbalism and memorization to learning through purposeful, concrete
and realistic situations and for this purpose the principles of ‘Activity Method’
and ‘Project Method’ should be assimilated in school practice” (Aggarwal, 1982,
pp. 112–13). A major recommendation of the commission was to develop a
3-year national system of secondary education after 8 years of elementary educa-
tion (8 + 3 year system).
The anti-English agitations in the northern and anti-Hindi in the southern
parts of the country led to the formulation of the “three language formula” by
the conference of Chief Ministers in 1961 and this was reiterated by the
Education Commission (1964–66) (also known as the Kothari Commission). It
stipulated the following:

• The first language to be studied must be mother tongue or the regional

standard.
• The second language in Hindi speaking states will be some other modern
Indian language (MIL) or English, and in non-Hindi speaking states it will
be Hindi or English.
• The third language in Hindi speaking states will be English or a MIL not
studied as second language, and in non-Hindi speaking states English or
Hindi not studied as the second language.

The implication of this formula was that while the teaching of the first language
commenced from Class I, the teaching of the second language was recom-
mended from Class VI or from Class III, or at a convenient stage depending
upon the resources of a state. The third language was also recommended to be
taught from Class VI (for details see Gargesh, 2002). Since education was a
subject under the state governments and not under the central government, its
actual implementations varied from state to state. By 2003, according to a
NCERT study, English was introduced in Class I or Class III by 26 states or
union territories out of 35. Only seven states or union territories introduced it
in Class IV or Class V (Khan, 2005 cited in NCERT, 2006a).
The Commission also recommended a new 4-year secondary education system
after 8 years of primary education. The National Policy on Education (NPE) of
1986 also subsequently reiterated the views of the Education Commission for
implementing a 4-year secondary education system across the country. NPE and
the Program of Action (POA), modified in 1990, not only recognized the
importance of secondary education as an instrument for social change, it also
called for its planned expansion. The NPE (as modified in 1992) specifically laid
emphasis on the increasing access to secondary education, and on increasing the
autonomy of the various Boards of Secondary Education in order to enhance
their ability and capacity to provide quality education. It also favored the intro-
duction of integrated computer technology in order to keep the country in tune
106 Ravinder Gargesh
with international developments. As education was the responsibility of the
regional states prior to 1976, the varying economic condition of the respective
states shaped their pattern of secondary education, resulting in wide regional
variations in the structure and facilities of school education.
English today is taught in various types of schools. Mathew (1997) has
found, in a curriculum-implementation study, that the 2,700-odd schools affili-
ated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) differ in the
“culture” arising from the “type of management, funding, geographic location,
salary structure, teacher motivation and competence, the type of students they
cater to and the social status of parents” (p. 41). In this context the NCERT in
its position paper on English broadly divides schools into four types – English-
medium private elite schools/English-medium government-aided schools, New
English-medium private schools, Government-aided regional-medium schools,
and Government regional-medium schools run by district and municipal educa-
tion authorities. While the first two have proficient teachers but do vary in
providing different environments for the use of English, the second type of
schools have teachers with limited proficiency in English, the third have a tradi-
tion of English education along with regional languages and such schools have
been largely established by educational societies catering to children from a
variety of backgrounds, and the fourth is a choice for the urban poor and their
teachers generally are the least proficient in English out of the four different
types of schools (NCERT, 2006a).
Keeping in mind the changing policies and trends, three major attempts at the
renewal of curriculum were made between 1960s and 2010 and each of them
had its impact on secondary education.

The changing curriculum of English

at the secondary level
National curriculum leads to a common policy and a common curriculum in the
country. The first ever centrally sponsored attempt at India’s school level English
Language Teaching (ELT) curriculum was made in the 1960s when the Central
Institute of English (CIE), as it was then called, as per the government’s deci-
sion, produced the English curriculum and materials, syllabuses and series of
textbooks. The entire exercise was based on the structural syllabus and parts of
audio-lingual methodology (Prabhu, 1987; Tickoo, 2000). These books were
soon criticized to be somewhat deficient. Scholars like Prabhu (1987) and Sahni
(1988) were critical of the structuralist curriculum that was in practice since it
failed to create the much desired communication skills. This led to teaching the
language in meaningful social contexts. Prabhu favored a communicational
model that would keep the needs of the students in the center. It considered the
acquisition of a fundamental competence in language as the basic requirement in
India (Prabhu, 1987). The result was the “Bangalore–Madras Project” or the
“Communicational Teaching Project”, an important initiative that tried to
evolve methodology from local classroom teaching using a “task”-based
 Secondary English language education in India 107
approach (Prabhu, 1987). This project, in its five-year span in eight classes of
seven regional-medium schools (including three Corporation or Government
schools) in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, aimed to provide learners with appropri-
ate language.
Some scholars like Sarma (1989) concluded that communicative language
teaching strategies can develop English language skills in the students. Thus, the
curricula framed by various state boards of education based on the structural
model came in for sharp criticism. There was criticism in the Punjab in North
India, and Syal (2000) points out that the public in general displays an attitude
towards L2 that is pragmatic and strictly survival-oriented and people at the
curriculum design level also have the same attitude in their private capacities, but
somehow prevent themselves from putting this awareness into the curriculum
itself. The reason for this could be a hidden motive of depriving some people of
the access to L2. She points out that lack of specification and emphasis on skills
leads to a gap in the curriculum.
Ravindra (2000, p. 101) in the context of the state of Karnataka in South
India mentions that the “Pre-University English course is taught and tested like
any other school subject. While the curriculum developer’s ‘objective’ is that
language skills be taught and tested, in actual fact, the course book meant for
teaching language skills is taught for the values and ideas it contains. In the
examination students are made to write about the stories and essays in the
book”. The condition of other state boards was no better.
Some other scholars were also critical of the strategies emanating from the
curriculum. Since the main focus of the teaching in the 1980s was on reading
and writing skills, much research focused on these skills. Studies such as those of
Bag (1990), Grover (1991) and Alavandar (1992) focused primarily on reading
comprehension. Bag (1990) had studied the differential aptitude of students of
English in West Bengal. He showed that the urban students, who were socio-
economically better off than rural students, were more proficient than the rural
students in the English reading comprehension. Grover (1991) had compared
the reading ability in English amongst students of government schools and
Central Schools in Delhi. This study showed that students from Central Schools
performed better than their counterparts from the government schools in Delhi.
Here too the students from Central Schools came from a relatively better socio-
economic background. Alavandar (1992) had focused on the variables relating
to English Language competency among high school (Class IX) students from
six schools of Arcot district of Tamil Nadu. Alavandar too had concluded that
students who came from better socio-economic backgrounds went to English-
medium schools in Tamil Nadu and they also performed better than the students
from the relatively lower socio-economic background who took admissions in
Tamil-medium schools. All the three studies showed that students from better
socio-economic classes performed better than the students from the relatively
lower classes. They implicitly found fault with the current curriculum that was
almost alien for the rural students. The urban and other students who came from
better socio-economic levels had more access to English outside the classroom
108 Ravinder Gargesh
and they were also more competitive and could also afford to go to schools with
a relatively better environment and more efficient teachers.

The Central Board of Secondary Education

(CBSE) Curriculum
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was established in 1929.
Today it enjoys the distinction of being the oldest and the largest Board of
Secondary Education in the country. It has an affiliation of about 15,000 schools
in India and across 24 countries in different parts of the world. All CBSE schools
follow a uniform curriculum with a flexible scheme of study and evaluation. It
was the first Board to innovate following the National Programme of Education
1986.
The National Policy of Education (MHRD, 1986) had provided the incentive
as well as the environment for curriculum renewal. The NPE 1986 and
Programme of Action (POA) 1990 (MHRD, 1992) had expressed serious
concern about the improvement of language competencies of the students,
which included English as well. They made a call for the development of textual
materials, teacher training, research methodology, and development of infra-
structure facilities for language teaching.
A direct result of this was one of the most intensive efforts made by the CBSE-
ELT project (CBSE, 1989–97) in collaboration with the College of St. Mark and
St. John, Plymouth, UK, and funded by the Department for International
Development (DFID) through the British Council Division, New Delhi. This
major curriculum renewal became a model for many other boards of education
in the country. The main objective of the project was to improve teaching/
learning skills of English in Classes IX and X with a focus on the development of
language skills in communicative situations. The special feature of the project
was the intensive involvement of teachers from CBSE schools in all aspects of
curriculum development, namely designing the syllabus, preparation of textual
material, creating new testing scheme and sample papers, and in making the
training manual for orienting the teachers to the new curriculum.
In 1995, the result of the CBSE-ELT project was four books: (i) Main Course
Book, (ii) Grammar Book, (iii) Literature Reader, and (iv) Teacher’s book. An
audio cassette was also prepared. The emphasis, however, is on different kinds of
activities in class to be done by the students in pairs or in groups of various sizes.
The course design was aimed at developing the communicative competence of
students. This involved the integration of four skills and ability to use English
across the curriculum. The main course was used as a starting point to enable
students to formulate and express their own ideas. The attempt, through differ-
ent activities done in the class by the students in pairs or in groups, was aimed:

(a) to develop interaction amongst the students

(b) to develop attentive listening skills
(c) to encourage every student to speak
 Secondary English language education in India 109
(d) to transfer information
(e) to consolidate information and be able to analyze, organize, interpret, role-
play, make reports, sift information, write letters, reports, articles, perform
tasks and extend activities to different spheres.

The CBSE curriculum was then revised in 2010 according to which there is an
Interact in English series for the A stream students of Classes IX–XII. These
consist of a main course book that consists of about 6 units that cover a wide
range of contemporary issues related to health and medicine, education, science,
environment, travel and tourism, national integration, etc. The second book is a
literary reader that acquaints the students with major forms of literary writings
such as short stories, poetry, one act plays, and significant prose writings. The
third one is a workbook. The present version of the textbooks as in the first
version published in 1993, has interactive activities like role plays, discussions
amongst the peer groups, making speeches, creating dialogues, performing tasks,
etc. Another feature of the new textbooks of 2010 is that the written compre-
hension passages have been made more intense and grammatical terminologies
have begun to be used once again, unlike in the 1993 version where these were
implicit.
Matching with the learner’s development is the introduction of continuous
assessments in Class IX that in 1993 consisted of the following: (a) Conversation
skills – 20 per cent; (b) Assignments – 20 per cent; (c) Formal testing – 20 per cent
[= 60 per cent] and (d) Final examination of 3 hrs – 40 per cent. In Class X there
was no continuous assessment. At the end of Class X, the Board’s 3 hours’
examination tests reading and writing skills together with representative samples
of literature and grammar questions. The structure of the paper is the same as
that of Class IX final examination. Although the communicative approach to
language teaching was the backbone, in the final evaluation of Class X speaking
and listening skills were not tested.
Presently, from the year 2013 there is more rigorous continuous and compre-
hensive evaluation in all the classes, and that includes the Xth Class as well. Also
speaking and listening skills have begun to be tested and their evaluation is to be
included in the final grades. The evaluation now includes reading comprehension
(20 marks), writing section (25 marks), grammar (15 marks), literature (20 marks),
and listening and speaking tests (10 marks).

The National Council of Educational Research

and Training Curriculum
Another curriculum renewal was initiated by The National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT), which is the nodal agency created by the
Government for school education. Many state boards follow the curriculum of
the NCERT for Classes I–XII. Not fully content with the state of education, the
NCERT revised the National Curriculum Framework 2000 in 2005 as the
National Curriculum Framework 2005 (NCERT, 2005a), thus, embarking on a
110 Ravinder Gargesh
major curriculum renewal. Twenty-one National Focus Group Position Papers
were presented covering major areas of the curriculum. These included the
Position Paper on the Teaching of English (NCERT, 2006b). The NCF 2005 was
aware that learning in schools “has become a source of burden and stress on
children and their parents [and] is an evidence of a deep distortion in educational
aims and quality” (NCERT, 2005a, p. viii). Hence the new NCF 2005 wished
to correct this distortion by proposing five guiding principles for curriculum
development: (i) connecting knowledge to life outside the school; (ii) ensuring
that learning shifts away from rote methods; (iii) enriching the curriculum
so that it goes beyond textbooks; (iv) making examinations more flexible and
integrating them with classroom life; and (v) nurturing an overriding identity
informed by caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country
(NCERT, 2005a, p. viii).
Unlike the earlier structural or the communicative approaches, this new
curriculum essentially is based on the theoretical assumptions of the second
language acquisition hypothesis, which is an extension of the Chomskyan para-
digm of linguistics as well as combined with insights from psychology and other
associated disciplines, where meaningful learning is perceived as “a generative
process of representing and manipulating concrete things and mental representa-
tions, rather than storage and retrieval of information” (NCERT, 2005a, p. 14).
The aim is to provide comprehensible input to learners by providing an exposure
to the English language in meaning-focused situations that is expected to trigger
the formation of a language system in the minds of the learners. The compre-
hensible input allows the use of the first language as well as of local contexts in
earlier classes. Thus, English is seen not as standing alone but along with other
Indian languages. Two languages can be used in the classroom in a way that will
provide comprehensible input in the target language by using the first language
for background information. Also, “the aim of English teaching is the creation
of multilinguals who can enrich all our languages” for “this has been an abiding
national vision” (NCERT, 2005a, p. 39). Also it is believed that cognitive and
academic skills are “transferable across languages, to a second language”
(NCERT, 2006b, p. 4). This transferability is one of the premises that made
NCERT recommend a relatively late introduction of English within the eight
years of education guaranteed to every child. It is assumed that it should be
possible in a span of about four years to provide and ensure basic English-
language proficiency (NCERT, 2006b, p. 5). This would include basic literacy
skills of reading and writing. The transferability phenomenon also provides
relevance to a language-across the-curriculum perspective. Language then can be
seen to be acquired through different meaning-making contexts from within the
syllabi. The introduction of English after about four years of initial education is
based on the hypothesis of Lenneberg (1967) that a “critical period” for
language acquisition extends from age 2 till 12, or puberty. Therefore, beginning
English as late as Class V (age 10+) would still fall within the Lenneberg
“window” (Lenneberg, 1967, pp. 18–19). However, it must be pointed out that
despite NCERT’s suggestions of a relatively later introduction of English in the
 Secondary English language education in India 111
school curriculum, the reality is that due to great public demand, English has
begun be taught from Class I onwards in many states of India.
The NCERT made broad recommendations for “a comprehensible input-rich
curriculum that lays the foundation for spontaneous language growth, with the
understanding of spoken and written language as precursors to language produc-
tion (speech and writing)” (NCERT, 2006b, p 5). Regardless of the particular
class in which English is introduced, the aim at the initial levels (the first/first
two years of English) is to build familiarity with the language (through primarily
spoken or spoken-and-written input) in meaningful situations, so that the learner
builds up a working knowledge of the language. The inputs can include text-
books, and other “authentic” or “available” materials (NCERT, 2006b, p. 6)
such as magazines, newspaper columns, radio/audio cassettes, etc. In the
secondary stage, with teacher as a facilitator, a learner should be actively involved
in spoken communication skills such as public speaking, interviewing, and debat-
ing, and written communication skills such as letter writing, note-making, note-
taking, etc. Regarding the teaching of grammar, “parsing” skills or strategies
(identifying sense groups to see how they fit into the sentence, or inserting sense
groups to expand a sentence) are recommended. Some grammar (such as the
appropriate use of prepositions etc.) may more appropriately be placed under
the learning of vocabulary sections (NCERT, 2006b, p. 11).
The NCERT finalized its Class IX and Class X textbooks in 2007 and 2008
respectively. The NCERT textbooks consist of a main course book and a supple-
mentary reader for Classes IX and X (Beehive – Textbook in English for Class IX,
Moments – Supplementary Reader (IX)); (First Flight – Textbook in English for
Class X, Footprints without Feet – Supplementary Reader (X)) and a set of three
for Classes XI and XII (Woven Words – Textbook in English for Class XI,
Hornbill (XI), Snapshots – Supplementary Reader (XI)); Kaleidoscope – Textbook
in English (Elective) for Class XII, Flamingo – Textbook for Class XII (Core
Course), Vistas – Supplementary Reader (XII). The units in these books are
readable and lively and contain a variety of writings on social, scientific and
national issues.
One of the major objectives of language teaching, as per the NCERT, is “to
equip learners with the ability to read and write with understanding and to make
them autonomous learners” (NCERT, 2005b, p. 146.). The aim is also to
provide communication skills with a holistic overlapping of the domains of listen-
ing, speaking, reading and writing in learner-friendly non-threatening
environments.
Following concepts like Krashen’s “language acquisition” (1985) and
Prabhu’s “task-based” methodology (1987), languages are believed to be
learned by comprehending and communicating messages, either through listen-
ing or reading for meaning. Keeping this in mind “a comprehensible input-rich
curriculum” has been proposed.
Despite the theoretical aims, the exercises in the prescribed units fall short of
the projected methodology enunciated in the NCF 2005. The exercises have a
great variety of written exercises which test mainly the reading comprehensions.
112 Ravinder Gargesh
The interactive exercises are far less, making the texts, particularly the section
relating to poems, look like the traditional read-and-answer exercises.

Council for Indian School Certificate

Examinations Curriculum
A word about the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE),
New Delhi, needs to be mentioned. The CISCE, with an affiliation of over 1,800
elite schools, has English as the medium of instruction from the pre-school
classes onwards. In Classes IX and X a play generally by Shakespeare, a book of
poems and a novel or a collection of short stories are prescribed and there is no
special book for English language teaching. In Classes XI and XII a play by
Shakespeare, a novel by Thomas Hardy along with a collection of poems and an
anthology of short stories and prose writings comprise the prescribed readings.
The exercises, etc. presume a good command over spoken and written English
language. English is not only the medium of discussions in the English class but
is also the medium for all other subjects except the other language class. It may
be said that the method used here is a kind of immersion method where students
are exposed to spoken and written English right from the time a child steps into
school.
However, it needs to be noted that CBSE and NCERT are the most widely
representative boards of education in India, which cater to students from the
highest to the lowest strata of society.

English Language Teaching in India

Within a few years of obtaining independence, according to Krishnaswamy and
Sriraman (1995), the structural syllabus was brought to India by the British
Council in 1952 through the Madras English Language Teaching (MELT)
campaign and the first English Language Teaching Institute (ELTI) was estab-
lished in 1954 with the help of the British Council. The British Council propa-
gated the structural approach for school education in India. Following the
establishment of the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages at
Hyderabad, the Regional Institutes of English at Bangalore and Chandigarh
along with a number of ELTIs were also set up in collaboration with the British
Council.
In the 1960s two significant reports regarding the state of the teaching of
English in India were published. The first report was published by the National
Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in 1963 and the
second by the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India, in 1967.
The report titled The Teaching of English in India prepared by the NCERT
(1963) informs us that initially there was a shift from the “grammar-translation
method” of teaching to the “direct method” in India. This, however, resulted in
a situation where grammar ceased to be taught to the pupils and “the oral drills
which were devised to replace the teaching of formal grammar and to habituate
 Secondary English language education in India 113
the learner to correct usage through actual practice” were not widely adopted
(NCERT, 1963, p. 20). This led to a further deterioration in the teaching of
English.
In order to reform the teaching of English it was recommended that the focus
be placed on ensuring comprehension and the need for teaching pronunciation
was acutely felt (NCERT, 1963, p. 25). To make the class interesting the use of
audio-visual aids like filmstrips, tape recorders, flash cards, wall pictures, etc. was
recommended. Setting up of more regional and state institutes for the training
of teachers of English was also recommended. It was felt that while the pre-
service training needed to be re-oriented, the in-service training too needed to
be strengthened (NCERT, 1963, p. 32). Oral testing through internal assess-
ments was also recommended.
The follow up was that teachers began to be trained to drill the students into
correct pronunciation and expression. The sentence patterns and other teaching
points began to be numbered and graded. It should be kept in mind that most
teachers of English in India had and still have distinct localized accents.
The Report of the Ministry of Education, Government of India (Government
of India, 1967) titled The Study of English in India comments that even this
[structural] approach failed in India because of the “teacher’s diffidence with
reference to spoken English and his almost subconscious belief that a second
language can only be taught through the grammar and translation method”
(Government of India, 1967, p. 46). This made him use even a direct method
or structural course book as he would have used a grammar and translation
course book. The teacher, the report states, “translated each lesson and every
sentence in it into the regional language. He [the teacher] gave the pupils the
regional equivalent of each word and thought he was teaching them English”
(Government of India 1967, p. 46). Such were the reasons identified for the
observed failure in learning English in schools even after an exposure of about
six years. The Report also pointed out that “The current syllabuses in English …
are heavily weighted on the literature side”; this being one of legacies of the
colonial times (Government of India 1967, p. 34).
Some scholars have focused on research largely based on the structural model,
on areas such as error analysis and have tabulated the kinds of errors committed
by Indian students. Sarma (1991) took a sample of 207 students of Class XI from
three schools of Tinsukhia district of Assam. His major findings were: (i) about
79 per cent of the errors occurred in word order, subject-verb concord, yes-
no questions, passives and in the use of verbs, tenses and prepositions, (ii) and
39.7 per cent errors could be attributed to mother tongue interference. Mamta’s
(2006, pp. 207–17) findings were similar in the context of the students from
Mungher in Bihar. Pananghat (1995, pp. 187–200), in the context of the struc-
tural approach, points out that while teachers in India were able to introduce
structures and also provide their drills and repetitive exercises, they were not
successful in the internalization of the structures in their students. Thus, rather
than debunk the approach she favors a two-tier approach “which is both struc-
tural and communicative and which has a structural syllabus from Class VI to
114 Ravinder Gargesh
VIII and a communicative syllabus in the last two years”, i.e. in Classes IX and
X (Pananghat, 1995, p.190). Pradhan (1990) compared the effectiveness of the
direct method and the bilingual method of teaching English to students of Class
X in the district of Cuttack in Orissa by largely a proficiency test and interaction
analysis. He came to the conclusion that the bilingual method is superior to the
direct method in the context of learning and its retention.
The picture remained more or less the same and the National Policy of
Education 1986 (MHRD, 1986) and the Programme of Action 1990 (MHRD,
1992) formulated by the government were also seriously concerned about the
improvement of language competencies including English. It called for develop-
ment of textual materials, teacher training, research methodology and develop-
ment of infrastructure facilitates for language teaching. As a result of this the
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducted a major curriculum
renewal project called the CBSE-ELT Project (CBSE, 1989–1997). The main
objective of the Project was to improve teaching/learning of English in Classes
IX and X with a focus on the development of language skills in communicative
situations. Unlike the other top-down approaches, the special feature of this
project was the intensive involvement of teachers from CBSE schools in all
aspects of curriculum development. The new package “Interact in English” was
introduced in Class IX in 1993. This was a major attempt at a paradigm shift in
the teaching of English in India at the secondary level that involved the creation
of a new set of textbooks, promoted a new communicative methodology, intro-
duced a new scheme of continuous evaluation, and trained teachers through a
“cascade” model.
Many scholars at that time found the communicative approach to language
teaching (CLT) to be effective. For example, Dave (1996) compares responses
to different methods by using a questionnaire. According to his findings students
favor the communicative approach. Mathew (2012) still finds the approach to be
a viable one. The approach is criticized for it “fails to take into account the
knowledge and skills which a language student brings with him/her from his/
her mother tongue” (Vasantrao, 2012, p. 7). Earlier Gupta (2004) had also
pointed out that a major reason for the failure of the implementation of commu-
nicative approach in India was due to its implementation in a hurry since most
teachers were not familiar with the concept of CLT. The evaluation set up was
not prepared for the radical change in examination. In short, the communicative
approach has been praised for its wider consideration of language and language
teaching, but criticized for the way it was implemented.
The government due to political reasons has always been half-hearted in
strengthening the teaching of English in India. By 2003, even though there were
11 English Language Teaching Institutes (ELTIs) at the level of states, the
government admitted that despite assistance through the CIEFL “the ELTIs
have not been uniformly effective or dynamic” (http://shikshanic.Nic.in/
cd50years/g/T/V/OTOVOD0.htm – dated 9/14/2003). Today there are 17
ELTIs and 43 District Centers for the in-service training of teachers, yet the
situation doesn’t seem to have changed much.
 Secondary English language education in India 115
System of evaluation
Research work on the present new system of evaluation at the secondary level is
not available since the current system of evaluation has been in operation for only
less than a year. This is evident from studies such as Mathew (2012) who wrote
about the earlier scheme of assessment that lasted from about 1995 until 2010
and has now been modified.
Assessment in India can be viewed in terms of three stages: first, a stage up to
the early 1990s when the exam was heavily content-oriented and memory based
and “there was no time for achieving (language) objectives” (Mathew, 2012, p.
197). Mathew’s study looks at the next stage that was in the form of CBSE-ELT
program, which brought about the implementation of a “communicative”
curriculum. Mathew refers to the review done between 1993 and 1997. She
points out that in Class IX continuous assessment was assigned 60 per cent,
which included informal and formal assessment of conversation (listening and
speaking) skills, assignments, unit tests and half-yearly exams, while the final
exam was assigned 40 per cent. All this was recorded in the students’ report
cards. However in Class X, although the same kind of assessment was recom-
mended, conversational skills were not tested in the final exam for it entirely
focused on writing skills (Mathew, 2012, p. 197). Although the new assessment
scheme was appreciated, it did not “concretize the concept of formative evalua-
tion” (Mathew, 2012, p. 198), and also “it had not addressed the problems of
weak students” (Mathew, 2012, p. 199). Mathew is also critical of the change in
the scheme of assessment brought by the CBSE in 2005, which had the follow-
ing breakdown: reading (20), writing (30), grammar (20) and literature (30)
(Mathew, 2012, p. 202).
In 2010–11 the CBSE and the NCERT replaced the earlier system of a final
examination with a system of Continuous and Comprehensive Examination
(CCE). This, however, was not the result of a sudden decision. In fact, over the
years various Commissions and Committees set up by the government had felt
this need. The Hunter Commission (1882), Calcutta University Commission or
Sadler Commission (1917–19), Hartog Committee Report (1929), the Report
of Central Advisory Board or Sargeant Plan (1944), Secondary Education
Commission or Mudaliar Commission (1952–53) had all made recommenda-
tions regarding reducing emphasis on external examination and encouraging
internal assessment through continuous and comprehensive evaluation. It was
also supported by the Education Commission 1966, the National Policy on
Education (MHRD, 1986), and the Report on the Committee for Review of
NPE (MHRD, 1992). Despite the reiteration for continuous and comprehensive
internal evaluation of the scholastic and non-scholastic achievement of the
students the external examination system continued till 2010.
The National Curriculum Framework, 2005 had also focused on examination
reforms and had suggested that as a long-term measure the Class X exams should
be made optional so that students can keep studying in the same school
(NCERT, 2005a). The NCF 2005 had made significant recommendations
116 Ravinder Gargesh
regarding the continuous evaluation of students, that it will enable, among other
things, the measurement of “language proficiency” (NCERT 2005a, p. 40). The
result was that the old system has been replaced by the CBSE and the NCERT
by a system of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) where the
students are graded by their respective teachers in the classroom with an option
for appearing in a regular examination as well. The system seems to be popular
because out of about 1.06 million students registered for Class X, about 0.46
million opted for the exam in 2011. That means that a little fewer than two-
thirds of the enrolled students were happy with the CCE (CBSE 2012, p. 28).

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)

The CCE as per CBSE (2012) can succeed only if teachers and learners both take
the responsibility for the progress of the student. This allows the observation of
the process of mental growth of a student. It is based on the concept that learn-
ing is an individual and a self-regulated process. A teacher who knows his/her
students is a sympathetic facilitator of the learner’s self-evaluation in contrast to
an anonymous evaluator who measures achievement with respect to some exter-
nal standardized benchmarks. It is thus a question of how and how much does
the learner participate in evaluations with comfort. Continuous evaluation facili-
tates and guides teaching by focusing on a learner’s current stage of development
or achievement.
The CCE is expected to measure both the scholastic as well as the co-scholastic
achievements of students. The scholastic assessment is related to a learner’s
knowledge, understanding, application, evaluation, analysis, and to be able to
apply knowledge to unfamiliar situations. The CCE of the CBSE (2012) has the
following features:

(i) The assessments can be weekly, fortnightly, or quarterly reviews, depend-

ing on the topic under study.
(ii) The assessment will be both Formative and Summative.
(iii) The Formative Assessment consists of continuous monitoring of students’
progress in a non threatening environment.
(iv) The tools for assessment are questions, observation schedule, interview
schedule, checklist, rating scale, anecdotal records, document analysis, tests
and inventories, and portfolio analysis.
(v) The techniques employed are examinations, assignments, quizzes and
competitions, projects, debates, elocution, group discussions, club activi-
ties, experiments, and research.
(vi) The Summative Assessment measures how much a student has learned by
the end of a course.
(vii) The Written, end-term exam consists of objective type questions and/or
ones requiring short and long answers.
(viii) The Co-scholastic Assessment is related to life skills which consist of thinking
skills (self awareness, problem solving, decision making, critical thinking),
 Secondary English language education in India 117
social skills (interpersonal relationships, effective communication, empathy),
emotional skills (managing emotions, dealing with stress), creative thinking,
attitudes and values (towards teachers, school mates, school programs and
environment).
(ix) Assessment of Co-curricular Activities consists of two parts: (i) Co-curricular
Activities – with any two from amongst – literary and creative skills, scien-
tific skills, information and communication technology (ICT), organiza-
tional and leadership skills (clubs); and (ii) Sports/Indigenous Sports – with
any two from amongst – National Cadet Corps (NCC)/National Service
Scheme (NSS), Scouting and Guiding, Swimming, Gymnastics, Yoga, First
Aid, and Gardening/Shramdaan (voluntary labor service).

The session 2011–2012 for Class IX and Session 2012–2013 for Class X consists
of two terms, the first term was from April–September and the second term from
October–March. The overall-assessment consists of three parts:
Part 1 of the assessment consists of the evaluation of Scholastic Areas, which
reflect both for Classes IX and X in the report card in the form of grades on a
nine-point grading scale. Each term will have two Formative and one Summative
Assessments. The overall grades of Formative Assessments over the two terms,
FA1+FA2+FA3+FA4 (= 40 per cent) and of Summative Assessments, SA1+SA2
(= 60 per cent), must be given at the end the course. The minimum qualifying
grade in all the subjects under scholastic domain is D.
Part 2 of the assessment consists of Co-scholastic Areas where students are
assessed in four parts on a five-point grading scale and the minimum qualifying
grade is D.
Assessment for Part 3(A) – Co-curricular Activities, and for Part 3(B) –
Health and Physical Education and Sports/Indigenous Sports are also on five-
point scale.
The descriptive remarks by the class teacher about the positive and significant
achievements of the student must follow the overall assessment.
Evaluation for languages involves oral and listening (listening comprehen-
sion), prepared speech, conversation or dialogue, written assignments (short and
long question answers), creative writing, reports, newspaper articles, diary
entries, poetry, etc., speeches (debates, oratory, recitation, extempore, etc.),
research projects (information gathering, deductive reasoning, analysis and
synthesis) and a presentation using a variety of forms including the use of infor-
mation and communication technology (ICT), pair work/group work, and peer
assessment.
The objective assessment is divided into alternative response type, matching
type and multiple choice type questions. The alternative response questions are
of the type true/false, right/wrong, yes/no, the matching type involve single,
double checklist, fill in the blanks, and the multiple choice involve a choice from
multiple answers or are in the form of incomplete statements.
In the coming years research in the above areas is bound to enquire whether
learning is concomitant with the grades obtained in the CCE.
118 Ravinder Gargesh

Teachers and teacher training

Teacher education, it is recommended, needs to be ongoing and on-site as well
as preparatory. The role of the teacher is that of a facilitator who encourages
learners to reflect, analyze and interpret in the process of knowledge construc-
tion (NCERT, 2005a). The teacher is trained so that his/her teaching becomes
student centered, self-directed, and with a continuous assessment system.
Kumar (1995, p. 283) aptly sums up that there has been a radical departure
from the notion of language learning as a phenomenon attributed to habit-
formation and conditioning to a view of learning as an active process. He says
that “The teacher is no longer seen as person who possesses and transmits
language as content but as a person who assists the learner in developing an
innate capacity … as a facilitator, an advisor and a counselor who will create an
appropriate environment for language learning” (Kumar 1995, p. 285). The
focus has shifted to developing the inner capacity of the teacher along with the
recognition that professional development is an ongoing continuous process.
This is further elaborated by Prabhu (2012, p. 1) who is of the opinion that a
teacher’s growth “arises from the ongoing activity of teaching – from the daily
engagement in the classroom rather than from any professional inputs”. For
becoming an effective teacher, he proposes four kinds of activities. The first is
“viewing someone else’s teaching, either live or video-recorded”. This is more
than reflective teaching. The second activity is a teacher making “pedagogic
decisions in the classroom in the light of what happens and how he perceives it
at that time”. The third is to “communicate one’s current pedagogic under-
standing to a fellow teacher” (Prabhu, 2012, p. 3), and the fourth and last
activity is “to try to interact with the more explicit pedagogic perceptions of
specialists in the field” (Prabhu, 2012, p. 5). These suggestions of Prabhu imply
that a teacher’s perception of teaching and his/her growth as a teacher, is always
in a state of development and change. This is also the implication of the CCE
conducted by the teachers.
Mohanraj (2000) and Ratnam (2000), from their experiences of earlier curric-
ulum implementation in Gujarat and Karnataka respectively, have found
despondence with the curriculum among the teachers. They have suggested
more or less decentralized in-service teacher training rather than a centralized
one in order to overcome local challenges in language teaching. Gargesh (2006,
p. 303) shows that pre-service and in-service teacher training programs are still
not well-acquainted with the activity-based or task-based methods. The pressure
from parents and school administration to complete the “syllabus” as well as lack
of resources are rendering much of the training ineffective. This situation appears
to have improved but much remains to be done.

Conclusion
Students in India come to secondary schools with a hope of achieving upward
educational and social mobility. In order to achieve this, policy plans have been
 Secondary English language education in India 119
specified and at times even modified and decisions have been taken accord-
ingly. Curricula have changed over the years and so have the teaching methods
but a qualitative difference in terms of learning/acquisition by children still
eludes much of education. India is a huge country with a phenomenally huge
number of students and teachers and it has begun to focus on secondary
education in a big way only recently, i.e. from 2009 onwards, and to provide
each student with a similar English language education is fraught with many
challenges.
First, a great challenge exists in the form of different types of schools – from
elite private exclusive schools to entirely government-funded schools. The
secondary education in elite schools is expensive and good in terms of the infra-
structure and quality of teachers of English, while, at the same time, it is not up
to the mark for students in the government schools who mostly come from the
lower strata of society. The inequality does not allow an equitable distribution of
the benefits that the policies try to offer.
Second, textbooks in the present-day curriculum need to serve only as the
starting points for the dissemination of knowledge in language learning rather
than the end point.
Third, to achieve this objective, a continuous and progressive teacher training
module keeping the Indian situation in mind is essential.
Last, the mindset of the majority of teachers needs to undergo change so that
they can accept and modulate their teaching by focusing on a student’s academic
enrichment. For this, there is a need for greater commitment on the part of the
government, the policy makers, and the school administrators and the teachers
to fulfill the dreams of millions. Hence, the goal of providing good English
language education to each and every student in the country at the secondary
level is still a distant dream.

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7 The teaching of English
at secondary schools
in Indonesia
Didi Sukyadi

Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world with an estimated
population of more than 250 million people in 2013. It consists of many differ-
ent ethnic groups, speaking an estimated 600 languages. As a multilingual coun-
try, Indonesia has decided to choose Bahasa Indonesia as its national language
and English as its first foreign language, functioning as the language for science,
technology, arts, an instrument to attain the objectives of economy and trade,
connection among countries, socio-cultural aims, schooling and skills and exper-
tise development for individuals. By law, English has been assigned as one of the
obligatory lessons to be delivered at the secondary levels, while opening the
possibility of teaching it since Primary Four from 1989, but having an unclear
position in the 2013 English Curriculum. In practical terms, however, the policy
of having Bahasa Indonesia as a national language and English as an important
foreign language does not always go hand in hand. On the one hand, English
language teaching (ELT) practitioners realize that ELT practices in Indonesia are
still far from perfect. More efforts need to be made to improve the present situ-
ation. On the other hand, politically, policy makers seem reluctant to promote
English any further. The present paper argues that despite the ambivalent atti-
tude of the government towards English, there have been many landmarks that
highlight the efforts of both government and ELT practitioners to improve the
quality of ELT in Indonesia which may represent its dynamics in Indonesian
secondary schools.

Introduction
Before talking about the practice of teaching English in Indonesian secondary
education, I will firstly describe the Indonesian secondary education system and
the place of English in it. Then, the discussion concerning the historical develop-
ment of the English curriculum at secondary schools, the establishment of inter-
national standard schools, and teachers’ quality improvement efforts will follow.
Indonesian secondary education is a huge and complex system. Both junior
and senior secondary schools can be run by the Ministry of National Education
(MONE), the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA), or by private sectors.
While MONE stipulates two-hour religious lessons a week, schools under
124 Didi Sukyadi
MORA may include more religious teachings to their curriculum contents. Any
school run by private sectors is free to add more teaching hours for religious
lessons or for other subjects, or only adopt those stipulated by the government.
After three years in junior secondary schools, students may go to either senior
secondary schools or to vocational secondary schools for another three years. In
Year 2, senior secondary school students may go to either science, social science,
or language programs. In junior secondary schools, the English teaching period
is 4 x 40 minutes a week, while for senior and vocational secondary schools, it is
taught in 4 x 45 minutes a week, except for the language program, which is 5 x
45 minutes a week. In the 2013 Curriculum, implemented in August 2013, the
obligatory teaching hours of English in senior high school has decreased from
4 hours to 2 hours a week, triggering controversies among teachers and practi-
tioners. In addition to English, senior high school students under both MONE
and MORA may also optionally learn other languages such as Arabic, Japanese,
German, French or Chinese. The inclusion of English in the curriculum struc-
ture as a compulsory subject indicates that English has an important place in the
Indonesian education system.
In the context of Indonesia, there is no specific variety of English which is
preferred to be used. For written communication in an academic context, both
British and American English are accepted. The adoption mostly depends on the
participants involved in the interaction. Someone educated in Britain will prefer
to use British English, while the one educated in USA will tend to use American
English. Depending on the authors, textbooks used in secondary schools may
resort to both British and American English. The issue is whether the variety used
is grammatically and contextually correct. In the spoken mode of communica-
tion, varieties used are more wide-ranging. In addition to British and American
English, Australian English, Indian English, or even localized English such as
English with Javanese or Sundanese accent is often heard. Most Indonesian
people speaking English as a foreign language are generally quite tolerant about
the variety of English they or other people use as long as the message conveyed
in the interaction processes can be understood by each other. Therefore, English
varieties are not yet a big issue in our secondary education system.

The place of English in the Indonesian education system

In the Indonesian education system, English has a very important position as it
has been adopted as the first foreign language to teach in secondary schools. The
first head of The Central Inspectorate of English Language Instruction in the
Ministry of Education in 1955 formally stated that English would never become
a second language in Indonesia, but it must be “the first foreign language”
(Komaria, 1998, pp. 24-25). Furthermore, the Law of the Republic of Indonesia,
1989 on National Education System provides English a position as the first
foreign language and assigns it one of the obligatory lessons to be delivered at
the secondary levels, but permits it to be taught from Primary Four and also
opens the probability of instructing foreign languages other than English.
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 125
English in the 1989 Law, Chapter 9, Section 39, Verse 3, is decided as an obliga-
tory subject, part of the main curriculum, which is supported by the Regulation
of the Republic of Indonesia, Number 28, 1990 on primary education, which
mentions that English should be instructed from the first year of junior second-
ary school but may be included as early as Primary Four at the school’s
consideration.
The 1989 Education Law, Chapter 11, Section 42, Verse 2 also authorizes the
probability of making use of English as a means of teaching, with the circum-
stances that it is required for expanding knowledge of a specific subject or occu-
pational skills. According to Komaria (1998) the goal of teaching English has
been mainly to develop reading ability as a means of helping students to gain
access to information, and to read references. However, legislation does also
offer a position for further skills. The Minister of Education and Culture Decrees
of 1967 (MOEC, 1967) and of 1994 (MOEC, 1993) both gave precedence to
reading in English. Nonetheless, the general array of priority has altered from
reading, listening, writing and speaking in 1967, to reading, listening, speaking
and writing in 1994 (MOEC, 1993), and to listening, speaking, reading and
writing in 2006 (Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan [BSNP], 2006a, 2006b).
The importance of English can be recognized from the Congress of Bahasa
Indonesia VII in Jakarta in 1998 as condensed by Erdina (2001). In addition to
Bahasa Indonesia as a language for unity, the congress contends that a good
command of English is indivisible from the hard work of increasing national
competitiveness in facing the globalization age. In secondary education context,
the so-called the 2004 Competence-Based English Curriculum (MONE, 2001a,
2001b) mentions the importance of English as follows:

As a language which is used by more than half of the world’s inhabitants,

English is prepared to perform the task as the worldwide tongue. Apart from
being the language for science, technology and arts, this language can
become an instrument to attain the objectives of economy and trade,
connection among countries, socio-cultural aims, schooling and skills and
expertise development for individuals. The mastery of English can be
regarded as a key prerequisite for the achievement of individuals, and the
people of the nation of Indonesia in responding to the challenges of the era
in the international level. The mastery of English can be obtained through
a range of programs, but the program of English teaching at school appears
to be the major facility for Indonesian learners.
(MONE, 2001a, pp. 1–2; MONE, 2001b, pp. 1–2)

Concerning the role of English in Indonesia, the curriculum also stresses that:

In Indonesia, English is an instrument to understand and develop science,

technology, arts and civilization. Additionally, English has an enormously
noteworthy function in establishing the connection between the nation of
Indonesia and others in various subjects such as social economy, trade and
126 Didi Sukyadi
politics. Therefore, English can be pondered as a tool to speed up the devel-
opment of the Indonesian nation and country.
(MONE, 2001a, p. 12; MONE, 2001b, pp. 1–2)

The content standards of both junior and senior secondary schools were issued
by BSNP in 2006, which were considered by many education observers as the
replacement of the 2004 Junior and Senior Secondary Curricula (Badan Standar
Nasional Pendidikan [BSNP], 2003). This curriculum consists of only standard
competences and basic competences. Concerning the role of English, the 2006
Curriculum states that:

Language is central to students’ intellectual, social, and emotional develop-

ment and could support the success of learning in all school subjects. In
addition, language learning helps the students express their ideas and feel-
ing, participate in the society, find and use their analytic and imaginative
abilities. English is a means of both oral and written communication.
Communication is understanding and expressing information, ideas, feeling
and developing science, technology and culture.
(BSNP, 2006a, 2006b)

However, even though English is considered as an important foreign language,

there is a reluctance in most Indonesian policy makers to advance the status of
English in Indonesia from a foreign language to a second language. English is not
only considered as a tool to gain national competitiveness, but it is also seen as a
threat to national identities and nationalism. Lauder (2008) sees the case as
language schizophrenia. What Lauder has indicated may be justified when we
examine the Law of the Republic of Indonesia, Number 20, 2003 on National
Education System which does not clearly point out the status of English as an
obligatory subject in the main curriculum. It only declares that secondary school
curriculum should include languages. The Law also does not mention English as
a language of instruction. It simply says that a foreign language can be used as a
language of instruction if it is necessary to develop the academic competence of
the students. Furthermore, in the Law of the Republic of Indonesia, Number 24,
2009 on flag, language, coat of arms, and national anthem, English is not
mentioned at all. There are only three articles in the law that deal with foreign
languages. Articles 35 and 39 say that foreign languages can be used in specific
academic works, publication and mass media, whereas Article 43 says that the
government facilitates Indonesian citizens to acquire foreign language skills to
improve national competitiveness, but this allowance should be based on the
government regulation. Here we see that this 2009 Law was designed to mostly
protect national and vernacular languages from the penetration of foreign
languages even though all are aware that those foreign languages are really needed.
Although English at the same time is considered as a valuable treasure and also
a threat, the footprints of English in Indonesian secondary education curricula
indicate that English is an important part of the system. As described below,
English is always part of every secondary curriculum changes.
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 127
Secondary English language curriculum
The English curriculum in Indonesian secondary schools has experienced
several changes. According to Kasihani (2000), from 1945 to 1950, formal
education could not be carried out smoothly due to the political situation at
that time. Mostly, the Indonesian education system in this period adopted the
Dutch education system, but the language of instruction was Bahasa
Indonesia. Kasihani (2000) further continues that in 1954, Kurikulum Gaya
Lama, or the Old Style Curriculum was introduced. In this period English was
included in the curriculum with four teaching periods or two sessions a week
using the grammar translation method. Kasihani (2000) further elaborates
that in 1962, the Old Style Curriculum was replaced by Kurikulum Gaya
Baru, or the New Style Curriculum. This new style curriculum was accompa-
nied by the teaching materials called “the Salatiga Materials” for junior
secondary schools. The materials were organized based on an audiolingual
approach. For Kasihani (2000), in 1968, the curriculum used was Kurikulum
Gaya Baru yang Disempurnakan (the Perfected New Style Curriculum). This
curriculum was still characterized by the audiolingual method. Teaching mate-
rials were developed and sequenced according to grammar. In this period,
teaching materials for senior secondary schools, called English for the SLTA,
were introduced and used until the 1980s. The emphasis of the materials was
on reading skills.
In 1975, the 1975 Curriculum was initiated and was assumed by some curric-
ulum observers to be better than that of 1968, having clearer instructional objec-
tives; though still advocating the audiolingual method. The teaching materials
used were the same as those in the 1968 curriculum, English for the SLTA,
published in 1979 (Kasihani, 2000). In 1984, the 1984 Curriculum was
adopted. It emphasized students’ active learning and meaningful communica-
tion. This curriculum hailed communicative language teaching (CLT), which
was considered as the best approach to teaching English at that time. However,
even though communicative language teaching was claimed to replace the audio-
lingual method, the existing learning materials were still grammatical and audio-
lingual in nature. Secondary school textbooks published around that time were
still sequenced and graded according to grammar (see Alter, 1982). Some books
written by Indonesian authors were also still grammar oriented. The teaching
materials developed in the 1980s were organized based on reading skills as the
main emphasis, followed by vocabulary, structure, speaking, and writing, and in
some cases with the exclusion of listening skill (Kistono and Widodo, 1990). The
teaching methodology was still teacher oriented with a lot of practices in gram-
matical rules through deductive drills.
In 1994, the 1994 Curriculum (based on the revised 1984 curriculum) came
into use. This curriculum advocated the communicative approach. The learning
materials were organized thematically, which, among others, include economy,
culture and arts, international relations, environment, society and demography,
energy, woman’s roles, and banking (Heasly and Maskur, 1996). The four
language skills were arranged with the order of reading, speaking, writing,
128 Didi Sukyadi
listening, and language focus (grammar and vocabulary). In this period, teaching
grammar was tolerated only when it was necessary. Even though the 1994
Curriculum was designed at the time when competence-based curriculum and
CLT gained currency, the impact of competence-based curriculum and the CLT
movement was not significant because mostly the textbooks published in this
period were similar to those published during the 1994 Curriculum, still being
dominated by grammar. Fortunately, a few books such as those published by
Balai Pustaka had already used themes, with limited grammar discussion (see
Djunaedi, 1995).
At the beginning of 2003, the Center for Curriculum Development or Pusat
Pengembangan Kurikulum (Puskur) assigned a panel consisting of English
language teaching specialists to review the 1994 Secondary English Curriculum.
When scholars working with Systemic and Functional Grammar (SFL) and
genre-based approach (GBA) joined the panel, the curriculum developed was
significantly colored by SFL and GBA. In 2003, the document underpinning
the 2004 English Curriculum was released (MONE, 2003). It consists of three
chapters: 1) introduction; 2) basic competence, indicators, essential learning
materials; and 3) appendices. In this curriculum, ideas of language as a compe-
tence and language as a communication were adopted. Language learning
materials were graded into performative, informational, and epistemic literacy
(Wells, 1987). New terminologies such as interpersonal, ideational, textual,
lexico grammar, genre, spoof/recount, procedure, report, news item, anecdote,
commentary, review, and many others were introduced.
When the curriculum, which by education policy makers was called
competence-based curriculum, was made public in 2004, pros and cons
emerged. On the one hand, the cons saw that the curriculum was too linguis-
tic, too difficult, and unrealistic for Indonesian children learning English as a
foreign language. English teachers in all Indonesian areas with varied English
competences and linguistic knowledge all of sudden should deal with SFL
terms such as ideational, interpersonal, and textual function, genre, field, tenor,
mode, etc. What made the situation worse was that what the teachers taught
was mainly not communicative competences, but text types and their generic
structures. When all these linguistic things were parts of national exams, the
result was a blind rejection and opposition to the genre-based approach. On
the other hand, the pros believe that through a genre-based approach, the
students will be able not only to acquire the four language skills but also to
think critically.
Controversies concerning the 2004 English curriculum subsided in 2005 after
the government released Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia, Number 19,
Year 2005, on national standard of education, which led to the establishment
of the Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan or the Board of National Standard
of Education (BSNP). Having seen the controversies, in 2006 BSNP cut most of
the components of the 2004 Curriculum. The Board withdrew the indicators,
essential learning materials, and appendices, leaving only its standard and basic
competences. According to A. Saukah, a BSNP technical assistant (personal
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 129
communication, 12 February, 2012), the idea behind the omission was to
empower teachers and schools. Each school should be given an opportunity to
develop its own curriculum, which is expected to be able to empower teachers’
autonomy and cater for local needs, a practice later called Kurikulum Tingkat
Satuan Pendidikan or School-Based Curriculum.
However, the severe cut on the components of the curriculum, leaving only
its standard competence and basic competence as mentioned above has resulted
in more complicated problems. Schools and teachers who have not had suffi-
cient understanding and experiences concerning curriculum development have
to prepare their own syllabus, lesson plans, teaching materials, and assessment.
It was a great shock for teachers at that time. What made the situation worse
was that the lack of experts having sufficient knowledge and skills about SFL
and genre-based approach had made socialization of the curriculum very diffi-
cult. This situation has been indicated as the main cause of the so called genre-
based approach abuse. According to S. Madya, TEFLIN Past President
(personal communication, 12 February 2011), the case was considered as a
genre-based malpractice. Although many schools and teachers claimed to have
applied genre-based approach in their teaching, what they are doing goes
against genre-based approach principles. The teachers’ confusion has also been
multiplied by the policy of Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP) or
school-based curriculum development (SBCD). As the central government
only developed standard and basic competences, all schools should develop
their own curriculum, adding a new burden to the already overloaded
activities.
The tendency of most Indonesian people to solve problems using violence,
hooliganism and vandalism, and the decrease of Indonesian global competitive-
ness has been connected to the failure of the 2006 Curriculum. The critics say
that the curriculum tended to put the emphasis on cognition, does not provide
opportunities for the children to have challenging activities outside the class-
room, and has too many subjects to teach. With this in mind, since August 2013,
the goverment launched the 2013 Curriculum to replace the 2006 Curriculum.
In terms of content, not much has been changed in the 2013 Curriculum.
Competence-based curriculum development and genre-based approach are
maintained. However, different from the 2006 Curriculum, which used the
terms standard competence and basic competence, the 2013 Curriculum states
its objectives in the form of core competence for institutional objectives and basic
competence for subject matter objectives. Every education institution has four
core competences with the first two dealing with moral and character building,
while the latter deal with cognitive and psychomotor domains.
The emphasis on the development of affective domains poses at least two
problems for teachers at the implementation level. First, some people believe that
moral or characters which need to be developed should be explicitly stated both
in the lesson plans and in the teaching and learning processes. For example, when
the text is a narrative one, the moral and characters should appear in both sylla-
bus and lesson plan and before ending the lesson the teacher should conclude
130 Didi Sukyadi
with the moral students can learn from the text. The same idea applies not only
for English, but also for other subjects as well. Other practitioners believe that
teaching affective domain explicitly is impractical. Moral and character develop-
ment will be nurtured in every teaching and learning process even though it is
not stated or taught explicitly. Second, the assessment of moral and character
development is difficult to do and this will force teachers to do something that
actually they cannot do.
Another feature of the 2013 Curriculum that raises many questions for many
people is the decrease in the number of teaching hours for English from 4 hours
to 2 hours a week. As can be seen from the average of TOEFL score of
Indonesian test takers, difficulty in getting civil servant candidates for masters
and doctoral scholarships funded by the government, and the low rate of
Indonesian publication index, many people believe that English teaching and
learning process in Indonesia needs improving. The main reason which is often
repeatedly pointed out for this unsatisfactory result is the low exposure to
English. The obvious way out of this is to improve the teaching hours of English
in secondary schools, not to decrease it.
The tendency of slowing down the influence of English towards the national
language can also be seen in the position of English in the 2013 primary curricu-
lum. If in the 2004 Curriculum English could be taught as a local content and
schools could easily hire English teachers and allocate the funding from the
national budget, in the 2013 Curriculum its position is unclear. Some believe
that it can be taught as local content as it was in the last curriculum. Some others
consider that English has been withdrawn from the primary curriculum because
it is not mentioned explicitly in the primary curriculum structure. For local
education authorities, this exclusion has a significant impact because they cannot
use government money to hire primary English teachers. Therefore, some of
them apply a more radical approach by moving certified primary English teachers
to secondary schools, because if they keep them, they will not be paid. With this
policy, English in primary schools is left to the schools and the society, making it
an extra-curricular subject or not teaching it at all.
The most plausible explanation about the decrease of English teaching hours
and the withdrawal of English from the primary curriculum is the mixed feelings
among language policy makers concerning Bahasa Indonesia and English. They
are too worried that Bahasa Indonesia will not be able to compete or even coexist
with English. English is considered as a threat for the development of Bahasa
Indonesia. Therefore, when we realized that the result of secondary school
national exams of English was better than that of Bahasa Indonesia, English was
easily to blame and the simplest way of solving the problem was by decreasing
the number of teaching hours of English in secondary curricula, and by not
making it a part of primary curriculum. Many policy makers believe that with less
teaching hours in schools, English will look after itself. It may not be the case for
Bahasa Indonesia. Without government intervention Bahasa Indonesia is
assumed to be weakening and will lose its function as the national pride and
heritage.
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 131
The implementation of genre-based approach
Swales (1990) defines a genre as “a class of communicative events, the members
of which share some set of communicative purposes” (p. 58). The Routledge
Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning has defined genre approach as
“a framework for language instruction” (Byram, 2004, p. 234). In the
Indonesian context, genre-based approach is mainly understood as language
instruction in which the texts selected to teach are chosen and sequenced based
on text types such as narrative, descriptive, recount, reports, procedures, etc.,
while the teaching stages are arranged based on building knowledge, modeling,
joint construction and independent construction of texts. This approach is
believed to underpin the 2004, then the 2006, Junior and Senior Secondary
English curricula in Indonesia.
Eight years after its adoption in 2004, the genre-based approach has not been
fully understood yet by many teachers who should execute it in the classrooms.
Several studies concerning the implementation of genre-based approach in
secondary schools have been reported. A study conducted by Badan Penelitian
dan Pengembangan (Balitbang) or the Board of Research and Development,
Ministry of National Education (Balitbang, 2007, 2008), concerning the curric-
ulum policy of language subjects revealed some interesting findings. First, teach-
ers had difficulties in understanding the definition of monologue and essays. The
terms monologue and essays include such text types as descriptive, narative,
recount, etc. In teachers’ perception, the term monologue seems to imply that the
texts cannot be used in dialogues because the teachers interpret mono as one,
while an essay has been recognized as part of academic texts. It is considered
inappropriate to think narrative, descriptive, and other types of genre as essays.
Second, the teachers found that in the curriculum, there were no distinctive
features distinguishing the coverage of the same genre in different semesters or
classes. The teachers still had little idea of how to distinguish narratives for Year
1 and Year 2, for example, or between the previous, present and the next texts.
Third, it was revealed that some teachers were not able to comprehend stand-
ard competences and basic competences well. Consequently, the learning process
was not directed to develop the students’ ability to act and participate in the real
life of their society. Their teaching objectives were not designed in accordance
with the required competences. Fourth, many teachers still did not understand
that standard and basic competences were the representation of integrated skills.
Therefore, they still taught language skills in a discrete way as in the audiolingual
method. Fifth, many teachers still did not have a thorough understanding
concerning terminologies in SFL and GBA such as transactional, functional,
interpersonal, descriptive, report, etc. All of the terminologies are abstract techni-
cal terms that cover other subcategories. For example, narrative texts include
stories, novels, fables, folktales, etc.; recount includes personal experience, report
of activities, travel report, success stories, etc. Consequently, teaching English is
not learning how to use language communicatively, but learning linguistic
terminologies.
132 Didi Sukyadi
Understanding text types, curriculum objectives, and appropriate teaching
strategies in genre-based approach is still a big problem for some teachers.
Studying the implementation of genre-based approach in junior secondary
schools in Surabaya, Kumalarini and Munir (2006) found that the problems the
teachers encounter in using genre-based approach include:

• understanding the types of texts included in the curriculum;

• knowing the students’ literacy level required by the curriculum;
• understanding the objectives of genre-based curriculum;
• utilizing grammar to support the acquisition of communicative
competences;
• controlling the amount of reading aloud during modelling of text;
• understanding the importance of developing strategic competence to
acquire natural communicative competence;
• understanding the principles of literacy;
• using grammar to teach nonlinguistic competence;
• sequencing the four teaching cycles and deciding whether those cycles
should be finished in one session or more;
• identifying what to do when the students are at every stage of the four
cycles.

Another factor that places teachers in difficulty when implementing genre-based

approach is class size, number of topics, and skill complexity. Emilia, Hermawan,
and Tati (2008) found that with some interventions from someone more knowl-
edgeable, genre-based approach can be successfully executed by junior secondary
school teachers. However, a large class size, number of topics, and skill complex-
ity may threaten the smooth implementation of the approach. Large class size,
for example, will make it quite difficult for teachers to attend to the students
individually during the teaching and learning activities.
Similarly, H. Setiawati, A. Hartati, and S. Suryanti (personal communication,
7 March 2011), English teachers of Fledgling International Standard Schools
(FISS/RSBI) in West Java, indicate that some senior secondary teachers have
perceived and implemented genre-based approach in a misleading way. For
example, when planning the lessons, teachers tend to focus on the number of
texts to finish, not on how to guide the students to be able to construct texts
in a unified and coherent way. When selecting texts, most teachers based their
text selection on text illustration as their first criteria, not on the contents or
other more important aspects. On the implementation of the lesson, teachers
believe that building knowledge, modeling, joint construction, and independent
construction of texts) are linearly sequenced; one stage should be followed by
another. In fact, they are circular and can be started at any stage depending on
the students’ ability and readiness. In classroom management, most teachers use
their time in the class to explore generic structure, vocabulary, and grammar not
for reading comprehension or constructing texts, which is a more essential
objective.
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 133
The teachers’ lack of knowledge and skills in genre-based approach is further
doubled by the implementation of school-based curriculum development
(SBCD) policy, which was simultaneously implemented with the genre-based
approach adoption. The following discussion will show how serious the teachers’
confusion is.

The implementation of school-based

curriculum development
School-based curriculum development (SBCD) can be defined as the process of
preparing, writing, implementing, and evaluating curriculum at a school level.
Skilbeck (1984) refers to SBCD as the planning, design, and implementation,
and evaluation of program of students’ learning by the educational institution of
which those students are members. Relevant to this, Suharto (2009, p. 183)
describes SBCD as an effort to change the national education paradigm: from
the top down which is prescriptive to bottom up which gives more freedom for
the schools to develop their own creativity in teaching and learning processes. In
Indonesia, SBCD is a label for the 2006 Curriculum, which replaced the 2004
Curriculum. In SBCD, the central government specifies the competence stand-
ards and basic competences. These two components function as the general
objectives of the whole English national curriculum. Then, each school is able to
develop its own syllabus, specific teaching objectives, teaching and learning
activities, learning assessment, and program evaluation.
In other countries, various studies concerning SBCD have been done. Bezzina
(1991) studies the teachers’ role in SBCD in a small catholic primary school in
Sydney in 1986/1987. Her findings suggest that teachers’ participation in
SBCD comprises five groups of behaviors: (1) gathering background informa-
tion, (2) planning, (3) implementing, (4) evaluating, and (5) working with
others. Brady (1995) looks at SBCD in Australia in the context of simultaneous
movement towards centralization and structural decentralization from the 1970s
to the mid-1990s. Brady concludes that SBCD can coexist with the imminent
introduction of national curriculum statement and profiles in Australia. Brooker
and Macdonald (1999) explore the position of students’ voice in curriculum
innovation. They conclude that it is necessary to reconsider how to bring
students’ voice into curriculum making. For example, schools may include
students into the curriculum committee and other ways of reformulating prac-
tices, which give students an active voice in an institutional setting. Mac and Gail
(1992) look at Year 11 and 12 perspectives on curriculum innovation and change
in English secondary schools. They conclude that the absence of the students’
perspectives from the official curriculum decision-making process in secondary
schools contributes to a major limitation in the implementation of curriculum
innovation.
In the context of Indonesia, at the beginning, the implementation of SBCD
has caused a widespread confusion among teachers, headmasters, and school
supervisors on how to develop it. To anticipate further confusion, BSNP (2006c)
134 Didi Sukyadi
has issued a guideline for developing school-based curriculum for secondary
schools, consisting of rationale, components, syllabus development, and the
implementation. In the guideline, SBCD (BSNP, 2006c) is defined as an opera-
tional curriculum which is developed and implemented by each education unit,
consisting of at least the objectives, structure and content of the curriculum
(subject matters, local content, self-development, learning load, mastery learn-
ing, movement to higher classes and graduation, streaming, life skills, and educa-
tion which is based on local and global competitiveness), education calendar and
syllabus. Syllabus is defined as a lesson plan for one or several groups of subject
matters, or themes covering competence standards, basic competences, learning
materials, learning activities, learning objectives, asssessment, time allotment and
learning resources.
However, the guideline is dedicated for all subjects taught in secondary
schools. English teachers at each school should interpret the guideline by them-
selves when developing their own English curriculum. At this stage, problems
usually arise. Teachers’ understanding towards the policy of SBCD, content
standards and their experiences and ability in developing their own curriculum
are quite varied. Instead of developing their own syllabi, teachers in remote areas
tend to simply adopt and use syllabi available in their surroundings such as those
from other schools, the Internet or books. The practice of copying another
school curriculum is quite common among teachers and schools due to their
insufficient ability in developing their own curriculum.
One source of school difficulties in developing the curriculum is that the
process is technically complex and not all schools have teachers who can do the
job. Some education practitioners suggest that what makes SBCD complicated
is the existence of many terminologies taken from SFL and GBA. As we know,
in Indonesia, SFL has been part of the curriculum of pre-service teacher training
only recently. Most senior teachers employed by the government at the moment
have little knowledge about SFL because they did not learn it when they were at
universities. A focused group discussion organized by the Association of Teaching
English as a Foreign Language in Indonesia (TEFLIN) on 12 February 2011, has
recommended the government to review SBCD, and suggested the implementa-
tion of provincial or municipal curriculum with the reduction of technical terms
that may confuse many teachers.
H. Setiawati, A. Hartati, and S. Suryanti (personal communication, 7 March
2011), English teachers of Fledgling International Standard Schools (FISS/
RSBI) in West Java, revealed some crucial problems in the implementation of
SBCD. Many teachers still wrongly considered that SBCD was developed by
central government and the local education authority, while in fact it should be
developed by each school. Many schools have only a few teachers who are skillful
enough in interpreting and implementing, especially in narrowing down the
curriculum into syllabi and lesson plans. Many teachers prefer to imitate them
from other teachers, books, or the Internet. At the classroom level, teachers also
have difficulties in determining methodology and teaching techniques. For
instance, they have already known the four stages in genre-based teaching cycles,
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 135
but they still find difficulties in deciding where, for example, TPR, games, stories,
and songs should be done.

Secondary school quality improvement projects

As previously discussed, changes in Indonesian secondary education is commonly
triggered by government initiatives. In 2003, there was a drastic change in
Indonesian secondary education policy. The government regulates and pioneers
international standard schools, which is in accordance with the Law of the
Republic of Indonesia, No. 20, Year 2003, Article 50, Verse 3, concerning
national education system, saying that, “The government and/or local govern-
ment administer at least one education unit at all education levels to be devel-
oped into an international standard of education unit”. However, as most of the
schools at the time when the policy was launched have not reached international
standard schools, and will need a couple of years to reach the goal, the govern-
met did not call them international standard schools (ISS) but Rintisan Sekolah
Bertaraf International (RSBI), which is translated by Coleman (2011) as
Fledgling International Standard Schools (FISS). Until 2009, the government
has established 299 junior secondary schools, 321 senior secondary schools, and
295 vocational secondary schools, which were labeled as Fledgling International
Standard Schools (FISS/RSBI; MONE, 2008).
RSBIs are national standard schools preparing their students based on both
national and international education standards with the expectation that the
graduates would have international competitiveness. The curricula of FISS/
RSBI are characterized by the implementation of school-based curriculum and
credit system. FISS/RSBI schools should also fulfil content standards and gradu-
ate competence standards set by BSNP, use information technology, and adopt
teaching and learning materials used by OECD countries. FISS/RSBI schools
are also characterized by the use of English as a language of instruction for math
and science subjects.
The guideline for the implementation of senior secondary schools with inter-
national standard (MONE, 2009) reveals that the curriculum and the teaching
and learning process of FISS/RSBI schools should be characterized by the
following principles:

a) Adopting curricula used in OECD countries.

b) Teaching foreign languages, especially English, integratedly with other
subjects whether using subtractive model, or dual language model of
bilingualism.
c) Emphasizing the balance in the development of all learning domains,
including cognitive, social, emotional, and physical domains.
d) Developing integrated curricula in terms of learning materials, competences,
values, attitudes, and behaviors.
e) Nurturing students to be able to think critically, creatively, and analytically,
and have the ability to make a decision in learning.
136 Didi Sukyadi
f) Encouraging the schools to have apprenticeship programs in relevant fields,
either in services, businesses or industries.
g) Emphasizing the ability to take advantage of information technology which
is used integratedly in every subject matter.

In their daily activities, FISS/RSBI schools are expected to administer quality

assurance in teaching and learning process, graduate competences, human
resource, teaching and learning facilities, finance, and assessment. The develop-
ment of FISS/RSBI schools to become Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional (SBI) or
International Standard Schools (ISS) is divided into three stages: 1) development
stage (first three years), 2) empowerment stages (2 years; or Years 4 and 5), and
3) independent stage (Year 6). In the development stage, FISS/RSBI schools are
assisted by experts from professional institutions such as universities or profes-
sional associations with the main foci of improving the quality of curriculum,
human resource, management, institution, and financing capacities, and also the
quality of teaching and learning facilities. In the empowerment stage, the schools
implement and improve the results acquired during the development stage with
the emphasis on the reflection of the present achievement, networking with
international partners, and international standard certification. In the independ-
ent stage, FISS/RSBI schools are expected to become international standard
schools by fulfilling all requirements stated.
Since it started in 2006, FISS/RSBIs have gained many controversies center-
ing on both academic and nonacademic matters. Debates on nonacademic
matters question the function of education to reduce poverty and to promote
social justice. FISS/RSBI schools are allowed to seek financial support from
parents, which is usually based on supply and demand. FISS/RSBI schools’
intakes mostly come from parents with good economic background, allowing
only a small number of children from low-income families to join in. Therefore,
by their critics FISS/RSBI schools are considered as too expensive and elitist,
serving only students from the haves family. The critics further argue that the
practice will widen the gap between the rich and the poor. As the government
uses taxpayers’ money to finance FISS/RSBI schools, social injustice may occur.
Poor people who pay tax do not enjoy the services from the tax they paid because
the government uses it to subsidize rich people. The same criticism comes from
Indonesian Teachers Union (IGI), which threatens to file a judicial review if the
government does not stop the national plus school program because it is consid-
ered as a form of education commercialization that hands over the government’s
responsibility on education to the taxpayers (Today Online, 17 March 2011).
The president of the organization argues that the use of English will also sacrifice
Bahasa Indonesia as the national language.
Controversies concerning academic matters mostly center on the effectiveness
of FISS/RSBI in improving education quality. According to F. Jalal, the Vice
Minister of National Education (personal communication, 18 December, 2010) in
a seminar of Redesigning Teacher Education, most FISS/RSBI schools spend the
money they earn both from the government and from the students’ parents not
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 137
for improving teachers’ quality but for school facility expenditures such as build-
ings, furniture, IT equipment, school management certification (ISO 9001,
2008), and international networking. The next problem is the use of English as a
language of instruction for teaching math and sciences. This new responsibility has
put math and science teachers under pressure. Until now, both math and science
teachers were not formally prepared to teach math and sciences in English. Even
though many schools provide English training, it has not come to the point where
they can use it to teach their subject matters confidently in the classroom. Limited
vocabulary and knowledge of how to use it is usually the main problem the teach-
ers face. For some students, the use of English as a language of instruction could
decrease their understanding about the materials presented, making them reluctant
and frightened to ask questions. Finally, many critics claimed that the use of
English as a language of instruction for teaching math and sciences is a waste of
time, energy, and money because it will not be effective and efficient to achieve the
national education goals. They indicate the case of Malaysia, where though English
functions as a second language, the impact of bilingual education on education
improvement is not that significant and the policy now is being reviewed.
A study concerning the implementation of secondary curriculum in Indonesia by
the Center for Curriculum Development, Research and Development Institute
(Balitbang, 2008) reveals that both school administrators and public have under-
stood the definition and characteristics of FISS/RSBIs differently. Almost all school
administrators think that as the administrators of FISS/RSBI schools they have
applied competence-based curriculum or SBCD as the main reference, enriched by
curriculum from other countries such as International Baccalaureate and Cambridge.
The finding also indicates that the teaching and learning process already uses
English as a language of instruction with a moving class, and team teaching system.
Then, it has also shown that the assessment approach is still dominated by tests,
either oral or written tests. Multiple assessment techniques such as portfolios,
projects, role-plays, and the like commonly have not been widely used yet. Finally,
it is revealed that the policy of FISS/RSBI has also made the school administrators
feel exclusive, better, and richer than other teachers in regular schools.
An unpublished master’s thesis by Rusmilati (2007) concerning the use of
integrated curriculum at FISS/RSBI schools indicates that there are some obsta-
cles in planning and implementing integrated curriculum. One of them is the
lack of readiness on the part of policy makers in facilitating the programs and
policies they have made. My oral communication with some teachers from FISS/
RSBI schools in West Java in January 2011 has discovered some troubles usually
encountered by teachers preparing their schools to reach international standards.
The problems can be described briefly as follows:

• Teachers consider FISS/RSBI a burden not only for both math and science
teachers but also for headteachers, students, and parents.
• Teachers believe that the implementation of FISS/RSBI policy should be
accompanied by the improvement of the teachers’ skills and ability, especially
in curriculum and material development.
138 Didi Sukyadi
• Many teachers believe that FISS/RSBI schools are characterized by the use
of English as a language of instruction, international curriculum, certifica-
tion of ISO 9001: 2008, international standard facilities, and international
networking. Few of them think that the essence of international standard
schools is teaching and learning quality improvement.
• FISS/RSBI policy demands teachers to work harder and spend more time
either for teaching or for administrative tasks.
• The implementation of FISS/RSBI schools also increases the pyschological
burden of teachers because they are demanded to bring all of their students
into success.
• For teachers, the use of English as a language of instruction has caused
the decrease in teaching and learning process, teachers’ teaching material
mastery, teaching spirit of teachers, students’ learning achievement, and
students’ learning motivation.
• The use of English as a language of instruction has also made the teach-
ers to get stressed and lazy to work, and consider English as a frightening
subject and a big obstacle. Few of them think that the use of English as a
language of instruction can be a trigger for them to improve their teaching
and learning quality.
• The teachers also think that for students the use of English has made them
difficult in understanding the learning materials, and afraid of asking ques-
tions. The students who think that the use of English is enjoyable were only
a minority.

Coleman (2011), an education consultant and an honorary researcher of Leeds

University staying in Jakarta, criticizes FISS/RSBI as an elitist policy. Students
coming from rich middle-class families are subsidized by the government using
taxpayers’ money with the purpose of improving their global competitiveness.
Coleman argues that without intervention, middle-class families will still be able
to pursue their aspirations. In addition, not many FISS/RSBI graduates require
English to compete internationally in the job market as most of them work inside
the country. At the same time, another constituency such as Indonesian migrant
workers who really need English to get and do their jobs and who earn a lot of
money for the Indonesian economy does not get full support from the govern-
ment (Coleman, 2011).
With so many criticisms from educational practitioners and the public, the
head of Board of Research and Development (BSNP), Mansyur Ramly, (Today
Online, 2011, April 14) stated that there was no more policy obligating FISS/
RSBI to use English, but encouraging the schools to use national and local
languages. However, English can be used when it is needed to enhance the
acquisition of the subject content. Another goverment step concerning FISS/
RSBI policy is suspending the establishment of new FISS/RSBI schools and
focusing on the quality improvement of those already established. A comprehen-
sive evaluation of FISS/RSBI school effectiveness has also been done at the end
of 2011. The results as reported in Kompas.Com (2012, February 12) revealed
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 139
that the performance of FISS/RSBI schools in terms of students’ and teachers’
performance on some tests in English and content mastery is not significantly
different from the performance of students and teachers of regular schools. The
finding warns the goverment to be more selective and thoughtful on the imple-
mentation of FISS/RSBI policy.
Criticisms and controversies concerning the policy and implementation of
FISS/RSBI continued to grow and reached its climax on 8 January 2013 when
the constitutional court stated that the national education system law underpin-
ning the establishment of FISS/RSBI was against the national constitution and
should be withdrawn or cancelled. Reactions to the cancellation was varied.
Those who support the decision said that the constitutional court was right
because the FISS/RSBI policy was a form of discrimination. The state helped the
rich move to better education standards, but left the poor behind because their
access to quality education was systematically deprived and limited. Smart
students were facilitated to move forward, while ordinary students should find
their own way for their future. The pros thought that the cancellation of FISS/
RSBI policy was a drawback in the Indonesian education system, especially
concerning quality improvement to enhance the nation global competitiveness.
The goverment itself remains consistent with the quality improvement policy
with or without FISS/RSBI. As the replacement of FISS/RSBI policy, soon after
the cancellation, the ministry of national education and culture has planned to
launch competitive-based block grants for every ex FISS/RSBI school to keep
improving its quality. However, its implementation has not yet come to public
attention so far. Aggressive and massive benchmarking efforts which have been
done by FISS/RSBI schools in the past, such as sister schools and standardizing
graduate competence through TOEIC or TOEFL, have slowed down because
many headmasters are afraid of violating the law or being blamed by the public
if they continue with their FISS/RSBI plan.

Teachers’ quality improvement

Talking about English education in Indonesian secondary schools will be incom-
plete without discussing the government efforts to improve the quality of teach-
ers in Indonesia, including the quality of English teachers of secondary schools.
According to Jalal (2010) per 2009, Indonesia has about 2.9 million teachers, in
which 886,230 of them are secondary teachers with varied academic qualifica-
tions, ranging from secondary education graduates, 1 year to 3 year diploma,
bachelor, masters, and doctoral degree holders (see Table 7.1 below). As a coun-
try of archipelago, Indonesia faces a problem of under supply and over supply
among urban, rural, and remote areas. Another problem is the high rate of
absenteeism among teachers, as they have to do other jobs to improve their
income because the amount of Indonesian annual teachers’ salary is below that
of Paraguay, Uruguay, Thailand, and Ceylon (Jalal, 2010).
Facing the problems, the Indonesian government triggered by Law of the
Republic of Indonesia, Number 14, 2005 on Teachers and Lecturers, has
140 Didi Sukyadi
Table 7.1 Number of secondary teachers per 2009

Academic Qualification Total

Senior Dipl. 1 Dipl. 2 Dipl. 3 B.A. M.A. Dr.

Junior 29.083 22.112 20.988 58.790 365.874 6.055 13 502.915
Senior 5.935 882 1.563 12.693 211.867 5.507 22 238.469
Voc. 5.871 808 1.007 12.923 121.397 2.828 12 144.846
Total 40.889 23.802 23.558 84.406 699.138 14.390 47 886.230
(Source: Jalal, 2010)

launched a program of teacher management improvement covering: 1) qualifica-

tion upgrading, 2) teacher certification, 3) quality assurance, 3) on-going profes-
sional development, 4) mapping deployment and recruitment requirements, and
5) welfare. Two programs, which are closely related to teachers’ quality improve-
ment, are qualification upgrading and teacher certification. Qualification upgrad-
ing requires all primary and secondary teachers to have at least bachelor degree
certificates. The program that is expected to finish in 2013 is dedicated for
in-service teachers who do not hold bachelor degrees. The government has
implemented the program through distance learning, dual modes, and regular
classes in tertiary institutions. The central and local governments provide schol-
arships for the teachers but stipulating them not to leave the classes when they
have to teach their students. Teacher certification is administered by obligating
teachers teaching in all institutions, both private and public, to have professional
educator certificates, which can be acquired through portfolio assessment or
Education and Training of Teaching Profession or Pendidikan dan Latihan
Profesi Guru (PLPG).
To take the process of professional educator certification, a teacher should
have at least 5 years’ teaching experience in relevant subjects. If a teacher chooses
a portfolio assessment, he/she should prepare documents to assess, which
include academic qualification, teaching experience, teacher training and devel-
opment, research and publication, lesson plans, assessment from headmasters or
school supervisors, professional organization activities, and participation in
community development activities. A teacher choosing PLPG should take part
in a two-week teacher-training program carried out by an appointed teacher
educator institution. The training consists of teaching knowledge and skill
enhancement and teaching practice. When a teacher has passed this certification
process and has got a professional teacher certificate, the government will grant
him/her a professional teacher benefit with the amount of one-month civil serv-
ant teacher salary. To this end, his/her income will increase 100 per cent.
Concerning the effectiveness of both portfolio and PLPG approaches, Rosyidi
(2011) of Board of Human Resource Development and Quality Assurance, Ministry
of National Education as reported by Kompas.Com (2011, May 26), states that
the latter is more meaningful and beneficial to improve teachers’ professionalism
than portfolio assessment. Therefore, PLPG is more endorsed and continuously
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 141
improved than portfolio. Another step to improve the effectiveness of teacher
certification is that starting in February 2012, teachers nominated to join the
certification process should have a prior competence test, which measures
the candidate’s performance in professional and pedagogical knowledge. Only
those who pass this test will have a chance to join the process.
Another way to improve teachers’ professionalism is to conduct activities
under a forum called Teacher Network or MGMP (Musyawarah Guru Mata
Pelajaran). MGMP is a nonstructural organization founded in compliance with
the Guidelines circulated by Directorate General of Primary and Secondary
Education, released in 1991 and reprinted in 1993 (MONE, 2010a). It is also
set up based on Law of the Republic of Indonesia, Number 14, 2005 on
Teacher and Lecturer. In Chapter IX, Article 41 (1 & 2) it is stated that educa-
tional employees set up a professional organization to enhance and develop their
career, capacity, ability, professional authority, and welfare for the achievement of
the best possible education objectives. English teacher networks organize regular
meetings to discuss and share new skills, knowledge, and information, either
from master teachers, school supervisors, one of the group members, or from
other source persons. They carry out workshop, seminar, or focus group discus-
sions about current issues and trends in the teaching of EFL, often supported by
the block grant from both local and central governments.
MGMP also becomes a crucial focal point when other institutions like univer-
sities or professional organizations want to interact with secondary teachers.
Members of MGMP often take part in professional organizations, joining
nationwide and worldwide seminars and conferences, and participating in
research activities. Members of MGMP participate in activities organized by
professional organizations like TEFLIN (Teaching English as a Foreign
Language in Indonesia) or by universities. In West Java, for example, in 2010
and 2011, Indonesia University of Education with the fund from both central
and local governments administered a teachers’ quality improvement project
using a lesson study approach. Teacher educators from university helped teachers
plan a teaching session. Then, one of the teachers used the lesson plan in a real
teaching, while being observed by both his/her peers and English teacher educa-
tors, an activity called “open lesson”. Then, both volunteers and observers
discussed the session and sought further improvement for the weak points of the
teaching. In this project, MGMP members played a significant role in building
the teachers’ self-confidence, motivation, and participation. The effectiveness of
this lesson study model has been reported by Saito, Hendayana, Imansyah,
Ibrohim, Kuboki, and Tachibana (2006).
However, if we take a look at the role of MGMP effectiveness in supporting
continuous teachers’ professional development as a whole, it has not all func-
tioned well yet. The Ministry of National Education shows some difficulties
(MONE, 2007) faced by MGMP as described below:

• The management of the MGMP is not working well.

• The activity of the MGMP is distinct from the needs of the teachers.
142 Didi Sukyadi
• The operational funds of the MGMP is inadequate.
• There is little awareness paid by the local political authorities via their related
education offices toward the program and the activities of MGMP.
• There is little support from the professional association toward MGMP.
• There is little assistance from some education stakeholders to enlarge the
teaching and learning quality that will offer positive results on classroom
teaching and learning process and nationwide education quality assurance.

Evans, Tate, Navarro, and Nicolls (2009) also show the lack of trainers, facilities,
and management skills as the problems faced by many MGMPs in Indonesia.
The instructors are teachers who have to teach at their respective schools. They
are master/main teachers who have participated in Training of Trainers (TOT)
courses, but they are very small in number in contrast with the number of teach-
ers that they have to cater for. In the TOT, the training uses some resources
which are not offered in the MGMPs. These complementary facilities, teaching
aids, and ICT apparatus can help instructors in training teachers to replicate
teaching learning activities, to serve and revise learning materials. Because many
MGMPs do not have those facilities, what MGMP facilitators could do in TOT
trainings could not be implemented in the real MGMP activities. Another prob-
lem highlighted by Evans et al. (2009) is that MGMPs do not currently work as
professional networks for teacher professional development. They do bring
together problems, but there is little communication and the concentration is on
limited issues, such as lesson plan preparation and test item writing. There is little
emphasis on teaching strategies and innovative teaching methodologies or best
practices that one may have done in his/her classroom. Teachers also have little
time to be away from their classes.
Jalal, Samani, Chang, Stevenson, Ragats, and Negara (2009) report that
despite the positive contributions of MGMP, there are also a number of limita-
tions that may reduce the effectiveness of MGMP. The most crucial one is that
the formation of MGMP is not permanent and, therefore, these networks are not
available to many teachers. If they are formed, they have limited capacity to
conduct training activities. In small regions, master teachers and other source
persons are rare, while inviting source persons from other places or from univer-
sities is expensive and needs wide networking. The next obstacle is that they
often lack focus and the training outcome is uncertain. Most MGMPs do not
have habitual programs and regular activities. Activities are designed not on a
planned program but may be based on the intuition, needs, or prediction of
MGMP chairs. Finally, there may be little expertise available within the cluster
working group to improve the knowledge and skill of the teachers.

Conclusion
Although English is only a foreign language, its position in the Indonesian educa-
tion curriuculum is quite strong. In secondary schools, English is a compulsory
subject, while in primary schools it is an optional subject that can be taught from
 English at secondary schools in Indonesia 143
year four, though shockingly not being endorsed to be taught at primary level in
2013 English Curriculum. Because of its status as a compulsory subject, every
change in secondary education policies will also influence those of English. In
Indonesian English language teaching history, English curriculum has experienced
several changes. Formally the changes were triggered by the government policies,
but the contents of the curriculum following the changes reflect our common
understanding concerning language, language learning and learners’ needs, which
might be the results of a long debate among Indonesian language teaching prac-
titioners. In terms of teaching methods, for example, audiolingual method,
communicative language teaching, and genre-based approach have colored both
the policies and practices of English language teaching (ELT) in Indonesia.
For most people, changes in what they do every day will cause inconveniences
because they are moved from their comfort zones. As it was true for changes
from the audiolongual method to CLT, the shift from CLT to a genre-based
approach (GBA) in 2003 has also resulted in pros and cons. The pros believe that
GBA could improve not only students’ language skills but also their critical
thinking. The cons think that GBA is too theoretical and too difficult to be
understood by most English teachers who have no background knowledge about
it, let alone by the students. Misunderstanding about the concepts of GBA and
its implementation in the classroom is quite common. Consequently, the
students’ achievement in English is still far from the expectation. Problems and
confusions caused by the introduction of GBA are further complicated by a
decentralization policy in curriculum development. Schools were empowered to
develop their own curriculum based on standards stated by the central govern-
ment. However, for some teachers, poor training in curriculum development
such as in developing syllabus, choosing and selecting learning materials and
putting them into classroom practices has made empowerment least possible.
Rather than trying to solve the problems through staff development and hard
work, many teachers in areas with limited experiences and resources tend to
practice curriculum and syllabus copying and pasting.
Another important education policy which significantly influences the ELT
policy in Indonesia was the introduction of RSBI/FISS schools by which English
was encouraged to be used as a language of instruction in teaching math and
sciences. However, because the English competence of math and science teachers
was not quite sufficient to do the challenging job and because of some misun-
derstanding about the core concepts of RSBI/FISS, the learning outcome of
RSBI/FISS schools so far was not quite satisfactory. Furthermore, the critics say
that the program was contradictory to the concept of education for all because
it was only accessible for rich people and therefore undermining the national
constitution. At the end of 2012, the Ministry of National Education and
Culture (MONEC) then played a wait-and-see policy by postponing the estab-
lishment of new RSBI/FISS schools, while improving the already established
ones. The policy was finally cancelled by the constitutional court in January
2013; in fact, the government is still committed to the improvement of educa-
tion quality, but needs to find a new approach to do it.
144 Didi Sukyadi
The last development which also significantly affects the practice of ELT in
secondary schools in Indonesia is teachers’ quality and welfare improvement.
This policy has encouraged teachers to continuously improve not only their
formal qualifications but also their professionalism. Teachers’ networks, associa-
tion of teaching professions, and teaching colleges have actively played a key role
in this effort. Another effect of the policy is that because teaching has been
included as a profession like lawyers, doctors, and engineers, public appreciation
about it has also increased and it is hoped that the quality of those joining the
profession would also improve.

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8 Globalisation and the
evolution of English language
education in Malaysian
secondary schools
Raja Mazuin bte Raja Abdul Aziz
and Ramesh Nair
Globalisation is unstoppable and affects every aspect of our lives. Therefore, it is
no wonder that education systems around the world have to evolve to address the
demands of this phenomenon. The evolution of education systems is nothing new.
Indeed, education policies need to be open to evolutionary refinement to meet the
changing demands of a society. Today, these changing demands are a result of
globalisation. Over the decades, Malaysia’s national education system has under-
gone numerous changes and the evolution of her education system is particularly
evident when we examine policies on the teaching of languages, specifically that of
the English language. Over the last decade, policy changes on English language
teaching and on the use of the language as the medium of instruction for science
and mathematics, have invited heated debates in the public domain. Education
policies can dictate the way a language is viewed in terms of importance and rele-
vance to Malaysia’s multiracial society. Focusing specifically on the teaching of
English at secondary schools, this chapter traces significant policy shifts in history
that have shaped the ELT landscape in Malaysia. This chapter also outlines specific
initiatives taken today that reflect the impact of globalisation on English Language
Education in Malaysia. These initiatives include the integration of Information and
Communications Technologies (ICT) into the teaching of English at secondary
schools, the introduction of Smart Partnerships with organisations, the implemen-
tation of the Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening English policy, and
the renewed emphasis on literature as a compulsory component in the English
language curriculum for secondary school students.

Introduction
Since the term globalisation was used in 1985 to describe changes in global
economics (Stromquist, 2002), it has been used extensively in various contexts
outside this domain for some time now. As a result, some feel that it has become
cliché. However, there is no other word that adequately describes the unstop-
pable changes we face today. Globalisation aptly describes the direction in which
we are all heading. Communication across borders has become easier and in
many ways, necessary. Technological advances have transformed the economy, to
the benefit of some and the detriment of others. This is globalisation. A major
 The evolution of English language education in Malaysia 149
part of recognising that globalisation is here to stay is ensuring that we as a soci-
ety are prepared for it. This is where education meets globalisation. In Malaysia,
the role of education in meeting the challenges of globalisation was set out as
early as 1994 in a Ministry of Education report that called for new methods of
teaching and learning in schools and the reconceptualisation of teacher educa-
tion programmes (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2004).
In this chapter, we focus on how globalisation has had an impact on English
Language Teaching (henceforth ELT) in Malaysian secondary schools. Looking
at examples of specific initiatives designed to address the teaching of English at
these schools, we illustrate how the ESL secondary school classroom has become
an important site for preparing the next generation of Malaysians to face the
challenges of globalisation. However, understanding the rationale for the imple-
mentation of current policies in relation to ELT in Malaysia requires some back-
ground knowledge about significant points in history that have signalled
language policy shifts in the country. For this reason, we will briefly trace the
development of ELT in Malaysia since pre-independence. Then, we will look at
specific initiatives that have been introduced more recently to ESL classrooms in
secondary schools that reflect the nation’s determination in equipping a genera-
tion of Malaysians with competency in the English language and the ability to
face the challenges of globalisation.

Past language policies and the evolution

of Malaysia’s ELT landscape
Before independence in 1957, education in Malaysia was highly segregated along
linguistic lines. English schools located in major towns and cities in the country,
were run by missionaries and provided both primary and secondary school
education for children in urban areas. In contrast, Malay schools located in rural
areas with a majority Malay population only offered primary education. No
effort was made to encourage students from Malay schools to further their
education beyond primary school as the primary level was deemed sufficient for
the manpower needs of the then British Malaya (Sufean, 1993).
English schools continued to operate in the country in the run up to inde-
pendence and also in the years following independence. Prior to independence,
the Chinese and Tamil immigrants had set up their own vernacular schools where
the Chinese and Tamil languages were the medium of instruction. Closer to
independence, the British put together the Barnes Report of 1951. It was a
report that called for the preservation of Malay and English schools and the
gradual elimination of Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools (Vinodini, 2003).
However, as expected, this proposal was rejected by the minority groups in the
country and their objections were documented in the Fenn-Wuu Report
(Brown, 2007). Until today, Chinese and Tamil primary schools are found
throughout Malaysia. However, the Malay and English languages are compul-
sory subjects in these schools. Upon completion of primary school education,
the vast majority of students enter a single-track secondary school education
150 Raja Mazuin bte Raja Abdul Aziz and Ramesh Nair
system where the Malay language is the medium of instruction. The other
options open to Malaysian students are either to enter private Chinese secondary
schools if they wish to continue their education in the Chinese language or enrol
in a growing number of international schools to pursue overseas secondary
school programmes with English as the medium of instruction. Private education
is however an expensive affair and beyond the reach of most Malaysians.
Language is at the heart of social identity and for this reason, language policies
are always politicised. Any decision on changes to language policies comes under
extreme scrutiny in multiracial Malaysia and given the history of British colonisa-
tion, two languages that are most often juxtaposed in public discourse even
today are Bahasa Malaysia (the Malay language) and English. Calls by some
quarters for increased exposure to the English language are countered by a warn-
ing that too much emphasis on English could potentially undermine the position
of Bahasa Malaysia. When it comes to initiatives that promote greater usage of
English, policy makers walk a very fine line indeed and this is often the result of
shifting policies related to the position of English in the education system.
After the closing down of English schools in the country, Bahasa Malaysia
became the medium of instruction at all levels within Malaysia’s mainstream educa-
tion system. Though English was taught as a compulsory subject at all schools, it
was not afforded the kind of emphasis that was given to Bahasa Malaysia. As a
result, from the 1970s right up to the 1990s, the standard of English in the coun-
try suffered (Benson, 1990). When Vision 2020 was unveiled in 1991 to prepare
Malaysia for achieving the status of a developed nation by 2020, there was a realisa-
tion that this would only be possible if there was a competent and competitive
workforce, able to face the challenges of globalisation (Rafikul, 2010). Vision 2020
was introduced at a time when globalisation was high on everyone’s agenda and in
many ways, this government agenda was a response to globalisation.
The 1990s was a period when growing concern about the declining standard of
English among Malaysians peaked. Policy makers asserted that mastering the English
language was an important prerequisite for becoming a developed nation. As a
result, the teaching of English at schools came under greater scrutiny. The Ministry
of Education responded swiftly to calls by many quarters to arrest the decline of
English among students and at the same time ensure that Malaysians were globally
competitive. Of particular concern was why secondary school students were unable
to cope with the challenges of using English despite the years of learning the
language in schools (Normazidah, Koo and Hazita, 2012). Several key initiatives
were introduced in response to the challenges of globalisation. The rest of this
chapter examines several such initiatives introduced at Malaysian secondary schools.

Globalisation and ELT in Malaysian secondary schools

ICT and English

One of the first responses to globalisation was the incorporation of ICT tools in
schools and this was generally well received by Malaysian ESL teachers who were
 The evolution of English language education in Malaysia 151
eager to exploit the benefits of incorporating ICT for the enhanced teaching and
learning of English (Melor, 2007). The use of ICT in education was also encour-
aged through the inception of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1995
that followed soon after the launch of Vision 2020. The MSC saw the launch of
several large-scale Information Technology (IT) projects designed around major
sectors including education (Saadiyah and Ho, 2008).
Of the various IT projects launched in the education sector, the most promi-
nent was the Smart School Project. The project was a national initiative aimed
at equipping students with IT knowledge and in so doing, preparing them for
the age of globalisation. The successful implementation of the Smart School
Project was subject to the availability of the right infrastructure (Ramlee and
Abu, 2004) and the training of teachers (Melor, 2007). The latter was especially
important to ensure that they would be sufficiently equipped with the technical
skills necessary for this new approach to teaching English (Azizah, Nor Fariza
and Hazita, 2005).
Ideally, a smart school would place ESL teachers in classrooms with
computers, notebooks, appropriate software, and LCD projectors given the
fact that English was one of the four subjects that were earmarked for ICT
integration in smart schools (Thang et al., 2010). The hope was that IT would
supplement existing teaching practices; however, for this to be effectively real-
ised, teachers would have to position themselves appropriately in relation to
the tools that were available and they often found this to be a challenge
(Gupta, 2006).
When the Smart School Project was initiated in 1999, the hope was that every
school in Malaysia would eventually become a smart school equipped for
ICT-based classroom instruction. However, when schools involved in the project
were surveyed eight years later, it was reported that the majority of schools had
failed to meet the desired standards set for smart schools (Kaur, 2007). In the
same article, the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister was quoted as suggesting that
the exam-oriented nature of the Malaysian education system was a contributing
factor to the failure of the Smart School Project.
In a study by Nadzrah and Mickan (2005), it was observed that language
activities assigned to secondary school students had little use for computers,
suggesting that teachers were still unsure about how best to exploit computers
to promote greater use of English in class. This concern is a global one as
reflected in a study by Hepp, Hinostroza, Laval and Rehbein (2004) that notes
how programmes designed to train teachers about the use of ICT have so far
failed to adequately prepare them to integrate technology into their lesson plans
in a way that encourages ICT assisted-classroom activities. In another study, it
was observed that Malaysian teachers failed to effectively introduce ICT into
their existing ESL lessons for a variety of reasons including the lack of adequate
training (Thang et al., 2009).
Malaysia is addressing this concern by ensuring that teachers are prepared
for ICT integration through its teacher education programme that emphasises
the acquisition of ICT skills (Supyan, 2004; Vethamani, 2006). For example,
152 Raja Mazuin bte Raja Abdul Aziz and Ramesh Nair
as part of a Bachelor of Teaching programme offered at 27 Institutes of
Teacher Education in Malaysia, emphasis is placed on a curriculum that focuses
on developments in technology (Asariah et al., 2009). Further, this programme
emphasises integration of ICT in its curriculum, delivery and assessment. The
undergraduates follow a compulsory subject called “Technology in Teaching
and Learning” after which they are expected to possess the ability to apply and
integrate technical skills in the classroom (Asariah et al., 2009).
The hope is that every school in Malaysia eventually becomes a smart
school, that is, a school equipped for ICT-based classroom instruction. ICT
has been rightly identified as key to the transformation of Malaysia from a
production-driven economy to a knowledge-based one by 2020 and technol-
ogy enabled smart schools are predicted to serve as a driving force for this
vision. However, the success of these smart schools would depend very much
on teachers who are adequately trained to integrate ICT into their classrooms
(Thang et al., 2010).

Smart partnerships
In an effort to incorporate ICT into classrooms, the Ministry of Education
has turned to support from various educational and business organisations
that are leaders in ICT and refers to this collaboration as Smart Partnerships.
This collaboration is usually realised through collaboration in the running of
professional development courses for teachers (Salbiah, 2008). Teachers who
attend ICT integration courses supported by organisations from the private
sector return to schools as “teacher leaders” who are then tasked to train
their peers on ways to effectively integrate ICT into their lessons. In this way,
the hope is that every teacher is eventually trained to incorporate ICT into
their lessons. Besides teachers at schools, teacher educators in Malaysia are
also participants in these smart partnership programmes, thereby ensuring
that smart partnerships not only target in-service teachers but also benefit
pre-service teachers. This collaboration benefits both the Ministry of
Education as well as the partnering organisations. Teachers get trained and
partnering organisations make in-roads that allow them to market their
products to educational institutions. One example of this smart partnership
initiative is one between the Ministry of Education and the Oracle Education
Foundation that introduced teachers to the Oracle i-learning software that
promotes project-based learning (Goh et al., 2004). In addition, telecom-
munications service providers have collaborated to provide free access to
supplementary online learning services (Maxis, 2011). Clearly, the smart
partnership initiative has allowed for collaboration between the Ministry of
Education and the private sector that would not have otherwise materialised.
Indeed, without smart partnerships, the financial investment for ICT infra-
structure at schools would have been wasted as teachers would not have been
equipped with the knowledge required to use the infrastructure (Bismillah
Khatoon, 2007).
 The evolution of English language education in Malaysia 153
Upholding the Malay language and strengthening English
In 2003, a bold decision was taken to change the medium of instruction for the
teaching of science and mathematics at schools from Bahasa Malaysia to English.
Ainan (2003), in Ong and Tan (2008), asserts that the decision for this change
in language policy was based on the assumption that Malaysian students would
be better prepared to access knowledge in science and mathematics if they were
exposed to these subjects in English at schools. This shift in favor of the English
language required the retraining of science and mathematics teachers who were
then in the school system (Noraini et al., 2007; Pillay and Thomas, 2004).
Training of pre-service teachers also had to accommodate this change. However,
by 2009, the government reversed its decision and announced that Bahasa
Malaysia would again be the medium of instruction as the teaching of these
subjects in English unfairly discriminated against the rural Malay community in
the country (Junaidi and Fuad, 2010).
Facing criticism that this reversal in language policy would further erode the
standard of English among students in the country, the Minister of Education
announced the introduction of the “Upholding Bahasa Malaysia and Strengthening
English” policy to emphasise the government’s commitment towards improving
the standard of English in the country through education (MBBMI: 10,000 teach-
ers to be specially trained this year, says Muhyiddin, 2011). The Minister reported
in parliament that 10,000 English language teachers had been trained in 2011 and
this followed the training of 12,000 teachers in 2010. In addition, 600 retired
English teachers were to be reemployed on contract basis between 2011 and 2013
and 375 “English native speakers” from abroad had been contracted to improve
the professionalism of English language lecturers and teachers, with 360 of these
experts appointed as mentors for the English language teachers at 1,800 primary
schools. While the decision to bring in “English native speakers” has met with
criticism from various quarters for several reasons (MELTA, 2010), this initiative
is nevertheless testimony of the government’s commitment towards raising the
standard of English among the next generation of Malaysians so that they are
prepared to function in a globalised world.
More recently, the government unveiled the Malaysian Education Blueprint
2013–2025, described in one newspaper article as “the catalyst to a comprehen-
sive transformation of the country’s education system to produce a generation of
all-rounded pupils and educators” (Blueprint will transform education, says
Muhyiddin, 2013). One of the major concerns raised in the blueprint was about
secondary school graduates who were unable to communicate effectively in a
globalised world despite years of learning the language in schools.
To realise national aspirations of becoming a fully developed nation, The
Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013–2025 Preliminary Report (2012, p. E-10)
states:

Every child will be, at minimum, operationally proficient in Bahasa Malaysia

as the national language and language of unity, and in English as the
154 Raja Mazuin bte Raja Abdul Aziz and Ramesh Nair
international language of communication. This means that upon leaving
school, the student should be able to work in both a Bahasa Malaysia and
English language environment.

The Ministry of Education Malaysia has identified 11 shifts that are needed for
change. Of these, the second concerns the teaching and learning of English. As
part of its initiative to ensure that students master the English language, the
ministry has resolved to ensure that only highly qualified teachers teach English
and even the weakest students are provided with adequate remedial support
(Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2012).
The Ministry has also resolved to ensure that students “will have greater expo-
sure to the English language” (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2012, p. E-23).
There is obviously a need for an appropriate approach to teaching English and
there is a need to ensure that teachers are adequately equipped for their role in
raising the standard of English among school students.

Literature
When discussing ways of improving the standard of English in Malaysia, the
incorporation of a literature component is often raised. However, the fact is that
literature has been part of the English language syllabus in secondary and
primary schools for some time now. Tracing the inclusion of the literature
component, Ganakumaran (2003) notes that the teaching and learning of
English literature in the Malaysian English as a Second Language (ESL) context
has evolved “from being a core part of the school curriculum to a point of near
extinction only to re-emerge in the 21st century in a stronger form” (p. 27). In
secondary schools, literature has not only been included in the English syllabus
for several years now, it has also been a component that is assessed in national
exams (Ganakumaran et al., 2003).
The prominence accorded to the literature component in secondary school
English language classrooms is indeed an initiative geared towards preparing
students to function in a globalised world. The literature component is believed
to benefit three key areas, namely, language development, cultural enrichment
and personal growth and it is this notion of cultural enrichment that best
addresses a key challenge in preparing for globalisation. To function effectively
in a globalised world where interaction across borders is increasingly pervasive,
there is a need for people to be sensitised about different cultures. Towards this
end, literature is seen as an appropriate vehicle for teaching children and young
adults about appreciating the cultures and cultural sensitivities of others (Subarna
and Ganakumaran, 2006). Today, we have moved from acceptance to apprecia-
tion of English language literary texts that come from outer circle countries (see
Kachru, 1998). The natural evolution of new Englishes across the globe and the
literary works created through these new varieties of English have provided
English language classrooms with rich material to promote intercultural knowl-
edge (Vethamani, 2003). The current selection of texts for the literature
 The evolution of English language education in Malaysia 155
component in Malaysian secondary schools reflects an awareness of the potential
of literature in language classrooms.

Conclusion
Globalisation is of great concern for a developing nation like Malaysia and the
initiatives described in this chapter is evidence that the English language syllabus
in Malaysian secondary schools is responding to this unstoppable evolution. As
with any initiative, the execution of the various strategies may not necessarily run
the way it is desired. Shortcomings must be addressed swiftly so that mistakes
can be rectified. Otherwise, good programmes, even with the best of intentions,
will die a natural death. As a result, time, effort and precious financial resources
may be wasted. Furthermore, it is important for policy makers, teachers, and
teacher trainers to remain open to new ideas and allow digressions when policies
are implemented. This is because education is evolutionary and needs space to
evolve if it is to play an effective role in shaping the future.

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Part III

Valuing critical needs

of society and learners
This page intentionally left blank
9 Updating English textbooks
The case of Pakistani
secondary schools
Samina Amin Qadir and
Sarwet Rasul

1. INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW

English as a global language: The historical

and social context
Traveling through the doors of colonialism, English language has always influ-
enced the people of Pakistan despite many controversies. Not only in Pakistan,
in today’s world, English language has successfully achieved the status of lingua
franca due to its global and worldwide utility. This amalgamation of the historical
prestige and the current high status of English lent a hand in making it a distin-
guished language in Pakistan besides Urdu.
English outstretched itself in the sub-continent with the advancement of British
rulers as according to Baumgardner (1996, p. 1), it was established “in the early
seventeenth century by British colonialism”, and its current usage suggests that it
serves as a second language in “about 3 per cent of the population of Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – in numerical terms
approximately 33 million English-speaking people” (p. 1). The expansion of
English language is on such a large scale that according to Bhatt (2001, p. 529) it
has surpassed the spread of Latin during the period of the extension of the Roman
Empire. Finegan (1989, p. 78) as quoted by Eichhorst (2010, pp. 1–2) asserts,
“English functions as the sole official language in countries like Ghana, the
Bahamas or Jamaica but it is also established as an official language along with
other languages in countries like Tanzania, Singapore and Pakistan”. Sridhar
(2008, p. 406) puts an interesting observation in this respect when he asserts,
“there are more speakers of English in South Asia than in the U.S.A. or U.K.”.
Rosman et al. (2009, p. 63) state two processes related to the spread of
English in the sub-continent. First they talk about it in the context of the colo-
nial empire of the British, and state the dispersion of English as a result of
“linguistic imperialism”, which created a “hierarchical ordering of the speech of
colonial ‘masters’ and that of indigenous speakers”. On the other hand, a second
process according to them, indicates English working as “the language of a
world market, that is, the language of global commerce” and dwellers of newly
emerged nations in the postcolonial period, learned this language for “practical
162 Samina Amin Qadir and Sarwet Rasul
economic reasons, rather than having been forced to learn English by their colo-
nial masters” (p. 63). Bhatt (2001, pp. 531–32) asserts, “English served as a
medium of communication when people spoke mutually unintelligible indige-
nous languages; it was a method of gaining further education: it helped in legal
and administrative areas; it enabled entry into English literary genres such as
English literary journals, newspapers, and political journals”.
Mahboob and Ahmar (2004, p. 1003) encapsulate the whole journey of
English in the subcontinent as:

English was first introduced in the Indo-Pak subcontinent by the British in

the 16th century. It received official recognition with the passing of
Macaulay’s minutes of 1835. Throughout the British era, English kept gain-
ing political and social status. By 1947, when Pakistan and India gained their
independence from the British, the English language had become so
entrenched in the socio-political fabric of the region that it was retained as
an official language in both countries.

They further state, “English in British India initially spread because of economic
and social mobility associated with the language”. People of the region learned
English “either by contact or through formal schooling” but they learned it from
Indians due to the non-availability of native speakers of English and due to which
“the input that English language learners received in South Asia was non-native
and local”, and after independence, this contact became even less. These factors
helped the “institutionalization and evolution of South Asian English as a
distinct variety” (Mahboob and Ahmar, 2004, p. 1003).
In the context of globalization English has successfully retained its position by
offering a rich variety of words, phrases, terms and expressions to fit into diversi-
fied contexts. Thus, it has become a language which, more or less, is exercised in
almost every region of the world whether as a native language or as a second
language. One example is of America which possesses maximum speakers of
English. Mohiuddin (2007, p. 238) describes the status of English in America:

English is also used for official business, in university classrooms, army

manuals, technical training, courts above the village level, government
documents, legal contracts, and American movies. It is the language of the
elite and the educated, who speak it fluently, switching back and forth from
English to their national or regional language in midsentence. Their chil-
dren start studying English at the age of four or five. It is also the medium
of instruction in private schools. In the public schools, it is taught as one
subject out of many. Still, many Pakistanis know at least some English.

Status of English in Pakistani educational context

In Pakistan, English occupies a significant status. In fact it competes with Urdu, the
national language, in terms of significance and usage as Baumgardner (1996, p. 1)
 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistan 163
reaffirms that English “serves as the official language alongside the national
language, Urdu…”. Now, no area of life in Pakistan can be segregated in terms of
English usage. According to Shamim (n.d, p. 2), “English as the language for devel-
opment has dominated the political and official discourse in Pakistan as in other
developing countries for a long time now”. In Pakistan, English enjoys the status of
“language for development at both the individual and national levels” (p. 4).
Likewise, the educational system of Pakistan is marked with the excessive pref-
erence attached to the English language, which is used as a medium of instruc-
tion and education. English is taught as a compulsory subject in Pakistani
Government and private schools from primary to secondary level. According to
Naeem (2011, p. 1), “Quaid-i-Azam declared in the first All Pakistan Educational
Conference that Urdu would be the national language, but he never ignored the
importance of English”. That is why English language is always considered and
used as a prestigious language in Pakistan. This factor has induced much research
conducted solely on English language with different perspectives particularly in
the educational scenario of Pakistan. In this backdrop the current research is
focused on the English textbooks that are developed by Punjab Textbook Board
for secondary schools in Pakistan.
The educational system of any country plays a vital role in upbringing and
shaping minds of the youth of that nation. The more strong and well-built the
educational system, the more powerful and strong the minds it produces. Shah
(2012, p. 118) in this respect asserts, “education performs a vital role in nation
building and the attention paid to the education sector by any government
shows the amount of commitment of that government to its people”. However,
unfortunately, the Pakistani educational system has always witnessed disputing
issues. Iqbal (2012, p. 40) illustrates that the education system in Pakistan is “a
legacy of British rule in the sub-continent”. Ishfaq (2008) establishes that the
British colonial educational system is the reason for the least-developed educa-
tional system of Pakistan. She (2008, p. 44) further states that when Pakistan got
freedom in 1947, “the colonial system was elitist; it was meant to educate a small
portion of the population to run the government”. And, after the independence
of the nation, the Pakistani educational system has retained this colonial practice
which is a hindrance in removing illiteracy.
In Pakistan, schooling has three levels: primary, secondary and higher second-
ary. At the secondary level, as Naeem (2011, p. 44) illustrates, there are two
parallel systems of education: “Pakistani education system (Secondary School
Certificate SSC) and British education system (General Certificate of Education
Ordinary Level GCE O’ level)”. Naeem (2011, p. 1) cites Rehman (2003) and
asserts that in Pakistan, it is a must for the students to study “English as a
compulsory subject from K.G to graduation level” due to these reasons:

i. English is a means of understanding the foreign and higher educational work.

ii. English is an international language used in research, commerce, aviation,
diplomacy and source of scientific and technological advancement.
iii. English is a symbol of power and high social status.
164 Samina Amin Qadir and Sarwet Rasul
Commenting on the contentious state of English in public secondary schools
in Pakistan, Mohiuddin (2007, p. 267) claims, “in most public secondary
schools, all courses in the curriculum, such as mathematics, natural sciences,
social studies (history, geography, civics), and Islamic Studies, are taught in
Urdu, although English is taught as a language”. This decreases the proficiency
in English and the overall standard of public education, and raises a demand for
private schooling at all levels (p. 267). In private schools, the medium of instruc-
tion for all subjects is English (p. 267). This creates a great difference in the
standards of public and private secondary schools. These differences can only be
bridged by raising the standard of English textbooks, the standard of syllabus,
teaching materials as well as teaching methodology in Pakistani public schools.

Curricula, syllabi, textbooks: The inter-relation

Before moving on to the discussion on the English textbooks used in Pakistani
public schools, it would be appropriate to establish the significance of textbooks
in relation to the syllabi and curricula. All-Wright (1999, p. 25) illustrates text-
books as “resource books for ideas and activities” rather than as “instructional
material”. Use of textbooks in the classroom has always been a part of the tradi-
tional classroom. Even the emergence of media and technology in the present
times has not been able to undermine the importance of a textbook. Graves
(2000, p. 174) mentions a few advantages of using a textbook:

• It provides a syllabus for the course.

• It provides security for the students because they have a kind of road map
of the course.
• It provides a set of visual, activities, readings, etc., and so saves the teacher
time in finding or developing such materials.
• It provides teachers with a basis for assessing students’ learning.
• It may include supporting materials (e.g., teachers guide, cassettes, work-
sheets, video).
• It provides consistency within a program across a given level, if all teachers
use the same textbook. If textbooks follow a sequence, it provides consist-
ency between levels.

As a matter of fact, a textbook is the best means to bring the curriculum to the
classroom in a concrete form. Kalmus (2004) as quoted by Mahmood (2006,
p. 2) states, “text is designed to teach students what the educators believe ought
to exist in other words”; textbooks “tell children what their elders want them to
know”, and these books are the visible, tangible and practical manifestation of
the curriculum. He (2006, p. 3) has the opinion, “being the base material used
in teaching and learning process, textbooks play an important role in improving
education”. Provision of teaching learning materials to the teachers in the form
of textbooks is a very significant aspect of implementation of curriculum as
Alamri (2008, p. 3) cites Nunan (1988), “materials are, in fact, an essential
 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistan 165
element within the curriculum, and do more than simply lubricate the wheels of
learning”. Moreover, he quotes Nunan (1998, p. 98), “at their best, they provide
concrete models for desirable classroom practice” as they serve as “curriculum
models and at their very best they fulfill a teacher development role”.
Textbooks are an explicit and concrete translation of the ideologies presented
in the curricula, and objectives and goals defined in the syllabi as well as curric-
ula. Khurshid et al. (2010, p. 427) also believe that textbooks are “staples of
teaching and learning in schools, and a student reads more than 32,000 text-
books pages as he or she moves from elementary through secondary school”.
Mahmood (2006, p. 4) asserts that textbooks are influential on “what is taught
in primary, elementary and secondary classes and how it is taught”.

Curriculum and English textbooks in Pakistan:

Perspectives and practices
The process of school curriculum development in Pakistan is described by
Mahmood (2006, p. 7) as “a centralized” process, and “The MoECW1, in consul-
tation with the provinces, develops curriculum for each grade and subject up to
Grade 12”. According to Mahmood (2006, p. 7), “this curriculum is called
National Curriculum and follows [sic.] throughout the country” and “whosoever
wants to develop textbooks for government and private schools affiliated with
public examination bodies of Pakistan has to follow the National Curriculum”. He
(2006, p. 7) further asserts, “Textbook Boards and the private publishers develop
textbooks following the guidelines given in the intact National Curriculum”.
For the current research only the secondary level English textbooks used in
the public schools of Punjab are taken as a sample. These textbooks are published
by Punjab Textbook Board. The official website of the Punjab Textbook Board
states that the Punjab Textbook Board was previously known as the West
Pakistan Textbook Board and was established in 1962 through the West Pakistan
Textbook Ordinance XLI of 1962. It had the responsibilities of development,
production and distribution of:

1 Textbooks for Class I to XII in Punjab Province

2 Supplementary reading material relating to textbooks
3 Guidebooks for teachers
4 Reference and research material regarding curriculum and textbooks, etc.

The website further states:

In the beginning, the West Pakistan Textbook Board adopted books

published by private publishing houses. Development of textbooks was
taken by the Board in the late sixties and up to 1970 the Board had devel-
oped 17 textbooks. The term, ‘West Pakistan Textbook Board’ was substi-
tuted by the ‘Punjab Textbook Board’ by the Ordinance V of 1971. Authors
were commissioned for writing manuscripts in light of the approved
166 Samina Amin Qadir and Sarwet Rasul
curricula and then sent to Federal Ministry of Education for approval. After
receipt of N.O.C. from the Federal Ministry of Education, the textbooks
were produced & marketed.

Today, the Punjab Textbook Board is the sole authority to produce, publish and
market books for the public sector schools of the province of Punjab. In the
context of Pakistan the claim of Shah (2012, p. 118) gathers significance when
she asserts that textbooks are the “most common teaching material” that is used
in the classrooms. According to her:

The textbooks are published by the respective textbook boards of all the prov-
inces and are approved by the Curriculum Wing of the Ministry of Education.
The government schools are supplied with the textbooks published by the
textbook boards and the external examination, conducted by the boards of
intermediate and secondary education are also based on these textbooks.

So, textbooks of English used in all Pakistani public schools, and also in the case
of public schools under the province of Punjab, are not only published by the
Textbook Boards of the respective provinces but also they are the main source
for the students to prepare for the examination as the external examination of
secondary (and intermediate) classes are conducted by the respective boards on
the bases of these textbooks.
Pakistani English textbooks still carry traditional and conservative features;
and they fail to meet the demands of today’s world of globalization and informa-
tion technology where teaching learning processes have radically changed.
English textbooks produced by the Punjab Textbook Board that are used in all
public sector schools in Punjab (a province of Pakistan that is selected for the
current research) also represent this general factor.
According to Shah (2012, p. 118), “to assure that the curriculum is completely
articulated in the textbooks, alignment between the curriculum and the textbooks
is imperative”. But, in the case of English textbooks of Punjab Textbook Board the
element of alignment is found missing. Commenting on the textbooks of English
in the historical context of the sub-continent, Baumgardner (1996, p. 14) cites
Singh (1827, p. 253) that at the time of British colonialism in the subcontinent
English-language textbooks “were clearly designed as mechanisms for inculcating,
transmitting and updating the parameters of the relationship that the British had
with Indian subjects during various stages of their empire”. Even today, in Pakistan,
we have not been able to free ourselves from this impact and the English textbooks
reflect the same psychological and socio-cultural dimensions of relationships.
According to Usmani (2007, p. 3), “the ‘Vision 2030’ document produced
by the Government of Pakistan acknowledges the challenges placed by the
knowledge-driven global economy, clearly declares improving the education
sector as the top most priority, and at many places talks about the need to
produce ‘thinking minds’” but it is not possible to achieve all this with the same
curricula and textbooks. He (2007, p. 2) further states:
 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistan 167
It needs to be emphasized that curricula, textbooks and examinations are
closely interrelated: if the curricula are not well-designed, the textbooks
cannot be expected to be good learning tools; in addition, even the best
curricula can be rendered ineffective if the textbooks are not published satis-
factorily; and lastly if the examinations are not well-structured, students
cannot be expected to benefit from their education as they would if all three
components mentioned worked efficiently.

According to Usmani (2007, p. 41), “the goals that the government has outlined
for the teaching of ‘English language’ from Classes 6 to 10” emphasize the use
of “communicative teaching methodology” for teaching English as a subject is
to be appreciated but it is not possible to do without carefully redesigning the
textbooks. According to him (2007, p. 41), “the condition of the English text-
books is unlike the much better Urdu textbooks and there are a myriad of gram-
matical and technical errors dispersed throughout the books”. He (2007,
p. 101) concludes, “the textbooks are massively flawed, biased and hate provok-
ing. In an era of growing globalization, an eye of bias and hatred will not serve
our nation well especially when fundamentalism and extremism are already huge
menaces”; and he further criticizes the language choices in these books because
language plays a very vital role in defining ideas, and poor efforts of translating
ideas from one language to another lead towards distorting the idea itself and the
truth. His assertion carries weight when he states, “Clouding the truth by falsify-
ing facts and manipulating the language would only result in an outcast nation.
Students should be educated through reasoning and analysis of events”.
Cobussen (2008, pp. 3, 4) discusses the National Curriculum for English
Language as developed by Ministry of Education of Pakistan and asserts that it
“does not overtly support the use of an indigenized form of English for educa-
tional purposes” though “evidence of the use of an indigenized form in Ministry-
approved textbooks developed by the Punjabi Textbook Board suggests that an
indigenized form is used in the English syllabuses in this province”. In this regard
Cobussen (2008, p. 44) observes in a study, “the course material developed by
the Punjab Textbook Board showed that the syllabuses introduced English in a
Punjabi environment” and “the effects of culture and linguistic variety on course
material were examined and the results were clear. Almost every page of the sylla-
buses contained markers of Pakistani or cultural references in texts or pictures”.
Usmani (2007, p. 1), in a report, observes that the 2006 editions of the Punjab
Textbook Board textbooks are “badly structured, poorly written and pathetically
published”. He comments that “the government has to ensure the availability of
these textbooks for free or at a very low cost; yet we argue that the fact that India
can produce much better textbooks than Pakistan’s at even lower prices proves that
the low-cost-low-quality argument can no longer be used as an excuse”. He
further asserts, “The way curricula are designed strongly influences how textbooks
are developed – even though it is not the only influence on the textbooks”.
In every educational system, for improved and better education, there is
always a need for updating and revising textbooks according to the current
168 Samina Amin Qadir and Sarwet Rasul
educational needs. As today’s world is rapidly shrinking into a global village,
no society can remain isolated in terms of educational ideas so now the curric-
ulum developers have to cater for the demands of today’s world of globaliza-
tion and information technology where teaching learning processes have
radically changed. In Pakistan, English textbooks significantly require revi-
sions as they are taught from primary to secondary level as a compulsory
subject and play a significant role in molding the minds of children. Alamri
(2008, p. 1) talks about English textbooks and states that they have a “signifi-
cant association with the learning of the students”, therefore, “the content of
English textbooks must not contain errors because these errors once imbibed
by the student as the correct one will have adverse effects on his/her learn-
ing”. According to Alamri (2008, p. 3), “materials evaluation is an educa-
tional necessity because it shows how a textbook can be improved or justified”
and teaching materials directly influence the process of learning and
teaching.
Portway and Lane (1997) have enlisted the characteristics of a quality text-
book. According to them a textbook should have various qualities such as it
should be acceptable; attractive to receive the attention of learners, of high
quality, and well-illustrated. It should also be up to date, available in the market
on time, and according to the course design. In fact using appropriate teaching
materials and textbooks along with effective teaching methodologies always
prove to be fruitful for achieving goals that are set in the curriculum. However,
when it comes to the Pakistani English textbooks the reality is not very encour-
aging. The contents of these textbooks and the way they are delivered in the
classroom raises many questions. Discussing the implied teaching methodology
in Pakistani Government Secondary Schools, Liaqat (2009) asserts that the
quality of teaching in Pakistani private schools is better as compared to
Pakistani public schools because the teacher goes prepared to the classroom,
whereas this practice is missing in the public sector. Researchers and education-
ists are also concerned about the standard of textbooks used in public sector
schools.
Discussing the significance of the contents of a textbook, Sabir (2008) as
quoted by Khurshid et al. (2010, p. 427) states:

Textbooks are one of the first places – and one of most formal artifacts that
demonstrate what educational “norms” are intended to be transmitted in the
classroom. The textbook clearly can be a powerful tool for influencing ways
in which both children and adults think about core human rights concepts and
values, the image of women/girls, and the concept of gender equality.

As far as the contents of Pakistani English textbooks are concerned, we also need
to explore how far and in what ways the core religious, civic and human rights
concepts are incorporated in these textbooks; and what role these textbooks play
in the construction and/or reconstruction of human, gendered, national, and
global identities.
 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistan 169
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Justification for the selection of textbook samples

In order to examine how far and in what ways the English textbooks of second-
ary classes of Pakistani government schools have been revised and updated,
secondary level English textbooks of Punjab Textbook Board are taken as a
sample for the current research. The English textbooks of the Punjab Textbook
Board are selected as a sample for the reason that Punjab is the most populous
province of Pakistan that has more than 50 per cent of the country’s total popu-
lation; and generally its educational system is considered to be more developed
and advance as compared to the other provinces.

Objectives of the current research

The current research aims at exploring whether, how far and in what ways the
English textbooks of secondary classes of Pakistani government schools have
been revised and updated. Nature, frequency and dimensions of revision and
improvement in the English textbooks of Punjab Textbook Board in the new
millennium are also examined. The main objectives of the research are:

• To examine how frequently revisions are made.

• To investigate how many chapters or lessons are included or excluded in a
particular edition.
• To examine the nature of the revision of titles/themes and contents.
• To examine the nature of revisions made in the exercises given at the end
of lessons.
• To see if there are any other significant revisions.

Sample of the research

For a comparative analysis of the revisions in English textbooks of Grade 9 of the
Punjab Textbook Board, revisions made in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, and 2012
editions are examined. In the same way revisions in English textbooks of
Grade 10 of the Punjab Textbook Board editions of 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010,
and 2011 are examined, whereas despite the announcements of the board, 2012
edition is not available in the market. Apart from these editions no revisions are
made in the English textbooks of Grade 9 and 10 so far.

Presentation and analysis of the data of textbooks of

Grade 9 and Grade 10
Keeping in view the research objectives, the English textbooks of Grade 9 and
Grade 10 are analyzed. In terms of revision of chapters we need to keenly
observe the nature of chapters that are included or excluded from the textbooks
170 Samina Amin Qadir and Sarwet Rasul
of Grade 9 and Grade 10 from time to time as per the edition. In the Grade 9
English textbook of year 2003 there were 23 chapters or lessons. The number
was reduced to 22 in the textbook of 2004. Further new editions were intro-
duced in years 2010 and 2011. However, the number of chapters for Grade 9
English textbooks of each of these editions is retained as the same; that is, 22
lessons. A new edition was introduced in 2012 that has a reduced number of 12
chapters only. This is the latest edition up to this date. As far as the textbooks of
Grade 10 are concerned, the edition of 2003 had 24 lessons. The same number
of lessons is retained in the next edition, that is edition 2004. However, a few
lessons are replaced with new lessons. In the case of some lessons only their
positioning is changed. For example, lesson 1 in edition 2003 “Blessings of
God” is retained in edition 2004 but it is placed at the position of the fourth
lesson. In the same way there are 7 poems in edition 2003 that are reduced to
6 in edition 2004. (See Appendices A and B respectively for a comparison of the
list of contents of various editions of the textbooks of Grade 9 and 10.)
As far as a comparison of the themes and topics of the chapters or lessons given
in these editions are concerned, in general, in the textbooks of both Grades 9
and 10, lessons are about religion, civic sense, scientific information, women,
culture/lifestyle in Pakistan, etc. In the textbook of 2003 of Grade 9, there are
23 chapters which include lessons on religion, civic sense, science, nature, culture,
and women. Short stories with moral lessons are also included. In the 2003
edition the first lesson is “The Glory of the Muslims” which is replaced with
Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) The Greatest Reformer as the first lesson in the next
edition of 2004. Thus, it can be noticed that the main theme remains religion in
the revised edition. As we look at the list of contents we notice that out of the
rest of the lessons, two lessons from edition 2003, Money Order and Telegram
that are informative essays are excluded in edition 2004; and one (informative
essay) lesson is included on Form Filling thus reducing the 23 lessons of edition
2003 to 22 lessons of edition 2004. However, it would be interesting to share
that the new lesson that is included with the title Form Filling actually contains
the same two excluded lessons Money Order and Telegram that are presented
under a new heading. Another change that we notice in the list of contents is
that the lesson Current Events given in edition 2003 is replaced with the lesson
‘Ladies Park’ – a shambles! in edition 2004. However, again, if we explore the
text of these two lessons it is noticed that actually only the title of the lesson is
changed whereas the whole lesson has the same contents as that of edition 2003.
The rest of the themes and topics of both the editions are the same.
As far as change or replacement of lessons in Grade 10, edition 2004 is
concerned, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as an Educationist is given as lesson 1
in edition 2004; whereas the first lesson of the previous edition Blessings of God
is retained but is moved to the place of lesson 4. Also three lessons on Model
Millionaire (Part I), Model Millionaire (Part II) and Traffic Education are
added. For a detailed comparison of the contents of edition 2003 and edition
2004 of Grade 10 please see Appendix B. A revised edition of the textbook of
 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistan 171
Grade 10 was again brought into the market in 2005. This time, the lessons
Model Millionaire (Part I) and Model Millionaire (Part II) were removed. Also
a lesson How to Live on Less Income was removed; thus the total number of
lessons was reduced to 21. No other change in contents or otherwise was made.
It can be easily noticed that all the changes made in the list of contents are
haphazard, have no relation or direct implications with reference to the planning
of teaching methodology or development of communication skills, etc.
The English textbooks editions of years 2010 and 2011 for Grade 9 and 10
both have the same number, themes and contents of lessons as previous editions,
that is edition 2004 for Grade 9 and edition 2005 for Grade 10. However,
English textbooks of edition 2012 for both grades present an entirely trans-
formed version in comparison to previous editions. In the 2012 editions the
number of chapters is reduced and the nature of texts is also different. For exam-
ple, only 12 chapters are given in the Grade 9 edition of 2012; all other titles/
topics/themes are revised and replaced with the only exception being a poem
“Daffodils” that was a part of the previous editions as well. Also this edition
includes subject matter on the topics of computers, media, environment, etc.
(See Appendix A for a comparison of the tables of contents.) This version is more
modern in outlook, cover page, size, etc. as well.
One of the objectives of the current research was to examine the nature of
revisions made in the exercises given at the end of lessons in the textbooks of
Grade 9 and 10. As far as revisions in the exercises of edition 2003 (Grade 9) are
concerned, when they were given in edition 2004 (Grade 9), it can be noticed
that there are very minor and insignificant revisions in the exercises. Most of
the changes in exercises are typo-error corrections or formatting revisions. For
example, in edition 2003, lesson 2 Khalid Bin Waleed, page 13, question 9, part
3 there is a question regarding changing the gender of the given items. The same
is repeated in edition 2004 (Grade 9); no other change is made and only an
instruction is added for the teacher: “The teacher should explain that there are
some special words in which ‘r’ is used before suffixing ‘en’, like in children.”
(Edition 2004, Grade 9, p. 14).
Many revisions in edition 2004 (Grade 9) are typo-error corrections only. For
example, in the 2003 edition (Grade 9), lesson 3, Kindness to Living Things that
is a prose lesson, at the end of the lesson question no 1 in the exercise (p. 16) runs
as follows:

Answer the Question

Here though three questions are asked, plural maker ‘s’ is missing in Question.
Then, the first question under this heading has a punctuation error:
1. Read the first two paragraphs carefully and write what you understand by
“Kindness is a great virtue.”
When we look at edition 2004 (Grade 9) for the same exercise we find that on
page 18 a correction is made:
172 Samina Amin Qadir and Sarwet Rasul
Answer these Questions
However, the first question under this heading is revised, and it goes as below:
1. Write few lines on “Kindness is a great virtue”.
Here we can notice that the punctuation error is still there. The revision is only
in terms of structure of the question, and even the construction has an error
where ‘few’ is used instead of ‘a few’. Even more interestingly if we compare the
third question under this heading as given in editions 2003 and 2004 of Grade
9 respectively we notice that edition 2003 (p. 17) states:
Write any instance that you may have read about kindness to animals from
the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
Here PBUH is used as an abbreviated form of ‘peace be upon him’ which is a
discursive practice in the Islamic religious texts written in English. When we look
at edition 2004 of Grade 9 (p. 18) the revision that we notice is:
Write any instance that you may have read about kindness to animals from
the life of the Holy Prophet (SAW).
In the revised version PBUH is replaced with (SAW) which is an abbreviation of
the Arabic equivalent of ‘Peace be upon him’, and is not a common practice in
standard religious texts written in English. Interestingly in the revised edition of
2010, (SAW) is once again replaced with the Arabic equivalent written in Arabic
script . The fill in the blank runs in both the editions as follows:

Q 2. (Part 1)
Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) was the greatest _______of the world. (Edition
2004, p. 4)

Q2. (Part 1)
Hazrat Muhammad was the greatest _______ of the world. (Edition
2010, p. 2)
If we look at the exercises of lesson 1, Hazrat Muhammad The Greatest
Reformer Edition 2010 Grade 9, we find frequent use of Arabic transcript. For
example, Exercise 1 of Lesson 1, Edition 2010 Grade 9 consists of five short
questions, and two of these questions have Arabic script incorporated in them.
In the same way in exercise 2 of the same lesson which consists of 10 sentences
to fill in the blanks, Arabic script is used 8 times.
The same types of revisions in the epithets are found in the revised editions of
2004, 2005 and 2010 of Grade 10 so, to avoid repetition, we would not give
examples from Grade 10 editions.
In the same way if we compare the exercise given at the end of lesson 3 Little
Things (a poem) of edition 2003 (p. 22) with the exercise given at the end of the
same lesson in edition 2004, we notice that under heading 1 which is entitled
 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistan 173
Exercises four questions are given. All these questions demand a description or
explanation of what is asked for. The revised edition of 2004 has added one more
question of the same nature to the already existing list of four questions:

Elaborate in your own words in a paragraph of 100 words what is the poet
giving in the first eight lines of the poem.

Thus, the revision is only quantitative in nature. We would also like to share an
interesting example from the exercises of the revised edition of 2010. As it has
already been mentioned that the 2010 edition had the same 22 lessons with the
same sequence, titles and contents as were given in edition 2004. However,
when we examined the exercises it was found that the same activity of edition
2004, lesson 2, Khalid Bin Waleed, question 2 (p. 10) is retained; however, the
instruction Fill in the blanks is replaced with the instruction Fill in the missing
information in edition 2010 (p. 4) of Grade 9.
In the same way very minor and insignificant changes are made in the exercises
of various editions of Grade 10. A very interesting revision that is actually only a
revision of format is made in the editions of 2003 to 2004. In the Grade 10
textbook of edition 2003, on page 2, under the heading of Vocabulary, five
linguistic items from the lesson with their meanings are given. The same content
is given with a revised heading of Words Meaning in edition 2004 on page 19 by
changing the format of presentation to tabular form. For a comparison see below
how both the editions present this material:
Contents of Edition 2003, Grade 10, page 2 shows:
1. Vocabulary:

glowing shining.
purple-headed mountain mountain with a redish peak.
meadows grassy grounds, pastures.
rushes grassy plants.
Almighty allpowerful.

(Note: use of punctuation, capital/regular letters and bold/unbold font is

presented here as it is given in the edition; and which itself shows the substand-
ard quality of the edition.)
On the other hand contents of Edition 2004, Grade 10, page 19 are as
follows:
Words Meaning
Words meaning
Glowing Shining
Purple-headed mountain mountain with a redish peak.
meadows grassy grounds, pastures
Rushes grassy plants
Almighty all powerful
174 Samina Amin Qadir and Sarwet Rasul
(Note: use of punctuation, capital/regular letters and bold/regular font is
presented here as it is given in the edition; and which itself shows the substand-
ard quality of the edition as well as the futility of the process of revision where
even typo errors of the previous edition are not corrected.)
Edition 2003 of the English textbook for Grade 9 (p. vi) states at the outset
of the book that it is based on the changes in the evaluation process namely:

(i) Objective type questions

(ii) Questions requiring short answers
(iii) Multiple choice questions
(iv) Filling out the missing information
(v) Questions based on students’ experience (Edition 2003, Grade 9, p. vi)

At the outset of the editions of 2003 and 2004 (Grade 9) it is mentioned that the
textbook is designed to teach all the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking
and listening. Also, teachers are asked to participate in helping the students under-
stand oral English. But a careful observation of the exercises and activities given at
the end of each lesson shows that only comprehension exercises (designed on
question-answer pattern), and grammar exercises are given. Most of the exercises
are related to reading and writing skills, but no exercise is noticed to be related to
teaching/learning speaking skills. Both of these editions do not provide the
teacher or the learner with the teaching/learning objectives and outcomes. No
guideline for the methodology to teach these contents is provided. In the revised
editions of 2010 of both grades, on the top of the table of contents page it is
mentioned that the book is designed according to the guidelines given by the
National Curriculum for English Language Grades I-XII. However, no mention
of objectives, outcomes or teaching methodology is found.
Availability and access to the document of National Curriculum in itself was a
difficult task. After much effort the researchers were finally able to have a copy
of the National Curriculum for English Language Grades I-XII 2006. Apparently
no evidence of any revision of the document was found until 2010. We looked
at the revised edition of 2010 in the light of National Curriculum for English
Language Grades I-XII 2006 by Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Education,
which included the following student learning outcomes for Grades IX and X as
mentioned on pages 97, 103, 108, 111, and 119 respectively:

• Reading and Thinking skills

• Writing skills
• Oral Communication skills
• Formal and lexical aspects of language
• Appropriate ethical and social development

These student learning outcomes or competencies are the main objectives of

the English Curriculum. Textbooks are supposed to be designed to achieve these
objectives. As far as the textbooks of Grade 9 and 10 edition 2010 are
 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistan 175
concerned, there are no objectives mentioned in the textbooks. So, we
analyzed the contents of these textbook editions keeping in mind the National
Curriculum for English Language Grades I-XII 2006 by Government of
Pakistan, Ministry of Education, the most updated document or guidance
available at that time. The curriculum document focuses on reading and think-
ing skills, writing skills, oral communication, formal and lexical aspects of
language and appropriate ethical and social development. It states, “All
students will use appropriate social and academic conventions of spoken
discourse for effective oral communication with individuals and in groups, in
both informal and formal settings”. However, when it comes to the textbook
no exercise or activity is found that is directly related to the objective of oral
communication development. The same pattern of the textbooks of 2010 is
repeated in the editions of 2011 for both the grades.
The revised English textbooks of 2012 produced by Punjab Textbook Board
for the secondary level are quite different from all the previous editions as they
present detailed activities and exercises for the development of various commu-
nication skills. As mentioned while discussing the sample of this research, the
2012 edition for Grade 9 is available on the market; and is examined in this
research. But, the new edition for Grade 10 is yet not available. So, it is not
included in the analysis. As far as the textbook of Grade 9 is concerned, the
number of chapters is reduced to almost half, and more attention is given to
different exercises and activities that are intended to develop language skills and
the skills mentioned in The National Curriculum for English. For example it is
mentioned at the outset of the textbook edition 2012 for Grade 9:

This textbook has been developed by the Punjab Textbook Board in

conformity with the guidelines provided by the National Curriculum 2006.
It has been equipped with some qualitative and quantitative measures and
skills so as to learn English not as a tool of sophistication and mannerism but
as a mean of language learning for acquiring modern scientific knowledge
and learn mechanisms (Note: This page has no page number; it is placed
immediately before the first lesson).

To trace edition 2012 of Grade 10 that is not yet available on the market, when
the concerned people in Punjab Textbook Board were consulted they informed
us that Grade 9 and 10 editions of 2012 are designed on the same lines. Since we
could not get access to the new edition of 2012, only on the basis of the analysis
of the book of Grade 9, edition 2012, we can make a generalized statement that
it too would have the same characteristics as that of the Grade 9 textbook.
In the new edition of Grade 9, contents, exercises and activities are more
rigorously designed to teach language skills. In this edition learning outcomes
are given before each chapter starts so that the teachers can ensure that
students learn what they are expected to learn. For example in the first chapter
Hazrat Asma of the Grade 9 edition 2012, the following learning outcomes
are mentioned on page 1:
176 Samina Amin Qadir and Sarwet Rasul
By the end of this unit students will:
• Know about the life of hazrat Asma (raziallah tala anha)
• Know how the Muslim women served for the cause of Islam, know how the
Muslim women kept up their integrity in the times of hardship
• Learn about the honesty, truthfulness, valour and generosity
• Learn about the use of punctuation marks
• Recognize prepositions of time
• Know about the essentials of paragraph writing

In this edition, teachers are given instructions to generate activities that help
students in learning. For example a note for teachers on page 1 states:
Help the students to use pre-reading strategies to predict the content of the text
from topic/picture, title/headings, key words and visuals, etc. by using prior knowl-
edge, asking questions and contextual clues. (Hazrat Asma, Unit 1)
On the same page under the heading “Pre-reading” three questions are given
that can help the teacher check the pre-reading knowledge of the students.
Whereas at the bottom of the page under the heading “For the teacher” the
teacher is given guidance and instructions to use the pre-reading questions to
generate the interest of the students and to enable them to predict what the
lesson is about. It is significant that pictures are also used to generate interest in
the lesson and to enable the students to predict what the lesson is about.
Overall this edition is far improved and better both in terms of contents and
activities/exercises (see Appendix A for a comparison of lessons of edition 2012 for
Grade 9 with other editions). The approximate length of each chapter ranges from
3 to 7 pages. The ideas are presented in a simple way and in short sentences which
are easy to grasp for intended students/learners. The chapters are mostly directly
or indirectly related to the culture of Pakistan. The majority of chapters are in the
form of a story with a moral. As far as exercises and activities are concerned, in
contrast to the previous editions, this textbook includes activities based on:

• Oral activity
• Stress and intonation
• Dictionary skills
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Writing skills
• Proof reading and editing own and peers’ work
• Oral communication skills
• Comprehension

Conclusion
A keen examination of various editions of the English textbooks of Grades 9 and 10
produced by Punjab Textbook Board shows that despite various revisions over a
 Updating English textbooks: the case of Pakistan 177
period of more than a decade, the textbooks have retained the same contents,
format, images and exercises. In the name of revision, minor format changes, typo-
error corrections, addition/deletion/substitution of a couple of chapters are made.
However, for the first time, elaborated and detailed revisions are made in the
editions of 2012. The 2012 edition for Grade 9 is available on the market; and is
examined in this research. But, the new edition for Grade 10 is not available on the
market despite the announcements of the Punjab Textbook Board. However, as
mentioned earlier, when the concerned people in Punjab Textbook Board and
Curriculum Bureau were asked about this they confirmed that revisions in text-
books for both the grades are made on the same lines. So, we can hypothesize that
the revisions in the 2012 edition of Grade 10 are also on the modern lines as
discussed in the research with reference to the 2012 edition of Grade 9. To
conclude the current research, it can be said that during this time period hardly any
real and significant changes have been made in the Punjab Textbook Board English
textbooks of Grades 9 and 10. Especially, all the changes in the revised editions
during the last decade are found to be superfluous and based on the mere reshuf-
fling of the same content which cannot be termed as revision or improvement.

Note
1 Ministry of Education Curriculum Wing.

References
Alamri, A.A.M. (2008) An evaluation of the sixth grade English language textbook for Saudi
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Appendices
Appendix A

Table of Contents in Various Editions of Punjab Textbook of Grade 9

Lesson 2003 2004 2010 2011 2012
No

1 The Glory of the Muslims Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) Hazrat Muhammad Hazrat Muhammad Hazrat Asma (Raziallah
The Greatest Reformer ( ) – The Greatest ( ) – The tala anha)
Reformer Greatest Reformer
2 Hazrat Khalid Bin Waleed Hazrat Khalid Bin Waleed Hazrat Khalid Bin Waleed Hazrat Khalid Bin Waleed The Ever Changing
(raziullah anhu) (R.A) (raziullah anhu) (raziullah anhu) Environment of
Computers
3 Kindness to the Living Kindness to the Living Kindness to the Living Kindness to the Living Media and Its Impact
Things? Things Things Things
4 Little Things (Poem) Little Things (Poem) Little Things (Poem) Little Things (Poem) Nauroz
5 Rural and Urban Life in Rural and Urban Life in Rural and Urban Life in Rural and Urban Life in Daffodils
Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan
6 Chinese Wisdom Chinese Wisdom Chinese Wisdom Chinese Wisdom Quaid’s Vision and
Pakistan
7 Women Arise! Women Arise! Women Arise! Women Arise! Sultan Ahmad Mosque
8 Evening (Poem) Evening (Poem) Evening (Poem) Evening (Poem) Stopping by Woods on
a Snowy Evening
9 The Chinese New Year The Chinese New Year The Chinese New Year The Chinese New Year All is Not Lost
10 Current Events Ladies Park – A Shambles! Ladies Park – A Shambles! Ladies Park – A Shambles! Drug Addiction
11 Sports and Games Sports and Games Sports and Games Sports and Games Noise in the
Environment
12 Abou Ben Adhem (Poem) Abou Ben Adhem (Poem) Abou Ben Adhem (Poem) Abou Ben Adhem (Poem) Three Days to See
13 Save Nature Save Nature Save Nature Save Nature

(Continued)
Table of Contents in Various Editions of Punjab Textbook of Grade 9 (Continued)
Lesson 2003 2004 2010 2011 2012
No
14 Bees Bees Bees Bees
15 Money Order Form Filling Form Filling Form Filling
16 Telegram Truth – The Best (Poem) Truth – The Best (Poem) Truth – The Best (Poem)
17 Truth – The Best (Poem) Admissions Open! Admissions Open! Admissions Open!
18 Admissions Open! What Happens to Rain What Happens to Rain What Happens to Rain
19 What Happens to Rain Knowledge is Light Knowledge is Light Knowledge is Light
20 Knowledge is Light A Doctor’s Advice A Doctor’s Advice A Doctor’s Advice
21 A Doctor’s Advice Daffodils (Poem) Daffodils (Poem) Daffodils (Poem)
22 Daffodils (Poem) Road Safety Road Safety Road Safety
23 Road Safety

Appendix B

Table of Contents in Various Editions of Punjab Textbook of Grade 10

Lesson 2003 2004 2005 2010 2011
No
Blessings of God (Poem) Prophet Muhammad Prophet Muhammad Prophet Muhammad Prophet Muhammad
1 (PBUH) as an (salalahu alehe (SAW) as an ( ) as an
Educationist wasalem) as an Educationist Educationist
Educationist
2 The Prophet (PBUH) of Festivals of Pakistan Festivals of Pakistan Festivals of Pakistan Festivals of Pakistan
Mercy
3 A Father’s Advice (A The Difference Between The Difference Between The Difference between a The Difference between a
Letter) a Brain and a a Brain and a brain and a Computer brain and a Computer
Computer Computer
4 A Little Word (Poem) Blessings of a God Blessings of a God Blessings of God (Poem) Blessings of God (Poem)
(Poem) (Poem)
5 The Star-Child Hazrat Ayesha (RA) Hazrat Ayesha (RA) Hazrat Ayesha (raziulah Hazrat Ayesha (raziulah
anha) anha)
6 The School Library Transport Transport Transport Transport
7 Lennie, the Lamp Post Human Rights and Human Rights and Human Rights and Human Rights and Madina
Madina Charter Madinah Charter Madina Charter Charter
8 Drive the Nail Alright A Nation’s Strength A Nation’s Strength A Nation’s Strength A Nation’s Strength
(Poem) (Poem) (Poem) (Poem) (Poem)
9 The Necklace A Father’s Advice A Father’s Advice A Father’s Advice (A A Father’s Advice (A
Letter) Letter)
10 Tariq-Bin-ziad Hazrat Ali’s (R.A.) Hazrat Ali’s (R.A.) Hazrat Ali’s (R.A.) Hazrat Ali’s (R.A.)
Humanism Humanism Humanism Humanism
11 The World (Poem) Handicrafts of Pakistan Handicrafts of Pakistan Handicrafts of Pakistan Handicrafts of Pakistan
12 The Beautiful City The Menace of Drugs The Menace of Drugs The Menace of Drugs The Menace of Drugs
13 Two Wedding The Charter of a Happy The Charter of a Happy The Charter of a Happy The Charter of a Happy
Caremonies Life (Poem) Life (Poem) Life (Poem) Life (Poem)
14 Sportsmanship Simplicity Simplicity Simplicity Simplicity
15 Sindbad and Hindbad Traffic Education Traffic Education Traffic Education Traffic Education
16 The Threat of Letter Writing Letter Writing Letter Writing Letter Writing
Overpopulation
17 A Nation’s Strength A Fragment (Poem) A Fragment (Poem) A Fragment (Poem) A Fragment (Poem)
(Poem)
18 The Great Sacrifice Model Millionaire A Little Word (Poem) A Little Word (Poem) A Little Word (Poem)
(Part-I)
19 Pleasant Memories Model Millionaire Two Wedding Two Wedding Two Wedding Ceremonies
(Part-II) Ceremonies Ceremonies
20 The Blind Boy (Poem) A Little Word (Poem) My Mother (Poem) My Mother (Poem) My Mother (Poem)
21 The Great Leader How to Live on Less The Great Leader The Great Leader The Great Leader
Income
22 Faisal Mosque Two Wedding
Ceremonies
23 My Mother (Poem) My Mother (Poem)
24 The Great Leader
10 English language education
innovation for the Vietnamese
secondary school
The Project 2020
Le Van Canh

This chapter reports on the result of a small-scale exploration of Vietnamese

EFL secondary school teachers’ beliefs about the recently introduced innova-
tion in English language education in Vietnam. The chapter begins with the
information about Vietnam’s educational system and its English language
education landscape to provide the context for the study. This is followed by
the discussion of the findings gained from the study and the implications for
the improvement of the quality of English language education in Vietnamese
secondary schools.

Introduction
In the last few decades, Vietnam has seen rapid economic development and
an explosion in commercial, technological and cultural exchanges with other
parts of the world. This has given rise to a pressing demand for English profi-
ciency. On the national level, English is perceived by the government as a
necessary means for the nation-building. In response to this ever-increasing
demand for English is an impressive commitment to the teaching and learning
of English from the government, teachers, students, parents and society
at large. The recent Foreign Languages Project 2020 is a convincing case
in point.
This chapter highlights the current state of the art in English language educa-
tion (ELE) in Vietnam, with a focus on the secondary level of education, which
is the forefront of the most recent ELE innovation that affects the largest
number of English language learners in the country and has a vital role to play
in raising the national level of English proficiency. The chapter begins with a
schematic description of the formal education system and the structure of admin-
istration that supports it with a view to providing the context in which ELE
operates. Then, a description of the most recent innovation in ELE – the Foreign
Languages Project 2020 – will be provided. This is followed by the presentation
of the results of an investigation into teachers’ beliefs about the Project. The
chapter concludes with suggestions on how innovations should be developed
and enacted for ELE in Vietnam to take off.
 ELE innovation for Vietnamese secondary schools 183
The education system and its administration
Vietnam has a population of approximately 90 million comprised of 54 ethnic
groups with the Vietnamese-King being the largest ethnic group (around 86 per cent).
Education has always had a central role in Vietnamese culture and society.
The country’s basic education system is composed of primary school education
(Grades 1–5 for children aged 6–11), lower secondary school education (Grades
6–9 for children aged 12–15), and upper secondary school education (Grades
10–12 for children aged 16–18).
Educational practices in Vietnam are characterized as top-down inflexible
management, ideology-driven curricular rigidity, teacher-centered teaching,
product-oriented assessment, outdated materials, and limited teaching research.
Education policy planning (like in many other countries) is shaped by political,
economic and social forces rather than being based on empirical evidence. Given
the deep-rooted hierarchical social system in Vietnam, the Ministry of Education
and Training (MOET) is the supreme educational administrative agency responsi-
ble for macro-level planning and management for all levels of education. Although
the process of decentralization to provincial and district levels has been in progress,
there are ongoing problems of accountability, monitoring, protecting expenditure
and ensuring equity (Seel, 2007). Such issues have led London (2006) to describe
the changes in Vietnam’s education system as better understood as instances of
“punctuated evolution” rather than fundamental institutional transformation.
MOET still reserves the right to prescribe the curriculum, the textbook, and the
number of instructional hours for each subject for all levels of basic education.
Influenced by Chinese Confucian doctrine on education, Vietnamese teachers
and educational authorities hold a strong belief that knowledge resides in written
texts. Pedagogies focus dominantly on rote memorization, passive learning
approaches, print-based knowledge from textbooks, competition rather than
collaboration and an overtly academic and theoretical engagement with subject
matter (Hamano, 2008; Saito and Tsukui, 2008). Many also have considered the
curriculum as overloaded, with fewer academic students struggling and
frequently leaving. The subject-based educational practices have led administra-
tors, teachers, students, and parents to consider English as a subject rather than
a language. While educational innovation is a common discourse, innovation is
interpreted and implemented differently across the curricular subjects.
Consequently, an ecology for comprehensive innovation remains much desired.
Three sets of anxieties are currently highlighted in the Vietnamese educational
discourse. First, accessibility of education is uneven across regions and different
segments of the population. Second, there are more differences than consensuses
regarding the diagnoses of what ails Vietnam’s educational system and how to
remedy it. Finally, there are large disparities in educational achievement across
and within regions, which undermines the achievement capabilities of children
from poor and marginalized groups (London, 2011). Many scholars claim that
the market-based economic reform and the current educational policies have
increased inequalities between the rich and the poor, between urban and rural
184 Le Van Canh
populations and between the King majority (approx. 86 per cent) and the many
minority groups (Giacchino-Baker, 2007; Griffin, 2007; London, 2011).
Recently, attention has turned to improving the quality of education and to
modernizing education through curriculum reform in order to support
Vietnam’s economic development. However, due to the absence of a well-
defined educational ideology, which is grounded in Vietnamese social, cultural
and economic realities, different educational ideologies from different Western
countries are wholesale imported, creating a melting-pot of educational ideo-
logies. As Burr observes:

Vietnam has historically experienced a hard battle with outsiders intent on

reshaping and taking over its territory. … Contemporary Vietnam is being
invaded in a more subtle but nevertheless nefarious manner, this time by
cultural hijackers intent on, among other objectives, introducing children in
the region to a new set of values and expectations, without necessarily first
doing the groundwork to find out why they follow their current lifestyles.
(Burr, 2006, p. 25)

A further challenge to the implementation of change is the continuing focus on

examinations. Teachers and schools fear losing ranking in exam processes and
inspectors employed by authorities are also viewed as conservative (Saito and
Tsukui, 2008).

English language education in Vietnam

Foreign language education in Vietnam has been largely ideology-driven.
According to Le Van Canh:

Historically, foreign language education in Vietnam is unplanned and strongly

influenced by the country’s political orientations. … That a particular foreign
language is in and out of vogue depends on the political climate and educational
philosophy of the time, mirroring the on-going economic and political relation-
ships that Vietnam has with other countries. … [Thus], foreign language
education in Vietnam has always been more instrumental than educational.
(Le Van Canh, 2007, p. 177)

It was not until the early 1990s when Vietnam embarked upon a market
economy following the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the lifting of the American
trade embargo that English emerged as the most favored foreign language
throughout the country. Yet, the growth of English language instruction in
Vietnam has not been without controversy and challenge. Often times, the exam-
driven curriculum, large classes with mixed level or under-motivated students,
and lack of sufficiently qualified teachers are indicated as major challenges to the
improved quality of English language instruction at the Vietnamese secondary
school (Le Van Canh, 2007; Le Van Canh and Do Thi Mai Chi, 2012).
 ELE innovation for Vietnamese secondary schools 185
For several years, English has been mandated as a compulsory subject in the
secondary school curriculum (and recently in the primary school), and one of
the required examinations the students have to pass in order to be qualified for
the General Education Diploma. (It has been very recently decided by the
Ministry of Education and Training that from the year of 2014, English is
temporarily an eclectic school-leaving examination.) However,

[T]he quality of English language education remains unsatisfactory for

everyday communicative purposes as well as for specialized use. After six
years of learning English, secondary school students get nowhere in
communicative English even at the survival level, while most university
students are not competent enough in English for their academic purposes.
(Le Van Canh, 2007, p. 175)

In an attempt to adjust education policies in response to the globalization of

English, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), in 2002, officially
institutionalized a new English language curriculum, which had been piloted a
few years before, for all secondary schools nation-wide from Grade 6 through to
Grade 12, with a weekly class time of 135 minutes, split into three lessons of
45 minutes each. As documented in the new curriculum, students’ basic commu-
nicative competence should be the goal of teaching English at the secondary
school (MOET, 2006, p. 5). Despite the claim in favor of communicative
language teaching (CLT) in the new curriculum, the textbooks contain many
complex grammar points and imaginary speaking and writing tasks.
Le Van Canh and Barnard (2009) undertook a case study on the implementa-
tion of the new curriculum in an upper-secondary school with limited facilities
and crowded classrooms in the economically underdeveloped rural area of North
Vietnam. The results indicated that CLT was not being implemented in the way
it was outlined in the curriculum document. The teachers’ rationale for the class-
room style was that they had to finish the textbook within the time limit while
the students’ language level was too low.
Although various Western-based approaches and methods have been adopted,
modified or nativized, two methods that have had a far-reaching effect are the
Grammar-Translation Method and the Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP)
Model. While many teachers claim to support innovative approaches like CLT or
Task-based learning (TBL), most of them just pay lip-service (Lewis and
McCook, 2002).
In the wider society, there has been an escalating awareness of the importance
and utility of English among people in the economically developed places.
Proficiency in English is seen by students and parents as a prerequisite either for
a lucrative job or career after graduation or for admission to a Western university.
On the other hand, the lag in development of the interior rural and mountainous
areas has limited the demands for English proficiency and hence the develop-
ment of ELE there. The uses of English in these areas are largely limited to the
domain of education. Among the ethnic minority groups, most of the students
186 Le Van Canh
may not be sufficiently proficient in Vietnamese, the medium of instruction.
Therefore, English becomes the second foreign language to these students.
Understandably, the motivation to learn English is low among these student
groups, who entertain no hope of using English in their future career life.
Differences in social and economic development have also created an ever-
widening gap of learning environments between the economically developed
and economically under-developed areas. Secondary schools in the former
areas are better equipped with instructional audio-visual facilities including
state-of-the-art multimedia language labs in addition to more competent
teachers. By contrast, a decent classroom with basic furniture remains desired
in many economically disadvantaged areas, particularly in the remote moun-
tainous areas.
Opportunities for teacher professional development are minimal, usually in
the form of “quick-fix” training workshops organized by the local educational
authority with trainers from universities who have little or no teaching experience
at the secondary school. To make matters worse, teachers’ low salaries have
forced many to tutor extra classes or moonlight a second job to earn enough
money for themselves and their families. More than 90 per cent of English
language teachers are female; they are expected to wear too many different hats
at home to have enough time to develop themselves professionally. In addition,
being isolated from the global and local communities of practice has led many
Vietnamese EFL teachers to the non-negotiability of the meanings of teaching
English as a global language. To make the matter worse, classroom-based
research is almost ignored, resulting in the dominance of Western-based knowl-
edge over local expertise. In Vietnam, research oftentimes means “writing
reports on linguistic analysis” while “potential research on teaching methodol-
ogy is undercut by local attitudes which equate principled teaching methods with
a disparate collection of new and exciting techniques to keep students moti-
vated” (Gorsuch, 2006, online).

Recent innovation: The Foreign Languages Project 2020

In an attempt to transform ELE and improve its quality in response to criticisms
about low returns for high investment of time and resources, the Vietnamese
Government has very recently approved “The Project of Foreign Language
Education in the National Educational System for the Period 2008–2020”,
(hereafter referred to as the Project 2020 or just the Project) with a budget of
US$443 million. This is the most ambitious language-learning project in
Vietnam’s educational history. Given the low per-capita GPD and many unre-
solved problems inherent in the country’s educational system such as low quality,
poor management, the project reflects a strong commitment by the Vietnamese
government to English proficiency. It is necessary to note that the phrase foreign
language is often understood as “English” by many Vietnamese speakers (Ngan
Nguyen, 2012). The institutionalization of this Project is driven by two inter-
related factors: (i) the link of national proficiency in English to nation-building,
 ELE innovation for Vietnamese secondary schools 187
and (ii) the growing dissatisfaction with the quality of English language
education among policy makers and stakeholders.
The Project was released in September 2008, and its overall goal is:

To renovate thoroughly the tasks of teaching and learning foreign language

within national education system, to implement a new program on teaching
and learning foreign language at every school level and training degree,
which aims to achieve by the year 2015 a vivid progress on professional
skills, language competency for human resources, especially at some prior-
itized sectors; by the year 2020 most Vietnamese youth whoever graduate
from vocational schools, colleges and universities gain the capacity to use a
foreign language independently. This will enable them to be more confident
in communication, further their chance to study and work in an integrated
and multi-cultural environment with a variety of languages. This goal also
makes language as an advantage for Vietnamese people, serving the cause of
industrialization and modernization for the country.
(Government of Vietnam, Article 1.1., Decision 1400, 2008, p.1)

It is envisioned that all secondary school graduates are ambitiously expected to

be able to reach B1 level of proficiency on the scales of the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Towards this ambitious goal,
more than 80,000 English language teachers throughout Vietnam are required
to reach an English level proficiency of B2 for primary and lower secondary
school teachers and C1 for upper secondary school, college and university teach-
ers. English teaching hours are set to double and mathematics will be taught
in English in 30 per cent of secondary schools in economically developed cities
by 2015.
In order to get the baseline information for in-service training, all school
English language teachers were required to take a proficiency test. According to
the test results, 98 per cent of the secondary school teachers of English failed to
meet the mandated proficiency level. Just more than 50 per cent of them
achieved level B1, and more than 20 per cent reached level B2. Only less than 5
per cent achieved level C1 (Nguyen Ngoc Hung, 2013). While policy makers
always refer to these results to rationalize the Project 2020, I, as an insider,
believe the results should be interpreted with caution. Teachers’ unfamiliarity
with the test format, lack of test-taking strategies, anxiety, and the quality of
examiners, who are university teachers with little training in testing and assess-
ment may affect the teachers’ test scores to some extent.
In an attempt to address teachers’ deficiency in both language proficiency and
pedagogical skills, a series of short in-service courses focusing on language deve-
lopment were provided for teachers throughout the country.
The Project 2020 has sparked heated controversy among Vietnamese scholars,
classroom teachers and international English language teaching consultants.
Dennis Berg, who has worked as an educational consultant in Vietnam for over
20 years, said in an interview by Thanh Nien newspaper:
188 Le Van Canh
If we look at the quality of English teaching in Vietnam and the lack of support
in terms of salaries, resources and service training, I would have to say that the
targets do not look very achievable to me. … Without faculty development
and changes in teacher training programs, the project will never meet its goals.
(Thanh Nien, July 10, 2013)

Vu Thi Phuong Anh (2013), a pioneer in investigating teachers’ attitudes towards

the Project, conducted an online questionnaire survey on 88 EFL teachers in
Southern provinces and found that teachers agreed with the main objectives
and approach, but they suggested that the mandated standard proficiency levels
should be set with reference to the contextual differences. The author also called
for more involvement and input from classroom teachers to make the project more
sensitive to regional disparities in terms of teaching and learning conditions.
It has been highlighted in the ELE literature that the implementation of inno-
vation can be blocked or restricted if teachers’ epistemological knowledge is
denied (e.g. Carless, 2003; Karavas-Doukas, 1995; Li, 1998, 2001; O’Sullivan,
2002). Li (2001, p. 163) explains that “how teachers as end users of an innova-
tion perceive its feasibility is a crucial factor in the ultimate success or failure of
that innovation”. Similarly, O’Sullivan (2002) has pointed out that the failure of
policy makers to take into account the realities within which teachers work, their
“classroom realities”, led to the development of ELE innovation that is signifi-
cantly beyond teachers’ capacity. Kennedy (1988) discusses three preconditions
for teacher adoption of innovations, i.e. “feasibility” (will it work?), “relevance”
(is it needed?), and “acceptability” (compatibility with existing educational
philosophy). This means that understanding of teachers – the key players in the
intended innovation – regarding their beliefs about the intended innovation
should be the first step towards the development of any ELE innovation. Tillema
(1994: 602) has argued that “beliefs serve as filters which screen new informa-
tion, ultimately determine which elements are accepted and integrated in the
professional’s knowledge base”. Thus, teachers’ beliefs are crucial in determining
teachers’ rejection or adoption of educational innovations. What follows is the
presentation of a small-scale inquiry I conducted in an attempt to gain insights
into secondary school teachers’ beliefs about the feasibility of the Project.

The Study
In keeping with the above-cited innovation enactment perspective, this study
explored the beliefs held by a group of Vietnamese EFL secondary school teach-
ers (N=33) about the future of the Project 2020. It attempted to answer two
research questions:

1. What do secondary school teachers believe in the achievability of the goal of

the Project 2020?
2. What are the factors shaping their beliefs about the achievability of the
Project goal?
 ELE innovation for Vietnamese secondary schools 189
To address the research questions a survey method that made use of an open-
ended questionnaire (Brown, 2001; Dörnyei, 2007) was adopted to elicit
teacher beliefs and cognition. By means of purposive sampling (Brown, 2001;
Dörnyei, 2007), 33 EFL secondary school teachers were selected, through my
professional and personal networks, to respond to the questionnaire. The partici-
pants were sent the questionnaire (see Appendix A) and they returned their
answers via email. The schools where these teachers were working are located in
a variety of geographical areas: the urban, the rural, the mountainous, the most
economically developed, the least economically developed.

Data analysis
Data analysis was conducted in two steps. In the first step, data were analyzed
quantitatively to identify the most general trend in the researched teachers’
thought. For this purpose, responses to the questionnaire were classified and
counted in terms of positive and negative responses.
Given my concern with understanding in detail what teachers thought about
the feasibility of the Project and why, data were, in the second step, analyzed
qualitatively (Brown, 2001) with reference to this study’s research questions.
During the second step of data analysis, the focus was given on the comments
related to contextual factors which influenced the teachers’ beliefs about the
Project. Therefore, questionnaire responses were coded referring to different
contextual factors that influenced teachers’ beliefs about the achievability of the
Project goals.

Findings
The results of data analysis show that only nine teachers out of 33 believed that
the Project might bring about some positive changes in the quality of English
language education at the secondary school. They said that the Project raised the
public awareness of the importance of English and somehow motivated the
teachers to try harder in improving their English proficiency and to change their
pedagogical practices. However, only four teachers believed that the quality of
English language learning and teaching at the secondary school level would be
raised under the influence of the Project and none of them believed that all
teachers and secondary school graduates would achieve level C1 and B1 respec-
tively as defined in the Project goal by the year 2020. One teacher said, “The
Ministry sets out unrealistic goals without taking into account teachers’ and
students’ real linguistic competence as well as the classroom realities in different
localities”. Table 10.1 shows the common trend in teachers’ responses.
The factors that influenced their beliefs are classified into three categories
(i) teachers’ low proficiency; (ii) students’ low motivation and low English profi-
ciency; and (iii) other factors.
Teachers’ low proficiency. All teacher participants cited teachers’ low
proficiency as the first factor that they believed would hinder the achievement
190 Le Van Canh
Table 10.1 Teachers’ beliefs about the achievability of the Project goal

Goals No. of mentions

Achievable Unachievable Partially achievable

By the year 2020 most Vietnamese 0 24 9

graduates from vocational schools,
colleges and universities will be
able to use English independently
for work and study.
The Project will help to improve 4 29 0
the quality of English language
learning and teaching at the
secondary school.
Secondary school graduates will 0 33 0
achieve proficiency level B1on the
CEFR by the year 2020.
Teachers will be able to preserve 2 25 6
their proficiency after testing and
additional training.

of the Project goal. For example, Teacher D, who was teaching in a moun-
tainous area said:

The first challenge is teachers’ proficiency. The results of the recent test for
teachers showed that more than 90 per cent of teachers in my province failed
to achieve the standard level. A good number of EFL secondary school
teachers were just at A2 level of proficiency.

Teacher C from a secondary school in a north-east province expressed the same

concern about teachers’ proficiency in English:

Teachers are not yet ready for the Project. The recent proficiency test for
teachers shows that only a tiny percentage of approximately 25–30 per cent
of the tested teachers reached the B2 or C1 level after two years’ studying
for the test. The remaining 70–75 per cent would take four to six years more
to reach the standard level.

He went on to argue that the Project is creating unfairness between teachers of

English and teachers of other subjects:

What can teachers benefit from the Project? Is it the students’ better
communicative competence in English? This may be true, but how many
teachers care about this? What is worrying them is they have to invest time
and money to raise their English proficiency to the standard level while
fulfilling their teaching responsibilities when teachers of other subjects do
 ELE innovation for Vietnamese secondary schools 191
not have this pressure. Should they achieve the required professional stand-
ards, what incentives they have that teachers of other school subjects don’t?

Teacher A, who was teaching in an urban school, shared Teacher C’s view in
saying that teachers were not enthusiastic about in the Project. She said:

Teachers’ proficiency is too low. Most of teachers are weak at listening and
speaking. This is demonstrated in their test scores. …They are not aware of
the need for the Project. They believe that when the Project life is over,
everything will return to the starting point as the case of previous curricu-
lum innovation projects.

Teacher T from a rural school said that “The Project 2020 is a waste of money”.
According to her:

The Project objectives sound fine but they are unrealistic. How can they be
achieved in a short period of time while both teachers and learners are so
weak in the language proficiency? How can they be achieved while English
proficiency is not learners’ primary concern and teachers’ salaries are not
enough for their daily subsistence?

According to Teacher Q from Ho Chi Minh City, even after additional training
in language proficiency, their newly acquired proficiency would be hardly
preserved:

Teachers’ classroom practices focus just on students’ reading comprehension

and grammar practice. As students listening and speaking competence is
quite limited, teachers rarely use English in the classroom. Outside the
school, teachers barely have any opportunity to use the language.
Consequently, their language skills, particularly, listening and speaking skills
will be deteriorated.

Regarding the regional differences, Teacher G from a rural school frankly said,
“The goals may be realistic to some specialized schools [i.e. elite schools] and
the urban schools. For teachers and students in rural schools, these goals are
unattainable”.
All the teachers pointed out that teachers’ low proficiency in English, in
effect, prevented them to change their pedagogical practices. One remedy for
the problem of teachers’ limited proficiency in English provided by the Project
is training. However, the question remains as to whether teachers are able to
preserve their proficiency level after testing and additional training. Most of the
teacher participants believed that this was conditioned. According to Teacher N
from a southern province and Teacher B from a northern province, it is almost
impossible for teachers to preserve their proficiency after additional training
because teachers are overloaded with non-professional work [i.e. paper work
192 Le Van Canh
and marking] and the outdated method of the current teacher evaluation,
which is based on students’ pass rates at exams. Only a small number of the
teacher participants (N=8) believed that teachers’ post-training proficiency
could be preserved if teachers themselves were committed and supported or if
they were still young enough. Younger teachers were more likely to preserve
and raise their proficiency level while this was more challenging to middle-aged
and older teachers.
Students’ motivation and low English proficiency. As indicated in Table
10.1, none of the surveyed teachers believed that students, having completed
their English education program at the secondary school would reach level B1
on the CEFL. According to these teachers, a majority of students were learn-
ing English simply because they had to. They did not have any intrinsic inter-
est in learning the language because they had to concentrate their time and
energy on other subjects for their prospective university. The situation is worse
in the economically disadvantaged areas. Below are some examples of what the
teachers said.

• Students from urban areas can achieve the targeted proficiency level [i.e.
B1 on the CEFR), but their actual ability to use English at work may be
limited. Students in the remote and disadvantaged can hardly reach that
level due to the lack of technical resources needed for language learning.
More importantly, students and their parents in those areas are not aware of
the importance of English. (Teacher O from an urban school)
• In my school, ethnic minority students account for two-thirds of the total
student population. Schooling is a struggle for them. Here, there is no such
a thing as real learning or real educational quality. Teachers tend to give
them encouraging marks so as to help them to move on to the higher-level
classes. Teachers’ only concern is the students’ regular attendance. What’s
more, learning materials are not accessible to them. (Teacher D from a
mountainous area)
• Even in a high quality school like mine [a specialized or elite school] it is
a challenge for the students to achieve level B1. A majority of them invest
heavily in subjects like mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology for the
university entrance examination. They are not very keen to learn English
thinking that learning English can be delayed until they have been admitted
to the university. (Teacher M from an urban specialized school)

Teacher B pointed out that in her school, 12th graders [i.e. those who are in the
last year of secondary school education] were even unable to use the verb ‘to be’
correctly. This is supported by Teacher C from a north-east school, who referred
to the most recent test scores of the 10th grade students in his school that
approximately 60 per cent of these students scored 1–3 on the 10-point marking
scale. Therefore, teachers had to treat these students as absolute beginners even
though they had been learning English for at least five years in the lower
secondary school.
 ELE innovation for Vietnamese secondary schools 193
According to many teachers’ observations, admission to university was the
students’ immediate need. Therefore, they concentrated on studying mathe-
matics and other science subjects such as physics, chemistry, and biology. They
thought they would learn English at the university if they found it necessary for
their future. They also noted that the recent decision by the Ministry of
Education and Training that English was temporarily an eclectic exam for the
Certificate of General Education as a step backwards while the project was being
implemented. The decision further demotivated the students to learn English.
Other factors. Lack of learning materials, technical resources and opportuni-
ties to practice English frequently, limited number of instructional hours, and
students’ attitudes are factors that all teachers believed to be as barriers to the
achievement of the Project goals.

• The goal is unachievable to students of my school and other more disad-

vantaged schools. This is because we do not have high qualified teachers,
who prefer to work in urban schools. Large classes, inadequate technical
resources, students’ attitudes towards English, as well as the amount of
instructional time all are the challenges. (Teacher D from a southern school)
• It is really challenging for students in my school to achieve level B1
though my school is located in a provincial city. There is no environment
for practicing and improving English in a province like mine. In addi-
tion, classes are large with more than 40 students per class. Most of the
students are not aware of the importance of English for their future. Other
schools in my province experience the same challenges. (Teacher S from
a northern school)
• The most basic technical equipment has been broken. The school did invest
in the equipment, but they purchased the wrong devices, which do not work
properly for learning and teaching. (Teacher T from a northern school)

Many teachers described the act of learning English as being voluntary.

Unless the students find English competence really important for their future
employability or their future study, nobody can help. For example, Teacher C
eloquently stated:

Do learners and their parents have a strong motivation for learning English?
Do they think that their employability will be negatively affected by the year
2020 if they lack competence in English? Do they think that without
competence in English they will be unable to earn money? If they think this
is true they will find their own ways to improve English. But, who can say
for sure that there will be a linkage between English and employability,
between English and money-making opportunities?

This constraint is also shared by other teachers, who stated that students’ and
their parents’ primary concern is admission to university while English compe-
tence did not help them to achieve this immediate goal.
194 Le Van Canh
Discussion
Nunan (2003), in reporting the results of his multiple case studies of the effects
of English as a global language on the policies and practices in a number of
countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Malaysia,
Taiwan and Vietnam, concluded,

English language policies and practices have been implemented, often at

significant cost to other aspects of the curriculum, without a clearly articu-
lated rationale and without detailed consideration of the costs and benefits
of such practices and policies on the countries in questions. Furthermore
there is a widely articulated belief in that, in public schools at least, these
policies and practices are failing.
(p. 609)

Findings of the study reported here seem to support Nunan’s view. The Project
2020 is grounded in the country’s political will rather than in the realities of
ELE in Vietnam. Teachers in this study cast doubts on the future of the Project
despite their acknowledgement of some potential positive impact. Those doubts
were derived from their understanding of many contextual constraints. The
central constraints are teachers’ low proficiency (Carless, 2003; Li, 1998;
Karavas-Doukas, 1995), students’ low motivation for learning English, and
students’ demographic complexities. Other peripheral factors are teachers’ low
salaries, the lack of incentives and professional support for teachers, and limited
availability of learning and teaching materials and technical resources. The
students’ low motivation for learning English suggests that the need for English
is more myth than reality for most students in the less economically developed
areas, i.e. rural and mountainous areas. What Teacher C said about learners’ and
their parents’ attitudes towards English in the rural and mountainous areas
rejects the discursive linkage between economic prosperity and mastery of
English (Bruthiaux, 2000; Hu, 2005). English proficiency may be important to
some groups of students, but it may be not the immediate need to other groups.
All teachers in the study expressed that the requirement that all secondary
school graduates should reach level B1 on the CEFR proficiency scale by the year
2020 was unattainable to students in the rural and mountainous areas because
the students’ English proficiency was too low and they did not have immediate
need for the language. Their primary concern is admission to university. Given
this dismal reality, the Project goals are highly questionable. While the Project is
intended for educational equity in terms of equal access, it, in reality, is likely to
intensify the existing social stratification. Put another way, the attempt at some
form of uniformity and standardization in teaching and assessment across schools
which is based on ‘one-size-fits-all’ view of ELE innovation is not unproblematic
because standardization tends to ignore contextual constraints.
The decision by Vietnamese policy makers to use the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages in defining the standards for English
 ELE innovation for Vietnamese secondary schools 195
language education in Vietnam could be a good policy. However, policy makers
should refer the local context to the Framework rather than applying in a whole-
sale manner the Framework to the local context. In setting the national standards
of proficiency, it is critical to take into account the social, cultural and economic
differences across regions so as not to marginalize students and teachers from the
disadvantaged areas such as the mountainous, remote and less economically
developed areas. As stated by the teachers in this study, the targeted B1 profi-
ciency level for all school graduates in all regions is likely to be unattainable. This
result is also in line with the views held by the teachers in Vu Thi Phuong Anh’s
(2013) survey.
It is been agreed that language proficiency is an important issue for non-
native-English-speaking (NNES) teachers and has an impact on their profes-
sional self-esteem and confidence (Medgyes, 1994; Samimy and Brutt-Griffler,
1999; Brinton, 2004). While it is a fact, as acknowledged by all the teacher
participants in this study, that teachers’ English proficiency is low, it is not the
only contributing factor to the poor quality of English language education in
Vietnamese secondary schools. Language learning is now viewed as an iterative
process affected by the dynamic interaction between internal resources within
the individual learner (e.g. motivation, learning styles, self-confidence, time to
learn, etc.) and external resources outside the learning individual (e.g. teachers’
proficiency, textbooks, teachers’ professional competence, types of exam, the
school culture, etc.) (see de Bot and Larsen-Freeman, 2011). This implies that
students’ low proficiency is the result of interacting factors in which teachers’ low
proficiency is just one. These factors include the restricted number of contact
hours with the language; minimal opportunities for interacting with native
speakers; and limited exposure to the variety of functions, genres, speech events,
and discourse types that occur outside the classroom. Therefore, emphasizing
teachers’ proficiency alone, albeit its importance, without changing other
components in the educational ecology such as learning and teaching culture,
testing culture, teacher evaluation, and teacher empowerment is counterproduc-
tive. Expected changes in English language education would be impossible if
ecological changes were marginalized.
For English language education in Vietnam to take off, I would argue that,
among other things, greater attention should be given to two interrelated priori-
ties. First, due to the geographical, social, and economic complexities of
Vietnam, accessibility to professional expertise varies considerably to teachers in
various geographical and economic areas. Therefore, priorities should be given
to the development of a “community of practice” (Wenger, 1998) within each
school. The community of practice will be an effective hothouse in which new
ideas germinate and new methods and tools are developed to localize pedago-
gies. However, caution should be taken to “move beyond the myopic entrap-
ment of the local. Celebrating local knowledge should not lead to ghettoizing
minority communities, or forcing them into an ostrich-like intellectual existence.
A clear grounding in our location gives us the confidence to engage with knowl-
edge from other locations as we deconstruct and reconstruct them for our
196 Le Van Canh
purposes” (Canagarajah, 2005a, p. 15). In this sense, innovations in ELE should
be developed and implemented through the interaction between local knowl-
edge and global knowledge.
Second, there should be sound policies on the development of local exper-
tise through research capacity building. Local research has the potential to
bring “a different perspective on the field as a whole, not just on a few topics
of special relevance” (Canagarajah, 2005b, p. 746). Ideally, all current and
future development of English language education in Vietnam should be based
firmly on systematic research, monitoring and evaluation rather than on the
idea that what works elsewhere will work in Vietnam. Unfortunately, ELE and
applied linguistics in Vietnam still leaves much to be desired due to lack of
research skills, incentives and lack of access to scholarly resources (Pham Hoa
Hiep, 2006).

Conclusion
This chapter reports the recent innovation in secondary English language
education in Vietnam and the results of a survey on the beliefs secondary school
teachers held regarding the attainability of the goals of the intended innovation.
The findings show that teachers, who are the key players of the innovation, see
the goals as ambitious and unrealistic because the Project is not grounded in the
local realities. For the innovation to achieve its intended goals, multifaceted
problems including teachers’ salaries, teacher support, teaching and learning
culture, etc. should be addressed. There are obvious limitations in the study
reported here such as the small sample size and the chosen sampling method
according to which the participants by no means represents the whole popu-
lation of Vietnamese secondary school EFL teachers. In terms of research
methodology, the study employed just one instrument – the open-ended
questionnaire – and this may fail to gain a comprehensive picture of the innova-
tion. Despite those limitations, the findings of the study provide significant
empirical information about the potential problems that threaten the success of
the Foreign Languages Project 2020.

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 ELE innovation for Vietnamese secondary schools 199
Appendix: The Questionnaire
Dear EFL secondary school teachers,
I am conducting an investigation into what teachers think about the Foreign
Languages Project 2020. As a beneficiary of the Project 2020, I would like you
to give your candid opinions on the Project by answering the following questions
as detail as possible. Your answer will be used for the research purpose only and
will be kept in complete confidentiality. Your name will not appear in my
research report.

1. The goals of the Foreign Languages 2020 as set out in the Government
document are as follows:
To renovate thoroughly the tasks of teaching and learning foreign language
within national education system, to implement a new program on teaching
and learning foreign language at every school levels and training degrees,
which aims to achieve by the year 2015 a vivid progress on professional skills,
language competency for human resources, especially at some prioritized sectors;
by the year 2020 most Vietnamese youth whoever graduate from vocational
schools, colleges and universities gain the capacity to use a foreign language
independently. This will enable them to be more confident in communication,
further their chance to study and work in an integrated and multi-cultural
environment with variety of languages. This goal also makes language as an
advantage for Vietnamese people, serving the cause of industrialization and
modernization for the country (Government of Vietnam, Article 1.1.,
Decision 1400, 2008, p.1)

1. Do you think these goals can be achieved by the year 2020? Give reasons for
your answer.
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………..……………………………………………………………………
……………………………..……………………………………………………
……………………………………………..……………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
…….
2. Do you think the Project 2020 will help to improve the quality of English
language learning and teaching in your school? Give reasons for your
answer.
……………………………………………………………………………………
………….………………………………………………………………………
……………………….…………………………………………………………
……………………………………..….…………………………………………
………………………………………………..……….…………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………..
200 Le Van Canh
3. According to the goal of the Project, all secondary school graduates will
be required to achieve B1 level of English proficiency on the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages. Do you think students
in your school will reach this level by the year 2020? And students from less
advantaged areas? Give reasons for your answer.
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………….…………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………
4. Teachers’ proficiency is one of the Ministry’s concerns. The Ministry has
offered language development courses for teachers who have not reached
the required C1 level. Do you think teachers will preserve the proficiency
level they achieve after testing and additional training? Give reasons for your
answer.
……………………………………………………………………………………
…….……………………………………………………………………………
…………….……..………………………………………………………………
…………………………..………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………..………………………………………………
…………………………………………..

Thank you for your cooperation.

11 Exploring the value of ELT
as a secondary school subject
in China
A multi-goal model for the English
curriculum
Yafu Gong and Adrian Holliday

Communication has long been considered the ultimate goal of ELT for
secondary schools in China, with the goal of developing students’ language
ability and performance according to the model of native English speakers. The
teaching of culture awareness as one of the bases of such ability has similarly
emphasised the culture norm of native speakers in the English-speaking West.
The underlying ideology of this goal has been described as native-speakerism.
This chapter examines the problems of such an ideology and suggests that it is
neither appropriate for ELT nor realistic for most secondary level Chinese
language students. It revisits the value of ELT for secondary school students in
China and explores an alternative critical cosmopolitan ideology which suggests
different goals and thematic content, going back to the conceptualisation of
authenticity as relating to the real worlds of Chinese students, rather than the
real worlds of ‘native speakers’. It proposes a multi-goal English curriculum
model, which includes social-cultural, thinking and cognition goals which are
equally as important as the expected communication goal. The three goals are
integrated and should emphasise the development of students as citizens with
social, mental and physical well-being.

Introduction
With the wide spread of communicative language teaching since the 1980s, most
English curricula in non-English speaking countries aim to develop students’
ability for communication. In China’s national English syllabus published in
1991, the goal of ELT was described as developing the ‘basic ability to use the
language for the purpose of communication’. In 2001, China started to imple-
ment a new national curriculum for primary and secondary schools with human-
istic principles of education. As one of the school subjects, the goal of the
National English Curriculum (NEC) is to develop students’ ‘overall ability to use
the language’ and the objectives in the NEC consist of five components of
language knowledge, language skills, learning strategies, cultural awareness and
affect. Communicative approaches are advocated, for example, in the form of
Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT); and new textbooks have been adopted
202 Yafu Gong and Adrian Holliday
since then. The development of affect, motivation and attitude is for the purpose
of becoming a good English language learner. Beginners are required to be
‘curious about English’, then to become ‘interested in English’. The higher level
requirement at secondary level is to ‘build initial confidence in using English’,
and, finally, to build a ‘very clear motivation with positive attitude and confi-
dence’ (NEC, 2011, revised version). Although personality, critical thinking
skills, values and ideology are also considered as the supporting elements to
foster language development, only specifically language objectives are described
in detail. Other objectives are vaguely described as general statements, and none
of them has indicators. The textbooks, mostly imported from English-speaking
Western countries and adapted by local Chinese publishers, focus mainly on
interpersonal skills, and functions and grammar structures are the main elements
in the scope and sequence. The thematic content, especially in primary and
secondary school textbooks is mainly related to situations in English-speaking
Western countries. Functional dialogues, such as greetings, asking the way,
seeing a doctor and making a telephone call to a company are included in every
school textbook published in China. Examination papers at all levels, from the
entrance exams for colleges and universities to the entrance exams for senior high
schools, focus on ‘daily life’ topics. More than 70 per cent of such topics for
listening, speaking, reading and writing concern the practical use of the language
for interpersonal communication in an English-speaking country, such as book-
ing a hotel or making a list to prepare for going camping. It therefore seems that
Chinese secondary school ELT professionals take it for granted that this thematic
content represents the ‘real world’ communication that students will pursue,
whereas in effect it relates to the ‘real world’ of English-speaking Western
students and may not meet broader humanistic educational goals.
Although the new curriculum has brought about some dramatic changes at
secondary level in authorised textbooks and methods, it has been criticised with
regard to classroom implementation. It has also been claimed that communica-
tive language teaching has been established as a failure in China, and proposes
going back to the ‘two basics’ approach, of teaching basic knowledge (grammar)
and basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) with more emphasis on
mechanical practice.
These problems are not specific to China, but to many other Asian countries,
as well as locations across the world. Nunan (2003, p. 606) investigates the ELT
situations in several countries and regions in Asia. He concludes that introducing
English programmes into primary and high schools has been problematic, and
that although TBLT ‘is the central pillar of government rhetoric’, ‘it would seem
that rhetoric rather than reality is the order of the day’.

Problem posing
A recent study of secondary level students from urban and rural areas in 10 different
provinces in mainland China (Gong, 2009, 2011) found deep evidence of native-
speakerism. Holliday (2005, p. 6) defines native-speakerism as an ideology which
 A model for the secondary English curriculum in China 203
promotes the idea that English represents ‘native speaker’ and ‘Western culture’
norms, and that ‘native speaker teachers’ are the ideal model for both the English
language and ELT methodology. It is argued that native-speakerism ‘has had a
massive influence and exists to a greater or less degree in the thinking of all’ English
language educators (Holliday, 2005, p. 7, original emphasis). Native-speakerism is
so deeply rooted in China that it often remains unrecognised as a major and exten-
sive problem by Chinese ELT professionals. It can be argued that most Chinese
secondary level ELT professionals indeed subscribe to the assumption that their
students should learn either American or British English which require knowledge
of the culture of English-speaking Western countries, and that lesson content
should replicate situations and contexts in those countries. Thus, learning materials,
tests, and ‘real world’ classroom tasks are only considered ‘authentic’ if they
emulate what ‘native speakers’ do and represent the daily life of middle-class people
in English-speaking Western countries. Labelling native-speakerism as an ideology
implies that it is not simply the choice of such ‘native speaker’ content and approach
which is the issue, but that the entire conceptualisation of ‘native speaker’, ‘British’
or ‘American’ English and ‘British’ or ‘American’ culture represents a false idealisa-
tion of language and culture (Holliday, 2009).
In Gong’s (2011) study, three major problems are identified. These relate
mainly to secondary level students in rural areas, but also to students in urban
areas. First, the native speaker and urban life topics related to urban areas in
English-speaking countries which are present in Chinese authorised textbooks
are alien to students in rural areas and difficult to understand (Gong and
Holliday, 2013). Visiting museums and wild animal parks, making a plan for a
tour to Europe, going to concerts and ordering food in a fast food restaurant are
remote from the daily life experiences of students in rural China, who comprise
more than 60 per cent of the student population. Choosing different food in a
school canteen or talking about the different musical instruments they play in the
band is not part of their reality when schools only provide one dish for lunch and
most students have never seen a violin. There are no museums, movie theatres,
parks or Western styled fast-food restaurants in small towns or in the countryside
in rural areas. The students therefore have nothing to say in the tasks they are
required to do in group work. They believe that these tasks were not designed
for them, and this promotes negative attitudes towards English language learn-
ing. Nearly half of the students in the rural areas in the study failed in the local
tests. The teachers reported that few students really enjoyed learning. Similar
issues were found with students in the urban ‘ordinary class’. Even students in
towns have no immediate communication needs outside the classroom, making
tasks on daily routines of little interest to them. For the Chinese context, a crucial
issue is how and where secondary school students are expected to use English,
since most of them live in non-English speaking environments and may have no
need to communication with English speakers. As Cook points out:

If the goal is indeed external communication with other people, who do not
speak your first language, this is besides the point of many EFL students.
204 Yafu Gong and Adrian Holliday
Few students in China, Cuba or Chile, for instance, regularly speak with
people in English outside the classroom.
(2007, p. 239)

Thus, we argue that the ‘real-world’ tasks associated with ‘native speaker’ culture
do not relate to the real world of many Chinese students. The study shows that
students want to learn something more closely related to their life so that they can
understand the topics and thematic content of the tasks without much difficulty.
This connects with the second problem: that students want to learn some-
thing more closely related to their inner world rather than the outside world of
English as it is used in English speaking countries. By an inner world we mean
a personal world which relates to their life and the future, their ideas and feel-
ings. The findings show that there is a tendency that different students from
urban and rural areas show the same interests in certain topics regardless of
interpersonal communication for practical use, and that both rural and urban
students express the need for more sophisticated ideas, reflecting the more
complex and diverse realities of their living environments, such as their relation-
ships with the teachers, friends and parents, and the life problems they may face
in the future as well as current political, local and international issues. They are
interested in how to achieve perfection in relationships with their peers, parents
and teachers. They want readings on mental health, such as development of
positive feelings, to encourage them to deal with life problems and provide
alternative solutions. Although 14–16-year-old students from urban areas like
topics concerning popular music, sports, movies, food and literature, they are
also interested in what they may do in the future, in politics, friendship, love and
realisation of their personal growth. Some are interested in comments about
China by people from other countries. Violence, school bullying and honesty
are also the topics they enjoy reading and discussing in and out of class. They
like to read articles about other countries, how their people solve certain prob-
lems, their worries and concerns, and their ways of life. They find this sort of
content more authentic than more practical issues of greeting and asking the
way. Some students complain that they soon exhausted their vocabulary and
could not express more complicated ideas when they did get the opportunity to
talk with English speakers from other countries about anything serious.
The findings in Gong’s (2011) study support zhang’s (2003) criticism of the
NEC curriculum. He argues that its underlying assumptions are those of a second
language curriculum, and are inappropriate for foreign language education for
school-age learners in non-English speaking countries, where the main purpose
is not to develop students’ abilities as mainstream users of the language. He
argues that teaching materials which aim overtly or covertly at interpersonal
communication in an English-speaking Western environment do not represent a
realistic or a proper goal. When Widdowson (1978) first advocated teaching
language as communication, it was not through situations outside the classroom
which ‘refer to “the real world” of the family, holidays, sports, pastimes and so
on’ – but through ‘the link with reality and the pupils’ own experience’ (p. 16).
 A model for the secondary English curriculum in China 205
He further emphasised that the curriculum needs to recognise the relevance of
and engage with learners’ attention and interests (Widdowson, 2003). In this
sense, ‘to be authentic, activities, interactions and texts need to communicate
with the same social world within which students are already autonomous in
their own terms’ (Holliday, 2005, p. 104).
The third finding from the study indicates that culture teaching is problematic
for students’ mental development and value judgements. Although some
students are interested in the popular culture introduced in the teaching mate-
rials, this may not have a positive influence on their perception of cultural values
and of their own cultural identity. With regard to the false images of English and
its culture represented by native-speakerism, the dominant ELT literature has
been much criticised for presenting a grossly oversimplified and deficit image of
the culture of Chinese and other East Asian students within a narrow ‘collec-
tivist’ stereotype (e.g. Cheng, 2000; Clark and Gieve, 2006; Grimshaw, 2007;
Holliday, 2005; Kubota, 2001; Kumaravadivelu, 2003b; Quach et al., 2009;
Rastall, 2006; Ryan and Louie, 2007). Claims based on studies of 30 years ago
about the Chinese personality and characters (Tang, 2006) do not reflect the vast
complexity of Chinese cultural realities. Who are the typical Chinese remains a
question for most Chinese scholars of Chinese society (Chen, 2010). We align
ourselves with the notion that the identity of a person is multi-faceted and
shifting. Kramsch (2009) defines culture as ‘an individual’s subject position that
changes according to the situation and to the way he/she chooses to belong rather
than to the place where she belongs’ (p. 245, original emphasis). The students’
performance in the classrooms varies depending on particular school culture and
different teachers just as Littlewood (2000) points out:

If Asian students do indeed adopt the passive classroom attitudes that are
often claimed, this is more likely to be a consequence of the educational
contexts that have been or are provided for them, than of any inherent
dispositions of the students themselves.
(p. 33)

As a result of Holliday’s interviews with 32 informants from a wide range of

nationalities and backgrounds, the following observations were made:

• Nation is often an external cultural reality which provides a framing for

identities which may be in conflict with personal cultural realities. It can also
represent an idea which stimulates personal cultural realities.
• Cultural identities can be made up of a variety of things such as religion,
ancestry, skin colour, language, discourse, class, education, profession, skills,
community, family, activities, region, friends, food, dress, political attitudes,
many of which can cross national boundaries.
• Cultural reality can form around and be carried with individuals as they
move from one cultural arena to another. Being part of one cultural reality
does not close off membership and indeed ownership of another. Individuals
206 Yafu Gong and Adrian Holliday
can have the capacity to feel a belonging to several cultural realities
simultaneously.
• Language can be many things – a cultural reality, a cultural marker, artefact,
a cultural arena, the location of a cultural universe. It may or may not be
strongly associated with nationality or nation. (Holliday, 2011, pp. 54–55)

Gong’s (2011) study implies that Chinese secondary level students demand
more culturally authentic material. This, together with realisations about the
complex nature of culture, raises questions for English teaching professionals
that go to the core of ELT values in non-English speaking countries. What are
the appropriate goals for ELT? Cummins and Davison (2007) point out that if
effectiveness and efficiency are not considered within the context, purpose and
politics of language teaching and learning, they become naïve and unhelpful
(p. 3). Thus, the first thing ELT professionals and curriculum designers need to
decide is not the best way to enhance students’ ability to communicate, but what
they ask students to communicate about (Ellis, 2003). Holliday suggests that
‘whereas within native-speakerism authenticity pre-exists in the nature of the
“unsimplified” text’ when we step outside native-speakerism, authenticity ‘has to
be created – “realised in the act of interpretation” as teachers work to commu-
nicate with the worlds of their students, as students struggle to make sense of
what they are doing and how to be in learning events’ (2005, pp. 104–5). The
native-speakerist notion of ‘communicative’ emphasises the role of language as a
means of achieving programmatic goals (Tudor, 2001). Clark (1987) notes:

In real life, however, the roles that we adopt are functions of the interactions
we engage in, rather than static possessions. The language we use originates
from deep roots in our personality, rather than from predetermined scripts.
If we do not have practice at making the necessary links between the deeper
processes of our cognitive and affective make-up and whatever language
tokens are available to us, we may never learn how to mould the foreign
language to our own ends.
(p. 38)

Beginning from 2010, China started to implement its new 2010–20 National
Mid-Long-Term Educational Reform and Development Plan (NERDP). The docu-
ment outlines some strategic goals for educational reform and development. These
strategic goals are designed to develop each student as a ‘whole healthy person’ of
mental, physical and social well-being, with an emphasis on the development of
values, attitudes and ideology, and cognitive, affective and interpersonal skills.
These goals are described as the basis and the starting point as well the standards
to evaluate the achievements of education for schools. The students’ critical think-
ing skills and creativity are also included as strategic goals, along with human
rights, democracy and a peaceful world of harmony. How can these educational
goals be realised through English teaching in schools? What topics and thematic
content in textbooks may best enhance students’ critical and creative thinking
 A model for the secondary English curriculum in China 207
skills? How could English teaching facilitate the development of personality and
the ‘whole healthy person’? There has been substantial research in curriculum
development in second language contexts. Yet, the research in foreign language
contexts is scarce, especially in primary and secondary school settings in a huge
country like China with diverse cultural, economic and regional differences.
Widdowson (2003, pp. 20–21) suggests that language teaching can be
analysed through reference to three general parameters. The first one is educa-
tional purpose and another is process. The third one is the way the definition of
subject content is related to the choices of code knowledge and communicative
ability in respect both to purpose and process. The purpose parameter has to do
with the philosophy of education and the ideology which informs policy making.
Analysing the curriculum from ideological perspectives, Candlin proposes that
curriculum design can be divided into two different ideological forms:

… one which requires learners … to bank received knowledge as a collection

of ‘communiqués’ or states of knowledge and the other … encourages learn-
ers to explore ways of knowing, to interpret knowledge and engage in
dialogue with it and with themselves. A negotiation, if you like, both of
knowledge and of the procedures of engaging that knowledge.
(1984, p. 30, citing Friere and Dewey)

He further points out that:

Content is not ‘value-free’, which suggests that to know content, is to

explore its values, and that it is this exploration of values which implies a
methodology where content cannot reasonably be seen to exist indepen-
dently of its interpretation.
(1984, p. 33)

In the following sections, we will discuss what purpose is appropriate for English
as a secondary school subject in a country like China, where English is taught as
a foreign language. We will first review what has been discussed regarding the
purpose of language education and English as a secondary school subject and
propose a new framework for the English curriculum. This will entail going back
to some of the basic literature from the 1980s. We will consider the degree to
which English as one of the main school subjects with educational goals has been
addressed, and how far the ‘integrated ability for language use’ is an appropriate
goal. Then, we will review some related literature on curriculum design, espe-
cially regarding the value of education. Finally, a new ideology of ELT and a new
curriculum model for school English programmes is proposed.

The purpose of English language education

Speaking at a 1984 TESOL Convention symposium to discuss general English
syllabus design, a group of scholars, among them Brumfit, Stern, Widdowson,
208 Yafu Gong and Adrian Holliday
Candlin, Breen and Yalden, consider the role of ELT within broader educational
settings. We maintain that they support broader aims than instrumental
communication skills. Stern (1984, p. 11) believes that ‘language teaching has
suffered from an overemphasis on single aspects, and a wide comprehensively
conceived definition expresses the view that language teaching is multifaceted
and that the different facets should be consistent with each other’. Yalden (1984,
p. 15) suggests that the basic organising principles related to overall curriculum
design should include the current accepted philosophy of education and other
factors. Widdowson (1984, p. 23) argues that education makes provision for
both future social roles and for individual development. If a curriculum focuses
mainly on future social roles and meets the needs of person power for social and
economic well-being of the state, it can be described as ‘position-oriented’. If the
purpose is for the individual development, it is ‘person-oriented’.
Candlin (1984) also points out that the problem of syllabus design is not just
choosing the content and deciding the order of sequence:

Rather than merely being an ordered sequence of selected and, as it were,

innocuous items of content, timeless and obscure in origin, separated from
the world, it reveals itself as a window on a particular set of social, educational,
moral and subject-matter values. Syllabuses seen in this perspective stand,
then, for particular ideologies. This is most clearly seen, as I have hinted, in
terms of the choice of content, its prioritisation in the subject in question, and
in the relationship of the learner to that content and to the teacher implied
by the procedures of acquisition of that knowledge which syllabus displays.
(p. 30)

In the discussion of tasks and educational goals, Candlin (1987) further explains:

Targets for language learning are all too frequently set up externally to learn-
ers with little reference to the value of such targets in the general educational
development of the learner. Because we are concerned with language learn-
ing, it is very easy to forget that we should be equally if not more concerned
with the developing personalities of our learners.
(pp. 16–17, original emphasis)

What Candlin means to develop in students’ personalities are awareness, which

means awareness of personalities and social roles, and responsibility, which refers
to learners exercising their responsibilities for the choices of their own maps of
development. In order to overcome the barriers raised by ideology and prejudice
in interaction in the cultural worlds outside classrooms as well as the world
within the classrooms, learners need to learn to develop mutual acceptance and
tolerance. Candlin proposes that self-realisation and self-fulfilment of the learner
can only be realised through the empowerment of the students to express their
true attitudes and ideas themselves.
 A model for the secondary English curriculum in China 209
This emphasis on a broader educational remit for ELT connects with the educa-
tional aims of creativity and autonomy. Holliday links the non-native-speakerist
notion of authenticity as arising from communicating with the worlds of students
closely with autonomy. ‘Whereas within native-speakerism autonomy has to be
induced in the classroom through a teacher-led “learner training”, outside
native-speakerism it pre-exists in the social worlds of students and teachers’
(2005, p. 105). In Gong’s (2011) study described above, Chinese school
students practise their autonomy by searching into themselves and demanding
authentic material.
The broader educational remit also connects with Cook’s (2007) notion of
‘internal goals’ in ELT. Whereas ‘external goals’ relate to the instrumental use
of the language outside school, such as ordering food in a fast food restaurant in
a foreign country or buying air tickets (p. 239), very much like the ‘real world
tasks’ described by Long (1985), ‘internal goals’ realise the educational goals of
developing in students an overall ‘mental development as individuals’ (Cook,
2007, p. 239). This notion resonates with our reference to inner worlds above.
He points out that:

External goals dominated language teaching methodology for most of the

last century, first through situational teaching and later audiolingualism with
its emphasis on external situations. Then communicative language teaching
introduced syllabuses based on language functions and interactions in the
world outside, not the world inside the student.
(p. 239)

In contrast, he believes the internal goals include ‘self-development, new cogni-

tive processes, a way in to the mother tongue, a means of communicating with
those who speak another language and the promotion of intercultural under-
standing and peace’ (p. 239). If we agree that there are two different purposes
for language teaching and advocate the ‘person-oriented’ route, thus, the
purpose of learning should be viewed not only for communication with native
speakers in English-speaking environments, but also as personal growth; and the
learning of English could help develop skills for thinking, cooperative learning
and socialising. The students can translate these skills to other areas such as how
to reflect on and evaluate others’ opinions.
In NERDP, the relative weighting given to critical thinking skills and creativity
has never been so important in the educational plan, as the country strongly
advocates the building of a ‘creative-oriented society’. From the above brief
review of the issues raised in the literature, one may find out that the English
curriculum for schools has yet fully to explore the ideology, values and purposes
that are central to education. In the following sections, two issues are discussed,
one is the ideology of ELT, and the other is the purpose of English within
Chinese education goals. In order to achieve the educational goals for school-age
learners, a new ideology, and new goals and content need to be conceptualised.
210 Yafu Gong and Adrian Holliday

Replacing native-speakerism with a cosmopolitan

approach
Despite some of the more progressive thinking described in the last section, since
the early 1980s, ‘competence’ and ‘proficiency’ are understood in terms of the
‘native speaker’ norm (Stern, 1992, p. 83), and the ‘real world’ context mainly
refers to the English-speaking environment with ‘native speakers’ of English.
Since the target language goal is aiming at developing the native speaker culture
norm, the native speaker teacher is the authority for language use. There has
however been a gradual increase in the challenge to this native-speakerist notion
of ELT. This begins perhaps with Pennycook (1989) and gains considerable pace
in the 1990s and 2000s on political, cultural and economic grounds, and on the
grounds of inappropriateness to local circumstances (e.g. Phillipson, 1992;
Holliday, 1994; Widdowson, 2003; Kumaravadivelu, 2003a; Rajagopalan, 2004;
Cummins and Davison, 2007). Also, the traditional single culture value has been
challenged by increased recognition of the need for multicultural communication
and multidimensional growth (e.g. Kramsch and Whiteside, 2008). With regard
to increased questioning regarding the ownership of English Widdowson states:

In respect to objectives, I think we need to reject as irrelevant and unrealis-

tic the idea that these should be defined in terms of authentic native-speaker
use. What students need to have acquired at the end of their course, it seems
to me, is a knowledge of the language which will provide them with a capa-
bility for further learning.
(2003, p. 115)

Within a cosmopolitan approach to ELT, English is taught as an international

language and ‘communication is the need for mutual comprehensibility’ (Sifakis,
2004, p. 241). English can be chosen as a medium for communication, but it is
able to adopt different cultural values and modes of expression (Saraceni, 2009).
Native-like competence is no longer the desired goal and there is no need for the
multilingual who is using English in lingua franca contexts to sound like a native
speaker (Kirkpatrick, 2011, p. 11). ‘How English develops in the world is no
business whatever of native speakers in England, the United States, or anywhere
else’ (Widdowson, 1994, p. 385). These views fit well with a growing critical
cosmopolitanism in cultural studies and the social sciences, in which there is a
recognition that the dominant picture of world culture has been constructed by
the Centre-West, with a top-down notion of globalisation which has fed Western
markets. Critical cosmopolitanism thus celebrates a bottom-up globalisation in
which henceforth periphery voices take ownership and project vibrant and crea-
tive cultural realities which have hitherto been painted as deficient (Holliday,
2011, pp. 12–13, citing Homi Bhabha and Stuart Hall). Within this under-
standing, the Chinese school students in Gong’s (2011) study represent an
unexpected cosmopolitan voice which claims centre ground in their experience
as English language learners.
 A model for the secondary English curriculum in China 211
This change of ideology will have a great impact on the whole curriculum
value orientation and conception of ELT. We see a need to reconceptualise the
framework and the objectives in the curriculum, ‘enabling students to use an L2
does not just give them a tool for talking to people through a different language
but changes their lives and minds in all sorts of ways’ (Cook, 2007, p. 239).
Thus, the teaching of secondary level English should also include moral and
values education, and develop cognition and thinking skills. It should also
develop students’ personalities in order to broaden their vision as better citizens.
In this sense, Cook’s (2007) notion of ‘internal goals of language education’
relates to ‘language as a social change’ (Cook 2008, p. 210). The goals of
English are not only to develop students’ ability for communication, but include
social-cultural goals of developing students’ personalities, values and world views
and their mental development.
Not only should personal development be as important as language develop-
ment, but the teaching of English may involve more serious issues of social
development. As Cook (2008) indicates:

The goals seen so far in a sense accept the world as it is rather than trying to
change it; the students as an individual is expected to conform to their soci-
ety. But education and L2 teaching can also be seen as a vehicle of social
change … ‘language teaching can go beyond accepting the values of the
existing world to making it better’.
(p. 210, citing Wallerstein)

Gong’s (2011) study also shows that both students in rural and urban schools
are interested in social issues, and relates to the notion that ‘schools must engage
teachers and students in an examination of important social and personal
problems and seek ways to address them’ (Richards, 2001, p. 118).

A new curriculum model

In reviewing curriculum models, Ullmann (1982) found that the language syllabus
continues to predominate in the conceptualisation of a framework for the second
language curriculum and proposes ‘a broad or “multi-focus” view of content of the
second language curriculum which may have strong potential for achieving commu-
nication’ (p. 255). Following Ullmann, Yalden (1984) proposes a ‘proportional or
balanced syllabus’ not for immersion programmes or for ‘sheltered classrooms’, but
for contexts in non-English speaking environments. Yalden suggests that:

In order to include consideration of all these components of language and

communication, and to provide opportunities of language development
in each area, we must greatly expand the complexity of syllabus design. In
so doing, the linguistic components looses its predominant position and
syllabus design for language learning takes on a different shape.
(1984, p. 18)
212 Yafu Gong and Adrian Holliday
In reviewing the value of the English curriculum, we therefore propose a new
model for secondary school-age learners in China. The argument is that the goals
and objectives in foreign language education for school learners in non-English
speaking countries are not identical to those of second language contexts, in
which the main purpose is to develop student language ability toward the main-
stream. While ELT for schools in non-English-speaking countries needs to
address the external goal of developing students’ language ability for interpersonal
communication, the internal goal of developing students as whole healthy persons
with mental, physical and social well-being as world citizens has a very significant
importance. The overall internal goal must include social-cultural and general
knowledge elements (Scarino et al., 1988; Gong, 2012). The outcome is there-
fore three independent yet integrated goals, namely the communication goal, the
social-culture goal and the thinking and cognition goal.

The communication goal

When stepping outside the native-speakerist ideology, the prime communicative
purpose of learning English is not to communicate with the inhabitants of an
English-speaking Western country, nor to understand and emulate its cultural
norms. It is not to learn to recreate the exact speech pattern of its speech
communities, or to try to emulate stereotypes of such as ‘British’ or ‘American’
English. Authenticity and appropriateness are not based upon the replication of
these forms. Functional and notional dialogues for daily personal communication
may also be a secondary consideration.
The emphasis will instead be on dealing with topics which concern human
relationships, ways of thinking, and attitudes towards life as well as the cultural
realities of the local communities and schools, so that students can express their
own ideas and identity. Students will use English to talk about their lives and
opinions, problems and concerns. In communicating with others, the purpose
will be towards mutual comprehensibility of speakers from different cultural and
linguistic background. Authenticity and appropriateness will be based on what is
feasible in the linguistic and cultural realities of particular Chinese secondary
school classrooms. They will be achieved through connection with the students’
inner worlds, their real life concerns and their concept of self and self-esteem.
The English curriculum will thus fulfil wider educational objectives, such as atti-
tudinal change, learner awareness with integration of language and content, previ-
ous experience and knowledge (Ribé and Vidal, 1993). This also means that
communication, which has been considered an external goal, has been brought into
the domain of internal goals by becoming authentic to the inner worlds of students.

Social-cultural goals
Within a critical-cosmopolitan approach to education, the traditional concept of
intercultural communication in the curriculum will also be replaced. The prime
aim will not be comparisons with the ‘cultures’ of English speaking Western
 A model for the secondary English curriculum in China 213
countries. It will instead be the social-cultural goal of the interpersonal
development of world citizens. As Holliday (2009) states: ‘new thinking
addresses the naivety of old thinking and presents a very different, cosmopolitan
picture in which the world is not neatly divided into national categories, but in
which the boundaries are increasingly blurred and negotiable’ (p. 146). Thus,
topics concerning the cultural values of English-speaking Western countries will
be replaced with universal moral values of honesty, caring for others, tolerance,
justice, democracy, and self-realisation. Indeed, it will be necessary, within the
curriculum, to question the claiming of particular ‘values’ by a particular Western
entity. The study of culture moves away from the native-speakerist notion of an
uncrossable line between ‘our’ Chinese ‘culture’, with its imposed imagery of
deficiency, and ‘their’ ‘culture’ of English. It is replaced by a positive and creative
spirit of cultural contestation (Holliday, 2011, p. 15, citing Delanty), where
students are able to take ownership, adopt, adapt, reject, critique, and find them-
selves in whatever cultural realities they encounter, taking their existing experi-
ences and expanding them into new cultural territories. Richards (2001) has
pointed out that a learner-centred curriculum is not just a matter of letting
students choose their ways of learning and content, but to help them build up
self-awareness, with the necessary knowledge for their future development, rela-
tionships with other people, and attitudes towards life.
In most learner-centred foreign language curricula, student motivation, and
positive attitude toward learning are encouraged. However, affect and motiva-
tion need to go further than this. They need to widen the students’ scope and
attitudes towards life, with new perception of the world, and to develop students’
positive mentality with regard to persistence, being friendly toward other people,
cooperation, modesty, tolerance, beliefs and hopes (Wang, 2011). If a humanis-
tic idea of language teaching is proposed, it needs to be transferred from rhetoric
to reality, by engaging with the students’ real personal emotions and feelings in
a working through of friendship and cooperation, responsibility and self-
actualisation (Stevick, 1990). It is also the medium through which we build up
personal relationships, express our emotions and aspirations, and explore inter-
ests (Tudor, 2001, p. 65). This can also be expressed in the following way:

In real life, however, the roles that we adopt are functions of the interactions we
engage in, rather than static possessions. The language we use originates from
deep roots in our personality, rather than from predetermined scripts. If we do
not have practice at making the necessary links between the deeper processes of
our cognitive and affective make-up and whatever language tokens are available
to us, we may never learn how to mould the foreign language to our own ends.
(Clark, 1987, p. 38)

Cognition and thinking goals

Implicit in social-cultural goals is the notion that language is not only for
pragmatic use in the sense of communicating with other people. Learning a
214 Yafu Gong and Adrian Holliday
foreign language also has the function of developing cognition and thinking
skills and overall mental development (Cummins, 1984). Reading and writing
skills are closely related to thinking and cognition: formulating hypotheses,
drawing conclusions, developing alternative solutions, making judgments and
comparing viewpoints are critical thinking skills. The reference to critical think-
ing here is very different to the recent common alignment of the concept to
cultural norms, and implies a universal mental process which can be engaged
with through the learning of any language. The need for the mental develop-
ment of students requires curriculum developers to go beyond the domain of
language learning to higher order thinking skills and creativity.
Some curriculum developers and textbook writers fear that focusing on think-
ing skills may increase the difficulties of the language learning materials.
However:

Indeed, it can be argued that learners with low level of language have a
particular need for activities which are not only linguistically manageable but
also cognitively challenging. This is because such learners may feel reduced to
a state of psychological infancy by the way their limited language knowledge
constrains their means of self-expression. It is thus perhaps especially important
for learners of this kind to be given opportunities to use their normal cognitive
abilities as much as possible in the course of their language learning experi-
ences, in order to foster a healthier, more ‘adult’ psychological frame of mind.
(Waters, 2006, p. 326)

Conclusion
In the past 30 years, the underlying ideology of English teaching for the second-
ary school has been dominated by native-speakerism, and school ELT
programmes in countries in Asia have followed second language courses, where
the prime objectives have been to communicate with so-called ‘native speakers’
in English-speaking Western countries. This interpretation of ELT has therefore
focused on the performance of ‘native speakers’ in the real-world contexts and
culture of such countries. As an ideology, native-speakerism has driven such
courses to oversimplified, idealised imaginations of ‘native speaker’ language
and culture.
Within a critical cosmopolitan approach, we have proposed a different kind of
foreign language ELT, with a curriculum model which focuses on the three
different goals of communication, of the social-cultural, and of cognition and
thinking, which in turn develop the overall mental, physical and social well-being
of the students. Following the conceptual framework presented in this chapter,
a new student competence model needs to be designed and new materials need
to be selected. This requires a reconceptualisation of some basic concepts, such
as ‘real world tasks’, ‘authenticity’, and ‘appropriateness’. Candlin (2001)
expresses this well. He argues that:
 A model for the secondary English curriculum in China 215
If tasks are to be ‘authentic’ and ‘close to the real world and daily life experi-
ences of learners’, the issue must be the terms in which these constructs are
being defined and in relation to which of the task components. Specifically,
• How is the ‘real world’ being constructed? In terms of which partici-
pants, which roles, which discursive and social relationships?
• What assumptions are being made here between some perceived iden-
tification of the social world of the classroom and the learners’ social
worlds outside the classroom? (p. 239)

ELT professionals will have to answer these questions by looking at their

students’ learning and living environments and the purpose of the language
learning which is meaningful to them.

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Index
access to information 22, 24, 25, 27
acquisition 151
Action Plan to Cultivate “Japanese with
English Abilities” 34, 40, 45
activities 164, 174, 175, 176
Administration (NUEPA) 103
advanced program 50
Arabic 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26
Asian students 205
assessment 19, 20, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30
assessment for learning 71, 78, 79
assessment literacy 91, 97
audiolingual method 127
audio-lingual methodology 106
authentic materials 206, 214–15
authentic native-speaker use 210, 214–15
authenticity 70, 75, 206, 212, 214–15
Bagrut 19, 28
Bangalore–Madras Project 106
baseline survey 89, 92
basic competence 128
basic program 50
benchmarks 22, 23
blueprint 153
building knowledge 132
CBSE course design 1995 108–9
CBSE curriculum 2010 109
CBSE-ELT Project 108, 114
Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE) 108, 109, 114, 116
central policy 94
Central Schools 107
centralized curriculum 61
CISCE curriculum 112
classroom English 54
cognition and thinking goals 213–14
collaboration 152
collaborative learning 77, 79, 80
common basic curriculum 49
Common European Framework of
References for Languages 187, 194
communication goal 206, 212
communicational model 106
communicative approach to language
teaching (CLT) 114, 127
communicative approach/ability 33, 34,
37, 44
communicative competence 108, 109, 185
communicative curriculum 115
communicative language teaching
strategies 107
competence-based curriculum 125
content (see also thematic content) 207
contextual differences 188
continuous evaluation/assessment/CCE
109, 115, 116–17
core competence 129
cosmopolitan approach 210–11, 214
Council for Indian School Certificate
Examinations (CISCE) 112
Course of Study Guidelines 2, 3, 33, 34,
35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46
critical literacy 74, 77, 78
critical thinking 15, 27–8, 29, 65, 66, 79
cultural capital 94, 98
cultural enrichment 154
cultural realities 205–6
culture (see also social-cultural goals)
205–6
Culture of Pakistan 172, 176
culture teaching, (see culture) 205–6
curriculum (see also new curriculum
model) 15, 20–4, 26, 185, 206, 208
curriculum development in Pakistan 162,
165, 167, 207
curriculum objective 132

delivery systems 93, 94, 98
developed nation 150, 153
dialogic teaching 74, 77, 79
direct method 112
Dream Vision 2020 3, 33, 44
Education Commission (1964–66)
(Kothari Commission) 105, 115
education reform 33, 35
educational purpose (see also purpose of
English language education) 207
elective curriculum 49
elementary school 48, 49, 50
English as a second language 103, 105
English as a third language 104, 105
English as lingua franca 161–2
English education system 47
English educational initiative 47, 48
English for science 3, 33, 41, 42, 43
English in Pakistan 162–3
English in the subcontinent/colonialism
161–2, 163, 166
English medium schools 106
English native speakers 153
English proficiency 186
English Program in Korea (EPIK) 48, 51–3
English teacher employment exam 48,
54–5, 61
English Teachers Association of Israel
(ETAI) 24
English Teachers Network of Israel
(ETNI) 24
English version 87, 88, 89, 92, 95
error analysis 113
ESP (English for specific purposes) 3, 41,
42, 43, 44
evolution 148, 149, 154, 155
exam-oriented 151
exercises (see also activities) 171–3,
175, 176
external goal (see also internal goal) 203,
208, 209, 212
extracurricular subject 130
Fifth All-India Education Survey 103
first foreign language 124
first language 105
formative 97, 99
foundation level 23
four skills 36, 37, 38, 39, 41
genre 42, 43, 46, 131
genre-based approach 73, 76, 129
Index 219
globalisation 148, 149, 150, 151, 154,
155, 162, 168
globalist versus localist perspectives 69, 70
goals of education (see also educational
purpose) 206
goal of teaching English 125
Government schools 106
Grade 9/10 English Textbooks in Pakistan
169–71, 175, 176, 177, 179–81
grammar 33, 34, 36, 38, 41
grammar-translation method 112, 113,
127, 185
Hebrew 17–18, 30
high school 49, 50
high school (upper secondary) 2, 3, 33,
34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44,
45, 46
high stakes tests 85
IBT site 59
ICT 148, 150, 151, 152
immersion method 112
importance/characteristics of textbooks
164–5, 168
initiatives 148, 149, 150, 155
inner world (see also real-world tasks) 204
innovation 48, 61, 62, 188
integrated curriculum 137
integration 148, 151, 152
intercultural communication 210
intermediate level 23
internal goals 209, 211, 212
internet-based test (IBT) 56
Japan Science and Technology Agency 34,
40, 41, 45
Japanese Ministry of Education Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology
(MEXT) 2, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39,
40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46
junior high school (lower secondary) 33,
35, 36, 37, 38
Korea College Scholastic Ability Test
(KCSAT) 56, 57, 60
Korea Institute of Curriculum and
Evaluation (KICE) 50, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59
Korean secondary English education 47–64
language of instruction 126
language schizophrenia 126
language skills 174, 175
220 Index
learning domains 135
learning motivation 138
learning outcomes 174, 175–6
learning styles 96
lesson study 141
level-differentiated approach 48
levels of progression 22–3
linguistic imperialism 161
literature 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28–9, 148,
154, 155
local content 130, 134
madrasah 89
Malay language 148, 150, 153
master teacher 142
matriculation 16, 19, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30
middle school 49, 50
Ministry of Education 174, 175
Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology (MEST) 47, 56, 57, 59,
60, 61
motivation 186, 192
multiliteracies 71, 75
multimodality 70, 74, 75
multiple assessment techniques 137
multiracial 148, 150
narrative texts 131
national aspirations 153
National Council for Educational
Research & Training (NCERT) 103,
104, 109, 110
national curriculum 48
National Curriculum Framework 2005
(NCF 2005) 109, 110, 115
National Education Policy 92, 93
National English Ability Test (NEAT) 48,
55–60, 61
National Policy of Education (NPE) 105,
105, 108, 113, 114, 115, 114
national standard of education 128
native speaker 16, 17, 26
native speaker teachers 1, 18
native-speakerism (see also authentic native-
speaker use) 202–3, 206, 209, 210, 214
native-speaking teacher (NS teacher) 51,
52, 53
NCERT curriculum 111
new curriculum model 211–14
OECD PISA 35, 46
Olympiad 2020 3, 26, 44, 46
one-size-fits-all view 194
oral English 174
Pakistani English Textbooks 164, 165,
166, 167, 168, 169, 173
pedagogical knowledge 141
performance tasks 24
pilot testing 58, 60
policies 148, 149, 150, 155
portfolio assessment 140
Position Paper on the Teaching of
English 110
pre-reading 176
presentation 26, 27
primary four 125
primary school 3, 33, 37, 44
private English learning 61
Private University Act 87
productive skill 56, 61
proficiency level 23, 24
Program of Action (POA), modified 1990
105, 108, 114
project method 105
project-based learning 152
public education 47, 56, 60, 164
Punjab Textbook Board 163, 165–6, 167,
169, 175, 176, 177
pupil diversity 26
purpose of English language education
203, 206, 207–8
quality assurance 136
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
(RMSA) 103, 104
real-world context, (see also real world
tasks) 202, 203, 204–5, 215
real-world tasks 202, 203, 204–5, 215
receptive skill 56, 61
re-culturing 97
redesigning teacher education 136
reform 61
reliability (tests) 90, 97
remedial program 50
remedial support 154
revised curriculum 48, 49, 50
Revised English Textbooks in Pakistan
175, 176–7
school-based curriculum 129
second language acquisition hypothesis 110
Secondary Education Commission 1952
(Mudaliar Commission) 104, 115
secondary education streams 87
secondary schools 104
secondary schools/level 161, 163, 164,
168, 177
 Index 221
self-fulfillment 208 teacher training 118
self-realization 208 teachers’ beliefs 182, 196
Shohamy 18, 19, 21, 30 teachers’ low proficiency 189, 190, 191
smart partnership 148, 152 Teaching English in English (TEE) 47, 53–4
Smart School 151, 152 teaching methodology 167, 168
social interaction 22, 23, 24, 25, 27 TEE certification 53–4
social polarization 95 thematic content (see also content,
social-cultural goals 212–13 topics) 202
specialized support systems 94, 98 three language formula 105
Spolsky 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 30 TOEFL ranking 34
standards 20, 22 topics 202, 204
structural approach 113 training 151, 153
structural syllabus 106 transformation 152, 153
summative 97 translation 33, 34, 41
Super English Language High School 21st century competencies 65, 66, 67, 68
(SELHi) 3, 33, 34, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 2006 Curriculum 126
45, 46 2013 Curriculum 124
Super Science High School (SSH) 3, 33,
34, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45 university entrance exam 2, 3, 34, 41, 43
supplementary schooling 91 Urdu Textbooks 165, 167
syllabus 134
system of evaluation 114 validity (tests) 90, 91
systemic functional grammar 128 value of English curriculum 206, 212
variety of English 124
targets for language learning (see also goals vernacular 149
of education) 208 vernacular languages 126
tasks (see also real-world tasks) 204, 215 Vietnam 182, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187
task-based learning 185 Vision 2020 150, 151
teacher education 149, 151, 152 vocabulary 173
teacher educators 152
teacher leaders 152 washback/backwash 90, 91, 97, 99
teacher professional development 186 workforce 150
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