Alia Amir

Language policing : Micro-level language policy-in-process in the foreign language classroom

This article examines what we call micro-level language policy-in-process – that is, how a target-language-only policy emerges in situ in the foreign language classroom. More precisely, we investigate the role of language policing, the mechanism deployed by the teacher and/or pupils to (re-)establish the normatively prescribed target language as the medium of classroom interaction in the English as a foreign language classroom of an international school in Sweden. Using ethnomethodological conversation analysis, we have identified a regular three-step sequence for language policing: (1) a (perceived) breach of the target-language-only rule, (2) an act of language policing and (3) an orientation to the target-language-only rule, usually in the guise of medium switching to the target language. Focusing primarily on teacher-to-pupil policing, where the teacher polices pupils’ (perceived) use of their L1 (Swedish), we identify three different categories of teacher-policing. These categories are based on particular configurations of features deployed in the three steps, such as initiator techniques (e.g. reminders, prompts, warnings and sanctions) and pupils’ responses to being policed (e.g. compliance or contestation).

Examining English-Only in the EFL Classroom of a Swedish School: A Conversation Analytic Perspective

There are varying claims about the number of English second-language speakers, with figures between 100 million and 400 million (Crystal 1997). Similarly, the number who have learnt English as a Foreign Language (EFL) also varies, with estimates ranging from 100 million–1,100 million (Baker 2011: 84). According to Crystal (2012: 5), ‘English is now the language most widely taught as a foreign language – in over 100 countries, such as China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt and Brazil – and in most of these countries it is emerging as the chief foreign language to be encountered in schools’. Similar observations have been made of the EU, where English is understood to be the most widely taught foreign language (Cenoz and Gorter 2013: 591). While English has made a clear and profound impact on language teaching around the world, less obvious, or perhaps more contentious, is the issue of what role first languages (L1s) should play in the ELT classroom.