Politics of Language Education

Politics can be a very important influence on educational developments and their deployment. However, this volume is different from other volumes since it looks, not at the macropolitics and the ideological agendas of nations and multinational or global organisations, but rather focuses on micropolitics, the agendas and motivations of individuals within organisations, and on their actions. Micropolitics can be seen as ways of manoeuvring within institutions which are themselves not political, but commercial, financial and educational. Indeed, politics with a small p includes not only institutional politics, but also personal politics, which can influence language education both in daily matters, and in projects for innovation and change. The aim of this edited book is to begin a debate about the nature and role of micropolitics, to contribute to a better understanding of language education, change and resistance to change, and the processes of language education.

Charles Alderson is Professor of Linguistics and English Language Education at Lancaster University, UK. He was Director of the Revision Project that produced the IELTS test; Scientific Coordinator of DIALANG (www.dialang.org); Academic Adviser to the British Council’s Hungarian English Examination Reform Project; and is former co-editor of the international journal Language Testing and the Cambridge Language Assessment Series (Cambridge University Press). He has taught and lectured in over 50 countries world-wide, been consultant to numerous language education projects, and is internationally well-known for his teaching, research and publications in language testing and assessment, programme and course evaluation, reading in a foreign language and teacher training.