Date: 22-Nov-2009
From: Ram Giri <giri_r_a hotmail.com>
Subject: English in Nepalese Education: An analysis of theoretical and contextual issues for the development of its policy guidelines
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Institution: Monash University
Program: Faculty of Education
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2009
Author: Ram Ashish Giri
Dissertation Title: English in Nepalese Education: An analysis of theoretical and contextual issues for the development of its policy guidelines
Linguistic Field(s):
Sociolinguistics
Dissertation Director:
Lesley Farrell
Dissertation Abstract:
This PhD research was conceived amidst the political upheaval which Nepal
has experienced for more than a decade and in which language issues have
increasingly become a political battle ground. The project combines a
number of qualitative research methods to explore and analyse language
policy debates, and the tensions and challenges that exist therein. Taking
ELE as the case study, the study looks at other local languages, their
statuses, roles, uses, and interrelationships in their socio-cultural and
political contexts. In particular, the project analyses of the factors and
variables that influence the language policy and planning processes; the
evolving new socio-political order; the current language policy debates and
the trends emerging from them; the multiple purposes English and local
language serve in the community; and the structural, professional and
economic capabilities to plan, promote and sustain a new approach to
languages education.
The project addresses a dire need of a comprehensive and integrative
language policy, and sets guidelines for a tripartite languages education
policy for Nepal. In order to do so, the study makes an ethnolinguistic
analysis of the local language situation; situates English in the debate
around multilingual education; and examines factors and issues and their
implications. The thesis is broadly divided into five parts - analysis of
the situation, identification of issues, theorising the issues, exploring
and assessing the realities, and designing a framework to address the
situation. The ethno-linguistic analysis of the context, for example,
provides an overview of the socio-cultural, linguistic, political and
economic situations in which the project is situated (chapters 1 & 2). The
analysis also offers multiple perspectives to look at a wide range of
dimensions of the research context, and the debates that exist in it.
Assessing the current debate, Chapter 2 explains who (who are the actors of
what socio-political and cultural background) says what (raises what issues
and concerns) and why (what may be their motivations for saying so). The
chapter also looks into the debacles of the politicisation of the language
issues amidst the current political conflicts.
The emerging debates and issues, in order for them to have a theoretical
base, need to be situated in a broader theoretical context of the field of
language policy and planning (LPP). Chapters 4 & 5 offer a theoretical
analysis of the issues in questions by examining some of the most prevalent
LPP models and their theoretical as well as practical concerns. Reporting
on the five case studies of Australia, Sweden, South Africa, Malaysia and
Bhutan, Chapter 5 provides a discussion of the issues and concerns emerging
from the practice of language policies. Chapters 6 & 7 provide a discussion
of the field data, their sources, their relevance and their analysis. A
framework is then proposed to manage the issues and controversies in
Chapter 7. Implications of the proposed framework are described in the
final section of the chapter. The present research, like most research
projects of this kind, raises more questions and issues than it answers.
The final chapter, Chapter 8, is, therefore, a reflection of the
researcher's journey which also explains which issues have been addressed
in the present project, and which ones are recommended for further research.
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