Success or failure of primary second/foreign language programmes in Asia: what do the data tell us?

Primary school second/foreign language (SL/FL) programmes in Asia, as well as in other parts of the world, are becoming more common, with many targeting English as the SL or FL. The pressures for such English language programmes come from top-down notions that in a globalised world English is requir...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current issues in language planning 2011-05, Vol.12 (2), p.309-323
Main Authors: Baldauf, Richard B., Kaplan, Robert B., Kamwangamalu, Nkonko, Bryant, Pauline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asia
Case Studies
Educational Policy
Educational Trends
English (Second language)
English as a foreign language
Foreign Countries
Language of Instruction
Language Planning
Language policy
language teaching
Policy analysis
Primary education
primary school
Program Development
Program evaluation
Second Language Instruction
Second Language Learning
Second language programs
Trend Analysis
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Summary:Primary school second/foreign language (SL/FL) programmes in Asia, as well as in other parts of the world, are becoming more common, with many targeting English as the SL or FL. The pressures for such English language programmes come from top-down notions that in a globalised world English is required for societies to be competitive, especially with Asian neighbours, and bottom-up pressures from parents who see English as the key to educational success for their children. In many polities, these forces have resulted in support for policies that introduce early primary school English teaching curricula for all students and have led to parents spending large sums of money on private tutoring or out-of-school tuition. This study reviews the results of nine language planning studies from the Asian region that set out to examine questions such as 'Is this trend towards early primary SL or FL education (mainly English) realistic or is it unattainable and a waste of resources? Do children really benefit from these programmes? What needs to be done to foster learners' success?' These issues are viewed from a language planning and policy perspective through an examination of the language-in-education policy types required for the development of successful programmes. The policies of a number of Asian countries are used as case studies to illustrate this issue.
ISSN:1466-4208
1747-7506
DOI:10.1080/14664208.2011.609715