Language Planning and Student Experiences

A critical analysis of Indonesia's 2013 national curriculum: Tensions between global and local concerns

“…Acknowledging the importance of taking an inclusive approach when undertaking policy analysis, we closely examined a range of official policy documents, as well as other sources to further scrutinise the rationale behind policy decision‐making, and the way in which the policy is interpreted and implemented (Gerrard & Farrell, 2014; Lo Bianco & Aliani, 2013). We undertook a review of documentation as follows: A systematic review and content analysis of key Indonesian policy documents outlining the 2013 curriculum changes and implementation of formative assessment practices and principles.…”

Language testers and their place in the policy web

“…We define policy as the rules and measures written down in national laws and regulations to achieve a certain goal (Grin, 2003) or address a (perceived) problem (Bacchi, 2009), as well as the discourse and actions of key players in the processes of policy formulation and interpretation (Ball, 2015). With Lo Bianco and Aliani (2013), we differentiate between policy as intention (a formal plan), policy as rhetoric (discussion and debate surrounding the plan), and policy as experience (the policy enacted). In this framework, discourse and argument play a crucial mediating role between the official policy text issued by an authoritative body and the implementation of the text.…”

“…Respondents viewed limited contact with policymakers as problematic, particularly for raising concerns about test use. If policy is understood as both formalized intention, rhetoric, and experience (Lo Bianco & Aliani, 2013), then language tester interventions in policy can best be summarized as being about forming alliances that account for debate at different stages in the life cycle of a policy text. The findings confirm a view of policy as discourse involving a complex web of interrelated actors (Goldberg, 2006), but they demonstrate that language testers participate more in discussions surrounding policy enactment rather than in the intention stage of policymaking.…”

Towards ‘policy responsible’ language testing: Framing the Language Testing Research Centre’s contribution in languages other than English

“…Lo Bianco and Aliani (2013) elaborate on this notion of policy as an interdiscursive struggle in their exposition of the chequered history of languages policy in Australia, which is the context addressed in this paper. They point to the marked contrast between asserted realities of policy rhetoric as manifest in successive government policy documents spanning the last three decades and the lived realities of schools, ultimately resulting in consistent failure to achieve desired language learning outcomes or to meet the language learning needs and aspirations of the majority of its citizens.…”

“…Ten years on it is difficult to estimate what aspects of this message were received by policy makers in Australia's capital and how or whether the study's findings about the likely outcomes of school-based language programs will inform future language education policy at national or state level. Australia's history of policy and planning in relation to language learning is full of fits and starts with lessons of the past more often ignored than heeded (Lo Bianco & Slaughter, 2009;Lo Bianco & Aliani, 2013). What we can attest to, however, is the direct and significant impact of this project on the LOTE component of the Australian Curriculum (n.d.) first approved by the Council of Commonwealth State and Territory education ministers in 2009 and rolled out in Australian schools from 2015.…”