This paper seeks to highlight the agency of policy actors, undermining the top-down imposition of language policies in education (LE) at the micro level. The agency of the implementers or actors of the Language Policy and Planning (LPP) is an important factor that plays its role in the process of appropriation of these policies. A particular focus is on the innermost layer of the LPP onion —the language attitudes and practices of the educators—to unveil the power of agency in negotiating the medium of instruction (MoI) policy. To encompass a wholesome viewpoint on this notion, this paper employs an ethnographic case study method in the context of an urban college in Pakistan nested against the scoping review of the preceding five years’ research about LE appropriation in the educational context. The findings reveal a complex interplay between different languages in a multilingual community where the classroom dynamics are shaped by wider societal narratives by providing ethnographically oriented analyses of teacher agency. The regional languages (RLs) serve as an identity badge; however, their applicability diminishes in the higher education context where English is spotlighted as MoI and Urdu serves as the bridging language. These strains at the micro level reflect the wider linguistic ecology: the vitality of English is situated in its prestige and ladder to vertical mobility eclipsing the status of the national and RLs.
Abalos-Gerard Gonzalez, L. (2011). Ethnographic research. https://www.slideshare.net/lanceabalos/ethnographic-research-2
Abbas, F., Pervaiz, A., & Arshad, F. (2018). The competing status of Urdu and English after the declaration of Urdu as official language in Pakistan. Journal of Research (Urdu), 34(1), 142–158.
Alam, M. (2007, March 28). Pakistan and the battle for English. BBC News. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6500227.stm
Ali, N. & Hamid, M. (2018). 13 English-medium instruction and teacher agency in higher education: A case study. In Un(intended) Language Planning in a Globalising World: Multiple Levels of Players at Work (pp. 234-250). Warsaw, Poland: De Gruyter Open Poland. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110518269-013
Amir, A. (2013). Doing language policy: A micro-interactional study of policy practices in English as a foreign language classes [Doctoral dissertation, Linköping University]. Linköping University Electronic Press. https://doi.org/10.3384/diss.diva-93109
Angers, J., & Machtmes, K. (2005). An ethnographic-case study of beliefs, context factors, and practices of teachers integrating technology. The Qualitative Report, 10(4), 771–794. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2005.1832
Anwar, Y., & Ali, N. L. (2021). Developing a social critique of hegemony of English. International Journal on Social and Education Sciences, 3(4), 732–751. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijonses.243
Arksey, H., & O’Malley, L. (2005). Scoping studies: Towards a methodological framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), 19–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000119616
Baldauf, R. B., Jr. (2004). Language planning and policy: Recent trends. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190504000022
Baldauf, R. B., Jr. (2005). Language planning and policy research: An overview. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 957–970). Routledge.
Baldauf, R. B., Jr. (2006). Rearticulating the case for micro language planning in a language ecology context. Current Issues in Language Planning, 7(2–3), 147–170. https://doi.org/10.2167/cilp092.0
Baldauf, R. B., Jr. (2012). Introduction—Language planning: Where have we been? Where might we be going? Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, 12(2), 233–248. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-63982012000200001
Baldauf, R. B., Jr., & Hamid, M. O. (2018). Language planning schools and their approaches and methodologies. Current Issues in Language Planning, 19(4), 315–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2018.1500359
Block, D., & Corona, V. (2019). Critical LPP and the intersection of class, race and language policy and practice in twenty-first century Catalonia. Language Policy, 18, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-019-09517-w
Blommaert, J. (2013). Ethnography, superdiversity, and linguistic landscapes: Chronicles of complexity. Multilingual Matters.
Canagarajah, S. (2002). A geopolitics of academic writing. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Canagarajah, S. (2006). Ethnographic methods in language policy. In T. Ricento (Ed.), An introduction to language policy: Theory and method (pp. 153–169). Wiley-Blackwell.
Chua, S. K. C., & Baldauf, R. B. (2011). Micro language planning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (Vol. 2, pp. 936–951). Routledge.
Chua, S. K. (2018). Un(intended) Language Planning in a Globalising World: Multiple Levels of Players at Work. De Gruyter Open Poland. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110518269
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Sage.
Darquennes, J., du Plessis, T., & Soler, J. (2020). Language diversity management in higher education: Towards an analytical framework. Sociolinguistica, 34(1), 7–29. https://doi.org/10.1515/soci-2020-0002
Freeman, D. (1998). Doing teacher research: From inquiry to understanding. Heinle & Heinle.
Freeman, D. (2003). Teaching and transforming: From practice to principle in language education. In D. Freeman & K. E. Johnson (Eds.), Research and practice in language teacher education: Voices from the field (pp. 1–28). University of Michigan Press.
French, M., & Armitage, J. (2020). Eroding the monolingual monolith. Australian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 3(1), 91–114. https://doi.org/10.29140/ajal.v3n1.271
Fuentes, R. (2020). English learners’ appropriation of English language policy at a U.S. university. International Multilingual Research Journal, 14(2), 89–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2019.1684422
García, O., & Menken, K. (2010). Stirring the onion: Educators and the dynamics of language education policies (looking ahead). In K. Menken & O. García (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 263–275). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203855874-23
Giddens, A. (1986). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. University of California Press.
Grin, F. (2015). Managing languages in academia: Pointers from education economics and language economics. In Language use in university teaching and research: Contributions to the 2014 EFNIL Annual Conference (pp. 99–118). EFNIL.
Hamid, M. O., & Nguyen, H. T. M. (2016). Globalization, English learning, and the medium of instruction in the global South: A fresh look at the medium-of-instruction debate. International Journal of Educational Development, 50, 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2016.05.005
Hornberger, N. H. (1988). Bilingual education and language maintenance: A southern Peruvian Quechua case. Foris Publications.
Hornberger, N. H. (2006). Voice and biliteracy in indigenous language revitalization: Contentious educational practices in Quechua, Guarani, and M?ori contexts. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education, 5(4), 277–292. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327701jlie0504_1
Hornberger, N., & Johnson, D. (2007). Slicing the onion ethnographically: Layers and spaces in multilingual language education policy and practice. TESOL Quarterly, 41(3), 509–532. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2007.tb00083.x
Johnson, D. C. (2009). Ethnography of language policy. Language Policy, 8, 139–159.
Johnson, D. C. (2011). Critical discourse analysis and the ethnography of language policy. Critical Discourse Studies, 8(4), 267–279. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2011.601636
Johnson, D. C. (2013). Language policy. Palgrave Macmillan.
Johnson, D. C., & Johnson, E. J. (2014). Power and agency in language policy appropriation. Language Policy, 14(3), 221–243. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-014-9333-z
Johnson, D. C., & Ricento, T. (2013). Conceptual and theoretical perspectives in language planning and policy: Situating the ethnography of language policy. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 2013(219), 7–21.
Kaplan, R. B., & Baldauf, R. B. (1997). Language planning from practice to theory (Vol. 108). Multilingual Matters.
Kuteeva, M., & Kaufhold, K. (2024). An “E” for “elite” in EMI? Global, local and elite dimensions in the promotion of English-medium university programmes. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2024.2393707
Levinson, B. A. U., & Sutton, M. (2001). Introduction: Policy as/in practice—A sociocultural approach to the study of educational policy. In M. Sutton & B. A. U. Levinson (Eds.), Policy as practice: Toward a comparative sociocultural analysis of educational policy (pp. 1–22). Ablex.
Levinson, B. A. U., Sutton, M., & Winstead, T. (2009). Education policy as a practice of power: Theoretical tools, ethnographic methods, democratic options. Educational Policy, 23(6), 767–795. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904808320676
Manan, S., David, M., & Dumanig, F. (2015). English language teaching in Pakistan: Language policies, delusions and solutions. In Language planning for medium of instruction in Asia (pp. 219–244). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22464-0_10
Manan, S. A., & David, M. K. (2014). Mapping ecology of literacies in educational setting: The case of local mother tongues vis-à-vis Urdu and English languages in Pakistan. Language and Education, 28(3), 203–222. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2013.800550
Manan, S. A., Channa, L. A., & Haidar, S. (2022). Celebratory or guilty multilingualism? English medium instruction challenges, pedagogical choices, and teacher agency in Pakistan. Teaching in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2022.2045932
McCarty, T. L. (Ed.). (2011). Ethnography and language policy. Routledge.
Melchers, G., & Shaw, P. (2003). World Englishes: An introduction. Arnold.
Menken, K., & García, O. (Eds.). (2010). Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers. Routledge.
Ó Rian, S. (2009). Ethnography and language policy. In M. Nic Craith (Ed.), The anthropologist as writer: Genres and contexts in the twenty-first century (pp. 289–304). Berghahn Books.
Peláez-Henao, O. A., & Usma, J. (2017). The crucial role of educational stakeholders in the appropriation of foreign language education policies: A case study. PROFILE Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development, 19(2), 121–134. https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v19n2.57215
Rahman, T. (2010). Language problems and politics in Pakistan. In Routledge handbook of South Asian politics (pp. 232–246). Routledge.
Rahman, T. (2019). Mother tongue education policy in Pakistan. In A. Kirkpatrick & A. J. Liddicoat (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of language education policy in Asia (pp. 364–381). Routledge.
Ricento, T. (2000). Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 4(2), 196–213.
Ricento, T., & Hornberger, N. H. (1996). Unpeeling the onion: Language planning and policy and the ELT professional. TESOL Quarterly, 30(3), 401–427. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587691
Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Sage.
Rubio, J. (2022). Educational language policy in Massachusetts: Discourses of the LOOK Act. Educational Policy, 36(6), 1440–1463. https://doi.org/10.1177/08959048221103872
Sah, P. K., & Karki, J. (2023). Elite appropriation of English as a medium of instruction policy and epistemic inequalities in Himalayan schools. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 44(1), 20–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2020.1789154
Shohamy, E. (2006). Language policy: Hidden agendas and new approaches. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203387962
Shouhui, Z., & Baldauf, R. B., Jr. (2012). Individual agency in language planning: Chinese script reform as a case study. Language Problems and Language Planning, 36(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.36.1.01zho
Spindler, G., & Spindler, L. (1987). Interpretive ethnography of education: At home and abroad. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Stritikus, T. (2002). Immigrant children and the politics of English-Only: Views from the classroom. LFB Scholarly Publishing.
Tenorio, A. D. (2024). When language gets into the equation: Mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) policy appropriation in elementary mathematics instruction. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(6), 2064–2077. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2022.2039673
Tollefson, J. W. (1991). Planning language, planning inequality: Language policy in the community. Longman.
Tollefson, J. W. (2013). Language policy in a time of crisis and transformation. In J. W. Tollefson (Ed.), Language policies in education: Critical issues (pp. 11–34). Routledge.
Tollefson, J. W., & Pérez-Milans, M. (2018). Research and practice in language policy and planning. In J. W. Tollefson & M. Pérez-Milans (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language policy and planning (pp. 1–24). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190458898.013.1
Wiley, T. G., & García, O. (2016). Language policy and planning in language education: Legacies, consequences, and possibilities. The Modern Language Journal, 100(S1), 48–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12303
Wodak, R., & Savski, K. (2018). Critical discourse-ethnographic approaches to language policy. In J. W. Tollefson & M. Pérez-Milans (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language policy and planning (pp. 93–112). Oxford University Press.
Zhao, S. (2011). Actors in language planning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 905–923). Routledge.
Zhao, S., & Baldauf, R. B. (2012). Language planning and policy in China: A historical review. Current Issues in Language Planning, 13(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2012.678453
Anwar, Y., & Ali, N. L. (2025). Appropriation in Language-in-Education Policy: A Case Study of Contextualizing Teachers’ Linguistic Practices. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 15(3), 2095–2117.
Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
