Producing the disciplined English-speaking subjects: Language policing, development ideology, and English medium of instruction policy

This article analyzes how English medium of instruction (EMI) policy is implemented by disciplining teachers’ and students’ language behaviors in school spaces. I adopt Foucault's (1977) ‘discipline’ to examine how schools exercise disciplinary power to create an English-only environment in mul...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inLanguage in society Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 321 - 343
Main Author Phyak, Prem
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.04.2024
Subjects
Classrooms
Discipline
Education policy
English for academic purposes
English language
Foucauldian analysis
Free markets
Ideology
Language ideologies
Language policy
Language usage
Medium of instruction
Multilingualism
Nation building
Neoliberalism
Policing
Power
Schools
Sociolinguistics
Sociopolitical factors
Students
Surveillance
Teachers
Teaching
Nepal
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:This article analyzes how English medium of instruction (EMI) policy is implemented by disciplining teachers’ and students’ language behaviors in school spaces. I adopt Foucault's (1977) ‘discipline’ to examine how schools exercise disciplinary power to create an English-only environment in multilingual classroom contexts. The data is drawn from an ethnographic study of EMI policies in two Nepali schools. The findings of the study show that schools exercise their disciplinary power through both panoptic and post-panoptic surveillance strategies to police their students’ and teachers’ language practices and punish them for speaking the languages other than English. Such disciplinary power is reinforced by neoliberal development ideology that legitimizes linguistic and symbolic capitals of English. While enforcing EMI policies, schools craft students’ identity as disciplined English-speaking subjects who are perceived to contribute to development ideology. The article discusses some major impacts that sociolinguists can make on transforming unequal EMI language policies and practices. (Discipline, English medium of instruction (EMI), language policing)*
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:0047-4045
1469-8013
DOI:10.1017/S0047404523000052