Policies and Practice in Language Learning and Teaching

Introduction

This book brings together studies from Georgia, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, and the UK which explore links between policy and practice in language teaching in the twentieth century.

Scope and Focus

The 14 contributions set out to expand the remit of grounded history within the field of History of Language Learning and Teaching (HoLLT) by focusing on language teaching policies and linking these to practices and to contexts, situating policy formulation in particular contexts on the one hand, and exploring the relationship between policy and practice on the other.

Theoretical and Practical Insights

In this sense, the book shows how the theories, policy pronouncements, curricula, textbooks, and overall teaching approaches which tend to feature in most histories of language teaching always emerge from particular, researchable contexts, and, in the other direction, are interpreted and responded to in practice, again, in particular contexts.

Contribution to the Field

In this way, it hopes to contribute a context-based perspective that highlights diversity of practices, in opposition to received views that language teaching methodology is universal and context-free.