English in Nepalese education: an analysis of theoretical and contextual issues for the development of its policy guidelines

The present project was conceived amidst the political upheaval which Nepal has been experiencing for more than a decade and in which language issues have increasingly become a political battle ground. Qualitative study in nature, the project combines a number of qualitative research methods to explore the present and past language policy debates, and analyse and recommend managing the tensions and challenges that exist therein. Taking ELE as the case study, the study is based on the underlying principle of the research approach that languages, their statuses, roles, uses, and their interrelationships, must be studied in their socio-cultural and political contexts. The focal points of the project include analyses of (a) the factors and variables that influence the language policy and planning processes; (b) the evolving new socio-political order; (c) the current language policy debates and the trends emerging from them; (d) the multiple purposes English and local language serve in the community; and (e) the structural, professional and economic capabilities to plan, promote and sustain a new approach to languages education. The aim of the project has been to address the dire need of a comprehensive and integrative language policy, and set guidelines for a tripartite languages education policy for Nepal. The study attempts to do this through an ethnolinguistic analysis of the local language situation; situating English and other local languages in the socio-political debate around multilingual education; and an examination of the factors and issues and arising implications on the development of an inclusive languages education policy. The project has, thus, been completed in three stages: identifying language issues and tensions, conducting fieldwork, and based on the two, developing a framework for managing them. The resulting thesis can broadly be divided into five parts - analysis of the situation, identification of issues, theoretical conceptualisation of xi the issues, exploring and assessing the realities, and designing a framework to address the situation. The ethno-linguistic analysis of the context, for example, provides an overview of the socio-cultural, linguistic, political and economic situations in which the project is situated (chapters 1 and 2). The analysis also offers multiple perspectives to look at a wide range of dimensions of the research context, and the debates, controversies and issues that exist within the context. Assessing the current debate, Chapter 2, explains who (who are the actors of what socio-political and cultural background) says what (raises what issues and concerns) and why (what may be their motivations for saying so). The chapter also looks into the debacles arising from the politicisation of the language issues amidst the current political conflicts. The emerging debates and issues, in order for them to have a theoretical base, need to be situated in a broader theoretical context of the field of language policy and planning (LPP). Having explained the methodological framework for the research project in Chapter 3, the following two chapters, chapters 4 and 5, offer a theoretical analysis of the issues in questions by examining some of the most prevalent LPP models and their theoretical as well as practical concerns. Reporting on the five case studies carried out for the project, Chapter 5 provides a discussion of the issues and concerns prevailing from the implementation of language policies. Chapters 6 and 7 provide a discussion of the field data, their sources, their relevance and their analysis. After recapitulating the project and its findings, and having reassessed the issues, I propose a framework to manage the issues and controversies in Chapter 7. The proposition of a new framework leads to some implications, which I describe in the final section of the chapter. The present research, like most research projects of this kind, raises more questions and issues than it answers. The final chapter, Chapter 8, is, therefore, a reflection of my research journey in which I discuss what issues I have been able to address in the present project, and which ones I recommend for further research.