Language Policy and Planning In Higher Education In IRAN: Incongruity between envisaged agenda of objectives for EFL teaching policy and implementation at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels in Iran

In this article we intend to introduce the notion of Language Policy and Planning (LPP) for English Language Teaching and Learning; spell out the entailing policies and practices therein; and explicate its general framework philosophy. We will try to articulate the nature and components of such framework as well as to enumerate the characteristics of the notions which qualify such policy and advocate various considerations which help to enhance the congruity between policy and implementation. One such proposal to create language policies with a greater chance of successful implementation is suggested by Swanson and Bargwhal (2009). They propose a set of seven tools which can be used to create adaptive policies that are not fixed and immutable but are designed to be flexible and responsive to changing local contexts. They write as development specialists rather than language specialists but their model has resonance for the sorts of issues discussed here. This would include, for example, (i) understanding the context and the issues involved, identifying (ii) the key factors that might affect successful future operations of the policy and (iii) selecting suitable indicators of performance to evaluate policy success. During policy design and implementation phases (iv) consideration should be given to predicting scenarios and (v) ensuring that the policy can be adjusted. In other words, some attempt should be made to anticipate possible conditions once implementation takes place. Policy design and implementation adjustment is facilitated if (vi) networking can be encouraged among the various stakeholders and is (vii) decentralization can occur, so that decisions are pushed down to the level at which they are best made. As mentioned above, such decentralization is fraught with difficulties to achieve especially within macro LPP programmes since it will only work if those responsible at the lower micro-levels have the (1) expertise, (2) knowledge and (3) resources to implement policy.The adaptive approach although stressing the need for flexibility of processes, still takes a top-down approach to planning.

Keywords:

Language Policy and Planning (LPP) , Implementation , Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language , globalization , macro-level , micro-level , Higher Education