Book Review Lin & Martin Decolonization 2

Decolonisation, Globalisation: Language-in-Education Policy and Practice.
Edited by Angel M.Y. Lin and Pete W. Martin,

Multilingual Matters Ltd, Clevedon, Buffalo & Toronto,
2005.
pp.xix + 204 including author biodata and index.
ISBN 1-85359-824-0 (pbk).
Reviewed by Lava Deo Awasthi & Tove Skutnabb-Kangas
Lin and Martin’s volume on Decolonisation, Globalisation: Language-in-Education (LiE) Policy

and Practice offers in-depth insights into language policy and pedagogical practices with particular
reference to Asia and the Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa. It provides a kaleidoscopic world-
view of LiE policy and pedagogical practices in the face of the rapid expansion of cultural and economic
globalization in postcolonial contexts. The case studies portray cultural and material conditions of
postcolonial and neocolonial marginalized communities. Illuminating the existing social and material
inequalities brought about by the forces of globalization and global capitalism, Lin and Martin have
successfully blended language and discourse with historical standpoints, positions and dispositions (see
also Phillipson, 1992; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000; Pennycook, 2001; Tollefson, 1995).
The book opens with an interesting foreword by Allan Luke, “On the Possibilities of a Post-
postcolonial Language Education” and closes with Canagarajah’s summing-up observations
“Accommodating Tensions in Language-in-Education Policies: An Afterword”. Suresh Canagarajah
illuminates the tensions between language policies and practices and provides insightful thoughts about
ways to accommodating these tensions in contemporary global contexts.
The book is organized into eleven chapters (including Canagarajah’s afterword). Chapter one by
Lin and Martin provides a broad context of the topic and issues related to decolonisation, globalisation and
LiE policy and practice. The authors discuss critical deconstruction and construction paradigms linking old
colonization processes with the processes of new globalization. Apart from providing a succinct summary
of major issues highlighted in the chapters, the editors, in an engaged manner, look into the global spread
and hegemony of English riding on ‘new wings of globalisation’ and discuss how people’s desire for
English in education is making a comeback with greater force in postcolonial societies.
Chapter two features issues related to nation building in a globalised world with particular
reference to language choice in India. Tracing India’s legacy of education through precolonial and
postcolonial periods, E Annamalai illustrates how the colonial construction of knowledge permeates
through the education system of independent India. Highlighting the mismatch between LiE policy and
pedagogy, Annamalai gives vivid examples of how the power of English has had an impact on the policy
and how English has consolidated its position in the form of new incarnation as the ‘language for freedom
from poverty’ in the postcolonial era.
In chapter three, Angel Lin considers critical, transdisciplinary perspectives on LiE in postcolonial
context of Hong Kong. Highlighting two critical projects, Lin analyses the centre-periphery dichotomy in
the process of knowledge production, and looks into problematising and visioning the role of the academic
researcher in LiE policies and practices in former/ post/neo-colonial contexts.
In chapter four, Rani Rubdy examines how Singapore’s ideologies of pragmatism and
multilingualism have had an impact on language planning in schools. Illuminating the ways in which
official ideology and the realities of practice are interfacing in the wake of remaking Singapore for the new
age, Rubdy also analyses how the ‘Speak Mandarin Campaign’ and ‘Speak Good English Movement’ as
well as the ideology of meritocracy in the country have disadvantaged local languages and perpetuated
inequality.
Chapter five discusses ‘safe’ language practices in two rural schools in Malaysia showing how
teachers and learners carry out macro language policy intentions in two micro contexts. Peter Martin
elaborates how this macro-micro relationship leads to tensions between language policy and classroom
practice in the local, national and global contexts.
In chapter six, Abdolmehdi Riazi provides a comprehensive account of language history in Iran.
Illustrating four distinct stages pertaining to four language policies in the country, Riazi explains how
English in the Islamic Revolution phase has found its way right to the heart of Iranian society.
1
In chapter seven, Timothy Reagan and Sandra Schreffler provide an example from Turkey
showing how language planning and language policy efforts have been geared toward resisting English
linguistic imperialism at the local level while supporting the students’ competence in English. They
evaluate and highlight the implications of the model used at Istanbul Technical University showing how
local interest can be served and a balance can be found in the face of a heightened pull of English in the
Turkish context.
Chapter eight looks at language classroom practices in Kenya. Exploring hidden curricula in local
schools, Grace W. Bunyi analyses ethnographic data to reveal that both teachers and students tend to adopt
local strategies such as code switching to resist the imperialist code of conduct in local schools. Bunyi also
discusses the damaging effects of pro-English educational language policies in attaining the Education for
All goals in the country (see Awasthi, 2004; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000).
In chapter nine, Margie Probyn provides an account of how children struggle to learn language,
illustrating the intersection of classroom realities and language policy in South African schools. Probyn
details the historical, political and linguistic contexts of schools, with vivid examples showing how English
has been acting as a ‘crucial gatekeeper to social and economic progress’ by dislodging indigenous
languages.
In chapter ten Birgit Brock-Utne provides an account on research in progress with particular
reference to Tanzania and South Africa. She challenges the myth of the many languages of Africa and
denies that it is too expensive to publish in African languages. Although the ex-colonial languages are the
languages of modernisation and of science and technology, English has proved to be a barrier to knowledge
in local schools.
All the writers attempt to show how postcolonial societies are responding to the need for change
from pragmatic and ideological viewpoints within a local, national and regional as well as global
framework. The focus of the essays, which cover a wide range of topics and issues and are self-reflective in
nature, appears to be on the enhancement of human capital and enrichment of intercultural understandings
and social cohesions, with emphasis on local identities. Lin and Martin’s choice of materials in the volume
demonstrates a profound desire for the reform and renewal in the applied domains of educational language
planning, policy and pedagogy. The book, in essence, can be seen as an appeal for the deconstruction of the
colonial bodies of knowledge created from the colonial perspective (see page 23).
Most of the authors in their argumentation recognize the need for resisting linguistic imperialism
and are sympathetic towards the plight and demands of indigenous peoples and minorities and their
languages (see Skutnabb-Kangas, 2004). From the arguments in this work it appears that the biased
accounts that we often see in some books on the language medium of education are absent in most of these
essays. It appears that there are visible tensions between LiE policies and the pedagogical practices closer
to reality on the ground.
This volume can serve as a resource for LiE researchers, university students, teachers, educational
administrators, social change agents and policy makers who are interested in language planning, literacy,
culture and diversity. We have found this volume extremely useful in making headway in LiE policy and
practices for both postcolonial and non-colonial countries (see Awasthi, 2004). Apart from some minor
typographical errors, the volume is extremely interesting and well edited. We extend our congratulations to
the editors, authors and to the many prospective readers.
References
Awasthi, Lava Deo (2004). Exploring Monolingual School Practices in Multilingual Nepal. PhD Thesis.
Copenhagen: Danish University of Education.
Pennycook, Alastair (2001). Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction. Mahwah: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Phillipson, Robert (1992). Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove (2000). Linguistic Genocide in Education or Worldwide Diversity and Human
Rights? Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove (2004). "Do not cut my tongue, let me live and die with my language". A
Comment on English and Other Languages in Relation to Linguistic Human Rights. Journal of
Language, Identity and Education 3(2), 127-134.
Tollefson, James W. (1995). Introduction: Language Policy, Power and Inequality. In Tollefson (ed.), 1-8.
Power and Inequality in Language Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Decolonisation, Globalisation: Language-in-Education Policy and Practice.

Edited by Angel M.Y. Lin and Pete W. Martin,

Reviewed by Lava Deo Awasthi & Tove Skutnabb-Kangas

Lin and Martin’s volume on Decolonisation, Globalisation: Language-in-Education (LiE) Policy

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