Beyond Established ESOL: Breaking New Ground in Policy, Teaching Practice, and Publishing Praxis

Abstract

Language Policy is arguably what makes ESOL and TESOL tick, and yet, it is a rarely discussed topic in specialized teaching journals. For most practicing classroom teachers, policy dictates what they do and how they do it, but it is not always clear as to how these language policies come about. By featuring language policy as our special themed issue, we hope to demystify some of the policy processes and bring them to the center stage as part of both the teaching and training goals of our journal. It is also hoped that the articles presented in this issue will have an impact on developing teacher and researcher agency. At the same time, in order to help our students with language acquisition we also have an obligation to help them with all learning and life skills, including their perceptions of themselves and others in learning settings and in life. So this process is a two-way street where each person learns from the other, and it needs to be seen in this way by all stakeholders in the very large field of education, but beyond as well: in the hallways of decision making—i.e., the local, state. and country corridors of power and policy making.