Narrowing the English proficiency gap: a language planning perspective

In a globalizing world, the study of English has changed from an elite to a mass oriented activity, challenging those developing language policies to make quality English programs more widely available. As English proficiency is a desirable form of social and linguistic capital, individuals seek to acquire it and governments want to promote it. But proficiency gaps are created when there is differential access to and learning of English by individuals and across polities. Different language planning solutions have tried to narrow these gaps, as it is not in governments’ interests to create societal inequities or to allow differences to grow between polities. However, can such top-down language policies and programs address such English proficiency gaps? A review of the implementation evidence suggests that language policy, which is a complex multi-leveled process, needs to be translated from one level to the next. The five key ways to successfully narrowing the language proficiency gap include adequate resourcing, making change prestigious, policy “translation”, focusing on individual agency, and overcoming resistance.