Investigating alignment between pedagogic policy and practice: An English language programme evaluation at secondary level in Pakistan

This study explores the level of alignment between pedagogy in policy (the pedagogical practices stipulated in the national curriculum for the English language) and pedagogy in practice (the pedagogical practices embodied in the textbooks and enacted by teachers in the classroom) with regard to English language education (ELE) at the secondary level (grade 9-10) in government schools in Punjab, Pakistan. The study is designed against the backdrop of the ELE reforms that formed a part of the larger Education Sector Reforms programme introduced in 2001-2005 in Pakistan. Under the ELE reforms, a new curriculum for the English language was introduced that advocated a new pedagogical policy for English language teaching and new English language textbooks were developed for primary to secondary levels which aimed to align with the pedagogy espoused in the national curriculum. The study consisted of: i) a qualitative content analysis of the national curriculum for the English language to determine its pedagogical policy; ii) an analysis of the secondary level English language textbooks to determine their pedagogical practices and these practices’ alignment with the practices stipulated in the national curriculum; iii) observing 12 teachers’ English language lessons to examine their compliance with the national curriculum-mandated pedagogical practices, and iv) post-observation interviews with the teachers to inquire into their rationale for the pedagogical practices they used in their lessons. The findings reveal that the national curriculum recommends a suite of 15 pedagogical principles which mainly emphasise the use of a communicative, learner-centred, and inductive pedagogy. The textbook analysis reveals that the textbooks partially comply with the stipulated pedagogical policy, embodying wholly or partially nine principles as espoused in the national curriculum. The findings from the classroom observations reveal teachers’ low level of compliance (29%) with the recommended pedagogical policy. Some of the main reasons for this are examination, institutional, and social constraints.