A Principles-Based Approach for English Language Teaching
Policies and Practices
This TESOL white paper introduces the notion of a
principles-based approach (PBA)forEnglish language teaching (ELT)
policies and practices. PBA builds on the currentwor
on language polic! and practice" but instead of pro#iding a set
of standards" itidenti$es aset of principles that can help
polic!%aers in di#erse conte&ts de#elop
locall!appropriatelanguage policies and practices. Pre#ious wor on
the standards in relation tolanguageteaching in a #ariet! of
conte&ts has enabled language polic!%aers andad%inistratorsto
identif! aspects of 'ualit! language teaching and deli#er! to
%easure thesuccess oftheir progra%s against. owe#er" the
de#elop%ent of standards and the applicationof
these standards across #aried conte&ts can be proble%atic.
The application of a setofstandards has to be based on assu%ptions
related to the distribution of resources"accessto nowledge" and
appropriate infrastructure. n addition" the t!pes
of%ethodologiesand assu%ptions about learning and teaching that
underlie standards are alsobased onnotions of language teaching
approaches which espouse *a particular #iew of theworldand +can be,
articulated in the interests of une'ual power
relationships(Penn!coo" /0/"pp. 10/21/3). Therefore" deciding which
%ethodolog! is %ost suitable anddeter%iningwhat standards the
deli#er! of these teaching approaches are e#aluated againstcould
bean i%position of criteria and bench%ars on local polic!%aers and
practitioners"who%a! not $nd these approaches rele#ant or
successful in their conte&ts.4nderstandingthe li%itations that
such an i%position %ight pose in di5erent conte&ts" with
#ar!ingcapacit! for achie#ing these standards" professional
organi6ations such as the
TESOLnternational Association ha#e atte%pted to collaborate with
local %inistries ofeducationto de#elop conte&tuall! rele#ant
standards (e.g." ntegrating E7L Standards into8hinese8lassroo%
Settings series9 see :u" ughes" ;urphe!" =hang"?33@).
The collaborati#e de#elop%ent of conte&t-appropriate
standards is an i%portantstep in
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de#eloping higher 'ualit! language progra%s in a range of
conte&ts where there isan e#er-increasing de%and for ELT.
owe#er" the in#ol#e%ent of TESOL (or othersuch entities)
inde#eloping these standards in such conte&ts is li%ited. n
addition" standardsde#eloped forone conte&t that are taen at
face #alue in other conte&ts %a! achie#e #ariable
