From discourses about language-in-education policy to language practices in the classroom—a linguistic ethnographic study of a multi-scalar nature in Timor-Leste

This article makes the case for conducting ethnographic research of a multi-scalar nature that links language policy processes and ideologies of language with everyday practices, on the ground, in local schools and classrooms. As with other researchers engaged in the ethnography of language policy (e.g. McCarty, 2011; Johnson, 2013), my concern is with the ways in which language policies in multilingual countries are translated into classroom practice, the ways teachers and school administrators understand and respond to policy changes and the ways in which communication between teachers and learners is shaped by the introduction of a new medium of instruction. The research presented here focuses on language policy and classroom practice in Timor-Leste. On Independence in 2002, Tetum and Portuguese were chosen to be the two official languages of the country and the main languages of teaching and learning in the school system. My main research sites have been primary schools and classrooms in Timor-Leste and I have adopted a linguistic ethnographic approach, combining ethnography with close analysis of classroom discourse and with discourse analysis of policy documents and interviews. I have used the concept of language ideology as an analytical lens in examining the language policy discourses of policymakers and teachers. Teachers in Timor-Leste are regarded by policymakers as the mere facilitators of the process of implementing Tetum and Portuguese language-in-education policy within the education system. Through the analysis of interview data presented here, I show that teachers assumed this role and shared the belief that Tetum and Portuguese were legitimate official languages of Timor-Leste. Then, through analysis of codeswitching in classroom interaction, in one Year 6 classroom, I show how values around Tetum and Portuguese were being discursively constructed by the teacher, particularly in talk around monolingual texts in Portuguese.