OLGA FLEONOVA (SHENZHEN MSU-BIT UNIVERSITY )
SAMER ANNOUS (Tripoli Institute for Policy Studies )

CARVING OUT ITS PLACE IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM: ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN A LEBANESE TOWN : LANGUAGE PLANNING AND LANGUAGE POLICY

Lebanon presents a unique and complex linguistic setting where many languages coexist and compete. In this Arab country, a former French mandate, French enjoys a special status. As a founding member of Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, Lebanon continues to promote the French language and economic and political cooperation with Francophone countries. However, the past three decades have witnessed a decisive turn towards English, which now has firmly established itself both as a subject and a language of instruction in schools and universities. 25 out of the 28 new private universities founded after the civil war (1990-till present) have adopted English as a medium of instruction. In addition, French is increasingly being replaced by English in both secondary schools and tertiary education, and “old” French-medium universities and schools are starting to introduce English tracks. The ascendance of English to its present position in Lebanese education and broader sociolinguistic context has been fraught with linguistic, religious and colonial tensions and rivalry. This paper uses El-Mina, a small East-Mediterranean port town in the north of Lebanon, as a case to trace how English has carved out its place in the Lebanese education system. Document analysis and ethnographic tools (site visits, field notes, and interviews) were employed to provide a historical overview of the schooling system in El-Mina, to detect current forces and emerging dynamics in language-in-education practices and policies in Lebanon, and to document an increasing preference for English as a language of education.

Dr. Olga Fleonova is an Associate Professor of the English Language Center at Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, China. She taught in universities in Russia, Lebanon and China. She published articles on multimodality in academic writing, simulations in English classrooms, learner agency, discourse analysis, language and ideology, and language-in-education.

Dr. Samer Annous currently works as a senior researcher in Tripoli Institute for Policy Studies, Lebanon. He was a university professor specialized in education and ELT, and worked as an educational consultant for UNICEF and UNDP. He also served on several national quality assurance committees in the field of education.