English language policy distraction

We define English language policy distraction as the range of plannings, policies, rationales, discourses, frameworks and procedures within a particular English-in-education and/or English-in-society policy that centre the public and/or a certain collective (e.g. community, institution, group, etc.) attention on a specific, limited and confining set of surface issues and their ostensible solutions and reforms. It refers to the process of foregrounding particular conceptions of the supposed issues that overshadow and create a distraction from other more critical problems and more effective and impactful ways to remedy English language planning and policy. English language policy distraction precipitates solutions whose impact is limited and mediocre with concomitant high costs. Some policymakers, school leaders and educators may overemphasize a certain issue over others and call for some solutions as a way to produce an insubstantial effect that does not entail endangering their benefits. In this special issue, we critically reflect on politics, knowledges and discourses employed to legitimize, rationalize, develop, and implement distraction policies of the English language within diverse contexts. We demonstrate how English language policy distraction operates in contemporary societies depending on their historical, sociocultural and sociopolitical conditions, thereby pushing the scholarship of language planning and policy into a new direction. Copyright © 2024 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.