Language Policy in English-Medium International Schools: Transparency, Policy Cycle, and Implications

Abstract

Although many international schools sincerely seek student well-being, many school leaders and owners fail to grasp how language is a crucial factor contributing to student well-being. While many international schools seek outside endorsement to reflect their efforts toward student well-being, endorsement often fails to ensure the realization of intentions expressed in school policy, including a school language policy. Developing and implementing a formal written language policy can provide transparency and an opportunity for schools to formulate, implement, review, and revise a planned approach for language use throughout the school community, including instruction, assessment, and academic and social discourse. This cross-sectional study reports findings on language policy transparency and policy cycle completion in 1,633 English-medium international schools in 2020 and 1,892 in 2023 within countries in East and Southeast Asia. These findings reveal that while schools authorized, affiliated, or accredited by the Council of International Schools, International Baccalaureate Organization, and Western Association of Schools and Colleges were statistically more likely to have language policies compared to non-affiliated schools, only about four percent of the schools in 2020 and six percent in 2023 displayed a formal written language policy on their website. Further, only about two percent of the schools in 2020 and 2023 displayed a formal written language policy showing the review date within three years, possibly reflecting the completion of a policy cycle. Considering most students attending English-medium international schools are non-native English speakers, these findings should sound an alarm concerning student well-being in English-medium international schools worldwide.