Contested Medium: A Critical Ethnography of English-Medium Instruction Policy and Classroom Practices in Pakistani Private Colleges
Abstract
This critical ethnographic study investigates the disjuncture between official English-medium instruction (EMI) policy and its actual implementation in three private colleges in Lahore, Pakistan. Through nine months of participant observation, sixty semi-structured interviews, and documentary analysis, the research reveals how EMI functions as a contested site where neoliberal aspirations, linguistic hierarchies, and classroom realities collide. Data demonstrate that while institutional policies valorise English as a vehicle of social mobility, pedagogical practices remain hybridised, with code-switching serving as a pragmatic survival strategy rather than a pedagogical choice. The study identifies three key tensions: policy performativity versus linguistic reality, economic capital versus cultural capital, and institutional prestige versus student comprehension. Employing a theoretical synthesis of critical language policy and Bourdieusian concepts of symbolic violence and linguistic capital, the article argues that EMI policy in Pakistan’s private sector perpetuates social stratification while ostensibly promising democratisation. Findings challenge the uncritical adoption of EMI models and advocate for culturally responsive, bilingual pedagogies that acknowledge local epistemologies. The research contributes to South Asian language policy scholarship by foregrounding practitioner and student voices, thereby addressing a critical gap in empirically grounded, contextually situated EMI research in Pakistan.
Keywords: English-medium instruction, language policy, critical ethnography, private colleges, Pakistan, Bourdieu, code-switching, symbolic violence.
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