The macro (structure) and micro (agency) dialectic in Multilingual Education Policy and Planning contexts

Situated within the relatively under-researched and underrepresented contexts of highly multilingual Asian countries, the volume Agency in Multilingual Education Policy and Planning in Asia seeks to deepen the understanding of agency within multilingual education policy and planning by engaging prominent scholars to critically examine the tensions between structural limitations and individual agency. Integrating cutting-edge analytical frames, perspectives, and sophisticated methodologies that are current in applied linguistics research, the volume presents deeply contextualized data to promote critical research that promotes just, translingual educational practices, contributing towards the ongoing theoretical conversations and debates around the role of agency in multilingual education policy and planning contexts. The contributions from the volume highlight the institutional barriers that educators and local micro-level actors encounter, showcasing how they exercise their agency in ways that affirm multilingual identities and foster ‘ideological and implementational’(Hornberger, 2005) spaces for an inclusive and locally responsive policy and pedagogy. The work highlights how agency influences and extends beyond individual actions, shaping macro-level policies and policy discussions outside the classroom. Additionally, it aims to inspire a reflective activism that challenges entrenched postcolonial hierarchies and rigid bureaucratic structures, advocating for collective agency in effecting policy changes on a broader scale. The stakeholders include teachers, students, school administrators, language teacher educators, and trainees.