Explanations for the use of languages of wider communication in education in developing countries

This paper analyzes the explanations suggested by language and educational policy scholars for the use of languages of wider communication in education in developing countries. Five explanations are discussed and critiqued, namely national integration, comparative cost, international communication, elite closure, and the world-system; each explanation is driven by assumptions about the nature of society (functional or radical-functional) and the level at which 'society' operates (national or international). Too narrow an adherence to a particular configuration of assumptions may foreclose for scholars a broad understanding of the dynamics which inform language policy decisions in developing countries.