Nyelvtanulás | Román » Florin M. Mihai - Reforming English as a Foreign Language Curriculum in Romania, The Global and the Local Contexts

Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2003 Reforming English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Curriculum in Romania: The Global and the Local Contexts Florin M. Mihai Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact lib-ir@fsuedu THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION REFORMING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) CURRICULUM IN ROMANIA: THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL CONTEXTS BY FLORIN M. MIHAI A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2003 The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Florin M. Mihai defended on March 7, 2003 Elizabeth J. Platt Professor Directing Dissertation George J. Papagiannis Outside Committee Member Frank B. Brooks Committee Member Frederick L. Jenks Committee Member

Approved: David F. Foulk, Department Chair, Department of Middle and Secondary Education The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables List of Figures Abstract v vi vii 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose of the Study The Local Context: Romania The Global Context Statement of the Problem Research Questions Methods of Analysis Importance of the Study Limitations Summary 1 1 4 5 6 6 7 8 8 2. THE GLOBAL AND, OR VERSUS, THE LOCAL IN EDUCATION 9 Introduction The Global Context The Local Context The Global-Local Interaction in Education Summary 9 9 16 3. METHODS 37 4. REFORMING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) CURRICULUM IN ROMANIA: A COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE 40 Introduction English as a Foreign Language between 1945 and 1989 iii 24 36 40 40 The Situation of EFL Teaching and Learning after 1989 Summary 56 73 5. THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL IN THE NEW ROMANIAN EFL CURRICULUM 74 Introduction The

Global-Local Interaction in Education Influences on the Romania EFL Curriculum Reform Interpretation and Representation of the EFL Curriculum Reform Directions for Further Research Final Remarks 74 BIBLIOGRAPHY 90 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 99 iv 74 76 83 84 89 LIST OF TABLES 1. Number of Foreign Language Hours/Week 49 2. Foreign Language Teaching in Romania between 1945 and 1963 49 3. Notions and Exemplifications in English 62 4. Functions and Exemplifications in English 62 v LIST OF FIGURES 1. Figure 11 Map of Romania and neighboring countries 1 2. Figure 21 Roman Dacia 18 3. Figure 22 Romanian Lands 20 4. Figure 23 Moldavia and Wallachia 21 5. Figure 24 Interwar Romania 22 6. Figure 25 Global-local interaction in education 35 7. Figure 51 Representation of Romanian EFL curriculum in the model of global-local interaction in education 84 8. Figure 52 Further directions for EFL research in Romania 88 vi ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to

analyze the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum reform in Romania from the perspective of the influence of the global and local contexts on education. To characterize the EFL curriculum reform in Romania from the interaction of the globalization movement with the local contexts in education, a model of representation was designed. This model, based on the analysis of various education reforms, had four possible outcomes: global versus local, global and local, local and global, and local versus global. A document analysis, the study first took into account the international and global factors that influence education reform in general. Then, the historical and cultural background relevant to educational development in Romania was explored. After that, a document analysis was conducted to learn about the pre-reform and post-reform Romanian EFL picture, bringing in the role and the influence of the World Bank, European Union, and British Council, on the one hand, and of

Romanian history, culture, education, and politics on the other hand. Finally, based on the analysis of the selected sources of influence and on the model introduced in this study, a representation of the Romanian EFL curriculum was constructed. This study offered a model of representation for education reforms from the perspective of the interaction of the global with the local and applied the model to the case of EFL curriculum reform in Romania. Further research in the area of education reform can not only utilize but also expand this representation model. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to analyze the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum reform in Romania from the perspective of the influence of the global and local contexts on education. Educational processes have always been influenced by both external and internal factors. Global, top-down approaches are sometimes overwhelmingly influential in shaping education, and

the internal, bottom-up, local factors may be ignored when deciding educational priorities. However, the result of educational reforms and initiatives is determined by both sources of influence. Therefore, this study considers both types of forces when it describes the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum reform in Romania. The Local Context: Romania Brief Historical Overview The history of Romania has been influenced a great deal by its geographical position. Figure 1. Map of Romania and neighboring countries 1 Located in South Eastern Europe, Romania is a country with an area of 92,043 sq. miles, about the size of Oregon in the US, and a population of 21,399,114 people, about the same as Texas in the United States. It borders Bulgaria in the south, the Republic of Moldova (a former Soviet Republic) in the east, Ukraine in the North, and Hungary and Yugoslavia in the West. The principal languages spoken in Romania are Romanian, which is also the official language of

the state, Hungarian, and German. The ethnic groups are Romanian, representing 89% of the population, Hungarian 7%, Gypsy almost 2%, and others 2%. Powerful nations of occidental culture such as Poland, Austria, and Hungary, and those of the Eastern-Orthodox, tradition such as Russia and Greece, influenced Romania in the past. Also, the Turkish Empire exercised a great deal of influence for three centuries (1538-1711), when Romania was under its dominance (Bulei, 1996). Romania has experienced many political, cultural, and social changes ever since the Romanian people completed their ethno-genesis by the end of the 9th century (Candea, 1977). It struggled for independence and statehood and built its national identity during the 19th century. It gained as well as lost territories in the 20th century. Traditionally a monarchy, it became a republic when it fell under the influence of the Soviet Union after WWII. Also, it experienced three dictatorships (royal, fascist, and communist)

before, during and after WWII. In the 1980’s, Romania was under the Communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. The wind of change that was sweeping through Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the late 80s did not seem to have an effect on the Communist regime in Romania. Nevertheless, in December 1989 popular demonstrations in the city of Timisoara ignited a nationwide upheaval that eventually overthrew the Romanian Communist regime. Unlike what happened in the rest of Eastern Europe, the Romanian revolution was violent, more than 1000 people being killed, including Ceausescu, the Communist dictator. He and his wife, Elena, fled Bucharest on December 22nd 1989, but they were quickly captured, tried by a military tribunal, and executed. (Pop, 1999) After December 1989, Romania became a multi-party democracy, adopted a new constitution by referendum in 1990, and established a republican form of government. No longer a satellite of the Soviet Union, Romania started a process of

integration into the political, economic, and cultural structures of Western Europe. This re-orientation towards Europe has brought many changes in Romanian life. Naturally, education has been one of the first sectors to experience efforts of reform in order to respond to the new political, social, and economic changes. 2 Recent Education Reform Projects in Romania Since the change that occurred in 1989, there have been many governments in power with different political agendas in Romania. However, all these governments, including the current one, have declared and made official the same main political and economic goals: to acquire NATO membership, to politically and economically integrate Romania into the European Union, and to conduct economic reforms that would make the transition from the centralized and state-controlled economy of the past Communist regime to a free-market type economy (Lucescu, 1999). Georgescu (1997) has noted that there seems to be a national consensus on

a number of basic principles necessary for a structural reform of Romania’s educational system. All Romanian political parties consider education a national priority, promote a reorientation towards European values, and support a decentralization of the educational system by privatization of schools and relaxation of state authority. In addition, all parties encourage a process that clearly defines national objectives and structures in education that would contribute to the formation of complex, independent and freethinking individuals who are able to take an active part in society and act as responsible citizens. Consequently, the ideas that dominate the educational policy debates are centered upon the shaping of a national educational system that will respond to the challenges of increasing global competition and will contribute to a rapid integration of the Romanian economy in international trade. Marga (1998a) recognizes that the Romanian educational system needs to respond to

the modernization needs of Romanian society and to increased global competition, adding that Romanian public education is partly responsible for Romania being one of the poorest European countries. In Romania, two major educational reform projects have been implemented: Education Reform and Reform of Higher Education and Research (World Bank, 1992). The Romanian Ministry of Education and Research coordinated both reform projects that were substantially financed through World Bank loans. The Education Reform Project, aimed at supporting the Romanian government’s strategy to reform basic and secondary education, had a total cost of US$ 73.5 million of which US$ 50 million came from a World Bank loan and the rest from the Government of Romania. The project had been in effect since October 1994 and ended in September 2001. The Reform of Higher Education and Research Project had a total cost of US$ 84 million, of which US$ 50 million represented a World Bank loan. This project started in

January 1997 and was completed on January 30, 2002. The Education Reform Project had two objectives: raising the quality of basic and secondary education, and improving 3 education financing and management. The quality of basic and secondary education was to be improved through curriculum reform and curriculum development, teacher training, new assessment and examination procedures, new textbooks, and setting of occupational and assessment standards (Education Reform Project, 2001). The new English as a Foreign Language Curriculum is a direct result of curriculum reform that has been promoted under the Romanian Education Reform Project. With a structure identical to the new Romanian National Curriculum, which includes attainment targets, reference goals, learning activities, syllabi, and curricular standards of performance, the new EFL curriculum is based on the European Framework for Foreign Language Learning published by the Council of Europe in 1998. The Global Context When

analyzing the current direction taken by Romanian education, the influence of the global context and globalization on Romanian education becomes evident. First, educational policy debates emphasize the crucial need for creating a national educational system that will respond to the challenges of increasing global competition, and contribute to a rapid integration of the Romanian economy in international trade (Georgescu, 1997). Second, the Romanian education reform projects are based for the most part on World Bank loans. The World Bank is a supranational institution that supports globalization, and in effect, is a creation of the globalization movement that dominates the global context nowadays. Globalization is the dominant characteristic of the current global context. It affects all nation states Davies and Guppy (1997) identify two broad concepts of globalization with direct influences on educational systems. The first concept is economic globalization that promotes market

competition and global capital by encouraging a convergence of institutional agreements among nations, consequently among educational systems. Supranational organizations dictate the terms and conditions of economic practice more and more. Nation-states must increasingly react to these pressures of the expanding network of market relations. One consequence of the interaction between the global market and the nation states is the standardization of knowledge systems in all industrialized states. Nation states organize and distribute knowledge through formal education. Therefore, across the developed nations, there is a tendency for schools systems to converge. In the case of less developed states, Inkeles and 4 Sirowy (1984) note that change towards this common structure may result from taking structures and practices from more developed nations. This borrowing is possible because the less developed nations belong to various networks of influence that are vehicles for ideas and

social forms. Representatives of international organizations, which encourage all educational systems to accept common international standards, distribute these greater global pressures, which at times take the shape of educational reform movements Global rationalization is the second conception of globalization identified by Davies and Guppy (1997). While not unrelated to economic imperatives, global rationalization emphasizes the idea of a global cultural system. This stress on rationality and standardization illustrates a second general force toward convergence in existing societies. While not implying that all nations move toward a worldwide uniform structure of education, this view on globalization suggests that schools systems will adopt broadly similar forms because of increasing global rationality. Statement of the Problem Romanian educational reform relies a great deal on World Bank loans. Therefore, the pressures of economic and rational globalization promoted by

international aid organizations, such as the World Bank, play an important part in shaping the goals and objectives of educational reform in Romania. However, there are other forces and pressures that, if ignored, can negatively affect the Romanian educational reform. Simmons (1983) emphasizes the importance of political and economic factors in determining the educational reform goals. He considers these factors more important than the factors internal to the educational reform itself. Educational reform depends more on the type of political system in place, the type of economy and the dominant political objectives for economic development than it does on specific circumstances that might exist in the educational system, such as shortages in staff or irrelevance of educational purposes. In addition, social and cultural factors that are context-specific play an important part in determining the nature and consequences of reform. He proposes a basic causal model in which causes

(political, economic, social, cultural, etc.) determine the nature of reform (expansion, equalization, relevance, efficiency), which in turn determine the consequences of reform (educational and societal). In the analysis of reform efforts, Simmons’s causal model includes not only factors that may have external sources, such as political and economic influences, but also recognizes that 5 the local background has its share in influencing the nature and consequences of reform. There lies a potential source of conflict. The World Bank view on education is sometimes fundamentally different from the view on education of the countries in which educational projects are to be implemented, a view that finds its origin in the historical, social, and cultural milieu. When this source of conflict is not anticipated and incorporated in educational reform projects with heavy external influence, it can lead to disastrous educational results. Research Questions Considering the problem to be

investigated, the study addresses the following research questions: 1. What is the EFL curriculum reform in Romania? 2. How might international trends in education, stemming from the globalization movement, and local factors influence the EFL curriculum reform in Romania? Methods of Analysis Data Collection: Sources and Analysis In addressing the first research question, data collection entailed mostly analyses of documents related to the recent educational reform movement in Romania, with a focus on the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform. These documents were either generated by the Romanian Ministry of Education or by organizations such as the World Bank, working closely with the Romanian Ministry of Education for the success of the educational reform projects. Examples of such documents were the National Curricula for English as a Foreign Language for basic and secondary education in Romania, World Bank documents (Education Reform Project and Reform of Higher Education

and Research Project), and the European Union documents pertaining to Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. In addressing the second research question, the study first focused on the interaction between the global and the local contexts by critically examining both elements of the relationship. Then, the influence of the interaction localglobal on education was investigated, and a model of possible representations for educational initiatives and reform movements was designed. Based on this theoretical model, the EFL curriculum in Romania was then analyzed and represented from the perspective of the local factors in relation to global influences. Historical and cultural accounts of the development of Romanian education, on the one hand, and analyses of World 6 Bank policy in education on the other hand, were among the sources utilized to answer the second research question. Structure of the Study The study is divided into five chapters. The first chapter introduces the purpose

and importance of the study, the statement of the problem, and the research questions, along with introductory information on Romania and its current educational reform movement. The second chapter reviews major theoretical concepts relevant to the study and other research efforts similar to this intended project of inquiry. The third chapter presents the methods of analysis. Chapter Four addresses the first research question of the study by providing a comprehensive picture of the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum reform in the larger context of the Romanian education reform movement. Chapter Five represents the EFL curriculum reform in Romania from the standpoint of the interaction between the global and the local context, along with possible suggestions and recommendations for further research. Importance of the Study The study is important for two reasons. The first reason is related to the descriptive nature of the study. The study proposes to carefully analyze the

current reform in Romanian education. It provides valuable insight regarding the framework of the Romanian educational reform in general and of the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform in particular, the goals and the objectives of Romanian education reform and EFL curriculum reform. Also, it reports what education reform has accomplished. Additionally, the recent reform movement is examined from a historical perspective that includes an analysis of other educational reforms that occurred in Romanian education and their respective historical, social, and cultural contexts. In this way, the recent reform movement is understood not only from the immediate perspective of contemporary events, but also from a broader historical perspective, thus contributing to the inclusion of the present reform efforts in the history of Romanian education and in the history of educational reforms worldwide. The second reason this study is important derives from the process of representing the

EFL curriculum reform in Romania from the point of view of global and local influences. This process consists of two stages. First, the researcher brings together existing studies of educational movements and initiatives in a model that considers the global-local 7 interaction in the field of education. Then, this theoretical model is applied to the specific situation of the Romanian EFL curriculum reform. It is important to emphasize that, when the Romanian EFL curriculum reform is examined, both global and local contexts are considered and potential sources of conflict between the two are acknowledged. Therefore, the second important contribution of the study will be that it examines educational movements from a perspective that incorporates the local and global contexts in a dynamic relationship, especially when both the global and the local meet in the area of education and education change. Many times, World Bank and other aid organizations have failed to recognize and

incorporate the local conditions and factors in their educational projects despite the fact that educational reforms cannot be separated from their political, economic, social, and cultural environments. Limitations The primary limitation of the study arises from the extent and focus of the study. The research concentrates on English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform in Romania only. Therefore, because this is a study of one country, the conclusions derived from the inquiry are not necessarily applicable to other countries and contexts. However, the model of inquiry may be useful to future studies on education reforms and initiatives as results of the interaction between the global and the local contexts in the field of education. Summary The purpose of this chapter has been to define the educational problem to be addressed, i.e the potential influences on the English as a Second Language reform from the broader perspective of Romanian educational reform, international trends,

and local factors. The problem is educationally relevant: the research project attempts to represent the EFL curriculum reform in Romania from the interaction between the local and the global contexts. The purpose of the next chapter is to review major theoretical concepts relevant to the study and significant research related to this proposed project of inquiry. 8 CHAPTER 2 THE GLOBAL AND, OR VERSUS, THE LOCAL IN EDUCATION Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to establish to what extent the relationship between the global and the local contexts influences education movements and initiatives. This assessment leads to the design of a model of representations for education reforms in general and for EFL curriculum reform in particular. First, the chapter focuses on globalization and on its influence on educational projects. Then, for a better understanding of the Romanian context, the chapter briefly reviews relevant historical and cultural events that affected Romania.

Finally, the study takes into account the inseparable relationship between the global and the local contexts, and its influence on education. This results in a model for representing educational reforms and initiatives as a consequence of global-local influences. This model is ultimately used for the representation of the EFL curriculum reform in Romania. The Global Context Globalization Origins of Globalization. Globalization is a concept that has deeply penetrated the economic, political, cultural, and educational discourses of most nation-states. Particularly in education, policy debates are dominated by the image of globalization. Global competition, international trade, and global economy are major themes that dominate debates on educational reforms, curriculum content, evaluation and assessment, or school governance. These debates involve parents, educators, union leaders, politicians, or business advocates (Davies and Guppy, 1997). Frequently, national leaders and politicians

attribute the poor state of their economy, either underdeveloped or in recession, to young workers seen as ill prepared by schools to face the challenges of the new global economy (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). However, before defining the concept of globalization and exploring the effects of globalization on education, it is beneficial to analyze the origins of globalization. There are several major theories related to the origins of globalization. The first theory is centered upon the issue of universalism and particularism in the global context. Robertson (1997) argues that globalization is a process that directs attention to both particularity and difference, on the one hand, 9 and to universality and homogeneity on the other. This process is a two-fold progression involving the universalization of particularism and the particularization of universalism. According to Roberstson, the issue of universalism-particularism is a basic feature of the human

condition and has its origin connected to the emergence of great religiocultural traditions, developed around the universalism-particularism theme. The way in which Japan acquired the theme of universality with its exposure to and adaptation of Confucianism and Buddhism is a relevant example of the interpenetration of the universal with the particular. Japan has a long and successful history of selective incorporation of ideas from other cultures in such a way as to particularize the universal and to return the product of that process to the world as a uniquely Japanese contribution to the universal. This inseparability of the universal from the particular culminates in the problematic of globalization constructed as a dialectic relationship between the global and the local. A second approach proposed by Wallerstein (1979) associates globalization with the origins of capitalism, culminating with the emergence of a global economy in the sixteenth century. Wallerstein claims that an

analysis of the political economy of sixteenth-century Europe is necessary for a better understanding of the current world-system. The modern world-system has its origins in the extended sixteenth century, from 1450 to 1640. During this period, through a series of historical, ecological, and geographic circumstances, the northwestern part of Europe was better situated than other parts of Europe to diversify its agricultural specialization and to develop certain industries, such as textiles, shipbuilding, and metal production. As a consequence, northwestern Europe emerged as a core area of this world economy, favoring tenancy and wage labor as the modes of labor control. Eastern Europe and the Western Hemisphere became peripheral areas specializing in export of raw materials, favoring the use of slavery and cash-crop labor as the modes of labor control. Mediterranean Europe emerged as the semiperipheral area of this world economy specializing in high-cost industrial products, i.e silk,

and credit transactions, favoring sharecropping as the mode of labor control in the agricultural area. Core, semi-periphery, and periphery refer to the positions in the economic system. The core areas were characterized by a complex variety of economic activities: mass market industries (textiles and shipbuilding), international and local commerce in the hands of a local bourgeoisie, and relatively advanced and complex forms of agriculture, such as leasing. By contrast, the peripheral areas were monocultural, with cash crops, produced on large properties by coerced labor. 10 In the semi-peripheral areas, the form of agricultural labor control was sharecropping, which was an intermediate mode between the freedom of the lease system and the coercion of slavery and serfdom. The semi-periphery still retained for the time being some share in international banking and high-cost industrial production, such as silk manufacturing. All these regions created a world-economy in the sense that

various areas came to be dependent upon each other for their specialized roles. The profitability of specific economic activities became a function of the proper functioning of the system as a whole. Profitability was generally served by increasing the overall productivity of the system. A third perspective identifies the origins of globalization in the mid-1800s and divides globalization into two major periods (Friedman, 1999). The first era of globalization and global finance capitalism started in the middle of the nineteenth century and ended with the major events of the first half of the twentieth century: World War I, the Russian revolution, the Great Depression, and World War II. This first era of globalization was built around falling transportation costs brought about by the invention of the railroad, the steamship, and the automobile. People could travel to and trade with many places faster and cheaper. The formally divided world that emerged after World War II was frozen in

place by the Cold War, a period that lasted between 1945 and 1989. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the end of the Cold War as an international system and the beginning of a new system, the second era of globalization, which the world experiences today. Todays era of globalization is built around falling telecommunications costs, thanks to microchips, fiber optics, and the Internet. These new technologies allow people to offer and trade a range of services globally, such as medical advice and software writing, that could never really be traded before. Friedman (1999) adds that, if the first era of globalization shrunk the world from a size large to a size medium, the second era of globalization is shrinking the world from medium to small. Definitions of globalization. As a term, globalization is conceptualized in different ways. From one perspective, the term refers to the emergence of supranational institutions whose deciding powers not only surpass national borders, but

also shape and constrain the policy options for any particular nation state (McGinn, 1997). Another view emphasizes the overwhelming impact of global economic processes such as production, consumption, trade, capital flow and monetary interdependence (Burbules & Torres, 2000). Another point of view considers globalization as the rise of neoliberalism as a hegemonic 11 political discourse (Apple, 2000). A different perspective defines globalization as the emergence of new global cultural forms, media and technologies of communication, all of which shape the relations of affiliation, identity, and interaction within and across local cultural settings (Luke & Luke, 2000). To define globalization is to include all these perspectives and points of view under one unifying proposition. Globalization is the product of the emergence of a global economy, expansion of transnational linkages between economic units creating new forms of collective decision-making, development of

supranational institutions, intensification of transnational communications, and the creation of new regional and military orders (Morrow and Torres, 2000). Stressing the idea of interconnectivity, Held (1991) proposes another appealing definition of globalization. He sees it as a process through which worldwide social relations connecting remote regions have intensified in such a way that local happenings are the result of events occurring far away and vice versa. Characteristics of globalization. Characteristics of globalization can be traced in economic, political, cultural, and educational trends of contemporary societies. In economic terms, globalization is characterized by a transition from Fordist to post-Fordist forms of workplace organization, by an increase in international advertising and consumption patterns, and by a reduction of barriers to encourage a free circulation of goods, workers, and investments across international borders (Burbules and Torres, 2000). Stromquist

and Monkman (2000) note that the dynamics of globalization have emphasized the importance of the market and transnational corporations in the economic decision process, with repercussions in the political arena. With the end of the Cold War, which brought the demise of the centrally planned, socialist economies, the market is seen as holding great promise in releasing creative energies and minimizing inefficiencies. Competition of firms to enable production in high volume and quality is a major principle in the globalized market. A characteristic of contemporary markets is their clustering in regional blocks with the purpose of attaining benefits of scale, coordinating production, and targeting specific populations. Europe, North America, and East Asia are three examples of such blocks that have emerged, and which are preparing themselves for increasing competition. Transnational corporations represent the other important factor in economic decision processes. Transnational

corporations are both the primary agents and major beneficiaries of globalization. Moghadam (1999) reports that there are around forty thousand large firms that can be qualified as 12 transnational corporations. Moghadam adds that, through access to highly mobile capital, transnational corporations have established global factories, relying on the cheapest combination of labor and skills. As a result, transnational corporations have created increasingly integrated and interdependent systems of capital-labor flow across regions and between states. With the support of international financial institutions, transnational corporations can engage in substantial and speedy capital investment, technology transfer, financial exchanges and increased trade. In political terms, globalization influences not only economic decision making processes, but political ones as well. Blackmore (2000) warns that the international market now disciplines the state, whereas previously, the welfare state

disciplined the market within its national boundaries. Capella (2000) lists the loss of nation-state sovereignty and the erosion of national autonomy as results of the influence of globalization on the political realm. The notion of the citizen as a unified and unifying concept characterized by precise roles, obligations, and status is changed. Even powerful states, such as the United States, suffer political consequences derived from international trade agreements. The North American Free Trade Agreement is an international commercial agreement between the U.S, Mexico, and Canada, and came into effect in 1994. NAFTA includes expansive rules on investment designed to grant special legal protections and new rights to corporations from one NAFTA country that invests in another NAFTA country. NAFTA’s investment chapter, Chapter 11, is unique because it provides for the private enforcement of these new investor rights and privileges outside of a nation’s domestic court system. Previous

multilateral trade agreements had never included any investment provisions. NAFTA’s Chapter 11 investment rules not only provide new security and ease for companies to relocate production to another NAFTA country, but also empower corporations to challenge basic government policies as violating NAFTA’s new investor rights. When a corporation believes its investor rights under NAFTA’s Chapter 11 have been violated, the corporation can challenge the policy or law of the government hosting its investment using NAFTA’s special investor-to-state dispute resolution system. This allows a private investor to prosecute a case against a NAFTA government for failure to provide a NAFTA-granted investor privilege. Such NAFTA investor claims can be brought to a special NAFTA tribunal rather than pursued in a country’s domestic court system (North American Free Trade Agreement, 1994). Neither sovereign immunity shields nor basic due process guarantees exist in this NAFTA enforcement system.

This private 13 enforcement system operates parallel to the state-to-state dispute resolution system that was also established in NAFTA. State-to-state enforcement actions are how trade disputes are traditionally resolved. For example, the global trade agreements of the World Trade Organization are enforceable only through a dispute resolution system that allows only governments to bring cases, not private businesses. There are several pending lawsuits filed under NAFTA Chapter 11. Public Citizen and Friends of the Earth (2001) presents several pending cases. One example is California, where the government decided to require the phasing out of a gasoline additive called MTBE. The chemical, which caused cancer in laboratory animals, leaked into the water supply, contaminating 30 public water systems and 10,000 groundwater sites, and forcing the shutdown of a third of the wells in South Lake Tahoe. A Canadian company called Methanex produces the key ingredient of MTBE. The company

invoked NAFTAs Chapter 11 provision and claimed the state of Californias actions were detrimental to its future profit. The company is asking for $970 million in compensation if California does not allow them to sell MTBE. In cultural terms, globalization brings considerable complexity through the interaction between the global and the local. On one end, there are ways in which globalization pushes for more standardization and cultural homogeneity. On the other end, there are ways in which globalization brings more fragmentation through the rise of locally oriented movements, which oppose and fight standardization and homogeneity (Barber, 1995). However, there is a third theoretical alternative in which the global and the local do not find themselves in an irreconcilable position. This perspective views cultural homogeneity and cultural heterogeneity as appearing simultaneously in the cultural landscape in what Arnove and Torres (1999) identify as the glocal. Friedman (1999) defines

healthy glocalization as the ability of a culture, in contact with other strong cultures, to absorb influences that can enrich that culture, to resist those cultural elements that are truly alien, and to acknowledge those elements that, while different, can nevertheless be enjoyed and celebrated as different. One example of what Friedman calls healthy glocalism is offered by Judaism, a classic example of a religious culture that has absorbed influences from many different countries over time, without losing its core identity. When the Jews encountered the Greeks in the fourth century B.C, the one thing that was absorbed most comprehensively into Jewish thought was Greek logic. The incorporation of Greek logic was relatively easy because Greek logic was organically related to 14 what the rabbis and biblical scholars of that day were doing, which was cultivating the truth. At the same time that the Jews were absorbing the Greek logic, they were also exposed to the Greek celebration

of the body, Eros, and polytheism. The Jews did not take in these influences, viewed as alien. Finally, there were Greek foods and clothes that Jews in those days selectively adopted and enjoyed precisely because they were different, but never made them their own. Some cultures may think they are glocalizing in a healthy manner when, in fact, they are assimilating and losing their identity in a subtle way. With 2,000 restaurants, McDonalds Japan is the biggest McDonalds franchise outside of the United States. McDonalds Japan has been so successfully integrated in Japan that a little Japanese girl, upon arriving in Los Angeles, looks around and tells her mother that the United States too has McDonalds. For Friedman, the fact that the little girl did not know that McDonalds comes from Chicago and was founded by an American is a sign of unhealthy glocalism. Something that should be treated and enjoyed as different is not. An unhealthy glocalization occurs when members of a culture absorb

something that neither belongs to that culture, nor connects with anything latent in that culture. Nevertheless, because they have lost touch with their culture, they think it does. When this happens, homogenization is inevitable, and there is every chance that the Japanese girl will eventually lose touch with what is really her original self and culture, with what makes her Japanese. In educational terms, there is a growing understanding that the neoliberal version of globalization, particularly as implemented (and ideologically defended) by bilateral, multilateral, and international organizations is reflected in an educational agenda that privileges, if not directly imposes, particular policies for evaluation, financing, assessment, standards, teacher training, instruction, and testing. Pure market mechanisms are utilized to regulate education exchanges and other policies that seek to reduce state sponsorship and financing and to impose management and efficiency models borrowed from

the business sector as a framework for decision making (Burbules & Torres, 2000). Bilateral, multilateral, and international organizations are, most of the time, supranational organizations. Supranational organizations, like transnational corporations, are organizations whose existence does not depend on the approval and support of any one nation. These include religious supranational organizations, such as the Roman Catholic Church, charitable and relief supranational organizations, such as the International Red Cross, military supranational organizations, such as NATO, and international development supranational 15 organizations, such as the World Bank and UNESCO (McGinn, 1997). The World Bank is one example of a supranational organization that promotes a neoliberal version of globalization, with the market and free trade as problem-solving solutions. According to the current president of the World Bank, its agenda contains four major directions of action. First, the

developing countries must continue to improve policies, investment climate and governance. Second, all countries, regardless of their economic status, either developed or developing, must reduce trade barriers and give developing countries better access to world markets. Third, developed countries must increase development aid, but allocate it better. Fourth, the world must act as a global community. According to the World Banks agenda of action, effective globalization requires institutions of global governance and multilateral action to confront global problems such as terrorism, internationalized crime, and money laundering, and to provide global public goods (Wolfensohn, 2001). Supranational organizations influence education in many ways. One of the influences of supranational organizations has been through their support of reduced state control of public education. UNESCO has been encouraging regionalization of education and the World Bank actively promotes decentralization and

privatization (McGinn, 1997). Another way in which supranational organizations impact public education is through their participation in the decisions about the organization and the content of education systems. The World Bank directly affects policy and practice in education in several ways. It grants loans only for Bank-specified programs and it imposes conditions such as changes in policies and practices that must be met before the loans can be implemented. The World Bank also influences the hiring of foreign consultants to help in implementation, and provides overseas training and education in institutions approved by the Bank. It also sets up communication among policy-makers in various countries, and uses research to justify recommendations for specific programs (Samoff, 1993). The Local Context Romania Globalization has an important role to play in influencing education reforms and initiatives. The World Bank generates a tremendous number of educational projects. It is important

to note, though, that all World Bank educational projects, including the ones for reforming Romanian education, have to be implemented on existing conditions and environments that can 16 negatively or positively affect the outcome of educational projects. Political and economic factors play an important part in the formulation and the adoption of educational reform goals and objectives. In addition to these factors, Simmons (1983) adds the social, educational and general historical legacy to the sum of causes that determine the nature and the results of educational reforms. Education and education reform cannot be analyzed independent of their political, economic, social, and cultural contexts. Therefore, it is important to take into account and investigate the characteristics of the local context that might influence the outcome of the educational reform in Romania in general, and of the new EFL curriculum in Romania in particular. Origin of Romanians Around 480 BC, Greek

historian and geographer Hecateus mentions the existence of several Getic tribes on the territory southwest of the Black Sea (Giurascu, 1974). The Getians were related with other tribes known as Dacians, who lived in the mountains north of the Danubian Plain and in the Transylvanian Basin. Over the centuries, the Geto-Dacians developed a prosperous and ambitious civilization that often engaged in many wars of defense or conquest. This flourishing civilization posed a challenge to the Roman Empire’s ambitions in the region. To end the threat, Emperor Trajan waged two wars against GetoDacians, one in 101 AD and the second in 105 AD. The Romans won, and for almost two centuries, the Transylvanian Basin and the plain north of the Danube constituted the Roman province Dacia Felix, divided into Dacia Inferior Malvensius, Dacia Porolossensis, and Dacia Superior Apulensis (Basdevant, 1965). The Roman emperor Trajan and his successors followed a policy of Romanization by encouraging the

settling of colonists and miners, who came from the whole Roman world, and of Roman legionaries, who, after leaving the military service, often remained in the province with their Dacian wives and children (Iorga, 1925). Although the population was ethically diverse, the Roman administration, the large number of cities, and the Latin language speeded up the process of Romanization and integration in the Roman Empire (Durandin, 1995). The constant pressure of migratory peoples on the Roman Empire made Emperor Aurelian withdraw the army and the administration from Dacia between 271-275 AD. Between the third and the seventh centuries, Dacia was a gateway of invasion for several migratory peoples. The earliest of them, of Teutonic (Goths and Gepidae) and Mongolian origin (Huns and Avars), had no influence on the Latin element (Bulei, 1996). 17 Figure 2.1 Roman Dacia (Pop, 1999) However, the Slavs, who massively advanced into Dacia around 567 AD, deeply influenced the language of the

Romanized population of Dacia. The Slavic impact was primarily at the lexical level. Approximately 16 to 20 percent of the words in the basic vocabulary of Romanian is of Slavic origin. A great part of the agricultural terminology, numerous verbs, and other words are of Slav origin. Also, an important part of the Romanian toponomy is also of Slav origin and indicates a long common life of the two peoples (Forter and Rostovsky, 1971). The ethno-genesis of the Romanian people was completed by the 9th century. It consisted of two stages: first, the Romanization of the Geto-Dacian population followed by the assimilation of the Slavs by the Daco-Romans. The year 1050 is the first time Romanians were mentioned north of Danube: Gardini, a Persian geographer mentioned a Christian people as part of the Roman Empire, a people distinct from the Slavs and the Hungarians around it (Giurascu, 1974). Panaitescu (1990) divides the Christian peoples of Europe into two great categories: on the one hand,

there are the Greeks and the Romans, who embraced the religion before the Middle Ages, and on the other hand, the Germans, the Slavs, and the Mongols, who became Christian during the Middle Ages through missionaries sent by the Pope in Rome, or by the Patriarch in Constantinople. According to Panaitescu, Romanian Christianity belongs to the former. It started to spread among the Roman colonists and soldiers during the Roman occupation of Dacia. The persecutions of Christians from the Roman emperors, and, after 18 the Romans left, from the Hunish rulers between 350 and 450 A.D, drove the Christian religion underground It never represented itself as an organized church. There was no ecclesiastical hierarchy, nor former links with either Rome or Constantinople. Proof of the Latin origin of Romanian Christianity is in the Romanian words connected with the practice of Christianity, all of which have a Latin derivation. Biserica (church) is from the Latin basilica, cruce (cross) is from

the Latin crux, a boteza (to baptize) is from the Latin baptizare. During the second half of the seventh century, the Bulgars, a tribe from Central Asia, established states south of the Danube, and conquered the territory between the Danube and the Tisa. The Bulgarians lost their original Ungro-Altaic language and were Christianized by two missionaries from Constantinople, Cyril and Methodius, between 864 and 870. Disciples of these two great missionaries extended the Bulgarian Christian Church to the Latin speaking lands occupied by the Bulgars. This meant the ordaining of priests by Bulgarian bishops who used the Old Church Slavic and the Cyrillic alphabet. In Romanian, only terms referring to ecclesiastic hierarchy in the strict sense are of Slavonic origin and belong to the ninth century, when the Bulgars succeeded in organizing the Christian church on Romanian lands. This is why, in spite of a Latin foundation, the Romanian church is an Orthodox, Constantinople-oriented church,

instead of being a Catholic, Rome-oriented one. It is a clear result of the dual eastern and western influences, affecting not only the history of the Romanian people, but also their culture and identity. After the formation of the first Romanian states in the 14th century, this new language used for church offices became the language used in state documents until the seventeenth century. Romanian, the spoken vernacular used by the people, did not attain the status of a literary language until the eighteenth century (Florescu, 1999). The First States The Romanians living north of the Danube formed two states in the 14th century: Muntenia, or Wallachia, in the south and Moldova in the east. Transylvania, covering the northwestern and western parts of the area inhabited by Romanians, was organized in duchies until the 11th century AD when it was conquered by Hungarians and remained under Hungarian domination until the 20th century (Castellan, 1989). The principalities Wallachia and

Moldova tried to preserve their independence, but, by the 16th century, fell under the domination of the Ottoman Empire. Although they were never 19 Turkish provinces, they were under the complete control of the Turks. The kings were changed at the Sultans pleasure, the troops were forced to fight for the Turkish Empire, and the annual tribute was an excessive and crushing burden (Durandin, 1994) Figure 2.2 Romanian Lands (Pop, 1999) Other countries and cultures influenced Romanian in the Middle Ages. The nobility of Moldova and Wallachia sent their sons to study in Poland and Austria. Despot Voda, who ruled Moldova between 1561-1563, founded a college with German professors where Latin was the language of instruction. This college represents the first Romanian institution based on Western European educational structures. In Moldova, a college where Latin was the language of instruction opened in 1639; in 1649, a college with teaching in Greek and Latin was established in

Wallachia. Modern Romania Over time, the power of the Ottoman Empire began to weaken. The Russian Empire seized the opportunity and thus began its period of influence and control over Moldova and Wallachia. The Russian influence was at its highest point in the 18th century, 20 when the Russians established a protectorate over the provinces. This protectorate would come to an end after the Crimean War in 1856, when the Russians lost control over Moldova and Wallachia, put under the control of the western European Great Powers (Durandin, 1995). Figure 2.3 Moldavia and Wallachia (Pop, 1999) These favorable political circumstances of the 19th century lead to the union of the Moldova and Wallachia under Colonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1859. Cuza had to administer the United Provinces with two Parliaments and two cabinets since the Great Powers did not allow for a de jure union of Wallachia and Moldova. However, in 1862, with the help of Napoleon the Third, the final union was

accomplished. A single state, known as Romania, still under the suzerainty of the Turkish Empire, was set up with the capital at Bucharest and one administration and parliament (Bobango, 1979). The political parties did not favor Cuza. The conservatives opposed him because he had initiated and carried out the land reform, while the radical liberals opposed him because of the authoritarian regime he had installed in 1864 (Otetea, 1970). Therefore, in 1866, after a military plot, Cuza was forced to abdicate. The political parties that forced Cuza to abdicate brought a foreign German prince, Carol von Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, to rule Romania. During his reign, Romania gained independence from the Turks in 1877 and extended its frontiers in the south following the 1913 Balkan War (Hitchins, 1994). 21 At Carols death in 1914, his son, Ferdinand I, succeeded him to the throne. In 1916, Ferdinand declared war on Austria and advanced into Transylvania. After two years of bitter war in

which the Romanian army was forced to retreat to Moldova and leave Wallachia under the enemys occupation, Romania was united with the other ethnic-Romanian territories: Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina. King Ferdinand was crowned King of Greater Romania in 1923 (Panaitescu, 1990). Interwar Romania Figure. 24 Interwar Romania (Pop, 1999) After the death of Ferdinand, his son Carol II became King in 1930. Carol II did not entertain the idea of democracy and decided to make himself a decisive force in national affairs. In 1938, he proclaimed a royal dictatorship and dissolved the political parties. Harsh economic conditions and massive unemployment encouraged extremist politics. Many Romanians joined the Iron Guard, a successful political movement on the far right, mixing nationalism, elements of Orthodox creed, and anti-Semitism. Extremely few Romanians joined the Romanian Communist Party (RCP). Outlawed in 1924, the RCP, subordinated 22 to the Soviet Communist Party and to

the Comintern, adopted the view that considered Romania a multinational state artificially created by Western imperialism, and militated actively for the disbanding of Greater Romania (Hitchins, 1994). In 1940, Romania lost Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union, northern Transylvania to Hungary and southern Dobrogea to Bulgaria. The loss of over a third of its territory ended the dictatorship of Carol II, who abdicated on September 6, 1940 (Castellan, 1989). Romania during WWII General Ion Antonescu replaced Carol II, ruling the country as a military dictator. In 1941, he joined in the German invasion of the Soviet Union to get back Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, taken by the Soviets in 1940. However, on August 23, 1944, King Michael, the son of Carol II, arrested Antonescu during a coup detat and established a new government committed to the Allied war effort against Germany. The Romanian soldiers turned against the Germans and fought for the liberation of

Transylvania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Before the end of the WWII in Europe, the war effort on the Allied side cost Romania 170,000 dead or wounded and almost 1 billion US dollars (Candea, 1977). Post WWII Romania With less than 1,000 members in 1944, the Communist Party came to power in the spring of 1945 as a result of strong pressure from the Soviet Union, whose troops had been stationed in Romania since August 1944. On March 6 1945, the Soviets forced King Michael to accept a government controlled by Communists. This new government abolished the liberty of the press and set up political camps (Pop, 1999). The parliamentary elections of 1946 gave about 80% of the vote to the Communists and their allies, although strong evidence exists that the Communists falsified the results of the elections in order to obtain total control over the Romanian political scene (Durandin, 1994). From that point on, Romania was placed behind the Iron Curtain, and the Soviet Union dictated the

historical course of Romanians until the 1990s (Bulei, 1996). As for the other territories lost in 1940, Bessarabia became the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, northern Bukovina became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and southern Dobrogea remained part of Bulgaria. In December 1989, a series of events in the city of Timisoara (NW of Romania) triggered a revolt that spread to many other cities in Romania. The Romanian Revolution ended over four decades of harsh Communist rule in Romania. The Communist 23 dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was arrested, tried and executed on December 25, 1989. Romania became a democratic state once again, and free elections were held the following year. Romania started a period of transition from a Communist dictatorship to a democracy, from a centralized economy to a free-market oriented one, and of political, social, economic and educational reorientation towards Western Europe. The Global-Local Interaction in Education The Lexus

and/or the Olive Tree Friedman (1999) proposes a metaphor for the interaction between the global and the local contexts. While in Japan, Friedman visited the Lexus luxury car factory outside Toyota City, south of Tokyo. Several details impressed him First, the robots were doing all the work and the human beings were used mostly for quality control. Friedman was also impressed by the degree of job accuracy displayed by robots, and the planning, designing, and technology necessary to reach such a high level of accuracy. After the visit, while riding the bullet train back to Tokyo, he noticed a piece of news in the newspaper: the American State Department spokeswoman Margaret D. Tutwiler had given a controversial interpretation on the right of return for the Palestinians refugees to Israel and sparked a furor in Middle East, agitating both the Arabs and the Israelis. One part of the world was building one of the greatest luxury cars with robots, while the other part was still fighting

over who owned which olive tree. The Lexus and the olive tree are symbols of the post-Cold War international system. The Lexus is the symbol for all growing global markets, financial institutions and computer technologies with which the world pursues higher standards of living today. The olive tree is associated with everything that roots, anchors, identifies, and locates a human being: a family, a community, a nation, or a religion. The people of the world seem to be caught in the dilemma of two currents characterized by these two symbols of the global and the local, the Lexus and the olive tree. One current, represented by the intention to build a better Lexus, is dedicated to modernizing, streamlining and privatizing economies in order to succeed in the system of globalization. The other current is dedicated to deciding who owns which olive tree. Friedman (1999) investigates the interaction between the Lexus and the olive tree, and exemplifies its different results. There are

circumstances when the Lexus lives with the olive tree in a healthy balance. Such is the case of the Kayapo Indian Village of Aukre, located in a remote corner of the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. In the past, the Kayapo have defended the 24 forest through sheer force. Nowadays, they learn to protect it through alliances with international scientists and conservationists. Furthermore, the Kayapo men are constantly watching a business channel that carries the running price of gold on world markets. They want to be sure that they are charging the small miners, whom they allowed to dig on the edges of their rain forest, the going international rate for the gold the miners find. The Kayapo use these profits to protect their lifestyle in the Amazon rain forest. There are circumstances when the olive tree dominates the Lexus. In 1994, Norway had a referendum about whether or not to join the European Union. Many Norwegians felt that, by joining the European Union, they would lose too

much of their own Norwegian identity and way of life, which, thanks to the Norwegian North Sea oil, they could still afford to preserve. So Norway voted against joining the European Union. Sometimes, the Lexus ignores the olive tree This is the case of a computer part that had written on its back that, because the part was made in so many different places, the company could not specify the country of origin. This dynamic interaction between the Lexus and the olive tree, or between the global and the local, is reflected not only in politics, economics, and culture, but also in the educational arena. The results of the global interacting with the local in the field of education can be conceptualized as a continuum. At one extreme, there is the global ignoring the local, and at the opposite end, there is the local rejecting the global. In between these extremes, there are circumstances in which the global and the local find a certain balance, reflected in education choices and directions.

When such a balance occurs, the global can be a more important source of influence in some cases; in other cases, the more influential role is reserved to the local context. Torres (1998) recognizes two primary forces at work in the rise of globalization: globalization from above, a process that primarily affects elites within and across national contexts, and globalization from below, a popular process that primarily draws from the rank-and-file in civil society. On the continuum of educational outcomes resulting from the interaction between the Lexus and the olive tree, or between the global and the local, there will be outcomes resulting from top-down educational initiatives, along with ones resulting from approaches that are bottom-up. Top-Down Initiatives Global vs. local The results of educational projects and initiatives, analyzed through the lenses provided by the interaction between globalization and local characteristics, can 25 be placed on a continuum defined by two

extremes. One extreme occurs when the global ignores the local. This is the case of several World Bank educational projects. Believing in the ability of technical expertise to overcome the many educational development problems confronting Third World nations, the World Banks planning often takes a mechanistic approach to educational problems, i.e the need to generate additional financial support or the inappropriate nature of the curriculum. Educational planners assume that these problems can be resolved through the application of apolitical and value-free solutions derived from the sophisticated models grounded in the social sciences. This strategy also minimizes the importance of looking at underlying political dynamics, assuming all the while that educational problems fall outside the political domain and can be resolved exclusively through the application of technical means. This way of dealing with educational problems provides legitimation for existing political systems and

signals that the recommended changes will not alter appreciably the existing social, political, and economic relationships (Berman, 1997). In an analysis of Bank planning documents dealing with educational projects implemented in Africa, Samoff (1993) observes the overwhelming influence of the Western-derived research paradigm in framing the broad issues of educational development. Only studies grounded in the so-called appropriate research methodologies have legitimacy with the international donor agencies. These methodologies come from a strong positivist framework, rely heavily on quantifiable data, and derive primarily from a social science base, especially economics. A testable hypothesis is a condition without which a research study is fatally flawed. Many studies not sponsored by the World Bank do not measure up, while those studies emanating from the Banks research and planning offices meet all the accepted criteria. However, the attention given to research methodologies and

carefully designed development plans does not necessarily guarantee that the resultant field-based projects will operate as predicted. Beh (1999) analyzes a series of factors that influenced the implementation of a World Bank textbook project in Liberia. The project, part of a larger reform initiative carried with funding from the World Bank, had as the central purpose the procurement and sale of 1.9 million low-cost primary textbooks that conform to the Liberian school curriculum at a cost of U.S$ 35 million during the life of the project The program had two phases. There was a pilot phase from July 1, 1982 until April 1983. The second phase lasted four years and was aimed at establishing an ongoing textbook program by the end 26 of the project. In 1985, the Liberian government suspended the textbook project funded by the World Bank because of a series of problems associated with the local context the project encountered during implementation. One of these Beh identified was the

high cost of textbooks. The Bank did not do a realistic evaluation of the capacity of students to pay for textbooks. The lack of such investigation that would have provided some insights about the students or their parents ability to pay for the textbooks resulted in some of the implementation difficulties the project encountered. Another local factor was the economic stagnation of Liberia at the time of the implementation of World Bank textbook project. The fluctuations and the decline in the prices of raw materials (bauxite, tin, tea, cotton, or cocoa) created economic constraints that affected Liberias capacity to implement the textbook project. Another factor that influenced the World Bank textbook project was the existence of a competing educational project. USAID funded a parallel textbook project implemented at the same time with the World Banks project. Beh demonstrates that the World Bank did not take these local conditions into account at the design stage of the project. The

research found that the World Bank project lacked contingency analysis, a process in which project planners identify, on the one hand, the appropriate fit between the project tasks and the environment in which they will be carried out, and on the other hand, the organizational structure, management processes, and value orientations of staff of implementing agencies. The World Bank did carry out a mid-way adjustment in 1985 in response to the difficulties encountered by the World Bank Textbook Project. The price of the textbooks was reduced by 50 percent, and the teachers guide was distributed free to all teachers. Moreover, the other textbook project conducted by USAID was integrated with the Liberian textbook and in-service training program supervised by the World Bank. The changes in implementation strategy performed by the World Bank show that a project does not operate in an empty space. Project planners need to perform rigorous analyses that take into consideration the economic

and financial circumstances of the country. In the case of the World Bank textbook project, Beh found that such rigorous analysis was not conducted during the design of the project. Therefore, the project did not take into account the overall economic and financial conditions and prospects of Liberia to determine a fit between the projects tasks and Liberias economic and political environment. Focusing on the decision-making processes that characterize World Bank educational programs, Korto (1991) evaluates another 27 World Bank educational project in Liberia. He investigates the decision process of the Science/Technology Centers, a major component of the Third Bank-funded Liberian Educational Project that took place in 1977. The investigation was conducted from three perspectives. First, his study determined and described how the Banks basic guidelines were applied. Then, the research determined how the projects outcome related to how the Banks guidelines were followed. After

that, the study analyzed the nature of the Bankborrower relationship and its impact on project decisions The findings of the study supported the conclusion that the Science and Technology Centers failed to achieve its planned objectives mainly because of inadequate decision making for its planning and design. The project decision process failed to take into account Liberias institutional and environmental settings. Consequently, there was a mismatch between the proposed strategy and the context of the local settings and conditions. Key aspects of World Bank guidelines were not applied during the decision process, resulting in a poorly conceived and minimally planned development project. The urgency of the need for capital resources for addressing national development pressured the government of Liberia into accepting a model of development which had the World Banks strong support, but which proved inconsistent with the countrys institutional settings and capabilities. The study

recommends that both the World Bank and the borrowers must improve their individual and collective roles in a project decision process. Korto advises that the Bank must recognize and guard against the fact that its borrowers are countries pressed for investment capital, willing to take the risk of suggesting development models for which the Bank eagerly provides resources. He adds that the borrowers must realize that development is a process and that, in a developing society, the acceptance of development strategies based on models that are more applicable to advanced societies is likely to produce minimal results. In Kortos view, the choice of development strategies must correspond with the countrys level of institutional development and capacity if positive results are expected. Boubekri (1990) identifies internal and external constraints to the development of education in another African country, Morocco. There are indeed endogenous sources for Moroccos underdevelopment. The sources

of internal inadequacy are to be found with Morocco’s leaders, who have not succeeded in establishing and sustaining viable institutions of governance and economic development, but have generated only corruption and mismanagement. The sources of failure that have external origins 28 are associated with the role of international agencies, institutions and experts in Morocco’s development. Because Moroccan leadership favors expatriate advice and expertise, the foreign experts dominate their local counterparts with their high level of training and experience. Furthermore, certain conditions set by aid and credit institutions to include their own expertise in key positions on projects have negatively influenced the development of local skills for the follow-up and propagation of project experience. These conditions have encouraged mostly unworkable and irrelevant projects. According to Boubekri, Moroccos problems have been researched in highly controllable situations that made

locally untenable assumptions. He states that the problem of development in Morocco is too complex and too contextually specific for the simplistic and mechanistic models generally used by the World Bank, adding that a viable development process cannot be detached from the historical antecedents of the people and territory for which it is designed. From Boubekris point of view, development planning must utilize discerning and multidisciplinary procedures that would examine the entire territorial entity in a comprehensive manner. The analysis of these projects identifies a problem that all of them have in common: donor agencies exaggerated trust in the technical aspects of the projects made them ignore or give little attention to internal political, cultural, and economic dynamics that played a large role in determining the projects success or failure. In all these cases, the global context, represented by supranational institutions like the World Bank, chose to disregard the local

context in the process of designing and implementing educational projects. The results were in many cases disastrous. Global mediated by local. The global context does not have to take all the space in the relationship between the global and the local. In many educational initiatives and projects, the local mediates the global in what is called vernacular globalization (Appadurai, 1996), the next element on the continuum. Lingard (2000) rejects the myth of the powerless state in the face of globalization. The nation-state still has the power to do more politically than simply facilitating economic globalization. Furthermore, globalization and its specific manifestations within nation-states, localities, and its educational restructuring are more nuanced than a top-down homogenization of both politics and culture. Robertson (1997) notes that in the case of the interaction between global forces and local cultures, globalization has seen tendencies for both cultural homogenization and

heterogenization in a mutually 29 implicative tension in what he called the glocal cultural space. Reform and restructuring in education cannot be explained as exclusive results of globalization. Appadurai (1996) remarks that there is a tension between context-productive (top-down and policy driven) and context-generative (localized) practices, all nested within the flow of globalization, in schools of restructured educational systems. To acknowledge these nuanced outcomes of the collision of the contextproductive with context generative practices and to reject globalization as meaning only Westernization, Americanization, and homogenization, Appadurai developed the concept of vernacular globalization. Context-generative accounts rewrite modernity more as vernacular globalization and less as a concession to large-scale national and international policies. Vernacular globalization is similar to the idea of glocalization: the way local, national, and global interrelationships are

being reconstituted, but mediated by the local and national history and the politics, as well as by hybridization. Lingard (2000) illustrates this new global educational policy consensus and vernacular globalization at work when he considers two Australian policy settlements, namely, that of social democratic Labor Party (1983-1996) and that of their successor coalitions (1996-present). Both settlements were framed by the new global educational policy consensus. However, despite their broad discursive similarity, there were still differences between their responses, reflective basically of party ideological differences and their differing electoral support basis, all these indicating vernacular globalization at play. Labor governments wanted to create a nationally integrated education and training system geared toward the production of an upwardly skilled workforce. It implemented equity-focused policies, sought more national control over technical and adult education, and attempted to

integrate schooling and vocational training in the post-compulsory years. There was consolidation of the number of universities and very considerable expansion of university places, resulting in a move from elite to mass provision. However, these places were to be funded to an increasing extent by student fees. Until that time education had been free. Labors policy regime was thus a hybrid mix of social justice concerns and a tightening of the economy-education nexus with the introduction of user-pays practices. The following governments have kept the broad framing of the Labor party educational policy settlement (a specific manifestation of the global educational policy consensus), but 30 reconstituted it through their partys ideological lenses. Equity concerns have been considerably downgraded, while the concept of group disadvantage has been rejected as the basis for equity-focused policy interventions. The fees for students in higher education have been increased and

universities have been required to generate even more funds from non-governmental sources. The global context and global education policy convergence have framed the two Australian educational approaches. However, as the two approaches show, the apparent educational policy convergence across nations, facilitated by greater global interconnectivity and by an emerging global educational policy community, is mediated, translated, and redefined within national and local educational structures (Ball, 1998). Bottom-Up Projects The two possible outcomes examined so far were top-down educational initiatives with heavy financial and ideological external influences. Next, bottom-up educational initiatives in which the local plays a more significant role will be considered. Local mediated by global. Berman (1997) suggests that developing nations should simply refuse to accept external education assistance, or to be very selective in what aid is considered, stating that external aid has failed to

improve the lives of the majority in any appreciable manner. Naturally, this course of action would demand considerably more mobilization of local communities to fill the educational void than generally has been the case. In such cases, the local community recognizes the importance and the characteristics of the global context. However, it is not directly influenced by globalization through aid agencies and supranational organization because the central government lacks the resources or the community simply refuses to accept external aid. In these cases, globalization is perceived as an indirect mediating influence on the educational directions and initiatives. This path of the local mediated by global has been followed successfully in a few locales, such as Kenyas Harambee schools and Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) in Indias Kerala State. Rugh and Bossert (1998) present a very detailed account of the Harambee Secondary School Movement in Kenya. The Harambee Schools started as a

spontaneous grassroots community initiative to develop greater access to secondary education that the Kenyan Government could not provide. After the countrys independence in 1963, the rapid increase in primary enrollments created much pressure to develop the secondary school system. From 1963 to 1973, primary enrolments rose from around 900,000 students to almost 2 million, 31 and the number of secondary students rose from 20,500 to almost 200,000. Despite the fact that better professional jobs were available with English and Math skills, these subjects were not available in the technical curriculum even for those who could get to school. The demand for both post primary secondary schools, second chance polytechnic secondary schools, and later for postsecondary institutes of technology, led to a number of self-help secondary school projects to provide 2 to 4 years of formal secondary education. Different groups assumed leadership in different phases of the project. The first phase

was initiation, where major leaders (eg District Education Officer, Chief, Community Development Assistant, Teacher) created an awareness of the community’s need for secondary school facilities through discussion meetings. A broader leadership defined participation criteria and fund raising procedures during the second phase, organization. During implementation, the third phase of the project, the leaders of local work groups took charge of the work teams and sustained their commitment. Churches or other established groups were normally selected to manage Harambee schools and to contribute financially, even though the government required the schools to be secular in character and students not be selected on the basis of religious affiliation. Most schools were rarely inspected by the government or provided with supervision support from the government. The everyday functioning of the school was left in the hands of the registered management committee, represented by the head teacher

whose authority was rarely challenged. The Harambee model has been extremely successful in building indigenous community institutions to advance local development and in getting girls into schools. Moreover, its record in expanding secondary opportunities in rural areas is impressive. In 1969, there were 244 government secondary schools, 19 government assisted Harambee schools and 244 unassisted schools. By 1987, there were 709 government schools, 1,142 assisted Harambee schools and 741 unassisted Harambee schools all serving nearly 480,000 students. Some of the important successes of the Harambee schools are access to education, education for the poor, education for the girls, and local development. These successes are similar to the goals of educational reforms directed by a supranational institution, the World Bank (World Bank, 2000). Yet, the Harambee schools have not received the financial support and educational expertise of the World Bank. The Harambee schools story is complex

and is not an unqualified success. The conclusion is the Harambee schools are indeed the result of a grassroots educational initiative that does not ignore the global context and tries to offer local solutions to global problems. 32 Zachariah (1989) presents another example of a grassroots educational initiative in his study of Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) in Indias Kerala State. Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad can be translated as Kerala Science Literature Society. This educational initiative started in 1962 with a small group of intellectuals who began an informal effort to make scientific books available to the people of Kerala. The books and periodicals were written in Malayalam, the language of the state. In KSSPs view, promoting science meant promoting the physical and biological sciences in the 1960s and 1970s. This equating of science with the physical and biological sciences reflected the interests of the active KSSP members at that time. They were mainly

engineers and scientists, college teachers and a few people prominent in the social service field. Although membership in the organization increased gradually, it remained a rather small organization until about 1973. In 1973, KSSP adopted the slogan Science for Social Revolution. That brought three important changes in KSSPs approach to science. In the new approach, science is defined as a process by which human beings explore the relationships cause-effect in the natural and social world. Second, the process of science and the use of science depend on human decisions. Third, those human decisions are now resulting in grave social problems such as accentuated poverty. Such decisions must be changed To do so, science must serve the people and not just the elites. Since 1973, KSSP has maintained, defended and strengthened this position. The new stance has increased the organizations popularity among many ordinary people and helped increase its membership. In 1987, KSSP had approximately

23,000 members and over 800 local units. Roughly 60% of the KSSP active workers are teachers in Keralas schools and colleges. The rest of its members are physical scientists, doctors, engineers, social scientists, workers, farmers, and technicians. Activities of KSSP include the publication of books and periodicals, several non-formal and formal education initiatives, the environment brigade, the research and development wing, the health brigade, the street theater, and womens groups. In the area of publications, KSSP is involved in the propagation of periodicals and books meant for the popularization of science. It also publishes books for children, adults, etc. Non-formal education initiatives are comprised of science campaigns, where a number of classes on chosen topics are conducted from time to time. KSSP has financial independence. It pays for all its own organizational work with the proceeds from the sale of its publications, supplemented by membership fees and donations

collected on the spot at certain types of meetings and marches. 33 The main income is from the publication of their books. KSSP does not accept donations from foreign sources under any circumstances. KSSP long ago recognized that acceptance of external aid would compromise local autonomy, and that truly meaningful development must primarily entail local effort. Peoples movements such as these can certainly have an impact, as is suggested by Keralas high literacy rate, some proportion of which can certainly be attributed to the work of this independent organization. KSSP recognizes the importance of development, but attempts to propose a different approach. It campaigns for literacy, for science education, for rationality and modernity in general. All these are elements that can be found in the globalization discourse at the global level. However, in the case of grassroots educational initiatives, such as KSSP and Kenyas Harambee schools, the local has a more important role in the

global-local relationship when implementing these educational demands (Zachariah, 1989). Local versus global. Against capitalist globalization from above, there has been a significant eruption of forces and subcultures of resistance that have attempted to preserve specific forms of culture and society against globalization and homogenization (Kellner, 2000). In the field of education, globalization is strongly rejected by the Islamic schools of the Middle East in which the teaching of students is explicitly directed against modernity and global influences, seen as Westernization, or Americanization. The Islamic religious schools (madrashas) have thrived in Pakistan. Their number is estimated to be from 7,000 (Barber, 2001) to 30,000 (Time International, 2001). Male-only schools, madrashas are run by fundamentalist Islamic groups and teach over a million Pakistani students a narrow curriculum consisting of the Koran, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Islamic Sharia law for

free. Muslim groups from inside and outside Pakistan privately fund the schools, and the government does not have much power over them. The Pakistani government is trying to bring the schools back into the mainstream educational system by offering money and training to the teachers to give courses in English, computer science, and economics. In these religious schools, the main topic of the curriculum is the Jihad, or the holy war, seen as an anti-Western and anti-American battle (Time International, 2001). The success of the Islamic schools is explained by two local characteristics: religious conviction and poverty of the village life (Barber, 2001). Life in Pakistan is dominated by religion. Politicians, even those educated abroad and living Westernized lives compete in calling for stricter Islamic laws. Rural poverty is the other major influence. Poor parents cannot afford to send their children to the government schools; the 34 schools are free, but the cost of books,

supplies, and clothes is prohibitive. Instead, the sons are sent to the Islamic schools that will not only take them in for free, but also provide meals and clothing. There, the children will be taught to be soldiers for Islam, and to fight against America, perceived as a promoter of globalization and of a cultural system that is shallow and hollow from inside, unable to bear the load of life for the times to come (Barber, 2001). It seems that in Pakistan, its government and leaders have failed to create a system of adequate public education for its 140 million people. Without that, the parents turn to Islamic schools, which, unlike the grassroots projects mediated by the global context, take a visible and explicit anti-globalization stance by teaching a mix of fundamentalism and intolerance. At one end of the continuum, there are educational projects that have had disastrous results because the global did not take into account the local. This is the other end of the continuum, in

which the results are also disastrous. The product of such educational initiatives, in which the local not only refuses to acknowledge but also violently tries to fight the global, is more carnage and conflict around the world. Local Context Global Context History, politics, culture, etc. Globalization Education Romanian EFL curriculum reform ------Top-Down----------------Bottom-Up------Global vs Global and Local and Local Vs Local Local Global Global Textbook project in Liberia Harambee schools in Kenya Australian policy settlement STC Centers in Liberia KSSP in Kerala, India Figure 2.5 Global-local interaction in education 35 Islamic schools in Pakistan Summary The purpose of this chapter has been to determine to what extent the relationship between the global and the local contexts have influenced education reform and initiatives. First, the chapter focused on globalization as the defining element of the global context and on the influence of globalization on education.

Then, the chapter briefly highlighted important events in the history of Romania for a better understanding of the local context. Finally, the study researched the inseparable relationship between the global and the local contexts and its influence on education. The result was a model for representing education reform and initiatives worldwide. Next, the study presents the methods used to respond to the two research questions of this inquiry. 36 CHAPTER 3 METHODS Two important notions determine the method of inquiry for the present study. First, the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform cannot be analyzed in isolation, but must be viewed in a broader context. EFL curriculum reform is part of a larger effort to reform the entire Romanian educational system. In addition, EFL curriculum reform emerges from the history of EFL teaching and learning in Romania. To understand the present EFL curriculum reform, the history of EFL teaching and learning in Romania during the past

fifty years must be taken into account. Second, the examination of the EFL curriculum reform in Romania is based on the interaction between the global and the local forces in the field of education. These two sources of influence are critical. They are the foundation for the model of representation defined in Chapter Two, the model which be ultimately used to represent the Romanian EFL curriculum reform. It is important to state that this study implements a document analysis approach and it is not an empirical study. To address the first research question of the study, i.e what the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum reform is in Romania, the researcher has undertaken three steps: to provide a comprehensive picture of EFL teaching before reform, to discuss the current EFL curriculum in the larger context of Romanian education reform, and to describe the elements of new EFL curriculum in Romania. To provide the essential background information on prereform EFL teaching and

learning in Romania, the study employs on the one hand, studies generated by Romanian EFL educators and researchers, and on the other hand, studies on Romanian Education in general and Romanian EFL in particular published by UNESCO. Then, the EFL curriculum reform is viewed from the perspective of the Romanian education reform by employing essential documents such as Romania: Education Reform Project, a preliminary study conducted and published by the World Bank in 1992 and Reforma Invatamintului Acum! (Reform of Education Now!), published in 1998 by Andrei Marga, the Romanian Minister of Education at that time. These documents provide an analysis of the situation of Romanian education prior to the educational reform and set the framework for change in Romanian education. After an examination of the stated theoretical framework for educational change in Romania, there is a discussion of how the framework for change is operationalized through the education reform projects recently

implemented under the supervision and funding of the World Bank: The Education Reform Project and The 37 Reform of Higher Education and Research Project. These two documents spell out the objectives for education reform in Romania and are important for this because the EFL curriculum reform represents the realization of one of the objectives of The Education Reform Project. Because the new EFL curriculum is based on the new Romanian National Curriculum, the next step is the analysis of the framework of the new Romanian National Curriculum and of the new English as a Foreign Language curriculum for primary and secondary education in Romania. The sources used are Curriculum National Programe Scolare pentru Clasele a III-a – a VII-a Limbi Moderne and Curriculum Scolar pentru Limba Engleza Clasa a X-a. The detailed description of the fundamental elements of the new English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum results in a comprehensive representation of the new Romanian EFL

curriculum with the purpose of addressing the first research question of the study. The second research question pertains to how international trends in education, stemming from the globalization movement, and local factors might influence the EFL curriculum reform in Romania. Here, the research proceeds in two phases First, there is an analysis of the manner in which external and internal sources of influence contributed to the shaping of the general framework, the goals, and the objectives of the new EFL curriculum in Romania. Second, these results are applied when the EFL curriculum reform is represented using the global-local model of representation described in Chapter Two. For the first phase, i.e determining the sources of influence, World Bank documents on education (World Bank, 1999) and European Union documents on foreign language teaching and learning (Van Ek, 1998) are compared and contrasted with the new Romanian EFL curriculum. The researcher also considers the

contribution of the local factors to the shaping of the new EFL curriculum in Romania. The local contribution is found in studies such as Reforma Invatamintului in Anul 2000. Actiuni Majore (The Reform of Education in the Year 2000. Major Actions), published by the Romanian Ministry of Education in 2000, Strategy and Action in the Education Reform in Romania by Korka (2000), Analiza Politicii Nationale in Domeniul Educatiei: Romania (The Analysis of National Policy in Education: Romania) by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2000), and Reforma si Continuitate in Curriculumul Invatamintului Obligatoriu (Reform and Continuity in the Curriculum for Compulsory Education) by the Ministry of Education and Research, Consiliul National Pentru Curriculum and Centrul Educatia 2000+ (2001). Also, the researcher considers various studies and articles on Romanian politics, culture, and 38 history that will provide additional explanations regarding educational choices

present in the EFL curriculum reform. For the second phase, utilizing the information resulting from the study of these documents, the researcher places the EFL curriculum reform in one of the categories of the model represented by Figure 2 in Chapter Two. According to this model, educational reforms are results of the interaction between the global and the local sources of influence. The model, which illustrates with examples how the interaction between the global and the local affects the field of education, can be used not only for this study, but also for further studies that consider educational movements and initiatives in the field of education or English as a Foreign Language as resulting from the contact between internal and external influences. A document analysis, the present study employs a variety of documents and other data to present a comprehensive picture of the EFL curriculum reform in Romania, on the one hand, and of sources of influence that have contributed to the

shaping of this EFL curriculum reform on the other hand. For this study, different sources are consulted to present several perspectives and points of view to assure an unbiased view. To ensure credibility of this research effort, the same procedure of using more than one source to present and depict one particular element of the picture is utilized. For example, when discussing the recent education reform in Romania, the study employs external sources, such as World Bank documents referring to education reform in Romania, OECD studies on Romanian education reform, etc., and internal studies, such as various analyses generated by the Romanian Ministry of Education, the Romanian National Council for Curriculum, and the Romanian Center Education 2000+. When purely educational sources are not enough, newspaper articles and other studies covering such fields as politics, history, culture, etc are used to make certain that the picture painted is as comprehensive, credible, and unbiased as

possible. Chapter Four is devoted to answering the first research question by providing a comprehensive picture of the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform in the larger context of Romanian education reform. Chapter Five addresses the question of the interaction between the local and the global in the case of the new English as a Foreign Language curriculum in Romania. It also provides the researchers perspective on the EFL curriculum reform in Romania, with possible suggestions and recommendations for further inquiry. 39 CHAPTER FOUR REFORMING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (EFL) CURRICULUM IN ROMANIA: A COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE Introduction This chapter answers the first research question of the study by providing a comprehensive picture of the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform. It is divided into two parts: the first part is dedicated to the description and analysis of major characteristics of English as a Foreign Language teaching in Romania in the larger

context of foreign language teaching before the recent educational reform of Romanian education. The second part describes the EFL teaching in Romania after the recent educational reform, with a focus on EFL curriculum reform. English as a Foreign Language between 1945 and 1989 Historical, Political, and Educational Context In 1945, towards the end of World War II, Romania was a monarchy with a democratically elected parliament. An independent state, it had strong political, economic, and cultural ties with Central and Western Europe. All these circumstances were about to change when the Romanian Communist Party came to power in the spring of 1945. The Soviet Union, whose troops had been stationed in Romania since August 1944, forced the Romanian monarch, King Michael, to accept a government controlled by Communists (Pop, 1999). Very soon, the Communists brutally eliminated all political opposition and took over the Romanian political scene. In 1947, they forced King Michael to

abdicate and they proclaimed the Popular Republic of Romania. Winston Churchill’s forecast of Romania’s postwar development, which was 90% Soviet influence and 10% others turned out to be accurate (Castellan, 1989). Clearly behind the Iron Curtain, Romania became a satellite of the Soviet Union, which dictated the historical course of Romanians until 1989 when Communism fell in Romania (Georgescu, 1991). During the years of Communist rule, the Soviet- style thinking paradigm, which reserved ultimate authority to the Romanian Communist Party, influenced every aspect of Romanian life, education included. The Education System Reform Act of 1948 nationalized all educational institutions, banned all private schools, adopted the Marxist-Leninist principles of education and adjusted the educational policies to changing requirements of the planned economic system. It also eliminated 40 uncooperative faculty members and reorganized both secondary and higher education on the Soviet

model (Braham, 1972). The subsequent education legislation continued to view education and educational institutions as tools for carrying out the directives of the Communist party. Reporting to a UNESCO questionnaire on the state of Romanian education in the 80s, the Romanian Ministry stated that the main purpose of Romanian education was the creation of the new man. Romanian education at that time made sure that specialists were trained for all aspects of the economy and social life, and that young people developed a socialist conscience, a willingness to work, and a sense of international solidarity (International Yearbook of Education, 1980). Importance of Foreign Languages in Romania Malita (1960) stated several reasons why the study of foreign languages was important and necessary for Romanians during that time. First, a foreign language was essential for professional development. Knowledge of a foreign language provided access to specialized literature such as periodicals and

books, and facilitated participation at international conferences. Second, a steady increase in economic trade among countries required knowledge about foreign countries in order to satisfy export requirements. Therefore, reading knowledge of foreign publications was critical. Third, because of a constant increase in tourism, many people traveled abroad and many people came from abroad. Malita also reported a shift in the purpose for learning foreign languages. Prior to the emergence of communism in Romania, foreign languages meant a broadening of cultural horizons, represented access to new literatures, and indicated a high intellectual standard. Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th century, those learning foreign languages were interested more in understanding foreign literatures rather than in using the language for practical purposes. The teaching of foreign languages in schools and universities was oriented toward this goal: the students were expected to translate elegantly in

and from foreign languages; there was very little interest in using foreign languages as means for oral communication. But later, because of the changing dynamics between countries (more trade, more tourism), learning foreign languages acquired a practical and social aspect, the focus being placed on communication among people (Malita, 1960). In Romania, the aim of teaching foreign languages was not only to give students such practical knowledge of the language as would serve them as a basis for conversation and as a means of getting access to texts written in foreign languages, but 41 also to familiarize them with the cultural values of the peoples whose language they studied. As far as coordination with other subjects was concerned, through grammar and through reading of literature, the study of modern languages was coordinated with that of the mother tongue and with that of geography and world history. Modern languages were studied as belonging to the group of humanistic

subjects with which they formed a whole (Modern Languages at General Schools, 1964). Therefore, because EFL has been part of the bigger foreign language curriculum from which it cannot be separated, the discussion of EFL teaching and learning in Romania is conducted within the more general framework of teaching foreign languages in Romania and acknowledges the particular aspects of Romanian EFL teaching. During the period between the end of WWII and the late 50s, several foreign languages were taught in Romanian schools. In secondary education, two modern languages were compulsory. Russian was compulsory in general schools until 1955, and for the second compulsory foreign language, the students had a choice among French, English, or German (International Yearbook of Education, 1955). In teaching foreign languages, excerpts from outstanding classical works in the respective languages were used (International Yearbook of Education, 1958). The grade when students started the study of

foreign languages varied over time. Between 1945-1948, the first modern language was compulsory from the 5th to the 12th grades, the second modern language from the 8th to the 12th. Between 19481956, when there were eleven years of study instead of twelve, the first modern language was compulsory from the 4th to the 11th year, and the second from the 8th to the 11th. Between 1956-1963, the first modern language was language studied from the 5th year and the second modern language from the 6th (Modern Languages at General Schools, 1964). In the 1970s and 1980s, the two foreign languages were introduced in the first stage of secondary education, between grades 5 and 8 (International Yearbook of Education, 1980). These changes in allocation reflected different values promoted by the national leadership of those times. The place of foreign languages in Romanian curricula between 1945 and 1989 reproduced the three major periods into which this time interval can be divided. The school

curriculum of the first historical period, the 1950s, encouraged the study of the foreign languages but emphasized the study of Romanian language and sciences. During the second period, which encompassed the 1960s, the learning of foreign languages was encouraged and stimulated by allocating more hours and by introducing the first foreign language early, in some cases during the 2nd grade. The curriculum of the third period, represented by the 1970s and 42 1980s, minimized the importance of foreign languages by emphasizing other educational areas, e.g sciences and Romanian In order to understand Romanian education in general and the study of foreign languages in particular, one must refer to the political and economic goals of this period of the 1950s. The Communist leader of that time, Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej, a rigid Stalinist, undertook the collectivization of agriculture and started heavy industrialization of Romania. New factories were built quickly as Romania attempted to

transform itself from a rural country into an industrialized one (Castellan, 1989). As the Communist leadership needed workers for the new factories, the education system emphasized the study of sciences in order to provide the state with a skilled workforce. It is not surprising that, during the 1950s, in the Romanian Ministry of Education mandatory curricula and syllabi for secondary education, the time-allocation for Romanian and for sciences showed the importance attached to those subjects. Romanian had 29.7% and math had 212% of the total teaching time available (International Yearbook of Education, 1955). During the 19561957 school year, the Romanian Ministry of Education, in order to establish closer links between schools and life, and between practice and productive work, took several steps to introduce polytechnical elements into general education by allocating hours in the curriculum for handwork and for farming for schools which had experimental land plots (International

Handbook of Education, 1957). Therefore, in 1958, ten years after the first educational initiative of the Romanian Communist Party, the Ministry of Education reported that education had been invested with a new realistic and scientific content with a view to providing a thorough general knowledge and a sound professional training. At the same time, greater emphasis was placed on establishing a strong connection between education and industrial and agricultural production (International Yearbook of Education, 1958). The year 1955 was the last year when Russian was compulsory as a first foreign language. Russian continued to be the main foreign language listed by official documents, but started to lose its privileged position. One possible explanation could be provided by the political situation of that time. As mentioned before, the Romanian Communist leader Dej started a heavy industrialization of Romania. This effort created tension between him and the Soviet Union, which desired to

assign Romania the more modest role of supplier of agricultural products and materials for the Soviet bloc countries. Dej rejected this plan that would have reduced Romania to a resource-production level and would have had a negative impact on the standard of living of Romanians. He thus started a 43 process that would try to reduce the overwhelming decision power of the Soviet Union over Romania (Castellan, 1989). Perhaps this educational decision of not making Russian compulsory was a reflection of that political decision. The second historical period of the 1960s, which recognized the importance of learning and teaching foreign languages in schools, was reflected in the Education Act of 1968. This education law brought several changes in the Romanian educational system. Quality standards in teaching and research were stressed, and cooperation between Romanian and Western European universities was initiated. Therefore, the learning of foreign languages was officially emphasized

by increasing the number of foreign classes in secondary schools. More students were allowed to enter the university to graduate in foreign languages and to become foreign language teachers. Over time, Russian disappeared almost entirely from schools and universities, to be replaced by English, French, and German (Georgescu, 1997). This period of effervescence in education in general and in teaching of modern languages in schools in particular started in the 60s and ended in 1971 with the July Theses of the Communist Party. Although the modern languages started to be recognized for their importance, there were still several problems that hindered their development. Demetrescu (1970) called her fellow Romanian teachers to be more involved in pedagogical research, to find solutions to local, context-specific problems not by merely applying findings from international foreign-language journals without taking into account the local conditions. She also criticized the lack of articles and

publications that dealt with foreign language teaching in Romania. The reasons for this lack were first, the absence of space for such publications in the production plans of publishing houses, and second, the absence of specialized foreign-language journals published in Romania. She noted that in many cases foreign language teachers had the impression that their research and findings were irrelevant, and they were reluctant to publish fearing criticism from their colleagues. Because Romania was a totalitarian country, where the Communist party controlled all aspects of Romanian life, education still suffered the influence of Communist ideology. Out of 42 papers submitted for passing a French teacher qualification exam between 1962 and 1969, four were about using the study of French to further the Communist education of Romanian students. It is critical to reiterate that, even though the end of the 1960s was the period of maximum ideological relaxation in Romania, Communist ideology

was an integral part of Romanian education. 44 The third historical period started when the Communist ideology reclaimed its absolute power over education with the Education Law of 1978. This act was a legislative reflex of the 1971 July Theses of the Communist Party, documents that demanded a return to a rigid ideological party line and reasserted the leading role of the party in all aspects of Romanian life. In education, the law of 1978 represented a return to totalitarianism and a considerable decline in the quality of Romanian education. Emphasizing the integration of education with production, it purged the theoretical fields, the social sciences, and the humanities almost entirely from school curricula (Constantinescu, 1995). According to a report submitted by the Romanian Ministry of Education during that period, the curriculum at each level was intended to develop pupils knowledge about the Communist Party, science, technology and culture, and to instill civic and working

class attitudes. In the first stage of second-level education (5th to 8th grade), the curriculum was based on the systematic study of Romanian, mathematics, history, geography, biology, music and physical education, while physics, chemistry, design technology, and (as options) two foreign languages were introduced. Practical work and, in rural areas, agriculture were stressed. The high-school curriculum made sure that students received a sound political, moral and intellectual education in accordance with socialist principles (International Yearbook of Education, 1980). As a result of these changes, foreign languages suffered a reduction in the number of classes in the secondary school curriculum and in the number of students allowed to graduate in foreign languages in order to become foreign language teachers (Constantinescu, 1995). Gradually, foreign languages lost much of the recognition they had gained, a loss reflected in curriculum organization and evaluation. Between 1985 and

1986, when the Romanian Ministry of Education did an evaluation of curricula, syllabi, textbooks, and courses at all levels of education, the focus was on hard sciences such as math, physics, chemistry, biology, and informatics. Regarding other disciplines of the Romanian curriculum for secondary schools, the evaluation paid attention only to Romanian language, history, and geography (International Yearbook of Education, 1988). The influence of Communist ideology on foreign language teaching became overwhelming. In a guide for supervising and controlling foreign language teachers, the sequence of criteria for evaluating foreign language teachers was as follows: professional training, political and ideological level, preparation for classes, methodological development of classes, level of students knowledge, and expansion of the linguistic 45 environment (Platcu, 1973). It is worthy of note that the criterion represented by the political and ideological level of the teacher

evaluated was number two on the list, before other criteria related more to teaching activities. To know and follow the party and the state documents and to participate at ideological seminars and debates was more important than to have a good knowledge of the curricula and textbooks, or to make sure that students proficiency satisfied curriculum requirements. Views on Foreign Languages and Foreign Language Acquisition The Romanian Ministry of Education designed mandatory curricula and syllabi for all educational institutions, but, at all levels, teachers had considerable latitude in regard to the teaching methods (International Yearbook of Education, 1955). Official documents on foreign language teaching revealed that the Ministry of Education did not impose a particular language acquisition theory, nor did it use language acquisition theories as a theoretical foundation for its recommended methods of teaching foreign languages. The Ministry established goals for modern language

teachers, who were not only to give students such practical knowledge of the language as would serve them as a basis for conversation and as means of access to written foreign language texts, but also to familiarize them with the culture of the people whose language they studied (Modern Languages at General Schools, 1964). Teachers could use whatever methods of teaching they chose as long as they covered curriculum requirements. The Ministry of Education decided what was to be taught and when, leaving the teachers to decide how to present the materials. In Romanian foreign language publications, several Romanian foreign language teachers and researchers expressed their views on foreign language acquisition in order to give substance to their call for innovation in foreign language teaching. Their views reflect a conflict between what was called traditional (emphasis on grammar) and modern (audio-lingual). The proponents of using more audio-lingual methods in Romanian foreign language

classrooms drew on the behaviorist perspective of language acquisition. Platcu (1973) considered language a phenomenon with its own organization and functioning, a complex system of elements that influence each other in order to fulfill a unique function: communication. Learning a language was a process of forming language behaviors since language was behavior. During the initial stages, the students attention was focused on meaning of utterances and not on form, which became automatic through repetition and not through explanation of abstract language rules. Consequently, Platcu (1973) considered as inefficient the teaching of foreign languages through rules 46 explanation and translation, and set new principles: priority of the oral aspect of language, selection of language based on frequency and productivity, and creation of language reflexes and automaticity. Based on the curriculum, textbook, and proficiency level of the class, the teacher could decide the structure of each

lesson. Accepting the priority of the oral aspect of language, the foreign language lesson had to reflect the natural order of language habit formation: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The students would learn to listen to what they heard, to correctly pronounce what they heard, to read what they heard, and to write what they listened to, pronounced, and read. It is noteworthy to mention here that to support his argument Platcu (1973) employed and cited Skinners theories on conditioning and forming behaviors. Chiosa (1970) discusses another corollary of the behaviorist theory, i.e contrastive analysis. Contrastive analysis established the differences between the native language and the foreign language to be learned. The systematic differences between the two languages were used in textbooks and exercises with the purpose of preventing and eliminating language interference (Chiosa, 1970). Interestingly enough, in the same article, Chiosa mentioned that the theory and the

practice of foreign language teaching are based on clearer concepts regarding the theory of language and make use of the findings offered by descriptive and contrastive linguistics. To her, the methodology of teaching foreign languages acknowledges the idea that communication is based on the Saussurian notions of language (langue) as a system and speaking (parole) as realization of this system. The application of this concept of langue-parole to the study of first language acquisition leads to a better understanding of language mechanisms, which imply competence, the internal grammar and performance, the creative capacity to generate and understand new utterances based on the governing rules of a language (Chomsky, 1964). Descriptive and contrastive linguistics come from two opposite views on language acquisition: descriptive linguistics is based on cognitive language acquisition theories, whereas contrastive linguistics is based on the behaviorist theory on language acquisition. In

spite of the sharp differences between the two theoretical models of language acquisition, i.e cognitive and behaviorist, Chiosa did not focus on the theoretical underpinnings, but rather on the practical use of the findings derived from those two opposing language acquisition frameworks. The emphasis was on method rather than worrying about theoretical preamble. Even today, this seems to have been a characteristic of foreign language teaching in 47 Romania, where the focus is on method, not on the language theory that is at the basis of a particular method. One can identify here a tradition of adaptation, of taking ideas from the Western theories on language and adapting, or localizing them in accordance with the needs of the local context. Curriculum The Romanian curriculum for foreign language teaching in general, and for English as a foreign language in particular, defined the general aims for foreign language learning, established the number of foreign language classes per

week, and recommended general teacher guidelines to be followed during a foreign language class. The purpose of foreign language teaching in Romania was limited not only to giving students such practical knowledge of the language to be used as a basis for conversation and as a means of documentation. Foreign language teaching aspired to acquaint Romanian foreign language students with the cultural values of the peoples whose language they studied (Modern languages at general schools, 1964). Therefore, the teaching of foreign languages in Romanian schools had as goals to create the foreign language student who could start speaking as soon and as correctly as possible, who were able to communicate on various topics, and who could ask and answer questions quickly and fluently (Macareanu, 1970). In the particular case of English as a Foreign Language teaching in Romania, the curriculum recommended the study of British English (Malita, 1960). The study of British English in schools and

universities did not mean the neglect of other variations of the English language, especially American English. However, the emphasis was on the British variety of English and a good command of British English was considered essential for the eventual learning of American idioms and expressions from movies, for example (Malita, 1960). The distribution of foreign language classes fluctuated during the period between 1945 and 1989. Table 1 illustrates the distribution of modern language classes for 1964 (Modern languages at general schools, 1964), where Russian, English, and French were the first compulsory language and the second compulsory language was a choice between these languages and German. The average percentage for the total time allocated to foreign language instruction was 12.5% In comparison, Romanian comprised 29.7% and math 212% of the total time available (International Yearbook of Education, 1955). Table 2 illustrates the fluctuation and change regarding modern language

teaching in Romania between 1945 and 1963 (Modern languages at general schools, 1964). 48 Table 1 Number of Foreign Language Hours/Week Grade 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 First compulsory language hours/week Second compulsory language hours/week 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 2 All hours 28 30 30 35 35 36 36 36 Table 2 Foreign Language Teaching in Romania between 1945 and 1963 Period Foreign Language Status 1945-1948 First modern language compulsory from grade 5 to grade 12, second language from grade 8 to grade 12. 1948-1956 First language compulsory from grade 4 to grade 11, and the second from grade 8 to 11. This periods educational cycle was 11 years instead of 12. 1956-1963 First language studied from grade 5, second from grade 6. The curriculum also advised foreign language teachers on how they should allocate their time in order to cover a lesson. As an example, generally, between the fifth and the eighth grades the curriculum for foreign language teaching allocated

three classes or hours of instruction per lesson. The new text was divided into two parts. The first class was assigned for the comprehensive study of the first part of the new text. The teacher presented the new vocabulary and grammar, and afterwards the students read the new text.The second class was dedicated to the comprehensive study of the second part of the new text, 49 while the third class was for grammar exercises and conversation (Macareanu, 1970). With the growing influence of the audio-lingual method in the 1970s, this lesson structure of foreign language curriculum came under scrutiny. Demetrescu (1970) identified a number of characteristics of curricula and textbooks in a methodological paper on the importance of using structure exercises in forming language behaviors for 9th and 10th year students (1st and 2nd year of French). First, there was a reduced number of introductory oral lessons for beginners, only three classes. Second, Demetrescu considered that the

written language was introduced too soon. Also, there were too many descriptive and narrative texts, combined with a lack of visual means that would have stimulated conversation in the contemporary spoken form of the foreign language studied. In spite of the criticism against the traditional method expressed by foreign language teachers who adopted the audiolingual approach, the Romanian foreign language curriculum continued to highlight the importance of the written aspect of the foreign language studied. The reasons were many First, literary texts in a foreign language were regarded as the most important means to introduce Romanian foreign language students to the culture of other peoples (Modern languages at general schools, 1964). In addition, Chiosa (1970) stated that the study of a foreign language in Romania started with the current system of that language, reflected in the standard literary language in order to equip students with the most apt instrument of communication. The

obvious source of literary language being literary texts, that can be one explanation why foreign language curriculum emphasized reading in a foreign language through the study of foreign language literature. Another explanation why reading was considered such an important skill in the foreign language curriculum is provided by Malita (1960). For Malita, the new audio-lingual approaches to foreign language learning, which considered language as being primarily an instrument for communication, made the learning of a foreign language faster, more efficient, and more popular among people. The new methods also encouraged the emergence of textbooks based on fundamental structures and basic vocabulary. However, for Malita, not all ideas that came with the new methods should be adopted indiscriminately. For example, in the United States, Malita considered that the fundamental focus for foreign language learning was on the oral aspect, so US citizens could carry conversations wherever they

traveled for business or tourism. Reading in a foreign language had a secondary importance because of cultural reasons, the US being a selfsustaining culture, and of technical reasons, the US having at 50 its disposal huge translation capabilities. In the case of Romania, the situation was different. A small country, Romania had to familiarize itself with the technological and scientific advances very quickly in order to make steady progress in its development. Because of lack of funds for the translation of the enormous volume of foreign publications, Romania and its educational system had to emphasize the skill of reading in a foreign language so that Romanian citizens would be up to date with the latest advances reported in technical and scientific literature. Therefore, Malita criticized those who considered speaking in a foreign language as the supreme goal of foreign language instruction, and recommended a balanced solution for small and medium countries. For these

countries, Malita suggested that the ability to decode a text in a foreign language should be slightly more emphasized in the instructional process. Another justification for the emphasis placed on reading in the foreign language can find its roots in the political situation of the time. Romania was a Communist country ruled by a totalitarian regime. There were many restrictions placed on its citizens, who were not allowed to travel freely from one country to another. When applying for a passport, Romanian citizens had to provide serious reasons for why they wanted to travel abroad, along with recommendations from the Communist party. Once their application was approved and their passport issued, they could not keep it at home. The passport had to be returned to the police headquarters immediately after they returned to Romania from their trip (Croghan, 1980). It was obvious that the government wanted to keep its citizens under strong control by not allowing them to travel freely.

Therefore, as an educational consequence for the foreign language curriculum, the political conditions at that time did not favor a strong emphasis on using language as a tool for oral communication. Syllabi and methods The curriculum guidelines for foreign language teaching were operationalized in foreign language syllabi, which were drawn up by the Ministry of Education. These syllabi prescribed for each class the lesson content and the number of hours allotted to each chapter. According to the Romanian Ministry of Education, the syllabi led to the assurance that there was a close connection between theoretical knowledge and practical life since an important place was reserved for the spoken language and the customary vocabulary. Grammar was taught in relation to the text studied, while literature in a foreign 51 language introduced Romanian students to the culture of other peoples (Modern languages at general schools, 1964). It is interesting to note that, in spite of the fact

that spoken language was assigned an important place, the Romanian foreign language curriculum required that reading had to be introduced to foreign language students as soon as possible (Macareanu, 1970), for some teachers too soon (Demetrescu, 1970). Also, the method suggested by the official Romanian Ministry of Education recommendations for foreign language teaching was mixed: it was a method that was both direct and grammatical. For beginning foreign language students the study of language started with an emphasis on the oral aspect of the language. Students were encouraged to listen and to speak in the new language. Then, the class moved to reading and writing in the foreign language studied. Therefore, the method used was direct at first, to become more and more grammatical afterwards. In other words, the modern method, which was more audio-lingual, led to the traditional approach, which was more grammatical in nature. In the more grammatically focused, or traditional class, the

foreign language lesson had three stages: the introduction of new words, the reading and comprehension of the new text, and grammar exercises and translation. Although visual materials were used during teaching, the main focus was the comprehension of the written text (Malita, 1960). There were also three moments in the foreign language class that used the direct method with audio-lingual influences. First, the new vocabulary was introduced through models and structure exercises and was decoded without translation through intuition, repetition, and conversation. Then, students read the text, followed by questions that tested the global meaning. The third class was dedicated to situational conversation. The text was viewed as a pretext for dialogue and oral use of language, not a purpose in itself, as it was perceived in a more traditional foreign language class (Platcu, 1973). Grammar teaching was also different in the traditional and modern approaches. In the more traditional classes,

grammar was taught as following: first, the rule was presented in the students native language, examples were provided, and then, exercises were done. Students had to memorize the grammatical rules. In modern classes, the grammar structure was presented in various contexts after which the teacher or the students analyzed the components using the foreign language. Then, students used the new vocabulary and structures in structure exercises (Platcu, 1973). Even though there were no mandatory methods to be used when teaching foreign languages in Romania, there were curriculum 52 guidelines that had to be followed. Therefore, even when the foreign language teachers decided to use the audio-lingual method, they had to adapt their methodology to fit the curriculum guidelines, which, as mentioned before, slightly more emphasized reading and writing in a foreign language. Macareanu (1970) adapted a new method for teaching French, audio lingual in nature. He included writing the new words

on the board, contrary to indications stated within the original guidelines of that new method. Moreover, during the second class, in order to follow the curriculum requirements of the Romanian Ministry of Education, the foreign language students were introduced to reading the new text, again, contrary to original method guidelines, which recommended introduction of reading as late as possible. Macareanu suggested that the method of using dialogue could be used in Romania, adapted to the curricula and textbooks. However, he added, teachers should not apply the method indiscriminately. The dialogue was considered useful when it fulfilled all requirements established by the curriculum. Because not all texts could be modified as dialogues, narrative texts were to be introduced to students through narration, which was another sign of adaptation. Other circumstances of mixed method that were in accordance with curriculum requirements and methodological recommendations of the Romanian

ministry of Education were offered by Platcu (1973). He considered that that learning a language was a process of forming language behaviors, since language was behavior. During the initial stages, the students attention was focused on the meaning of utterances and not on form, which became automatic through repetition and not through explanation of abstract language rules. Consequently, modern foreign language teaching considered as inefficient the teaching of foreign languages through rules explanation and translation. However, he allowed the use of translation for decoding new vocabulary, when other means did not exist, and for checking reading comprehension, when the teacher could use selective translations. Nonetheless, the main means for checking reading comprehension was still the dialogue based on the text (Platcu, 1973). These circumstances in which translation was allowed in an audio-lingual foreign language class offer another example of what was meant by the mixed method

recommended by the Romanian Ministry of Education. Evaluation The students work was assessed annually on the basis of the grades received during the year. The grades were from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest and 5 the passing grade (Modern languages at general schools, 1964). 53 Textbooks For each foreign language there was only one prescribed textbook per academic year. These prescribed textbooks were provided to students free of charge. The textbooks were compiled after the holding of a competitive examination among the most deserving of the teachers and were approved by the Ministrys educational and teaching publications office (Modern languages at general schools, 1964). Teachers Teachers who taught foreign languages in Romania were Romanian and held the legally required qualifications to teach modern languages. Citizens of the countries whose language was taught did not assist Romanian foreign language teachers. The prospective teachers of modern languages were not required to

spend a period in a country where the language they were to teach was spoken. Nonetheless, the Romanian state offered teachers scholarships for trips abroad and for attending international seminars and special courses. There were also courses and seminars held in Romania, to which specialists from USSR, France, England, and the German Democratic Republic were invited (Modern languages at general schools, 1964). Platcu (1973) reported some of the problems related to foreign language teaching staff. First, at the beginning of the 70s, there was a shortage in teachers qualified to teach foreign languages and too often substitutes who were not familiar with the foreign language they taught had been used. However, that problem was to be solved in the following two or three years by increasing the number of foreign language students in universities to become foreign language teachers. Another problem was the inadequate training offered by universities to prospective foreign language

teachers. Platcu (1973) reported that, out of twelve foreign language teachers who had just graduated from the university, only one knew how to operate a tape player. One last problem described by Platcu was that the busy schedule for both students and teachers negatively affected the quality of teaching. Summary To summarize, there are four major characteristics of prereform EFL teaching in Romania. The first characteristic was determined by the place of EFL within Romanian education. In the Romanian curriculum, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) was assimilated into the broader category of modern languages. Modern languages were studied in coordination with the study of Romanian and with that of geography and world history. They were thought to belong to the group of humanistic subjects with which 54 they formed a whole (Modern Languages at General Schools, 1964). Therefore, the Romanian educational system did not extensively particularize the goals, curriculum, syllabi, and

methods of EFL teaching and learning in Romania, but rather created goals, curriculum, syllabi, and methods applicable to all modern languages present in the Romanian curriculum. The second characteristic was the variation of importance assigned to foreign languages between 1948 and 1989, as reflected in the three major periods in which this interval can be divided. During the first period, represented by the 1950s, the study of foreign languages was encouraged, but not as emphasized as the study of Romanian or math. The second period of the 1960s represented a positive time for foreign language learning in Romania by allocating more hours of FL study and by introducing the first foreign language as early as the second grade. The third period, encompassing the 1970s and 1980s witnessed a return to emphasizing sciences and Romanian at the expense of foreign language education. The foreign languages studied in Romania between 1948 and 1989 were Russian, English, French, and German. It is

important to note that until 1955 Russian was compulsory as a first foreign language, but started to lose its privileged position, possibly because of the effort of Romanian Communists to reduce the overwhelming decision power of the Soviets over Romania (Castellan, 1989). The goals of foreign language teaching were to give students good conversation and reading skills, and to familiarize them with the cultural values of the peoples whose language they studied (Modern Languages at General Schools, 1964). The third feature of Romanian foreign language education was the overwhelming influence of the Romanian political background and of the Communist ideology on the Romanian educational planning and delivery between 1948 and 1989. One area was hour allocation. For example, in the 1950s, when the country started a program of fast industrialization, the Romanian education stressed the importance of sciences at the recommendation of the Communist leadership who needed skilled workers for the

new factories. As a result, the study of Romanian and math took 50.9 % of the total time available (International Yearbook of Education, 1955). Another area affected by the Communist ideology was the content of foreign language classes. Out of 42 papers submitted for passing a French teacher qualification exam, four were about using the study of French to further the Communist education of Romanian students (Demetrescu, 1970). The fourth characteristic of EFL education in the larger context of Romanian modern language education was the tradition 55 of adaptation, of localizing global trends in education. There are two areas that illustrate this tradition of adaptation: the foreign language acquisition theories on Romanian foreign language education and the methodology of Romania foreign language education. In the area of the influence of foreign language acquisition theories on foreign language education in Romania, Chiosa (1970) provided a very suggestive example when she

recommended the use of both contrastive linguistics and descriptive linguistics in Romanian foreign language teaching. Contrastive linguistics and descriptive linguistics come from two opposing theoretical views on language acquisition. However, Chiosa did not focus on the fundamental theoretical differences between the two opposing views on language acquisition, preferring to emphasize the use of their findings in the context of foreign language education in Romania. Another example of this tradition of adaptation at work was found in the methodology of Romanian foreign language education. The method recommended by the Ministry of Education was mixed. For the beginning students, the study of language emphasized the oral aspect, encouraging students to listen and to speak in the new language. Then, as the class progressed, reading and writing were the skills emphasized in foreign language education. The mixed method recommended was direct at first and became more and more grammatical

afterwards (Modern Languages at General Schools, 1964). One explanation for this interesting itinerary from a modern to a more classical approach in foreign language teaching, which emphasized the skill of reading in a foreign language was offered by Malita (1960). Malita recognized that soundness of many principles of new audio-lingual approaches, but he disagreed with the idea that reading in a foreign language had a secondary importance. Lacking funds for translation of the great number of foreign publications, Romania had to emphasize the skill of reading in a foreign language. That is why Malita suggested that small and medium countries adapt the audio-lingual approaches to their local conditions. In the case of Romania, adaptation required an instructional foreign language setting that placed an emphasis on the ability to read a text in a foreign language. The Situation of EFL Teaching and Learning after 1989 Political Context In December 1989, when people in the city of

Timisoara (NW of Romania) rioted against the Communist regime, the police responded with extreme violence. That triggered a revolt that spread to many other cities in Romania and ended over four decades of harsh Communist rule in Romania. The collapse of the 56 Communist regime in Romania provided a stark contrast to the events elsewhere in the region, where other Communist regimes were falling. In Romania, the fighting between armed forces, the killing of civilians and the execution of the countrys Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu painted a picture different from the swift and bloodless velvet revolution of Czechoslovakia, for example. The violence of December 1989 continued through Romanias immediate history. In March 1990, ethnic tensions between Romanians and Hungarians led to protests and riots in the city of Tirgu Mures. In May 1990, the newly elected Romanian president, Ion Iliescu, a former member of the Communist nomeklatura, called upon the miners from the Jiu Valley

to descend on Bucharest to crush pro-democracy and anti-Iliescu demonstrations. In September 1991, Iliescu called the miners to Bucharest once again and used them to force the removal of the Prime Minister Petre Roman, whose push for economic reform did not agree with Iliescus (Rady, 1992). The miners tried to descend on Bucharest twice in 1999 to voice opposition to the government policy. The police crushed the miners riots and their leader, Miron Cozma, was arrested. The pace of economic reform is another negative characteristic of Romanias transition from a Communist society to a democratic one. Although the majority of states in Central and Eastern Europe have experienced periods of hesitation in their progress, Romania too often stands out as a constant laggard in the reform process (Romania and Bulgaria: Those South-Eastern laggards, 1996). This is due not to the absence of efforts to pursue economic and political reform, but more to insufficient political will and flawed

implementation that undermined many of these efforts. Only slowly has Romania been coming to terms with the requirements, challenges and implications of transition. The negative note of violence and slowness in implementing reforms, which marked Romanias history after 1989, cannot be denied. However, there have been positive signs that all was not lost for Romania. The presidential and parliamentary election in November 1996 was such a sign. The November elections provided strong evidence that democracy had taken root in the country. The victory of Emil Constantinescu in the presidential election and the Democratic Convention of Romania led to the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in Romania since before World War II. For Romania and for other Central and Eastern European countries, the process of transition has been one of the most challenging projects in contemporary history. On the political level, Romania has been seeking to transform the restrictive 57 system of

the one-party state into a democratic and pluralist one. Additionally, Romania has been promoting the Western norms regarding human and minority rights and participation in European and Euro-Atlantic structures. In the economics arena, the transition process has been focusing on the creation of a fully functioning and competitive market by privatization, decollectivization of agriculture, and the exposure of the domestic economy to international competition. The social dimension of transition has been manifested in the attempts to replace the ideologically and politically determined social structure of Communist Romania with a structure based on merit, non-discrimination, and equal opportunity. Therefore, the changes resulting from the transition process will lead to a radical transformation of political and social life in Romania and in other Central and Eastern European countries affected by this process (Phinnemore and Light, 2001). First Steps in Education Reform in Romania after

1989 The changes resulting from the transition process cannot be limited only to political, economic, and social transformations. Education was one of the very first sectors that experienced the efforts towards change and reform shortly after the fall of the Communist regime. Merrit and Coombs (1977) identify several varieties of educational reforms from the perspective of policy change. Educational reform can be conducted to correct abuses, enhance efficiency, improve effectiveness, reform the policy process, accommodate new groups, and reformulate goals. Immediately after 1989, the first reform actions were conducted to correct the abuses of the Communist regime. In the days before 1989 Romanian higher education was a highly structured and centrally planned system. High school graduates were channeled into the desired disciplines at the universities and technical institutes as dictated by the Ministry of Labor and Industry. Upon graduation, they would immediately be assigned jobs.

After 1989, university students became the center of the educational process, not the Ministry of Education. Universities started to offer degrees in disciplines that had been highly restricted or forbidden under the Communist regime, e.g, social sciences. Universities also increased availability of those new high-demand areas of study, such as law or business that seem to hold out promise for high earnings in an economy moving toward free-market principles (Cristea & Gilder, 1997). These efforts of change in Romanian education were mostly unorganized and conducted without a clear formulation of goals. The next education reform efforts that followed the correction of abuses of the former regime can be defined more as a systematic reformulation of goals in education. Reformulating 58 goals means changing the values taught in the educational process, that is, in the case of Romania, a shift from a Communist, totalitarian society to a democratic one. Romanian Educational System

in the 90s Before the more organized reform projects, the Romania educational system had traces of Eighteenth century romanticism, of Nineteenth Century positivism, of Eastern European socialism, and of the unorganized efforts of changing and reform carried on after 1989 (Marga, 1998a). The existing educational system focused on passing on information, not on creation of knowledge. Students had to memorize and reproduce information, rather than to use it. The system, centralist (decisions were taken only by high ranking managers) and egalitarian (individual achievements received mostly token recognition) viewed development as simple expansion: increased volume of information, more classes, more exams, etc. Desired Educational Goals Marga (1998b) indicated the type of education Romania should have in place after the completion of the reform processes. In his opinion, Romania needed an education system that focused on values. The list of values that were fundamental for the new Romanian

educational system included punctuality, veracity, respect for others, and receptivity to evidence. Because of the new social, political, and economic system of Romania, Marga added that Romanian education had the duty of focusing on skills that would enable students to function in a system based on freedom and which required initiative, focus, effort, and ability to compete. Such skills mentioned by Marga were the skill of abstracting, the skill of expressing ideas and of testing solutions, the skill of team working, and the skill of debating. Recent Reform Projects In order to achieve these goals, the reform movement generated two major reform projects in Romanian education: the Education Reform Project and the Reform of Higher Education and Research Project. The Romanian Ministry of Education and Research coordinated the Education Reform Project, with a total cost of US$ 73.5 million of which US$ 50 million comes from a World Bank loan. The project had been in effect since October

1994 and ended in September 2001. The proposed project was aimed at supporting the Government’s strategy to reform basic and secondary education. There were two objectives to be accomplished by the project. First, it intended to update and improve the quality of basic 59 and secondary education by improving curriculum and teacher training, assessment and examinations, and textbook quality. Second, it planned to develop and introduce measures that would increase efficiency in management of public resources for education (Education Reform Project). The Reform of Higher Education and Research Project also coordinated by the Romania Ministry of Education and Research cost US$ 84 million, of which US$ 50 million represents a World Bank Loan. The project started in January 1997 and was completed on January 30, 2002. It had three objectives First, it developed programs at undergraduate and graduate level as required by the transition to a market economy. Second, it developed

postgraduate education and research training to supply the academic staff and highly qualified professionals with advanced training in the new fields demanded by the transition to a market economy. Then, it improved the ability of higher education councils and individual institutions to put into practice their responsibilities in the reform strategy (Reform of Higher Education and Research Project). Ziad Alahdad, the Chief of the World Bank office in Romania, noted several successes of Romanian education reform efforts supported by the World Bank in his address of a conference organized on the occasion of the closure of the Education Reform Project. According to Alahdad (2002), the quality of education in Romania improved significantly. Before the education reform, Romanian education was based on a highly centralized system, which had a standardized curriculum, a single textbook per subject, and ineffective student evaluation practices. The education system that replaced this system

through reform was characterized by a flexible curriculum framework, alternative textbooks, and a modern evaluation system. The reform process established a methodology for developing and assessing occupational standards and also developed a set of comprehensive standards. There were also notable improvements in the area of teacher training, financing and management. Moreover, Alahdad noticed that, even though the Education Reform Project was implemented during the mandate of several education ministers, each of them supported the project and contributed significantly to its continuity. As mentioned before the Education Reform Project had two objectives. The first objective was to improve the quality of basic and secondary education and the second one was to improve education financing and management. Several activities were carried out for the achievement of these two objectives of the project. The quality of basic and secondary education was to be improved through changes in

curriculum development, teacher training, assessment and examination, textbook design, 60 occupational and assessment standards. The education financing and management component introduced means to increase efficiency in the use of education resources, introduced autonomy in the management of resources, and diversified sources of financing for education. The New EFL Curriculum The Common European Framework For Modern Languages. Two elements influenced the creation of the new English as a Foreign Language curriculum to be used by the Romanian educational system. The first one was the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the second one was the new Romanian National Curriculum. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages was the creation of the Council of Europe. An organization of representatives of 21 western European states, The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 by Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway,

Sweden, and the United Kingdom for the purpose of promoting European cooperation, protecting human rights, and fostering social and economic progress. It has created and administered a range of organizations concerned with such matters as law, crime, and local government, and including the Council for Cultural Cooperation, which has been responsible for a series of initiatives on second language teaching throughout the 1970s 80s, culminating with the Common European of Reference for Languages (McArthur, 1992). In 1971, the British applied linguist John L. Trim (1978) initiated a series of projects, known as the Council of Europe Languages Projects, with the scope of improving the learning and teaching of European languages. These projects concentrated initially on an analysis of the needs of adult learners, the results becoming the content of syllabuses intended to serve as bases for a Europe-wide scheme. Learners were seen as needing to be able to express themselves in terms of

certain notions and functions. The description of the notions and functions was undertaken for various languages. Tables 3 and 4 illustrate these descriptions for English by Van Ek, published in 1975 and extended in the book Threshold Level English (Van Ek and Alexander, 1980). The threshold levels for the projects were not a syllabus or methodology per se, but a statement of content for a course design. A set of principles were proposed, in which language teaching should center on the learner, not the teacher, be relevant to the learners life, not remote academic goals, be part of permanent education, so that learning can be fostered at any time, be based as far as possible on participatory 61 democracy, and be communicative, so that the language is learned socially rather than alone, and geared to learning-by-doing. Table 3 Notions and Exemplification in English Notion Exemplification in English Existence There is Theres n Is there? To exist To move Motion Table 4 Functions

and Exemplification in English Function Exemplification in English Emotional attitudes Moral attitudes: apologizing This is very nice/pleasant! I am very sorry! Please forgive me! The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001), based on Threshold Levels, proposed a common basis for the development of language syllabi, curriculum guidelines, assessment, and textbooks across Europe. It addressed the questions of what language learners have to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively. In addition, the Common European Framework covered the cultural context in which language was set and defined levels of proficiency, allowing learners’ progress to be measured at each stage of learning and on a life-long basis. By overcoming the barriers to communication among professionals working in the field of modern languages due to the different educational systems in Europe, the Common

European Framework offered an invaluable tool for educational administrators, course designers, teachers, and teacher trainers to reflect on their current practice, to coordinate efforts and to make sure that they meet the real needs of the learners. The approach adopted in creating the Common European Framework was action oriented, meaning that it viewed users and learners of a language first and foremost as social agents, members of society who had tasks to accomplish in a given set of 62 circumstances, in a specific environment and within a particular field of action. Consequently, according to the framework, any form of language use and learning comprised the actions performed by persons who, as individuals and as social agents, developed a range of competences (general and communicative language competences). In various contexts under various conditions and under various constraints, they would draw on the available competences to engage in language activities involving

language processes to produce or receive texts in relation to themes in specific domains. They would also activate those strategies which seemed most appropriate for carrying out the tasks to be accomplished. The monitoring of these actions by the participants lead to the reinforcement or modification of their competences (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, 2001). While the Common European Framework was a non-language specific tool, it included a series of specifications of learning objectives which set out in detail what users of a specific language were most likely to wish or need to be able to do in the communicative situations in which they were to take part, and consequently what they had to know and the skills they had to develop in order to be able to communicate effectively in those situations. The Threshold Level was the central element that aimed to identify the minimal linguistic means that were necessary for a learner to

deal independently with the more predictable transactional and interactional situations of daily life as a visitor or temporary resident. A more elementary learning objective, known as Waystage, was developed to deal with the most urgent survival requirements. Also, a Vantage Level was produced as an objective for learners who had reached Threshold Level in their chosen language and wished to go further. This level meant not so much doing completely new things as needing to do them in a more adequate way, for example, with a greater range of vocabulary, more fluency and accuracy to deal with the complexities of daily life. A single model has been used for these three successive levels, which allowed for a flexible approach to adapting them to specific learning contexts and requirements. For example, extra stages can be introduced to create smaller more achievable steps to assist motivation, and the elements can be supplemented or reduced to meet specific needs. These conceptual tools

have been instrumental in planning and implementing language teaching based on desirable, appropriate and feasible objectives. Specifications have been developed to date for almost thirty national or regional languages, and others are in preparation (Shiels, 2001). 63 The position of the Framework regarding language acquisition, learning, and teaching was neutral. The Framework aimed to be not only comprehensive, transparent and coherent, but also open, dynamic, and non-dogmatic. For that reason, the Framework did not recommend any theoretical framework on language acquisition and its relation to language learning, nor did it exemplify any one particular approach to language teaching to the exclusion of all others. The Common European Framework viewed itself as encouraging all those involved in language teaching and learning to state explicitly and transparently their own theoretical foundation and practical procedures. The Framework set out parameters, categories, criteria and

scales which may possibly stimulate users to consider a wider range of options or to critically examine the assumptions of the tradition in which they were working. The text of the Framework did not consider such assumptions wrong, but suggested that all those responsible for planning in the field of modern languages could benefit from a re-examination of theory and practice in which they could take into account decisions other language practitioners took in other European countries (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, 2001). A descriptive document, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages did not provide policy guidelines. It aimed to encourage reflection and communication about all aspects of language learning, teaching and assessment and it provided a common basis and language for the elaboration of curricula, syllabuses, textbooks, examinations and teacher training programs across Europe. The Framework proposed to

facilitate coherence and transparency in the description of objectives, content and methods so that all the partners involved in modern language teaching could reflect on and coordinate their efforts in the interests of learners. As it also provided objective criteria for describing language proficiency, the Framework served as a calibration instrument for the equation of examinations and qualifications. The National Curriculum. Curriculum development was the first activity mentioned in the reform project for raising quality of basic and primary education. The reform project stated that it would assist in the preparation and implementation of new curricula for basic and secondary education, grades 1 through 12. According to the new Romania National Curriculum, the educational process is divided into three curriculum cycles: the basic knowledge acquisition cycle from kindergarten to second grade, the development cycle from the third grade to the sixth grade, and the observation and

orientation cycle from the 64 seventh grade through the ninth grade and on. The structure of the new Romanian National Curriculum is the same for all curricular cycles and consists of the following elements: attainment targets, reference objects, learning activities, syllabi, and curricular standard of performance (Curriculum National Programe Scolare pentru Clasele a III-a - a VII-a Limbi Moderne, 1999). Attainment targets are general objectives focusing on the formation of specific abilities and attitudes and are followed throughout several years of instruction. Reference objectives specify the expected results of instruction and follow the progress of acquiring information and abilities from one year of instruction to the next. The curriculum offers at least one example of learning activities for each reference objective. The learning activities examples start from real experiences of students and are integrated into teaching strategies that reflected different learning

contexts. The syllabi are means through which the attainment targets and the reference objectives are achieved. The units of syllabi are organized by themes or by areas of study. The curricular standards of performance are evaluation criteria for the learning process. They represent synthesized definitions, and are able to indicate the degree to which students achieve curriculum objectives. These standards represent the connection between curriculum and evaluation. They are used in creating the levels of performance and the necessary items for evaluation processes (Curriculum National Programe Scolare pentru Clasele a III-a - a VII-a Limbi Moderne, 1999). The Structure of the New EFL Curriculum. The English as a Foreign Language Curriculum (EFL) for compulsory education (grades 1 to 9) is also structured on the framework for the Romanian National Curriculum. Other factors that influenced the form and design of the new EFL curriculum were the importance placed on the role of objectives

in curriculum design, the necessity of mapping a united set of attainment targets and reference goals from the perspective of a communicativefunctional model of teaching and learning modern languages, the necessity to relate the syllabus to the communicative needs of students, and the guaranteeing of a seamless progression from one curriculum cycle to the next (Curriculum National Programe Scolare pentru Clasele a III-a – a VIII-a Limbi Moderne, 1999). The English as a Foreign Language Curriculum for Grades 3 to 9. As previously mentioned, the new EFL curriculum for grades 3 to 9 follows the structure of the new Romanian National Curriculum. The structure of the new curriculum contains the attainment targets, reference objectives, examples of learning activities, syllabi, sub-divided in themes, communicative 65 functions, and elements for communication building, and curricular standards of performance. The attainment targets are to be followed during the whole instructional

period between grades 3 and 9. The first attainment target is the development of the ability to understand oral messages, the second the development of the ability of oral expression, the third the development of the ability to understand written messages, the fourth the development of the ability of written expression, and the fifth the development of cultural representations and of an interest for the study of English language and Anglo-Saxon civilization. It has already been pointed out that the attainment targets mentioned above are to be followed during the entire instructional cycle between third and ninth grade. It would be beneficial for the understanding of the new EFL curriculum to take one grade and see how the attainments targets are operationalized. For example, for the third grade, there are four reference objectives for the first attainment target, the development of the ability to understand oral messages. They state that, at the end of the third grade, the student

should be able to recognize sounds specific to English, to identify words and phrases in speech, to react verbally and non-verbally to an oral message, and to understand the global meaning of a simple enunciation. Then, the curriculum mentions several examples of learning activities that would help the achievement of those reference objectives, such as identification exercises, discrimination exercises, responding to commands exercises, answering to questions exercises, true/false exercises. The syllabus for the third grade, like all EFL curricula for grades 3 to 9, is divided into three parts: themes, communicative functions, and elements for communication building. The themes for the third grade include the family (family members, professions, etc.), the home (rooms, furniture), the school, the weather, animals, etc. The communicative functions are grouped by theme and are to be developed progressively according to the level of lexical and grammatical proficiency. They are not to be

treated explicitly, but rather, presented in situational contexts. Such examples of communicative functions are: greetings and responding to greetings, introducing someone and being introduced to someone, giving and asking for information and directions, expressing likes and dislikes, expressing gratitude and responding to expressing gratitude, and formulating requests. The curriculum focuses on two elements in the area of building communication. The first one is grammar and the second vocabulary. The authors of the EFL curriculum specify that the grammatical categories listed in the curriculum belong to the specialized language and 66 that the terminology is not to be taught explicitly. The grammatical categories to be presented during third grade are nouns, definite and indefinite articles, subject pronouns, adjectives, numerals from 1 to 12, verbs in the present tense and present tense progressive, adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions. The vocabulary at the end of third

grade should be between 150 and 200 lexical units, words and phrases needed for effective communication. The EFL curriculum for the grades 3 to 9 does not include any standards of performance for grade 3, the standards being designed from grade 4 on. The curriculum for grade 4 states that for the first attainment target, the development of the ability to understand oral messages, the standard of performance is to understand the global meaning of an oral short text. For the development of the ability of oral expression, there are two standards: to reproduce a short message and to produce a short message. For the development of the ability to understand written messages, the curriculum also mentions two standards: to read a known text and to get the global meaning of a text read silently. The development of the ability of written expression has one standard: to write a short statement based on an image or a verbal prompt. The English as a Foreign Language Curriculum for Grades 10 to 12.

For the 10th, 11th and 12th grades the curriculum design started from two reference points: the curriculum for the ninth grade, which has a structure identical to the Romanian National Curriculum (attainment targets, reference goals, learning activities, syllabi, and curricular standards of performance) and the Common European Framework for Modern Languages published by the Council of Europe in 1998. From this perspective, the EFL curriculum is expected to build communicative competencies based on knowledge acquired in previous curriculum cycles and derived from a large European consensus (Curriculum Scolar pentru Limba Engleza Clasa a X-a, 1999). The structure of this EFL curriculum for the 10th, 11th and 12th grade includes general competencies, values and attitudes, specific competencies, and methodological suggestions. General competencies are defined as structures of knowledge and habits formed during high school. An example of such general competencies is the understanding of

oral and written messages in various communication situations. The values and attitudes are to be formed during high school. An example would be awareness of cultural stereotypes and fight against cultural stereotypes. The specific competencies are derived from general competencies and are formed during one academic year and correlated with the units of syllabi. This correlation constitutes the axis of the new curriculum, stressing its 67 pragmatic dimension. It becomes apparent not only what is learned but also why the syllabi are studied. An example of such specific competency is identification of details in authentic texts. The methodological suggestions are offered as support for the instructional process. For example, during 10th, 11th and 12th grade, it is recommended the using of the following communicative functions of language: expressing opinions, expressing satisfaction, expressing agreement and disagreement, offering information, etc. Four general competencies are to

be followed during the entire instructional phase between grades 10 and 12. The first one is the understanding of oral and written messages in various communication situations. The second general competency is the production of oral and written massages adequate to context. The third one is the interaction in oral and written communication, while the fourth one is the transfer and mediation of oral and written messages in various communication situations. The values and attitudes are to be followed, just like the general competencies, during the 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. The values and attitudes listed in the EFL curriculum include awareness of the contribution of the English language to contemporary culture, critical reference to British and American civilization, acceptance of differences, awareness of cultural stereotypes, development of critical, reflexive and independent thinking through the study of various texts in English, and manifestation of flexibility during the exchange

of ideas in various communication situations. The specific competencies, derived from general competencies are to be formed during one academic year. For example, for the first general competency, understanding of oral and written messages in various communication situations, the EFL curriculum for the 10th grade specifies three specific competencies: identification of main ideas in a clearly structured complex oral message on a specific topic, selection of information from various sources for completion of a task, and identification of details in authentic texts. The syllabi associated to those specific competencies comprise of oral presentations, interviews, oral reports, cultural comments, literary texts, narrative and descriptive paragraphs and texts, debates, etc. The methodological suggestions cover three areas: themes, elements for building communication, and communicative language functions. The curriculum for grade 10 suggests the following themes: contemporary aspects, such

as education, environment, society, and culture, life, such as lifestyles and social behavior, elements of English and American culture and civilization, and fiction and non-fiction English texts. The 68 elements for building communication are common for grades 10 to 12. The curriculum recommends the following: the noun, the adjective, verb tenses such as past perfect/past perfect continuous, future perfect/future perfect continuous, subjunctive, etc., the adverb, definite and indefinite articles, idioms, conditionals, etc. During 10th, 11th and 12th grade, The EFL curriculum suggests the using of the following communicative functions of language: expressing opinions, expressing satisfaction, expressing agreement/disagreement, offering information, giving advice, accepting/refusing invitations, expressing surprise/ doubt/curiosity/sympathy, persuasion, logical organization of an argument, logical organization of discourse, and conducting a debate. Evaluation There have been

several essential changes in the field of evaluation due to the reform process in Romanian education. One important change is the significant value attributed by the Romanian education reform to defining students standards of performance and encouraging standardized testing. The standards of performance are considered helpful to teachers when they evaluate their students because these standards provide a common set of criteria for assessment. Standardized tests are also thought to be useful. These tests could be diagnostic and administered at the beginning of instruction. The results would help teachers to adapt their teaching methods and techniques to the proficiency level of each class and would direct their attention to correcting gaps in the proficiency level of each class they teach. The presence of these standards of performance and standardized tests at the national level would allow relevant statistical comparisons among schools and geographical regions, and would enable

teachers to follow the individual progress of their students over extended periods of time (Reviews of National Policies of Education: Romania, 2000). Korka (2000) has analyzed two other aspects of modernization of school evaluation and examination. The first aspect is a qualitative one and involves replacing the primary education grading from a 1 to 10 scale with qualitative evaluation based on descriptors of performance. The second one is a quantitative one and entails organizing the school year in two semesters instead of the traditional three terms. Evaluation by assigning grades from 1 to 10 has been based more on teacher’s experience and perception rather than clear, relevant and unitary criteria. This aspect has generated a push for more standardized evaluation of knowledge, which was discussed previously, and for a substitution of traditional 1-10 grading with performance descriptors. The performance 69 descriptors for primary education, that the National Service of

Evaluation and Examination - an advisory institution of the Ministry of Education - has developed in agreement with the new curriculum made it possible to replace grades with performance descriptors. This aims to change a subjective assessment of the student with a much more objective one, which also takes into account the evolution of the student’s attitude towards every subject during the entire semester and not just a fragmented checking of knowledge. This new evaluation system involves a shift in attention from getting high grades for memorizing and reproducing knowledge to a selective acquisition of knowledge with a view to developing various skills and abilities selected according to cycles and curricular areas. Organizing the school year in two semesters can lower the frequency of review checking targeted at the quantity of stored knowledge. Short evaluations carried out during each semester are maintained, yet they are completed by the three-week end-ofterm evaluations. The

aim of the latter is to find out every student’s progress in the learning process of each subject. Textbooks During the Communist years and the time before the more recent education reform projects, there was only one state-run publishing house that was authorized to publish school textbooks in Romania. This situation changed after the World Bank and the Government of Romania started the Education Reform Project. One of the objectives of the this education reform effort was to put an end to the monopoly of the Didactic and Pedagogic State Publishing House and to stimulate the creation of a private sector for the publishing of school textbooks. The total sum allocated for the textbook component of the Education Reform Project was USD 39.3 million, which was used to reform 250 textbook titles, representing 50% of the total number of textbooks. Now the publishing houses compete for the editing of maximum three textbooks per school subject. Then, they are selected by the National Council

for Textbook Approval, which has evaluation panels for each subject. Then, the selected textbooks are presented to teachers during exhibits organized by the local branches of the Ministry of Education, the teachers selecting one of the three approved textbooks. After the teachers decide what textbook to use, the textbooks are ordered through the Ministry of Education. As a result of the Education Reform Project, Romania has developed a functional industry in the area of textbook publishing. The state-run Didactic and Pedagogic Publishing House was not favored by its monopoly any longer, having to 70 compete with the new private publishing houses (Reviews of National Policies of Education: Romania, 2000). Teachers For primary education, the teachers receive their training in pedagogic high schools or university colleges. In the case of university colleges, the length of study is two years for pedagogic high school graduates and three years for other high school graduates. Primary

school teachers are responsible for teaching all subjects except for music, foreign languages, physical education, and religion. Only secondary school teachers can teach these subjects. In order to be a secondary school teacher, the candidates have to attend a four-year college or university (Reviews of National Policies of Education: Romania, 2000). The education reform has impacted teacher training at two levels. The first one is the initial teacher training, where students at Romanian universities prepare to be teachers, while the second level is the in-service teacher training. In the area of the initial teacher training, the colleges and universities have had to adapt their curriculum to include the new trends and practices represented by the framework of the new Romanian National Curriculum for primary and secondary education. The new program of study for the methodological training of the future educators, carried out in the Department for Teacher Training of the university, has

two components. The first one is a compulsory curriculum with subjects such as Psychology of Education, Pedagogy, Subject Teaching Methodology, and Teaching Practice. The second component is an optional curriculum, which includes at least two subjects chosen by the student from the following list: School and Vocational Guidance, School Management, Education Sociology, Educational Policies, and Intercultural Education. In the area of in-service training, the education reform has two objectives. The first one is to train in-service teachers to understand, adopt and apply the new elements in the National Curriculum, and to adapt the teaching technology and evaluation to the new requirements starting with the school year 1998/1999. The second one is to expand the inservice teacher training capacity For this purpose, a National Council for Teacher Training has been set up. Its activities benefit from consultancy and technical assistance provided by the Educational Center of the USA. Key

institutions involved in continuous training programs are the Teachers’ Houses in every county. They work with the school inspectorates, the regional centers, the local universities, non-governmental organizations and independent experts to cover the need for continuous training by organizing cascade training programs that 71 disseminate new knowledge within the entire county. The teachers’ houses also provide a framework for conceiving, exploring, and generalizing new teaching solutions for the teaching-learning process, evaluation, and examination (Korka, 2000). In the area of English as a Foreign Language, the British Council has invested important financial resources in EFL teacher training. In a private conversation with Octavian Patrascu, who is a modern language teaching expert with the Romanias National Curriculum Center and a member of Romanias National Committee for EFL, he listed several initiatives conducted under the auspices of the British Council between 1991

and 2002. The first one mentioned was a ten-week training session for EFL county supervisors in Plymouth, United Kingdom, between 1991 and 1994. Then, teacher trainers, one per county, were trained through courses in Romania and the UK between 1992 and 1995. During the same period, the British Council trained sixteen textbook authors for ten weeks in the UK. The series textbook Pathway to English was a result of that training session of the British Council. Also, from 1994 to 2002, the British Council had organized the English Language Teaching (ELT) conferences for primary, secondary, and tertiary education. And finally, in 1998, it attempted to connect the English examination of the baccalaureate with the Common European Framework for Languages(O.Patrascu, personal communication, October 13, 2002). Characteristics of the New EFL Curriculum First, the new EFL curriculum is a direct result of the Romanian education reform movements, reflecting the new political, social, and economic

orientation of Romania. It is based on new values and a new ideology (Marga, 1998a), oriented toward European integration. Second, the theoretical framework of the new EFL curriculum is the communicative-functional model of learning and teaching. This model, inspired by the Common European Framework is the basis for the attainment targets and reference objectives for all modern languages studied in Romania. Third, from a structural point of view, the new EFL curriculum can be divided into two. For the grades 3 to 9, the curriculum is based on the new Romanian National Curriculum and incorporates attainment targets, reference objectives, examples of learning activities, syllabi, and curricular standards of performance. For the grades 10 to 12, the curriculum is based on previous foreign language knowledge of students resulting from applying the EFL curriculum from grades 3 to 9 and the Council of Europes Common European Framework for Modern Languages. It 72 comprises general

competencies, values and attitudes, specific competencies, and methodological suggestions. Fourth, there is evidence of continuing the tradition of adaptation in foreign language learning and teaching. Although the model on which the new EFL curriculum is based is communicative-functional, the explicit teaching of grammar is still playing an important role as a result of the pre-reform Romanian foreign language teaching and learning background. The adaptation of global trends to local pre-existent conditions is more evident when the analysis moves from the EFL curriculum to EFL textbooks based on the new EFL curriculum. Summary This chapter has provided a comprehensive picture of the English as a Foreign Language teaching before and after the reform. The chapter first presented the situation of EFL in Romania prior to the recent educational change, and then focused on the EFL curriculum reform in Romania as a result of the Romanian education reform efforts. Consequently, this chapter

has answered the first research question of the study, which was what EFL reform is in Romania. The following chapter is directed to answering the second research question of the study, how international trends in education, stemming from the globalization movement, and local factors might influence the EFL curriculum reform in Romania. 73 CHAPTER 5 THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL IN THE NEW ROMANIAN EFL CURRICULUM Introduction The purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, it addresses the second research question of the study, which is how international trends in education, stemming from the globalization movement, and local factors might influence the EFL curriculum reform in Romania. Second, it includes the conclusions of the study along with possible directions for further research. To address the second research question, the chapter is organized in three parts. First, it describes the model for representing education reforms and initiatives as a result of the interaction between

the global and the local forces. Then, the global and the local influences on EFL curriculum reform are identified in order to situate that particular reform movement under one of the four categories of the representation model. The last section of the chapter is dedicated to the presentation and discussion of the conclusions of the study, which also included possible directions for future research that would focus on EFL curriculum reform in Romanian education. The Global-Local Interaction in Education The purpose of this chapter is to analyze how the global forces, in conjunction with the local context influenced the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform in Romania. The dynamic interaction between the global and the local in politics, economics, culture, history and education has been examined in the second chapter of this study. The results of the globalization movement interacting with the local context in the field of education have been conceptualized as a continuum

with four distinct categories: global versus local, global and local, local and global, and local versus global. To understand where the EFL curriculum should be represented, it is beneficial to restate the four categories of the representation model. In the category of global versus local, this study has examined several World Bank educational projects. The World Banks belief that technical expertise and apolitical solutions could overcome many development problems in Third World countries led to a strategy of ignoring the local context when implementing World Bank-funded educational reforms (Berman, 1997). As a consequence, many of these projects have fallen short of delivering the promised results. One such project is 74 the textbook project in Liberia suspended by the government because of a series of problems derived from the local context. The Bank did not realistically evaluate the ability of Liberian students to pay for textbooks, which were too expensive for some students

and parents. Another local factor ignored by the World Bank was the economic stagnation of Liberia at the time when the project was implemented, thus making the implementation more difficult for a government dealing with economic constraints. Also, the existence of a parallel textbook project funded by USAID and put into practice at the same time as that of the World Bank created problems for the textbook project of the latter. The analysis of such educational initiatives revealed that donor agencies ignored or paid little attention to local context, which later played a large role in a projects success or collapse. In these cases, the global has overruled the local The second category on the continuum is global and local. In this representation, the global forces are mediated by the local context in what Appadurai (1996) called vernacular globalization. In Appadurais view, a tension exists in schools of restructured educational systems between top-down and localized practices, all

nested within the flow of globalization. The outcome of these collisions between global and local educational practices is vernacular globalization, in which the local, represented by national history and politics mediated globalization. Lingard (2000) offered an example of vernacular globalization in his study where he analyzed two Australian policy settlements in education generated by two ideologically opposed parties. Lingard noticed that, in spite of the fact that both settlements were framed by the new global educational policy consensus, there were still differences between the two, caused by different party beliefs and different electoral support basis. This example of Australian education reinforced what Ball noticed in 1998, that the policy convergence across nations in education is mediated, translated, and redefined within national and local educational structures. In the case of the third category on the continuum, represented by the local and the global, the local

community recognizes the importance of the global context but it is not influenced by global aid agencies and supranational organizations because either the government lacks the resources or the community simply refuses to accept external aid. This course of the local mediated by global has been successfully followed by Kenya with its Harambee schools and by India with its Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP). Both educational projects recognize the importance of development and campaigned for literacy, for science education, for rationality and modernity in general, which are also key elements in the 75 globalization discourse. The difference is that the local context has a more important role in the global-local interaction when implementing these educational mandates (Zachariah, 1989). The last category on the continuum, local versus global, is the response against top-down globalization. In the field of education, this resistance against globalization has taken the shape of

the Islamic schools of the Middle East. The teaching of the students in these schools has been explicitly directed against modernity and global influences, seen as Westernization or Americanization. For example the Islamic religious schools (madrashas) of Pakistan take the children of the poor, provide them with free education, meals, and clothing, and teach them to be soldiers of Islam and fight against globalization and America. In the views of the Islamic schools, America is the promoter of a cultural system that is shallow and hollow from inside, unable to bear the load of life for the future times (Barber, 2001). Figure 2 in Chapter 2 has illustrated the model of representation in the form of a chart of global and local interactions in the field of education. Next, following the discussion of the global-local representation model used for denoting educational initiatives, the Romanian English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform is analyzed from the perspective of the global

and the local influences. The previous chapter offered a comprehensive picture on the EFL teaching in Romania prior and after the reform movement. This chapter moves away from description and focuses more on interpretation with the purpose of situating the EFL curriculum reform under one of the four categories of the representation model. Influences on the Romanian EFL Curriculum Reform According to Ginsburg et al. (1990), some comparative education specialists consider educational systems completely autonomous systems or relatively autonomous systems, documenting a certain degree of education’s autonomy. However, political, economic, and cultural forces should be incorporated in models utilized to explain educational reform movements to better represent them. These influential forces could have external and internal sources, both the global and the local undisputedly shaping the directions and the results of reforms in education. Global Influences At least three global sources play

an important role in the reform of English as a Foreign Language learning and teaching in Romania. The first source is the World Bank, which exercises 76 financial and ideological pressure on the Romanian education reform. The second source is the European Union, which influences the design of the new Romanian EFL curriculum through the Common European Framework for Languages. The third source of influence is the British Council, which funds EFL teacher training programs and EFL conferences. The World Bank. As previously stated in Chapter 4, the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform is a direct result of the Education Reform project, coordinated by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research. The Education Reform Project intended to accomplish two objectives: to update and improve the quality of basic and secondary education and to increase efficiency in the management of public resources for education. In order to increase the quality of primary and secondary

education, the reform project focused on improving curriculum and teacher training, assessment and examinations, and textbook quality. Second, it planned to develop and introduce measures that would increase efficiency in management of public resources for education. The project heavily relied on external financial sources: its total cost was US$ 73.5 million of which US$ 50 million came from a World Bank loan (Education Reform Project). It is then apparent from Chapter 4s description of recent education reform projects that the World Bank has been an important player in the Romanian education reform. World Bank loans were the main source of funding for carrying out the project of changing the Romanian education system. Therefore, it is not surprising to notice that the directions and the proposed outcomes of Romanian education reform are similar and almost congruent with the policy directions in education of the World Bank. Several common points come to light when comparing the

framework of Romanian education reform (Marga, 1998a) with the education strategy sector policy of the Bank (World Bank, 1998). Both documents stress the importance of basic education and put a strong emphasis on early interventions such as early child development and school health programs. They both insist on adopting innovative delivery methods in education through distance education, open learning and the use of new technologies. Also, both World Bank and the Romanian Ministry of Education recognize the importance of a systemic reform that would promote standards, reform the curriculum, emphasize assessment, encourage governance and decentralization, and support investment in education. According to the World Bank (1998), education is perceived as a very important factor in improving peoples’ lives and reducing poverty by helping people to become more productive and earn more (education as an investment, strengthening peoples’ 77 skills and abilities), by improving health

and nutrition, by enriching lives directly, e.g the pleasure of intelligent thought and the sense of empowerment it helped give, and by promoting social development through strengthening social cohesion and giving more people better opportunities. Education thus contributes, within the context of a sound macro-economical development and political environment, to the entire society’s growth and development, which in turn raises incomes for all (World Bank, 1998). This idea of considering education extremely important and in direct relationship with the economic situation of a country is also present in the Romanian educational reform movement and constitutes proof of the World Banks strong influence on Romanian education. It is explicitly stated by the Romanian Minister of Education that Romania is admittedly one of the poorest countries in Europe and that the educational system has been partly responsible for the status quo of Romanian society. In his opinion, education alone can

dramatically change the economic status and the welfare of a people (Marga, 1998a) The World Banks influence on the Romanian education reform in general and on the EFL curriculum reform in particular is obvious. The Romanian education reform initiative has been framed and funded by the World Bank, and the EFL curriculum reform is a direct result of the Education Reform project conducted under the auspices of the World Bank. The European Union. If the World Bank contributed to the shaping of the general direction of the education reform in Romania, the European Union has decidedly influenced the structure of the new English as a Foreign Language curriculum. Chapter 4 presented in detail the new EFL curriculum for grade 3 and for grade 10. The two examples of curriculum reflect the strong influence that the Common European Framework has had on Romanian EFL curriculum design. For the 3rd grade EFL curriculum, there are several aspects that point out the tremendous influence of the Common

European Framework on its design. The first example can be found in the introductory notes for the EFL curriculum cycle of grades 3 through 9. Chapter 4 reviewed these introductory notes In them it is acknowledged that the communicative-functional model of teaching and learning modern languages and the necessity to relate the syllabus to the communicative needs of students are the elements that shaped the new EFL curriculum. It is then interesting to note that these elements are also key principles for the Common European Framework. According to the Common European Framework, language teaching should be communicative, should center on the learner, not the teacher, and should be relevant to the learners life (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, 2001). 78 Other examples of common elements become more obvious when the focus moves from describing, which was done in Chapter 4, to comparing how this pivotal concept of communication is operationalized in the two

documents. The Common European Framework defines communicative language competence as having three components: linguistic competences, sociolingusitic competences, and pragmatic competences. Under the category of linguistic competences, the Common Framework listed lexical, grammatical, semantic, phonological, orthographic, and orthoepic (pronunciation) competences. Therefore, it is not surprising to note that the grammatical and lexical competences are presented as crucial elements for building communicative competence for the Romanian EFL curriculum for grade 3, given the recognized influence of the Framework on the Romanian EFL curriculum. The curriculum for grade 10, also presented and discussed in Chapter 5, indicates the deep influence of the EU through the Common European Framework for Languages. First, as stated in Chapter 4, the foreword to the curriculum for grade 10 explicitly affirms that the Common European framework is the fundamental element that inspired the EFL

curriculum design for grades 10, 11, and 12. As a result, the EFL curriculum for grade 10 emphasized the notion of competences that is pivotal for the structure of the Common European Framework. The Framework states that any form of language use and learning encompasses the actions performed by persons who develop a range of general and communicative language competences. In various contexts under various conditions and under various constraints, they would draw on the available competences to engage in language activities involving language processes to produce or receive texts in relation to themes in specific domains. The comprehensive description of the structure Romanian EFL curriculum for grade 10 provided in Chapter 4 confirms that the EFL curriculum reflects and builds upon the notion of competence as conceptualized by the Common European Framework and adapted to the specific conditions of the Romanian EFL environment. Therefore, the influence of the Framework on Romanian EFL

curriculum can be felt not only at the conceptualization stage, but also at the operational one, too. The British Council. The World Bank has directed the Romanian education reform towards the reform of the curriculum, which included the creation of a new EFL curriculum. The new Romanian EFL curriculum has been build around the Common European Framework for Languages of the European Union. These two external pressures have been present at the level of initiation and creation of the new EFL curriculum. As noted in Chapter 4, the influence of the British Council on the Romanian EFL curriculum has been felt more at the level of curriculum 79 implementation and has had four major directions. The first one is teacher training. Between 1991 and 1994 the British Council organized ten-week sessions for EFL county supervisors and courses for teacher trainers between 1992 and 1995. The second is training for EFL textbook authors. The third is EFL conferences for primary, secondary, and

tertiary education. The fourth is connecting the evaluation component of the Romanian EFL curriculum to European evaluation standards by attempting to link the English examination component of the Romanian baccalaureate with the Common European Framework for Languages. Local Influences As revealed by the model of interpretation presented in Chapter 2 and briefly revisited at the beginning of this chapter, the local background plays an important role in determining the direction and the outcome of education reforms. In the case of Romania, this study selected four local sources of influence that played an important role in deciding the course of education reform in general, and of the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform in particular. These four elements associated with and derived from the local context are historical, cultural, educational, and political. History and culture. The study of the history of Romania shows that the geographical position of the country influenced

its history and culture. As mentioned in Chapter 2, in the past, Romania had been under the political and cultural influence of powerful Western and Central European nations such as Poland, Austria, France, and Hungary. Nevertheless, Romania had had other sources of influence that left a mark on its history and culture. The Turkish Empire had had Romania under its dominance for three centuries. Russia and Greece, countries of Eastern Orthodox faith had also exercised a great deal of influence over Romania in the distant and recent past. Romania had had to resolve a dilemma that defined the very core of its cultural identity: is Romania at the gates of Europe, is it at the gates of Asia, or both? The West versus East dilemma seems to have produced a country that has struggled to affirm its European identity and to convince Europe that Romanians are European, too. This strong affinity to Europe and its values is not a recent phenomenon, but rather comes from a long tradition of trying to

move Romania culturally closer to Europe. Such efforts have been very well documented in the history of Romanian education. For example, in the 15th and 16th century, the nobility of the Romanian kingdoms of Moldova and Muntenia sent their sons to study in Poland and Austria. Despot Voda, who ruled Moldova between 1561-1563, founded a college with German professors where Latin was the language of instruction, the first effort for an institution based on Western European 80 educational structures. A college where Latin was the language of instruction opened in Moldova in 1639. A college with teaching in Greek and Latin was established in Muntenia in 1649 (Georgescu, 1991). The analysis of the educational context of the 19th century reveals that there was no homogenous development of Romanian education and identifies two major influences on the structure and content of education. In Romanian-speaking provinces of Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, there was a strong German, Austrian

and Hungarian influence due to the direct political dependence of these historical provinces of the Austrian Empire and later on the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On the other hand, there was a strong French influence in the Romanian principalities of Moldova and Muntenia that was the outcome of study visits to France (Georgescu, 1997). These are only several examples from a very long list of constant attempts to synchronize the Romanian education and culture to European education and culture in order to affirm the identity of Romanians as Europeans. These synchronization efforts, which are to be found not only in education, but also in politics, arts, and literature, seem to indicate that Romanians have considered themselves first and foremost European in spite of a geographical position that might have suggested otherwise. Another historical factor that must be accounted in the East/West dilemma is the fact that Romanians always regard the East with suspicion. The East is from where the

devastating hordes of Tartars and the Ottoman Empire came in the 15th, 16th, and 17th century, from where the Russian Empire tried to stretch its dominance over the Romanian provinces in the 18th and 19th century, and from where the Soviet Union came to dominate the destiny of Romania for a good part of the 20th century. On the other hand, the West and Western Europe have been considered a model to be copied and followed, a source of knowledge and civilization. As a result, mostly everything that comes from the West is accepted and embraced, and mostly everything that comes from the East is criticized and rejected. This struggle between East and West is reflected in the cultural characteristics of the Romanian people as well. Zait (2002) tries to analyze the Romanian culture through the perspective of individualist and collectivist cultural dimensions first defined by Hofstede (1986). Individualist cultures assume that any person looks primarily after their own interest and the

interest of their immediate family. Collective cultures assume that any person through birth and possible later events belongs to a particular group from which they cannot detach themselves. This particular group protects the interests of its members, but in turn expects their permanent loyalty. Zait (2002) concludes that, initially, the Romanian culture can 81 be placed under the category represented by collectivist cultures. However, he remarks that Romanian culture is not purely collectivist and that there are indications that there are strong individualistic traits present. This can also be a result of the East/West dilemma of Romania. In the case of Romanian culture, the East contributes to the collectivist dimension and the West to the individualist one. Pre-existing conditions in education. After the review of global factors of influence, it is obvious the overwhelming influence of external sources not only on the Romanian educational reform movement in general, but also on

the new Romanian EFL curriculum. As already mentioned, the new EFL curriculum overtly stated that the Common European Framework for Languages was its guiding source of reference. The many points that the two documents, the Common European Framework and the new Romanian EFL curriculum have in common have been discussed previously when the influence of the European Union as a global source of influence was examined. However, the new EFL curriculum has not verbatim included the principles of the Framework, but rather filtered them through the pre-existing local EFL conditions. For example, according to the Common European Framework, communicative language competence has three components: linguistic, socio-linguistic, and pragmatic competences. The linguistic competences are comprised of lexical, grammatical, semantic, phonological, orthographic, and orthoepic (pronunciation) competences. Interestingly enough, not all competences have been given equal value in the new Romanian EFL

curriculum. As seen in the EFL curriculum for grade 3 presented in Chapter 4, the grammatical and lexical competences have been selected and presented as crucial elements for building communicative competence. The other competences are also addressed, but not as directly as the grammatical and lexical one. This is not surprising if the Romanian EFL context is factored in. The study of past EFL teaching and learning in Romania has revealed that for the beginning students, the study of language focused on the oral aspect. Students were encouraged to listen and to speak in the new language. Then, as the class progressed, reading and writing were the skills emphasized in foreign language education. The mixed method recommended was direct at first and became more and more grammatical afterwards (Modern Languages at General Schools, 1964). Strong grammar and reading skills were the mark of EFL education before reform. Therefore, the Common European Framework has been in a sense more adapted

than adopted to the local need of EFL teaching and learning in existence before the implementation of the new curriculum, leading to a reaffirmation of the importance of grammar and reading. The tradition of adaptation, noticed in 82 Chapter 4 as a characteristic of pre-reform EFL teaching and learning in Romania continues through this new EFL curriculum based on the interpretation of the Common European Framework through the local EFL conditions. Political situation. Until 1989, Romania was a totalitarian country under the political and economic influence of the Soviet Union. The revolution that happened in December 1989 brought forth a dramatic transformation. No longer a country under the Soviet Unions thumb, Romania became a parliamentary democracy, striving to become a member of NATO and the European Union. One of these goals, the NATO membership, has already been achieved in November 2002, when the NATO alliance decided to invite Romania to join. The membership in the

European Union is going to take longer to obtain. The European Union proposed 2007 as a very strongly possible year for Romanias acceptance in EU. These two goals have had a great deal of influence on the local decision making, regardless of the political parties that have been in power in Romania. All major political and economic decisions have been made taking into account the fact that the goal is integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, in a way a return to Europe after a long and forced absence. Negotiations between Romania and EU officials started immediately after December 1989 and in spite of the slowness of the process, there has been significant progress. To underline the importance of the process of European integration, the Romanian government created a cabinet post and a ministry for European integration. The job of the minister for European integration is to make sure that Romania complies with all the necessary political, economic, legislative, educational, etc.

changes that need to be undertaken in order to become a full member of the European Union. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Romanian government accepted the World Bank loan and the World Bank education reform framework when reforming its own educational system and that the framework for the new EFL curriculum is the Common European Framework for Languages generated by EU. Interpretation and Representation of the EFL Curriculum Reform After the description of the new Romanian EFL curriculum in Chapter 4 and after the examination of the global and local sources that influenced the creation of the new curriculum, one possible interpretation emerges. The EFL curriculum reform, at the document level of analysis, can be represented as resulting from a convergence of the global forces with the local context. The fact that there has been strong support for reform derived from a strong desire to integrate Romania into the European union leads to the conclusion that the global is more

powerful than the local in setting the direction of education reform in 83 Romania, as reflected in the official documents on Romanian education reform. The EFL curriculum reform then falls under the second category of the representation model. It is a top-down, globaland local education initiative Figure 2 presented in Chapter 2 represented the interpretation model with Romania EFL curriculum reform not listed under any category. Figure 3 places the new English as a Foreign Language curriculum under the appropriate category. Local Context Global Context Globalization History, politics, culture, etc. Education ---------Top-Down----------Global vs Global and Local Local --------Bottom-Up------Local and Local Vs Global Global Textbook project in Liberia Australian education policy Harambee schools in Kenya STC in Liberia New EFL curriculum in Romania KSSP in Kerala, India Islamic Schools in Pakistan Figure 5.1 Representation of Romanian EFL curriculum in the model of

global-local interaction in education Directions for Further Research The present study has focused on the interaction of the global forces with the local context as reflected in education reforms and initiatives. Consequently, the directions for further research point toward the two elements of the relationship, the global and the local. 84 Global In Chapter 2 various education reforms and projects have been analyzed from the perspective of the symbiotic relationship between global forces and local environments. The analysis generated a model of representation with four categories under which education reforms could be placed. Further research in education can utilize this model of representation when examining various past and current education initiatives. Such research can be regional and could be exemplified by a future cross-country study of English as a Foreign Language teaching and learning in Eastern Europe. Such study can focus on English as a Foreign Language reforms

implemented in Eastern Europe and on similarities and differences among these projects. The representation model illustrated in Chapter 2 would then be used when discussing EFL reform in Eastern Europe. Future research can progress from regional to global and analyze English as Foreign Language initiatives that have been implemented or are in the process of implementation all over the world. Upon the analysis, the research would attempt to place them under one of the categories of the representation model proposed in Chapter 2. It is important to mention that this model is not rigid. Other categories can and should be added for better representing education reform in general and EFL reform in particular. For example, there is a strong possibility that future research can reveal an ideal situation where the local and the global are equally influential in developing educational projects. The relationship between the global and the local is very complex and in constant change. Therefore,

the representation model presented in this study is not and cannot be final and complete. It is rather part of a boundless process in which the relationship between the global and the local is examined and new elements and interpretations are constantly added. Local The main focus of this study has been the examination of the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform in the larger context of Romanian education reform. The investigation of the new Romanian EFL curriculum concentrated on the pertaining documents generated by the Romanian Ministry of Education. However, further research at the local level is needed for a more comprehensive picture of EFL teaching and learning in Romania. The EFL curriculum reform can be described as an important link in Romanian EFL. Other links relate to it and it is necessary, therefore, to investigate them as well. One example of such a link is the new EFL textbooks based on the new EFL curriculum and used in Romanian classrooms. It is worth 85

investigating the process through which new EFL textbooks are selected and utilized in the classroom. As discussed in the previous chapter, the publishing houses compete for the editing of maximum three textbooks per school subject. Then, the evaluation panels of the National Council for Textbook Approval select them. The selected textbooks are then presented to teachers during exhibits organized by the local branches of the Ministry of Education. The teachers select one of the three approved textbooks. After the teachers decide what textbook to use, the textbooks are ordered through the Ministry of Education. At the evaluation panel selection level, 2002 was a year full of controversy. The daily Romanian newspaper Ziua reported on 9 May 2002 the final results of a textbook selection by a committee for textbook evaluation established by the current Minister of Education Ecaterina Andronescu. The ten committee members gave textbook projects submitted for selection grades on two

criteria, content and price. For the final evaluation, the content represented 60% and the price 40%. The maximum score for both categories was 10 and the minimum score was 1. Here are some of the grades on content received by several publishing houses on their proposed EFL textbook projects for grade 3. Oxford received grades from 1 to 4, Longman 1 to 5, Cambridge 1 and 2, MacMillan Romania 1 to 3. Out of 30 publishing houses that submitted textbook projects, the winners were only those that were owned by a financial contributor to the party that is currently in power. After this evaluation, intensely criticized by the Romanian media, prestigious publishing houses have been temporarily eliminated from the Romanian textbook market. The prime minister of Romania supported the decisions of the Ministry of Education and added that such actions were meant to make the textbooks affordable for parents and students so that all students could have equal access to education (Ziua, 18 May 2002).

The Romanian president commented that the decision was influenced mostly by price and that the rejected publishing houses had excellent content (Ziua, 27 May 2002). The former Minister of Education, Andrei Marga pointed out that the competition for selecting textbooks was open and free during his tenure. He criticized as harmful for the quality of education in Romania and against the Romanian education reform objectives the decision to bring cost and politics in the process of textbook selection (Evenimentul Zilei, 24 May 2002). At first glance, the local context seems to have a stronger say in the process of textbook selection. It is interesting to further investigate this aspect to see what the response of the global context is on the process of textbook selection in Romania. 86 Another example worth investigating is the relationship between the new curriculum and the EFL formative and summative testing. Octavian Patrascu, a modern language teaching expert with the Romanias

National Curriculum Center and a member of the Romanias National Committee for EFL examines the guidelines for modern language testing for the 2003 Romanian Baccalaureate exam (O. Patrascu, personal communication, October 5,2002) Based on his comparison between these guidelines and the Romanian Curriculum for foreign languages, he finds out that guidelines for English, French, Italian, and Spanish contradict and work against the Romanian National Curriculum. These Baccalaureate guidelines are not in correlation with the National Curriculum and violate fundamental educational principles of the educational policy of the Romanian Ministry of Education. Their implementation will create confusion in the Romanian educational system due to the discrepancies between these guidelines and the curriculum, forcing teachers to teach for the test and ignore the National Curriculum. The communicative-functional model of teaching will be ignored because of the way the guidelines are structured. The

structure for the EFL guidelines for the baccalaureate exam is the following: vocabulary and semantics, grammar, texts and themes, and attitudes and values. This structure contradicts the structure of the EFL curriculum and is very close to the traditional grammar-focused method of teaching and learning English. This critical point of the discrepancy between what is supposed to be taught in the EFL classroom and what is supposed to be tested needs further investigation and leads to another theme of inquiry that focuses more on the Romanian EFL teachers. Additional research is required to explore what their role was in the creation and implementation of the new EFL curriculum, what the process is when they select their textbooks, what their input is regarding EFL testing. The list can and should continue. The Romanian EFL teachers beliefs and attitudes must be examined as well because EFL teachers are so crucial for the success or failure of educational projects. The figure below

illustrates these links and the position of the new Romanian EFL curriculum on the continuum represented by the Romanian EFL teaching and learning. As research progresses, new elements are added to it. 87 New EFL Testing Education Reform Project The New EFL Curriculum New EFL Textbooks EFL Teachers Beliefs Figure 5.2 Further directions for EFL research in Romania Summary To summarize, there are two major areas in which further research is needed. The first area is global As suggested, future studies are needed to analyze the situation of English as a Foreign Language teaching and learning in Eastern Europe. The perspective of the representation model presented in this study is recommended to provide coherence to this body of research. Future research can establish how local factors, such as history, politics, educational systems, and global factors, such as the World Bank, the European Union, the British Council, etc. exercised their influence on the EFL curriculum reform in

Eastern Europe. The focus on inquiry can then move to analyzing English as a Foreign Language curriculum projects across the globe. Local and global factors would be analyzed to establish how and to what degree they influenced the process and the result of reforming EFL curricula worldwide. Again, this studys model of representation, based on the global-local interaction, is offered. Further research is needed not only at the global level of English as Foreign Language teaching and learning, but also at the local level. Future studies should take into account the relationship between the new EFL curriculum and other constituent elements of the English as a Foreign Language education. In the area of summative testing, previously mentioned was the discrepancy between the guidelines for EFL testing for the Romanian Baccalaureate exam and the Romanian EFL curriculum. Further research might enquire about the causes for these discrepancies and investigate whether other discrepancies can be

found at the level of formative testing. Other interesting questions can be asked regarding the new EFL textbooks. This study briefly presented the negative impact of local politics on the selection process of EFL textbooks. Future studies can take this further and inquire how the impact of 88 local politics will affect long-term educational decisions, how the quality of EFL textbooks will be influenced by decision factors not directly related to education, and to what degree the new EFL textbooks will reflect the new EFL curriculum. Other areas that need extensive investigation are EFL teachers and students. What are EFL teachers attitudes toward the new curriculum? Are they familiar with the new communicativefunctional model that is the basis for the new EFL curriculum? Is the new curriculum reflected in their syllabi? Are EFL students aware of the new curriculum? What are their attitudes towards it? These are some of the questions that need to be addressed in the future in the

studies investigating the EFL situation in Romania. Final Remarks The central theme of the study has been the relationship between the global and the local in education. A model of representation that reflected the symbiotic nature of the link between external and internal influences has been created. Then, an educational project, the English as a Foreign Language curriculum reform in Romania has been examined and interpreted through the theoretical framework of the representation model first shown in Chapter 2. As mentioned before, this model of representation must not be seen as an irrevocable explanation of the education reforms from the perspective of the global and the local. It is more a perfectible model rather than being perfect and final. The model provides a foundation for further inquiry More research is needed in the area of education taking into account the complex relationship between the global influences and local contexts. The education specialists need that for a

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and International Education, 18, 1. Zait, D. (2002) Dilema egoismului Intre individualism si colectvism. Monitorul de Iasi Retrieved October 10, 2002, from http://www.monitorulcom 98 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Florin M. Mihai received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Romania from Al. I Cuza University in Iasi, Romania in 1992. After graduation, he worked for three years as an English instructor for several private English schools. In 1995, he came to the United States to pursue a Masters degree in Multilingual/Multicultural Education at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. In the fall of 1997, two major events happened in his life: he received his Masters degree from FSU and on November 2, 1997 he married Cristina Moisii. After getting his degree, he decided to pursue a doctorate in Multilingual/Multicultural Education at Florida State University. While at FSU, he worked as a graduate teaching assistant for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction between

1998-2001, as an instructor at the Center for Intensive English Studies (CIES) in Tallahassee, Florida starting 2000, and as Testing Coordinator at CIES starting 2002. In March 2003 he also started working for the 2003 Summer Reading Professional Development Program offered by the Florida State University College of Education and the Florida Department of Education Just Read, Florida! Office. 99