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Whose development? A Cultural Analysis of an AusAID English Language Project in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic Lynda Achren Thesis submitted in fulfilment for the requirements for Doctor of Philosophy School of Education Faculty of Arts, Education and Human Development Victoria University 2007 The problem of Eurocentrism and hence the problem of development, is … the problem of knowledge. It is a problem of discovering Other ways of knowing, being and doing. It is a problem of how to be human in ways Other than those of Europe. It is also a problem of how the West could liberate its true self from its colonial history and moorings. (Ziauddin Sardar, 1999) The challenge to humanity is to adopt new ways of thinking, new ways of living. The challenge is also to promote different paths of development, informed by a recognition of how cultural factors shape the way in which societies conceive their own futures and choose the means to attain these futures. (Perez de Cuellar, 1996) Ethnocentrism consists of the unwarranted establishing of the specific values of one’s own society as universal values. (Tzvetan Todorov, 1993) ii iii Contents Acknowledgements viii Abstract ix Map of the Lao PDR xi Acronyms xii Chapter 1: Other Ways Of Knowing, Being And Doing 1 Chapter 2: Meuang Lao And Modernity 13 Situating Lao modernity 14 Pre-colonial Lao society: Meuang Lao 14 French colonialism and Lao modernity 17 US imperialism and Lao modernity 21 Modernisation through socialism 23 The LEFAP project, access to information, and development 29 The legacies reviewed 32 Chapter 3: Development 36 Situating development 37 Continuation of colonial thought 39 ‘Modernisation’ at institutional level 41 ‘Modernisation’ at individual level 45 ‘Cultural adjustment’: Proponents and opponents 48 Alternative cultural paths to development 51 Imag(in)ing Laos 54 Chapter 4: The Project 65 Project orientation 66 The design 67 The reality 74 Ministries 74 Provinces 77 Students 80 The decisions 82 iv Curriculum 82 Materials 86 Training 87 Project ending 91 Chapter 5: A Researcher’s Journey 94 Gaining support 95 Galvanising thought 95 Gathering ‘foreigner’ views 99 Designing the research 109 Precipitated into action 114 Chapter 6: Lao Responses 118 Perspectives 119 Acceptability 120 Lao content 120 The competency-based approach 125 Commitment: Plans and concerns 132 National level commitment 132 Local level commitment 133 Teacher commitment 135 The ELRC support role 138 Disjunctions 141 Chapter 7: Change 145 Return 146 Conflicting priorities 147 Provincial management capacity and institutionalisation 153 Staffing needs and numbers trained 161 Teacher knowledge and provisions for upgrading 163 Recurrent funding and capacity building at the ELRC 166 English language needs and the curriculum pathway 170 Lower-level need 170 Higher-level need 173 The competency-based approach and cultural expectations 175 Responding to change 179 v Chapter 8: The Middle Way 182 Appropriateness 182 The Middle Way and appropriate curriculum 184 The Middle Way and appropriate project design 186 The Middle Way and appropriate development 188 Appendix 1: Advisory note on Decentralisation Policy (No. 01/PM) 190 Appendix 2a: Ministerial approval for a committee (No. 1594/MOE/96) 196 Appendix 2b: Management of overseas assistance (No. 1233/CPMO) 198 Appendix 2c: Government officials upgrading program (No. 140/CPC) 200 Appendix 2d: Roles and responsibilities (No. 3279/MFA) 202 Appendix 3: Student survey for curriculum development 205 Appendix 4a: Course competencies 209 Appendix 4b: Assessment guide: Level 2 210 Appendix 4c: Relationship of competencies to learning 213 Appendix 5: Stage 1 interview guides 214 Appendix 6: Stage 2 Student survey and interview guide 218 Appendix 7: Vientiane Times article 219 References 220 vi TABLES Table 1: Designated project outputs ......................................................................... 67 Table 2: Assumptions and reality of ministry ELT provision...................................... 74 Table 3: Student perceptions of English needs......................................................... 82 Table 4: Training and curriculum pathway ................................................................ 88 Table 5: Risks to sustainability identified in the project design document .............. 101 Table 6: The changing network of provision ........................................................... 148 Table 7: Utilisation of teacher training in Vientiane................................................. 149 Table 8: Post-LEFAP provincial funding ................................................................. 155 Table 9: Teachers trained during the LEFAP project.............................................. 161 Table 10: Availability of Level 3-trained teachers.................................................... 162 FIGURES Figure 1: Curriculum pathway ................................................................................... 84 Figure 2: Research plan.......................................................................................... 110 Figure 3: Research design: Stage 1 leading to Stage 2.......................................... 111 vii Acknowledgements The encouragement of many people has seen me through this at times exhilarating, at times arduous, journey of discovery. I am grateful to them. My deepest thanks go to two people in particular: Vice Minister of Education Sengdeuane Lachanthaboune, without whose support the journey would never have begun, and Professor Ron Adams, without whom it may never have finished. At the time this research began, Sengdeuane was the Director of the Teacher Training Department in the Lao Ministry of Education. She made the research possible. Ron, my supervisor, inspired me with his approach to life and dedication to his work. His unstinting support, professional guidance and enthusiasm for my project were my greatest encouragement. Special thanks go to Dr Jill Sanguinetti for her advice and support in the earlier stages of the research and to Dr Stephen Duggan, who also guided me in the initial stages. I am indebted to my friend and colleague, Jen Anderson, for her readings of early drafts, followed by late night discussions. Her understandings of development issues were invaluable, as were those of my daughter, Kelly Armiger. Conversations and reminiscences about Laos with Geoff Burke, Phomma Chanthachak and Malikeo Sayakoumane also helped to clarify my thoughts. Among those in Laos, I thank Khamkeuane Vannasouk, Somdy Sanoubane, Somphanh Sengthong, Alongkhot Soseng-Inh, Daravone Kittiphanh, Viengkham Kunlasim, Manoly Dongvan and Thouankham Soukchaleun for their oral and written translations. I also thank all the Lao people who generously gave of their time to assist me in this endeavour, but who, for reasons of privacy, must remain anonymous. Finally, I thank Martyn Brogan, Petre Santry and Donald Smith who, in friendship, proof-read the chapters. viii Abstract Since the disintegration in the eighteenth century of their once-mighty ‘Kingdom’ of Lan Xang, the ethnic Lao have maintained a struggle for political and cultural independence against waves of foreign dominance. Over the centuries, the Lao have faced the cultural hegemony of their linguistic cousins the Siamese, the territorial ambitions of the Vietnamese, the ethnocentrism of French colonialists, and the cataclysmic anti-communist imperialism of the United States of America. In this more peaceful era, Lao articulation of their worldview remains constrained by powerful external forces. Engaging in debates within critical development studies and applied linguistics, and drawing on understandings from sociology, this inter-disciplinary study examines how the cultural hegemony of the past is perpetuated in the dominant development discourse and, in turn, enacted at project level. With a particular development assistance project serving as a lens for viewing broader development issues, the study ultimately presents a glimpse of an alternative development possibility. The study thus adds to the voices of those who argue against the exclusive Eurocentric view of modernity, and for the possibility of what Tu Wei-ming (1999) refers to as ‘multiple modernities’. Beginning with an examination of the Buddhist-legitimated socio-political organisation of the pre-colonial Lao, based primarily on the work of Martin Stuart- Fox (1998), the study argues that the pre-colonial worldview has continued to inform the values and actions of the ethnic Lao throughout their history of foreign domination, and despite the more recent political embracing of Marxism-Leninism. Drawing on the work of critical development theorists such as Escobar (1984; 1995a; 1995b), Tucker (1997a; 1999) and Munck and O’Hearn (1999), and illustrated with Lao examples, the study then examines the disjunctions between these values and those of the dominant development discourse with its roots in the Eurocentric notion of modernity, and its current neo-liberal economic agenda. The theme of disjunction features throughout this study, which centres on an AusAID-funded project in the Lao PDR aimed at implementing a competency-based English language curriculum for Lao government officials. As well as the disjunction between Lao values and those of the dominant development discourse, the thesis ix includes a practitioner’s first-hand insight into the disjunctions between Lao values and the curriculum model, and between the project design and Lao social reality. However, a major