English interactive online (EIO) language policy and educational, cultural, and political concerns

This study evaluates the effectiveness of English Interactive Online (EIO) in comparison to text book driven and teacher led language instruction. The EIO is a Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) program developed through a collaborative partnership between Cisco Learning Institute (CLI) and The Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan under the Jordan Education Initiative English as a Foreign Language (JEI-EFL) project. The EIO program was developed based on interactionist second language acquisition theoretical framework. The goal of the program was to improve second language acquisition by designing and developing a free online English language teaching (ELT) curriculum for the use of Grade 7 through 12 students at the Discovery Schools of the MOE in Jordan. This study investigates the effectiveness of the EIO program in improving English language acquisition of the students at Grades 7, 8, 9, and 10.;The study is based on quasi-experimental research design. The data collection methods included quantitative data collection through student survey and pre-test/post-test assessment and qualitative data through classroom observations. The data analysis indicates that the experimental group, which went through CALL intervention, did not exhibit any statistically significant differences in pre-test and post-test measure while the student surveys indicate overwhelmingly positive second language learning experience. The classroom observations confirm the enthusiasm found in student surveys.;This study also investigates the English language policy behind the EIO program promoted under a local Educational Reform for Knowledge Economy (ERfKE) initiative by the MOE through interpretive language policy analysis. Discussing the EIO CALL program from a Critical Applied Linguistics perspective, the study provides guidance to future CALL application development projects, underscores the importance of a formal language policy formulation for English instruction, resurrects a waning question of the effectiveness of CALL programs, and unearths political, cultural, and educational issues disregarded by policy-makers in CALL implementations.