Understanding English learners’ experiences of their teacher’s self-directed navigation of education policies

This study reports on students' experiences of their instructor's self-directed enactment of education policies. Informed by a qualitative study approach, the study drew on diverse data sources related to an English reading class and an English writing class taught by the same instructor at a Chinese university. The data sources included interviews with students, students' reflections, and field notes on students' learning activities. The qualitative analysis of the data showed that when their instructor was continually overcoming the constraints of the local institution and making self-directed efforts in line with national policies during his teaching, the students, on the whole, gained positive experiences through the in-class teaching and their own learning. However, they seemed to focus their attention primarily on the actual teaching and learning rather than caring about the policy and the strategies employed to enact it, and their experiences were sensitive to diverse factors. The study sheds light on the students' positive yet complex experiences when they were exposed to the instructor's self-directed attempts to bridge the gap between education policy and teaching in a local context.