ABSTRACT
This chapter compares ROAD-MAPPING to traditional multilayered frameworks of analysis for research on English-medium education (EME) policy. Specifically, it contrasts two research projects to elucidate the affordances of using ROAD-MAPPING as a research framework in comparison to a macro-, meso-, and micro-level policy framework. The first exemplar research project illustrates the application of the macro-, meso-, and micro-level framework to analyse EME policy documents (n = 93) and fieldwork visits (n = 8) at universities in China. The second project exemplifies an application of the ROAD-MAPPING framework to analyse EME policy documents (n = 145) and fieldwork (n = 7) at universities in Turkey. The comparison reveals that the multilayered framework allowed for a holistic, but far less focused, investigation of EME policy, whereas the ROAD-MAPPING framework was more adept at explicating the discourses between policy arbitration. Through our comparison of these exemplar research projects, we conclude that while multilayered policy frameworks may be attractive to researchers in their simplicity of segregating educational systems into researchable levels, ROAD-MAPPING offers greater utility, specificity, and nuance for research within EME contexts. ROAD-MAPPING is also more specific to language-related issues in its theoretical grounding in sociolinguistics and ecology of language research.
