Editorial

By NELTA ELT Forum on March 4, 2026 | Leave a comment

Dear valued readers,

Welcome to the March issue!

This March 2026 issue is another contributing step to the institutional legacy of the NELTA ELT Forum. This forum serves as a space for ELT practitioners to showcase their innovative practices, inspiring others and being inspired. As you delve into the issue, you will be inspired by the critical voices that emerged from a real classroom, the demand to reclaim the indigenous epistemic tradition, and the lived experiences of teachers that reflect their day-to-day realities. Most of the articles in this issue call for context-sensitive approaches and a localized knowledge system. We encourage you to explore the insights from the reading and apply them to your everyday working situations to strengthen classroom practices and expand your professional horizons.

Inside, we spotlight an illuminating interview with Prof. Dr. Kamal Kumar Poudel on the theme of ‘Shift of learners’ mindset and motivation in a changing context’. The head of the Central Department of English Education, Faculty of Education, Tribhuvan University, Prof. Poudel, shares insightful ideas on ‘Reconfiguring English Language Pedagogy in Higher Education’ in Nepal in a well-executed dialogue with our Issue Editor, Mr. Krishna Kumar Khatri. In smoothly gliding conversation, you will find Prof. Poudel’s rich reflections and observations on the current practices, emerging challenges, and future opportunities of English language pedagogy. Readers find it interesting to see his observation on the ongoing shift in English learning pedagogy from exam-focused practice to more communicative and technology-driven approaches. More significantly, Prof. Poudel’s calls for innovative, human-centred pedagogy inspire us to use AI responsibly to promote learner autonomy and critical thinking.

Similarly, Chandra Bahadur Limbu, in his article Exploring Transformative Pedagogical Trends in English Language Teaching, examines Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), Collaborative Learning, Mobile Learning, and CLIL as contemporary innovations in English language teaching through document analysis. These approaches, as the study highlights, are better for enhancing learner engagement, confidence, and contextualised language acquisition. At the same time, Limbu carefully examines the counterarguments for such innovative trends, including teachers’ uncertainty in task design, limited digital access, and the complexities in bilingual settings. With balanced critical reflection, the article offers an understanding of transformative pedagogies in ELT as responsive to learners’ needs, interests, and geographical realities.

Next, in A Critical Review of Jeong-eun Rhee’s Decolonial Feminist Research through South Asian Mother Epistemologies, Hasina advocates for the validation of marginalised epistemological traditions in the postcolonial ELT and teacher education contexts. Situating Rhee’s methodological framework within South Asian, particularly Bangladeshi, epistemological traditions, she draws on decolonial feminist theory, indigenous knowledge systems, and critical pedagogy. Positioning herself as a Bangladeshi female teacher-researcher, Hasina connects Rhee’s work to broader theoretical conversations on epistemic disobedience and critical praxis. The article has made a meaningful contribution to the ongoing discourse of decolonizing educational research trends in the Global South.

Khem Raj Rauteda’s reflective inquiry, Negotiating Intersecting Identities in Nepal’s Multilingual ELT Classrooms, positions teacher research as a powerful means to generate and validate localized knowledge. The article further explores professional identity as a dynamic and evolving process shaped by sociocultural influences. The paper also exhibits the author’s pedagogical transformation from a monolingual speaker toward a multilingual, translanguage pedagogy-informed teacher. This practitioner inquiry advocates for integrating teaching, research, and practice as a sustainable model for professional growth and educational transformation.

In the same way, Tul Bahadur Shahi brings the realities of English Medium Instruction in under-resourced rural schools through a narrative inquiry into the lived experience in Voices from the Hills: Teachers’ Stories of Implementing English Medium Instruction in Rural Nepal. Being based on socio-cultural theory, the study reveals how teachers’ everyday experiences are shaped by linguistic diversity, socio-economic hardship, infrastructural limitations, and policy–practice gaps. Shahi documents how educators strategically combine Grammar Translation, translanguaging, and communicative approaches to support comprehension and participation. The mismatch between EMI policy aspirations and day-to-day classroom realities has been well exposed in the article. The paper ultimately calls for context-specific, multilingual, and institutionally supported EMI frameworks suitable for rural contexts.

As the final presentation of the issue, Meghraj Adhikari reviews a book entitled ‘Global CLIL: Critical, Ethnographic and Language Policy Perspectives’ (Ed. Eva Codó, 2023). The reviewer has highlighted that the author questions the global rise of ‘Content and Language Integrated Learning’ (CLIL), moving beyond its positive narratives to examine its socio-political, ethnographic, and policy dimensions. Instead of projecting CLIL as a universally beneficial approach, the volume raises the issues of equity, voices, linguistic hierarchies, and contextual variability. The reviewer measures the book’s interdisciplinary depth, not only by noting its dense theoretical orientation but also its limited practical prescriptions. Overall, the review has regarded the text as a significant contribution to the discourse of critical language education.

Here is a list of the contents incorporated into this issue of the NELTA Forum, which are hyperlinked for ease

Shifts in Learners’ Mindsets and Motivations in a Changing Context: Reconfiguring English Language Pedagogy in Higher Education: An Interview with Professor Kamal Kumar Poudel, PhD

Negotiating Intersecting Identities in Nepal’s Multilingual ELT Classrooms: A Teacher’s Reflective Inquiry

Exploring Transformative Pedagogical Trends in English Language Teaching

Voices from the Hills: Teachers’ Stories of Implementing English-Medium Instruction in Rural Nepal

A Critical Review of Jeong-eun Rhee’s Decolonial Feminist Research through South Asian Mother Epistemologies: Haunting, Rememory, Mothers

Book Review: Global CLIL: Critical, Ethnographic and Language Policy Perspectives

Happy Readings!

Editor-in-Chief

Dr. Gambhir Bahadur Chand

Deputy Editor-in-Chief

Mr. Gobinda Puri