Selected publications are listed below in reverse chronological order. For a complete list of publications, please visit my Google Scholar profile.
The role of militants in advocating for a national bilingual education policy in Senegal
This book chapter examines the role of self-proclaimed militants of African “national” languages in advocating for a national bilingual education policy in Senegal. It shows how these militants acted as policy entrepreneurs at all levels of actor power based on their evolving careers over time.
Iwasaki, E. (2026). The role of militants in advocating for a national bilingual education policy in Senegal. In K., Kosonen & C., Benson (eds.). Including Non-Dominant Languages in Educational Policy Change: Key Actors and Agency, pp. 166-185. Multilingual Matters.
This article explores how Senegal came to prioritize bilingual education at the national level. Drawing on a historical analysis and causal process tracing of policy change, it shows how local and national actors built political support for reform over time by demonstrating its feasibility and effectiveness. The findings offer insights into how multilingual education reforms can gain traction in low- and middle-income multilingual countries.
Iwasaki, E., D’Agostino, T., Teel, M., Daff☪, M., Gassama Mbaye, M., Ngoné Seck, A., & Ka, F. S. (2026). Proving what’s possible: tracing the generation of political priority for bilingual education in Senegal. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2026.2647066
This article examines the rise and decline of the Philippines’ Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education policy. It shows how implementation challenges, shifting political priorities, and weak policy coalitions undermined support for a reform that was originally backed by strong evidence and legal protections.
Metila, R.A., D’Agostino, T.J., & Iwasaki, E. (2025). Why the Philippines reversed its mother-tongue instruction policy: Tracing the erosion of political priority for first-language-based education in the Philippines. Submitted to International Journal of Educational Development, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2025.103408
This article explores why first language-based multilingual education has struggled to gain political support in Kenya despite evidence of its effectiveness. It finds that weak coalitions, competing preferences for English immersion, and concerns about implementation limited the policy’s political appeal and hindered reform efforts.
D’Agostino, T. J., Iwasaki, E., Oduor, J., Trudell, B., & Inyega, H. (2025). Policy in name only: explaining the failure to generate political priority for L1-based multilingual education in Kenya. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2025.2499715