ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on narrative ethnographic research that explored how two teachers viewed and put into practice the recently introduced language-ineducation policy of the learners' mother tongue as the medium of instruction in one rural primary school in northwest Pakistan. Pashto is the mother tongue of the Pashtun, who constitute a majority of the population in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. School and classroom observations revealed a pervasive use of the local variety of Pashto, but its use was mainly limited to classroom management. The chapter explores Pakistani rural primary school teachers' language perceptions, preferences, and practices and the implications these factors hold for the macro-level language-in-education policy. Narrative research is increasingly being considered an established tool for studying aspects of teachers' personal and professional lives. Transition into Pashto-medium education seemed based on the supposition that, because it is the mother tongue of both teachers and students in the area, there was no need for teachers' language-specific training or refresher courses.
