Issues in Applied Linguistics

Post-modern research has shifted attention in language policy and planning from central decision-making to lower-scale agency. However, there is a paucity of studies assessing the nature and quality of papers about agency in language policy and planning ecology. Considering Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, this study examines how language policy scholars approached the agentive roles of local arbiters. All research papers published about agency in language policy and planning across three databases in the last five years were considered for this review. The results indicate that the conceptualization, design, and execution of agency-oriented research are not yet woven into a fully-fledged theoretical fabric.