scholarly journals Multilingualism and internationalisation in doctoral education: Discourse, positioning and agency

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-277
Author(s):  
Stephanie Hofmann

AbstractDespite the growing linguistic and cultural diversity in higher education and research, little is known about how students and researchers use their plurilingual repertoire for writing and publishing. In particular, the roles of the national language(s) and the linguistic repertoire(s) vis-à-vis English as the lingua franca for academic writing and publishing have not been closely examined. This paper explores how doctoral researchers in Luxembourg position themselves in relation to macro-level discourses about language and academic success within their complex lingua-cultural and socio-economic setting. By analysing interview transcripts of two multilingual doctoral researchers from Russia and Germany, I show how in spite of their similar starting situations they negotiate agency to varying degrees. In particular, the prevalence of English and the pressure to publish in international journals seem to make them struggle to use their full linguistic repertoire in writing their theses.

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-459
Author(s):  
Ivana Trajanoska ◽  
Marija Andonova

Leonard J. Rosen defines academic writing as an “informed, logical, clear, well structured, and based on evidence” (Rosen, 2009) prose style which serves to describe, understand, and further investigate the world around us. Academic writing rests upon common standards of logic and clarity which enable writers to enter into a conversation through their writing. Developing effective writing skills for academic purposes is a crucial aspect of higher education. These skills are indispensable for the students since they affect their overall academic success, but also their life outside the university. The present paper deals with the challenges of developing effective writing skills for academic purposes in the Macedonian language in students in the Republic of North Macedonia. It presents a part of the findings of a five-year research conducted at the higher education institution University American College Skopje (UACS). The aim of the research is to explore the gap between the expected already acquired writing skills at secondary school and the writing skills for academic purposes the students should develop in higher education. The present paper presents the data obtained from the self-evaluation process conducted from spring semester 2015 until spring semester 2019. The quantitative research method was used in the research and the quantitative data obtained were analyzed, textually interpreted, and visually presented. Twenty nine point three percent of the students said that they knew how to write a short essay where they would present evidence for a point of view and 32.4% said that they are not sure how to do this. Even though writing an essay (titled “project assignment”) is a required part of the mandatory State Baccalaureate (Matura) exam since 2010 and all students had completed it in order to enroll at University, 38.3% of the students involved in the research said that they do not know how to do this.


1969 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shibao Guo ◽  
Zenobia Jamal

Canadian universities and colleges are becoming increasingly ethnoculturally diverse. Two major social forces have contributed to this change: immigration and increasing enrolment of international students. Minority and international students bring their values, language, culture and educational background to our campuses, to add to and enrich our educational environments. To build an inclusive education, we have the ethical and educational responsibility to embrace such difference and diversity and to integrate it into all aspects of university life, including teaching and learning. However, in our daily encounter with cultural diversity we still confront many challenges, such as the colourblind and the “difference as deficit” perspectives, partially resulting from a lack of knowledge and readiness to approach diversity. The goal of this article is to bridge this gap by examining three selected models commonly used to nurture cultural diversity in higher education: the intercultural education model, the multicultural education model, and the anti-racist education model. It is hoped that this discussion will benefi t the university community in Canada as well as in other countries where diversity prevails. Du fait de l’immigration et de l’augmentation du nombre d’étudiantes et d’étudiants internationaux, les universités et collèges du Canada sont de plus en plus diversifi és sur le plan ethnoculturel. Les étudiantes et étudiants issus des minorités ethniques ainsi que d’autres pays apportent avec eux leurs valeurs, langues et cultures, ce qui enrichit d’autant le milieu éducatif. Il est de notre responsabilité à la fois morale et éducative, si nous voulons créer un environnement inclusif, d’intégrer ces différences et cette diversité dans tous les aspects de la vie universitaire, y compris l’enseignement et l’apprentissage. Toutefois, dans nos rencontres quotidiennes avec la diversité culturelle, nous sommes confrontés à plusieurs défi s, notamment les modèles dits « aveugles à la couleur » et la perception de « la différence comme défi cit ». Ces perspectives résultent en partie d’un manque de connaissances et d’attitudes peu disposées à accueillir la diversité culturelle. Le but de cet article est de répondre à ces défi s en examinant trois modèles fréquemment employés pour encourager la diversité culturelle dans l’enseignement supérieur : l’éducation interculturelle, l’éducation multiculturelle et l’éducation anti-raciste. Nous espérons que cette discussion aura des effets positifs pour la communauté universitaire du Canada et d’autres pays marqués par la diversité.


NASPA Journal ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-128
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Jones ◽  
Melvin C. Terrell ◽  
Margaret Duggar

Author(s):  
Muhammad Affan Ramadhana

In a 2014 paper, Salager-Meyer defined two main categories of academic journals, center and peripheral. Peripheral journals are mostly written in the national language of where the journals are located, although some of them start using English as a secondary language (Salager-Meyer, 2014). On the other hand, center journals - in some cases referred to as prestigious international journals - are written in English as the default communication among established scholars. It has been a common fact nowadays that to gain tenure or promotion, scholars in many parts of the world have to publish their research in a so-called higher-ranking/center journals, even if they are from the ‘periphery’ of the academic community. Given the pressure situation to publish in those center journals, some scholars are even more familiar with the structure and organization of a research paper in English rather than their own local languages (Bocanegra-Valle, 2014). However, not every scholar is able to publish in higher-ranking/center journals. Some of them are novice scholars who have never written journal articles before. Therefore, they need to publish in lower-ranking journals with their own local languages. Some scholars may also prefer to publish in English and to be reviewed by international referees. The suitable journals for that might be ‘international’ in certain senses, but essentially, they are published by national institutions. For novice or beginner scholars, it might be a good first step toward publishing in more prestigious journals. Those journals have an important role for early stage researchers who need to practice their academic writing (Kulczycki, Rozkosz, & Drabek, 2019). That situation transformed many long-established peripheral journals, including those published by Indonesian universities, towards internationalization in many aspects. For journals from non-English-speaking countries, internationalization means publishing articles in English by local scholars, encouraging authors from foreign countries to publish in local journals, and reviewing articles by international scholars (Kulczycki, Rozkosz, & Drabek, 2019). Regarding the main language in those journals, some authors positively perceived the use of English for research publication purposes, yet, there still exists some resistance to the hegemony of English (Bocanegra-Valle, 2014). Therefore, instead of full transformation into English, Salager-Meyer (2014) suggested a multilingual publishing model of national peripheral journals by presenting English abstracts and keywords for every article published. This model would still allow the international scientific community to be aware of worthwhile peripheral insights and research results yet does not throw the national language away. However, national peripheral journals are frequently perceived as having a low-level quality. One of the key problems of local journals is that their readership is very small and hardly ever transcends national boundaries. In Indonesian context, for example, most authors who publish in national journals still fall into parochialism traps, where the description and discussion of their topic is only for localized context, and therefore the assumed audience consists of readers in the same country or cultural group (Adnan, 2014). This means that such journals are read only by those who publish in them. In this situation, internationalization would certainly face huge constraints. Another thing to consider is the article submission flow. Ideally a journal needs a stable number of submissions to maintain the quality of articles published. Yet, Bocanegra-Valle’s (2019) study on journals in Spain revealed that the excessive number of emerging journals makes them compete among themselves to become excellent journals, but the low inflow rate of submissions is one of the major obstacles to applying strict selection of quality. Therefore, peripheral journals need to reformulate their vision if they wish to become one of high-rank reputable journals. In their study about internationalization of journals in social sciences and humanities, Kulczycki, Rozkosz, & Drabek (2019) noted two kinds of journals: 1) journals that are actually prestigious and internationally oriented and 2) journals that are actually locally oriented yet have implemented the highest standards of editorial practices. In addition to that, one interesting case is the development of a Colombian-based journal, which has gone a substantial development over two decades in terms of review quality and international indexing recognition, yet still claiming to be a peripheral journal (See Cárdenas & Nieto Cruz, 2018). Journal accreditation system in Indonesia allows journals to gradually improve their qualities, while on the other hand actively encourage long established journals to become one of center-journals in their respective fields. By May 2020, there are 4985 accredited journals in Indonesia listed in Sinta database with six levels of accreditation. Moreover, Indonesia has the most open access journals listed in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) with 1,660 titles. Those numbers are counting and are likely to reach additional hundreds more by the end of this year. For the past five years, Indonesian government have actively encouraged the improvement of journal management by reissuing sets of regulation related to journal accreditation (e.g. MoRTHE Regulation No. 9/2018 on Scientific Journal Accreditation). Furthermore, on a 2019 circular, the ministry requires students of undergraduates, masters, and doctorates to publish their research in journals before completing their studies. Research articles from students in different levels should create a stable supply for the journals in different level of accreditation. In line with previously mentioned situation, Salager-Meyer (2015) stated that peripheral journals have strong reasons to exist. In Indonesian context, it is worth questioning if peripheral journals only exist to accommodate local or national publishing demand. Therefore, it is important to explore the position and status of academic journals in Indonesia and how it contributes to the improvement of higher education.


2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Reid ◽  
Kyra Garson

This article presents our findings of an exploration of students’ perceptions of multicultural group work when specific changes in pedagogy and methods of evaluation were made to include the processes students navigate, instead of merely the end product of their collaboration. Shifting demographics and increasing cultural diversity in higher education classrooms have presented the need for educators to rethink the formation, preparation, and evaluation of group work. This paper argues for learning to include the process of working with others rather than merely the product of group work. The findings from this study support previous literature advocating for more intentional approaches by providing evidence that changes to the preparation of groups, the formation of groups, and the evaluation of group work enhanced intercultural learning and improved the experience of working in a multicultural group for the majority of the participants.


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