Two types of reflections about English as a medium of instruction

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Gabriëls ◽  
Robert Wilkinson

The worldwide introduction of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) programmes has stimulated numerous reflections within and outside academia. These reflections find their expression in both scholarly studies into EMI and public debates about its impact. In this article we argue that one can distinguish two types of reflections about EMI. The first type focuses on improving EMI. The second type focuses on the legitimation of EMI, that is whether EMI programmes are justified in view of their assumptions and consequences. We investigate the genesis and the differences between two separate discourses that express the different types of reflections. We unfold a history that shows that roughly three phases can be distinguished in the development of EMI: the incubation of EMI, its consolidation and its politicisation. We argue that the heuristic value of the two types of reflection is that they are conducive to comprehending this development of EMI and look at it with critical eyes. In addition, we suggest that politicised issues like the impact of Englishization on the cultural identity, language hierarchies, top-down implementations of language policies and the inequalities regarding the access to EMI programmes might be fruitfully addressed in terms of linguistic justice and democracy. By distinguishing two types of reflection, blind spots in EMI research can be revealed.

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 396-409
Author(s):  
Melissa Jay ◽  
Jason Brown

Counsellors may not comprehend fully the impact of their blind spots as a result of unconscious cultural encapsulation. The authors propose a self-reflective method by which counsellors can self-examine their assumptions about diversity and intersectionality. They invite readers to engage with the contents of this article to identify their blind spots, biases, and assumptions through self-reflective exercises. This article summarizes an intersectionality workshop with a twist that was offered by Melissa Jay, Jason Brown, and Rebecca Ward at the 2019 conference of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. The intention of the workshop was (a) to raise consciousness about systemic oppression, (b) to explore Collins’s (2018c) culturally responsive and socially just case conceptualization as the framework for the workshop, (c) to bring client intersectionality to life using four vignettes they created, (d) to reflect on client intersectionality and cultural identity, and (e) to propose a method by which counsellors can self-examine their assumptions about diversity and intersectionality, leading to more culturally competent counselling.


1992 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn Olson

In the early 1980s Washington State developed a simulation forecast for inmate populations that was used to estimate the impact of the state's pioneering sentencing guideline initiative. This process presented forecasting challenges that occurred in three phases over a 10-year period. Different types of forecasting challenges were specific to each of the three phases. These challenges are described along two dimensions: forecast horizon and level of detail. Various combinations of horizon and detail sometimes required mutually exclusive assumptions that yielded much different results.


Author(s):  
Selim Ben-Said

Taking effect immediately following Tunisia’s independence, Arabization has achieved mixed results with Arabic institutionally empowered but still competing with French. In fact, when examining the linguistic landscape, this monolingual policy is flouted both in terms of the bilingual Arabic-French Street signage but also challenged by people’s preferences. This paper examines inconsistencies between Arabic as the ‘language of the state’ (government-decreed), and the omnipresence of other ‘languages in the state’ (observed in representation and practice) in Tunisia. Street signage artefacts and attitudinal data also illustrate how language policies are responded to and experienced by Tunisians. Data consists of different types of private inscriptions and public signs, governmental decrees, as well as attitudinal surveys and interviews. The juxtaposition of urban signs with the official policy on multilingualism provides an illustrative account of the complexities of the linguistic situation in Tunisia, which blends top-down advocacies of Arabization, ambivalent attitudes to Arabic-French Bilingualism, as well as a growing interest in English as the emergent language of globalization.


Afrika Focus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-141
Author(s):  
Alexia Sabbe

With over 650 million women alive today already suffering the consequences of child marriage, the practice of forced and child marriage disproportionally affects girls and women. Given its impact on physical and psychological wellbeing, it is a serious form of violence against women. In view of the global magnitude of forced and child marriage, and the increasing numbers of international migrants, the general objective of this research is to ascertain the determinants of forced and child marriage in Morocco and the impact of the migratory context on the issue among Moroccan migrants in Belgium. Our research analysed forced and child marriage in both settings from two angles. First, we studied policies and the socio-cultural context in a top-down perspective through the analysis of legislation, public debates and through expert/stakeholder interviews. Secondly, we investigated the determinants of forced and child marriage in both research settings from a bottom-up perspective through Focus Group Discussions and household interviews, as well as investigating the impact of legislative conditions and restrictions on migrants and their families.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 225-235
Author(s):  
Maya TAKI ◽  
Ammar ALNAHHAS

Due to the importance of spreading computer science education among young people, we present in this paper our work in preparing and organizing a computer science competition for children from 8 to 15 years old, named Kids programming marathon, the marathon goes in three phases and targets all kids in the country, tasks of the marathon are divided into three different types, each type is intended to support different skills for children, we show our motivation and goals of the marathon, we present the process of the marathon in details and show the materials of the competition, how it was chosen and how it is used in the tasks, we show some statistics, and finally discuss the impact of the marathon on the society, and our view for the future of this competition.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Mirta Maldonado-Valentín

During the Spanish regimen, Puerto Rican education was limited and restricted to Spanish language as the medium of instruction. It was not until the U.S. colonization of the island that public education was introduced. As a result, English replaced Spanish as medium of instruction in the new educational system. Immediately after, Puerto Rican elitists and politicians ignited a political movement against using English (Algren de Gutierrez, 1987), resulting in a language battle fought through a series of educational language policies. In the end, policymakers enacted a language policy that reinstated Spanish as the official language of Puerto Rico’s education system. Consequently, policymakers also strengthened the use of Spanish instruction in Puerto Rican schools and universities while English was taught as a subject through all grade levels (Canino, 1981). Thus, this policy secured the island’s status as a “monolingual Spanish speaking society”. In addition, the enactment of this language policy also legitimized English as a de jure second official language, with the possibility of recognizing Puerto Rico as a “bilingual speaking society”. This paper discusses the impact of these language policies on the use of Spanish and English in education and presents a case study of Guaynabo City to exemplify the effects of these language policies on a contemporary Puerto Rican society and its acceptance of or resistance to becoming an English-speaking society.


2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 473-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarun Jain

This article investigates the impact of official language policies on education using state formation in India. Colonial provinces consisted of some districts where the official language matched the district's language and some where it did not. Linguistically mismatched districts have 18.0 percent lower literacy rates and 20.1 percent lower college graduation rates, driven by difficulty in acquiring education due to a different medium of instruction in schools. Educational achievement caught up in mismatched districts after the 1956 reorganization of Indian states on linguistic lines, suggesting that political reorganization can mitigate the impact of mismatched language policies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klea Faniko ◽  
Till Burckhardt ◽  
Oriane Sarrasin ◽  
Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi ◽  
Siri Øyslebø Sørensen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Two studies carried out among Albanian public-sector employees examined the impact of different types of affirmative action policies (AAPs) on (counter)stereotypical perceptions of women in decision-making positions. Study 1 (N = 178) revealed that participants – especially women – perceived women in decision-making positions as more masculine (i.e., agentic) than feminine (i.e., communal). Study 2 (N = 239) showed that different types of AA had different effects on the attribution of gender stereotypes to AAP beneficiaries: Women benefiting from a quota policy were perceived as being more communal than agentic, while those benefiting from weak preferential treatment were perceived as being more agentic than communal. Furthermore, we examined how the belief that AAPs threaten men’s access to decision-making positions influenced the attribution of these traits to AAP beneficiaries. The results showed that men who reported high levels of perceived threat, as compared to men who reported low levels of perceived threat, attributed more communal than agentic traits to the beneficiaries of quotas. These findings suggest that AAPs may have created a backlash against its beneficiaries by emphasizing gender-stereotypical or counterstereotypical traits. Thus, the framing of AAPs, for instance, as a matter of enhancing organizational performance, in the process of policy making and implementation, may be a crucial tool to countering potential backlash.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
I-Ling Shih ◽  
◽  
Yu-Chiou Tchen ◽  
Chia-Hui Huang
Keyword(s):  

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