Internationalisation and Language Policy in European Higher Education

2022 ◽  
pp. 198-215
Author(s):  
Tugba Elif Toprak-Yildiz
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Language Management ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Internationalisation Of Higher Education ◽  
Internationalisation Strategy ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
European Higher Education

The internationalisation of higher education has received considerable attention over the last three decades, and the phenomenon has transformed into a strategic goal in its own right. Consequently, internationalisation has caused higher education institutions to tailor their language policies to better compete in the global market and promote progressive values such as collaboration and harmony. While macro-level European initiatives have encouraged institutions to foster societal and individual multilingualism, an increasing number of institutions seem to favour English-medium instruction (EMI) over other alternatives. Taking the links between internationalisation and language into account, the present chapter examines the meso-level language policy of two European countries, Austria, and the Czech Republic, which have developed formal and comprehensive frameworks of internationalisation strategy in higher education. The chapter particularly examines the language management component of language policy in these countries by considering internationalisation, EMI, and multilingualism.

Tolerance and Control. Developing a language policy for an EMI university in Uzbekistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-237
Author(s):  
Andrew Linn ◽  
Anastasiya Bezborodova ◽  
Saida Radjabzade
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
The Other ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Language Ecology ◽  
English Only ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
The One ◽  
And Control

AbstractThis article presents a practical project to develop a language policy for an English-Medium-Instruction university in Uzbekistan. Although the university is de facto English-only, it presents a complex language ecology, which in turn has led to confusion and disagreement about language use on campus. The project team investigated the experience, views and attitudes of over a thousand people, including faculty, students, administrative and maintenance staff, in order to arrive at a proposed policy which would serve the whole community, based on the principle of tolerance and pragmatism. After outlining the relevant language and educational context and setting out the methods and approach of the underpinning research project, the article goes on to present the key findings. One of the striking findings was an appetite for control and regulation of language behaviours. Language policies in Higher Education invariably fall down at the implementation stage because of a lack of will to follow through on their principles and their specific guidelines. Language policy in international business on the other hand is characterised by a control stage invariably lacking in language planning in education. Uzbekistan is a polity used to control measures following from policy implementation. The article concludes by suggesting that Higher Education in Central Asia may stand a better chance of seeing through language policies around English-Medium Instruction than, for example, in northern Europe, based on the tension between tolerance on the one hand and control on the other.

scholarly journals Language policy in the internationalisation of Higher Education in Anglophone countries: The interplay between language policy as ‘text’, ‘discourse’ and ‘practice’

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Bonacina-Pugh ◽  
Elisabeth Barakos ◽  
Qi Chen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Global Dimension ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The Core ◽  
Internationalisation Of Higher Education ◽  
Internationalisation Strategy ◽  
The Uk

AbstractIn order to better compete in an increasing neoliberalised education system, many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have developed an internationalisation strategy that aims at incorporating an intercultural and global dimension into curricula and learning environments for all. This internationalisation agenda raises important language policy issues that are often side-lined in the UK and other Anglophone countries where an English monolingual ethos prevails. Centrally, the question arises indeed as to whether internationalisation processes have an impact on HEIs’ language policies in Anglophone countries. This paper takes the case of a Russell Group University in the UK and focuses on two masters programmes that attract annually a ‘multilingual elite’ (Barakos and Selleck 2019). It examines the institution’s language policy adopted at the levels of ‘texts’, ‘discourses’ and ‘practices’ (Bonacina-Pugh 2012), using a critical discourse analysis of policy documents and a conversation analysis of classroom interactions. We argue that language policy is at the core of HEIs’ internationalisation processes even in Anglophone countries and that, methodologically, the articulation of findings from critical discourse and conversational analyses represents a step forward in the field of language policy.

scholarly journals University language policy in Estonia and Catalonia. Is there a north-south divide in European higher education?

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-70
Author(s):  
Josep Soler
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Contrastive Analysis ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
Internationalisation Of Higher Education ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
European Higher Education ◽  
Empirical Material

AbstractWithin the context of the internationalisation of higher education, language matters have become increasingly prominent for universities across a wide variety of contexts. This has made the higher education domain an attractive site for applied linguists and sociolinguists to investigate in close detail. One relatively consolidated idea is that contexts in which English has made further incursions in universities are more internationalised than those settings where English has penetrated to a lesser extent. In line with that, a supposed north-south divide in European higher education has been conceived of, with universities in the north leading in terms of internationalisation efforts, while those in the south lag behind. In this article, I problematise this idea and suggest instead that a narrower and more focused contrastive analysis between language ecologies across different countries and contexts might be more useful. In doing that, we can thus avoid the dangers of binarism and lumping that can come associated to holding preconceived geographical borders. In particular, the comparative analysis proposed here allows us to highlight two key issues that seem to be highly pressing in present-day higher education domains: the language-ideological and the socio-economic. I build the argument in the paper by utilising empirical material from Estonia and Catalonia, two contexts that have been at the centre of my own work in recent years.

Mobility, Internationalisation, Higher Education

2014 ◽  
pp. 44-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria da Conceição Pereira Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Social Responses ◽  
Academic Mobility ◽  
Educational Culture ◽  
Internationalisation Of Higher Education ◽  
European Higher Education ◽  
Other World ◽  
And Migration

In this chapter, the authors address the following issues: convergence of internationalisation paths in universities and trends in European higher education; international cooperation and education regarding the internationalisation of higher education policy in Europe and other world regions; mobility trends with the growth of selective and qualified migration; student flows and migration in the higher education globalisation and internationalisation process; European and national policies for academic mobility and internationalisation of higher education; consequences of academic mobility and migration regarding the professional value of mobility, interculturalism, and higher education; institutional and social responses to internationalisation, Europeanisation, and globalisation of higher education. The authors note how international academic mobility represents a professional added value and a cultural, scientific, and technological enrichment for higher education, which broadens the perspectives of the individuals and institutions involved. The internationalisation of higher education contributes to spreading an educational culture with a tendency to establish itself as a European and global educational model.

scholarly journals Parents as stakeholders: Language management in urban Galician homes

Multilingua ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anik Nandi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Language Management ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Language Revitalisation

AbstractMacro-level policy makers, perceived as stakeholders of language management, employ a range of language policy strategies to legitimise hegemonic control over meso- (i.e. family) and micro- (i.e. individual) level language ideologies (Cassels-Johnson 2013). However, language policies of an individual are often difficult to detect because they are implicit, subtle, informal, and often hidden from the public eye, and therefore frequently overlooked by language policy researchers and policy makers. The primary focus of this study is to investigate how individual, as well as collective linguistic practices of Galician parents act as language governmentality (Foucault 1991) measures influencing their children’s language learning. Drawing from multiple ethnographic research tools, including observations, in-depth fieldwork interviews and focus group discussions with parents, this paper demonstrates that in Galicia’s language shift-induced shrinking Galician-speaker pool, pro-Galician parents can play an important role in the language revitalisation process. The goal is also to ascertain whether these parents’ grassroots level interrogation of the dominant Castilian discourse takes the form of bottom-up language policies.

EMI teacher and student identities and linguistic practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-141
Author(s):  
Joan Catherine Ploettner
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Language Use ◽  
University Professors ◽  
Classroom Language ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Content Specialist ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract Although the incorporation of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in multilingual higher education institutions is widely accepted, it may be a source of tension for university professors for whom English is an additional language, particularly when both teacher and students share an L1 other than English. A need exists to examine how linguistic attributes of EMI are interpreted and executed by participants. This study focuses on dialogue between a content specialist and a language specialist during an EMI teacher development partnership at a multilingual Catalan university. Membership Category Analysis (MCA) explores the categories made relevant in interaction, category associated features and responsibilities, and their procedural relevance within the interaction. The article focuses on results relating to the emerging identities of EMI classroom participants and related linguistic attributes. The results shed light on tensions relating to language use in EMI, and may inform EMI teacher development processes and classroom language policy.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTABLE POLICY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF OFFICIAL INDIGENOUS AFRICAN LANGUAGES AS MEDIUMS OF INSTRUCTION AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Svicevic
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Committee Report ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
African Languages ◽  
National Framework

This article attempts to analyse a single aspect of the #FeesMustFall movement, namely, university language policies. The research problem is defined as an unjustifiable underdevelopment of indigenous African languages as mediums of instruction at institutions of higher education. The research problem is situated with defective university language policies. Firstly, most current language policies detract from a national framework on the advancement of indigenous African languages. Secondly, most current university language policies have no clear implementation plan and the advancement of their specified African indigenous language(s) remains unrealised. This underdevelopment of indigenous African languages can also be attributed to the ‘Anglicisation’ of the higher education sphere. Finally, this paper utilises and builds on the Language Policy for Higher Education and a 2005 Ministerial Committee Report on the development of indigenous African languages in universities, ultimately proposing implementable policy considerations in (re)addressing the underdevelopment of indigenous African languages as mediums of instruction across all public institutions of higher education.

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