Abstract

English has become the major language of scientific communication, and to a lesser extent, teaching worldwide. Using data from a international study of the academic profession, this article discusses some of the themes, positive and negative, of the role of "global English.

Highlights

  • At the global level, 53 percent of the academics involved in the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey primarily employ English for their academic activities: 17 percent of the academics use it as their mother tongue and 36 percent as their second language

  • Data collected through the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey—referring to 25,000 academics working in 18 countries located in 5 continents—allow to investigate whether and to what extent English is the contemporary academic “lingua franca,” and how it contributes to the internationalization of the academic profession in different countries

  • 53 percent of the academics involved in the CAP survey primarily employ English for their academic activities: 17 percent of the academics use it as their mother tongue and 36 percent as their second language

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Summary

Introduction

53 percent of the academics involved in the CAP survey primarily employ English for their academic activities: 17 percent of the academics use it as their mother tongue and 36 percent as their second language. English can play a different role in the internationalization of both higher education and the academic profession, depending on the official language of a country. In these countries English is used for teaching by the majority of academics as it is either their mother tongue (Canada) or their second language (Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Africa).

Results
Conclusion

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