Language Policy in Reality – A Study of Language Use in Two English-Taught Courses at University of Copenhagen

Abstract

Due to internationalization of higher education, the amount of English taught programmes at university level in non-English countries is increasing. Internationalization has the purpose partly of recruiting international students and partly of making national students more attractive on a global job market. Furthermore, Danish politicians see internationalization as having the potential of adding value to a given programme. In practice, internationalization seems to mean shifting to English, but at the same time there is a desire for continuing development of the Nordic languages in academia. Thus, the principle behind the language policy at University of Copenhagen is parallel language use, representing an ideal linguistic situation where two languages are used for academic purposes. This paper presents findings from a study of language use in two courses taught in English at UCPH suggesting that the participants choose language based on communicative efficiency rather than language policy. One group of students uses English and Danish socially and professionally. Danish is, however, only at the Danish-speaking students’ disposal, which creates two groups of students and asymmetry on the course. This represents a dilemma that needs to be addressed in the form of a more detailed language policy of parallel language use along with a far greater concern for the didactics of parallel language use in the classroom.