Higher Education Discourse Research Articles

Neoliberalism in South African higher education language policy: A decolonial perspective

The global spread and hegemony of English as a medium of teaching, learning and research has come to be closely associated with neoliberalisation of higher education in the universities across the world, and has negatively impacted on epistemic issues, especially in Global South universities. No permanent solution has been found on challenges of English hegemony, particularly in African higher education. This article adds to the advancement of neoliberal discourse in higher education in South Africa by analysing neoliberal manifestations in its higher education language policy agenda. The article used desktop analysis to assess relevant literature on mainstream neoliberal ideologies and manifestations in the language policy reform post-apartheid. Drawing on relevant literature and through critical discourse analysis, it integrated evidence from the selected sources associated with mainstream neoliberal ideologies and then analysed the neoliberal manifestations in the language policy reforms pursued in South African post-apartheid context to bring out how the neoliberal actors in the higher education sector have reconfigured neoliberal principles. The decolonial perspective premised on concepts such as coloniality of being, power and knowledge was used to critique the neoliberal manifestations in South African higher education language policy directives. The paper presents the argument that universities in the country are deeply entrenched in linguistic hierarchisation which perpetuates epistemic injustices in teaching and learning. The African higher education should endeavour to underpin its language policies in indigenous knowledge systems to help harness the African content while existing in a global space where all knowledges should be regarded as equally relevant.Contribution: This article contributes to the emerging discourse of neoliberalism in higher education in the Global South and its impact on language policy formulation and implementation.

Unlocking the Potential of the Decolonial Approach in Migration Studies

ABSTRACTBased on a bibliometric analysis of Scopus‐indexed articles on decolonial research on migration from Social Science disciplines this article outlines the main topics covered by the sampled literature, namely: (1) the academic migration as framed by the internationalization discourse in higher education; (2) migrants' social movements and their transnational dimension; (3) gender and age in decolonial studies of migration; (4) the ways in which intersectionality shapes migrants' experiences through their class, race, gender and sexual orientation; and (5) critique of humanitarian discourse regarding refugees and asylum seekers. The article shows that type of literature first emerged in 2010 and significantly increased after 2020. Likewise, the geographic distribution of the knowledge production in this field highlights the uneven contributions by various countries and regions. Moreover, this picture is further complicated by the biographies of authors who, in many instances, are academic migrants coming from different national backgrounds in the Global South to work in higher education institutions in the Global North. The article ends with suggestions for further developments of the decolonial approach in the study of migration.

Educational technology, higher education discourses and the lived experience of lecturers as users

Abstract Technological innovations, under the aegis of ‘technology-enhanced learning’ (TEL), are high on policy agenda in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK and elsewhere. These developments have a direct impact on the conditions of teaching and learning. The socio-cultural dimension – the impact of change on working communities and their practices and beliefs on the ground – appears under-researched in empirical work (Selwyn, 2022). This paper reports on a qualitative study incorporating an analysis of linguistic metaphors that attempted to investigate that gap in one institutional context. It begins with a critical review of metaphors associated with policy and educational technology innovation in education discourses more broadly. Teaching staff were interviewed from across the institution’s main faculties. The interview transcripts formed a databank of naturally occurring language. Respondents used a range of metaphors, both conventional and novel, revealing insights into the affective and sociocultural dimensions of experience and understanding as well as perceptions of changing professional roles. For triangulation, linguistic analyses of relevant documentary sources, where available, were made and an example is included here. Overall, a more nuanced understanding of lecturers’ lived experience and engagement with educational technology was achieved by focusing on their metaphor usage.

Exploring teacher discourse patterns: Comparative insights from novice and expert teachers in junior high school EFL contexts

Effective teacher discourse is critical in improving English as a foreign language (EFL) education, particularly in junior high schools in China, where students are at a crucial stage in their language development. As junior high school students are at a pivotal developmental stage, this research investigates the discourse patterns employed by novice and expert teachers to assess their impact on students' engagement and language acquisition. Despite the extensive research on teacher discourse in higher education, a significant gap remains regarding its application in compulsory primary education settings. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the current classroom discourse patterns of EFL teachers in junior high schools to identify the distinctions between novice and expert teachers and explore the factors contributing to these differences. This mixed-methods study includes qualitative and quantitative analyses. Verbatim transcriptions of six classes were used to create a corpus exceeding 20,000 words. The data were analysed using cross-tabulation in Excel and Chi-square tests in SPSS 22.0, complemented by semi-structured interviews with selected teachers. The theoretical framework is grounded in Long's（1996）interaction hypothesis, which underlines the significance of communication in facilitating language proficiency through meaningful interaction, and the analysis follows Sinclair and Coulthard's（1975）discourse patterns. The initiation-response-feedback (IRF) and initiation-response-0 (IR0) emerged as predominant patterns among both novice and expert teachers. Novice teachers predominantly relied on the basic IRF pattern, while expert teachers exhibited greater flexibility and more frequent use of variant patterns, such as IRFR, I[RnFn] and [InRn]F. Such adaptability among expert teachers creates a more interactive and engaging learning environment, thereby enhancing student participation and language acquisition. The study also identifies a novel variant structure, IRnF, used more frequently by expert teachers, underlining the benefits of group work in fostering teamwork and independent thinking. Expert teachers demonstrated a greater propensity to adapt their discourse strategies to foster a more production-oriented learning environment, which was the main factor driving the teachers' differing discourse patterns. This study significantly contributes to the analysis of teacher discourse in the junior high school EFL context, providing empirical evidence and practical insights that bridge the gap between theory and practice. By elucidating the distinct discourse practices of novice and expert teachers, this study offers valuable recommendations for teacher professional development and highlights the importance of employing varied and interactive discourse structures to improve EFL teaching effectiveness. The study also provides valuable insights for educators striving to improve their instructional practices and the language acquisition in EFL classrooms.

‘Let’s play together for entrepreneurship!’ Engaging actors in academic capitalism within the policy discourse on entrepreneurship

Since the early 2000s, the promotion of entrepreneurship in higher education (HE) has become a central aim of educational policy in Europe. We apply a critical discourse approach to examine entrepreneurship HE policy discourse in the framework of academic capitalism. Using Finland as a case example, we investigate how academic capitalism materializes in and through the entrepreneurship discourse in a Nordic HE system and how social actors in higher education institutions (HEIs) are persuaded and engaged in entrepreneurship discourse, and within it, in academic capitalism. We analyze recent guidelines for HEIs produced by the Federation of Finnish Enterprises and university stakeholders. We show how the entrepreneurship policy discourse in HE intertwines with academic capitalism in multiple ways. The whole HEI community across disciplines is harnessed for the creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem to enhance the innovation, creation, and renewal of businesses in order to create economic value for HEIs and businesses to secure national competitiveness. As business actors participate in generating the policy discourse, they also powerfully contribute to redefining the purpose of HE according to business logics and values. This will strengthen the marketization of a Nordic system that has so far followed social equality as its core principle.

Hubris occurrence, management and accountability in higher education institutions in Australia

Hubris refers to an individual's display of self-assurance, pride or excessive confidence and has been presented in the extant literature to describe the language used by hubristic leaders. Therefore, this research explores the characteristic features of hubristic discourse in higher education and its potential link to the organisation's financial outcomes. By using computational linguistics to analyse written discourse samples of 20 Australian Vice-Chancellor's Addresses in the university's annual reports for the 10-year period, this research identifies linguistic markers of Vice-Chancellor hubris (increased use of negations, discrepancy words, power and achievement-oriented language) and their link to financial outcomes. As the role of the Vice-Chancellor has been compared in literature to that of the CEO, exploring if and how hubris’ symptoms manifest in language use can contribute towards explaining agency problems, accountability issues and the ongoing ethical debate over pay for performance in higher education. This research has implications for university key stakeholders such as government bodies, for standard setters who oversee the preparation of university financial reports and those who assume leadership roles within tertiary institutions.

Taking Seriously Campus Debates Surrounding Invited Speakers: Open-Mindedness and the Ethics of Inquiry in Higher Education

Context: College campuses in the United States are currently engaged in public and ongoing negotiation of the value and limits of free speech in educational contexts. Responses to invited campus speakers from students, faculty, and campus leaders point to diverging perspectives on the roles and responsibilities of higher education institutions and their members as communities of inquiry. Considering these perspectives raises questions about the epistemic aims of colleges and universities. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to investigate perspectives on the ethics of inquiry and on the value and demands of open-mindedness in higher education. Specifically, I examined one case of an invited campus speaker who sparked considerable debate—Charles Murray’s invited talk at Middlebury College in 2017. Research Design: This study employs the methods of empirically engaged philosophy, a philosophical approach to inquiry that engages with empirical evidence in considering educational aims and implications for institutional structures and policies. I apply conceptual tools stemming from the philosophical theories of knowledge and justice to a thematic content analysis of public statements made by faculty, administrators, and students in the Middlebury case. Conclusions or Recommendations: Through analysis of this campus speaker case, I observed two alternative perspectives on the ethics of inquiry—rational individualism and just collectivism. These two perspectives shared a number of common commitments, including the importance of cultivation of the mind as a primary aim in higher education; the value of open-mindedness, debate, and protest in the pursuit of truth; and the importance of justice, equality, and inclusion. They diverged in their epistemic orientations (individual vs. collective responsibility), their views on the proper bounds of open debate within an institution oriented toward truth-seeking, and what virtuous open-mindedness requires of individuals and collectives. This study contributes to a contemporary understanding of the unique ethical responsibilities of colleges and universities as inquiring organizations, whose members may hold divergent epistemological orientations. By investigating the relationship between open-mindedness, inquiry, and justice in contemporary public discourse in higher education, this study addresses a need for deeper engagement with the philosophical foundations of higher education.

From an Input to an Output: The Discursive Uses of External Research Funding in Academic Career Assessment

AbstractSuccess in the competition for external grants has become an important indicator when progressing in academic careers. Drawing on interview data with academics across various career stages and academic fields at one Finnish university, the study identifies four discourses that elucidate why research grants are deemed significant in advancing an academic career. The findings indicate that it is appealing for universities to use research funding success as an assessment criterion due to its connections to authoritative discourses in higher education and research policy. For example, funding success is seen as a symbol of high academic quality and as a signal of an individual’s ability to thrive in a resource-scarce environment. However, in the context of limited resources for research and the introduction of new societally oriented funding instruments, utilizing funding success as an assessment criterion overlooks academics’ different prerequisites for gaining funding.

Sunflowers, hidden disabilities and power inequities in higher education: Some critical considerations and implications for disability-inclusive education policy reforms

The article discusses recent Higher Education (HE) initiatives to introduce the Sunflower Scheme, which enables students with hidden disabilities to ‘discreetly’ indicate the existence of a disability to access support. A significant problem related to persons with hidden disabilities lies in their frequent reluctance to disclose their disabilities because of discriminatory attitudes that arise not only due to the dominance of arbitrary fabrications of ‘normalcy’ – aligned with elitist and human capital HE discourses – but also due to the lack of recognition of the existence of hidden disabilities. Even though the Scheme has been touted as a method that recognises hidden disabilities in HE, it, nevertheless, reinforces discourses of ‘misrecognition’ that create power inequities and project subordinated identities. The article argues that introducing the Scheme in HE constitutes another manifestation of disability-related initiatives that reinforce individual pathology and paternalistic discourses of dependency. The article contributes to a policy dialogue on the need to introduce alternative forms of provision to foster disability-inclusive practices in HE and makes a case to empirically capture the ‘lived experience’ of the Scheme in the context of Disability Equality policies in HE.

Care‐experienced students in higher education: A case for re‐figuring higher education worlds to widen access and further social justice

AbstractWhile the higher education (HE) literature highlights how the sector is designed for a typified imagined student, the issues are particularly acute for care‐experienced students. The dominant HE discourse assumes that all students will be able or want to participate in ‘stereotypical’ aspects of student life and have stable networks to offer emotional, practical and financial support. Here, we deploy Holland et al.'s formative heuristic of figured worlds to interrogate how socially and culturally constructed realms and artefacts establish ‘givens’. People ‘figure’ who they are through navigating different realms which are conceptually and materially produced. We take particular inspiration from figured worlds’ focus on unequal power in social space; socially and institutionally endorsed understandings of how things ‘should’ be celebrate certain subjectivities and ways of ‘doing’ university while marginalising others. The paper discusses biographical‐narrative interviews and collaborative analysis with six students with experience of foster, residential and kinship care, all studying at a post‐1992 English university. Crucially, conversations highlighted participants’ exceptional maturity, educational passion and tenacity. Yet challenges remained. This paper focuses on four domains where our participants felt forced into peripheral subjectivities: student accommodation, wellbeing support, societies and curricula. Halls became hostile spaces through high rents, late‐night/loud drinking cultures and their transitory nature. Wellbeing services felt inimical when designed for quotidian anxiety and stress, neglecting more complex stories. Similarly, society membership fees, requisite team kits and ‘cliques’ materially and symbolically constricted participants. Finally, specific areas of curricula and pedagogical delivery posed problems, namely when traumatic and/or painful content (e.g. domestic violence and safeguarding) was not assumed to relate to anyone in the classroom. Despite these barriers, participants continued to navigate their HE journeys with skill and creativity. Although this paper's perspective is partial, we argue for theorising the holistic student experience through the lens of figured worlds. This reveals how norms and practices make dominant subject positions hard to access for care‐experienced students, contradicting and undermining their obvious value. In concluding, we discuss how locating problems as structural speaks back to deficit discourses, challenging us to reimagine and reconfigure HE through alternative discourses of worth. Attention is needed within and beyond the classroom; students’ lives are multifaceted and played out in multiple figured worlds.

The dispositions and tactics of school sixth-formers who reject the institutional ‘push’ to university

ABSTRACT This paper examines the experiences of a group of 16- to 18-year-old students in two publicly funded London schools who did not conform to expectations and rejected university as a post-school destination. The students’ experiences offer insights into how current Higher Education (HE) policy in England combined with a competitive school market encouraged differentiated levels of support according to the ‘status’ of students’ post-school aspirations. In both schools, progression to university was valorised with sixth-form (post-16) careers guidance focused on HE choosing. Students who did not conform to school expectations and sought alternatives to university were found to be most disadvantaged by a lack of independent and impartial careers guidance at sixth-form level. Characterised by creativity and resourcefulness, non-conforming students’ dispositions influenced the ways they negotiated the HE discourses integral to the institutional habitus of their schools. Drawing on social and cultural capital beyond the school, they accessed advice and guidance for post-school destinations which had more meaning for them than university. The paper draws on student interviews which formed part of a larger ethnographic study of the influence of institutional habitus on students’ HE and non-HE choosing. The discussion is informed by a Bourdieusian theoretical framework.

From colorblind to systemic racism: Emergence of a rhetorical shift in higher education discourse in response to the murder of George Floyd.

We use topic modeling and exponential random graph models (ERGM) to analyze statements issued by Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) (N = 356) in the United States in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in May 2020. Prior research investigating discourse on race in IHEs demonstrates the prevalence of two paradigms. First, the ideology of 'colorblind racism' treats systemic racism-a form of racism where social, political, and economic institutions are organized in a way that disadvantages people of color-as having largely existed in the past. Consistent with this, IHE responses to prior race-related incidents on campus have emphasized individual prejudice, avoiding discussion of systemic racism. Second, 'diversity' orthodoxy, which treats race as a cultural identity and emphasizes the instrumental benefits of racial heterogeneity on campus, is commonplace in IHEs. Topic modeling of statements issued in 2020 reveals the prevalence of several themes including the systemic and enduring nature of racism in the United States, diversity orthodoxy, humanist responses reflecting rhetoric consistent with colorblind racism, and COVID-19 response strategies. ERGM reveals fragmentation in the discourse based on IHE attributes. Religiously affiliated IHEs and those located in Republican-voting states attend more to diversity and humanist discourse, and less to systemic racism. Elite IHEs, those in Democrat-voting states, and IHEs with high percentages of Black students are more focused on systemic racism. Overall, as compared to colorblind racism and diversity orthodoxy established in prior work, our analysis reveals two striking rhetorical shifts on race discourse in IHEs in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder: (1) from a colorblind ideology to discussing the systemic nature of racism in the United States, and (2) from acknowledging perpetrators but not the broader context of racism in on-campus incidents to acknowledging diffuse racism manifest in society but refraining from explicitly naming any wrongdoers.

DNA Ancestry Testing and Racial Discourse in Higher Education: How the (Re)Biologization of Race (Un)Settles Monoracialism for Graduate Students

The recent proliferation of DNA testing in both popular culture and higher education calls to question whether such testing reifies race as a biological construct and, in particular, whether or not it disrupts or reinforces monoracial categorizations. Graduate students, who are often at a point in their educational journeys to further question and critique commonly held ideas, provide a unique lens through which to investigate discourses surrounding DNA testing. In this qualitative study, we analyze data from four focus groups with 22 racially diverse U.S. graduate students who had recently completed an ancestry test. We identify two specific discourses that graduate student participants engaged in, including (a) a biological race discourse and (b) an agentic choice discourse. Together, these discourses produced distinct unsettled subjectivities for Black and White participants. Our findings suggest the need to more critically consider the usage of DNA ancestry testing in and out of higher education and to provide further nuance around the validity of these tests as they relate to the social construction of race.

Indigenous innovation and organizational change towards equitable higher education systems: the Canadian experience

Indigenous knowledges are largely absent from higher education institutions’ efforts to pursue excellence and innovation. Grounded in decolonization literature and institutional theory, this article examines how Indigenous peoples of Canada have engaged with innovation discourses in higher education. Through document analysis of 15 research-intensive Canadian universities and conversation with 13 Indigenous peoples, the article analyses political, functional, and normative pressures associated with Indigenous knowledges shaping Canadian universities. The article demonstrates how Indigenous groups have been able to push post-secondary institutions towards a normative shift in organizational structure. The article also shows how approaching innovation from decolonizing perspectives can provide a way forward for equitable higher education systems, advocating for re-imagining the dominant market economy, and focusing on learning from Indigenous worldviews that centre around reciprocity, ecological sustainability, and connection to land.

Exploring the use of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity: A Critical Discourse Analysis of HESA Introductory Syllabi

In this Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) introductory syllabi, we sought to understand the language used in higher education introductory syllabi as they reflected higher education social justice discourses. Specifically, we explored the use of equity, diversity, and inclusion in HESA syllabi to understand how nominalized words were used to communicate social justice discourses in higher education. Since HESA programs are designed to prepare higher education practitioners, exploring the language used in instructional documents provides a perspective of the current and past state of higher education and, possibly, provides insight into the future of higher education as it is guided by HESA professionals. As such, understanding the nature of these courses is critical to provide perspective on higher education at present – as language is indicative and predictive of discursive patterns and beliefs – to identify discourses that legitimize dominating knowledge, policies, practices, and procedures.

“Physically I was there, but my mind had gone somewhere else”: Probing the emotional side of English-medium instruction

Emotions are vital for one's thinking, acting, and experiencing of self and life. There has been substantial research undertaken on the role of emotions in teaching and learning in educational settings; however, the emotional dimension of English-medium instruction (EMI) has yet to be understood. Informed by a post-structuralist perspective, the present study seeks to address the dearth of scholarship in this area by investigating what emotions a group of mainland Chinese students experience and how they perceive and navigate such emotions in an EMI teacher education program at a Macau university. Data collected through narrative frames and follow-up interviews reveal complex and mixed emotions experienced by the participants in the EMI courses. Particularly, they were subject to high emotional labor caused by an unsystematic, ineffective approach to EMI implementation mediated by a corporatized discourse in higher education. The study ends with implications for EMI teachers and administrators in higher education.

Neoliberalization of higher education in China: A critical discourse analytical approach

Drawing on a transdisciplinary approach to critical discourse analysis, this paper looks at the case of Chinese higher education to explore how neoliberal ideology is constituted, recontextualized, and legitimated in the public discourse of Chinese universities in a socio-political context marked by the intricate integration of administration and politics. The analyses show how these universities have endeavored to respond to the economic imperatives of a globalizing knowledge-driven economy while strategically absorbing the socio-political governance agenda inherited from the state's institutional legacies. The findings suggest that the discourse of higher education in China is a highly contested space for competing ideologies, reproducing a narrative that facilitates the commodification of higher education and dismisses the contradictions between ideological values at the glonacal nexus.

A positioning analysis of international graduate students’ perspectives and practices of translanguaging at a Canadian higher education institution

ABSTRACT Translanguaging effectively affirms international students’ diverse language practices and linguistic and cultural identities. Although it may appear evident that their multilingual and multicultural identities and experiences inevitably influence their translanguaging experiences, few studies have examined how their identities affect their perspectives and practices toward translanguaging in the Canadian higher education context. Because the impact of identities on the linguistic decision-making process is often manifested in the positions individuals assign to themselves and others in social interactions, this study drew on positioning theory to investigate how the positions assigned by 17 international graduate students from the faculty of education during their studies in Canada shaped their translanguaging experiences. Analysis of the interview data indicated that the participants assigned multiple, fluid, and sometimes conflicting positions to themselves and others when participating in higher education discourses. Their evaluation of linguistic and cultural affinity with interlocutors, positioning in relation to the English language, and varied considerations as (future) teachers complicated their perspectives and performances of translanguaging. This report concluded with implications for Canadian higher education to implement an effective translanguaging-oriented pedagogy that is linguistically and culturally responsive to the increasingly diversified international student population.

Disrupting assumptions about graduate employability: exploring culturally and linguistically diverse university students’ graduate capitals in Australia

ABSTRACT Employability is a powerful discourse in higher education, yet as a driver for policy and practice it has not translated into an uplift in graduate outcomes for all student groups. In particular, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Migrant and/or Refugee (CALDMR) students experience inequitable graduate outcomes and access to meaningful employment opportunities. Drawing on a national study of career advisors and CALDMR students’ experiences of how Australian universities support their career development, we examine CALDMR students’ employability through the conceptual framework of graduate capitals. We make two key contributions: firstly, we offer insights into staff and student perceptions of university approaches with CALDMR. Secondly, we identify a lack of linguistic and cultural diversity conceptualisations of employability by examining the experiences of CALDMR students and staff through the lens of graduate capitals. We disrupt the assumptions and presumed familiarity with cultural knowledge.

A Cross-Cultural Genre Analysis of Leadership Statements in Italian and American University Sustainability Reports

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</b> Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important issue in higher education (HE). Leadership statements in university sustainability reports (LSUSR) represent a unique genre for university leaders to communicate sustainability. This study aims to demystify the genre so that future leadership statements might be crafted with a greater degree of reflexivity. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review</b> : Sustainability discourse in HE has been regarded as a legitimacy tool and an opportunity for image improvement for universities. Some studies have examined university sustainability reports, whereas there is a lack of studies focusing on the section of leadership statements. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research question</b> : Are there any cross-cultural similarities or differences in terms of rhetorical moves and communicative purposes between the Italian LSUSR genre and the American LSUSR genre? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research methodology:</b> Using cross-cultural genre analysis, this study investigates the rhetorical moves of leadership statements produced by Italian and American universities. A move scheme is established and is used to annotate the sample texts. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results and conclusion:</b> The findings show that although the Italian and American LSUSR genres share the communicative purpose of establishing a sustainable image, the degree of discourse force exerting on this communicative purpose varies. The image-building discourse force appears to be more noticeable in the American leadership statements, which tend to use a wider range and a larger quantity of image-improving moves. The Italian subcorpus, on the other hand, seems to pay more attention to the genre function of report-introducing, which is not explicitly linked to image improvement. This article suggests that practitioners could consider the potentials of the LSUSR genre in developing an institutional culture of sustainability.