Language Policy In Higher Education Research Articles

The Norwegian language policy in higher education: an evaluation of policy design

ABSTRACT This article evaluates the design of the official language policy of the Norwegian government in the field of higher education, which was set out in two white papers in 2008 and 2020. The language policy aims to avoid domain loss of the Norwegian language and thus keep it ‘complete' and able to function as a unifying factor in society. In the two white papers, however, the logic of collective action in language policy is not explicit. We adopt a theoretical approach based on public policy evaluation to reconstruct the language policy's internal logic of action (i.e. its ‘programme theory' or ‘theory of change’). Secondly, we assess the validity of the assumptions underlying the programme theory of the two white papers in light of the criteria of plausibility, feasibility, and testability. The results show that most of the measures included in the 2008 language policy are not supported by a valid programme theory. By contrast, most of the measures in the 2020 language policy are based on a valid theory of change although several weaknesses persist. This article contributes to research on the evaluation of language policies by focusing on a relatively unexplored aspect, i.e., the evaluation of policy design.

Lecturer identity as a nexus between EMI planning and practice: a case study at the University of Lleida (Spain)

ABSTRACT The implementation of EMI programmes in Spain has put a strain on content lecturers who need to navigate a series of tensions related to the language of instruction, which have been shown to shape their professional identity. This study aims to explore how an EMI lecturer balances university language policies, ideology, and beliefs about English language teaching and learning and classroom practice in an EMI Strategic Marketing subject taught at the University of Lleida. The results show that, in the absence of explicit guidelines from the university, the EMI lecturer puts forward language-related methodological principles that are rooted in their personal journey of learning English and not so much in their content specialist identity. EMI is a magnifying glass of the challenges involved in enacting language policies in higher education and of the instrumental role of the content lecturer in this process.

“Because guess what? I don’t even want to speak English”: English as an obstacle for the development of multilingualism at a South African institution

AbstractSouth Africa immediately springs to mind as the epitome of multilingual language policies. In fact, its Constitution granted official status to 11 languages in 1996, and the Language Policy in Higher Education passed by the Ministry of Education in 2002 required universities to develop and use the indigenous official languages as academic languages, in addition to Afrikaans and English. With this multilingual milieu in mind, this study aimed at giving students voice in an attempt to unveil their language ideologies and attitudes by analysing their views on multilingualism and the use of English as main medium of instruction. Eleven focus groups with a total of 30 university students from different degrees at Stellenbosch University (SU) were organized to delve into four main issues: students’ perceptions on the university’s multilingual language policy; the actual use of the three official languages (Afrikaans, English and Xhosa) at SU; the impact of the use of English as the main medium of instruction; and the implementation of translanguaging practices. Despite the multilingual language policy of SU, our results reveal that there is a neatly established language hierarchy, where English reigns supreme at the top of the pyramid, followed by Afrikaans, while Xhosa remains at the base. Therefore, the preponderance of English as the language of academia only contributes to consolidating it as a strong identity factor in our interviewees’ multilingual identities, to the extent that Xhosa home language speakers disavow their own language in the academic domain.

Ideologies of teachers and students towards meso-level English-medium instruction policy and translanguaging in the STEM classroom at a Malaysian university

Abstract English medium instruction (EMI) as a language policy in higher education is based on monolingual conceptions and limits the use of the full linguistic repertoire of bilinguals/multilinguals in the university classroom. Informed by the constructs of language ideology (Spolsky, Bernard. 2009. Language management. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press), translanguaging (Li, Wei. 2018. Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics 39(1). 9–30) and pedagogical translanguaging (Creese, Angela & Adrian Blackledge. 2010. Translanguaging in the bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching? The Modern Language Journal 94(1). 103–115), this case study aimed to examine the ideologies held by micro-level stakeholders (i.e., teachers and students) towards institutional English-only EMI policy, translanguaging, and the significance and scope of pedagogical translanguaging in EMI classrooms. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six teachers and 10 students at a public research university in Malaysia. Also collected were a variety of publicly accessible institutional documents, including the focal university’s programme brochures, promotional materials and policy statements on its website. Analyses of the interviews and documents revealed that although EMI was officially adopted in the programmes, both teachers and students advocated for translanguaging and underscored its important role in the transmission of new information, effective communication, and scientific meaning-making. In light of these findings, the study concludes that an inclusive language policy is required that allows teachers and students to access all their linguistic resources.

An analysis of lecturers’ beliefs and behaviour towards multilingual curriculum teaching material: a case study of isiZulu and English

ABSTRACT This article reflects on a longitudinal study that sought to assess if the expressed lecturers’ beliefs matched their behaviour towards a teaching material developed on the principles of bi/-multilingual education. A mixed method approach consisting of a review of the earlier reported language attitudes of English lecturers and a comparative document analysis of the developed dual language instruction (DLI) (isiZulu-English) teaching material of 2011, 2014 and 2018 was employed. The study found that the earlier expressed attitudes were positive towards the new teaching approach. However, throughout the years, the 2011 DLI material had been gradually reversed to almost its original monolingual form, in which English was the dominant language. The findings contradict what a group of the remaining lecturers from the 2011 cohort responsible for revision and use of the teaching material earlier expressed as their beliefs towards multilingual education. This shows that English lecturers from the selected institution are not consistent in their support of the Language Policy in Higher Education (2002 & 2020), the Institutional Language Policy and interventions designed to disrupt the status quo in language usage to improve access and excellence in the education of African students.

Multilingualism as a Key Challenge for Higher Education Language Policy: The ARQUS Perspective

Language plays an essential role in education, where it serves as both the medium of instruction and key to communication. To warrant successful teaching, learning, research and academic mobility, universities must develop a clear vision about the role of language(s) at their institution. For example, they must develop strategies to promote continual growth of their students’ and staff’s professional and academic language skills. This article will report on an initiative undertaken within the Arqus European University Alliance to formulate a comprehensive language policy. To do so, five thematic areas essential to language policies in higher education were identified and questions were developed to gather information from all of the partner universities. This information was then incorporated in the planning and design of a language policy for the Alliance. The Arqus Language Policy now stands as a guideline for university members to develop a clear vision of language in higher education as well as a joint reflection and agreement on the role of multilingual communication in society. In the second phase of the project, further actions and measures can be planned on this basis.

Marking and unmarking the (non)native speaker through English language proficiency requirements for university admission

AbstractThis article examines the language ideologies undergirding university English language admission requirements. Universities are today caught between the order of the nation state and that of corporate globalization as they seek to attract both national and international students. This tension produces conflicting processes of (converse) racialization and linguistic (un)marking within which universities construct language proficiencies and ethnonational identities. Our study finds two categorically different constructs of English language proficiency (ELP): inherent ELP based on citizenship, linguistic heritage, and prior education, and tested ELP. These two constructs of ELP map onto two dichotomous student groups. One side of this binary—the white native-speaker citizen construct—is subject to converse racialization and unmarking. While it becomes blurred, it casts its Other into clear relief: the Asian non-native speaker non-citizen. The research has implications for critical language testing and language policies in higher education. (Citizenship, English as a global academic language, internationalization of higher education, international students, language ideologies, language testing, native speakerism, racialization, World Englishes)

University students’ perspectives on an English-only language policy in Higher Education

The study aimed to determine students’ perspectives on a shift from a dual-medium (English and Afrikaans) language policy to a monolingual (English-only) language policy at a University of Technology in South Africa and to establish whether the shift had any impact on student learning at the institution. The study used a quantitative method of inquiry, with a questionnaire used for data collection. The findings revealed that language-related challenges vary amongst students, and these can be categorised as low, medium and high language learning problems. The article concludes that the language policy shift does not reflect the multilingual nature of the c ountry, student demographics or their language needs at the institution. Instead of addressing the real challenge facing the majority of students who speak Sesotho, it merely dropped a second medium of instruction (MOI), Afrikaans, instead of developing a dominant indigenous language (Sesotho) for educational use alongside English and Afrikaans.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: The article lays bare the access paradox in higher education owing to the misalignment between the country’s progressive language policies and learning institutions’ language policies. The students’ perspectives bring a much-needed dimension to the ongoing debate on the use of the learners’ home languages as languages of learning and teaching.

The implementation of plurilingual language policies in Higher Education – the perspective of language learning students

AbstractIt is undeniable that English has become the worldwide lingua franca for the academic world. Many countries have therefore opted for Higher Education programmes fully in English, of which the Netherlands is the frontrunner. Language policies that include drawing on students plurilingual repertoires could offer the opportunity to employ several languages in the classroom (Duarte and van der Ploeg 2019). Although the attitudes of lecturers have been studied before, students are often overlooked when creating language policies and in particular students in language-related courses. This mixed-method study aimed to map the affordances and constraints associated with the implementation of a plurilingual policy from the students’ perspective. First, 20 h of classroom observations showed that plurilingual approaches were used when explaining concepts, yet were refrained from when struggling with the language of instruction. Second, a survey with 103 students attending language-related courses showed general positive attitudes towards using plurilingual approaches, in which being proficient in a large number of languages played a significant role. Overall, the affordances of a plurilingual policy, such as new ways of thinking, and the use of a student’s full linguistic repertoire, surpassed the constraints, such as the lack of inclusion, and as a result, the advantage for Dutch students was mentioned.

Examining the implementation of language policy for access and successof students in higher education in South Africa

The multilingual nature of South African universities requires a multilingual approach towards both administration and academic practice for inclusivity and language equity. While almost all universities in South Africa have language policies, as required by the National Language Policy for Higher Education, a significant impediment to language inclusivity and equity is the implementation of these policies. The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation of a language policy for students’ access and success, and the extent to which African languages are used as academic languages at one historically Afrikaans university (HAU). The study employed a mixed methods approach using probability and purposeful sampling. The findings show that the university’s promotion of monolingualism impedes students’ access to knowledge and limits their academic achievement. Various ways of improving students’ access to knowledge to promote their academic success are discussed. The results also show that African languages continue to be marginalised as academic languages at the HAU. The central recommendation is for a more multilingual approach at this university to increase students’ equitable access to content knowledge and academic success.

Re-considering orientations in South African Language Policies

Abstract What should be taken into account when language policies are developed? It is rarely the case that when language policies are developed, the focus is on issues outside of ‘language’. However, when issues of language are experienced in certain societies as a “cumulative disadvantage” (Piller 2016) together with other forms of domination, normative conceptualisations of language policy seem inadequate. The notion of ‘inhabitance’ is a generative lens through which to illustrate this. In the South African university space, since the #MustFall protests, the question of ‘inhabitance’ has taken centre stage in issues of curriculum and access. Through the act of throwing poo on the statue of Cecil John Rhodes, the #MustFall protests have firmly put on the agenda the need for universities to reflect upon itself, and to ask whose knowledges, bodies, histories and lifeworlds it legitimizes, and therefore, its complicity in maintaining coloniality. This has led to a wider call to decolonize universities. However, while the notion of ‘inhabitance’ has been central to the #MustFall protests, it has not been considered from the position of language and language policy. This paper reflects on institution-wide language policy conversations at a South African university arguing to shift attention from the orientations we take to language in language policy, to how policies “orient” (Ahmed 2007) bodies in university spaces. This paper seeks to add to the conversation in the South African Higher Education space in anticipation of the implementation of the new Language Policy for Higher Education (2020).

English Medium university STEM teachers’ and students’ ideologies in constructing content knowledge through translanguaging

ABSTRACT New norms of linguistic ideology and practices emerged as English grows in higher education in non-English speaking countries. English Medium Instruction (EMI) has been formalised by overlooking the role of other (e.g. native) languages in knowledge construction and communication. This study investigates STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) teachers’ and students’ language-related ideologies about translanguaging at a private university in Bangladesh where English has been adopted as an instructional medium. The participants of this study include 6 university teachers and 10 students from STEM background. In-depth interviews with teachers and students reveal that, while English has been used as the official language for instruction, translanguaging has been highlighted for its purposeful use and significance in STEM classrooms, primarily in the construction of knowledge, communication, and scientific meaning-making. The findings of the study also shed light on the mismatch between macro-level English-only monolingual language policy adoption driven by contemporary ideologies associated with English, and micro-level stakeholders’ ideologies of translanguaging in STEM pedagogy. This study, therefore, argues for a change in the way of looking at bilinguals’ language practices and embracing the linguistic rights and reality for more flexible and inclusive language policy in higher education.

Reconsidering Englishization: the Japanese government’s Top Global University Project

ABSTRACT This article begins with a brief historical overview of Japan’s education reforms, focusing particularly on language policy in higher education. In the Meiji era (1870s), lively discussions took place regarding making English the national language of Japan and providing education through English-medium instruction (EMI). Ultimately, Japan avoided both making English the national language and Englishization of higher education. However, since the Japanese government launched the Top Global University Project in 2014, which aims to promote the globalization of public and private universities and recruit foreign students from across the globe, Englishization has been accelerating. Upper-tier universities designated as Top Global Universities are particularly enthusiastic about increasing the scope of EMI across disciplines. To this end, more and more foreign instructors have been hired, and these seem to be replacing Japanese faculty in those universities. This educational setting is reminiscent of that prevailing during the early Meiji era. To reconsider the current situation in Japan’s higher education, the article discusses the Nordic language policy that was set forth to address the threat of the dominance of English. It suggests the limited use of English in Japan’s higher education and ends with a review of the literature on the fetishism of English.

Language Policy in Humanities Universities

The article considers theoretical and methodological foundations of language policies implemented in humanities universities, discusses measures that serve to maintain language and cultural security in different countries, and outlines the key objectives of Russian humanities universities with regard to digital learning and overall internationalization of education and science. Success in reaching these objectives depends on the polyfunctional nature of the proposed methodology since it is aimed at addressing both educational and research-related challenges. The polyparadigmatic character of the methodology lays the basis for further interdisciplinary studies and for initiating convergent educational programs adjustable to online and offline learning. Theoretical assumptions are based on the experience of implementing training programmes in the field of interlinguistic and intercultural communication with support of distance learning technologies. The article clarifies the terms distance learning technologies and online learning, which apply to the main concepts of the study, provides concrete examples to reveal the differences between these terms and specifies their usage, which is contributing for humanitarian knowledge in general and the learning space in particular. The article considers promotion of Russian as the language of ethnic and institutional interaction to be the main objective of language policies; views heritage languages as an integral part of cultural and historical legacy and discusses measures of their preservation; brings to the fore the importance of creating a barrier-free communicative zone. The article stresses the urgency of developing net cooperation with higher educational institutions both in and outside Russia, the importance of launching interdisciplinary programmes and creating conditions for inclusive education on a regular basis. Finally, it is emphasized that further scientific research in the field of language policy in higher education will contribute to language and cultural security. Language policy in higher education comprises four major directions responsible for science, learning and education in accordance with the concept of sustainable development and security of languages and cultures.

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

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 oftoleranceand 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 acontrolstage 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.

Language policy in higher education in Flanders: Legislation and actual practice

Abstract This article discusses a number of linguistic aspects of the internationalisation and anglicisation of higher education in Flanders. We aim to combine an overview of the applicable legal measures with the most detailed and complete information to date on the actual linguistic practices in universities and university colleges. To this end, we collected the most recent available data from a variety of official reports and databases on parameters including the number of English bachelor and master programmes currently on offer, the relative share of students involved in these international programmes, as well as the extent to which students and professors meet official language requirements. Next to these English-focused aspects, we also supply new figures on the required mother tongue proficiency to enrol in the regular Dutch-based curriculum (theory versus practice). The situation in the Dutch-speaking community of Belgium is then compared to that of the French-speaking Community, once again based on figures and data that were collated from a variety of official sources. All data indicate that the actual impact of anglicisation in Flemish universities and university colleges remains limited and unproblematic, compared to the situation in many other medium-sized language communities. The closing discussion advocates a language policy for higher education in Flanders that combines a strong focus on mother tongue proficiency with a solid training in English for academic purposes.

Language policy in higher education in the United Arab Emirates: proficiency, choices and the future of Arabic

This article explores the linguistic tension resulting from the English-medium instruction policy at a state university in the UAE. The article is informed by a critical theoretical approach that views language policy from the vantage point of both Arabic and English. It argues that, contrary to the stated national and institutional goals, the current language policy and its implementation are depleting the linguistic capital of the nation. Data drawn from multiple sources show that English-medium instruction is incompatible with the students’ low levels of proficiency in English; that the implementation of the institution’s bilingual policy is geared towards the development of English only; and that a monolingual conceptualisation underpins institutional practices, thus contributing to Arabic language loss in the education domain. The article proposes that higher education in the country be linguistically diversified in order to achieve the goals of higher education and to protect the linguistic rights of local citizens.

Revealing stakeholders’ perspectives on educational language policy in higher education through Q-methodology

ABSTRACTQatar University is currently at a crossroads, having to respond to competing institutional, national, and international language policy issues. This paper aims to reveal how Qatar University's internal and external stakeholders perceive the future directions of the university's language in education policy. In particular, through Q-methodology, we attempt to uncover social perspectives on three educational language policy options, proposed to the university's higher administration, by the strategic planning team, to respond to pressing linguistic needs and priorities. The aim is to initiate and support a more-informed discussion about language in education policy at Qatar University. Results indicate strong agreement among the various perspectives taken by the university's stakeholders regarding the need for a language in education policy that seeks to manage the relationship between Arabic and English in a parallel way.

Using African languages at universities in South Africa: The struggle continues

Both the advent of democracy in 1994 and the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa in 1996 kindled hope that ultimately official African languages, in addition to English and Afrikaans, would soon be utilised as languages of teaching and learning throughout the education sector of South Africa. However, in spite of government efforts and significant measures assumed by both private and public institutions to promote the use of African languages, this article reveals that the use of African languages in higher education still leaves much to be desired. This article presents a variety of causes for this state of affairs such as globalisation, economic factors, negative attitudes towards African languages and a lack of will or confidence by both students and university officials to take the plunge in using African languages in teaching and learning. Furthermore, developments in the country around issues such as #RhodesMustFall, decolonisation and Africanisation of higher education curricula, as well as the imminent introduction of the Revised Language Policy for Higher Education in 2019 make it imperative to make a reappraisal of the possibility of utilising African languages at universities in South Africa. Finally, the article argues that it is high time to walk the talk because debating the relevance of African languages in teaching and learning at universities in South Africa cannot take place indefinitely. Indeed, it has to come to a stop somewhere considering that for the past 50 years, scholars have been debating the aptness of African languages in education in general. The present analysis hinges on two theoretical frameworks, that is, Sociocultural theory and Afrocentricity.

Internationalization, Mobility and Englishization in Higher Education Across OECD Countries

Although the European Union policies explicitly support the notion of multilingualism, the impact of increasing internationalization on the linguistic landscape of the European higher education system has been dramatic. In the post-Bologna period, the desire of higher education institutions to attract a more skilled and diverse body of students seems to turn English into the medium of instruction of a significant number of higher education institutions based in the continent. Particularly, competitiveness in the academic market that leads to bottom-up and top-down pressures within universities to become more international may have caused many higher education institutions to directly associate internationalization with Englishization. As this situation reinvigorates the status of English as the lingua franca, the present article investigates the links between internationalization, language policies, and Englishization through having a closer look at the OECD international student mobility data. The article also points to several practical and pedagogical considerations involved in implementing language policies in higher education.