MOOC: Multilingual Education

6.2. Internationalization and domination of English in higher education

Week 6 Part 2 will help you to:

understand the role of the English language in higher education, how and why it is becoming more and more dominating and which challenges it may bring up.

To reach these goals you are expected to:

watch the introductory video that presents a life experience of struggling with English at the university and a video lecture about the pressure of English due to our globalizing and interationalizing world;
read about the spreading use of English as medium of instruction in higher education, and the challenges as well as solutions to cope with it using language policies and support systems;
to check your knowledge and understanding with an activity.

Video

The role of the English language in higher education

Now, go to reading task.

The reading below will shed some light in the process of Englishisation in higher education worldwide. It explains the processes that drive Englishisation and the challenges it poses to already existing multilingualism in higher education. After the reading complete the activity.

Reading

Englishisation in higher education worldwide- the processes and the challenges

Differently from the general education and especially early school education, languages in higher education have received less attention in academic and political debates. Most European universities, for example, provide instruction in one, dominant national language because in most cases it is the primary language of their student population and it is the official state language.

However, linguistic diversification and the development of multilingual competences are important in all stages of education. At the higher education level, these competencies are particularly important as students are in the final stages before embarking on their careers. Furthermore, students are more likely to travel during their studies and are also required to acquire knowledge often expressed in other languages. It is essential that they acquire language skills to support them in this. The increasing international mobility of students and staff in one hand, and the desire to attract global talents to its student body on the other hand, establishes English as a second language of instruction in universities around the world and many academic textbooks are also written in English.

Bearing this in mind, while talking about multilingualism in higher education we need to distinguish two different phenomena: Englishisation that is the result of internationalization of higher education and emergence of multilingual universities, mainly at borderland or minority populated areas. Let us have a closer look at these two linguistic phenomena in higher education.

Englishisation also known as English-medium instruction (EMI) is a term used to describe the spread of English as medium of instruction in institutions of higher education in non-English speaking countries. This process is driven by internationalization of higher education that in Europe is also often referred to as Bologna process. More and more universities are competing for talented students internationally rather than only nationally.

(OECD statistics)

Because English is the lingual franca of an increasingly globalized world with an increasing international student population, there are more internationalization pressures on universities, which in turn means a higher need for more English-medium instruction in higher education everywhere.

Another driver of Englishisation are the global university rankings. University rankings are based on assessment of four broad areas: research and publications, learning environment, reputation of graduates, and internationalization. Of these four areas only ‘learning environment’ (that is infrastructure and student-teacher ratio), is an area that is not dependent on language. In other three areas, English as a medium of instruction for internationalization, global reputation of graduates and as a language of high-level research and publications, makes an entry point into universities in non-English speaking countries worldwide.

Together with increased pressures of internationalization of higher education and the introduction of English-medium instruction, the linguistic tensions between EMI and local language or languages have emerged. The tensions are ever greater in bilingual settings where the introduction of English disturbs the often long worked out, fragile balance between majority and minority language, for example in Catalonia, Basque country, China, and South Africa to name few. The tensions arise mainly due to the fact that English and local language or languages have different degrees of symbolic value for different students. For example, international students may find a little symbolic value in national or local language and are therefore less motivated to invest in the language learning. At the same time, English-language medium instruction might pose a challenge for national or local students who are not fluent in English and thus may encounter problems in participating fully in the university life.

Should English-medium instruction be considered the problem? King et al. (2011) see the dominant role of English as a fact of reality as it is clear that the international lingua franca has a privileged role in language planning and policy:

“…there is a need to stop regarding English as the problem. We could instead welcome the emergence of an effective lingua franca which means that all educated, employable people have a first language and a language for international communication.… The question, then, is not ‘what should we do about English’, but what are the implications of this (current) dominant role? How do we encourage real multi/plurilingualism? What does it mean for our present and future identities? (King et al. 2011).”

Increase in EMI has not equally resulted in the development of bi- or multilingualism among students or bi- or multilingual universities everywhere. English language proficiency is rarely if ever the objective of the learning process for students and EMI is seen rather as a tool to attract global talent and climb the global university ranking. Additionally, the application of EMI selectively for international or exchange students only often just creates language enclaves where each student group – local or international – can resort to their own language repertoire.

Universities become multilingual in a sense that there is more than one language used in teaching, however, they cannot be defined as multilingual as long as their language policy does not aim at all students becoming bi- or multilingual. In a bi- or multilingual university, knowing more than one language is not an option offered to students, but a multilingual university requires its members to use all of its official languages at higher or lower degrees of competence depending on the situation and the socio-communicative function. In the next part of the week, we present models of different multilingual universities in Europe.

To promote bi- or multilingualism among students requires more than just decision about the language of instruction. A bi- or multilingual approach in universities require different additional practices such as:

the use or incorporation of multilingual support material in the classroom,
immersion and CLIL teaching methods,
measuring the language proficiency progress in parallel to the content learning.

To put it simply, Englishisation does not automatically result in high multilingual proficiencies and competencies of students. A focus on teaching new language or languages together with the content, measuring the progress not only of acquiring the content but also of the language is the essence of the plurilingual university.

In parallel with Englishisation two more processes in European societies have led the process of introduction multilingual practices at universities.

First, a process, that has led to a kind of linguistic diversity in higher education, is defined as widening participation (WP). WP is a practice of opening up higher education for socially or culturally marginalized groups, among them ethnic and linguistic minorities. It is driven by the recognition that education is a potent tool for overcoming social exclusion. Many countries seeking to open up higher education to groups that have historically been underrepresented have adopted WP. In many countries WP policies have resulted in large increases in number of minority students, many of whom are bi- or multilingual. The linguistic diversity that these students bring into higher education sector is particularly prevalent in urban areas, border areas and traditional minority areas. Widening participation process thus linguistically diversifies the student body.

Second, another process that has driven the emergence of multilingual universities is related to the revitalisation of minority languages in Europe. Universities play a paramount role in the revitalisation process of minority languages as employing a minority languages as a language of instruction at university level can create a positive image of the language by being present and supported at the highest level. Often in universities located in the regions with minority languages a two conditions apply: increasing importance and hegemony of English as a lingua franca, and the struggle for recognition of the weaker (local) language. The number of multilingual contexts in which at least two other languages coexist with English is large: Aosta Valley and Blozano in Italy, the Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Galicia, and the Valencian Community in Spain, Brittany in France, various universities in Finland, Friesland in the Netherlands, Narva in Estonia, Daugavpils in Latvia, Hong- Kong, Israel, Luxembourg, Mexico, South Africa etc.

The challenge thus, of higher education today is to ensure the simultaneous development of a multilingual environment in which all languages are developed as academic/scientific languages at the same time ensuring that the existing languages of instruction or emergence of English as a medium of instruction do not serve as a barrier to access and success. It is important to bridge the divide between exclusive and inclusive language policies. Exclusive language policy refers to practices where a native language of the local student body is excluded from higher education which in turn may result in the exclusion of students from higher education. Inclusive language policy focuses on bringing in the local students’ language (or languages) as tools for teaching and learning. In some instances, bringing in English as a sole language of instruction can become and exclusive language policy.

In balancing these two issues, the language policy in higher education tries to strike a balance and create “a possible meeting place” between two types of language policies: a “romantic” policy that attempts to preserve local languages and identities and a “rational” policy that sees language as a neutral tool that can serve the purpose of wider communication.

Universities are internationalising and it is evident that they need to follow some kind of English-plus multilingual education model. Few do so already and in the next section of this week we will have a closer look at different models of multilingual universities.

Activity

Try the quiz to check your knowledge and understanding about the topic of English in higher education.