Plurilingualism, multilingualism and internationalisation in the European Higher Education Area: Challenges and perspectives at a Swiss University
Abstract The relationships between the internationalisation of higher education and language are still poorly understood. We foreground the perspective of students in order to advance our understanding of these interrelations in the context of the consolidation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Accordingly, we propose gathering answers to the questions: What, from students' perspectives, are their experiences and perceptions of pluri- and multilingualism in the context of the internationalisation of higher education? And how are they dealing with these experiences and perceptions? Existing studies confirm that local specificities pertaining to languages and education systems impact substantially on the answers to these emerging questions. Thus, an overall picture of the interactions between language and internationalisation that shape the EHEA require the integration of findings from localised investigations that bring to light these particularities. Here we present an overview of findings from a mixed methods study in a medium-sized, historically German-language university in multilingual Switzerland. Our findings confirm that students are making considerable efforts to ensure that their plurilingualism extends beyond English. Notwithstanding attempts by the university to respond to their needs, students however still struggle with the tensions between what they can actually do, what they report they would like to do, and what they perceive is expected of them concerning language competencies during their studies and after. On the basis of these reflections, lecturers at the Language Centre developed a four-language course Communication training in multilingual settings that uses French, Italian, English, and German. This course is briefly introduced as an example of a language training intervention which seeks to move beyond the persistent constraints of a compartmentalised approach to pluri- and multilingualism in higher education.
The Enactment of Academic Language Policy in the International University: A Mixed-Methods Investigation
The existing literature on international education in relation to language policy has suggested that internationalizing higher education (HE) does not ensure interculturality (Bash, 2009; Durant & Shepherd, 2009; Jenkins, 2014; Seidlhofer, 2011); the potential relationship between the internationalization of HE and language remains unclear (Jenkins, 2014; Meyer, Gekeler, Manger, & Urank, 2012; Saarinen, 2012). This study responds to the timely question regarding what kind of language policy can meet the needs of international students in an increasingly globalized academic culture (Jenkins, 2014) by adding a Canadian voice to the debate and featuring the changing sociolinguistic realities in internationalized Canadian HE. This study aims to investigate the language policy for non-native English speaking (NNES) international students, as enacted at three interrelated but not necessarily congruent levels: language management, language beliefs, and language practices, with a particular focus on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs as an integral part of the ‘international’ university. Employing a mixed-methods approach, I collected data from document analysis, questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations in three EAP programs in Canada. I draw on the theoretical framework of language policy (Spolsky, 2004, 2009, 2012/2018), and complementary concepts of mechanism (Shohamy, 2006) and plurilingual and pluricultural competence (Coste, Moore, & Zarate, 2009) to interpret and analyze the data. Findings of this study shed light on the two-fold characteristics of the tripartite language policy in the EAP domain. While there is increasing awareness of the homogenizing
The camel in Somali oral traditions
The relationship between the camel and the Somali people has traditionally been reflected in Somalia's oral literary forms: Poems, proverbs, work songs, metaphores and tales of wisdom. The author h ...