New understandings of the rise of English as a medium of instruction in higher education: the role of key performance indicators and institutional profiling

IF 1.1 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS International Journal of the Sociology of Language Pub Date : 2022-08-31 DOI:10.1515/ijsl-2021-0082
A. Hultgren, R. Wilkinson
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Abstract The rise of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) has prompted concerns over linguistic injustice, educational disadvantage, societal inequality and epistemic homogenization. As EMI tends to generate heated debates, its drivers need to be better understood. Borrowing conceptual frameworks from political science, this article proposes a new understanding of the drivers of EMI, pointing to the introduction of new steering tools in the 1980s to govern Europe’s higher education institutions. Conducting Process Tracing in a Dutch university, and drawing on document analysis and interviews with nine “elite participants” – Ministers of Education, University Rectors, Members of the University Executive Board, Faculty Deans and Programme Leaders – we argue that the very first EMI programme at our case university may be traced back to a set of governance reforms in the Dutch higher education sector that introduced key performance indicators and institutional profiling. Responding to calls for linguists to engage with the political economy, we identify previously under-illuminated links between political processes and EMI. We conclude that close attention to the political economy is key to understanding the rise of EMI, and more generally language shift, and ultimately to tackling linguistic injustice that may follow in its wake.
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对英语作为高等教育教学语言兴起的新理解:关键绩效指标和机构概况的作用
摘要英语作为教学媒介的兴起引发了人们对语言不公正、教育劣势、社会不平等和认识同质化的担忧。由于EMI往往会引发激烈的争论,因此需要更好地了解其驱动因素。借用政治学的概念框架,本文对EMI的驱动因素提出了新的理解,指出在20世纪80年代引入了新的指导工具来管理欧洲的高等教育机构。在荷兰一所大学进行过程跟踪,并利用文件分析和对九名“精英参与者”的采访——教育部长、大学校长、大学执行委员会成员,学院院长和项目负责人——我们认为,我们案例大学的第一个EMI项目可以追溯到荷兰高等教育部门的一系列治理改革,这些改革引入了关键的绩效指标和机构简介。为了回应语言学家参与政治经济学的呼吁,我们发现了以前未被充分阐明的政治过程和EMI之间的联系。我们得出的结论是,密切关注政治经济学是理解EMI兴起的关键,也是理解更广泛的语言转变的关键,并最终解决随之而来的语言不公正问题。
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来源期刊
International Journal of the Sociology of Language
International Journal of the Sociology of Language Arts and Humanities-Language and Linguistics
CiteScore
2.30
自引率
0.00%
发文量
66
期刊介绍: The International Journal of the Sociology of Language (IJSL) is dedicated to the development of the sociology of language as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches – theoretical and empirical – supplement and complement each other, contributing thereby to the growth of language-related knowledge, applications, values and sensitivities. Five of the journal''s annual issues are topically focused, all of the articles in such issues being commissioned in advance, after acceptance of proposals. One annual issue is reserved for single articles on the sociology of language. Selected issues throughout the year also feature a contribution on small languages and small language communities.
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