Language diversity management in higher education - introductory notes

Abstract

It is not the first time that Sociolinguistica devotes an issue to the topic of language use and language policy in educational settings. Volume 3 (published in 1989) was devoted to the use of dialects in school settings in Europe. Volume 7 (published in 1993) covered multilingual concepts in the schools of Europe. Volume 24 (published in 2010) tackled the topic of foreign languages in the schools of the European Union. The present volume expands the scenery in a number of ways. First of all, the focus is not on primary and secondary schools, but on higher education. Secondly, the case studies presented in this volume are not limited to Europe (with a focus on Austria, Belgium, Catalonia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Luxembourg), but also shed light on Asia (a case study on Westminster International University at Tashkent, Uzbekistan) and South Africa (with two contributions on the University of the Free State and one on the University of KwaZulu Natal). And thirdly, not all of the contributions deal with spoken languages. The present volume also contains a chapter on sign languages and, as such, clearly distinguishes itself from most of the previous issues of the series. With its focus on language diversity management in institutions of higher education, Sociolinguistica 34 connects to an expanding field of research. The first chapter contains an overview of the broad topics that are dealt with in applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and educational linguistics, including language teaching (practices), language learning, the role of languages (especially English) in the marketisation of higher education, biand multilingual universities, language ideologies in postcolonial settings, etc. Readers will notice that some of these topics are (either prominently or partially) reflected in the 11 thematic chapters of this volume. However, what sets the contributions apart from contributions in other volumes and what constitutes a leitmotif through a considerable part of the volume is the attention given to more practical aspects related to language diversity management in higher education. Chapter 2 (written by Jeroen Darquennes, Theo du Plessis and Josep Soler) sets the scene. Rooted in contemporary literature on university language policies and the internationalisation of higher education, it offers a comprehensive overview of the different levels, stakeholders, and contexts of language use in higher education. The overview is translated into an analytical framework that can serve as a guidepost for