Article published in:
Problematizing Language Policy and Practice in EMI and Transnational Higher Education: Challenges and Possibilities
Edited by Curtis Green-Eneix, Peter I. De Costa and Wendy Li
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 44:2] 2021
► pp. 154–179

Discursive ripple effects in language policy and practice

Multilingualism and English as an academic lingua franca in transnational higher education

| The Education University of Hong Kong
| The Education University of Hong Kong
| University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

The advancement of English as an instrument for the internationalization of higher education has foregrounded English as an academic lingua franca (EALF), and the case of China is no exception. This study focuses on the process by which EALF has been interpreted and negotiated across university policies and local practices in China’s internationalized higher education. Drawing upon nexus analysis and multisource data, the study traced the discursive (re)location of EALF across different scales of social activity related to multilingualism at an English-medium transnational university in China. Our analysis illustrates the tension between English and other co-existing languages, as presented in educational language policies and as perceived and practiced by multilingual students in the local communicative context. The findings also show an interactive policymaking process through which students and university administrators opened ideological and implementational spaces that linguistically and semiotically pluralized communicative scenarios at the internationalized university in focus.

Keywords: English as an academic lingua franca, transnational higher education, English medium instruction, multilingualism, language policy, nexus analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The study
    • 2.1Nexus analysis
    • 2.2Research site
    • 2.3Data collection and analysis
  • 3.Findings
    • 3.1Discursive construction of EALF in university language policy
    • 3.2Discursive negotiation: Practicing EALF in intercultural communication
    • 3.3From monolingualism to diversity: Opening ideological and implementational spaces for multilingual repertoire development
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 07 July 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.20096.ou
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