Cover not available
Part of
Ethical Issues in Applied Linguistics Scholarship
Edited by Peter I. De Costa, Amr Rabie-Ahmed and Carlo Cinaglia
[Research Methods in Applied Linguistics 7] 2024
► pp. 249–265

Chapter 14
Navigating ethical challenges in L2 writing in transnational higher education

 | University of Arizona
 | University of Arizona
 | University of Arizona
This chapter examines ethics in the work of L2 writing program administration in transnational higher education (TNHE). We specifically examine how the border-crossing nature of TNHE settings can give rise to conflicts of values and ethical dilemmas for administrators. In this chapter, we begin by reviewing the complex setting in which TNHE takes place and consider how navigating its institutional, political, and cultural complexities involves traversing multiple value systems. We then describe in detail two ethical dilemmas that we have experienced resulting from the complexity of the TNHE setting: the first relates to assessment and language proficiency, and the second relates to institutional policies and practices in employees’ work-life. We use these two examples to illustrate how viewing challenging administrative issues through a lens of values and ethics allows us to reflect on and adjust our own practices and cultural biases. We end the chapter by outlining three guiding principles (related to communication, representation, and transparency) that we have found can serve as a compass for taking needed action in such complex administrative contexts.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Contextualizing ethics in transnational higher education
  • Ethical dilemmas in a TNHE L2 writing program
    • Ethical dilemmas in assessment
  • Ethical dilemmas in observing institutional policies and practices
  • At the heart of ethical dilemmas in TNHE
  • Commentary and reflection
    • Communication
    • Representation
    • Transparency
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 21 November 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rmal.7.16tar
References (21)
References
Atkinson, D. (2004). Contrasting rhetorics/contrasting cultures: Why contrastive rhetoric needs a better conceptualization of culture. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 3, 277–289. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
British Association for Applied Linguistics. (2021). Recommendations on good practice in applied linguistics 2021 (4th ed.). British Association for Applied Linguistics. Retrieved on 26 June 2024 from [URL]
De Costa, P. I., Green-Eneix, C. A., & Li, W. (2021). Embracing diversity, inclusion, equity, and access in EMI-TNHE: Towards a social justice-centered reframing of English language teaching. RELC Journal, 52(2), 227–235. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2022). Problematizing EMI language policy in a transnational world. English Today, 38(2), 80–87. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edge, J. (1996). Cross-cultural paradoxes in a profession of values. TESOL Quarterly, 30(1), 9–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Egida, A., & De Costa, P. (2022). Colonial narratives of ethics in research: Telling stories and imagining decolonial futures in applied linguistics. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 1, 100016. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gee, J. P. (1993). Postmodernism and literacies. In C. Lankshear & P. McLaren (Eds.), Critical literacy: Politics, praxis and the postmodern (pp. 271–296). State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Han, J., & Yu, L. (2007). A study to determine Chinese college students’ English proficiency required for bilingual education. Modern Foreign Languages, 30(1), 65–72.Google Scholar
Holliday, A. R. (1999). Small cultures. Applied Linguistics, 20, 237–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnston, B. (2003). Values in English language teaching. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kubanyiova, M. (2008). Rethinking research ethics in contemporary applied linguistics: The tension between macroethical and microethical perspectives in situated research. The Modern Language Journal, 92(4), 503–518. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, D., DeWinter, A., Harrison, P., & Wimpenny, K. (2021). Motivation factors in student decisions to study transnational higher education in China: A comparative study of two Anglo-Sino programmes, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education. 33(2), 161–181. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McKinley, J., Rose, H., & Zhou, S. (2020). Transnational universities and English medium instruction in China: How admissions, language support and language use differ in Chinese universities. RELC Journal, 52(2), 236–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical applied linguistics: A critical introduction. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, D. (2021). Reflections of (dis)location: What is “intercultural communication” in transnational higher education English-medium instruction? RELC Journal, 52(2), 253–269. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rose, H., Curle, S., Aizawa, I., & Thompson, G. (2020). What drives success in English medium taught courses? The interplay between language proficiency, academic skills, and motivation. Studies in Higher Education, 45(11), 2149–2161. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Silva, T. (1997). On the ethical treatment of ESL writers. TESOL Quarterly, 31, 359–363. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tardy, C. M., & Whittig, E. (2017). On the ethical treatment of EAL writers: An update. TESOL Quarterly, 51(4), 920–930. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, S. (2017). Ethical issues in transnational higher education: The case of international branch campuses. Studies in Higher Education, 42(8), 1385–1400. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yang, R. (2003). Globalisation and higher education development: A critical analysis. International Review of Education, 49(3–4), 269–291. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhou, S., McKinley, J., Rose, H., & Xu, X. (2022). English medium higher education in China: Challenges and ELT support. ELT Journal, 76(2), 261–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar