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In an increasing context of internationalisation, the European Commission announced in 2019 the creation of the first seventeen 'European Universities' (EUnis), a Pan-European consortium of higher education institutions designed to promote European values, cooperation and identity. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine the ways in which these newly created EUnis construct their views of linguistic diversity and multilingualism. The research used as a case study the example of UNA EUROPA, an alliance of eight leading universities with eight different languages. Drawing mainly on content analysis combined with a discourse analysis approach, three data sources – the project proposal for the EU Commission, the UNA EUROPA website documents, and a research interview with one of its representatives – were examined to look into the ways in which languages and multilingualism are conceptualised. Findings reveal that linguistic diversity and multilingualism are given different degrees of visibility in the three sets of data examined and that utilitarian objectives seem to predominate over identity ones. It is expected that these findings will help unveil the ways in which language issues are problematised or not in the agenda of these newly created transnational universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Introduction to this Special Issue on ELT and English-medium education in multilingual university settings provides a picture of the dynamic backdrop to the issues addressed by our contributing writers. We begin with a reflection on the nature of ELT and then move to a discussion of the specific nature of English-medium education in higher education globally. The Introduction underlines the importance of respecting and drawing on students' multilingual repertoires, and the opportunities this affords for decolonising ELT in university settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connected to the growing internationalisation of higher education in the world, the English language is increasingly being used as medium of teaching and learning, thereby contributing to the roles of English for transnational mobility, career development, access to new information and research, and the facilitation of global communication. While the label English-medium instruction (EMI) has been widely used in the last two decades to capture this phenomenon, we consider it an unfortunate choice in that it falls short in conceptualising the complexity of English in twenty-first-century higher education. First, EMI solely focuses on English, ignoring the increasing multilingual realities of higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide; secondly, EMI does not explicitly include reference to higher education, even though learning and teaching at the tertiary level is in crucial ways different to lower levels of education. Thirdly, EMI talks about “instruction” and thus views education as a non-relational process where teachers teach and learners learn. From this unilateral perspective, the co-construction of knowledge as a key feature of higher education remains unacknowledged. Against this backdrop, our paper sets out to argue for the conceptual need for an alternative label, known as English-medium education in multilingual university settings (or EMEMUS). This label, we argue, portrays more accurately and specifically the growing multilingual reality of current internationalised HEIs, the complex and highly situated roles that English plays in relation to other national and local languages, and the importance of interpreting education as a social-constructivist process. Moreover, EMEMUS will enable HEIs to re-examine comprehensively the range of activities that respond locally to global phenomena, from policy issues (e.g. regulations, implementation and management) to university practices (e.g. teaching, research, administration and teacher professional development) in an inclusive and multifaceted manner. Ultimately, this comprehensive conceptualisation aims to redefine English and internationalisation in a much more nuanced light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the internationalization of higher education across the globe, many programmes in non-Anglophone countries are shifting to English-medium instruction (EMI) to attract international students and staff, develop global skills in the home student body and increase employability (Dafouz and Smit 2020). Against this background, the purpose of this article is to argue for the need to reposition EMI teacher professional development (TPD) in a broader engagement portfolio, one that aligns more directly with the internationalization strategies of universities and that incorporates all the agencies involved. Adopting an applied linguistic angle, this study focused specifically on the Strategic Action Plan for TPD implemented between 2016-2019 at a large Spanish university. Methodologically, the study drew on an intra-university survey addressed to academic staff (n=2091) as a needs-analysis to tap into lecturers' views of internationalization and EMI. The results will be useful for universities wishing to develop EMI TPD initiatives from an international perspective. The study closes with a reflection on the implications for the stakeholders involved, from university management, to academic staff, EMI educational developers and English language specialists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, and as a result of the internationalisation processes experienced by higher education across the world, English-medium education (EME) has gained momentum in universities where well-established national and/or local languages had traditionally been the means of instruction. While this phenomenon is growing at a fast pace, professional support for the lecturers engaged is very often scarce and unsystematic. Against this backdrop, the EU project known as EQUiiP (Educational Quality at Universities for Inclusive International Programmes) takes as point of departure the support of a specific set of agents – educational developers (EDs) – who, although essential in the design and implementation of internationalised programmes, has attracted scarce research attention. Drawing conceptually on the ROAD-MAPPING framework (Dafouz, E., and U. Smit. [2016]. "Towards a Dynamic Conceptual Framework for English-Medium Education in Multilingual University Settings." Applied Linguistics 37 (3): 397–415) and with the help of data from a baseline survey gathered by EQUiiP, this paper explores the roles, beliefs and practices of EDs in these concrete internationalised programmes. Our findings reveal great differences in these agents' backgrounds and areas of expertise as well as different perspectives on the roles of language(s), and more particularly English, in the process of internationalising higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English as a foreign language is no longer the sole object of specialized language classes, but increasingly a medium of university‐level instruction in a range of content areas. This leads to a complex interaction between new academic content and the means of expressing this expertise through appropriate disciplinary language uses. Conceptually, this study focuses on oral disciplinary–reasoning episodes, in which knowledge structures are explicitly developed. These episodes exemplify diverse ways whereby disciplinary meaning making is co‐constructed in English‐medium instruction (EMI), with one specific type being language‐related episodes which clarify specific items of terminology. Drawing on INTE‐R‐LICA, an international and interdisciplinary project, the database under investigation covers 671 minutes (67,605 words) of classroom discourse from a Spanish business administration degree programme. Findings suggest a structural diversity within these episodes, which are jointly constructed, and involve a rich variety of discursive strategies to effectuate meaning making. Our results indicate that an understanding of the crucial role of language in this disciplinary meaning‐making process is essential for the TESOL profession to remain relevant in the current English language teaching educational landscape. In addition to providing expert input into the potential of a language‐sensitive EMI pedagogy, TESOL teacher education will need to foster both language and content teachers’ awareness of the disciplinary nature of classroom discourse and its role in developing subject expertise among their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With English-medium instruction (EMI) gaining momentum in higher education across the globe, teacher education programmes (TEPs) are being redesigned to equip lecturers with the skills necessary to deal with increasingly international classrooms. While most of these TEPs mainly pursue improving lecturers’ English language proficiency they rarely reflect on pedagogical changes and even less on the ideological forces and identity issues at play. This article addresses precisely such gaps by focusing on ideology and identity drawing on two complementary conceptual models: Investment theory and ROAD-MAPPING. These models are used in a qualitative content analysis of the online written responses of EMI lecturers at a Spanish public university. The findings reveal that lecturers unanimously agreed that EMI had enhanced their linguistic and social capital providing the younger teachers with a more international professional identity and a promising academic future. Concurrently, lecturers expressed their concerns about the necessary co-existence of languages (Spanish and English), particularly with respect to teachers’ responsibility to provide students with disciplinary literacy in both languages so that graduates become competent professionals at a local/ global level. The article closes with reflections and implications for designing TEPs in EMI settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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At a time of increasing internationalization in tertiary education, English-Medium Education in Multilingual University Settings (EMEMUS) has become a common practice. While there is already ample research describing this phenomenon at a local level (Smit and Dafouz 2012a), the theoretical side needs to be elaborated. This article thus aims to develop a conceptual framework that considers the dynamic nature of EMEMUS. Drawing on recent sociolinguistic orientations and discursive approaches (e.g. Scollon and Scollon 2004; Shohamy 2006; Blommaert 2010; Hult 2010), our framework regards EMEMUS as a social phenomenon and views discourse as the access point to six relevant dimensions. These dimensions are considered as inherently complex, contextually bound, and intersecting dynamically with one another. Focusing on an example from a higher education institution, the article argues for the utility of the proposed framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For years, universities worldwide have offered English-medium degrees as a way to attract international students and staff, enhance their institutional profile and promote multilingualism. In Europe and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), English-medium instruction (EMI) is more recent, but the dimension and speed of its implementation has outpaced language policies, methodological considerations and empirical research. In view of this, this paper focuses on an empirical study examining the effect that the teaching of a Business Administration degree in English as a foreign language may have on Spanish students’ academic performance (as measured through coursework and final grades), when compared to their counterparts’ learning in Spanish. Students’ grades are analysed in three different disciplinary subjects and treated statistically. Findings show that both cohorts obtain similar results, suggesting that the language of instruction does not seem to compromise students’ learning of academic content. Differences, however, are found regarding learners’ performance in the three disciplinary subjects under scrutiny, with history yielding slightly higher results than accounting and finance. This finding runs counter to the general belief that the more verbal subjects, like history, would have a ‘limiting’ effect on EMI students’ final performance and, moreover, raises questions concerning disciplinary differences and assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each year more than 800 native English-speaking language assistants are brought into Madrid's bilingual/Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) primary schools to assist local teachers and promote students' foreign language and intercultural competence. In spite of these high numbers and the cost to the bilingual programme, no specific guidelines are provided by the bilingual programme administrators regarding how the assistants should collaborate with the local teachers in the classroom. This article sets out to describe how these two different groups of educators interact in the classroom, how they distribute their corresponding teaching roles, and how these roles are articulated linguistically. Drawing on three broad strands of literature, namely (a) Systemic Functional Linguistics and the distinction between instructional and regulative classroom registers, (b) Discourse Analysis and classroom discourse functions, and (c) Second Language Acquisition and interactional strategies, this study analyses team teaching situations and provides a description of the discursive practices enacted. The data suggest qualitative differences in the type of discourse produced by both sets of participants while interpretations are offered in the light of native and nonnative speaker status, novice and expert teacher profiles, and possible intercultural differences. In closing we briefly discuss some of the implications for team teaching practice in bilingual/CLIL programmes across contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers developments related to the integration of language and content to higher education in Europe. It states that Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) was started in Europe but stimulated by the general policy of the European Union aimed at boosting societal and individual multilingualism. It states that foreign language became popular in numerous countries, especially those that use these languages for educational intentions.

This article reports on the initial results of the Spanish data from the ICLE Error Tagging Project (Louvain). The corpus consists of 50,000 words of texts (argumentative essays and literature examinations) written by English Philology students at two Madrid universities. The tag categories were: Form (F), Grammar (G), Lexico-grammatical aspects (X), Lexis (L), Word (W). Punctuation (Q), Register (R) and Style (S). All tags were triple checked by various native-speaker raters. The results show that grammar (35%) and lexis (28%) account for two-thirds of the errors, while punctuation accounts for 11%, form 9%, word 7%, lexico-grammatical factors 6% and register and style for 2% and 1%, respectively. The study proposes various areas of investigation which may be useful to others who are working with English-Spanish contrastive data: discourse/pragmatics; semantics; (lexis)/lexico-grammar; syntax; phonetics/writing systems; and non-structural factors (writing conventions). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]