Language and Learning in the International University: From English Uniformity to Diversity and Hybridity(21 Languages for Intercultural Communication and Education)

This book views the international university as a microcosm of a world where internationalization does not equate with across-the-board use of English, but rather with the practice of linguistic and cultural diversity, even in the face of Anglophone dominance. The globalization-localization continuum manifests itself in every university trying to adopt internationalization strategies. The many cases of language and learning issues presented in this book, from universities representing different parts of the world, are all manifestations of a multidimensional space encompassing local vs. global, diversification vs. Anglicization. The internationalization of universities represents a new cultural and linguistic hybridity with the potential to develop new forms of identities unfettered by traditional 'us-and-them' binary thinking, and a new open-mindedness about the roles of self and others, resulting in new patterns of communicative (educational and social) practices.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Bent Preisler Part I: English as a lingua franca for Higher Education teaching and learning Chapter 1 John Airey: The Relationship between Teaching Language and Student Learning in Swedish University Physics Chapter 2 Christian Jensen et al.: Students’ and Teachers’ Self-Assessment of English Language Proficiency in English-Medium Higher Education in Denmark – a Questionnaire Study Part II: When the official lingua franca happens to be the first language of the majority: The case of the UK Chapter 3 Peter Sercombe: Perceptions of Identity and Issues of Concern among International Students in the UK Chapter 4 Catherine Montgomery: Developing Perceptions of Interculturality: a Troublesome Space? Chapter 5 David Killick: Internationalising the University: Enabling Selves-in-the-World Part III: The construction of international perspectives in ‘international’ student group work Chapter 6 Dennis Day and Susanne Kjærbeck: The construction of international perspectives in ‘international’ student group work. Chapter 7 Anne H. Fabricius: International Basic Studies in the Humanities: Internationalization and Localization in Four Dimensions Part IV: Academic writing and literacy in a transnational perspective Chapter 8 Carole Sedgwick: Crossing Borders: the Feasibility of Harmonising Academic Literacy Standards across Europe Chapter 9 Ida Klitgård: Plagiarism in the International University: From Kidnapping and Theft to Translation and Hybridity Part V: East and West at the International University Chapter 10 Hu Xiaoqiong and Chen Yuehong: International Students at China Three Gorges University: A Survey Chapter 11 Juhyun Back: How far can face and hierarchy affect developing interaction between Korean university students and their supervisors in the UK? Chapter 12 Roberval T. e Silva and Custódio C. Martins: Intercultural interaction: Teacher and Student Roles in the Classroom of Portuguese as a Foreign Language in Macau, China

About the Author :
The editors are all affiliated with Roskilde University, Denmark, as well as the international research centre, 'Cultural and Linguistic Practices in the International University'€™ (CALPIU). Bent Preisler is Professor of English Sociolinguistics, and founder and director of CALPIU. His main research includes works on the functions of English in an international context. Ida Klitgård is Associate Professor in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Her work includes stylistics and rhetoric, currently focusing on the concept of plagiarism in student written assignments. Anne H. Fabricius is Associate Professor of English. Her main research area is sociophonetics, with wider interests in quantitative sociolinguistics, sociolinguistic methodology and the analysis of spoken language.

Review :
Internationalization in higher education increasingly involves not only mobility toward the English inner circle, but also among the outer- and expanding-circle countries. This volume makes an important contribution toward answering the questions about language, ideology and intercultural contact which this trend raises. The twelve chapters examine salient issues across varied geographical contexts from a range of analytical perspectives. This book will be of interest to educators grappling with the complex implications of internationalization. This excellent volume critically examines the linguistic and cultural challenges faced by today’s internationalized universities from sociolinguistic, ethnographic, conversation- and culture-analytical perspectives. Given the ever-growing use of English as a means of instruction in many universities across the world, the papers in this volume manage to dispel the illusion of uniformity, revealing instead a healthy diversity of language learning and communication practices in many different settings.