The Sociolinguistics of Higher Education

This book investigates the sociolinguistic dimension of the internationalisation of higher education, examining the linguistic tensions and ambiguities experienced by universities around the world, particularly in non-anglophone contexts. Joining current debates within discursive and ethnographic approaches to language policy, the authors analyse the narrative emerging from university language policy documents, and then trace the stance-taking processes of different stakeholders at a small university in Catalonia. They pay particular attention to how teachers, administrative staff, and exchange students position themselves in connection to the role of Catalan and its coexistence with other languages at the university. This book will be of interest to language policy scholars and practitioners, as well as graduate students in sociolinguistics and applied linguistics

Explores the role of language in the context of the internationalisation of higher education from a language policy and planning perspective, considering universities as globally engaged research institutions Presents a picture of how Catalan universities respond to the challenge of becoming more internationally connected, while remaining locally grounded and nationally relevant Combines document analysis of university language policies with a more situated, qualitative and ethnographic account of the specific situation at one public university in Catalonia

Autorentext

Josep Soler is Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Department of English, Stockholm University, Sweden. His main research interests cover the areas of language policy and linguistic ideologies; he has recently focused on the role of English in the internationalisation of higher education, and on the study of practices and ideologies in multilingual families.

Lídia Gallego-Balsà is a Post-doctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of English and Linguistics at the University of Lleida, Spain. Her interests include multilingualism, language policy, internationalisation, interculturality, discourse analysis, and ethnography.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction: Language policy and the internationalisation of higher education in Catalonia.- Chapter 2: Language policy, internationalisation, and multilingual higher education: An overview.- Chapter 3: Language policy regulations at Catalan universities: A content analysis of their narrative.- Chapter 4: Clashing stances towards Catalan: An ethnographic study in a small university in Catalonia.- Chapter 5: The internationalisation of Catalan universities: Multilevel language policies, circulating discourses, and stakeholders' stance-taking.- Chapter 6: Conclusions.