Attitudes towards English in Europe

Andrew Linn, Neil Bermel, Gibson Ferguson, Andrew Linn, Neil Bermel, Gibson Ferguson

• Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781501500695
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

The status of English in Europe is changing, and this book offers a series of studies of attitudes to English today. Until recently English was often seen as an opportunity for Europeans to take part in the global market, but increasingly English is viewed as a threat to the national languages of Europe, and the idea that Europeans are equally at home in English is being challenged. This book will appeal to anyone interested in global English.

II Attitudes towards English in Universities

Beyza Björkman

5 Attitudes towards English in university language policy documents in Sweden

Abstract: The present paper presents a discourse analytic study of the existing language policy documents from nine Swedish universities with regard to attitudes towards English. The discourse of the language policy documents has been studied carefully to investigate how the use of English is mentioned, what main themes it occurs in and what these themes seem to indicate with regard to attitudes towards the use of English in Swedish higher education. Four main themes for English emerge from the results of the investigation: 1) English as an important language that one is required to be proficient in; 2) English is here to stay, but it needs to be used alongside the local language Swedish and other languages where possible, aiming for parallel language use; 3) English poses a threat to Swedish (and other languages); and finally 4) English used in such university settings needs to be plain, comprehensible and intelligible. The theme with the strongest presence in the documents overall is theme 2, which is also explicitly stated in the rules, regulations and guidelines in these documents. Although there are few explicit instances of theme 3 in the data, the strong presence of theme 2 reveals the underlying attitudes in the documents: Swedish as an academic language is under threat and therefore must be “maintained”, “promoted” and “protected”. The results suggest that, despite the everyday language practices (as defined by Spolsky 2004) of the individuals in these higher education settings and which language they need for their everyday tasks, the use of English seems to be encouraged only if it occurs with the local language Swedish.

Keywords: language policy, attitudes, higher education, language practices, language management

1 Introduction

Among the aims of the Bologna Process is “to make European higher education more compatible and comparable, more competitive and more attractive for Europeans and for students and scholars from other continents” (European Commission 2009); the main aim is stated as “establish(ing) a common European area for higher education by 2010” (Swedish Agency for Networks and Cooperation in Higher Education). Mobility, employability and competitiveness/attractiveness are all among the objectives of the Bologna Declaration (European Commission 2009). Today, in 2014, we can see that this aim has been reached to a large extent in most countries, e.g. with student exchange programs.

Creating such a ‘common area’ requires a common language, and the ‘common’ European area for higher education has evolved in such a way that English has become the ‘common language’. In Europe, universities are increasingly offering English-medium programs at different levels (Bolton and Kuteeva 2012: 429). When all the European countries are considered together, we see that Sweden offers the third highest number of English-medium programs, after the Netherlands and Germany (Wächter 2014). Universities have several reasons for continuing this trend. First of all, they want to recruit more students who will need to pay tuition fees. It is this institutional survival, as van Leeuwen and Wilkinson call it, that plays a major role (van Leeuwen and Wilkinson 2003). The income that can be generated from international students constitutes a substantial income for the institutions. Already a decade ago, the number of students going abroad to study for extended periods was increasing so dramatically that some countries have been reportedly considering making changes to their laws to stimulate this movement even further (Kruseman 2003: 7). Universities also want to improve their public image and competitive position in the education market, which is another reason for offering an increasing number of English-medium programs. In addition, there are ideological reasons as well, such as promoting multilingualism, creating world-citizens and strengthening internationalization locally (van Leeuwen and Wilkinson 2003: 11), also called “internationalization at home” (Nilsson 2003). Finally, there may be purely educational reasons like offering new degrees.

The wide use of English in the domain of higher education has naturally led to many studies that focus on the use of English as the medium of instruction in the European context. While some studies have focused on the use of English in European universities in general in their investigations (e.g. Airey 2009; Björkman 2013; Bolton and Kuteeva 2012; Doiz et al. 2013; Klaasen 2001; Kuteeva 2011; Kuteeva and McGrath 2014; Mortensen 2010; Preisler 2009; Saarinen 2012; Tange 2010; van Leeuwen and Wilkinson 2003), others have focused more on the interplay between English and the local language (e.g. Hultgren 2014; Linn 2010; Ljosland 2008; Mortensen 2014; Söderlundh 2010).

It is also clear from these studies that this development is not unproblematic and welcome by all. Some studies have focused on the challenges of internationalization practices and the complications this creates for the linguistic practices at these international universities (e.g. Haberland et al. 2008; Haberland and Mortensen 201295 ). There are also studies that have expressed serious concerns regarding the use of English in such settings in general (e.g. Phillipson 1999; 2006) and the implications of the use of English on the local language (on German: e.g. Mühleisen 2003; Norwegian: e.g. Brock-Utne 2001; Ljosland 2007 and 2008; Tislevoll 2001; Swedish: Gunnarsson and Öhman, 1997; Hollqvist 1984; Kuteeva and McGrath 2014; Ljung 1986; Mannberg 1986; Olsson and Sheridan 2010; Söderlundh 2012). In the past decade or so, however, we have seen studies that have either focused on or included discussions of language policy issues in higher education settings (e.g. Airey 2009; Björkman 2014; Bolton and Kuteeva 2012; Bulajeva and Hogan-Brun 2014; Cots, Lasagabaster and Garrett 2012; Doiz et al. 2013; Gazzola 2012; Hult 2007; Hultgren 2014; Kuteeva 2014; Kuteeva and Airey 2013; Lindström 2012; Linn 2010; Ljosland 2014; Pecorari et al. 2011; Risager 2012; Shaw and Petersen 2002; Soler-Carbonell 2014; Söderlundh 2012). These recent studies have contributed significantly to our knowledge of the different scenarios of English-medium higher education.

The present study aims to expand our knowledge of the use of English-medium higher education in Sweden by presenting an analysis of attitudes as manifested in university language policy discourses. Although there is now growing literature on language policy work at Swedish universities (Bolton and Kuteeva 2012, on attitudes towards language choice and language policy; Kuteeva and Airey 2013, on attitudes expressed by academic staff towards English-medium education, discussing the issue of disciplinary differences in policy documents), we have as yet no analyses of the existing pool of Swedish language policy documents in higher education with reference to attitudes (but see Björkman 2014 on a content analysis of these policy documents with reference to intertextuality and authorship). The present study also contributes to the existing literature, as it focuses on attitudes towards English in Swedish higher education.

The present paper will seek answers to the following research questions:

1)What themes emerge in the discourses of the university language policy documents in Sweden about the widespread use of English in Swedish higher education?

2)What are the attitudes towards the use of English in Swedish higher education as manifested in the discourses of these language policy documents?

First, the answer to question 1 will be provided through text analysis (see Methods). Following the identification of any themes and relevant texts, the attitudes these discourses reflect will be discussed (see Discussions and Conclusion).

2 English in Swedish higher education

Before we move onto the analysis, it is useful to provide a brief overview of Swedish higher education today. Swedish higher education has been one of the most internationalized in continental Europe with over 800 English-taught programs in 2014, following the Netherlands with 1,078, and Germany with 1,030 programs offered in English (Wächter 2014). Natural sciences, technology and engineering are the fields that have been most extensively anglicized. The most recent reports show that 65 per cent of all Master’s programs in the country are offered in English (Salö 2010: 11). The number goes up to 87 per cent at the postgraduate level, showing that most doctoral theses in Sweden are written in English (Salö 2010: 21). And among the European countries that offer the highest number of English-medium programs, Sweden is the only country that has engineering and technology as the most represented subject areas (Institute of International Education) unlike the other countries that have business and economics as the most represented areas, e.g. France.

Up until 2010, Sweden was one of the few countries that did not require tuition fees from incoming students. There were a large number of overseas students possibly as a result of free tuition, which called for English-medium instruction. This situation changed when the Swedish government passed a law in spring 2010 outlining tuition and application fees, though only for students outside EU/EEA countries. The law took effect already in the 2011/2012 academic year, causing a major decrease in the number of incoming students. In 2009, there were around 36,000 international students in Sweden half of whom came from outside Europe. This number decreased to 22,000 in 2010, and 14,700 in 2011 (Swedish National Agency for Higher Education). To mitigate this decrease, scholarships have been introduced, especially to be able to continue attracting students from non-EU/EEA countries (Swedish National Agency for Higher Education). Also, some groups of students are exempt from these fees. Exchange students can still receive free tuition, since their studies are financed by agreements between their home countries and Sweden. Doctoral programs will also continue to be tuition fee-free. As a result, Swedish universities are likely to keep their flow of incoming foreign stude...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Series preface
• Gibson Ferguson: Introduction: Attitudes to English
• I Attitudes towards English in Society
• II Attitudes towards English in Universities
• III Attitudes towards English in Schools
• Endnotes
• Index