Journal Article

The implementation of plurilingual language policies in Higher Education – the perspective of language learning students

Duarte, Joana

2022

Overview

It is undeniable that English has become the worldwide lingua franca for the academic world. Many countries have therefore opted for Higher Education programmes fully in English, of which the Netherlands is the frontrunner. Language policies that include drawing on students plurilingual repertoires could offer the opportunity to employ several languages in the classroom ( ). Although the attitudes of lecturers have been studied before, students are often overlooked when creating language policies and in particular students in language-related courses. This mixed-method study aimed to map the affordances and constraints associated with the implementation of a plurilingual policy from the students’ perspective. First, 20 h of classroom observations showed that plurilingual approaches were used when explaining concepts, yet were refrained from when struggling with the language of instruction. Second, a survey with 103 students attending language-related courses showed general positive attitudes towards using plurilingual approaches, in which being proficient in a large number of languages played a significant role. Overall, the affordances of a plurilingual policy, such as new ways of thinking, and the use of a student’s full linguistic repertoire, surpassed the constraints, such as the lack of inclusion, and as a result, the advantage for Dutch students was mentioned.

• Publisher: De Gruyter,De Gruyter Mouton,Walter de Gruyter GmbH
• Subject: Academic careers / Attitudes / Classroom observation / Classroom Observation Techniques / Classrooms / Code Switching (Language) / College Faculty / College Students / Constraints / Correlation / Dutch language / Education policy / Educational Policy / Educational programs / English (Second Language) / English for academic purposes / English language / Foreign Countries / Higher Education / internationalization / Language / Language acquisition / Language attitudes / Language for special purposes / Language of Instruction / Language Planning / Language policy / Language Proficiency / Language Usage / Languages / Learning / linguistic diversity / Medium of instruction / Multilingualism / Native Language / plurilingualism / Second Language Instruction / Second Language Learning / Student Attitudes / Students / students’ language attitudes / Teacher Attitudes / Teaching / Teaching Methods