The language affiliations of mobile students in the international university
The language affiliations of mobile students in the international university
The internationalisation of higher education has led to widespread adoption of English as a medium of instruction in European universities, and this strategy is supporting increasingly diverse student mobility. Many students undertaking short-term Erasmus+ mobility see this as an opportunity to develop their English language skills but may lack interest in learning locally significant languages. However, contemporary universities are complex multilingual spaces. This paper explores how far mobile students’ language affiliations are aligned to languages’ wider geopolitical significance, and how far they are influenced by personal and sociocultural factors, and the study abroad (SA) experience itself. The study draws on a corpus of narrative interviews with mobile students in diverse European settings. Participants generally sustained strong affiliations with English. Affiliations with other international languages were more mixed. Some expressed a heightened affiliation to their home language arising from SA experience; others described new affiliations arising from local contacts and student friendships, with a local language, or with other international students’ L1. Overall, the study found that language affiliations showed some flexibility, and might derive from personal biographical factors, cultural values and personal relationships as well as from the instrumental value of internationally significant languages.
language affiliation, language hierarchy, study abroad, student mobility
Mitchell, Rosamond
de2eabed-7903-43fa-961a-c16f69fddd7e
Guvendir, Emre
7c353a9a-9d5f-4048-9e9f-4b04f3eb7b41
12 September 2021
Mitchell, Rosamond
de2eabed-7903-43fa-961a-c16f69fddd7e
Guvendir, Emre
7c353a9a-9d5f-4048-9e9f-4b04f3eb7b41
Mitchell, Rosamond and Guvendir, Emre
(2021)
The language affiliations of mobile students in the international university.
International Journal of Multilingualism.
(doi:10.1080/14790718.2021.1975719).
Abstract
The internationalisation of higher education has led to widespread adoption of English as a medium of instruction in European universities, and this strategy is supporting increasingly diverse student mobility. Many students undertaking short-term Erasmus+ mobility see this as an opportunity to develop their English language skills but may lack interest in learning locally significant languages. However, contemporary universities are complex multilingual spaces. This paper explores how far mobile students’ language affiliations are aligned to languages’ wider geopolitical significance, and how far they are influenced by personal and sociocultural factors, and the study abroad (SA) experience itself. The study draws on a corpus of narrative interviews with mobile students in diverse European settings. Participants generally sustained strong affiliations with English. Affiliations with other international languages were more mixed. Some expressed a heightened affiliation to their home language arising from SA experience; others described new affiliations arising from local contacts and student friendships, with a local language, or with other international students’ L1. Overall, the study found that language affiliations showed some flexibility, and might derive from personal biographical factors, cultural values and personal relationships as well as from the instrumental value of internationally significant languages.
Text
IJM 1128 Revision_2_with author details
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 28 August 2021
Published date: 12 September 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is a research networking initiative of the European Union, funded through Horizon 2020. The SAREP project ran from 2016 to 2020 as COST Action 15130.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords:
language affiliation, language hierarchy, study abroad, student mobility
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 451300
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/451300
ISSN: 1479-0718
PURE UUID: e4474d2c-6472-4bc4-87a5-5b2387d7ab45
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Date deposited: 20 Sep 2021 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:49
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Author:
Emre Guvendir
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