Comments on: English is excellence

By: Internationalization as Englishization « Ali's linguistic world

Internationalization as Englishization « Ali's linguistic world — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:47:14 +0000

[…] on the incontestable role English plays, or more precisely, the role assigned to English, that it is not surprising to encounter the use of the term ‘internationalization’ with reference to t…, particularly in non-Anglo tertiary education […]

By: Internationalization as Englishization | Language on the Move

Internationalization as Englishization | Language on the Move — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 02:56:20 +0000

By: amharreld

amharreld — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 21:27:28 +0000

In reply to Saeed Rezaei.

But doesn’t that create its own problem? Because they only publish in their own language, their voice is less likely to be heard internationally (where most of the power and influence is on this subject).
.
There really is no easy answer to this, no matter how you look at it.

By: amharreld

amharreld — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 20:53:02 +0000

In reply to Jack.

The problem with this is that, while in the past, an academic language (like Latin or Arabic) may have allowed for a better capability for academics to meet and discuss, this is less so now. With new technological advances, such as google translate, the necessity for ‘all’ academic work to be centralized into a single language is not as necessary. It is even arguable that the university, in its current iteration, is quickly becoming outdated thanks to online phenomena (like open access journals, wikipedia, and p2p university).

As well, if we go with a Blommaertian view of things, looking at the problem of language as truncated reperotoires and linguistic resources instead of monoglot-ish languages, the idea of a single academic language only helps to create a structure that outs individuals that do not have access (or as much access to) the ‘monoglot’ linguistic resources. This is more problematic in the periphery where mobility is extremely limited for those who are not in the upper-eschalon, making issues of class even more ingrained.

By: Anne Schol

Anne Schol — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 17:36:23 +0000

What you are overlooking is the transience of world-culture. In another century the world-language of knowledge and research might be Chinese, or any other language. For a large time in Western Culture, the remnants of the Roman Empire extended across the European Continent and in its wake the language of scolars was Latin. This was a little bit diminished (but not extinguished) by the “courtly” language of French, which at some point even the ‘English’ court spoke French… and until WWII French was the language of the well-educated upper classes, while Latin remained the language of scolars – because of Medicine, Theology and similar subjects. Now we seem more driven by economics rather than research and English has become the (easier?) world language that unites us. The real shame is that native speakers of English often do not see the need to be highly proficient in a second language, which I feel closes of the avenue of understanding true internationalism because you can “think” in only one language too.

By: Hanna Torsh

Hanna Torsh — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 22:50:01 +0000

I have to say I find the idea that “the typical Chinese student” has a dismal standard of English totally contrary to my experience, which is of a high degree of bilingualism in both oral and written skills compared to local students here in Australia. I don’t think it adds anything to the debate to denigrate the language learning efforts of an entire nationality, especially if we’re trying to foster an environment of academic pluralism and overcoming linguistic insecurity.

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 11:42:25 +0000

Interesting post, thank you.

University rankings, like all other institutional rankings, are toxic in the extreme. They distort and pervert the function and behaviour of institutions away from their more loosely defined real purpose and towards chasing narrow metrics.

However, in the case of universities, there is actually a strong – and real – merit in there being a _lingua franca_ for academic discourse. A single language allows researchers from all over the world to meet and discuss, to publish and be read and – most importantly – to access research conducted in any country. The problem with this is, of course, that the choice of language has a limiting effect on access to the research community. It seems to me that English instruction actually offers some solution to this problem, one need only to compare the excellent English of Indian students to the dismal standard of English spoken by the typical Chinese student to see how much difference being taught in English makes.

By: Saeed Rezaei

Saeed Rezaei — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 03:26:54 +0000

Very interesting post indeed. Vaughan Rapatahana and Pauline Bunce have edited a new book entitled “English Language as Hydra”. They argue how English has become the Hydra of time. Like the Hydra, English is the immortal and multi-headed creature feeding on the lucrative market of ELT. Some writers including Ngugi wa Thiong’o have aired their grievances by writing in their own mother tongue though at times unattainable.