11. XXXIII AESLA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Madrid, 16-18 April 2015
Striving(to(boost(mul/lingualism(in(
higher(educa/on:(A(case(study(
(!
David Lasagabaster
University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
david.lasagabaster@ehu.es
1
12. INTRODUCTION
• When researching language education policy it is often
difficult to obtain clear evidence:
• Spolsky (2008: 31) encourages “the study of the
beliefs and attitudes of the community and its various
sectors. What values do they attach to plurilingual
proficiency? How do they value the languages potentially
included in the policy? […] At this point, one can usefully
look for conflicts in values and attitudes”
• There is scant research into the effect of
multilingualism on the different bodies (most studies
focus on students) + bilingual HEIs
13. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• RQ1: What are the attitudes of the 3 university
bodies towards the spread of multilingualism?
• RQ2: What do they think about the
implementation of EMI?
14. 4
The University of the Basque Country: Public & bilingual
46,500 students; + 5,000 teachers; + 1,500 adm. personnel
THE MULTILINGUAL PROGRAM (MP)
Part of the strategic plan for internationalisation !
FLs used as medium of instruction ! 150 subjects (8 in
French + 1 in German)
! A trilingual language policy
THE STUDY
6#year#long!research!project
• The context
15. THE STUDY
• The sample
• 785 participants: 632 students, 103 teaching staff,
50 administration personnel
• 17 different faculties
• International Ss: 25 nationalities
• Instruments
• Mixed methods methodology: questionnaires, discussion groups
& interviews
5
16. ! Interest in English and multilingualism, but the
presence of a minority language makes multilingualism
a challenge (widespread agreement against 2 FLs)
! How it affects each body (personal situation): Adm.
personnel > Teachers > Students
! Linguistic tensions acknowledged & even found in
group discussions
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
17. " Students more concerned about the normalisation of Basque and
the purported negative impact of English
! Bunker attitude (Baker, 1992) from L1=Basque Ss, but also from
pro-English teaching staff
" Teaching staff and administration personnel are more neutral or
positive
! Trilingualism essential to improve the human, social and
intellectual capital
" Teachers and students concerned about lack of competence in
English
! Problem in Spain in general and in the BAC in particular
! Even good Ss reluctant to take risks (local vs. international Ss)
18. Final thoughts!!
!
We should have a linguistically balanced
implementation of EMI:
• attaining language ecology in a multilingual setting
such as the UBC requires careful planning, more so
when scarce economic resources dictate the need for
decisions which limit the financing of different
strategies
19. XXXIII AESLA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Madrid, 16-18 April 2015
Striving(to(boost(mul/lingualism(in(
higher(educa/on:(A(case(study(
(!
David Lasagabaster
University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
david.lasagabaster@ehu.es
9
21. Motivations
! Obvious (students and teachers’
mobility).
! Invisible (quality of publications).
! Necessary (research and
professional networking).
! Supranational policies and
regulations.
! Enhancing the professional
profile of students.
! Upgrading multicultural
competencies.
Internationalisation? Others?
24. Challenges
! Teachers’ linguistic accreditation: minimum level required
! Students’ linguistic competency: entry level.
! Teachers’ misconceptions: lecturing and teacher-fronting, bilingual immersion
programmes, pedagogy and strategies, using the two languages.
! Benchmarking: possible lowering content objectives.
! Approval of Departments.
25. Requirements
Necessity of a
global language
policy
Cooperation
between different
departments and
teacher
collaboration
Beyond linguistic
support…
pedagogical
guidance and
assistance
26. Incentives
1. Priority access to mobility
programmes.
2. Teaching load reduction.
3. Certificate for teaching
recognition.
4. Training programme:
academic language.
1. Priority for Erasmus and
international scholarships.
2. Opportunities to get a
double degree.
3. Certification of bilingual
credits/studies.
Teachers Students
57. AESLA CONFERENCE
15,18 April, 2015
HIGHER EDUCATION AS A MULTILINGUAL AND MULTICULTURAL
SPACE
‘THE UPF’S PLAN OF ACTION FOR
MULTILINGUALISM
UNIVERSITAT POMPEU FABRA
Carmen Pérez Vidal
Former Vicerector for Language Planning
58. LINGUISTIC POLICIES HIGHER EDUCATION
! No official mandatory regulation at university level:
! SOCIOLINGUISTIC FIGURES:
! Catalan (60-65%)
! Spanish (30-35%)
! English, German, French (5-10%)
! Linguistic Services operating with a brief to
cater for Catalan and Spanish (when needed)
! University Language Schools promoting all
languages
59. LINGUISTIC POLICIES AT ‘HE’ LEVEL
! WITHIN THE BOLOGNA
PARADIGM
! LANGUAGES FOR ALL....YES!!
" BOLOGNA WILL BE MULTILINGUAL ...
OR IT WILL NOT BE....
60.
61. THREE GOALS FOR THE SHORT-MID and the LONG-RUN
1. Establish Catalan as the UPF’s own and official language.
2. Guarantee the presence of English as lingua franca for
international communication and Spanish as the other
official language in Catalonia, and of personal interest to a
large part of the international student community visiting us.
3. Incorporate other European languages with an academic
tradition (German, French, Italian) and our new
communities languages (of a Marrocan, Rumanian,
Chinese origin)
THE PAM: GOALS I
The case of UPF, a Catalan university with a multilingual ethos
62. • THE UNIVERSITY’S MULTILINGUAL PROFILE
– Teaching staff
– Students
– Administration
– The institutional interfaces (webs, documentation, landscape?)
# INTERNATIONALISATION FOR ALL students and teachers:
– ERASMUS (& OTHER) EXCHANGES (25%)
– INTERNATIONALISATION ‘AT HOME’ (IaH) (75%)
THE PAM: GOALS II
The case of UPF, a Catalan university with a multilingual goal
I
63. PLAN OF ACTION FOR MULTILINGUALISM
# 3 domains: institutional, teaching and research,
administration
# 5 strategic strands: norm, information, train, support,
dinamize
# 25 steps courses of action
# 3 key concepts:
– English as a “working language” and other European
languages as languages for communication
– “Linguistic security”
– “Managing multilingualism in the classroom”
THE PAM: ITS DESIGN I
The case of UPF, a Catalan university with a multilingual GOAL
64. THE PAM: DESIGN II
INSTITUTIONAL
DOMAIN
TEACHING AND
RESEARCH
DOMAIN
ADMINISTRATION
DOMAIN
NORMS
INFORMATION
TRAINING
LINGUISTIC
SUPPORT
3 key concepts
Linguistic
security
Managing
multilingualism in
the classroom
Catalan, our own official
language, Spanishnour
official language, ENglish
our “working language”
DYNAMICS
WHAT WE DO
WHERE?
65. THREE KEY CONCEPTS
# English as a third “working language”:
– The use of official languages (Catalan/Spanish) are regulated at higher levels
– We add English as the ‘internally official working language at UPF
– Teachers and students have the obligation to have at least passive command of those languages
• Free pre-sessional Catalan/Spanish courses for teachers, postgrads, Erasmus
• Free English for teachers and administration
# “Linguistic security”:
– Teachers decide language of instruction
– Languages of instruction are publicized
– Information is binding cannot be changed under any concept throughout the academic year.
– This guarantees teachers’ rights to use any of the three working languages at all moments,
particularly in the case of Catalan for which there is an established legal right.
# “Managing the multilingual classroom”:
– Students decide which of the three languages they use in class.
– Need to abide to the previous regulations, guaranteeing a smooth use of all languages at UPF, and
contributing to the preservation of linguistic rights establihsed amidst our community.
THE PAM: OUR PHILOSOPHY
The case of UPF, a Catalan university with a multilingual GOAL
81. INTE-R-LICA
What is INTE-R-LICA?
INTE-R-LICA is an international and interdisciplinary project,
funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness,
based at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
Acronym: La Internalización de la Educación Superior a
través de los grados bilingües: Retos Lingüísticos, Culturales
y Académicos.
83. INTE-R-LICA
Why interdisciplinary?
Because it combines:
the views of applied linguists (the language specialists)
with that of economics/business scholars (the content specialists).
These views of EMI practices
may not always coincide but
both need to be acknowledged
if we want effective
EMI teaching/learning
to take place.