Becoming and being an academic: the perspectives of Chinese staff in two research‐intensive UK universities

Jiang, Xiaoli; Napoli, Roberto Di; Borg, Michaela; Maunder, Rachel; Fry, Heather; Walsh, Elaine

doi:10.1080/03075070902995213

Cited by 60 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…We recognise that the cultural and linguistic diversity in PHeW mirrors the diversity in academia in most English-speaking countries, raising some of the challenges that face international staff as well as students (Luxon & Peelo 2009;Green & Myatt 2011;Jiang et al 2010;Saltmarsh & Swirski 2010). Academics are not isolated from the outside world; rather, they belong to an international community which includes colleagues from a diverse array of cultures and backgrounds.…”

Section: Improved Understanding Of Academic Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity in collaborative research communities: a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group in public health

Guerin

Xafis

Doda

et al. 2013

Studies in Continuing Education

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Writing groups for doctoral students are generally agreed to provide valuable learning spaces for PhD candidates. Here an academic developer and the seven members of a writing group formed in a Discipline of Public Health provide an account of their experiences of collaborating in a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group. We consider the benefits of belonging to such a group for PhD students who are operating in a research climate in which disciplinary boundaries are blurring and where an increasing number of doctoral projects are interdisciplinary in nature; in which both academic staff and students come from enormously diverse cultural and language backgrounds; and in which teamwork, networking and collaboration are prized but not always proactively facilitated. We argue that doctoral writing groups comprising students from diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds can be of significant value for postgraduates who wish to collaborate on their own academic development to improve their research writing and communication skills; at the same time, such collaborative work effectively builds an inclusive, dynamic research community.

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Section: Improved Understanding Of Academic Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity in collaborative research communities: a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group in public health

Guerin

Xafis

Doda

et al. 2013

Studies in Continuing Education

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show abstract

“…Commenting on the role of English for the transition of staff of Chinese origin to the UK university system, Jiang et al (2010) state that both in regard to communication with colleagues and students, as well as the delivery of teaching, the English language could constitute an obstacle. In a similar vein, Archer (2008) For all the aforementioned studies the starting point is one of adaptation into an existing system and developing proficiency in the dominant language, explaining how non-national academics draw on various strategies for social, cultural and linguistic integration.…”

Section: English Language Competence and Belonging To The Uk Academicmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…, 1993Bourdieu (e.g. , 2002, in particular his concepts of field, habitus and capital, combined with insights from extant literature on the role of language within the organisational setting of higher education (Curry and Lillis 2004;Jiang et al 2010;Luxon and Peelo 2009;Pherali 2012;Tietze 2008aTietze , 2008b. We argue that a high level of linguistic competence constitutes a key aspect of academic habitus (Bourdieu 1988) within the context of UK HE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playing in the academic field: Non-native English-speaking academics in UK business schools

Śliwa

Johansson

2013

Culture and Organization

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This paper explores the relationship between English language competence and the ability of an individual for whom English is a non-native language to function in UK academia. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of academic field and habitus and based on interviews with 54 non-native English speaking academics employed in UK business schools, we discuss the ways in which working in English as a non-native language influences foreign academics' performance of academic habitus and the level of their symbolic capital necessary for the achievement of success within UK HE. Our findings point to advantages and disadvantages associated with being a non-native English speaking academic, to strategies deployed by individuals as they strive to enhance their linguistic competence, and to the importance of language not merely as a tool of communication but as a key factor enabling individuals to perform academic habitus in the UK academic field.Keywords: academic habitus; Bourdieu; business schools; language; non-native academics IntroductionThe global significance of the English language, both historically and at present, has been analysed and assessed by scholars from different disciplines. Among extant writings, there is a strand of literature focusing on the use of English in contemporary organizational contexts

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“…Moreover, there are commonly weak or non-existent support structures for non-native speakers in terms of training or other forms of language competence development. However, research shows that the sense of professional achievement and integration of a linguistically diverse academic faculty in the UK is closely linked to the level of linguistic competence (Jiang, Di Napoli, Borg, Maunder, Fry & Walsh, 2010;Luxon & Peelo, 2009;Pherali, 2012). To construct a framework for analyzing organizational power and inequalities associated with English language use, we now turn to sociolinguistics.…”

Section: Language In An International Business Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

How non-native English-speaking staff are evaluated in linguistically diverse organizations: A sociolinguistic perspective

Śliwa

Johansson

2014

J Int Bus Stud

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The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of evaluations of non-native speaking staff's spoken English in international business settings. We adopt a sociolinguistic perspective on power and inequalities in linguistically diverse organizations in an Anglophone environment. The interpretive qualitative study draws on 54 interviews with non-native English speaking staff in 19 UK business schools. We analyze, along the dimensions of status, solidarity and dynamism, the ways in which nonnative speakers, on the basis of their spoken English, are evaluated by themselves and by listeners.We show how such evaluations refer to issues beyond the speaker's linguistic fluency, and have consequences for her or his actions. The study contributes to the literature on language and power in international business through offering fine-grained insights into and elucidating how the interconnected evaluative processes impact the formation and perpetuation of organizational power relations and inequalities. It also puts forward implications for managing the officially monolingual, yet linguistically diverse organizations.

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Becoming and being an academic: the perspectives of Chinese staff in two research‐intensive UK universities

Cited by 60 publications

References 22 publications

Diversity in collaborative research communities: a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group in public health

Diversity in collaborative research communities: a multicultural, multidisciplinary thesis writing group in public health

Playing in the academic field: Non-native English-speaking academics in UK business schools

How non-native English-speaking staff are evaluated in linguistically diverse organizations: A sociolinguistic perspective

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