English as a Medium of Instruction at Turkish State Universities

Abstract

This paper reports a study that explores the role of English as a language of instruction (or English Medium Instruction (EMI)) in the Turkish higher education system problematizing it in Turkey in terms of the country's possible inclusion in the European Union and globalization discourses as well as the possible exclusion of Turkish students who do not speak English. With that aim, a study was carried out to analyze the offer of EMI courses at the Turkish universities and the use of English in that context. Data were collected from the Turkish universities websites and the analyses show that there are more state than private universities in the country, most of which have websites in English whereas only 25% offer Education and Linguistics Research

Internationalization and Language Policies in Brazil: What is the Relationship?

“…In fact, we can identify several motivations for internationalization can be identified, and the academic and economic objectives are merely two aspects of this process. Taquini, Finardi and Amorim (2017) analyzed the offer of courses in English (English Medium Instruction or EMI) of Turkish universities, contrasting these results with the reality in Brazil. Their study was carried out at a key political moment for Turkey, which was applying for entry into the European Community, thereby suffering internal and external pressure both to Westernize and to maintain its Eastern culture and references.…”

Linguistic Education Under Revision: Globalization and EFL Teacher Education in Brazil

“…In recent years, it has become "common sense" to consider English as a key requirement for personal or national economic development and for that reason its teaching has become part of basic education around the globe (Erling & Seargeant, 2013) where institutions in Europe and Asia, such as in Turkey (Taquini, Finardi, & Amorim, 2017) include the teaching of and through English in all levels of education. In addition, many European countries have adopted Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) whereby the language of instruction is English, for basic education, in order to promote multilingualism, and English Medium Instruction (EMI), in universities as an internationalization strategy (Casotti & Finardi, 2016).…”

“…Portuguese is the only official language in Brazil (Note 4), even though the country is surrounded by Spanish-speaking nations and has several communities in which immigrant and indigenous languages are considered the mother tongue, making it a multilingual country (Finardi, 2017). As a result, Finardi (2017) believes language policies should ensure that Brazilians learn, besides the recognized official language, their neighbor's language (Spanish), the international language (English) and also their heritage languages.…”

“…As a result, Finardi (2017) believes language policies should ensure that Brazilians learn, besides the recognized official language, their neighbor's language (Spanish), the international language (English) and also their heritage languages. However, it seems that promoting such a multilingual education is far from viable by looking at Brazilian language policies (Finardi, 2017) starting from the fact that the term "foreign language", the term used in Brazilian documents to refer to any language but Portuguese, implies that the foreign language belongs to the "foreigner", and thus cannot be critically appropriated and transformed but only reproduced as the "foreigner's language" (Finardi, 2014). According to Brazilian public school legislation, a "foreign language" subject must be provided in the upper levels of primary education and even though schools could choose what language to teach, English has been the most chosen language (Finardi & Tyler, 2015).…”

“…Consequently, the new teacher will work mainly applying methods to teach English as a tool for improving students' professional skills (Ialago & Duran, 2008) without realizing that English teachers play a key role in the mediation of the global and the local contexts by deciding which teaching approach(es) and means to use (Mattos, 2015). Accordingly, it is necessary to recognize the non-neutrality of these professionals whose choices may determine whether or not students will be empowered by the English language to live the global and local dimensions of their reality (Finardi, 2017). If the teacher sees his/her practice as apolitical and neutral, students can be led to reject the language or to accept it without criticism, thus underestimating its own locality (Mattos, 2015).…”