English as the lingua franca of academic publishing in Tunisia

Abstract

This study discusses the debate on the use of English as the lingua franca of science in Tunisia. It examines the values ascribed to English for Research Publication Purposes (ERPP) and how publishing in English compares to publishing in French, the default vehicle for research in Tunisia. It explores the factors that motivate Tunisian scholars to publish in English journals, the linguistic challenges they meet, and the alternate strategies they employ to mitigate the situation. It also questions the neutrality and ideological detachment of English as the vehicular language for academic publishing. The findings indicate that Tunisian academics have a fairly positive attitude towards the use of English for research publication. What is evident is that the formative years of education did not prepare Tunisian academics to publish in English. One salient implication from this research is the need for ERPP courses to meet the burgeoning needs for English.

English teachers’ views of EFL education in private educational institutions in Tunisia: A qualitative investigation

“…However, the scarcity of the existing literature review written on English language education in Tunisia might limit the outcomes of this study. The reason behind the limited research in this area is that academic publishing in Tunisia is still conducted in the French language since it is the medium of instruction, and the majority of academicians have been heavily influenced by francophone research (Abdeljaoued & Labassi, 2021).…”

Using online machine translation in international scholarly writing and publishing: A longitudinal case of a Chinese engineering scholar

“…The global increase of the publish‐or‐perish culture and the growing dominance of English as a lingua franca in research communication and international academic publishing (Curry & Lillis, 2019; Lillis & Curry, 2010; Mauranen, 2003; Mauranen et al, 2010; Montgomery, 2013) are driving scholars from both Anglophone and non‐Anglophone countries to publish in English. For instance, academics from Spain (Mur‐Dueñas, 2013), Russia (Shchemeleva, 2021; Smirnova et al, 2021), Indonesia (Farley, 2018), Tunisia (Abdeljaoued & Labassi, 2020) and especially China (Luo & Hyland, 2019; Mu, 2020; Tian et al, 2016; Zheng & Guo, 2018), to name just a few, have been reported to be under enormous pressure to publish internationally. These scholars are referred to as English as an additional language (EAL) scholars.…”

“…These studies draw on such social constructivist theories as academic literacies and situated learning as theoretical frameworks to analyse EAL scholars' challenges, coping strategies and learning in writing and getting published (Flowerdew & Habibie, 2022). Language problems in the writing process (grammatical mistakes, poor vocabulary, lack of conciseness, informal language etc.,; Abdeljaoued & Labassi, 2020; Lei & Hu, 2019; Luo & Hyland, 2019; Mu, 2020; Mur‐Dueñas, 2013; Ramirez‐Castaneda, 2020; Shamsi & Osam, 2022; Uzuner, 2008; Willey & Tanimoto, 2012) and in submission (understanding the rules of the journal, completing the submission procedures, communicating with editors and reviewers etc. ; Mu, 2020; Yuan et al, 2020) were reported most frequently among the challenges.…”

A Multidimensional Comparative Analysis of MENA and International English Research Article Abstracts in Applied Linguistics

“…a powerful carnivore gobbling up the other denizens of the academic linguistic grazing grounds” (Swales, 1997, p. 374), the preeminence of English as the vehicular lingua franca for discipline-specific publication is self-evident. Therefore, English is considered the primary language for research publication in MENA regions (Abdeljaoued & Labassi, 2020; Elyas & Mahboob, 2020).…”