Faculty member at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech.Applied Linguistics, English for Specific Purposes, English-Medium instruction. Technology, Society and Ethics.
As internationalisation policies like English-medium Instruction (EMI) are increasingly implement... more As internationalisation policies like English-medium Instruction (EMI) are increasingly implemented in European higher education, EMI and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classrooms become small international spaces where local students' intercultural skills can be developed. I suggest that the internationalised higher education poses challenges also to non-mobile students, who find themselves in culturally diverse classrooms where English is used as the medium of instruction. The aim of this study is twofold. It first attempts to provide a research-based framework that accounts for the reasons why Intercultural Competence (IC) should become a learning outcome in ESP and EMI courses, with an emphasis on ESP. Second, it explores two ways in which this integration could take place drawing on Holmes & O'Neill's ethnographic model (2012). The seminar genre is proposed to showcase IC integration, as participation helps students practice their English skills and provides them with opportunities to develop disciplinary knowledge while debating on a specific topic. In brief, this study suggests that both ESP and EMI courses have the potential of preparing students for a future professional career in a globalised world and that ESP lecturers, in particular, emerge as the best prepared professionals for teaching intercultural skills.
This paper is intended as a contribution to the study of the impact of academic mobility on the d... more This paper is intended as a contribution to the study of the impact of academic mobility on the development of students' intercultural competence by focusing on both the results of a quantitative assessment administered to 110 studentsand a student's discursive construction of this impact during her study abroad. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach which combines (i) a quantitative data collection methodology involving an intercultural competence questionnaire administered to a group of students of two universities in Catalonia (Spain) before and after their academic stay abroad in a European country, and (b) a qualitative analysis of how a study-abroad student discursively constructs her experience by resorting to specific elements of her new environment and adopting particular stances towards them. The analysis of the data explores the potential complementarity of the two perspectives in order to better understand the impact of academic mobility on the development of the students' intercultural competence.
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2015
The present study aims to shed some light on how engineering lecturers teaching in English at a S... more The present study aims to shed some light on how engineering lecturers teaching in English at a Spanish university view their work (teaching goals) within the current European internationalisation trend of offering courses and master programmes in English. A questionnaire where content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English-medium instruction (EMI) were differentiated and with questions on their self-attributed duties, training preferences, assessment and internationalisation issues, among others, was prepared. The 41 lecturers who participated were asked to identify the modality they were following and their views related to the key factors in their courses. Findings point to the fact that EMI is the modality they follow and that they do not want to shift to CLIL because they refuse to teach language. To gain qualitative information about their beliefs, six lecturers were later interviewed. These interviews suggested that lecturers attach no importance to language integration. More specifically, they do not usually reflect on their lecturing, they welcome the idea of distinguishing both modalities in higher education (HE), they regard English proficiency as a key factor for all stakeholders and finally they think CLIL better suits less proficient students in HE.
Following the Interpretative Policy Analysis approach (Moore & Wiley, 2015), this preliminary stu... more Following the Interpretative Policy Analysis approach (Moore & Wiley, 2015), this preliminary study seeks to examine the language policies (LP) that Lleida university has recently implemented to promote EMI. In particular, we analyse how the meanings underlying language policy affect policy enactors (EMI lecturers) as well as their opinions in order to identify points of conflict.
The general background against which this paper has been written includes two main kinds of studi... more The general background against which this paper has been written includes two main kinds of studies. The first type comprises those analyses of lecture discourse (Murphy and Candlin 1979; Dudley-Evans and Johns 1981; Goffman 1981; Chaudron 1988; Olsen and Huckin 1990; Nattinger and DeCarrico 1992; Flowerdew and Miller 1992; Shing Chiang and Dunkel 1992; Flowerdew 1994; Allison and Tauroza 1995) where factors like speech rate, cultural differences, note-taking practices, listening strategies and discourse organization, among others, are considered. The second set of studies refers to research on metadiscourse in particular, which has traditionally focused on written texts (Meyer et al 1980; Schiffrin 1980; Crismore 1984, 1989; Vande Kopple 1985a; Nash 1992; Cheng and Steffensen 1996; Hyland 1998, 1999). Different classifications have been proposed, most of them sharing a functional, Hallidayian approach in that metadiscourse is divided into textual and interpersonal items. Metadiscou...
As internationalisation policies like English-medium Instruction (EMI) are increasingly implement... more As internationalisation policies like English-medium Instruction (EMI) are increasingly implemented in European higher education, EMI and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classrooms become small international spaces where local students' intercultural skills can be developed. I suggest that the internationalised higher education poses challenges also to non-mobile students, who find themselves in culturally diverse classrooms where English is used as the medium of instruction. The aim of this study is twofold. It first attempts to provide a research-based framework that accounts for the reasons why Intercultural Competence (IC) should become a learning outcome in ESP and EMI courses, with an emphasis on ESP. Second, it explores two ways in which this integration could take place drawing on Holmes & O'Neill's ethnographic model (2012). The seminar genre is proposed to showcase IC integration, as participation helps students practice their English skills and provides them with opportunities to develop disciplinary knowledge while debating on a specific topic. In brief, this study suggests that both ESP and EMI courses have the potential of preparing students for a future professional career in a globalised world and that ESP lecturers, in particular, emerge as the best prepared professionals for teaching intercultural skills.
This paper is intended as a contribution to the study of the impact of academic mobility on the d... more This paper is intended as a contribution to the study of the impact of academic mobility on the development of students' intercultural competence by focusing on both the results of a quantitative assessment administered to 110 studentsand a student's discursive construction of this impact during her study abroad. The research adopts a mixed-methods approach which combines (i) a quantitative data collection methodology involving an intercultural competence questionnaire administered to a group of students of two universities in Catalonia (Spain) before and after their academic stay abroad in a European country, and (b) a qualitative analysis of how a study-abroad student discursively constructs her experience by resorting to specific elements of her new environment and adopting particular stances towards them. The analysis of the data explores the potential complementarity of the two perspectives in order to better understand the impact of academic mobility on the development of the students' intercultural competence.
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2015
The present study aims to shed some light on how engineering lecturers teaching in English at a S... more The present study aims to shed some light on how engineering lecturers teaching in English at a Spanish university view their work (teaching goals) within the current European internationalisation trend of offering courses and master programmes in English. A questionnaire where content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English-medium instruction (EMI) were differentiated and with questions on their self-attributed duties, training preferences, assessment and internationalisation issues, among others, was prepared. The 41 lecturers who participated were asked to identify the modality they were following and their views related to the key factors in their courses. Findings point to the fact that EMI is the modality they follow and that they do not want to shift to CLIL because they refuse to teach language. To gain qualitative information about their beliefs, six lecturers were later interviewed. These interviews suggested that lecturers attach no importance to language integration. More specifically, they do not usually reflect on their lecturing, they welcome the idea of distinguishing both modalities in higher education (HE), they regard English proficiency as a key factor for all stakeholders and finally they think CLIL better suits less proficient students in HE.
Following the Interpretative Policy Analysis approach (Moore & Wiley, 2015), this preliminary stu... more Following the Interpretative Policy Analysis approach (Moore & Wiley, 2015), this preliminary study seeks to examine the language policies (LP) that Lleida university has recently implemented to promote EMI. In particular, we analyse how the meanings underlying language policy affect policy enactors (EMI lecturers) as well as their opinions in order to identify points of conflict.
The general background against which this paper has been written includes two main kinds of studi... more The general background against which this paper has been written includes two main kinds of studies. The first type comprises those analyses of lecture discourse (Murphy and Candlin 1979; Dudley-Evans and Johns 1981; Goffman 1981; Chaudron 1988; Olsen and Huckin 1990; Nattinger and DeCarrico 1992; Flowerdew and Miller 1992; Shing Chiang and Dunkel 1992; Flowerdew 1994; Allison and Tauroza 1995) where factors like speech rate, cultural differences, note-taking practices, listening strategies and discourse organization, among others, are considered. The second set of studies refers to research on metadiscourse in particular, which has traditionally focused on written texts (Meyer et al 1980; Schiffrin 1980; Crismore 1984, 1989; Vande Kopple 1985a; Nash 1992; Cheng and Steffensen 1996; Hyland 1998, 1999). Different classifications have been proposed, most of them sharing a functional, Hallidayian approach in that metadiscourse is divided into textual and interpersonal items. Metadiscou...
The current trend towards the growing internationalisation of European universities goes hand in ... more The current trend towards the growing internationalisation of European universities goes hand in hand with a process of ‘Englishisation’, with English becoming an academic lingua franca in non-English speaking countries. This situation, also influenced by the Bologna process of redesigning curricula to make them more transparent, has brought about an increase in the offer of programmes taught through the medium of English. This process, however, does not appear without tensions, as it has profound effects on university policies and practices. The project submitted here, “Towards an Empirical Assessment of the impact of English-Medium Instruction: language learning, disciplinary knowledge and academic identities” (ASSEMID), sets out to investigate the introduction of English-medium instruction (EMI) in two university settings in Catalonia, Universitat de Lleida and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, in the specific context of engineering degrees in order to examine the role and status of EMI in the curricula, and especially its impact on lecturers and students. Therefore, this project will look into the questions of lecturers’ and students’ emerging identities as they become participants in this Englishisation process. Specifically, it will look at how participants’ proficiency in and views on English as a foreign language affect their practices as well as their perceptions of their own status and role. Also considering that English has traditionally been present in engineering degrees in the form of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) courses, this project places special emphasis on the interplay between ESP and EMI. In particular, it will investigate where EMI stands vis-à-vis ESP in the engineering programmes being observed, to find out whether this process of Englishisation has entailed the substitution of ESP courses for EMI courses and how both types of courses can coexist. ASSEMID will delve into the interplay between EMI and ESP, looking into students’ needs, learning opportunities, and learning outcomes arising from their participation in both types of courses. In terms of researching identities, ASSEMID will track lecturers’ and students’ participation in a number of EMI courses at both universities, exploring the challenges and opportunities that such courses generate for the learning of disciplinary content and language. From the perspective of critical ethnography, the project will draw on multiple sources of data, combining qualitative methods quantitative methods. Thus, classroom observation and logs reporting on participants’ experience in and views on the implementation of EMI will be combined with surveys and learning diaries reporting on ESP students’ views of their courses and how they help them prepare for effective participation in EMI courses and in the international engineering community. The results of ASSEMID are expected to shed light on these changing internationalisation processes in European universities and, therefore, affect future policies and practices, which will be informed by research results.
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Papers by Marta Aguilar-Pérez