Page 18 - ELG1709 Agu-Sep Issue 450

FEATURES & COMMENT

‘Staff get really worried and fear

being mocked by their students’

Institutions must consider the social impact of introducing EMI and should not

sideline local languages, Professor Andy Kirkpatrick tells Claudia Civinini

longside the obvious benefits for that people feel guilty about it, because it is support for staff
institutions, there is a darker side to supposed to be just English as a medium of and students in the
English as a Medium of Instruction instruction.’ language before
Apolicies. Beyond the usual questions EMI needs to be complementary to other introducing the
regarding language and content learning, languages, and staff and students must feel policy.
Professor Kirkpatrick warns that there is a comfortable to use whatever language they But what
social impact on students, staff and local may share, he says. ‘To deny students access language are we
languages that needs to be considered. to resources in their own language because talking about?
‘At times, we are putting the needs of they happen to be operating in an EMI What is the ‘E’ in Prof.
international students in Asian universities context is counter-productive, really. The EMI? Kirkpatrick is Andy Kirkpatrick
above those of the local students’, argues same goes for staff.’ sure: it needs to be
Professor Kirkpatrick. In his work across But how can institutions negotiate a English as a lingua franca (ELF), not a native
Asia, helping universities build a language multilingual EMI? They can negotiate a variety.
policy that works for both staff and students, language policy whereby English is used for ‘Otherwise, people are judged against some
Kirkpatrick says he has seen this phenomenon assessment purposes, but students are allowed native speaker model, which is both unfair
in more than one instance. ‘One example is and encouraged to learn using the languages and unnecessary’, he explains.
in Japan. I know of EMI courses who are only and resources they have, he explains. How can ELF be introduced in higher
attended by international students, which This was the case at the Hong Kong education? For Kirkpatrick, we don’t just need
seems to be missing the point’, he tells the University of Education, where Kirkpatrick clarity on what ELF is, ‘a way of using English
Gazette. was involved in the consultation leading to which focuses more on intelligibility rather
‘EMI can often privilege English against the university’s EMI policy. ‘It involved a lot than native speaker correctness’, but also a
other languages, and I think it’s a real of consultation’, he said. ‘It ended up with a cultural shift.
problem’, he says. The local language difference between classroom language, where ‘There should be a multilingual ethos in
shouldn’t be ignored, otherwise it starts to there was freedom for staff and students to the university system that makes people feel
affect local students. In Burma, he adds, negotiate the language they wanted, and good about being multilingual – rather than
English is the only language for higher assessment language, which had to be the bad because they are not speaking a native-
education. This mean that Burmese is language of the course. That came out of the speaker variety of English.’
removed as a language for instruction and debate – but it took three or four years’. We certainly agree with that. Professor
scholarship. ‘This is a classic example of Consultation is key to a successful policy, Kirkpatrick, affiliated with the Australian
where English replaces the local language he says. ‘Everyone wants EMI, it’s popular, Griffith University, is still working on
rather than complementing it’, he says. ‘But but it needs to be introduced carefully, in language policy in higher education in South
EMI should be an addition to the other consultation with all stakeholders’. This East Asia. He is also preparing a monograph
languages, never a replacement’. includes students, academic staff, and also for Cambridge with an intriguing title: ‘Is
But EMI doesn’t just have an impact on admin staff. ‘It needs to be carefully thought English an Asian Language?’ What is the
students and their access to higher education. out, with the consequences.’ answer? ‘Yes’, he says. ‘But I shall take a little
Staff are affected too. ‘It is really stressful for Of course, there needs to be appropriate longer to answer it in the book’.
staff. They get really worried and fear being
mocked by their students, too’, recounts
Kirkpatrick.
‘They may be brilliant in their field but
suddenly start feeling insecure and inadequate
because they can’t teach in English, the new NEC Corporation of America
medium of instruction. I feel it’s an issue of
justice here too’.
Any instances in which EMI works well?
‘To be honest, in the Asian context, I haven’t
seen it working really well anywhere, except
in places where English has been long-
established as a medium of education, such as
in Singapore’, responds Kirkpatrick.
He then takes Hong Kong, where he spent
six years working, as an example. There, six
out of eight universities have EMI policies in
place, but, in fact, a lot of Cantonese (and,
increasingly, Putonghua) is used in class. ‘This Students should be consulted
is only natural’, he explains. ‘The problem is on EMI policies
editorial@elgazette.com 17

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