This paper provides a bottom-up way of approaching China's macro-level initiative in the regions of Asia and examines the language ideologies and linguistic entrepreneurship of international students as an agentive response to China's rise. Using data gathered via semi-structured interviews, we present the narratives of 26 Asian international…

The present study provides an insight into foreign language policy endeavour in Algeria. It responds to the concept of an English 'tidal wave' (Spolsky [2004]. "Language policy." Cambridge University Press), and uses Spolsky's ([2009]. "Language management." Cambridge University Press) social approach and Djité's ([1994].…

Many higher education (HE) systems in the Global South have prioritised English language education (ELE), including in Colombia where English has become the dominant foreign language of HE. However, little is known about its effects on the lives of HE students from low-income backgrounds. Addressing this knowledge gap is critical to ensure that…

Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews, we examine Spanish language instructors' interpretation and appropriation of gender-inclusive language (GIL) policy at a U.S. university. Policy appropriation is represented as a spectrum with varying degrees of policy rejection, avoidance, and engagement across and within participants. Policy rejection…

As global neoliberalism continues to take root, States aim to produce linguistically-skilled human capital to gain an advantage within highly-competitive market conditions. With this relationship in view, English language proficiency constitutes a 'rational' educational pathway for national and personal-level success within an outwardly…

Research on English Medium Instruction (EMI) in Higher Education (HE) has tended to have a technicist orientation, examining for example how it is implemented and the challenges it has encountered. Much less critical attention has been given to the rationales that language policy makers and other stakeholders offer for introducing EMI - the…

The adoption of English medium instruction (EMI) in higher education has gained popularity in China's tertiary education as a result of globalization. International students in Chinese universities are celebrated as part of soft power projection to extend China's global impact. Informed by Piller and Cho's concept of "Neoliberalism as…

Informed by the theoretical concepts of 'practiced' language policy and space, the study investigates the language practices of English-medium Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programs for international students, focusing on the interactional norms of language choice in a Chinese hospital where international students are…

The internationalisation of higher education (HE) worldwide has led to an expansion of courses using English-as-a-medium-of-instruction (EMI) in non-native-English-speaking countries. Research has identified complex challenges facing EMI educators in implementing EMI policies and suggested separately the significant roles educators' agency and…

The past few decades have seen a boom in English-medium instruction (EMI) in Chinese universities. Despite growing research interest in EMI policy and practices in China, little is known about how students' motivation to study in the EMI programs is influenced by EMI policy and its implementation at the meso and micro levels. This study addresses…

Many universities in non-English speaking countries have been adopting English as a medium of instruction to internationalize their education. We set out to compare the language policies of a Finnish and a Japanese university using the lens of language ideology -- a set of normative beliefs about the social dimension of language. Data were…

This study investigated multilingual students' linguistic challenges at English-medium instruction (EMI) universities in Kazakhstan. Using language policy and planning as a theoretical lens, this study looked at EMI policy in general, particularly the academic English challenges of students due to a haphazard implementation of the EMI policy in…

Deploying what we term 'Englishization policy distraction' in the internationalization of higher education as both a theoretical and analytical concept, this paper frames and examines how the epistemic violence of internationalization of the HE is bypassed and invisibilized through Englishization policy and English medium education in Saudi…

English-medium instruction (EMI) is on the rise around the world due to globalization, internationalization and neoliberal ideologies which equate English with social capital, prestige, and success in the labour market. While many EMI policies aim to equip students with English as a 'lingua academia', produce 'neoliberal subjects' and compete in…

This study explored a contemporary period of Japanese higher education policy planning that adopted internationalisation of higher education as a metanarrative for sociocultural change in Japan. These wider societal pressures have over a period of time contributed to increasing institutional resistance to top-down policy initiatives. Further,…