In recent decades, English taught programmes have rapidly increased in number throughout Europe and East Asia as universities aim to internationalise their curriculum, which has given rise to an increase in English-medium instruction (EMI). This study aims to compare the teaching experiences at three EMI programmes in The Netherlands, China, and…

It is undeniable that English has become the worldwide lingua franca for the academic world. Many countries have therefore opted for Higher Education programmes fully in English, of which the Netherlands is the frontrunner. Language policies that include drawing on students plurilingual repertoires could offer the opportunity to employ several…

The study focuses on the assessment of young refugee students, and the role of language and parents therein. Low achievement at tests can stem from lack of knowledge of the content being tested. However, it can also be due to low proficiency in the language of testing. Additionally, poor communication between refugee parents and schools caused by…

Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) has been said to increase not only foreign language proficiency but also learner motivation (Coyle, D., P. Hood, and D. Marsh. 2010. "CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). In contexts where CLIL is elective, however, the question can be…

Whilst the links between learner corpus research (LCR) and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) have long been debated, McEnery et al. (2019. "Corpus Linguistics, Learner Corpora, and SLA: Employing Technology to Analyze Language Use." Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 39: 74-92. doi:10.1017/S0267190519000096) claim that learner corpus…

Recent research calls for a re-structuring of higher education (HE) beyond English medium orientations by acknowledging the plurilingual resources of students and lecturers. In the Netherlands there is a rapid rise in plurilingual lecturers. The central question is to what extent these lecturers make use of their plurilingual resources for…

Drawing on usage-based approaches this paper addresses the challenge of capturing EMI teachers' linguistic needs for the purposes of teacher training in international Medical Education. The focus is on EMI medical teachers in various instructional formats. Each format requires a specific linguistic repertoire resulting dynamic interactions of…

This article focuses on minority languages in education in Europe in contexts where they are in contact with national state languages and English. Teaching minority language implies bilingual education because it is not about replacing the majority language, but to come 'alongside' or at 'equal footing'. The cases of Basque and Frisian, comparing…

Since the academic year 2017-2018, the Tilburg University Language Center has been offering an academic pre-Bachelor's programme for refugee students. This year-long educational programme prepares high-potential refugees for a Dutch- or English-taught Bachelor's programme at a university. In addition, students prepare for the Dutch Civic…

The aim of this study was to investigate whether bilingually raised children in the Netherlands, who receive literacy instruction in their second language only, show an advantage on Dutch phoneme-awareness tasks compared with monolingual Dutch-speaking children. Language performance of a group of 47 immigrant first-grade children with various…

In this longitudinal study, we examined the effects of the use of English as the language of instruction in the first 4 years of secondary education in The Netherlands on the students' language proficiency in English and Dutch, and achievement in subject matters taught through English. Compared to a control group in regular secondary education,…

Presents results of research on the second-language proficiency of children participating in an experimental bilingual school, where children used mother tongue 75 percent the first year, 40 percent the second. Children attended neighborhood schools from the third year on. Supports the claim that mother tongue teaching does not harm…

A study of 170 foreign university students in the Netherlands shows that while their success rate was similar to native students', it took them more time to complete examinations, and language proficiency and home-country selection procedures were major factors in achievement. Implications for foreign student policy are explored, and a mentor…

Discusses current research on six bilingual elementary schools in Friesland, focusing on students' command of Dutch and Frisian, and on school policies concerning Frisian as an instructional subject. The proportions of Frisian- and Dutch-speaking children in an area, the pedagogical and sociolinguistic climates, and the problems associated with…