The Netherlands is home to an increasing number of English-language churches. These churches are often established with an international audience in mind: however, interestingly, they also attract a large number of Dutch as a first-language (L1) speakers. This article investigates the language attitudes and language choices of Dutch L1 speakers…

In this chapter we analyzed lecturers' attitudes towards using English in European Higher Education settings. Twenty-eight university teachers were brought together from thirteen universities across six European countries for an online training for teachers in English Medium Instruction (EMI) settings. The lecturers' written exchanges about…

In the past 15 years, the number of international students in tertiary education doubled to reach 5.6 million students in 2018 and is expected to grow to 6.9 million in 2030 (Choudaha and Van Rest, 2018). In the Netherlands, the percentage of international degree seeking students is relatively high and growing fast from 4% in 2010 to more than 10%…

Among other things, learning to write entails learning how to use complex sentences effectively in discourse. Some research has therefore focused on relating measures of syntactic complexity to text quality. Apart from the fact that the existing research on this topic appears inconclusive, most of it has been conducted in English L1 contexts. This…

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…

Wiljan van den Akker is a university professor, a respected academic administrator, and a published poet and writer. From a base at the Utrecht University, in the Netherlands, his three-decade long career spans three continents and includes one-on-one associations with Berkeley, UCLA and Oxford. Currently, he is the Vice-Rector for Research at…

This article reports on the academic performance and experiences of non-native university students, specifically German students in a Dutch academic environment. These students have a substantial dropout rate. In an earlier study, we found correlations between results on language tests and study results. In this study, we used semi-structured…

Education holds promise as a vehicle for sustainable global development and human capacity development, as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. International education has become a prominent feature in contemporary times on the educational landscape as students become increasingly mobile in pursuit of their…

Language and metacommunication are assumed to be important for accomplishing a high level of cooperation in social play. Research to date, however, does not address the relationship of language ability and metacommunication to the complexity of cooperation. This study investigated this relationship by observing 24 four- and five-year-old…

This article explores adolescent students' attitudes toward learning English and other European languages studied at secondary school. The study is based on 2255 qualitative responses to a survey conducted in Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. The data reveal that, although differences between countries shape the experience of foreign…

For multinational corporations, the need for efficiency and control has motivated the choice for a corporate language. However, increasing internationalisation has forced corporations to rethink their language policies to cater to the changing demands of the multicultural and multilingual workplace. This paper explores two related issues. First,…

This paper reports on an experimental study investigating alternative communication modes to English as a Lingua Franca. The purpose was to examine the effectiveness of different modes of communication and to gain insight in communication strategies used by interlocutors to solve referential conflicts. Findings show that ELF may not necessarily be…

This article reports on an investigation of the challenges and benefits of university students taking a degree course in a language other than their mother tongue. Our study was conducted from the point of view of the non-native students themselves, and our primary concern was the role of language. We investigated the academic achievement of…

This essay raises questions about how language educators might construct and further develop their epistemology of practice in and through the situations in which they work from day to day. The occasion for this paper is our work as guest editors of a special issue of "L-1: Educational Studies in Language and Literature," when we invited…

Nico Wijnberg began his work in economic development in The Netherlands as the Dutch government country specialist for Russia and Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan. His job was to assist companies in their efforts to enter the Russian and Kazakhstani markets. In this position, it was important to not only stay aware of the ever-changing…