EMI and access to education

In the literature review, researchers’ fears about the democratic value of EMI were mentioned.

The quantitative analysis, however, lead to the exclusion of most items concerned with the legitimacy of EMI and of English in academia from the ‘attitude’ construct. Similarly, SES did not correlate with students’ attitudes, nor with the socio-affective variables involved in language learning. In spite of this, a theme related to the democratic value of EMI emerges in the interviews of Norwegian students: the accessibility of higher education. Its mention in some of the interviews shows that students are aware of the ethical aspects related to the implementation of EMI and reveals contradictory beliefs among the participants.

According to Sara, EMI makes education more accessible by opening it to speakers of other languages than Norwegian. This belief probably stems from Sara’s international orientation and from her experience in international communities, as she reports having many international friends and justifies her opinion by her own experience as an exchange student in a Japanese university. In contrast, Nora emphasises that the necessity of being proficient in English adds a supplementary threshold to access education, even though most high school students in Norway reach high levels of English according to her.

The theme of the accessibility of education is related to comments about the responsibility of secondary schools in preparing students for the use of English. The interviewees in the two

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countries seem to suggest that English communicative skills are supposed to be shared by all university students, and that this might be the responsibility of secondary schools rather than of higher education institutions. Maxime reports having asked his faculty to provide students with basic English language classes and having received an answer supporting this point from his institution as well, as illustrated in (6), which follows passage (4) in the interview.

(6) <Researcher> yeah of course and (.) hm (.) you told me that some students were upset about the fact the classes were taught in English do you think that’s hm your institution should have like given more information about the fact that there would be classes taught in English?

<Maxime> yes and I asked the faculty to do so hm and I asked I also asked to give English lessons to the students

<Researcher> oh yeah so you don’t have any English language classes besides the ones that are in English

<Maxime> hm yes hm that’s not really the case but we don’t have a class to learn English

<Researcher> yeah

<Maxime> and I asked the faculty to do so and they refused because they said that English hm has to be learned in secondary

<Researcher> so it’s like a requirement to enter university then

<Maxime> yeah a requirement that is not written but we have a class that is an English class but it’s a class where the professors speak in French and they explain how to read articles in papers

[Belgium]

It should be noted, however, that English language classes are not part of the mandatory core courses in all French-speaking secondary schools in Belgium, and that some students enter university without any prior instruction in the language, as mentioned in (4), which was the reason for Maxime’s request. However, his request does not aim at having classes of English for academic purposes, which are already organised, and which he seems to consider useless.

The reason for his request seems to lie in his international imagined community and in the belief that university students should master English rather than in practical goals related to students’ academic programme. Similarly, in (7), Eva highlights the need for good language classes with the possibility to practise English actively.

(7) <Eva> hm in bachelor the level of English was of course much important hm but I think we weren’t prepared enough for sorry for the level of English

<Researcher> yeah

<Eva> because for me it was necessary to have at least one good English class and not related to linguistics or literature but really like more talking and how do you say it English class for with vocabulary and with the possibility to talk a lot and to practise

[Belgium]

73 This need seems to be related to her desire to work in international workplaces after her studies. In contrast, some of the Norwegian interviewees agree that classes preparing students to the use of academic English, primarily as regards their readings, could be of use. The responsibility for this seems to be attributed to secondary education according to Jonas and Nora. On the other hand, Jonas explains that the difficulties he encountered with academic English might be due to the passage from secondary education to higher education. Similarly, in (8), Elias describes the acquisition of academic English as the acquisition of the academic genre, which happens naturally, irrespective of the language, at university level, when students encounter more and more academic texts.

(8) <Researcher> yeah I= I got it yeah well yeah that's interesting so it helped to- more at an interpersonal level

<Elias> yeah

<Researcher> than you know for example for academic English let's say

<Elias> yeah academic English I feel is more of a just (.) for lectures and books I don't think (.) academic English is necessarily something that you can directly be prepared for at the school anyway because generally what you learn at least in Norway is not necessarily academic English it's general understanding and helping you get better at learning yourself it's not this is how now you're ready now you're done

<Researcher> yeah

<Elias> but it's preparing you to learn to understand better

<Researcher> yeah so it's the role of the university to like (.) familiar= get you familiar with-

<Elias> well I mean

<Researcher> academic English for example

<Elias> well yeah but it's also like academic Norwegian right it's (.) there are significant amount of terms and words that you don't learn at high school level and you learn (at university) and that's part of the difference between the (two) (.) it's (at least) that's how it is in general (.) it isn't preparing you= it's preparing you to start university it's not preparing you to be a proper university student immediately at least that's how I feel

[Norway]

He does not believe that secondary schools should prepare students for the use of academic English, but, like Maxime, he thinks that some more preparation for the use of English in academic and professional communities might be beneficial, for example as regards intercultural communication. This might also be related to the emphasis on receptive skills in EMI contexts that emerges from the interviews: developing active skills does not seem to be necessary for students to progress in their studies, but might be beneficial to communicate with international students and colleagues. In this case, basic English skills are needed rather than academic English. The lack of focus on active skills in EMI is further commented upon

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in the next section, as it is in apparent contradiction with the idea that EMI would prepare students to the use of English in their future international community.