What is it about?
This is an article about students' perception of their studying in a language other than their L1 at the university. English is becoming increasingly used as a medium of instruction in higher education institutions worldwide. The paper focuses on the tensions and reactions that this produces among students who do not have it as their L1, and who are taught by professors whose L1 is also a language other than English. In this case, the context investigated is Estonia, a post-Soviet country.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The main finding of this paper is that regardless of the medium of instruction, it is not easy to engage at an academic level with one's subject of specialisation. In Estonia, matters can get more complicated because English-taught courses have only recently started to be introduced in many areas, and students are still asked to write major works (e.g. BA and MA dissertations) in Estonian, by default. While it is certainly crucial and relevant to find a space for Estonian in as many functions as possible at higher education, it is also very important to give students the right tools so that they can operate effectively and make the most out of their university studies.
Perspectives
I enjoyed writing this paper quite a lot, it was my first joint collaboration with a student of mine at the moment, Hakan Karaoglu, who helped me with the data collection and analysis of the questionnaires.
Dr Josep Soler-Carbonell
Stockholm University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: 9. English as an academic lingua franca in Estonia: students’ attitudes and ideologies, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/9781614515517-011.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
