EMI and the International Branch Campus: Examining Language Ideologies, Policies, and Practices

• Published in: Australian review of applied linguistics 2021-07, Vol.44 (2), p.229-252
• Main Authors: Hillman, Sara, Graham, Keith M, Eslami, Zohreh R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Case studies; Code Switching (Language); College Faculty; Engineering Education; English (Second Language); English for academic purposes; Ethnography; Foreign Countries; Foreign Nationals; Foreign Students; Higher education; Institutional Characteristics; International Cooperation; Language Attitudes; Language ideologies; Language of Instruction; Language Planning; Language policy; Language Usage; Linguistic landscape; Multicampus Colleges; Native Language; Neoliberalism; North Americans; Policy Analysis; Program Descriptions; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Semitic Languages; Signs; Student Attitudes; Undergraduate Students; Universities; Web Sites
• ISSN: 0155-0640; 1833-7139
• DOI: 10.1075/aral.20093.hil

Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities and driven by neoliberal market economy agendas, has spread across the globe. One example of TNHE is Qatar's Education City where six prestigious American international branch campuses (IBCs) all administer their degrees through English medium instruction (EMI). While there is a burgeoning amount of research investigating and problematizing issues in EMI higher education institutions, IBCs are a unique EMI setting due to their heavy reliance on importing faculty, staff, curricula and practices from their home campuses. Thus, this study takes an ethnographic case study approach to examine the language planning and policy and linguistic landscape at one IBC in Qatar. Drawing on multiple sources of data, the study reveals both the overt and covert language policies and ideologies of the institution and its various stakeholders, and the extent to which languages other than English are used and accepted.