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10 - Biliteracy as Policy in Academic Institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2026

David M. Palfreyman
Affiliation:
Zayed University
Christa van der Walt
Affiliation:
Stellenbosch University
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Summary

This chapter presents issues of policy around biliteracy in four higher educationinstitutions:

  • • a multilingual university in a border area in Europe: European University Viadrina in Germany;

  • • a bilingual university in a minority language context: Te Wa¯nanga o Aotearoa in New Zealand;

  • • a bilingual university in a highly globalized emerging state: Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates;

  • • a bilingual university in a bilingual country context: The University of Ottawa in Canada.

In this chapter we aim to explore how macro (societal) level aspects of language policy are formed and implemented in interaction with meso and micro level processes and strategies (Baldauf, 2006). Focusing primarily on literacy policies and practices, for each institution we present first a macro view, i.e. the historical and political contexts underlying the multilingual character of each institution. We then take a meso view, discussing aspects of institutional programs and courses that enact each institution’s multilingual literacy policies. Finally, for each institution we present examples at a micro level of literacy and translanguaging practices among students, teachers, and other stakeholders in the classroom and in other university spaces. While all four contexts are quite different, all underscore the challenges in reconciling the aspirational nature of multilingual policy at the national/institutional level with the everyday challenges of enacting such policies on the ground. Such challenges include negotiating the unequal statuses of the languages involved, and locating and deploying linguistic support when needed.

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