This book probes into the sociolinguistic consequences of the internationalization of higher education for university students, based on students’ experiences of transcultural interaction in the context of educational settings confronted with linguistic diversity.
The volume is composed of fourteen chapters. It begins with a brief introduction of a new trend of intensified internationalization in university education, centering on a series of empirical studies, conducted with a sociolinguistic focus, on international student experience. Chapter 2 explores how personal preferences and modes of behavior impinge on student sojourners’ subjective satisfaction in the early ‘honeymoon’ sojourn stage. Chapter 3 elaborates on the process of student adjustment and its outcomes in terms of whether students make a successful shift to their new context. Chapter 4 presents a case study of the Austrian university context, which discusses the roles of English and other languages in internationalizing the universities and aspects of language and culture learning in the context of educational exchange. Chapter 5 directs readers to institutionally bilingual contexts in Catalonia and the Basque Country, investigating students’ representations of multilingualism and internationalization at two bilingual universities in Spain. Chapter 6 illustrates linguistic diversity among students in higher education as a potential resource in their academic development of a multilingual strategy. Chapter 7 focuses on how students cope with simultaneous parallel code use as they negotiate meaning between receptive language (in this case English) and productive language (Icelandic), which has important implications for educational policy. Chapter 8 provides an overview of linguistic imperialism by examining language use and needs in a Puerto Rican agriculture program. It also discusses how the context at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez (UPRM) forces one to question what such imperialism might look like in post-secondary studies on the island. Chapter 9 addresses the self-other positioning of international students in the Japanese university English language classroom. It is argued that the discourse of internationalization in the country focuses on cultural identity promotion that foregrounds nationalist pride. Chapter 10 argues for student experience as transculturation by means of examples from one-to-one tutorials. It is shown that the one-to-one tutorial appears to offer a transformative space for internationalization in a UK context. Chapter 11 is concerned with perception and identity for non-native speakers of English in an English-medium university environment, exploring the ramifications of disparate linguistic resources and competences for students in international learning contexts, based on a comparison between a Danish and a Canadian university. Chapter 12 reveals a case study of one student's translanguaging practices in bilingual science classroom practice in a Puerto Rican university. Chapter 13 investigates identity issues surrounding the spoken English usage of Chinese ELF speakers in London, using an individual case study to explore the roles of complex language attitudes and language ideologies in a Chinese student's experiences of exchange in London. Chapter 14 turns to the long-term effects of English medium instruction on the ties of international alumni with their host country.
To sum up, this volume examines various aspects of the experiences of international students in the context of transcultural interaction with linguistic diversity, which have significant implications. It is worth reading by university academics, administrators and leaders, politicians and policy-makers, and by the students themselves.
