Cover not available
Article published In:
Problematizing Language Policy and Practice in EMI and Transnational Higher Education: Challenges and Possibilities
Edited by Curtis Green-Eneix, Peter I. De Costa and Wendy Li
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 44:2] 2021
► pp. 208–228

EMI-cum-acceleration policy in the contemporary transnational HE market

Experiences of Saudi engineering students

| Royal Commission for Yanbu Colleges and Institutes

Conceptualizing EMI-cum-acceleration policy in a transnational HE market as the regulation and institutionalization of language practices through a chronometrical approach to time for the sake of global economic competition and social mobility, this qualitative case study explores the experiences and enactments of such a policy by six engineering students at Manar University (a pseudonym) in Saudi Arabia. The data were gathered from analysis of policy documents, individual interviews, and a group interview. The findings reveal that the ways in which each student negotiates, resists, and desires such a policy suggest that an individual has some temporal resources and autonomy to make sense of “the acceleration experience” within the broader “structural forces of acceleration” (Vostal, 2016, p. 117) created at the university. It was also found that students are positioned in a double-bind-between the capitalist logic of accumulation and competition (speed), and the democratic value of equity in the EMI program.

Keywords: English, medium of instruction, policy, competition, speed, social acceleration
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Neoliberalizing education and the social theory of acceleration
  • 3.Social theory of acceleration and EMI policies in transnational HE contexts
  • 4.Research site and methods
    • 4.1Manar University (MU) and its EMI policy
    • 4.2Participants of the study
    • 4.3Methods, data sources, and analysis
  • 5.Findings and discussion
    • 5.1EMI-cum-acceleration policy as a governing principle at MU’s College of Engineering
    • 5.2Pressures emerging from an EMI-cum-acceleration policy
    • 5.3Negotiating, resisting, and desiring EMI-cum-acceleration policy
      • 5.3.1I am not a hapless victim of an EMI-cum-acceleration policy
      • 5.3.2From fast to fragile EMI learner
      • 5.3.3I am a neoliberal subject but not flexible
      • 5.3.4The ‘cultural phenomenon of zapping’ in trans/international textbooks and materials
    • 5.4Students’ suggestions for the EMI programs
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • References
Published online: 7 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.20092.bar
References
Bacom, C., & Kim, S.
(2018) English is my only weapon: Neoliberal language ideologies and youth metadiscourse in South Korea. Linguistics and Education, 48(2), 10–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barnard, R., & Hasim, Z.
(Eds.) (2018) English medium instruction programmes perspectives from South East Asian universities. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barnawi, O.
(2018) Neoliberalism and English language education policies in the Arabian Gulf. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2020) TESOL and the cult of speed in the age of neoliberal mobility. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2021) EMI as a performative technology of acceleration in higher education contexts: Academics and administrators’ perspectives [Manuscript submitted for publication]. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berg, M., & Seeber, B.
(2016) The slow professor: Challenging the culture of speed in the academy. University of Toronto Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bertman, S.
(1998) Hyperculture: The human cost of speed. Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Chambers, J., & Gearhart, S.
(2019) Reversing the cult of speed in higher education: The slow movement in the arts and humanities. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Codó, E.
(2018) Language policy and planning, institutions, and neoliberalisation. In J. W. Tollefson & M. Perez-Milans (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language policy and planning (pp. 467–483). Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Costa, P. I., Green-Eneix, C., & Li, W.
(2020) Problematizing EMI language policy in a transnational world: China’s entry into the global higher education market. English Today, 1–8. Advance online publication. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Costa, P. I., Park, J. S., & Wee, L.
(2016) Language learning as linguistic entrepreneurship: Implications for language education. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 25(5–6), 695–702. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elliott, A.
(2008) Making the cut: How cosmetic surgery is transforming our lives. Reaktion Books.Google Scholar
Hu, G., & Lei, J.
(2014) English-medium instruction in Chinese higher education: A case study. Higher Education, 67(5), 551–567. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, L., Zhang, L., & May, S.
(2019) Implementing English medium instruction (EMI) in China: Teachers’ practices and perceptions, and students’ learning motivation and needs. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(2), 107–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, E., Kweon, S., & Kim, J.
(2017) Korean engineering students’ perceptions of English-medium instruction (EMI) and L1 use in EMI classes. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 38(2), 130–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kirkgöz, Y.
(2009) Globalization and English language policy in Turkey. Educational Policy, 23(5), 663–684. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Deardin, J.
(2018) A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education. Language Teaching, 51(1), 36–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Manar University
(2016) MU prospectus. [URL]
Marginson, S.
(2004) Competition and markets in higher education: A ‘glonacal’ analysis. Policy Futures in Education, 2(2), 175–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Phan, L. H.
(2016) Transnational education crossing ‘Asia’ and ‘the West’: Adjusted desire, transformative mediocrity and neo-colonial disguise. Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rosa, H.
(2003) Social acceleration: Ethical and political consequences of a de-synchronized speed society. Constellations, 10(1), 3–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010) Alienation and acceleration: Towards a critical theory of late-modern temporality. Nordic Summer University Press.Google Scholar
Saudi Vision 2030
(2016) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. [URL]
Shin, H., & Park, J.
(2016) Researching language and neoliberalism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 37(5), 443–452. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thrift, N.
(2000) Performing cultures in the new economy. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90(4), 674–692. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tomlinson, J.
(2007) The culture of speed: The coming of immediacy. Sage Publications. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tong, F., & Tong, S.
(2017) English-medium instruction in a Chinese university math classroom: An observation study of classroom discourse. In J. Zhao & Q. Dixon (Eds.), English-medium instruction in Chinese universities (pp. 128–144). Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tupas, R.
(2018) Market English as medium of instruction: Education in neoliberal times. In R. Barnard & Z. Hasim (Eds.), English medium instruction programs perspectives from South East Asian Universities (pp. 104–115). Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Urciuoli, B.
(2008) Skills and selves in the new workplace. American Ethnologist, 35(2), 211–228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vostal, F.
(2016) Accelerating academia: The changing structure of academic time. Palgrave MacMillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yamamoto, B., & Ishikura, Y.
(2017) A pebble that creates great waves? Global 30 classes and internationalization of the student body. In A. Bradford & H. Brown (Eds.), English medium instruction in Japanese higher education: Policy, challenges, and outcomes (pp. 71–84). Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yeh, C.
(2014) Taiwanese students’ experiences and attitudes towards English-medium courses in tertiary education. RELC Journal, 45(3), 305–319. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yin, R.
(2014) Case study research. Design and methods. Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Barnawi, Osman Z.
2022. Islam, language and intra-Asian student mobility. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 32:2 ► pp. 214 ff. DOI logo
Barnawi, Osman Z.
2022. Resisting and creating alternatives to neoliberalism in ELT: a case study of three transnational language teachers in Saudi Arabia. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies 19:4 ► pp. 377 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.