Zooming in on language practices in Swedish higher education. A discussion of five studies and their normative versus dynamic approach towards policy and practice
In this chapter, five studies of language practice in Swedish higher education are compared and discussed with focus on how the policy of English-medium teaching is assumed to relate to practices ‘on the ground’. It is demonstrated that the earlier studies take a normative approach towards policy and practice, in the sense that practice is assumed to coincide with policy, while the later studies approach policy and practice from a dynamic point of view, assuming that other languages may be used in addition to the policy-prescribed medium (cf. Bonacina & Gafaranga, 2011). The underlying approach has implications for the studies’ design and focus, but also for their results concerning the use of Swedish and English in higher education in Sweden.
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