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A backlash against EMI?

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There is an interesting report in today’s Guardian of moves against the “Englishing” of degrees in the Netherlands 

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/20/netherlands-seeks-curbs-on-english-language-university-courses?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It is revealing that the government want international students to learn “basic” Dutch so that they will be more likely to stay and add to the dynamism of the Dutch economy - quite a contrast to the xenophobic attitude of the current UK government.  In fact, the learning of Dutch should also help the students to integrate and have a better experience even if their studies are through the medium of English.
Permalink 2 comments (latest comment by Patrick Andrews, Monday, 16 Oct 2023, 10:40)
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Patrick Andrews

The importance of language for integration

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Edited by Patrick Andrews, Monday, 4 July 2022, 16:23

My son is studying in Germany and we went to visit him last week.  We met in Dusseldorf and went to a museum about the state he is living in and there was an interesting section on immigration into the state.  Language was often an important issue and this is one of the captions.

Caption about the importance of language in the case of an immigramt to Germany from Russia.

It is interesting that she believed that "language is a key to life in Germany".  They are described as learning German from dictionaries, which no teacher training course on language teaching would recommend.  However, this seems to show how important having investment in wanting to learn a language is (Norton 2010).  These people have a real investment in the imagined community they want to join.


Norton B (2010) "Identity, Literacy, and English-LanguageTeaching" TESL CANADA JOURNAL/REVUE TESL DU CANADA1VOL. 28, NO 1, WINTER 2010


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