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When E nglish just is not enough: ‘ M ultilingualism with E nglish’ in contemporary E uropean higher education
Author(s) -
Earls Clive. W.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of applied linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.712
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1473-4192
pISSN - 0802-6106
DOI - 10.1111/ijal.12114
Subject(s) - multilingualism , promotion (chess) , ideology , commodity , negotiation , social capital , sociology , marketing , pedagogy , business , political science , social science , finance , politics , law
English proficiency is viewed across societal levels as a necessary commodity for accessing the best educational and professional prospects. The high value associated with E nglish as symbolic capital may be seen to impact negatively upon the promotion of individual and societal multilingualism beyond an emergent dominant pattern of L 1+ E nglish. To date, few empirical studies have been conducted into the ecology and ideologies that prevail within E uropean E nglish‐medium degree programmes regarding English and the concomitant acquisition of additional languages. On the basis of empirical data generated from questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews, this paper explores the experiences of students and lecturers within E nglish‐medium degree programmes in G ermany as they negotiate their E nglish‐speaking environments and explores their practices of multilingualism beyond their L 1 and English.