128141 FS FS Research Seminar I / II (2023W)

Aims of course:
• gain knowledge about research into English-medium education in multilingual university settings (EMEMUS)
• gain familiarity with narrative inquiry as a methodology for applied linguistics research
• use narrative inquiry to gain multi-layered insights into participants’ perspectives in an English-medium education context

Description:
Over the last two decades universities in non-anglophone countries have increasingly offered study programs partially or fully in English in a strive to become more international and attract local and international students. With this increasing internationalization of higher education institutions (HEI), stakeholders’ perceptions and evaluations of English-medium education in multilingual university settings (EMEMUS) have become a central research concern in applied linguistics. Narrative inquiry, a qualitative methodology that uses narratives, or stories, as means for gaining insights into participants’ experiences, lends itself for research into stakeholders’ experiences and trajectories in EMEMUS contexts. Questions that arise include, for example: What are the experiences of stakeholder groups, such as lecturers, students, administrative staff, with EMEMUS? How do content lecturers cope with switching to teaching their subjects in an L2 (often without prior training)? How do students cope with developing the relevant literacy skills to successfully complete their studies in an L2? What (language) support do content teachers provide and which support do students need? In which ways do students and lecturers draw on their linguistic repertoires for studying in English? How do students cope with the transition from L1 high school education to L2 university studies and/ or from university to their workplaces? What are administrative staff’s challenges with the introduction of English-medium education and catering for international students?

It is questions like these that we will be looking at in this course, both from a literature-based and an empirical narrative inquiry perspective. In the course of the semester, we will read up on and discuss important aspects of EMEMUS and learn more about narrative inquiry and how to use this qualitative methodology for applied linguistics research. In groups, students will conduct a small-scale empirical research project using narrative inquiry to gain insights into stakeholders’ perspectives in an EMEMUS context. Furthermore, the groups will share their insights from their literature research and their findings in two presentations and hand in their work as written project report at the end of the semester.