A changing paradigm in language planning: English-medium instruction policy at the tertiary level in Malaysia

The literature shows that English-medium instruction (EMI) programmes at the tertiary level in various parts of the world have positioned EMI as a language-planning tool to promote students' mastery of English. English proficiency is believed to be intertwined with the overall economic development of a country. In addition to internationalising education, the reintroduction of EMI in public universities in Malaysia has been used by policy-makers as a strategy for improving graduates' English proficiency, because their low levels of English are perceived as a barrier to attaining the national development agenda. However, the reinstatement of EMI policy contradicts the provision of the national language in the Constitution of Malaysia. This paper examines the nature of the policy and investigates how it is enacted in practice. It illustrates how the macro (national) and meso (university) language policies of EMI are negotiated in written form to avoid the 'sensitivity' of language of instruction in relation to contravening the use of Bahasa Malaysia, and how one university has responded to the push for the implementation of EMI. The findings indicated that the macro language policy goals did not trickle down to meso and micro levels as envisioned by policy-makers, which implicates underlying issues arising from provision and dissemination. The paper argues that this gap between policy goals and their implementation is a factor that should be considered in such a crucial planning strategy for the national agenda

Professional academic writing by multilingual scholars: interactions with literacy brokers in the production of English-medium texts

Scholars around the world are under increasing pressure to publish their research in the medium of English. However, little empirical research has explored how the global premium of English influences the academic text production of scholars working outside of English-speaking countries. This article draws on a longitudinal text-oriented ethnographic study of psychology scholars in Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and Portugal to follow the trajectories of texts from local research and writing contexts to English-medium publications. Our findings indicate that a significant number of mediators, ‘literacy brokers’, who are involved in the production of such texts, influence the texts in different and important ways. We illustrate in broad terms the nature and extent of literacy brokering in English-medium publications and characterize and exemplify brokers’ different orientations. We explore what kind of brokering is evident in the production of a specific group of English-medium publications- articles written and published in English medium inyternational journals-by focising on three text histories. We conclude by discussing what a focus on brokering can tell us can tell us about practices surrounding academic knowledge production