“Let me say this first…” Reactions of stakeholders towards EMI in Turkey

Abstract

This presentation focuses on the reactions of the stakeholders from university governance and industry towards the place of English in Turkish higher education. Previous studies on the perceptions towards English medium instruction (EMI) report “ideological oppositions against EMI (Selvi, 2022; p. 81) to preserve the Turkish language, identity and culture. Favourable attitudes towards EMI due to its contributions to job prospects (Altay & Yuksel, 2022) and social prestige (e.g., Atik & Atik, 2014) have been reported as well. The participants in this study were six university governance staff who played significant roles in the decision-making processes of the universities regarding autonomy and governance, and eight industry stakeholders from major companies. The data are part of a wider UKRI-funded project examining the growth of English-taught programmes in various European countries (1). Semi-structured interviews were carried out to trace (a) the development of English-taught programmes in various disciplines (with the university governance staff) and (b) the place of English in the recruitment of graduates in major companies (with industry stakeholders). Our preliminary analysis focused on the attitudes of higher education and industry stakeholders towards the place of English in higher education. During the interviews, when inquired about the development of EMI programmes and/or place of English in the recruitment of graduates, we observed that some stakeholders had strong opinions that were spelt out directly: “Let me tell this first, I am against the use of English in teaching academic subjects”. Later in the interview, the participants elaborated on their reasons for these strict attitudes. The presentation will elaborate on the attitudes of various stakeholders towards the use of English in Turkish HE and the reasons for resistance articulated by various stakeholders