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English and Globalisation
: a slave to the market?
by Marnie Holborow
- 1
(This is a summary of a paper given to
the IATEFL conference in Brighton 2003)
ELT needs to reposition itself in a broader
political context. More particularly it needs to take full
account of three recent geopolitical developments:
- The adoption of the neoliberal agenda and
how it has affected institutions of higher education
- The military face of globalisation and the
recent war on Iraq
- Global opposition to both of these
All three have direct bearing on how English
is perceived and what and how we teach.
Two aspects of these developments are highlighted here:
1) The quest for International Students in Universities and
ELT involvement in this process
2) The effect on language - World English made from above
but also from below.
1. The Scramble for the International
Student
First, the marketisation of education,
like the ideology of the market, itself is riven with contradictions:
| "World" English
everywhere |
Access to learning/speaking
it restricted |
| International students
sought by Universities |
Deported by Governments |
| International students
courted as if in a free market |
Forced to pay higher
fees than national students |
| Enrolled
supposedly alongside other students |
Follow a distinctive
track |
These contradictions reveal the degree to which
higher education institutions are desperate to recruit overseas,
non-EU students for the higher fees that these students bring
- sometimes two or three times what a national or EU student
pays.
This is by no means only an Irish or a UK phenomenon.
It is estimated that the numbers of enrolled overseas students
are 1.47 million across the OECD countries and will increase
by 100,000 a year.
Overseas students in universities are rapidly filling the
financial gap left by decreasing government funds. International
students and their search for English have now become a significant
part of the creeping privatisation of higher education.
ELT lecturers and teachers cannot remain neutral
to this process. A number of issues in this respect should
be should be discussed across the profession:
- Equality of fees between home and international
students
- Provision of full overseas student support
services
- Representation of international students
on student bodies
- Integration of overseas student programmes
with existing programmes
- Development of exchange programmes with
non-EU universities
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