Commentary on English—medium Teaching in European Higher Education

【Abstract】The article‘English medium teaching in European higher education is written by James Coleman，which was published in 2006 at Cambridge University Press.This article questioned the extent to which English is increasingly becoming ‘the language of higher education in Europe. But on the other hand， the wide adoption of using English medium in higher education has also brought some problem with the disadvantage of globalization.The author gives a brief introduction of the three parts of this article， makes a comprehensive summary and have some findings and conclusions of this article.

【Key words】“English medium teaching in European higher education”； introduction； summary； findings and conclusions.

【摘要】《歐洲高等教育中的英語教學》是James Coleman于2006年發表在劍橋大學出版社的一篇文章。作者在文章中質疑，英語在何種程度上逐漸成為歐洲“高等教育的語言”。但是另一方面，在高等教育中廣泛使用英語教學同時也帶來了全球化的一些問題。本文對該文章的三大部分內容進行簡要的介紹，全面的概要，同時對該文章產生了一些發現和總結。

【關鍵詞】《歐洲高等教育中的英語教學》 介紹 概要 發現和總結

Introduction

The article‘English medium teaching in European higher education is written by James Coleman who is a professor of language learning and teaching at UKs Open University. This article was published in 2006 at Cambridge University Press.

This article questioned the extent to which English is increasingly becoming ‘the language of higher education in Europe. First， it describes the globalization by means of the spread of English as a lingua franca and of the marketization of higher education in European. Secondly， it explores the reasons for English-medium teaching in Higher Education Institutions across Europe. Thirdly， it predicts the possible trends of English medium teaching in higher education in European as the world people will use one which personal identity engaged and another language for international communication.

The first part of the article， the author concludes the description of globe context in the field of English spreading as a lingual franca and marketization and economics of higher education. Because of globalization the European countries increasingly noticed the significant of international education. In the second part， the survey probe into the reasons for English medium teaching in higher education like the English medium using institutions across Europe， the reason including 7 categories： CLIL， internationalization， student exchanges， teaching and researching materials， staff mobility， graduate employability and the market in international students， The author written 3 studies， from which he summarize several problems from the wide accept of English-medium teaching， After the analysis， the author uses data of University of Maastricht， the universities in Hungary， Norway， Turkey， Cyprus and Denmark to explain the rapid growth in English using in the European countries the impact of this phenomenon as well. that the tendency of using English medium in higher education destroying the linguistic diversity and English medium teaching in European stimulate students mobility. In the last part， it predicts the possible trends of English medium teaching in higher education in European as the world people will use one which personal identity engaged and another language for international communication.

Summary of the article

This article uses the meta analysis in describing the English medium teaching in European higher education， and the table 1 is the result of enumeration method with covered almost all the countries in Europe. The majority of the data gathered from the studies in this literature were done so via survey – a quantitative method of data collection. With a concrete analysis of data from different countries like Maastricht， Hungary， Norway， Turkey， Cyprus and Denmark， the most significant of the article is that it explained both the reason and impact of English has became a globe language.

People get to know what English medium benefits the high education and what students should be avoid in using or learning English， and what the influence of overusing English medium for the non local speakers. The literature has great value in increasing public awareness by rolling out English medium teaching reasons. According to the information provided， the author has searched an adequate reference to the topic， including some academic journals， professional books， literature analysis and citation， and a collection of data from internet as well.

In page 7， From the table 1 which illustrates the English medium courses in European higher education in 1990/2000 （Ammon and Mcconnell 2002）， there are still 5 countries （Croatia， Greece， Italy， Spain， Switzerland） which have no programs taught in English in HE， in the following pages when analyzing the facts of the data， there are detail analysis only from selection of schools which contain large numbers of programs taught in English. There should better be analysis of the reason or history or policy leads to this phenomenon.

Findings and conclusion

Higher education is becoming globalised alongside the economy， and English is proving to be a key ingredient （English next， part 2education）.

The trend that English is increasingly popular as a method to internationalizing both the student portion and teaching section has reflected in the phenomenon that many non-English-speaking countries are using English medium course to attract international students and teachers. As a coin has two sides， the wide adoption of using English medium in higher education has also brought some problem with the disadvantage of globalization. Cultural distinctiveness is lost as dominant cultures definitely impact non-dominant cultures. Linguistic imperialism of English （85% of scientific publications are in English and 82% of social science publications， Ammon， 2003）， world dominance of English may contribute the death of local language. And the importance of English in global education may control entry to universities world-wide and worsen the gap between social-economic classes. Thus some other European countries for example Germany has to restrict to this trend of using English medium in high education to let people remain the local culture. Countries like China and Malaysia are setting more policies of using English medium for universities， in order to remain the national intelligences and also make the education more competitive in the international environment. Recent years the universities in UK has been the fastest growth in the world to attract Asia students， for the long term influence of this strategy is still remain to be seen.

On the contrary， English is used as a global means of communication， it is ‘collective good widely available to all learners even in poor countries.

Reference：

[1]Colman，J A.（2006）.English-medium Teaching in European Higher Education.language teaching 39，no 1：1-14.

[2]Common，R.K.（2006）.Globalisation and the governance of hong kong.Hull：University of Hull.

[3]David Graddol（（Last minor revision Jan 2007））.English next.

[4]Crystal，D.（1997）English as a Global Language.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.

作者簡介：任晶晶（1989.1.17-），女，山西霍州人，助教，英語翻譯專業碩士研究生，研究方向：英語翻譯和英語教育。