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Internationalization Through Language and Literacy in the Spanish- and English-Medium Education Context

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Integrating Content and Language in Multilingual Universities

Part of the book series: Educational Linguistics ((EDUL,volume 44))

Abstract

In light of the growing internationalization of higher education (HE), the Spanish higher education space is adopting a series of strategic plans to enhance the quality of education and research and to better address the educational needs of students and society. One of the main drivers underpinning these strategic policies is language. Spain seeks to strengthen the international profile of its HE system by promoting English medium education (EME) – an added value to its already consolidated Spanish medium programs. Although at policy level, equating EME with internationalization is a likely effective measure, the reality at classroom level is not without its challenges. Lecturers for whom English is an foreign language (FL) are often unaware of the specific linguistic skills necessary for them to cope with the communicative demands of the EME classroom (e.g., constructing disciplinary knowledge and interacting with their also non-native English-speaking students). This chapter describes and reflects on the role of language in the Spanish EME context and the importance of teacher talk in the development and learning of disciplinary literacy and epistemology at university level.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Instituto Cervantes (IC) is a Spanish public organisation set up in 1991 by the Government of Spain, and whose two main objectives are promotion and teaching of the Spanish language, and dissemination of the Spanish and Latin American culture.

  2. 2.

    Including English, Spanish, the co-official languages of the Spanish territory, and other foreign languages.

  3. 3.

    Although the role of administration personnel in the internationalization of UCM is crucial, the analysis of their agency falls out of the scope of this chapter. Check out the framework document by Bazo et al. in 2017 for further details on the CRUE’s recommendations for this university group.

  4. 4.

    Asociación de Centros de Lenguas en la Enseñanza Superior (ACLES), that is, Association of Language Centres in Higher Education.

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Acknowledgements

UCM research group The Role of English in the Internationalization of Spanish Higher Education - https://clue-project.weebly.com/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English Studies (Linguistics and Literature), Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Davinia Sánchez-García

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  1. Davinia Sánchez-García
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Correspondence to Davinia Sánchez-García .

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  1. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Slobodanka Dimova

  2. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Joyce Kling

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Sánchez-García, D. (2020). Internationalization Through Language and Literacy in the Spanish- and English-Medium Education Context. In: Dimova, S., Kling, J. (eds) Integrating Content and Language in Multilingual Universities. Educational Linguistics, vol 44. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46947-4_8

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