Swiss Higher Education Language Policy and Practice Between Internationalization and Local Language Promotion

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Eleven
  In Roundtable Session: Language Perspectives (Table 2)

Abstract

This contribution investigates Switzerland’s only official bilingual university promoting French and German while engaging in internationalization processes requiring teaching and research in English. It examines language policies, practices, and perspectives to better understand how international mobility interacts with participants’ identity and language development in an officially bilingual context. It contributes to fill the literature gap by creating important empirical knowledge based on interviews and ethnographic observations of individuals impacted by complex social processes of ‘glocalization’ while hiding underlying societal forces such as protectionism and xenophobia. The study’s ultimate objective is to promote equitable multilingualism, successful integration of all university actors, and the deconstruction of language hierarchies and linguistic insecurity due to discriminating policies and ideologies.

Author

• Anna Becker, University of Fribourg
  Presenting Author