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English Medium at Affiliated Colleges in India from a Third Space Perspective

Mon, March 11, 2:45 to 4:15pm, Hyatt Regency Miami, Floor: Terrace Level, Tuttle Prefunction

Proposal

Introduction
English-medium instruction (EMI) as a global phenomenon continues to grow at a tremendous pace in non-native English-speaking countries (Dang et al. 2021). Hence, how keen stakeholders are regarding the omnipresence of English-medium and unpacking its purpose in non-first language English-speaking societies is critical. In Asia in particular, evidence of this growth can be inferred simply by the sheer number of journal articles and edited volumes on EMI (Barnard and Hasim 2018; Fenton-Smith et al. 2017). As Dang et al. (2021) shared, internationalization of higher education serves as a driver for the EMI push globally alongside mobility opportunities and the perception of English as a global language.
The Affiliated College in India
This particular study is focused on affiliated colleges in India where EMI interests reflect the aforementioned. Organizationally (in brief), the Indian higher education system, is based on the University of London’s federal university (Singh, 2003) where universities provide central functions like curricula, exams and degree conferral. Colleges which are affiliated to them, contain approximately 90% of the students and faculty members (Altbach, 2009). While affiliated colleges play a limited role in policy development, they provide the bulk of the Indian higher education systems teaching and learning. The Indian affiliated college context exemplifies Dang’s (2023) assertion that “EMI practices are complex, contextualized, and based in diverse socio-historical, political-economic and educational backgrounds” (p. 1). Limited human resources with the capability to teach EMI courses at affiliated colleges in many communities, creates a challenging proposition for colleges who want to serve their communities and prepare students for the globalized work world.
Situating EMI in India in a Third Space Framework
Mazrui (1997) outlined a pragmatic outlook, which posited the inescapability and utility of English as a means for transmitting education in Africa due to the language’s international dominance. This proposition is used to situate the English-medium context in Indian higher education, particularly through the affiliated college system (which essentially views EMI as a critical necessity). Affiliated colleges are essentially sandwiched between the macro (global narrative) and the micro (communal narrative) regarding EMI. While chapters in McKinley and Galloway’s (2022) recent edited collection examined EMI in countries from either the micro, meso or macro perspective, this study takes into account all three spaces in order to be understand and interpret the meaning, value and needs of EMI in the Indian affiliated college. This study helps consider ways affiliated colleges in India are both on the border between the global, dominant discourse and the local/community one as it relates to EMI, equity, vernacular, and policy, yet also challenging this macro/micro discourse. This study positions the affiliated college, which provides the bulk of Indian higher education training, as a third space to interpret English-medium.
Engaging affiliated college faculty member perspectives adds heft and legitimacy for interpreting English-medium, its relevance, its impact on quality and the practicality of providing it at affiliated colleges to policymakers and stakeholders. Thus, the affiliated college, as an institutional structure, can be acknowledged as a third space in which this narrative often plays out. In this in-between space, the challenges that unfold impact the way in which English-medium quality is systemically transmitted. Therefore, the question guiding this study is: How can affiliated college faculty help locate and interpret English medium relevance at affiliated colleges?
Methodology
This phenomenological, qualitative study is part of a larger study that engaged the perspectives of 46 affiliated college faculty members (at 13 institutions across India) on quality issues and the educational value of Indian affiliated colleges. This particular study focuses on how the participants made meaning of English-medium through a third space framework. The study used a semi-structured interview protocol and framework analysis as the data analysis approach, which is a dynamic, iterative and highly organized five-step process (Ritchie & Spencer, 2002).
Preliminary Findings
Affiliated college faculty in the study had keen insights on questions such as “how do educational institutions value English-medium as it relates to communal and global-context desires? And how can they support English-medium with their available and often limited resources?” Preliminary results indicate that communities not only desire EMI, it is a critical component of a high-quality affiliated college. Conversely, many graduates leaving under-resourced colleges with limited or no EMI, are having a difficult time finding work because of their limitations in English medium. Several professors noted there are a glut of jobs in their communities for those with English medium capabilities.

Significance of the Study
By positioning affiliated colleges as a third space, practitioners, researchers and policymakers can make meaning of how the English-medium narrative is manifested. Situated in the interstice between the micro and macro, affiliated colleges encounter numerous challenges impacted by policy, infrastructure, quality, financial and human resources. In this in-between space, the challenges that unfold impact the way in which English-medium quality is systemically transmitted. Finally, this study helps fill some of the gap illustrated by Lasagabaster (2022) in which EMI research can inform policy, in this case within a system and taking into account the vested interests of the local community and the global narrative.

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