Multilingual Higher Education

Beyond English Medium Orientations

By (author) Christa van der Walt

Publication date:

12 April 2013

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781847699190

The general perception that a good command of English is enough to gain access and to be successful in higher education hides the complexity of learning and teaching in multilingual environments, and this book shows that all higher education environments are multilingual to some extent. Strategies like translation, interpreting and switching from one language to another not only support learning but also build competence for multilingual professional environments. Whether institutions focus on widening access to minoritised communities or whether they want to attract more international students, the book argues that a multilingual pedagogy is needed to improve student access and success. Building on work by Nancy Hornberger, Colin Baker and Ofelia GarcĂ­a, the book extends strategies and techniques from bilingual education at school level to multilingual higher education.

Trailblazing in its challenge of the sole role of English in shaping multilingual higher education, this book not only offers readers practical information on structures and pedagogies being used in multilingual higher education across the globe, but theorizes what it all means in a context of widened access to universities and increased transnational mobility. A comprehensive, well-written integration of scholarship on multiliteracies, language planning, pedagogies, and higher education that is bound to become a classic in its field.