The role of languages at Finnish universities
Ylönen, S. & Kivelä, M. (2011). The Role of Languages at Finnish Universities. Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies Vol. 5, 3, p. 33-61
Published in
Apples : Journal of Applied Language StudiesDate
2011Copyright
© 2011: The author
The promotion of multilingualism is one of the objectives of the European Union. However,
in academic contexts, internationalisation and multilingual expertise are often understood
as using English as a medium in teaching, research, tutoring and administrative
communication. To explore the role of different languages at Finnish universities, an online
survey was conducted in November – December 2009 among their staff, with 3605
respondents across disciplines and occupational groups. In this paper, we will present some
of the results focussing on the following questions: How important are different languages
considered in a university working environment? What are the language skills and use of
the Finnish university personnel? Why languages other than English ought to be used?
The results show that 92.8 % of the respondents judged different languages as very
important or important but the majority highlighted the importance of English. English
and Finnish were used by almost all staff members, whereas Swedish was known by 92.6%
but used by only 73%. The second most important foreign language was German with
75.4% knowing but only 48.3% using it. The languages of Somalis, Thais, Iraqis and
Turks that form the largest immigrant groups were known and used very seldom. Older
staff members and higher professional groups used a greater number of languages than
younger and other occupational groups. An important argument for the use of foreign
languages other than English was their being a “resource for scientific research” in keeping
with the socio-cultural nature of science. Today, internationalisation and multilingualism
seem to contradict: the more important internationalisation has become, the more English
rules the academic world. The plurilingual potential of Finland’s university staff members
could be used to extend and intensify multilingual practices with the help of strategic
decisions, for example language policies, on the European, national, and university level.
...
Publisher
Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of JyväskyläISSN Search the Publication Forum
1457-9863
Original source
http://apples.jyu.fiMetadata
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