Supporting the academic staff of the internationalised university: a project at the Department of Management

ABSTRACT

One of the consequences of the growing number of English-taught programmes offered by European universities is the top-down request that lecturers switch from their L1 to English, for teaching, while the administrative staff is required to communicate with international students. To help the academic staff cope with the change, some universities have provided them with training and support. In Italy, a project ran from 2015 to 2018 at the Department of Management of a university in the northern part of the country, and consisted of a support service in which the staff could arrange appointments with a language tutor, to discuss issues related to their use of English in academia. During one-on-one sessions, fieldnotes were kept about the participants' difficulties and needs. Through the lens of Grounded Theory, data were coded and grouped into categories, according to their types and frequency. The findings revealed that problems mainly concerned vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. The project is briefly presented, followed by a description of the linguistic and communicative problems most found. This study provides insights into the everyday language practices of the academic staff, since it identified the problems solved through the support service and those to be tackled in the future.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• teacher training
• professional development (PD)
• language support
• EMI (English-Medium of Instruction)
• internationalisation

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the anonymous reviewers who offered constructive comments and feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elena Borsetto

Elena Borsetto holds a Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics from Ca' Foscari University of Venice. She has conducted a two-year postdoctoral research project on the internationalisation process of universities and their strategic agenda, with a focus on the mission and values of business schools and on the students' motivations and perceptions of their experience in a Double Degree programme. Her research areas concern the internationalisation strategies of Higher Education Institutions, intercultural competence, and educational and language policies. Her expertise also includes the use of English as a medium of instruction in academic settings (EMI), and the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF). She has worked as a language consultant in training courses for academic staff, tutor for international students, and adjunct professor of English.