EMI, international visibility and competitiveness: A corpus-assisted discourse study of Spanish higher education internationalisation plans

This is the post-print of the paper entitled “EMI, international visibility and  competitiveness: a corpus-assisted discourse study of Spanish higher education internationalisation plans” published in the European Journal of Language Policy, 13(2). Access the published version https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/article/66360

This is shared following the Green Open Access policy of Liverpool University Press (Liverpool University Press 4 Cambridge Street, Liverpool L69 7ZU United Kingdom).

Cite this work: Villares, R. (2021). EMI, international visibility and competitiveness: A corpus-assisted discourse study of Spanish higher education internationalisation plans. European Journal of Language Policy, 13(2), 201-222. https://doi.org/10.3828/ejlp.2021.12

ABSTRACT: One of the main goals of Spanish higher education is the consolidation of an internationalised university system through international visibility, attractiveness, competitiveness, and collaboration. As the literature reports, English plays a relevant role in internationalisation strategies, so this paper examines the relationship between internationalisation and English in institutional documents. Corpus Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis were used to identify language-related strategies and interpret the language beliefs underlying the promotion of English in the Spanish university context. Results showed that the main language-related strategy was EMI because it promotes the international visibility of universities and helps local students improve their foreign language competence. Measures to support bilingual education were found regarding language training and accreditation. Furthermore, the discourses of globalisation, excellence, and employability support the position of English as the international language. Therefore, the introduction of English as another working language in the universities' linguistic repertoire is widely accepted, although institutional support and constant language training measures are considered essential for the success of internationalisation goals.