This session addresses the topic of internationalization efforts around the globe. The presenter argues for embracing bilingualism and multilingualism in supporting and ensuring student success. Strategies to accomplish this goal are presented.
Since the advent of the 21st century and, largely, as a result of globalization and digitalization as well as the recognized need to prepare for it, the landscape of higher education, also known as tertiary or post-secondary education, has undergone significant change around the world (Knight, 2011; Knight 2015; Tamrat & Teferra, 2018; Yamada, 2017). These changes have led to greater and more robust research in the area of the internationalization of higher education (Chan, 2011). For institutions of higher education, ensuring that their graduates develop the skills and abilities to participate in a global society anymore constitutes a moral, intellectual, cultural, and social imperative (Jorgenson & Schultz, 2012). These days, in search for global talent as well as better global institutional presence and positioning, universities are taking additional steps to internationalize and lead the conversation on both internationalization and global education rather than falling behind these global trends. They are increasingly embracing non-traditional models of conducting their work/business to prepare new graduates, but with it a co-lateral experience has also emerged: the powerful role of English-only policies that may be implicit or not. Indeed, oftentimes, we have witnessed that internationalization efforts have not considered or fully embraced the value of supporting the greatest strength international students who speak a language other than English contribute: their bilingualism/multilingualism. Indeed, for some, internationalization efforts may be viewed as yet another opportunity to continue to support English hegemony, given that many efforts make it quite clear that students will be instructed in English. In this presentation, I argue for the need to advocate for bilingual/multilingual language policies on a university campus from a decolonial perspective, and I suggest approaches for how to do so in the current climate of our educational contexts.
