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Institutional policy and strategy, globalization, and international communicative competence
SEAMEO RETRAC International Conference on Branding in Higher Education: Practices and Lessons Learned from Global PerspectivesNha Trang, Khanh Hoa, VietnamAugust 10-12, 2009
Richmond StroupeWorld Language Center
Graduate Program in International Language Education: TESOL Program ChairGraduate School of Letters
Soka University, Tokyo, Japan
Globalization / Internationalization• Impact of globalization of economies,
commoditization of education, and business • Decline of ‘monolingualism’• International tourism is increasing
▫ Non-English speaking to Non-English speaking (74%)
• Perpetuated by international organizations, economic / military relationships, and media / culture
• Outsourcing: India, the Philippines - Significant sectors benefit from English language proficiency
• One main source of economic advancement in ‘developing countries’
Language Education• English accounts for just less than 30% of world GDP; Chinese
just less than 23% - Significant increases in the importance of Mandarin and Spanish along with English
▫ Forms of World Englishes increasing: Increasingly mainstream
• Language proficiency (English, others) no longer considered a ‘foreign language’, but rather a basic skill
▫ Academic proficiency achieved after intensive study: On average 8 years; Decreasing age-proficiency levels from 22 to 14
▫ Less competitive advantage for English proficiency - Penalty for failure to acquire basic proficiency
• Peek of English learners of all ages: 2010
▫ Significant annual decline as cohorts of English learners who started at primary level reach tertiary level (2010-2050)
▫ 2050: Number of English learners at 15% of 2010 levels (very young or requiring specialist support)
Increased importance of Non-native speakers• Future of English may be determined by China
(137 million primary level English learners) and India (similar, possibly larger number)
• No longer classroom focused: Private sector and social value added
• Model for English language education shifting from United States and United Kingdom to Singapore, Finland, the Netherlands
• Value of non-native speaker / instructors of English
Institutional Policy and Curricula• Globalization of higher education
• Two to three million students study abroad each year
• Increased competition for international students
• Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): Learning of content through a foreign language
▫ Addressing learning needs / demands of students who have reached academic proficiency in English
• Only English is insufficient
• Important consideration for marketing / branding as the marketplace / consumers become increasingly sophisticated
Future prospects• Internationalization of higher education
• Communicative focus (with emphasis on mutual intelligibility) in conjunction with traditional academic offerings: Comprehensive examination scheme
• Utilization of increasing numbers of non-native speaking instructors
• Institutional support (All stakeholders: Students, faculty, staff)
• Increased exposure to outer-circle and expanding circle speakers
• Critical thinking skills, critical inquiry
• Moving beyond an EFL model