Globalisation in the academic world: implications for language education and research

The paper will investigate the present globalising trends in the academic world, focusing in particular on their main implications for language education and research. The first part of the paper will explore the globalising effects of the use of English in the world of academia and the complex nature of its linguistic realisations, highlighting both its homogenizing and localising trends. Indeed, in spite of the greater similarity deriving from the process of globalisation, academic discourse is not at all uniform but varies according to a host of factors, such as language competence, disciplinary field, community membership, professional expertise and generic conventions, as well as other factors which clearly reflect aspects of local traditions and cultures. The data presented in this part originate from recent research projects on identity and culture in academic discourse, which show that the (native or non-native) Anglophone textual realisations are clearly influenced by their authors’ cultural allegiance to their linguistic, professional, social, or national reference groups. The second part of the paper will be devoted to the analysis of another issue which is highly topical in the academic context at a global level, i.e. the use of English as a medium of instruction in higher education. As part of the internationalisation programmes adopted by many Universities in non-English-speaking countries, the implementation of these ‘international’ courses have opened up new opportunities for learning the English discourses relating to the specialized disciplines taught, but have also aroused problems connected with language proficiency and the level of content competence acquired. These issues will be investigated with reference to experiences and research projects carried out in various European countries in the last few years.