Linguistic diversity among Irish higher education employees: multilingualism and English-first universities

Abstract

Recent research on language practices in universities has explored the role of English in the internationalisation of higher education. Analysis of higher education policy documents shows that in line with its role as a lingua franca across main social domains, higher education policies construct English as a symbol of modernity and internationality. This paper investigates how English-first universities fit in this picture using data obtained from a university-wide language use and attitudes survey carried out at a major Irish university. The data were assessed quantitatively using descriptive and inferential bivariate correlational statistics. This Irish university compares favourably to previous survey-based studies of language use among university staff in terms of the number of languages reported. However, staff fall into two groups, they are either 1. local and largely monolingual or 2. belong to mobile populations with diverse linguistic backgrounds, suggesting tension between market-driven and community-grounded views about language. While the number of languages one speaks correlates with positive attitudes towards multilingualism, the university markets itself from an elite multilingual or monolingual perspective. This places the major Irish university at odds as to how it views linguistic diversity and how its staff views linguistic diversity.