Abstract:

University graduates capable of addressing global challenges require a sense of global citizenship and the ability to understand, communicate, and work effectively and appropriately with people from different backgrounds. Linguistic diversity comprises a crucial cultural asset, yet the Englishisation of higher education and the emergence and development of text-generating tools may drastically reduce the perceived importance of language learning. This paper is empirically based on the analysis of two text-based datasets from course participants in a teacher training course (n=19) and a lifelong learning course (n=52), looking for examples of experiences, plans, and attitudes towards multilingualism in educational settings. We discuss the opportunities and challenges of a specific focus on students’ linguistic diversity as a vehicle for cultural and global competence learning, and offer suggestions for an institutional approach to empowering teachers, staff and students to enable this change. Finally, we emphasise the need for empirical studies to understand how multiculturalism and multilingualism can be effectively integrated into higher education, and we highlight the implementation of a recently adopted policy on multilingualism and multiculturalism by one of the European University Alliances as a promising area for future research.

Keywords:

Global competence, linguistic diversity, multilingualism, cultural awareness, inclusive environment.