Abstract:

The recent years have seen a fast spreading of English as a medium of instruction in universities from non-English speaking countries all over Europe. A number of reasons accounts for this growing phenomenon. The implementation of the Bologna Declaration has led to comparable academic degrees across various member states, which, in turn, have promoted international competitiveness and mobility of both graduates and academic staff. The emergence of the single market in Europe and the globalisation of businesses have enhanced the role of English as the global language. The next logical move against the above-sketched background seems to have been the adoption of English as the language in which more and more study programmes are being taught. This switch poses great challenges to educators, who have to deliver the scientific content of their courses in a language which is not their own by birth, and to students, who must master English along all four competencies and have expertise in the vocabulary of their field of study, too.

The present endeavour takes a still not very trodden path as the burgeoning specialised literature is confined to several reports released by the British Council together with the Centre for Research and Development at the University of Oxford. The aim of this paper is to probe into the changing role of the English for Specific purposes class, namely from its traditional purpose of offering students a birds’ eye view of the terminology of their field of study, to actually preparing them to manage and perform in a linguistic environment where the discipline-specific learning content is delivered in English. This entangles, among other things, an increased focus on productive skills, with a special attention paid to academic writing, giving presentations and developing critical reading techniques.

Keywords:

Internationalisation, globalisation, single market, employability, English for Specific Purposes, English as a medium of instruction.