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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 669

Part of Session 169: Sociolinguistic perspectives on the internationalization of HE (Other abstracts in this session)

Internalization of teacher-education colleges in Israel:Views of staff and students towards the Englishization phenomena

Authors: Inbar-Lourie, Ofra (1); Donitsa-Schmidt, Smadar (2)
Submitted by: Inbar-Lourie, Ofra (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

The growing need to become more globalized and to attract international students and staff has moved academic institutions in Israel towards internalization in various ways including the linguistic domain. Hence, programs in English (rather than in Hebrew), have become quite common in most Israeli universities. Recently this phenomenon of using English as the language of instruction has filtered down to academic colleges including teacher-education colleges creating a new linguistic reality of English usage.

Though English is not an official language in Israel, the two official languages being Hebrew and Arabic, academic studies are contingent to a major degree on English academic proficiency. In order to be accepted to and function in academic settings Israeli students are  required to have a working knowledge of academic English. The recent move to introduce English content courses clearly requires more advanced mastery in the language. However, the language issue is not the only variable that needs to be considered, for it is important to see how the proposed change matches up with the language attitudes and ideologies of students and staff. These issues are accentuated in view of the fact that this Englishization process is mostly a top down one, generated and implemented by the institutions rather than by students or program lecturers. 

Though the move towards using English as the medium of instruction in academic institutions in Israel is increasing, very little empirical research on the various facets of its implementation is available. Findings from an initial exploratory research on using English to teach content courses in teacher-education colleges showed that students in general are only mildly in favour of the option. Furthermore, it was found that students who had participated in such courses reported moderate gains in English proficiency (Inbar-Lourie & Donitsa-Schmidt, forthcoming).

The current research examined the attitudes, ideologies and motivations of students and staff members towards the Englishization process in teacher-education colleges. The research questions were: (1) What are the reasons given by policy-makers in the colleges for introducing the Englishization initiative? (2) What are the attitudes of staff members towards the internalization process of the institution and in particular towards the Englishization phenomena (3) What are the attitudes and motivations of students (prospective teachers) in the Hebrew and Arab colleges towards studying courses in English as a medium of instruction, and which variables predict their willingness to study in such courses?

The total research sample included 100 staff members (lecturers and policy makers) in teacher-education institutions and 300 prospective teachers (200 Hebrew-speaking and 100 Arabic-speaking). Data were collected via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. 

The presentation will discuss the overt and covert motives and attitudes of the participants towards this initiative. The main issues arising from the findings relate to language ideology, the role of English as a global language and its potential threat to the local languages as well as to who should teach such courses, native or non-native English speakers.