English as a Lingua Franca in the Academic Context: The Role of University Language Centres

Globalisation and the intensification of worldwide relations have inevitably called to the fore the question of the choice of the language to be used for contacts among people living in widely different places in the world. Lingua francas, that is “contact languages used among people who do not share a first language” (Jenkins/ Cogo/ Dewey, 2011: 281) have been in use for a long time (House, 2014) and Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and other languages were once used with this function. In present times, the task of being a lingua franca that can be used universally has fallen upon English, which has thus become the preferred medium for international com¬munication in many contexts. As a matter of fact, English is now the dominant language in the higher education sector in Europe, as can be seen from objective indicators such as the growing number of degree programmes which use English as a medium of instruction (Gotti, 2014). Teaching subjects through the medium of English (English Medium Instruction or EMI) is widely considered to be an essential tool in the internationalization policies of universities in many non-English-speaking countries. If on the one hand this has opened up new opportunities for learning the various discourses related to the specialised disciplines taught, on the other hand it has also aroused dilemmas connected with language proficiency and the level of content competence acquired by the students. Moreover, the introduction of EMI in a university also raises a series of questions and challenges as to the accreditation and training of teaching staff. What level of English should teachers have in order to teach their subjects through English at university? What methodological skills are involved in teaching through another language? How can teachers be trained for teaching through English? University language centres can play a fundamental role in providing answers and custom-tailored solutions for the above mentioned issues, thus preventing the members of the academic staff from feeling pushed towards teaching through English “…in order to survive in the academic environment” (Cots, 2013: 116), without a great deal of training and preparation. The present contribution reports on the activities implemented by the Language Centre of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in order to assist those members of the teaching staff (lecturers) who are confronted with the inherent challenges of teaching through English on a daily basis, and also highlights possible future avenues of research and instances of best practices