Foreign language faculty’s appropriation of an academic publishing policy at a US university
Abstract
As a result of internationalisation, many universities have developed policies that encourage publications in English. This study explores this issue by examining multilingual scholars’ experiences of publishing policies in an Anglophone context and more specifically within the discipline of foreign languages–an inherently plurilingual discipline since its primary research focus is language. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews, we examine scholars’ appropriation of a foreign language department’s multilingual publishing policy at a US university. Policy appropriation, which principally took the form of English-only publishing, was informed by four factors: English as the academic lingua franca, English as the language of academic prestige, nativeness and promotion. Scholars’ policy appropriation simultaneously reified (English) monolingual publications and negated multilingual publications–88% of research production was conducted in English–contributing to the monolingual mindset of the department. This study makes a contribution to understanding multilingual scholars’ appropriation of publishing policies and the complex realities and ideologies that impact language of publication. We suggest that more explicit support for multilingual publishing is needed through networks of support, mentoring programmes and language services that help not only non-native researchers publish in English but also encourage native speakers to publish in languages other than English.
Publication Title
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Recommended Citation
Fuentes, R., & Gómez Soler, I. (2018). Foreign language faculty’s appropriation of an academic publishing policy at a US university. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 39 (3), 195-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2017.1344243
