UNIVERSITY of LATVIA FACULTY of HUMANITIES Kerttu Rozenvalde MULTILAYERED LANGUAGE POLICY in HIGHER EDUCATION in ESTONIA and LA
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UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Kerttu Rozenvalde MULTILAYERED LANGUAGE POLICY IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN ESTONIA AND LATVIA: CASE OF NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES Doctoral dissertation Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philology in Linguistics Subfield General Linguistics Supervisor: Dr. habil. philol. prof. Ina Druviete Riga 2018 This work has been supported by the European Social Fund within the project Support for Doctoral Studies at the University of Latvia. ABSTRACT The dissertation Multilayered Language Policy in Higher Education in Estonia and Latvia: Case of National Universities investigates the interplay of languages in higher education comparatively in Estonia and Latvia, focusing particularly on the national universities, i.e. the University of Tartu and the University of Latvia. Research is carried out from three interrelated, but separately analysable perspectives suggested by Spolsky (2004, 2009): (1) language management, (2) language practices, and (3) language ideologies and attitudes. Firstly, the analysis of language management is based on state-authored and institution-authored policy documents that discuss language in higher education. Secondly, the analysis of language practices in the institutions of higher education is based on data from interviews with students. Finally, language ideologies and attitudes, i.e. sets of beliefs about language, are identified both in management efforts and language practices. The study of language practices shows that Estonian/Latvian and English are the most used languages in the national universities in Estonia and Latvia. Russian is used by the interviewed students to an extent in certain functions. Furthermore, the study of language management and underlying ideologies at the state and institutional level reveals that the main focus of the language policies carried out by the state and the national universities is on Estonian/Latvian. The relatively strong position of English as language of higher education in Estonia and Latvia becomes apparent in the research of state policies but particularly in the study of institutional policies and grassroots language practices and attitudes. What is more, the dissertation shows that Russian is an ideologically-laden language that is almost invisible in state-authored and institution-authored language management efforts but valued by the interviewed students as a language necessary for finding employment in the local labour market. The use of other languages is rather rare, although their use is theoretically supported in top-down language policies, particularly in state-authored policies. All in all, language is viewed as a discrete bordered entity at all policy levels, from legislation to language attitudes of the interviewed students. Keywords: language policy, higher education, language ideologies, language attitudes, language practices, multilayered policy, internationalisation CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 1. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................................ 8 1.1. Language policy ......................................................................................................... 8 1.2. Language management ............................................................................................ 13 1.3. Language ideologies and attitudes ........................................................................... 15 1.4. Language practices .................................................................................................. 20 2. LANGUAGES IN HIGHER EDUCATION ............................................................... 22 2.1. Language policy in higher education ....................................................................... 22 2.1.1. National and international in higher education ................................................ 22 2.1.2. Mobility and language ..................................................................................... 27 2.1.3. Language use in higher education .................................................................... 29 2.1.4. English and other languages in higher education ............................................. 31 2.1.5. Domain and domain loss .................................................................................. 32 2.1.6. Parallel language use and parallelingualism .................................................... 34 2.2. Experience from other countries .............................................................................. 36 2.2.1. Sweden ............................................................................................................. 39 2.2.2. Finland ............................................................................................................. 42 2.2.3. Denmark ........................................................................................................... 46 2.2.4. Norway ............................................................................................................. 49 2.2.5. Iceland .............................................................................................................. 51 3. SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION IN ESTONIA AND LATVIA .......................... 54 3.1. Sociolinguistic situation of Estonia and Latvia in a diachronic perspective ........... 54 3.1.1. Pre-First World War period ............................................................................. 54 3.1.2. Inter-war independence in Estonia and Latvia ................................................. 57 3.1.3. Soviet Estonia and Latvia................................................................................. 58 3.1.4. Re-independent Estonia and Latvia ................................................................. 61 3.2. Languages in higher education: statistics and previous research............................. 66 3.2.1. Estonia .............................................................................................................. 66 3.2.2. Latvia................................................................................................................ 75 4. METHOD AND DATA ................................................................................................. 82 5. EMPIRICAL DATA ANALYSIS ................................................................................ 87 5.1. Macro-level data: state-authored documents ........................................................... 87 5.1.1. Legislation ........................................................................................................ 87 5.1.2. Policy-planning documents .............................................................................. 98 5.1.3. Main results .................................................................................................... 107 5.2. Mezzo-level data: institutional documents ............................................................ 109 5.2.1 University of Tartu .......................................................................................... 110 5.2.2. University of Latvia ....................................................................................... 114 5.2.3. Main results .................................................................................................... 118 5.3. Micro-level data: language practices and attitudes of students ............................. 120 5.3.1. Estonian data .................................................................................................. 121 5.3.2. Latvian data .................................................................................................... 137 5.3.3. Main results .................................................................................................... 154 6. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................... 157 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................. 163 THESES FOR THE DEFENCE ..................................................................................... 165 SOURCES ........................................................................................................................ 166 LITERATURE ................................................................................................................. 173 Appendix 1. Language of instruction in higher education institutions in Estonia: proportion of students 1993–2016 .................................................................................. 190 Appendix 2. Language of instruction in higher education institutions in Latvia: proportion of students 1999–2018 .................................................................................. 191 Appendix 3. Semi-structured interview schedule ......................................................... 192 Appendix 4. Form for gathering background information about the interviewees .. 194 Appendix 5. Summary of the background information about the interviewees ........ 195 INTRODUCTION Since the end of the 20th century, language matters in higher education have gained ground in public and private, political and academic discussions in Europe and beyond. These discussions are triggered by the multifaceted nature of higher education: today it is both national and international. On the one hand, higher education