A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Assessment and English as a medium of instruction

  2022. Anna Kristina Hultgren (et al.). Journal of English-Medium Instruction 1 (1), 105-123

  Article

  As English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) continues to expand across the globe, there is a glaring absence of research on assessment. This article reviews the scarce literature to date and maps out a research agenda for the future. Drawing on Shohamy’s (2001, 2007) Critical Language Testing and McNamara et al.’s (2019) notions of “fair” and “just” language assessment, our reading of the literature to date is that it has revealed considerable complexities around implementing assessment in EMI contexts, with key questions centring not only on what and who to assess but also on how and why assessment should take place. In outlining a research agenda for the future, we suggest that one way of bypassing such challenges may be to carve out a greater role for assessment for learning in higher education. This could capitalize on – and raise stakeholders’ awareness of – bodies of knowledge that are well established within applied linguistics about the integral role of language in learning. Whilst we acknowledge challenges in securing institutional buy-in for putting this agenda into practice, we suggest that doing so could turn assessment challenges into opportunities and significantly enhance learning not only in EMI contexts but beyond.

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• Nordic universities at the crossroads

  2022. Maria Kuteeva, Kathrin Kaufhold, Niina Hynninen. Language matters in higher education contexts, 71-87

  Chapter

  This chapter focuses on questions surrounding universities’ societal responsibilityin connection to language use, going beyond the national language(s) versus Englishdichotomy. As a result of university internationalisation and increased migration, bothstudent and faculty populations at Nordic universities have diversified. Nordic universities are currently facing multiple challenges: to maintain academic autonomy andfreedom of thought, to protect democratic ideals, to prove the validity of scientificfindings, and to conduct most of their activities with the support of digital media.Drawing on findings from recent research conducted in Sweden and Finland and thelatest Nordic language policy document (Gregersen et al., 2018), our chapter critically discusses how researchers and students with transnational trajectories perceivetheir language use. In particular, we consider the role of English vis-à-vis the nationallanguage(s) and other languages for purposes of research outreach and widening participation. W e argue that there is a mismatch between university policies assumingthat societal responsibility concerning language use is largely limited to local nationaland (to a lesser extent) minority languages, and the translocal experience of universitystakeholders who often deal with a range of linguistic resources on a daily basis.

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• If not Engliish then what? Unpacking language hierarchies at university

  2020. Maria Kuteeva. Language perceptions and practices in multilingual universities, 27-55

  Chapter

  This chapter aims to unpack language hierarchies in a given university setting by analysing how they are manifested in discourses surrounding language uses. By reviewing relevant policy documents and analysing open-ended survey comments by students and academic staff, I identify three dominant discourses: “epistemic monolingualism”, “(wishful) academic multilingualism” and “deficient multilingualism”. Swedish is construed as the main university language and occupies first position if any replacement of English is needed. Major European academic languages, particularly German and French, hold a high status in the language hierarchy, but their actual use is limited to a few specific domains and is more “wishful” than real. Many major world languages are practically invisible in the analysed policy documents and survey comments.

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• Introduction

  2020. Maria Kuteeva, Kathrin Kaufhold, Niina Hynninen. Language Perceptions and Practices in Multilingual Universities, 1-24

  Chapter

  In many European universities today, national languages and English are used alongside a plethora of other linguistic resources. Our volume provides a response to changes in higher education where internationalisation and widening participation not only pull towards the use of one shared language but also increasingly diversify language practices. How are different languages experienced and perceived by university stakeholders? After clarifying a number of key concepts, we show how different chapters unveil the tensions arising between monolingualism and multilingualism and chart the multiplicity of language perceptions and practices across the university, from education and research to administration. The educational contexts explored here include Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, the Baltic states and the Netherlands.

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• Language Perceptions and Practices in Multilingual Universities

  2020. .

  Book (ed)

  • Critically assesses ideologies and discourses of protecting national language(s) in relation to the multilingual realities of higher education
  • Focuses on the tensions between standardisation and variation in language norms and practices across the multilingual university
  • Explores language perceptions in relation to the use of linguistic repertoires by students and researchers for learning and for professional purposes

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• Researchers’ Language Practices Concerning Knowledge Production and Dissemination

  2020. Niina Hynninen, Maria Kuteeva. Language perceptions and practices in multilingual universities, 323-350

  Chapter

  Drawing on research interviews with 43 researchers working across four disciplines in two Nordic countries, this chapter examines the researchers’ perceptions of, and choices related to their mono/multilingual knowledge production and research writing practices. Three discourses were found to be constructed in the interview talk: (a) disciplinary monolingualism, (b) dual monolingualism, and (c) functional epistemic multilingualism. For research writing, most researchers in the study opted for a mono- or bilingual publication strategy, but when doing research, the main determiner in terms of how many and which languages the researchers reported to use was the object of research. The pragmatism associated with the researchers’ language practices may thus be related to both mono- and multilingualism.

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• Revisiting the 'E' in EMI

  2020. Maria Kuteeva. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 23, 287-300

  Article

  Conceptualizations of English as standard, as a lingua franca, or as part of translingual practice form part of the discourses surrounding its use in EMI. While researchers generally agree that the 'E' in EMI should not stand for native varieties of standard English, the stakeholders' perceptions of English call for further research. This paper addresses this gap by examining students' conceptualizations of English in an EMI programme at a Swedish university. Drawing on interview data collected from local and international students, the analysis focuses on students' conceptualizations of English in connection to their positionings. The analysis shows that all three above-mentioned conceptualizations are present. The tensions in the students' conceptualizations of English and positionings point towards issues related to power relations, group dynamics, social integration, and learning. The analysis shows that translingual practices in EMI contexts are not always associated with empowering the students by allowing them to resort to their L1s to fill gaps in their English. Translanguaging can also function as a mechanism of exclusion and reinforcement of language standards by a group of 'elite' translinguals. The idea of what is acceptable English in EMI is not static and can move along the standard - non-standard continuum.

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• Whose English? Whose diversity? Towards a More Holistic Understanding of Global English

  2020. Maria Kuteeva. Nordic Journal of English Studies 19 (3), 81-100

  Article

  In this paper, I call for an increased dialogue between different branches of Applied Linguistics. After discussing conceptualizations of the English language in the context of Applied Linguistics research and the ways in which English is perceived to form part of linguistic diversity, I argue that further dialogue is needed in order to gain a more holistic understanding of English and its multiple facets. The use of English is diverse and can also form part of the social justice agenda. At the same time, as our enquiry into the global spread of English moves beyond essentialized abstractions and metaphors, it is also necessary to critically question some new orthodoxies, e.g. the direct connection between translanguaging and social justice. Overall, I agree with Hultgren that widening our analytical lens is important. In particular, the suggested focus on the socio-material aspects is needed for drawing our attention to less known contexts of language use and to under-represented study participants. Before we tone down language in our scholarly inquiry, we still need to hear more voices.

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• Digital academic discourse: Texts and contexts

  2018. Maria Kuteeva, Anna Mauranen. Discourse, Context & Media 24, 1-7

  Article

  This Special Issue focuses on how digital media – blogs, tweets, and other digital platforms – are used by researchers, and how these new modes of academic communication have impacted writing practices and language uses in the academy. It brings together research in two related areas of scholarship: academic discourse analysis and literacies research. In this introductory article, we first outline the concept of digital academic discourse as we perceive it in the context of our Special Issue and show how it is related to, and at the same time different from, its “analogue” predecessor. We then continue to discuss the practices surrounding the production of academic texts with the support of digital media, followed by an outline of how both digital academic discourse and related writing practices are tied to the networks, communities and spaces in which they take place. Next, methodological issues in the study of digital academic discourse are considered, and the articles in this special issue are presented in connection to the themes outlined above. We conclude by contextualising the studies reported here within current trends in discourse analytical and sociolinguistic research and identify venues for future studies.

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• European perspectives on second language writing pedagogy

  2018. Maria Kuteeva. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching

  Chapter

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• Negotiating space for multilingualism in English-medium writing: Authors, editors, reviewers

  2022. Maria Kuteeva. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 17 (2), 129-137

  Article

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• Good and acceptable English in L2 research writing: Ideals and realities in history and computer science

  2017. Niina Hynninen, Maria Kuteeva. Journal of English for Academic Purposes 30, 53-65

  Article

  In light of the recent developments on the international publishing scene, increasingly dominated by L2 writers of English, the question of what is considered to be good and acceptable English calls for further research. This paper examines in what ways researchers describe the English used for research writing in their field. Interview data were collected from historians and computer scientists working in Finland and Sweden. Our analysis points towards some differences in the way researchers perceive good writing in English in their field, and what they themselves report to practice as (co-)authors, readers/reviewers, and proofreaders. The discrepancy between the ideals and realities of research writing in English was clear in the case of the historians. Our findings suggest that in research writing for publication, there is a pull towards some form of standard norm. This standard can be jointly negotiated during the writing, reviewing, and proofreading process. It may also develop in different directions in different disciplines, but it is likely to be based on the principles of understandability and clarity.

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Show all publications by Maria Kuteeva at Stockholm University