Sophie Arkoudis Centre for the Study of Higher Education University of Melbourne Australia email: s.arkoudis@unimelb.edu.au Policies, Practices and Politics of English Language Issues at the University of Melbourne

The University of Melbourne defines itself as a campus-based university, offering a few offshore courses that are taught mainly in Singapore and Thailand, through the Faculty of Education. This paper will explore policy and practice of English use within the different educational sites in order to examine the institutionalised positioning of the role of English language as the medium of instruction in both offshore and onshore programs. It will outline the current situation of English language use in the University and how this impacts on the offshore programs. It will be argued that the 'self' and 'other' positioning of students, staff and course content highlights the different ways that English language issues are constructed in contexts where English is not necessarily the dominant language. Implications for future directions in this area will be discussed.


Sophie Arkoudis works in the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne. Her current research areas are English language assessment and teaching international students in higher education.