Marking and unmarking the (non)native speaker through English language proficiency requirements for university admission

• Published in: Language in society Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 1 - 23
• Main Authors: Piller, Ingrid, Bodis, Agnes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.02.2024
• Subjects: Academic language; Admissions policies; Anglophones; Citizenship; College students; Colleges & universities; Competence; Education; Education policy; English as a second language; English language; English language learners; English proficiency; Foreign students; Globalization; Higher education; Ideology; International; International languages; Language ideologies; Language policy; Language proficiency; Language tests; Nation states; National identity; Native-nonnative speaker communication; Noncitizens; Racialization; University admissions; World Englishes; New Zealand; Canada; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Asia; Australia; India
• DOI: 10.1017/S0047404522000689
• ISSN: 0047-4045

This article examines the language ideologies undergirding university English language admission requirements. Universities are today caught between the order of the nation state and that of corporate globalization as they seek to attract both national and international students. This tension produces conflicting processes of (converse) racialization and linguistic (un)marking within which universities construct language proficiencies and ethnonational identities. Our study finds two categorically different constructs of English language proficiency (ELP): inherent ELP based on citizenship, linguistic heritage, and prior education, and tested ELP. These two constructs of ELP map onto two dichotomous student groups. One side of this binary—the white native-speaker citizen construct—is subject to converse racialization and unmarking. While it becomes blurred, it casts its Other into clear relief: the Asian non-native speaker non-citizen. The research has implications for critical language testing and language policies in higher education. (Citizenship, English as a global academic language, internationalization of higher education, international students, language ideologies, language testing, native speakerism, racialization, World Englishes)