부산대학교 도서관

This thesis is a critical analysis of policy relating to the English language standards required of international students who are entering, or preparing to enter, degree level programmes in the UK Higher Education sector. The study draws upon my professional context of managing a large university English language teaching centre. Wider implications for the sector are identified. A diachronic approach is taken, broadly aligned with the time span of the UK Government's Points Based System (PBS) of visa and immigration regulation from its proposal in 2005 to its replacement in 2020. The methodology employed in the study is critical policy analysis, drawing on Ball's (1993) policy lenses: policy as discourse, policy effects and policy as text. The study utilises Hyatt's (2013b) Critical Higher Education Policy Discourse Analysis (CHEPDA) framework as the principal methodological procedure to analyse policy texts and their contexts. There are three components to the study: • Academic Language & Literacy (AL&L) - the identification and analysis of the concept of AL&L builds on literature in the field, leading to a proposed conceptualisation of the compound term. This is presented as conceptual context for the subsequent analysis of policy on language standards. • Who says what goes? - the analysis draws on three interrelated policy areas which are described as constituting a policy chain: 'The Regulatory Environment', 'Language Standards and Assessments' and 'Institutional Policies and Standards'. The study examines and assesses explicit and perceived justifications for policy, as well as the stipulations of standards. • So what (now)? - the discussion of the broad themes which emerge from the analysis of the policy texts considers whether and how the policies and the justifications for them may be subject to challenge or resistance. The discussion includes consideration of the impact on the UK HE sector of the Covid-19 pandemic, which began towards the end of the research period. Key findings of the study include the use of policy levers within the HE environment to pursue immigration policy drivers which have no direct connection to the HE context. The influence of the marketisation of Higher Education is found throughout the policy chain, affecting the stipulation, setting and implementation of language standards. The implications of the study's theoretical and practical findings for my professional field and for the wider UK HE sector are considered as part of the discussion. This work is limited to the consideration of English language standards which apply to students on entry to HE, though the conceptualisation of AL&L is intended to be applicable in the field more widely and could also apply to other languages.