Impact case study database

A) Influencing policy and implementation

A i) Informing the 2014 Primary FL Curriculum in England:

Mitchell’s collaborative research projects contributed to the inclusion of FLs in the Primary National Curriculum. The rationale and attainment targets introduced with the Primary National Curriculum in September 2014 are linked to this research [ 5.1] Firstly, the curriculum calls for “substantial progress in one foreign language”. This statement is supported by the findings from Mitchell’s collaborative research that children aged 8-11 made meaningful progress in FL listening, speaking, reading and writing. Secondly, curriculum aims recognise the value of communication in a FL and the potential for FL education to have a positive influence on wider academic and social development. Mitchell et al.’s findings from stakeholder interviews had previously shown these beliefs were widely held in schools committed to FL policy implementation.

A ii) Addressing national implementation challenges

Porter and Mitchell contributed to the Research in Primary Languages (RiPL) policy summit at the British Academy in November 2018. RiPL is a national network of FL researchers and stakeholders which supports FL education and the implementation of primary FL education policy through evidence-based decision-making; Porter and Mitchell are RiPL board members. The summit was attended by 40 education professionals, government representatives, cultural associations and language education advocates [ 5.2]. Porter and Mitchell led research-informed discussions of their research including their work with primary school teachers to showhow researchers are supporting schools and teachers with developing FL pedagogic expertise, teacher confidence, FL resourcing and classroom research training. These sessions influenced the professional activity of delegates, with the Director of Social Mobility & Vulnerable Learners at the Education Policy Institute commenting “At EPI we are formulating research questions on language education (equal access to) and curriculum, funding and staffing more generally. The research will help guide our future priorities.” An attending primary languages teacher stated, “The summit has highlighted the importance of leadership in the success of developing MFL in the classroom at primary level. From what we have heard we have been able to start our action plan going forward for the next year. In this will include ideas and resources we have learnt about in the summit” [ 5.3].

The RiPL White Paper arising from the summit [ 5.4] presented ten recommendations for successful policy implementation. Porter and Mitchell’s research led to two recommendations on age-appropriate pedagogy and curriculum planning. This document was distributed to key parliamentarians and civil servants and has been accessed online 2,682 times (14.10.19). It was discussed with Department for Education (DfE) advisors in October 2019 but further initiatives, including a proposed contribution to an All-Party Parliamentary Group meeting in late 2019/early 2020, were postponed due to COVID-19.

An additional RiPL event was attended by school leadership and practitioners at the Institute of Education in November 2019 to further explore implementation of primary languages policy. Porter co-led an input a round table discussion on linguistic outcomes by the end of Key Stage 2. 37 attendees completed questionnaires which showed evidence of changes in thinking (95%) and practice (100%) linked to the RiPL White Paper [ 5.5].

In August 2020, Oak National Academy, an online school funded and led by the DfE approached a small RiPL team including Porter to support primary FL teachers to design and develop an online primary FL curriculum as part of a national online curriculum. Porter’s research and expertise contributed to the development of the curriculum map and FL pedagogic principles for Key Stage 2, the recruitment of two out of four teachers and to the review of teaching videos. The materials will be launched in January 2021 and will be available free of charge to all primary schools in England. It is believed that these resources will remain available beyond school closures as a means of supporting schools who have primary FL staffing/provision challenges [ 5.6]

B) Improving classroom practice and school provision

B i) Formation of the Southampton University Primary Languages partnership (SUPL)

Many surveys and government-facing policy advice (e.g. AHRC Policy Briefing on FLs, APPG Recovery Plan for FL education in England) have noted a dearth of training for pre-service primary school teachers and in-service professional development opportunities. In 2017 Porter and Mitchell founded the Southampton University Primary Languages research/practice partnership (SUPL), which provides collaborative opportunities for professional development to local teachers. SUPL has enabled Porter, supported by Mitchell, to work with school leadership and teachers in developing face-to-face and online training informed by their research to improve classroom practice and school-level curricula.

B ii) Local changes in FL teaching practices through SUPL face-to-face teacher workshops

Porter and Mitchell have engaged growing groups of practitioners in unique professional development opportunities to build confidence, develop practice and encourage classroom research. Starting with smaller-scale activities, they eventually scaled-up the SUPL model of research-practice teacher engagement to a whole-day workshop in July 2019 for 45 teachers and teacher educators (Biii). The teacher workshop evaluations demonstrated the following [ 5.7]: “Sharing both your professional expertise and the exemplary practice of my fellow teachers has been a privilege” (Teacher 3 - 24.07.19). Teachers found the research methods element of the workshops useful: “Love the research element…these sessions help me and inspire me to try new things, research new methods or ideas” (Teacher 8 – 29.11.18); “…it was worthwhile carrying out action research about children’s preferred methods of vocab learning” (Teacher 3 – 05.02.17).

The courses caused teachers to change their classroom practice. They reported overcoming fears about accuracy and learner confidence, to promote challenge and creativity in the FL classroom. In particular, they used Porter’s research findings relating to FL phonics instruction and the importance of working with unfamiliar language/challenging texts in their subsequent practice: “I’m more confident to innovate and explore. I’ve been inspired to try something new in the classroom - I have experimented with phonics and linked phonics to written outcomes/writing from memory” (Teacher 18 - 29.11.18); “I’ve been inspired to try new reading books in Spanish with the classes and it’s great challenging their reading at text level” (Teacher 6 - 29.11.18); “The analysis of how children embed new vocabulary was particularly useful and I intend to use this style of approach with KS2 pupils in the next term” (Teacher 1 - 29.11.18). The courses also led to school-wide changes in practice. An Executive Headteacher of a Federation of participating schools (n=2) noted “…(teacher name) has already implemented changes to our curriculum in response to these rigorous, evidence-based training workshops” [ 5.8]

B iii) National changes in FL teaching practices through the 2019 SUPL teacher conference

This FL Literacy in Primary Practice event was led by Southampton researchers, SUPL teachers who had attended prior workshops, and guest speakers. The SUPL teachers designed their interactive sessions with support from Porter and Mitchell. These SUPL members showed how they had embedded ideas from Porter and Mitchell’s research findings, and had developed confidence in their FL practice through presenting examples of SUPL pedagogic principles and sharing their adapted practices with their peers. One teacher explained: “Your confidence in my ability to present to the conference was a real boost to my self-belief… I have grown so very much as a FL teacher.” The teachers and teacher educators who attended the SUPL whole-day workshop also reported benefits from working with Porter and Mitchell’s research. A survey of participants demonstrated that most found it helped them to reflect on and evaluate their current practice in FL literacy (mean 4.56/5.00) and thought it would influence what they did in their future work (mean 4.39/5.00). Teachers reported that the workshop had greatly supplemented their understanding of the role of FL literacy in supporting beginner FL learning (mean 4.44/5.00). Individual comments noted that the workshop was an "eye opening experience that gave me loads of things to think about as well as lots of hands on practical activities to implement." (Teacher M). "An informative and engaging day. Lots of ideas to amend and enhance my practice within school. A great day to share and discuss different activities allowing discussion on progression and assessment." (Teacher E) [ 5.9].

B iv) Global changes in teaching practices through SUPL online primary FL course

Porter led the development of the SUPL model further to become part of a 3-week massive online open course (MOOC) with collaborators at the Universities of Essex and Reading. Teaching Languages in Primary Schools: Putting Research into Practice (TLiPS) offered primary languages CPD on a global scale, and included examples of professional practice contributed by SUPL teachers. In July 2020, 4,657 participants in 139 countries and in October 2020, 1422 participants in 90 countries, registered to join [ 5.10]. This quick repeat of the MOOC aimed to fill a gap for online initial teacher education (ITE) provision in the context of global social distancing measures. Currently two ITE providers have reported that this MOOC will form a compulsory part of their PGCE programmes for both primary and secondary trainee teachers; one teacher has confirmed that her whole school FL curriculum will be adapted [ 5.11]. The MOOC will continue to run beyond 2021 and three cycles per year are planned. TLiPS built a community of practice around Porter’s research principles. Participating teachers were asked to share their examples of practice through Padlet walls. As of July 2020, participants from across the world had shared 245 examples of practice with one another [ 5.12].

Teachers who engaged with the MOOC opt-in questionnaires have reported changes in learning, understandings and teaching practices:

Respondents also submitted 2,426 comments to open-answer questionnaire items which refer to changes in practice and understanding directly related to Porter’s MOOC research content [ 5.13], for example: “I would tend to read the book first, but I was interested to see how teachers would introduce the theme and some vocabulary which can then help engage the learners... It has made me think about how I can adapt my plans to have a go at this”, and “I hadn’t really thought before about how important literacy is in helping children to develop their own knowledge independently, e.g. by looking up a word in the dictionary and feeling confident in how to pronounce it, or being interested in tackling a more challenging text on their own. This is a simple thing, so I don’t know how I had missed it, but it is really important!”

Participant comments from online MOOC activities (steps) were analysed (n=12; 3,011 comments from a total of 49 steps with 17,903 total comments). These show developing understandings about learning processes in FL classrooms and enacted or planned changes in teaching practices. Evidence of impact as changes in practice, understandings and reflection on teacher/pupil learning is summarised as [ 5.14]:

Total instances of change = 2,982 counts (99% of comments analysed)

Change or development in teacher understanding = 1,755 instances (58% of comments analysed)

Planned or Enacted change in practice = 610 instances (20% of comments analysed)

C) Co-creation of original FL resources through teacher collaboration

Porter and Mitchell’s research has identified that there are limited resources for teachers to engage in the kinds of literacy activities they recommend. SUPL teachers initially reported that they felt slightly uncertain about their confidence in engaging with creative writing (3.00/5.00). They seldom incorporated independent, extended writing into their practice (1.86/5.00). They rarely encouraged reading aloud (2.57/5.00) or used formative assessment (2.57/5.00) [ 5.15]. To build teacher confidence in these areas, Porter and colleagues (Nelson & Clerc) designed original FL texts with links to other areas of the curriculum such as History (Ancient History), Music (recognising genre) and Science (nature). To Porter’s knowledge, there are no similar commercially available resources. Original phonics resources incorporating spelling and writing activities in French and Spanish were also developed.

The DfE Centre for Excellence in MFL Pedagogy requested SUPL FL phonics resources to inform their training and dissemination sessions with secondary schools. This initiative, funded by the Department for Education, aims to support innovative FL pedagogy to increase FL uptake after age 14 (when FLs become optional in English schools) [ 5.16]. These FL texts and phonics resources were also disseminated through a SUPL SharePoint site. By October 2019 the site had logged 218 visits over 90 days and had 44 registered users. These resources are now hosted on the www.ripl.uk website so that a global audience can access these pedagogic tools which formed part of the MOOC content. As at 31.12.20, 343 downloads of SUPL resources and 526 downloads of summaries of Porter’s research articles have been recorded [ 5.17].

Demossier’s work on terroir has reached multiple stakeholders in the wine industry, benefiting significantly the traditional regional economies in Burgundy, New Zealand and Italy.

Enhancing Cultural Diversity and Crafting Local Heritage Claims

In 2008, the Association des climats de Bourgogne commissioned Demossier to write the anthropological report which led to the successful listing in 2015 of the climats de Bourgogne as a UNESCO world heritage site [ 5.1]. For Burgundy, winning UNESCO status enhanced the region’s economic prestige and value translating into a 25% rise in local tourism, while simultaneously providing benefits in terms of heritage, conservation, regeneration as well as enhanced civic pride and social capital. Its socio-economic impact has been significant as Burgundy represents 5% of world trade value and 20,000 direct jobs as well as 100,000 in indirect activities (e.g. glass-makers and coopers). Local stakeholders described the publication of Demossier’s book in 2018 as ‘a significant contribution’ to the region’s heritage (Alain Suguenot, mayor of Beaune; Aubert de Villaine, director of the Association des climats de Bourgogne) [ 5.2].

The Italian Prosecco Consortium consulted Demossier in July 2017 about their UNESCO application because of her ongoing research into the process of heritagisation. The Italian Prosecco Consortium is composed of the main wine-producers of the Prosecco Denomination of Origin growing region, and the Prosecco-producing towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. Demossier advised them on the necessity of a collective strategy to succeed as the region was characterised by a strong opposition between a handful of elite producers and small artisanal wine-growers. Professor Salvemini of the Scuola di Direzione Aziendale Bocconi who led the team creating the dossier for the cultural aspects of the bid explained: ‘the time span of her study (25 years) has been very useful to understand informal strategies undertaken by the stakeholders of the Burgundy territory in order to reposition the whole region and its products in the worldwide market’ [ 5.3]. The Prosecco region obtained World Heritage status on 7 July 2019.

In 2014, Professor Marinella Carrosso (sadly since deceased) invited Demossier to join an international workshop in Alba (UNESCO Langhe wine region) to discuss Burgundy wine cultural heritage because of her work on terroir. The event was attended by local stakeholders and politicians and served as a springboard to prepare the 2015 Universal Exhibition. The presentation led the Feltrinelli Foundation to later commission Demossier to write a report for the 2015 Universal Exhibition on Food Heritage in Milan which contributed to the final Expo 2015 report on sustainability and terroir as local food heritage [ 5.4] The Expo 2015 theme was “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” encompassing technology, innovation, culture, traditions and creativity and how they relate to food and diet aimed at informing the international food industry.

Influencing Wine Producers Thoughts and Behaviours

Demossier’s research has influenced how Central Otago wine producers engage with their professional practices and environments. Her work has inspired them to think about how they create and express a unique terroir for New Zealand’s young wine industry and for their individual products how they can position themselves in an increasingly globalised market. In the context of the 2016 Registration Amendment Bill on Geographical Indications (Wine and Spirits) which created a GI Register and provided a regime for registering place names, the idea of different regional expressions of variety has been gaining ground, especially with small wine producers. These smaller producers, with a vineyard area of no more than 20 hectares (49 acres), represent over three quarters of New Zealand's wineries. Demossier’s work has helped them to define terroir in differentiated ways as well as constructing micro-differences between both brands and wines.

Building on her invitation to the Pinot Noir festival in 2013 (Wellington, New Zealand), Demossier gave a seminar in Cromwell, New Zealand, organised by 15 wine-growers from the COWA (Central Otago Wine Growers Association). It resulted in a sustained and long-lasting collaboration. Demossier was invited in 2017 to join the Central Otago delegation of 12 winegrowers during their visit to Burgundy and to speak about terroir as they wanted to gain a grounded understanding of terroir (Burgundy acts as the worldwide benchmark of terroir quality wines) [ 5.5].

Consequently, Nick Mills, a leading Central Otago wine-producer and member of the executive committee of the 2021 Pinot Noir Festival in Christchurch made Demossier’s recent paper ‘What does terroir do to wine?’ compulsory reading for all members of the festival committee. Nick Mills explained that Demossier’s work ‘encourage us to look at human aspects; the social, economic and political environments that shape us as people and then how we define, qualify communicate our relationship as people to place’. More specifically, ‘As Pinot Noir producers, whilst we look to our craft’s cultural and historical reference points in Burgundy, we must also look critically at ourselves (individuals, communities and broader cultures) to establish our own sense of identity now and what it might look like in the future. Accordingly, Marion’s work has, wholly or in part, inspired us to carefully examine many aspects of our culture’ [ 5.6].

Several other producers have cited Demossier’s work as raising their confidence: ‘The Central Otago producers are now more and more able to identify the attributes from their single vineyard sites and the discussions around their terroir are gaining in precision’ (Lucie Lawrence, Aurum Wines Central Otago) [ 5.7]; Christopher Keys, Winemaker at Gibbston Valley Winery and Chair of the Central Otago Pinot Celebration 2020 (COWA) wrote: ‘it is hard for me to overstate how important Marion Demossier's book Burgundy: A Global Anthropology of Place and Taste is to me personally, but also the thematic direction of our event next year. {…} By revealing the foundations of Burgundy’s historiographic and winemaking constructs, Demossier has provided us a way to understand Burgundy’s mystery, simultaneously provoking questioning of self. No other text I have read on the subject has come close to doing that. I feel that those with the courage to sensitively yet directly question established paragons ought to be valued now more than ever’ [ 5.8].

The impact of Demossier’s work on Dry River Wines (Martinborough) is illustrated by the inclusion of her Europe Now article in their annual release brochure (2000 copies) for their private clients. Wilco Ham, Head Winemaker for the wine estate commented: ‘The globalisation and corporatisation of society calls for increased protection of our identities’…’It resonated with me […] I, in charge of a small producer who needs to export part of our wine, want to say exactly that, it provides a voice for my contribution to a culture and for farming’ [ 5.9]. On a similar note, Nick Mills, owner of Rippon, has included the concept of terroir in his marketing.

Furthermore, the 2021 Pinot Noir Festival has chosen as its terroir motto the Maori ‘Turangawaewae- A place to put one’s feet, A place to stand. Kaitiakitanga- Guardianship, stewardship and Whanaungatanga- Kinship, relationships, family culture’ seeking to construct a unique terroir in a highly competitive and changing context. For Mills: ‘At the same time, our industry is currently in a state of flux. With the decline of the “expert” and rise of social media, no one is able to identify who the real trade and customer influencers are. Indeed, the future of alcohol consumption itself is equally unsure. It’s difficult to imagine a positive future for the New Zealand Wine Industry if it is unable to capture the opportunity to connect with people and for them to connect meaningfully with our place. Marion’s study of wine’s connective aspects is therefore extremely important for us right now and it is for this reason that she has been invited to attend the next iteration of our country’s premier wine event: Pinot Noir NZ 2021 [postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic]’ [ 5.6].

Fostering Debate in the Wine and Food Industry

Demossier’s work has influenced how stakeholders in the food and wine industry understand terroir.

Her 2018 book was commented upon by John Barker, a lawyer and New Zealand wine policy advisor for the OIV (International Office for Wines): ‘The theme that intrigues me throughout the book {…} is the relationship between conscious strategy and internalised ‘beliefs’ in the evolution of both Burgundy and Central Otago – how one supports, constructs and becomes part of the other over time’ [ 5.10]. Demossier was interviewed for the newspaper Le Monde (circulation: 301,528) in the context of the UK cheese industry in August 2017 [ 5.11]. In November 2019, Demossier’s work on terroir was presented as a keynote during a symposium held at Sheffield Hallam University and attended by 48 participants including WineGB, the national association for the English and Welsh wine industry, who circulated it to their members. Her book was reviewed in the prestigious international wine magazine ‘The World of Fine Wine’, website and app which reaches an international readership of over 1,000 wine lovers across 30 countries stating: ‘this book has the potential to become a very important point of reference on issues well beyond winemaking and to capture a wide audience of educated readers and wine lovers’ [ 5.12 and 5.13].

Centre for Global Englishes (CGE) research has helped international HE agents to move towards more inclusive language attitudes, policies and practices in their academic institutions. More than 30,000 university staff and students have engaged with our work on EMI. We have collected direct reports of impact from more than 500 HE professionals, and identified ELF-informed changes to HE policies, staff training and curricula across 9 international universities located in a variety of American, European and Asian settings. We achieved this through three main pathways:

P1 - International Face-to-face EMI training courses: The Academic Centre for International Students (ACIS) at the University of Southampton (UoS), has run four bespoke EMI training courses since 2014 for teachers in/from Chile, Colombia, Denmark, France, Mexico, Nizhny Novgorod, Norway and Tomsk. Two ACIS teaching fellows who are also CGE members, Rob Baird and Mary Page, drew from CGE’s research to design the training materials, and made our ELF-informed approach the main guiding perspective in the courses.

P2 - FutureLearn MOOC: A UoS MOOC, ‘ EMI for Academics’, launched in June 2017 and has so far run ten times. This MOOC is also taught by Mary Page and Rob Baird. The MOOC is specifically tailored to non-native academics who teach or seek to teach their content subjects through the medium of English. It addresses multiple dimensions involved in EMI module design and implementation, and an ELF-informed approach to the role of language in international academic settings. It includes numerous readings and videos where CGE researchers discuss key insights from ELF research for EMI settings. The content addresses a wide range of topics (e.g. defining EMI, describing linguistic diversity observed in EMI settings, expectations of staff’s and students’ English use, the relative importance of native-like grammatical accuracy vs. meaning accuracy in EMI; how to adjust language use to improve intelligibility in multilingual ELF settings) [ 3.1, 3.3].

P3 - UK universities awareness-raising workshops and talks: An ‘ Intercultural Connections’ project (2014-16) and other staff development workshops (2017-2020) were led by another ACIS tutor at UoS, Jill Doubleday. Doubleday, also a CGE member, integrated our ELF-informed approach into these workshops. They raised awareness of critical perspectives in intercultural communication and linguistic accommodation strategies for academic ELF communication [ 3.1]. In addition, the publication Jenkins and Leung (2019) [ 3.6] led the University of the Arts London (UAL) to invite Jenkins to give a talk on linguistic diversity and assessment .

These ELF-informed activities challenged assumptions of what counts as ‘good’ academic English and explored how multilingualism, transculturality and variability in English use should be approached in international HE. Changes in pedagogical practice and official policy followed.

1. Changing Minds

The interventions outlined above led to a change in attitudes towards the nature of good/ correct English, academic communication, and linguistic priorities in EMI. In their course evaluation sheets, participants from face-to-face EMI training courses described changes in how they conceptualise non-native intelligible uses of English. The in-house courses run at the University of Chile (UoC) with 25 academic staff and management were especially significant from this perspective. In an article published on the UoC’s website, participating lecturers and management expressed a shift towards favouring communication and intelligibility through English rather than adhering to native-like English. They now seek to prioritise the precision of content expression over native grammatical accuracy. Lucía Stecher, Latin American Studies Professor, claimed that the course “demonstrated how it is possible to use English as a tool for communication without having to aim necessarily to become a native-speaker” [ 5.1, 5.3].

The FutureLearn ‘ EMI for Academics’ MOOC also succeeded in shifting attitudes about diversity in English use. It reached a total of 29,960 learners based in an average of 145 countries per run. In 2018 the MOOC incorporated optional end-of-course evaluations. These show that out of 456 learners who completed one, 97.2% had gained new knowledge and skills, 71.8% had begun to apply this knowledge, and 76.8% had shared it with others in their background [ 5.4]. To identify the nature of emerging changes, Morán Panero invited MOOC participants from the latest runs to complete a follow-up survey in the Spring of 2020 [ 5.5]. Despite the disruptive effects of Covid-19, 67 academics and EAP university tutors responded from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. 77.6% of these respondents confirmed changes in their attitudes to English. Many reported moving from a focus on native-speaker imitation and grammatical conformity, towards prioritising contextual and disciplinary meaning-making in academic ELF communication. Others gained awareness of diverse Englishes as acceptable. Several reported feelings of relief and self-confidence in their English abilities or developing a sense of English ownership/authorship and belonging to a shared community of NNSs. A few more stated that they view IELTS and classroom-based assessment through new multilingual and decolonial perspectives. Ana Luiza de Oliveira Melo, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teacher at Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil, said: “Previously I used to think that we were all looking for grammar correction in lectures performed in English. I used to think people would judge me as a professional because of my language. Now I know that our goal is mutual understanding and to share knowledge and the language is just a means to an end.”

2. Changing Classroom Practices (bottom-up policy)

The analysis of the 2020 follow-up online survey for past MOOC takers also revealed evidence of classroom-based change. Despite facing challenges in implementing shifts without support from institutional policy, 41% of the 67 respondents reported having transformed their pedagogical practice. A quarter had modified their assessment criteria and feedback practices to value successful content expression over narrowly defined linguistic correctness. Over a fifth also revised learning objectives in their courses, substituting the attainment of native-like English competence by broader and more dynamic notions of communicative competence. Several academics adapted their classroom speech to ensure international intelligibility following ELF research on the need for linguistic accommodation. Meanwhile, a few had started welcoming the use of other languages to make sense of module content and abandoned an English-only approach or had increased student exposure to diverse English input in their lectures [ 5.10]. MOOC takers reported seeing concrete benefits emerge from these bottom-up policy changes: increased student participation and improved staff and student self-confidence [ 5.5].

3. Changing Institutional Investment and University-wide Training (top-down policy)

The research findings have also begun to influence HE decision-making at management level, with institutions starting to support their staff through the provision of ELF-informed training. In the UK, two HE institutions are engaging in novel forms of top-down policy transformation after engaging with CGE research. University of the Arts London (UAL) invited Jenkins to talk on assessment and then asked her, along with Leung, to consult on two new projects [ 3.6]. The first examines ongoing evaluative practices in the institution (2019-21). UAL has invested GBP45,000 in the appointment of a research assistant for this project. The aim is to establish the extent to which international students at UAL are gaining lower marks than home students due to their diverse uses of English and to provide policy recommendations to reduce inequality in student attainment [ 5.7]. The second project is an extensive online programme on linguistic diversity in HE that went live across UAL from 28 September 2020. Its stimulus was again Jenkins & Leung 2019 [ 3.6], and Jenkins and Leung both served as advisors during its development. The programme aims to raise awareness among both international and home students of language diversity issues, and UAL plan to offer the course to other UK institutions after its first run.

Since 2017, the Centre for Higher Education Practice (CHEP) of UoS has also provided resources for Jill Doubleday to offer ELF-informed CPD staff training on how to treat intercultural and linguistic diversity on campus. This training evolves from the success of the previously funded project “Intercultural Connections” (2014-2016). Between the Intercultural Connections and the CHEP activities, we reached out to more than 200 staff and 70 students. After participating, many UoS staff and students reported becoming more accepting of linguistic diversity on campus and more sensitive to cultural differences [ 5.6]. Taking the evaluation form of one of the CHEP CPD workshops as an example (Nov. 2018), 14 out of 19 participants (73%) reported changes in understanding and an intention to transform their teaching approach [ 5.6].

Two universities from Spanish-speaking settings are also engaging in top-down transformations. The University of Zaragoza (Spain) participated in the research directed by Jenkins and Mauranen (2019) [ 3.4]. The leader of the University of Zaragoza team reported a recent investment in CPD training for their staff because of the project: “The exchange of ideas in the ELF conferences and the comparison across universities … has been very helpful to us to engage and support our managers in setting up an EMI teacher training programme.” The University of Chile (UoC) has sponsored the development of an explicitly ELF-informed EMI online training course that launched in September 2020 [ 5.1]. In addition to financing two in-house face-to-face courses by UoS and supporting their Head of Postgraduate studies, Alicia Salomone, to train through the CGE’s MA in Global Englishes, UoC has funded the appointment of CGE MA alumna Mila Kalasnikova as CPD course co-designer alongside Alicia. Further evidence of new ELF-informed training occurred in Brazil as well. The Universidad de Minas Gerais arranged university-wide participation of their staff in UoS’s EMI for Academics MOOC as CPD training. UoS and the British Council signed an educational agreement with this Brazilian institution, with some of their EAP tutors joining as official MOOC ‘mentors’ [ 5.5].

4. Changing Curriculum and Institutional Policies

At a policy level, the University of Chile (UoC) is taking ELF research as a baseline for their language policy development, as stated by their Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs in a document in 2018. Their director of Postgraduate Studies, Alicia Salomone also directs their language policy development and, as indicated above, completed the CGE’s MA in Global Englishes as training. She has begun to incorporate CGE research in their official institutional policy: " The course showed me a new approach to teach our subjects through English by maximising our communicative abilities and linguistic repertoires”. UoC have reframed their postgraduate English learning programmes, and their public-facing website now states that they teach students to become expert ELF academic communicators. Alicia has also submitted an official position paper to UoC’s internationalisation strategy team, outlining the need for a university-wide official language policy and a critical and multilingualism-friendly approach to HE internationalisation through English. Alicia states: “ Learning about ELF and EMI transformed my everyday professional practice as a teacher and as a university administrator. I started to reorganise the postgraduate English language programme upon those perspectives" [ 5.1; 5.5].

Another six respondents to the 2020 follow-up survey reported CGE-research related changes in policy documents, materials and curriculum. These show that changes in attitudes have led to sustained institutional change. For instance, after participating in the EMI for Academics MOOC, Elisangela Marques from the Universidad de Minas Gerais has engaged with other colleagues in the creation of a biliteracy policy for an educational network of 30+ private schools in Brazil. Some colleagues have also transformed the syllabus in their institutions. Mabel Diaz Franco from Universidad Minuto de Dios (Colombia) reports changes in the English syllabus designed by her college, which decentres a previously existing focus on grammar accuracy and favours the development of students’ meaning-making strategies. Similar syllabus reforms are reported by Mariangela Picciuolo from the University of Bologna (Italy). Other content lecturers and English language tutors have reported the implementation of ELF-informed changes to the design of course materials. For instance, these have been applied in English for Specific Disciplinary Purposes courses by Hastowohadi from the Polytechnic of Mitra Global in Banyuwangi (Indonesia) and another anonymous participant. Meanwhile, Farhat Naz (Preston University) adapted materials for IELTS test preparation to better suit the communicative needs of local students in Pakistan [ 5.5]. At UoS, ELF-informed changes were introduced in the policies of the pre-sessional English courses by Rob Baird. New syllabi, assessment criteria, and EAP teacher training moved away from a superficial focus on language accuracy towards disciplinary communication. Around 4,200 students seeking to gain access to content programmes across all UoS Faculties benefited from this new system during the 2019 and 2020 programmes [ 5.6].

The benefits of these changes in attitudes, teaching and policy display a shift towards treating linguistically and culturally diverse students and staff more equitably in HE. Recognising and accommodating differences without penalising them has increased the confidence and participation of staff and students and has generated fairer attainment/scoring measurements for the latter.