English As Course Instruction Language. Experiences From Machine Design Courses

Globalization and internationalization of higher education around the world is “forcing” many universities and colleges from non-English speaking countries to offer a significant part of their educational programs in English. The main motivation to do so is partly to successfully implement student exchange programs such as the European Erasmus Program, and partly to attract “fee-paying free-moving” students from abroad. A third long-term reason to teach in English is to educate young pre-professionals for the global market. However, the adaptation of technical courses from national languages to English cannot be done overnight. On the contrary, this process demands time-consuming preparations that typically involve the expansion of background references and careful planning. In addition, the English skills of course instructors must assure the effective transmission of information, and very often professors face certain difficulties and uncomfortable limitations. Generally speaking, instructing in a foreign language results in less “colourful” expressions. Recent investigations conducted in Sweden on higher education show that teaching efficiency is inferior for courses taught in English when compared with the same courses given in Swedish. This paper deals with various experiences related to the process of changing the language of instruction from Swedish to English in three Machine Design courses taught at Linnaeus University.