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anglais véhiculaire

English translation: English as a vehicular language (of teaching/instruction)

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	anglais véhiculaire
English translation:	English as a vehicular language (of teaching/instruction)
Entered by:	Isabelle O'Neill

Options:
- Contribute to this entry
- Include in personal glossary

11:31 Jan 19, 2011

French to English translations [PRO]
Education / Pedagogy

French term or phrase: anglais véhiculaire

C'est dans un contexte de l'enseignement supérieur en "anglais véhiculaire" quand il ne s'agit pas de la langue nationale du pays dans lequel cet enseignement est dispensé.

It is a text about the use of the "anglais véhiculaire" in universities and schools in countries around Europe where English is not the national language.

Isabelle O'Neill KudoZ activity Questions: 157 (1 open) (1 without valid answers) (18 closed without grading) Answers: 126
Local time: 08:41

English as a vehicular language (of teaching/instruction)

Explanation:
This is one option that is used, e.g.
“English as a vehicular language for teaching and learning in higher education”.

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Note added at 7 mins (2011-01-19 11:38:43 GMT)
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Although you see lots of hits for this on foreign university sites, it also shows up on British sites, e.g.:

"For the majority of children in both countries the test results, and classroom observations, suggest there is a clear risk that the policy of using English as a vehicular language may contribute to stunting, rather than promoting, academic and cognitive growth."
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ /http://www.dfid....

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Note added at 13 mins (2011-01-19 11:44:37 GMT)
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"This is the ideal, the early beginning and the use of one of the four lan-
guages, in addition to English, as a “vehicular” language."

Published in Critical Issues in Early Second Language Learning: Building for our Children’s Future, Myriam Met, Ed., pp. 92-101.
See: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:-EHKCnUbzfoJ:www.a...

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Note added at 19 mins (2011-01-19 11:50:45 GMT)
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Isabelle, thanks for the info about CLIL/EMILE. For the record, "vehicular" is not my favorite choice of word here, but is often used in academic texts in this field--I have an MA in Language Teaching...

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Note added at 26 mins (2011-01-19 11:57:15 GMT)
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If you don't care for the word "vehicular," some other frequent options are "English as the language of instruction" (270,000 hits on Google) or "English-taught" program(me)s" (about 100,000 hits with both spellings).

Selected response from:

Wordalia
Local time: 09:41

Grading comment

Even if it sounds strange to the ear - the document i have is aimed at academics
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +2

English as a vehicular language (of teaching/instruction)

Wordalia

4 +1

working language / teaching language

Noni Gilbert

4 +1

English as lingua franca

Gilla Evans

English as the language of instruction

Pablo Strauss

Summary of reference entries provided
English language used a as a vehicle for instruction/teaching	gallagy2
globish?	cc in nyc

Discussion entries: 4

Answers

7 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

English as lingua franca

Explanation:
This seems to be the way it is referred to in a University context.

Harraps Unabridged concurs.

English Becomes Lingua Franca at Dutch Universities

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,614572,00.h...

Gilla Evans
Local time: 08:41
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 27

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you - but the writer of the text makes a difference between the "lingua franca" and the "anglais véhiculaire" used in university

Asker: Thanks - but the writer makes a difference between the "lingua franca" and "l'anglais véhiculaire"

7 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

working language / teaching language

Explanation:
The more informal way to express this, and the one to use except in documents which will be hard to understand ;-)

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Note added at 10 mins (2011-01-19 11:41:40 GMT)
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Off-topic: vehicular makes me think of plodding police officers...

Noni Gilbert
Local time: 09:41
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

English as a vehicular language (of teaching/instruction)

Wordalia
Local time: 09:41
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Even if it sounds strange to the ear - the document i have is aimed at academics

3 hrs confidence:

English as the language of instruction

Explanation:
A suggestion

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-01-19 14:45:11 GMT)
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https://you.ubc.ca/ubc/vancouver/elas.ezc

Ref. for second example sentence above.

Example sentence(s):

Since English is the primary language of instruction and communication at the U of A, all applicants must be proficient in English prior to admission.
Attend four or more years at an eligible international secondary school that uses English as the language of instruction but operates in a country where the primary language is not English.

Reference: http://www.gradstudies.ualberta.ca/applyadmission/elp.htm

Pablo Strauss
Canada
Local time: 03:41
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Reference comments

1 hr

Reference: English language used a as a vehicle for instruction/teaching

Reference information:
I don't really like "vehicular" though it is used. Perhaps a better use would be as above or simply, "English (language) used for teaching/instruction" (in university courses). Some reasons for this are given in the link below.

"...The use of English as a teaching language in primary and secondary education is still quite limited in western Europe, except in the international schools. It is much more frequent in central and eastern Europe, where it is to be found in highly selective bilingual courses which admit pupils on the basis of competitive examinations. Such courses also exist for other languages (French, German, Italian) but those involving English are generally the most sought after. This function of English is developing particularly in higher education. We have the example of institutions which issue higher-level qualifications of international repute (eg the European University Institute, Florence) and of others specialising in commerce and business (among them those delivering the Master of Business
Administration (MBA) qualification). These bodies want to attract foreign students willing to pay large sums for such training and to persuade them not to prefer American or British universities.
In northern European countries, the Netherlands and more recently Germany, university courses open to foreign students make broader use of English as a teaching language. These courses compete not only with those of American and
British universities and those offered by on-line education, a sector dominated by the American electronic campuses, but also with those provided by European universities which use the more widely spoken languages. This is particularly the case in the exchange programmes. The universities taking part in the European Union's Socrates programme like their students to be able to acquire additional training abroad but as those programmes take place on a basis of reciprocity they
turn to English when they consider that their language forms a barrier to attracting foreign students.
We are witnessing a general process of internationalisation of higher education. In a context of competition, English represents a selling point, an inducement. This trend will probably become more pronounced with the creation of a common European higher education area - the Bologna process, which has been embraced by a number of European governments. Common diplomas will be introduced under this process. Users of English will probably be more highly prized than those using the national language as they will be considered better adapted to
the globalisation context. Universities may consequently fear that by making an effort to make the usual teaching language accessible to foreign students they will appear outdated and backward-looking.

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
by C TRUCHOT - Cited by 22 - Related articles
university courses open to foreign students make broader use of English as ..... The introduction of English as a vehicular language coincides more with the ...
www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/source/truchoten.pdf

gallagy2
Ireland
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 34

3 hrs

Reference: globish?

Reference information:
Global English (also called "globish" in the Reference) is the term that is used in a paper entitled "English as a Vehicular Language: a Case of Globalization or Linguistic Imperialism?" by Judith Munat (University of Pisa).

Conveying meaning is more important than grammar (!)

– Keep sentences short
– Avoid words with multiple meanings
– Avoid metaphors, slang
– Use common words (but not too common)
– Make sure that "it" is unambiguous
– Avoid using nouns as adjectives

Of course the title of the article includes the term "vehicular English," but it's already been posted as an Answer.

cc in nyc
United States
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 38

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anglais véhiculaire

English translation: English as a vehicular language (of teaching/instruction)

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anglais véhiculaire

English translation: English as a vehicular language (of teaching/instruction)

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