‘For the Dutch-speaking students, I will translate it': code-switching as discretionary transformation of EMI language policy

In the study of English-medium instruction in higher education, attention is being drawn to discrepancies between codified language policy and its enactment in classroom practice. This can be situated in a larger trend in language policy studies, in which researchers document and analyze language policy as an interactional concept, revolving around norms which guide language selection and use. In this context, I discuss how lecturers discretionarily transform institutional policy through code-switching in interactions with students, resulting in the production of a micro-level classroom language policy. The dataset consists of 23 classroom recordings which capture the interactions between six engineering lecturers and their students in two English-medium engineering programs at a Belgian university. Drawing on Street-Level Bureaucracy and Frame Analysis, I study code-switching in lecturer-student interaction, with a specific focus on the initiation, timing, procedure, and purpose of code-switching, including whether it involves meta-pragmatic commentary and/or enactment routines which seek, grant, or presume permission. Findings highlight a functional distribution of code-switching driven by pedagogical and pragmatic considerations. In conclusion, the study brings into focus how an explanation for the unfolding multilingual dynamics of the English-medium classroom necessarily appeals to both activity-specific interactional expectations and (overlaps in) individual speakers’ repertoires.