Speaker's Abstract

Maria Kuteeva
Professor
Department of English,
Stockholm University

Title:
"Multilingualism and epistemic diversity in the age of EMI and GenAI"
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Recent research in applied linguistics has underscored the need to promote inclusivity, decolonize knowledge, and address epistemic biases. At the same time, an increasing use of large language models (LLMs) may drive both language use and knowledge construction towards further homogeneity and reproduction of existing biases, thereby contributing to “epistemic monoglossia” (Kuteeva, 2023). What can be done to support and promote multilingualism and epistemic diversity in English-medium education? 
 
My talk revisits the concept of multilingualism beyond its broad definition as a variety of linguistic contexts and practices (e.g., Pillar 2016). It shows how multilingualism is entangled with EMI stakeholders’ beliefs, attitudes and conceptions about language structures and uses. Looking across three language dimensions – structural, socio-ideological, and interactional (Kuteeva, 2023) – I discuss how language practices and norms are intertwined with worldviews and individual positionings. Examples from Swedish EMI contexts illustrate how English is simultaneously construed as a standard language, a lingua franca and a part of translingual practices reflecting different perspectives, but also how the discourse of “nativeness” as a proxy for academic literacy persists to this day, despite a backlash against “Englishization”. 
 
To conclude, I argue that EMI does not lead to epistemic monoglossia by default, but more can be done to support multilingualism and epistemic diversity. For example, EAP research focus does not seem to have accompanied the variability of English in EMI contexts, revealing a “heavy bias towards standard language and corpus method” (Macaro & Aizawa, 2024, p. 1364). Numerous EAP studies have examined differences between academic and non-academic writing and speech. But what happens when disciplinary discourse, academic register, local rhetorical traditions, and references to local realities are blended in the context of an EMI lecture or group discussion? As a way forward, I suggest ways to support epistemic diversity, disciplinary literacy, and critical stance by drawing on multilingual repertoires and knowledge of socio-material contexts.

Maria Kuteeva is Professor of English linguistics at Stockholm University. Her research has focused on academic discourse analysis and explored how English is used in multilingual university settings. She is particularly interested in theoretical frameworks that reveal connections between language perceptions, practices, and contexts of use. She has contributed to this line of research in Tension-filled English at the multilingual university: A Bakhtinian perspective (2023, Multilingual Matters). Kuteeva is co-editor-in-chief of Ibérica: Journal of the European Association of Languages for Specific Purposes.