The use of English in higher education is becoming increasingly common in our globalised world including in countries such as Norway. English is widely used as the language of instruction, research, and academic publication in Norway, often justified by institutional aims to be more international and increase global academic visibility. Over several decades this development has raised concerns about the status and use of the Norwegian language in higher education. Research on English as a medium of instruction in higher education in Scandinavia has examined the language policies of higher education institutions (Björkman, 2015), and how English is used in higher education (Kuteeva and Airey, 2014). However, research is lacking on how students perceive and experience the use of English in higher education, particularly in Norway. This thesis contributes to filling that gap by examining the perceptions, and experiences, of students at the University of Oslo (UiO) regarding the use of English and multilingualism at the university. This study explores the multiple factors that could affect students’ experiences and perceptions by asking: a) How do students experience the use of English and Norwegian in their studies?; b) To what extent do students express challenges with using English or Norwegian in higher education?; c) How do students view the overall roles of English and Norwegian in higher education?; d) What perspectives do students express about balancing the use of English and Norwegian in higher education?

Students’ perspectives were collected through an online survey followed by semi-structured interviews with a selection of students from different faculties and levels. Theories of language domains and domain loss (Fishman, 1972; Haberland, 2005), language and symbolic power, and linguistic capital (Bourdieu, 1991) are applied to understand students’ perspectives on the use of different languages in higher education. This study finds that most students actively draw on their linguistic repertoires and employ a range of different multilingual practices to aid their understanding of content. Challenges relating to modality tend to be individual to students, however, the biggest challenge reported by the vast majority is the lack of Norwegian terminology or issues with not understanding the relationship between Norwegian translations of English terminology. In terms of how students perceived the role and balance of English and Norwegian, many believe that English plays a vital role in international accessibility both for students and institutions, but a significant proportion discussed how Norwegian should be given more space for a variety of reasons, including the societal obligation higher education has for information dissemination to the general public.

This study uses a mixed methods approach with a focus on qualitative data. First, an online survey was used to collect input from a large group of students across fields and degree programs. The survey collected background information, including study programme and amount of English teaching, and English texts assigned. The survey also included student self-reported English skills, Likert scale questions to collect opinions and perceptions about language use at the university, and open-ended questions so that respondents could share experiences relating to language in higher education. They online survey was available in both English and Norwegian, enabling students to choose which language they understand best and would be most comfortable answering in. The survey collected 144 responses in total from across 6 Faculties. Responses were collected from both BA and MA students. Survey data was analysed to identify trends and variation across Faculties and programs. In addition to the survey, semi-structured interviews with a selection of participants were used in order to gain a deeper understanding of student experiences and opinions. The interviews used the data from the surveys as a starting point to build on issues emerging in the survey. A total of six interviews were conducted, and participants were selected from the list of survey respondents ensuring participants from a range of different areas of study and study levels were interviewed. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. The interview data was then analysed using pre-established themes linked to the conceptual framework as well as emergent themes that were developed from the data.

This study finds that most students actively draw on their linguistic repertoires and employ a range of different multilingual practices to aid their understanding of content. Challenges relating to modality tend to be individual to students, however, the biggest challenge reported by the vast majority is the lack of Norwegian terminology or issues with not understanding the relationship between Norwegian translations of English terminology. In terms of how students perceived the role and balance of English and Norwegian, many believe that English plays a vital role in international accessibility both for students and institutions, but a significant proportion discussed how Norwegian should be given more space for a variety of reasons, including the societal obligation higher education has for information dissemination to the general public.

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