Research Information System
3rd International Symposium on Social Justice in ELT , İstanbul, Turkey, 30 - 31 May 2025, pp.97, (Summary Text)
The Marketization of English Medium Instruction in Northern Cyprus: UnpackingtheUniversityIsland Idea(l) Leyla Silman-Karanfil, Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus, NorthernCyprus;kleyla@metu.edu.tr Ali Fuad Selvi, University of Alabama, USA; afselvi@ua.edu Abstract: Recently, the proliferation of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in non-Anglophonecontexts(Macaro et al., 2018), in response to the growing trend of internationalization, has garneredsignificantscholarly attention. However, its documentation in the literature is unevenly distributed, withmoreresearch focused on growth hotspots (e.g, Hong Kong, China, Turkey) than on emergingcontextssuch as Northern Cyprus. As a politically unrecognized state under international law, NorthernCyprushas strategically positioned itself as an üniversite adası (university island), where EMI servesnotonlyas a tool for internationalization but also as a major driving force for the local economyandamechanism for soft power resistance against political isolation and economic sanctions. Departingfrom this research trend, this exploratory case study (Yin, 2014) investigates the complexinterplaybetween macro-level policies and meso-level practices in Northern Cyprus's EMI-drivenhighereducation landscape, comprising 24 institutions. Utilizing Aizawa and Rose’s (2019) tripartiteframework, our findings reveal a disconnect between macro-level policy aspirations andmeso-levelimplementations, with English designated as the default medium of instruction; academicqualitycompromised in the pursuit of increasing student numbers; and inequalities heightenedbyneoliberalpolicies. We argue that such policies have contributed to both the commodification of Englishandthetransformation of a revenue-generating higher education ecosystem. Additionally, wecontendthatthese actions, if unaddressed, pose a significant threat to the long-termsustainabilityofhighereducation on the island, as well as to the “university island” mission of Northern Cyprus. Thisstudycontributes to the growing EMI literature by offering a critical perspective on emerginghighereducation EMI contexts. Keywords: English medium instruction, non-Anglophone, Northern Cyprus, higher education, macrolevel policies, meso-level practices, commodification References Aizawa, I., & Rose, H. (2019). An analysis of Japan’s English as medium of instructioninitiativeswithinhigher education: The gap between meso-level policy and micro-level practice. Higher Education, 77(6),1125–1142. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0323-5 Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Dearden, J. (2018). A systematic reviewof Englishmediuminstruction in higher education. Language Teaching, 51(1), 36–76.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444817000350 Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). SAGE.