A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Language Perceptions and Practices in Multilingual Universities

  2020. .

  Book (ed)

  • Critically assesses ideologies and discourses of protecting national language(s) in relation to the multilingual realities of higher education
  • Focuses on the tensions between standardisation and variation in language norms and practices across the multilingual university
  • Explores language perceptions in relation to the use of linguistic repertoires by students and researchers for learning and for professional purposes

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• Revisiting the 'E' in EMI

  2020. Maria Kuteeva. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 23, 287-300

  Article

  Conceptualizations of English as standard, as a lingua franca, or as part of translingual practice form part of the discourses surrounding its use in EMI. While researchers generally agree that the 'E' in EMI should not stand for native varieties of standard English, the stakeholders' perceptions of English call for further research. This paper addresses this gap by examining students' conceptualizations of English in an EMI programme at a Swedish university. Drawing on interview data collected from local and international students, the analysis focuses on students' conceptualizations of English in connection to their positionings. The analysis shows that all three above-mentioned conceptualizations are present. The tensions in the students' conceptualizations of English and positionings point towards issues related to power relations, group dynamics, social integration, and learning. The analysis shows that translingual practices in EMI contexts are not always associated with empowering the students by allowing them to resort to their L1s to fill gaps in their English. Translanguaging can also function as a mechanism of exclusion and reinforcement of language standards by a group of 'elite' translinguals. The idea of what is acceptable English in EMI is not static and can move along the standard - non-standard continuum.

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• Digital academic discourse: Texts and contexts

  2018. Maria Kuteeva, Anna Mauranen. Discourse, Context & Media 24, 1-7

  Article

  This Special Issue focuses on how digital media – blogs, tweets, and other digital platforms – are used by researchers, and how these new modes of academic communication have impacted writing practices and language uses in the academy. It brings together research in two related areas of scholarship: academic discourse analysis and literacies research. In this introductory article, we first outline the concept of digital academic discourse as we perceive it in the context of our Special Issue and show how it is related to, and at the same time different from, its “analogue” predecessor. We then continue to discuss the practices surrounding the production of academic texts with the support of digital media, followed by an outline of how both digital academic discourse and related writing practices are tied to the networks, communities and spaces in which they take place. Next, methodological issues in the study of digital academic discourse are considered, and the articles in this special issue are presented in connection to the themes outlined above. We conclude by contextualising the studies reported here within current trends in discourse analytical and sociolinguistic research and identify venues for future studies.

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• Tension-filled English at the multilingual university: A Bakhtinian perspective

  2023. Maria Kuteeva.

  Book

  This book begins with the idea that English in the multilingual university is filled with and surrounded by tensions, from the renegotiation and bending of language norms to the emotional strain of the increasing use of English. It explores how these tensions are experienced by those who find themselves in multilingual university settings outside the anglophone world and use English in their research or education. The author examines the use of English in multiple domains in Swedish universities, progressing from macro perspectives on language policies to in-depth qualitative studies of individuals. The book presents both a synthesis of recent scholarship on the use of language in multilingual universities and the author's own empirical findings, which are situated in a theoretical framework based on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin. The book offers the reader a novel way of tracing the links between language perceptions and practices on the ground, and the forces and processes which govern these practices.

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• Diversity and Standards in Writing for Publication in the Age of AI—Between a Rock and a Hard Place 

  2024. Maria Kuteeva, Marta Andersson. Applied Linguistics 45 (3), 561-567

  Article

  Research communities across disciplines recognize the need to diversify and decolonize knowledge. While artificial intelligence-supported large language models (LLMs) can help with access to knowledge generated in the Global North and demystify publication practices, they are still biased toward dominant norms and knowledge paradigms. LLMs lack agency, metacognition, knowledge of the local context, and understanding of how the human language works. These limitations raise doubts regarding their ability to develop the kind of rhetorical flexibility that is necessary for adapting writing to ever-changing contexts and demands. Thus, LLMs are likely to drive both language use and knowledge construction towards homogeneity and uniformity, reproducing already existing biases and structural inequalities. Since their output is based on shallow statistical associations, what these models are unable to achieve to the same extent as humans is linguistic creativity, particularly across languages, registers, and styles. This is the area where key stakeholders in academic publishing—authors, reviewers, and editors—have the upper hand, as our applied linguistics community strives to increase multilingual practices in knowledge production.

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• Knowledge flows and languages of publication: English as a bridge and a fence in international knowledge exchanges

  2023. Maria Kuteeva. Journal of English for Research Publication Purposes 4 (1), 80-93

  Article

  Ongoing debates in the humanities and social sciences concern different ways in which knowledge is viewed and constructed. As the main language of academic publication, English features prominently in these debates. In this Perspectives piece, I discuss how knowledge flows and language uses are intertwined, and how English serves both as a bridge and a fence in the context of international knowledge exchanges. In particular, the tensions around English and multilingualism, as well as variability within English, are discussed in connection with language policies, editorial practices, and structural inequalities. I conclude by considering the role of institutional structures vis-à-vis individual authors, peer reviewers, and editors, and offer a few suggestions on how to address the limitations of centripetal English-medium publishing. 

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• Disciplinary differences in the use of English in higher education: Reflections on recent language policy developments

  2014. Maria Kuteeva, John Airey. Higher Education 67 (5), 533-549

  Article

  In post-Bologna Europe, there has been a noticeable increase in English-medium instruction. In this article we take the case of Sweden as an illustrative example of the wider disciplinary issues involved in changing the teaching language in this way. By 2008 the use of English in Swedish higher education had risen to such an extent that it had to be regulated at the governmental level and through university language policies. Such policies have attempted to provide generalised pragmatic guidelines for language use across educational programmes. In this paper we argue that such general policies fail to take into consideration fundamental disciplinary differences and their potential impact on language use. We present a theoretical argument about the knowledge structures of disciplines, relating these to the disciplinary literacy goals of educational programmes. We then illustrate our argument using data from an extensive survey carried out at a major Swedish university. We conclude that the disciplinary variation in the use of English can be seen as a product of different knowledge-making practices and educational goals. This conclusion problematises “one-size-fits-all” language policies which only deal with general features of language use and do not allow for discipline-specific adjustments.

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• Graduate students' genre knowledge and perceived disciplinary practices: Creating a research space across disciplines

  2016. Maria Kuteeva, Raffaella Negretti. English for specific purposes (New York, N.Y.) 41, 36-49

  Article

  Disciplinary differences in academic writing have been addressed in applied linguistics from multiple perspectives. This article focuses on the rhetorical strategies used by multilingual graduate students from the sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities to create a research space in academic introductions. Adopting an in-depth qualitative approach, we draw on three data sources: graduate learners' analyses of model texts, their reflections on their own writing strategies, and a textual analysis of their introductions, to better understand how genre knowledge is connected to perceived disciplinary practices. Our findings indicate that the students' formal and rhetorical knowledge of genre is linked to their perception of knowledge-making practices in their respective disciplines. We discuss pedagogical implications for EAP professionals working with students from different disciplines in multilingual contexts.

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Show all publications by Maria Kuteeva at Stockholm University