The role of language in career development and inclusion in Norwegian academia

Abstract

This study reports responses from international staff in a Norwegian university to questions about language choices in the workplace and their impact. It explores what types of tasks are conducted in Norwegian and English, respectively, and the effect participants perceived language ability to have on their career opportunities and sense of inclusion in the workplace. We collected data from 313 international academic staff using an online survey; 114 were permanent and 199 were temporary staff. Findings indicate a division of labour where some tasks like teaching and research were commonly conducted in English while organizational tasks and higher-level staff meetings were mostly conducted in Norwegian. Almost all participants reported seeing Norwegian as vital for career progression and leadership opportunities. Many staff reported feeling limited in their opportunities for career development, participation in decision-making in the workplace, and a feeling that language practices exclude employees with limited Norwegian proficiency. We discuss our findings in light of ideals of parallel language policies with the goal of highlighting the complexity of the situation and the danger of de facto monolingual practices excluding a significant portion of staff from important university functions.