This research project wishes to collect data on how all NTNU employees and students experience language policies and practices, and their attitudes toward the use of Norwegian and other languages.

Our aspiration is that by gathering this information, we will have a clearer idea of how languages are used at NTNU, and be able to assess language needs. We will also be able to understand attitudes toward the current language policy guidelines at NTNU, and why people choose certain languages. This information is vital to inform future language courses and policies at NTNU.

Our research project is guided by the following preliminary research question:

How do NTNU employees and students experience language policies and practices at NTNU?

We seek to answer the following research questions:

• RQ1: How do employees and students experience language practices at NTNU?
  • Sub RQ1:  What are the language repertoires of NTNU employees and students?
  • Sub RQ2: What is the distribution of various languages in teaching, working, and researching at NTNU?
• RQ2: What are NTNU employee and student attitudes toward parallel language use?
  • Sub RQ1: How do NTNU employees and students understand parallel language use?
  • Sub RQ2: How do NTNU employees and students report the balance of English and Norwegian in their work/studies?
• RQ 3: How do NTNU employees and students experience the current language policy guidelines?
  • Sub RQ1: What knowledge do NTNU employees and students have about the current language policy guidelines (enforced in January 2023)?
  • Sub RQ2: To what degree do NTNU employees and students feel aligned with the current language policy guidelines?

Our research design is multiphase mixed methods. The first phase was an online questionnaire distributed to all employees and students in October, 2023. The questionnaire consisted of 56 items with both open and closed questions. The questionnaire will be analyzed quantitatively (descriptive statistics in SPSS) and qualitatively (content analysis).

The next phase, in 2024, will consist of semi-structured interviews with up to 20 employees and students who consented to follow-up interviews during the questionnaire. We will ask them more in-depth questions about their attitudes and language experiences. The interviews will be analyzed qualitatively through thematic analysis.