China and Nepal: EMI and Social Justice

Language is one of the critical factors in various aspects of life and, therefore, provides a vantage point through which to examine social justice issues. Education is home to various intersections of language and social justice because all forms of education are mediated through languages, which determine learners’ participation in educational activities. Using a language other than children’s mother tongue may expose them to injustice. However, it should be noted that social justice is a contested and elusive concept associated with various root causes. Our analysis of language ideologies, language management policies, and language practices related to mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) and EMI in Nepal and People’s Republic of China shows that multiple factors (i.e., availability of educational resources, teachers’ linguistic and professional competence, community ideology, and economic viability of a particular language) mediate the link between languages and social justice in an educational context. While an impromptu transition to EMI without considering these mediating factors is sure to expose students to injustice, the same applies to MTB-MLE. In the context of Nepal and the People’s Republic of China, although raising people’s awareness of the negative impacts of ad hoc transition to EMI and advocacy for multilingual education may contribute to social justice, more needs to be done to empower minority languages for social transformation and development.