Translingual practices at a Shanghai university

The present study examines translingual practices among students enrolled in international English-medium instruction (EMI) Master's degree programmes in a top-rated comprehensive university in Shanghai, China. Ethnographic observations across urban/institutional spaces and social media as well as in-depth student interviews converge to reveal that while English has been used as a lingua franca for disciplinary teaching, learning, and navigation of everyday life, students have been engaged in translingual practices (1) to understand and create meaning out of intercultural experiences in the cosmopolitan city of Shanghai, and (2) to negotiate epistemic frameworks as contextualized in both the institutional student management setting and the global politics of discipline-specific knowledge production. This article is hence aimed at expanding the scope of translingual research to include critical inquiry into the role of English as a lingua franca in students’ transcultural/trans-epistemic experiences in EMI programmes in the context of internationalization of higher education. Copyright © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.