The recent developments concerning the use of foreign languages in the academic world have strongly favoured English, which has become the preferred medium for international communication in many contexts. This spread of English as a lingua franca has had relevant implications for teaching and research purposes, due to the need for a common language for the development of specialised communication at a global level. This paper investigates the present globalising phenomenon in the academia, highlighting not only its recent trends but also the main problems that these recent developments have created. The first part of the paper explores the globalising effects of the use of English as a lingua franca in the world of research and the complex nature of its linguistic realisations, highlighting both homogenising and localising trends. The second part of the paper is devoted to the analysis of another phenomenon which is quite topical in the academic context at a global level, i.e. the use of English as a medium of instruction in higher education in many non-English-speaking countries. The implementation of these ‘international’ courses has opened up new opportunities for learning the English discourses relating to the specialised disciplines taught, but has also aroused dilemmas connected with language proficiency and the level of content competence acquired.

中文翻译：

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关于英语用于教学和研究目的的最新发展

有关学术界中使用外语的最新发展强烈支持英语，英语已成为在许多情况下进行国际交流的首选媒体。英语作为一种通用语言的传播对教学和研究目的产生了相关的影响，因为需要一种通用语言来在全球范围内发展专门的交流。本文研究了学术界当前的全球化现象，不仅强调了其最近的趋势，还强调了这些最近的发展所产生的主要问题。本文的第一部分探讨了英语作为研究领域中的通用语言所产生的全球化影响及其语言实现的复杂性，强调了同质化和本地化趋势。本文的第二部分致力于分析另一种现象，这种现象在全球范围内在学术界都是非常热门的话题，即在许多非英语国家/地区将英语作为高等教育的教学手段。这些“国际”课程的实施为学习与所教授的专业学科有关的英语课程开辟了新的机会，但也引起了与语言能力和所获得的内容能力水平有关的难题。