The electron emission yield due to electron impact on polycrystalline Al2O3 is measured with a technique based on the use of a Kelvin probe (KP method) and a pulsed electron beam. The KP method allows the clear discrimination between the external effects of charging and internal ones. The effect of the incident electron fluence on the yield in the region where the yield is higher than one is investigated. An overall drop of the electron emission yield with increasing the electron fluence is observed. This result is clearly associated to the internal effects of positive charging. Indeed, the recombination of the generated secondary electrons with the accumulated holes beneath the irradiated surface leads to the decrease of their mean free path and to the decay of the secondary electron emission yield. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.