The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World [1 ed.] 9783031306129, 9783031306136

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Second Language Learning and Teaching

Carol Griffiths   Editor

The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World

Second Language Learning and Teaching Series Editor Mirosław Pawlak, Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland

The series brings together volumes dealing with different aspects of learning and teaching second and foreign languages. The titles included are both monographs and edited collections focusing on a variety of topics ranging from the processes underlying second language acquisition, through various aspects of language learning in instructed and non-instructed settings, to different facets of the teaching process, including syllabus choice, materials design, classroom practices and evaluation. The publications reflect state-of-the-art developments in those areas, they adopt a wide range of theoretical perspectives and follow diverse research paradigms. The intended audience are all those who are interested in naturalistic and classroom second language acquisition, including researchers, methodologists, curriculum and materials designers, teachers and undergraduate and graduate students undertaking empirical investigations of how second languages are learnt and taught.

Carol Griffiths Editor

The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World

Editor Carol Griffiths Girne American University Kyrenia, Cyprus

ISSN 2193-7648 ISSN 2193-7656 (electronic) Second Language Learning and Teaching ISBN 978-3-031-30612-9 ISBN 978-3-031-30613-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Foreword

Growth in English Medium Instruction (EMI) in higher education around the globe is exponential (Galloway, 2023). The internationalisation of higher education has become synonymous with the Englishisation of higher education. English as a global language is invariably linked to internationalisation and modernisation agendas and universities achieving high rankings. I am delighted to write this forward for this volume exploring the growing phenomenon of EMI. Despite being a global phenomenon, EMI is highly context-specific. Both the driving forces behind, and approaches to, EMI policy implementation vary around the world (see Curle et al., 2020; Galloway et al., 2017 for overviews). This valuable contribution to the field illuminates this in various settings, including Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, Northern and Central Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, East Asia, South Asia, and the Nordic/Baltic region. Growth of EMI was initially seen in Europe; however, recent years have seen significant growth in top-down EMI policy initiatives further afield in different socio-historic, cultural, and educational contexts. In many newer, and emerging, EMI contexts, EMI is often conceptualised as a pedagogical approach or a way to improve English proficiency (Galloway et al., 2017). This is not explicitly stated in policies, or curriculum guidelines (when they exist). This differentiates EMI, by definition at least, from CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), which has an explicitly stated aim of teaching both content and English. Authors in this volume highlight the differing reasons behind this policy, as well as terminological issues. The chapters also highlight the distinct approaches, as well as context-specific challenges to successful and sustainable policy implementation. This “learn English through English” ideology, prevalent in many contexts in the book, purports a belief/myth that simply switching to teaching university degree subjects through the medium of English will magically improve students’ English proficiency, even in programs where entrance requirements are ambiguous and no academic and language support is provided. There is a belief that EMI is a magical solution and that upon graduation, students will be skilled in both their subject area and in the English language. This, in turn, is seen as being advantageous for the development and competitiveness of the v

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nation. This English-only ideology, or myth in learning English through English, is also often shared by the students. In some contexts, students cite English proficiency goals as their main reason for enrolling (Galloway et al., 2017; Galloway and Sahan, 2021). This, of course, has implications for the goals of the program and the wider curriculum, including language and academic support. The chapters in this volume explore these top-down and bottom-up initiatives in varied EMI contexts showcasing the context-specific nature of EMI, as well as the need for context-specific research. For some institutions, and countries, EMI is seen as an important way to attract international students and generate income. In multilingual settings, English may be perceived as a neutral lingua franca. Some institutions see the need for English to remain competitive in university rankings. Some subject areas and teachers may adopt EMI due to the availability of teaching materials (Galloway & Rose, 2022; Jiang et al., 2019; Lasagabaster, 2022). Most academic outputs are published in English and, therefore, there is an expectation that academics should engage with, and publish in, English. There are certainly many perceived benefits of EMI (see Galloway et al., 2017). At the national level, EMI is perceived as meeting the need for an “internationalised” English-speaking workforce with graduates competent in both their respective disciplines and the English (i.e., ESP) language; at the institutional level, it is perceived as meeting the need for a more “internationalised” education, and at the individual level, it meets the students’ desire to enhance their skills. Research, however, remains scarce on whether EMI programs are, in fact, meeting these needs at the macro (national), meso (institutional), and micro (student) levels (see McKinley & Galloway, 2022, on EMI practices at these three levels in different international contexts). It is also not so straightforward to differentiate between national, institutional, and individual needs. As noted, driving forces vary across the globe and interpretations and conceptualisations of EMI also vary. Students may enrol to improve their English, while content professors may see the goal of the program as being the acquisition of subject knowledge (Galloway et al., 2017). This has also resulted in differing “models” of EMI (see Richards & Pun, 2021) as well as different models of providing academic and language support. All authors in this volume provide an in-depth overview of their respective contexts, providing readers with key insights into the various EMI settings. The empirical studies also respond to calls for more research to explore this growing global phenomenon. EMI provision continues to outpace research, yet EMI is certainly a flourishing field of study, now with its own journals, special issues in leading journals, full-length books, and research networks (See ELINET: Education, Language and Internationalisation Network elinet.org.uk; and Oxford EMI Research Group: www.emi.net work). This growing body of research reports on a number of challenges to EMI policy implementation (see Curle et al., 2020 for an overview). Once again, they are context-specific but include reports of a lack of academic and language support classes, collaboration between content and language teachers, and overall teacher training, both for the EMI content practitioner and for the ELT practitioner who increasingly find themselves teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses for EMI students (Galloway & Rose, 2022). The chapters in this book respond to the need to address the continued top-down implementation of EMI policy that lacks an

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evidence base. This is even more pressing given the links between EMI and English language proficiency goals in certain contexts, particularly given the lack of research into English proficiency gains, as well as how to support students to successfully study through the medium of English. The authors all use the same instrument in their studies allowing readers to draw comparisons across these contexts. Authors in each chapter also discuss the implications of their studies, offering suggestions for further research, teaching practice, teacher training, and policy implementation. With the continued globalisation of the English language and the role of English as the world’s dominant lingua Franca, EMI is a trend that will likely continue to grow in the foreseeable future. I believe that this book will help teachers, both those delivering content and those working on language support programs, to understand the needs of various stakeholders and the background of EMI policy in their respective contexts. The inclusion of empirical research will also be of interest to students, researchers, policymakers, and curriculum developers. The chapters provide a wealth of information for those considering how to address the challenges that EMI presents and for those wishing to conduct research in this growing field. The research design of each study and data analysis is also described in detail to facilitate replication studies and add to the growing evidence based on the reasons behind, approaches to, and attitudes towards, EMI policy across the globe. Nicola Galloway University of Glasgow Scotland, UK [email protected]

References Curle, S., Jablonkai, R. R., Mittelmeier, J., Sahan, K., & Veitch, A. (2020). English medium Part 1: Literature review. In N. Galloway. (Ed.), English in Higher Education. British Council. Galloway, N. (2023). Foreword. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. v–viii). Springer. Galloway, N., Kriukow, J., & Numajiri, T. (2017). Internationalisation, higher education and the growing demand for English: An investigation into the English medium of instruction (EMI) movement in China and Japan. The British Council. Galloway, N., & Rose, H. (2022). Cross-fertilisation, not bifurcation, of EMI and EAP. Point and Counterpoint. ELT Journal, 1–9. Galloway, N., & Sahan, K. (2021). The growing global phenomenon of English Medium of Instruction (EMI) in higher education in Southeast Asia: policy, perceptions and quality assurance. The British Council. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/4143_Navig8_EME_ HE_Thailand_Vietnam.pdf Jiang, L., Zhang, L. J., & May, S. (2019). Implementing English-Medium Instruction (EMI) in China: teachers’ practices and perceptions, and students’ learning motivation and needs. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(2), 107–119. https://doi.org/10. 1080/13670050.2016.1231166 Lasagabaster, D. (2022). Teacher preparedness for English-medium instruction. Journal of EnglishMedium Instruction, 1(1), 48–64. https://doi.org/10.1075/jemi.21011.las

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McKinley, J., & Galloway, N. (Eds.) (2022). English Medium Instruction (EMI) in higher education in practice. Bloomsbury. Richards, J., & Pun, J. (2021). A typology of English-medium instruction. RELC Journal, 51(1), 36–76. Nicola Galloway is Publications Lead, Senior Lecturer and Program Director in Education (TESOL) at the University of Glasgow. She has extensive experience researching EMI and consulting for the British Council and The University of Tokyo in the subject area. She has authored seven books, including two on EMI (edited volume and an upcoming textbook), and has published EMI research in British Council reports, The Higher Education Journal, the EAP Journal and The ELT Journal. She has developed three MOOCs on EMI (two in Japan and one in Indonesia) and coordinates an international EMI network (www.elinet.org.uk).

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carol Griffiths

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The Practice of EMI Around the World: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carol Griffiths

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EMI in Sub-Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carisma Nel and Medadi E. Ssentanda

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EMI in the Middle East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yasemin Kırkgöz, Muhammed Emin Yüksel, and Hamide Aslantürk

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EMI in North Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amira Salama

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EMI in Western and Southern Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zoe Gavriilidou and Lydia Mitits

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EMI in Central Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anas Hajar, Yelena Babeshko, and Juldyz Smagulova

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EMI in South-East Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Fenty Lidya Siregar, Robbie Lee Sabnani, and Thuy Dinh EMI in Latin America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Loreto Aliaga Salas and Gonzalo Pérez Andrade EMI in Central and Eastern Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Mirosław Pawlak and Katarzyna Papaja EMI in East Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Aiko Sano, Yongyan Zheng, and Carol Griffiths EMI in South Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Amol Padwad, Harsha Wijeskera, Prem Phyak, Syed Manan, and Naashia Mohamed

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EMI in the Nordic and Baltic Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Kenan Dikilita¸s and Carol Griffiths The Practice of EMI Around the World: A Metaview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Izzettin Kök

Editor and Contributors

About the Editor Carol Griffiths has been a teacher, manager, and teacher trainer of ELT for many years. She has taught in many places around the world, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, China, North Korea, Turkey, and the UK. She is currently working as Professor for Girne American University in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. She has presented at numerous conferences and published widely, including The Strategy Factor in Successful Language Learning. Language learning strategies, intake, EMI, ELF, burnout, individual differences, and using literature to teach language are her major areas of research interest.

Contributors Loreto Aliaga Salas University of Leeds, Leeds, UK Hamide Aslantürk Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey Yelena Babeshko KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan Kenan Dikilita¸s University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway Thuy Dinh Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia Zoe Gavriilidou Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece Carol Griffiths Girne American University, Kyrenia, Cyprus Anas Hajar Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan Izzettin Kök Girne American University, Kyrenia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

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Yasemin Kırkgöz Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey Syed Manan Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan (Astana), Kazakhstan Lydia Mitits Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece Naashia Mohamed The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Carisma Nel Faculty of Education, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa Amol Padwad Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, Delhi, India Katarzyna Papaja Institute of Linguistics, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland Mirosław Pawlak Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland; University of Applied Sciences, Konin, Poland Gonzalo Pérez Andrade London Metropolitan University, London, UK Prem Phyak The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR Robbie Lee Sabnani National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore Amira Salama Nile University, Giza, Egypt Aiko Sano Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan Fenty Lidya Siregar Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Bandung, Indonesia Juldyz Smagulova KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan Medadi E. Ssentanda Department of African Languages, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda Harsha Wijeskera Open University of Sri Lanka, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka Muhammed Emin Yüksel Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey Yongyan Zheng College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Abbreviations

CBI CLIL EMI L+ L1 NES NNES TL

Content-based instruction Content and language integrated learning English as a medium of instruction Additional language First language Native-English-speaker/speaking Non-native-English-speaker/speaking Target language

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Introduction Carol Griffiths

This edited volume presents 11 papers reporting the existing literature and the results of original studies focusing on English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in a particular area (central and eastern Europe, western and southern Europe, The Nordic and Baltic states, central Asia, the Middle East, east Asia, southeast Asia, north Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Asian sub-continent, and Latin America) (Griffiths, 2023). Each of these different areas tends to have its own ways of dealing with the EMI issue, and these are brought together in a meta-analysis in the final chapter. Implications for the conduct of English as a medium of instruction are drawn, both on a chapter-by-chapter basis and also in the meta-analysis. The examination of EMI on a contextual basis is a unique feature of this book, setting it apart from others in the field, which almost all deal with a single or limited context. English as a medium of instruction (EMI) has become extremely popular all over the world. The underlying rationale is that, rather than “wasting time” learning language, students can “pick up” the language at the same time that they are working on something which will further their career and/or financial prospects, in which they are more interested, which more closely matches their future visions of themselves, and for which they are likely to be more motivated (e.g., business, medicine, tourism, etc.) This sounds admirable. But does it work? In fact, although EMI is extremely popular and widespread, there is actually remarkably little research into how effective it is, what problems there may be, and how any problems need to be addressed. This book aims to address this lacuna by gathering information and research from many different places where EMI is practised, by conducting an original study on the subject, and attempting to draw C. Griffiths (B) Girne American University, Kyrenia, Cyprus e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_1

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conclusions about how EMI issues should be dealt with from both students’ and teachers’ perspectives.

1 Aims of the Book This book aims: • To be theoretically sound. • To consider the definition of EMI and similarities and differences with other closely related concepts (especially CBI and CLIL). • To provide a thorough review of the EMI literature. • To be evidence-based—each chapter contains an original study to provide evidence for the statements made in the chapter. • To facilitate replication—studies are described in detail so that others can follow up. • To be reader-friendly. • To include a variety of contexts where EMI is practised (e.g., Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, central/south America, the Indian sub-continent).

2 Methodology Each chapter begins with a thorough review of the existing literature followed by a report of the results of a small-scale qualitative study, and attempts to draw conclusions for the region dealt with in the chapter. These conclusions are then drawn together in the final chapter of the book. The participants chosen for the study are studying or teaching content such as maths, science, business, history etc. In other words, they are not actually studying or teaching English, which is the medium of instruction rather than the content. The instrument for the study is an open-ended questionnaire (all chapters use the same instrument so that results can be compared across regions). There are separate questionnaires for teachers and students. For students: QUESTION Why did you choose to study in an EMI environment What are the advantages of studying in this environment? What are the difficulties? Do you have any recommendations for addressing the difficulties?

For teachers:

COMMENT

Introduction QUESTION

3 COMMENT

Why did you choose to work in an EMI environment What are the advantages of teaching in this environment? What are the difficulties? Do you have any recommendations for addressing the difficulties?

3 Organisation of the Book Each chapter includes (within about 7,000–8,000 words): 1) 2) 3)

a definition of EMI as it applies to the particular region; a review of the literature pertaining to the region; details of the study (participants, data collection and analysis procedures, ethical issues, etc.); 4) results; 5) discussion; 6) implications; 7) suggestions for further research; 8) conclusion; 9) references (APA 7); 10) appendix/ces (if any). The editor (Carol Griffiths) provides an initial overview chapter for the book. In this chapter, the issue of definition is discussed and comparisons made with similar concepts (especially CBI and CLIL). Most books or articles on the topic of EMI deal with a limited range of locations. The fact is, however, that attitudes towards English and attitudes towards the practice of EMI vary considerably according to factors such as geographical location, historical background, wealth and ideology (e.g., political, religious). For Sub-Saharan Africa, a brief definition and historical overview of medium of instruction development is provided as well as an overview of the language of instruction policies of selected SSA countries and how language of instruction policies manifest in teacher training. The chapter draws on systematic reviews and scholarly research done within SSA contexts to highlight the English Medium of Instruction (EMI) debates in higher education as well as in the schooling sector. A multi-site case study conducted to further explore EMI issues in SSA is also reported. The trend towards EMI has also been observed in the Middle East. This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the studies related to the EMI policies of Middle East countries by referring to the perceptions of lecturers and students on the use of EMI. A study was also conducted in a state university within the Turkish context in order to crosscheck the local and regional findings. In addition,

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a discussion of the perceptions of lecturers and students, the perceived challenges, and recommended strategies to overcome challenges is presented. The north African region has witnessed rapid changes in EMI implementation in the last two decades due to belief that English is the international language and that EMI instruction would improve students’ English proficiency and provide them with better opportunities in today’s competitive job market. However, this rapid EMI adoption in many cases has not been grounded in theory or successful pedagogical practice, and empirical research that provides evidence of EMI effectiveness in this context is still lacking. Thus, this chapter presents a study conducted in one Egyptian university to examine teachers’ and students’ views of its significance and success. Some countries in western and southern Europe have a long tradition in EMI (e.g., Italy, Spain, France) but there are also less researched countries (e.g., Croatia, Serbia, northern Macedonia). This chapter offers a systematic overview of the literature on EMI in the area followed by a small-scale qualitative case study of EMI practices in Greek public universities. The authors suggest some preliminary conclusions for the region and propose ideas for further research in the field. Central Asia includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The study conducted in Kazakhstan reported in this chapter found that most students indicated that although it was their parents’ decision to send them to an EMI school, they gradually realised that studying at this school supported their identity formation as users of English and helped them visualise their ideal end state, relating to professional, intercultural and academic gains. The teachers also valued working in an EMI environment with highly-motivated, talented students and helping them achieve their desired future selves. EMI has been increasingly popular in southeast Asia. The study reported in this chapter focused on the Indonesian Higher Education context to investigate EMI students’ and lecturers’ perceptions and practices. It was found that policies at their institutions explicitly and implicitly reflect the compulsory use of English, the challenges in teaching and learning using EMI in both online and face-to-face contexts and the strategies to overcome those challenges which are diverse and contextspecific. The results highlight the need for professional development on EMI to equip teachers with approaches to teaching effectively in English. Although EMI in Latin American is recent and limited, there is evidence of a growing interest in implementing this approach in these countries. Through openended questionnaires, participants report on their experiences in EMI courses, their opportunities and challenges, and how they address potential difficulties. While both teachers and students regard EMI as an approach that boosts opportunities for mobility and collaboration, its implementation may be negatively affected by students’ low English proficiency. The authors also conclude that further support for teacher education is needed. ˙In this volume, central and eastern Europe includes Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine. The first part of this chapter addresses contextual issues, and selected policies and research findings

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are briefly overviewed. The second part is devoted to the presentation of a study that explored the perceptions of EMI among university students and teachers in Poland. East Asia covers a very large area, and includes a large and diverse population. This chapter reviews the EMI situation in this context and presents an original study conducted in Japan. This is then examined for its broader implications for east Asia. Results of the Japanese study indicate that students select EMI courses to improve their English and employability. The most frequent response from teachers to the same question was that they did not “choose” EMI—it was mandated by their institution. Numerous difficulties are identified, and recommendations for dealing with difficulties suggested. South Asia includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Although they share many cultural, social and historical commonalities, these countries also exhibit unique characteristics, which are reflected in the EMI scenario in these countries. Two small-scale studies from India and Sri Lanka on perspectives of teachers and students regarding EMI are presented along with key insights and implications. Currently available literature for the Nordic (including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and ˙Iceland) and Baltic states (including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) with regard to the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is reviewed, and a small scale study carried out among both teachers and students at a Norwegian university is then reported. The study investigated reasons for choosing to work or study in an EMI environment, perceived advantages and disadvantages, and suggestions for dealing with the disadvantages. ˙Implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions made for further research. The book concludes with a metaview which looks at and compares the findings of the various regions.

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4 Who Is This Book For? Those who might find this book useful include: • Policy makers—since there has so far been so little done to address the realities of the EMI classroom from both students’ and teachers’ points of view, this book provides insights into these realities for those responsible for implementing educational policies. • Institutional heads—these might include HODs, Deans, and so on right up to the top level of the institution to help inform sound decision-making. • Graduate students and their teachers—this book provides a large bank of wideranging information and evidence which can be used to inform teachers and their students, especially at post-graduate level. • Thesis writers and researchers—the book provides a valuable source of information on the EMI phenomenon and suggestions for further research which could be especially useful for thesis writers from a wide range of locations around the world.

Reference ˙ C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of Griffiths, C. (2023). Introduction. In instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 1–6). Springer.

Carol Griffiths has been a teacher, manager and teacher trainer of ELT for many years. She has taught in many places around the world, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, China, North Korea, Turkey and UK. She is currently working as Professor for Girne American University in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. She has presented at numerous conferences and published widely, including The Strategy Factor in Successful Language Learning. Language learning strategies, intake, EMI, ELF, burnout, individual differences and using literature to teach language are her major areas of research interest.

The Practice of EMI Around the World: An Overview Carol Griffiths

1 Introduction English as a medium of instruction, commonly known by the acronym EMI, is one of the most controversial topics in contemporary applied linguistics. It is an elusive term (Macaro, 2018). Important questions clamour for answers: • What does EMI mean? • How does it relate to other terms such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and Content-Based Instruction (CBI)? • Why do non-English speaking contexts want to employ EMI? • Does EMI help to develop English language competence? • How does EMI affect content knowledge? • How does EMI affect local languages and cultures? • What are students’ and teachers’ perceptions of EMI?

2 Terminology Adding to the controversy regarding EMI is the existence of several similar and sometimes overlapping terms, especially CL˙IL (Content and Language ˙Integrated Learning) and CB˙I (Content-Based ˙Instruction). CLIL is usually referred to as being dual-focused, that is, students are given instruction in both language and content, as the name suggests (e.g., Bower et al., 2020; Coyle et al., 2010). CLIL is a term more commonly, but not exclusively, used C. Griffiths (B) Girne American University, Kyrenia, Cyprus e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_2

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at pre-tertiary level. It is also a term which does not specifically limit itself to English (there are CLIL schools in French and German in Turkey, for instance), although it is probably most commonly used in relation to English. CBI is based on the premise that language will be acquired naturally and without effort if it is embedded in content which is intrinsically motivating (e.g., Cammarata et al., 2016; Snow & Brinton, 2019). This might include science, geographical locations, pop stars, or whatever it is that interests the students. The term is most commonly used in north America. EMI simply means that the course is being taught in English. This might, of course, include native-English-speaking (NES) locations (e.g., UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand) or non-native-English-speaking (NNES) environments. In practice, however, the term EMI is usually taken to refer to locations where English is not generally spoken in the local environment (e.g., Macaro et al., 2018), such as much of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. EMI does not typically include language instruction, since students are usually assumed to already be at a level of proficiency adequate for understanding the course content and completing the necessary assignments, and the term is most commonly used at tertiary level. But none of the above is set in stone, and these terms are frequently used interchangeably, variably and various other similar term are sometimes introduced. Not only that, but the terms are often used differently in different places (Richards & Pun, 2021). We cannot assume, for instance, that these terms as used, for instance in Uganda, Poland or Nepal have the same meaning as the terms as used in Chile, Turkey or Indonesia. Varying terminology is one of the issues this book tries to address.

3 Why EMI? It is easy to understand why courses (such as business, tourism, computer studies, maths, science, etc.) would be taught in English in native-English-speaking environments such as UK, USA, Australia or New Zealand. Indeed, the very reason why thousands of non-English-speaking students sign up for these courses in such places is that they see it as an opportunity for exposure to the language at the same time as furthering their knowledge of their subject areas. In addition, the teachers in native-English-speaking environments are likely to be native speakers themselves. We can even understand the EMI phenomenon in places which have a historical connection to Britain (typically post-colonial environments such as India, Hong Kong, Zambia, etc.). Historically, education (especially higher education) was often conducted in such places in English, the education system was often set up on a British model, and this has often continued into the present. But it is harder to understand why countries where English is not the language generally spoken in the environment, or where it is has never been historically important, would want to employ English as the medium of instruction. Su and Cheung (2021) list seven possible reasons:

The Practice of EMI Around the World: An Overview

• • • • • • •

9

the desire to raise the international profile; The desire to attract foreign students; the desire to increase international mobility; the desire to contribute to a future work force; the desire to gain access to academic resources where English is the lingua franca; the desire to enhance intercultural competence; the desire to improve domestic students’ English proficiency.

Dearden and Macaro (2016) note two salient reasons: • the desire for internationalization and creating a global profile; • the desire to attract international students and the revenue that they bring. According to Guarda (2021), local students often see EMI as a relatively costeffective way of improving English language proficiency without having to undertake expensive study abroad and while maintaining family connections. In other words, although writers such as Phillipson (1992) and Canagarajah (1999) have long been warning of the dangers of “linguistic imperialism”, and Coleman (2006) noted the increased adoption of EMI with “increasing concern” (p. 1), as Soruç and Griffiths (2018) put it, “Rightly or wrongly, in terms of current realities, English would seem to be firmly established as the language in which the world does business, interacts socially, travels, and entertains itself. Increasingly also, English is the language which is used for educational purposes” (p. 38). According to Macaro (2018), although there are concerns, this trend to EMI expansion is showing no signs of slowing down.

4 Challenges of EMI But these realities are not without their challenges. Of these challenges, perhaps the most conspicuous is the issue of language proficiency. With respect to student proficiency levels, Yeh (2014) reports that some of the students in his study attributed their lack of success to their own low level of competence in English, and Belhiah and Elhami (2015) report that “the current EMI situation leaves much to be desired with students struggling to learn the subject matter due to their low-proficiency in English” (p. 3). Soruç and Griffiths (2018) report students struggling to cope with their subject matter because of language difficulties, and Soruç et al. (2021) also emphasise the relationship between proficiency and success in an EMI context. Because of this, although EMI programs have not typically included language instruction, increasingly authors such as Galloway and Rose (2021) and Ruegg (2021) emphasise the need to provide language support for students in EMI environments. And this difficulty does not apply only to the students (e.g., Byun et al., 2011; Pun & Thomas, 2020). Teachers may be excellent in their own subject area, but when required to deliver instruction in a foreign language in an EMI environment they understandably often struggle (e.g., Lasagabaster & Doiz, 2021), and this can

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add substantially to their stress levels (e.g., Macaro et al., 2018). Students often complain that their teachers’ level of English is a major obstacle for them (e.g., Soruç & Griffiths, 2018). Although the majority of the teachers in Kim et al.’s (2021) study had not participated in any pre-service or in-service professional development programs, in order to deal with the challenges, Sibaja (2020) emphasises the need for ongoing professional development for teachers. Breeze and Guinda (2021) provide a guide for non-native speaking teachers who are required to teach their courses in English and Lu (2020) stresses the value of teacher collaboration for providing support for EMI instruction. Concern has also been expressed that EMI may lead to attrition for the L1 (e.g., Ayçiçe˘gi-Dinn et al., 2017) and have a negative effect on local languages, cultures and identities (e.g., Selvi, 2020). Milligan and Tikly (2018) discuss the use of EMI in preference to students’ L1 as a human rights issue, while De Costa et al. (2021) frame EMI as an issue for social justice (2021). Asir (2019) reports parents’ concerns that the use of EMI affects the development of their children’s first language and cultural identity, and according to Guarda (2021) the privileged status of English in EMI strengthens already existing linguistic and cultural imperialism. Nevertheless, in spite of these challenges, EMI is “showing no signs of slowing down” (Soruç & Griffiths, 2018, p. 38). If anything, on the contrary, EMI has continued to be adopted widely (Lasagabaster, 2022), and has spread into almost every location on the planet: Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America. This is not to say, however, that EMI is manifest similarly in all of these places. On the contrary, we might wonder about the effect of geographical proximity (especially for Europe) on attitudes towards English. Historical legacy (e.g., colonial) might be another factor influencing willingness or reluctance to employ EMI. Ideology (e.g., religious or political) might be another influential factor.

5 Conclusion This book investigates the use of EMI in all of the areas noted above and examines similarities and differences. From this investigation we attempt to suggest how EMI can most usefully be defined in multiple contexts and the reasons why it is adopted, to identify the perceived advantages, to produce some recommendations for how EMI can be most beneficially employed, and how the challenges can be dealt with.

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References Asir, R. (2019). Effect of using English as a medium of instruction in primary international schools on the children’s first language and cultural identity. Studies in Literature and Language, 18(2), 15–25. Ayçiçe˘gi-Dinn, A., & S¸ ˙ISman-Bal, ¸ S., & Caldwell-Harris, C. (2017). Does attending an Englishlanguage university diminish abilities in the native language? Data from Turkey. Applied Linguistics, 38(4), 540–558. Belhiah, H., & Elhami, M. (2015). English as a medium of instruction in the Gulf: When students and teachers speak. Language Policy, 14, 3–23. Bower, K., Coyle, D., Cross, R., & Chambers, G. (Eds.). (2020). curriculum integrated language ˙ in practice. Cambridge University Press. teaching: CLIL Breeze, R., & Guinda, C. (2021). Teaching English-medium instruction courses in higher education: A guide for non-native speakers. Bloomsbury. Byun, K., Chu, H., Kim, M., Park, I., Kim, S., & Jung, J. (2011). English-medium teaching in Korean higher education: Policy debates and reality. Higher Education, 62(4), 431–449. Cammarata, L., Tedick, D., & Osborn, T. (2016). Content-based instruction and curricular reforms: Issues and goals. In L. Cammarata (Ed.), Content-based foreign language teaching (pp. 1–22). Routledge. Canagarajah, S. (1999). Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching. Oxford University Press. Coleman, J. (2006). English-medium teaching in European higher education. Language Teaching, 39(1), 1–14. Coyle, D., Hood, P., & Marsh, D. (2010). CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge University Press. Dearden, J., & Macaro, E. (2016). Higher education teachers’ attitudes towards English medium instruction: A three-country comparison. SSLLT, 6(3), 455–486. De Costa, P., Green-Eneix, C., & Li, W. (2021). Embracing diversity, inclusion, equity and access in EMI-TNHE: Towards a social justice-centered reframing of English language teaching. RELC Journal, 52(2), 227–235. Galloway, N., & Rose, H. (2021). English medium instruction and the English language practitioner. ELT Journal, 75(1), 33–41. Griffiths, C. (2023). The practice of EMI around the world: An overview. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 7–12). Springer. Guarda, M. (2021). Student perspectives on English-medium instruction: Insights from an Italian university. Routledge. Kim, E., Kweon, S., Lee, J., & Park,S. (2021). Professional development for science and engineering professors offering English-medium instruction. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/13621688211020915 Lasagabaster, D. (2022). English-Medium Instruction in Higher Education (Elements in Language Teaching). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108903493 Lasagabaster, D., & Doiz, A. (2021). Language use in English-medium instruction at university: ˙ International perspectives on teacher practice. Routledge Lu, Y. (2020, October). A case study of EMI teachers’ professional development: the impact of interdisciplinary teacher collaboration. RELC Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/003368822095 0888 Macaro, E. (2018). English medium instruction. Oxford University Press. Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Dearden, J. (2018). A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education. Language Teaching, 51(1), 36–76. Milligan, L., & Tikly, L. (2018). English as a medium of instruction in postcolonial contexts: Issues of quality, equity and social justice. Routledge. Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford University Press.

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Pun, J., & Thomas, N. (2020). English medium instruction: Teachers’ challenges and coping strategies. ELT Journal, 74(3), 247–257. Richards, J., & Pun, J. (2021). A typology of English-medium instruction. RELC Journal., 51(1), 36–76. Ruegg, R. (2021). Supporting EMI students outside of the classroom: Evidence from Japan. Routledge. Selvi, A. (2020). Resisting English medium instruction through digital grassroots activism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2020.172 4120 Sibaja, M. (2020). Professional development for EMI faculty in Mexico: The case of bilingual, international, and sustainable universities. Routledge. Snow, M., & Brinton, D. (2019). Content-based instruction: What every ESL teacher needs to know. Ann Arbour Soruç, A., & Griffiths, C. (2018). English as a medium of instruction: Students’ strategies. ELTJ, 72(1), 38–48. Soruç, A., Altay, M., Curle, S., & Yuksel, D. (2021). Students’ academic language-related challenges in English Medium Instruction: The role of English proficiency and language gain. System, 103, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102651 Su, L., & Cheung, H. (2021). Rethinking EMI: Multidisciplinary perspectives from Chinesespeaking regions. Routledge. Yeh, C. (2014). Taiwanese students’ experiences and attitudes towards English-medium courses in tertiary education. RELC Journal, 45(3), 305–319.

Carol Griffiths has been a teacher, manager and teacher trainer of ELT for many years (Griffiths, 2023). She has taught in many places around the world, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, China, North Korea, Turkey and UK. She is currently working as Professor for Girne American University in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. She has presented at numerous conferences and published widely, including The Strategy Factor in Successful Language Learning. Language learning strategies, intake, EMI, ELF, burnout, individual differences and using literature to teach language are her major areas of research interest.

EMI in Sub-Saharan Africa Carisma Nel

and Medadi E. Ssentanda

Abstract ˙In this chapter, a brief definition and historical overview of medium of instruction development in Sub-Saharan Africa is provided as well as an overview of the language of instruction policies of selected SSA countries and how language of instruction policies manifest in teacher training (Nel & Medadi, 2023). The chapter draws on systematic reviews and scholarly research done within SSA contexts to highlight the English Medium of Instruction (EMI) debates in higher education as well as in the schooling sector. A multi-site case study conducted to further explore EMI issues in SSA is also reported. Keywords Medium of instruction · Language of learning and teaching · Language policies · Sub-Saharan Africa · Pre-service teachers

1 Introduction In the early 1980s, Coombs (1985, p. 256) stated that: The issue of what language or languages to adopt as the medium of instruction at successive levels of education is one of the pedagogically most difficult and politically explosive political issues faced by schools in a great many countries. Paradoxically, however, the choice of language of instruction is also one of the least appreciated of all major educational problems that come before international forums.

Researchers indicate that global education initiatives such as Education for all (UNESCO, 2014) and the United Nations (2015) sustainable development goal 4, that focus on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education, fail to recognise the C. Nel (B) Faculty of Education, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] M. E. Ssentanda Department of African Languages, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_3

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key role that language, and specifically the medium of instruction in Sub-Saharan Africa, has in achieving quality education (Brock-Utne, 2014; Erling et al., 2021). As early as 1980, Obanya noted that: It has always been felt by African educationists that the African child’s major learning problem is linguistic. Instruction is given in a language that is not normally used in his immediate environment, a language which neither the learner nor the teacher understands and uses well enough. (Obanya, 1980, p. 88)

While change has been slow, schooling and tertiary education systems are increasingly being asked to respond to multilingualism and diversity in twenty-first century Sub-Saharan African classrooms. The urgency of the provision of quality education to learners has been emphasised by the learning loss experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic (UN˙ICEF, 2020). There is an urgent need for support for the use of learners’ and students’ home languages in order to access educational content as well as an increased focus on preservice teacher training (cf. Erling et al., 2021; Wildsmith-Cromarty & Balfour, 2019). Sub-Saharan Africa consists of 46 countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Saint Helena, Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Somaliland, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, Réunion, Mayotte, Madagascar, South Sudan, Sudan, Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Of the 46 countries, 26 use English as an official language exclusively or alongside another African language (Plonski et al., 2013). In the remaining 20 countries, other languages such as French, Spanish, German or Portuguese are used as official languages, so English as a medium of instruction is not an issue in these places. This chapter deals only with those countries where EMI is employed.

2 Background The use of EMI in the Sub-Saharan African context tends to align with Macaro’s (2018, p. 19) definition as “the use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language (L1) of the majority of the population is not English”. Within this context, the medium of instruction is also very often referred to as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT). The South African Department of Basic Education (2010, p. 3), defines the LoLT as, “the language medium in which learning and teaching, including assessment, takes place”. Kyeyune (2003, p. 175) defines medium of instruction as “… an enabling tool. It facilitates the learning of subject content and is also a means by which students reflect on different facts and viewpoints in order to construct a new view of the world, including the meanings they attribute to the new concepts they are introduced to, and the values they attach to them”. This definition suggests

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that students/learners should be familiar with the medium of instruction if they must access the content, relate what they know to the world and express their points of view or reflections. This is however not the case in many countries in Sub-Saharan African contexts. Formal education in Africa was introduced by the missionaries who used African languages only within the first four grades. Bamgbose (1983) argues that this was mainly because there were no teachers who could teach African languages and/or use them in formal education which was only starting. Later, the colonial governments took over the management of education from the missionaries and selected a few African languages to be developed for education purposes. Apart from the Portuguese (in Mozambique) and French colonies (e.g., Benin, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, etc.) where the assimilation policy applied, the rest of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, etc.) were allowed to practice their culture and used African languages in education at least for the first three to five years (The Nuffield Foundation and The Colonial Office, 1953). For the French and Portuguese colonies, French and Portuguese were the only languages of instruction. Even as the British colonies gave African languages space in education, they only learned how to read and write, but no scientific advanced studies were encouraged in African languages in these countries which later negatively affected the use of African languages in education (Ssentanda & Norton, 2022). The colonialists kept African languages to Bible translations, dictionary writing and sketch grammatical descriptions (Bamgbose, 1999). Against the backdrop of these practices, planning for and developing African languages in education was highly controlled (Kamwangamalu, 2000). The disjointed efforts to develop African languages makes their use in education challenging. Eventually, it is the European languages, English, French and Portuguese that are the languages of education for the greater part of school life in Sub-Saharan Africa. In many African contexts, there is limited exposure to these languages (Ssentanda et al., 2019), children join school with little or no knowledge of them, and ultimately experience difficulties in the teaching and learning process.

2.1 An Overview of Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries’ Language of Instruction Policies and Teacher Training There is widespread recognition of the centrality of the quality of classroom interaction in achieving educational quality, and the role of indigenous African languages in promoting this (Alexander, 2005). UNESCO and UN˙ICEF (2013, p. 794) have also emphasised the “inadequate focus on teachers, who are the key agents for quality education”. The Ethiopian Ministry of Education emphasizes the importance of mother tongue instruction (Federal Democratic Republic Government of Ethiopia, 1994). Learners in primary schools should develop proficiency in their home language, after which

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the LoLT changes to English in Grade 9 and further (Maniates, 2018). Barnes et al. (2018) highlight various challenges faced with the implementation of the language of instruction policy, including inadequate training of teachers. According to the 1994 Education and Training Policy, pre-service teacher training for Grades 1–8 should be conducted in national languages (Federal Democratic Republic Government of Ethiopia, 1994). However, many colleges of education made the shift to English from Grade 5 (Heugh et al., 2007). Jha (2013) stated that the English language teaching methodologies in post-secondary institutions are very often ineffective. Research indicated that the teachers’ overall performance on the Mother Tongue Teachers’ Competencies Assessment in 2019 tended to be low (American Institutes for Research, 2020). In the National Syllabus for Ghanaian Languages and Culture it is stated that: [t]he instruction in the school system from Kindergarten to Primary 3 is conducted essentially in the local language of the pupil (L1). In the five years of bilingual education (KG-P3), instruction in all subjects should be carried out in the Ghanaian language…using textbooks already written in English. This means that the teacher is required to translate the text in all subjects into the Ghanaian language of the class for their understanding in the course of instruction. (Ministry of Education, Ghana, 2012, p. xi)

Owu-Ewie (2017) states that adherence to the mother tongue policy is low and may be linked to research indicating that only 19% of teachers were literate in a Ghanian language (Seidu et al., 2008), and many feeling more prepared (79% of a total number of 1079 teachers surveyed) to teach reading in English (Akyeampong et al., 2013). According to the Kenyan Ministry of Education (1976), the language of instruction for Grades 1–3 should be the predominant language spoken in the school’s catchment area and English should be taught as a subject beginning in Grade 1 and switching to the LoLT beginning in Grade 4. Piper et al. (2016) indicate that although the policy encourages the mother tongue as the LoLT in the early grades, this is not realised in many Kenyan schools, and not supported by the National Union of Teachers or by parents. Begi (2014) noted that pre-service teacher training is almost exclusively done in English and Kiswahili, with only 28% of Grade 1 to Grade 3 teachers receiving training in the mother tongue. According to the Malawian Education Act of 2013, the LoLT in all public schools and colleges should be English. Kamwendo (2016) indicates that this policy has not been implemented consistently due to learners’ lack of exposure to English, teachers’ lack of proficiency in English (School-to-School International, 2017), and a mismatch between teachers’ language proficiency and the L1 of their learners. Due to the language policy requiring a focus on English in teacher training colleges, the local languages are not supported during pre-service teacher training (Chitera, 2010). Trudell (2018, p. 10) states that in Nigeria, “Formalised national language policy has been limited to a series of language provisions, found in the Nigerian Constitution and the National Policy on Education (NPE)”. According to USAID (2021, p. 6), “the NPE specifies that if the community is monolingual, the language of the immediate environment should be used as the language of instruction for the first three years of primary school and English will be taught as a subject. In Grade 4, English

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will be gradually introduced as the language of instruction, and the language of the local community is taught as a subject”. Instruction in the teacher training programs in Nigeria is provided in English, and one of the objectives of the general studies component is to “acquire a proficiency in the use of the English Language for effective communication” (National Commission for Colleges of Education, 2012, p. 30). Within South Africa, The Constitution, in the Bill of Rights, grants that: Everyone has the right to receive education in the official language or languages of their choice in public educational institutions where that education is reasonably practicable.

In addition, in the current Language in Education Policy (LiEP) (Government of South Africa, 1997, p. 1) it is stated that “the right to choose the language of learning and teaching is vested in the individual”, and that the choice must be made from among the 11 official languages. In the 1997 policy it is further stated that the learner chooses the LoLT on seeking admission and that if the school uses that language, the learner should be offered a place. Parents are, therefore, given the option of choosing the LoLT and this is often not the home language of the majority of the learners (UNICEF, 2016; Wildsmith-Cromarty & Gordon, 2009). In practice, the policy mostly translates into the L1 being used as the LoLT from Grade 1 to Grade 3. English is introduced as an additional language in the Foundation Phase (Grades 1–3) with a fairly abrupt change to the LoLT in Grade 4. In 2015, the Government took steps to counter the choice of English as the LoLT through a policy amendment that requires the learning and use of an African language in the classroom, informed by the local context (UNICEF, 2016). In addition, all teachers are required to be proficient in at least one official African language in order to graduate from their initial teacher education program. A study conducted by Hurst (2016) indicates that 39% of the students at a university in South Africa identified English language competence as one of the areas that they would need support with. Research also indicates that student teachers at a university in South Africa start their higher education journeys with low proficiency in English (Nel & Adam, 2014), while Wildsmith-Cromarty and Balfour (2019, p. 310) state that, “teachers are starting their careers with a weak knowledge base of their subject, and limited proficiency in the LoLT (English)”. In South Sudan, the General Act of 2012 stipulates that instruction for early childhood and Grade 1 to Grade 3 should occur in the local language and from Grade 4 the LoLT changes to English (Republic of South Sudan Ministry of Justice, 2012). Many teachers in South Sudan were taught to teach in Arabic which was the official language of instruction before the change to English. Winrock International (2017) indicates that these teachers have, therefore, had limited opportunities of becoming literate in either English or the local languages. According to UNICEF (2016), the Tanzanian government announced in 2015 that all instruction should be delivered in Swahili in primary and secondary school, after which English should become the LoLT. Research indicates that Swahili is not the L1 for most learners in Tanzania and they are consequently not learning to read and write in their home language (Muzale & Rugemalira, 2008). Moreover, teachers in Tanzania do not receive pre-service training in their mother tongues (USAID, 2020). Qorro (2013) reviewed studies on language of instruction in Tanzania from

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1974 to 2013 and indicates that both students’ and teachers’ English proficiency was extremely low. In Uganda there are over 42 languages (Simons & Fennig, 2019), English is the official language with mother tongues as LoLT for only the first three years. The UNESCO report (1953) explains that one of the reasons why African languages were not used as LoLT in the early years was because of lack of qualified teachers and instructional materials in these languages. Moreover, at the time Uganda received independence, there was great need for labour in white collar jobs, especially people proficient in English (Furley & Watson, 1978), so the teaching and learning of English took centre stage (Bamgbose, 1999), and English was introduced earlier with a belief that the earlier the introduction, the faster the acquisition would be. Unfortunately, the years after independence in Uganda were full of political unrest, which also affected education. Moreover, there is only one education policy known to have directed education from 1963 to 1987 (Rosendal, 2010; Uganda Government, 1963) before the Government White Paper (Government of Uganda, 1992) which guides education to this day. The policy places English ahead of other Ugandan languages (Ssentanda, 2014a, 2014b). Nevertheless, there are three remarkable education reforms that have occurred in Uganda: the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997 which allowed every family to have four children study free of charge, and the thematic curriculum reform, introduced simultaneously with the mother tongue education policy in 2006/2007. This dramatically increased enrolment levels in schools without a matched increase of resources, either human or material and led to decline in literacy levels (Altinyelken, 2010; Ssentanda, 2013). After seven years, this prompted a review of the curriculum and introduction of the mother tongue education policy to improve the quality of education (Read & Enyutu, 2004). Nevertheless, subsequent studies have reported challenges in literacy acquisition levels (cf. Uganda National Examinations Board, 2010; Uwezo Uganda, 2021), and these are partly attributed to the LoLT. In Uganda, there is limited exposure to English outside the classroom, especially in rural areas, where the only exposure for most learners is at school with their teachers (Ssentanda et al., 2019). Even with the 2006/2007 policy where all rural schools are required to teach through the mother tongue for the first 3 years and introduce English in the 4th year, many schools in Uganda continue to use English as a medium of instruction even at pre-primary (Kyeyune, 2003; Ssentanda, 2013, 2014a). In Zambia, the Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational and Early Education (2013) in the Education Policy Framework stated that seven local languages were to be used as official languages of instruction for early childhood education and for Grades 1 to 4 for all subject areas. English is introduced as a subject beginning in Grade 2, with a focus on developing oral language skills first (Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational and Early Education, 2013), and then becomes a language of instruction from Grade 5 through tertiary education, but local languages continue to be taught as a mandatory subject through Grade 9. Although not all 46 countries share a similar colonial history, the language practices in education are mostly comparable. Multilingualism has been documented as

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a norm in many African communities and therefore children grow up as bi-/multilinguals (Ssentanda & Norton, 2022). Still, multilingualism is viewed as a problem in education (Bamgbose, 2004; Prah, 2008), and English is often considered as the solution to this problem. An overview of the language of instruction policies indicates support for African languages, but their large-scale use from the primary through the tertiary education sector remains patchy resulting in millions of learners and students continuing to struggle to show their proficiency through assessments, understand their teachers and lecturers, and access content to learn their subjects. English remains a barrier to their learning (Brock-Utne, 2010; Heugh & Skutnabb-Kangas, 2010).

3 The Study This section will explain the research methodology and design, the sampling, data collection and analysis methods, and the ethical procedures observed.

3.1 Research Methodology and Design A multi-site qualitative case study was chosen to investigate “a defined, contemporary phenomenon that is common to two or more real-world or naturalistic settings” (Bishop, 2010, p. 587). The aim is to highlight the experiences of firstly, teacher educators and student teachers working and studying in a university setting, where English is used as medium of instruction, and secondly, teachers and learners within schools where English is used as medium of instruction (LoLT). Typically, the research design in a multi-site case study is the same across all sites. This means the same unit(s) of analysis or phenomenon is studied in light of the same key research questions. Bishop (2010, p. 588) states that “the capacity of a multi-site case study to elicit common findings from across different settings is one of its design strengths”.

3.2 Sampling A purposive sampling strategy was used to select participants for this study. According to Creswell (2012, p. 156), when purposive sampling is used in qualitative research it means that “the inquirer selects individuals…because they can purposefully inform an understanding of the research problem and central phenomenon in the study”. All participants were either teaching or studying within environments where English was used as the LoLT. Since the main aim of this study is to determine the participants reasons for working and studying within an English medium of instruction environment and also the challenges they experience and recommendations they

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have for working and studying in this environment, the following participants were purposively selected: • Two teacher educators responsible for teaching and mentoring within the teaching practicum module of the BEd program. The teacher educators were home language speakers of Afrikaans and SeTswana. • Four student teachers enrolled within the Foundation Phase specialisation (Grade R-Grade 3) in the BEd program. The student teachers were home language speakers of Afrikaans, SeTswana, SeSotho and isiZulu. • Two teachers within a selected circuit in District X in one of the provinces in South Africa. The teachers were home language speakers of Afrikaans and SeTswana. • Two learners, one in Grade 5 and one in Grade 9 in two schools in two different provinces in South Africa. The two learners used both Afrikaans and English as home languages.

3.3 Data Generation Methods Two questionnaires, consisting of four open-ended questions each, were used to collect data from the participants. The teacher educators at university and the teachers within the school completed the same questionnaire, and the student teachers and the learners completed the same questionnaire. Cohen et al. (2000, p. 247) state that “where rich and personal data is sought, a word-based qualitative approach” to designing a questionnaire is recommended. The questionnaire consisted of openended questions to enable the researchers to solicit the views and opinions of the participants in an unobtrusive way.

3.4 Data Analysis We used thematic analysis to analyse the data. According to Kiger and Varpio (2020, p. 2), “Thematic analysis is a method for analyzing qualitative data that entails searching across a data set to identify, analyze, and report repeated patterns”. Thematic analysis is an appropriate and powerful method to use when seeking to understand a set of experiences, thoughts, or behaviors across a data set (Braun & Clark, 2006). We utilised Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six step method of analysis, namely familiarising yourself with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and lastly, producing the findings in a report.

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3.5 Ethical Considerations Before commencing the study, ethical clearance was obtained from a university ethical committee, permission was obtained from the university gatekeeper, and the provincial department of basic education. All participants were informed about the purpose of the research, that their participation was voluntary and that they could withdraw at any time without providing reasons. Before completing the questionnaires, the teacher educators, the teachers and the student teachers provided their consent by clicking on the page where the study was described. The two learners that completed the questionnaire are the children of one of the authors and they provided their assent. None of the participants were required to identify themselves and they completed the questionnaires anonymously.

4 Results and Discussion The results of this multi-site case study are reported using the main questions formulated in the questionnaires as category focus point and then presenting the identified themes under each main focus point. The results for the lecturers at a university and for teachers at schools are presented together and that of the student teachers and learners are presented together.

4.1 Reasons for Working in an EMI Environment: Lecturers and Teachers 4.1.1

University Environments Are EMI

The lecturers indicated that they wanted to work in higher education institutions, and that they had no other options because most HEIs now primarily use English as LoLT: TE2: I wanted to work in higher education so that was my only option. Most universities in South Africa now predominantly use English as the medium of instruction. There are no universities where the medium of instruction is an African language or where you can teach your specific subject in your home language.

4.1.2

Functional Schools and Subject Choice

The teachers indicated that they tended to apply to schools they considered to be functional (i.e., functional schools are schools which consistently strive to ensure that their learners achieve their full potential, despite challenging conditions that may exist) and that offered their choice of subjects.

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4.2 Advantages of Working in EMI Environment: Lecturers and Teachers 4.2.1

Research and Publishing

The lecturers indicated that the main advantage was that they could do research, publish and network with international colleagues. TE2: I can also go overseas and attend international conferences where I can present my research. For promotion, we have to publish and network with international colleagues, and this is usually done in English.

4.2.2

Location, Functionality, Discipline and Support

The teachers indicated that the main advantage for them was that the schools using English as LoLT were close to where they lived, and the schools were functional and the discipline and support they received was better in these schools. T2: I was fortunate to get a teaching position in the school close to my home and I at least have a job. The school is also functional, and we at least get a bit of support and good communication.

4.3 Perceived Difficulties: Lecturers and Teachers 4.3.1

Difficulty Communicating, Lack of Vocabulary, Inability to Think on Feet

The lecturers indicated that they had difficulty communicating or sharing the full extent of their knowledge and expertise in the subjects to their students. They were of the opinion that they lacked the vocabulary and ability to think on their feet in order to answer questions or give detailed explanations. It also seemed as if the lecturers tended to resort to ineffective practices such as putting the responsibility on the students to do additional reading in order to find out more. TE1: I can’t express my passion for the subject in English. I can communicate the basics and then refer the students to do additional reading if they want more information. I can’t think on my feet if I have to do it in English. I think my students do not really get access to all the knowledge and experience that I can share because I don’t have the vocabulary to do it.

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Difficulty with Explaining Content, Lack of Vocabulary, and Lack of Training and Practice Opportunities

The teachers indicated that they had difficulties in explaining the content of their subjects to the learners. They lacked the vocabulary and couldn’t use their home language to ensure that the learners understood because of the diversity of the languages spoken by the learners in the classroom. The teachers also mentioned that they did not get opportunities to practice using English as LoLT during their preservice training and they also didn’t have any modules that focused on this. The results also indicated that the teachers resorted to ineffective practices such as making the learners copy the information from the board instead of explaining it to them. T2: My own command of the language is not good, so my ability to explain the work in different ways to accommodate the very diverse group of learners in front of me is limited. There are five different languages spoken by the learners and I can’t speak one of them. Some understand, some I can see are really also battling to understand and do the work, while I have some English learners who laugh at my pronunciation and even correct me if I say or spell something wrong on the board. I think I use very short sentences and then tell them to copy the work from the board – it is better than explaining it to them. We didn’t get any training in how to do this.

4.4 Recommendations for Addressing Difficulties: Lecturers and Teachers 4.4.1

Disciplinary Support, Professional Development on Effective Language-Supportive Pedagogies and Support in Terms of Glossaries, or Study Aids

The lecturers and teacher educators recommended that professional development opportunities that focus on effective language-supportive pedagogies, more disciplinary-specific support and glossaries or study aids that they could give their students should be provided. TE1: I think as lecturers we need more specific disciplinary support and less generic support. I also don’t think short courses help – it just becomes a compliance exercise. Maybe we could have discipline specific workshops which focus on effective language-supportive pedagogies. If someone could help with developing glossaries or guides for the students that have the main concepts explained in their home languages. T1: I think we should have had more opportunities at university to practice using English in the classroom. Sometimes I also think I would like to use my home language to explain if I see they don’t understand, but I don’t think that would work because the children in my class speak five different languages. I guess I would like some sort of professional development that focuses on language-supportive pedagogies or whatever it is called.

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4.5 Student’s Reasons for Studying in an EMI Environment The student teachers and learners responded in the following ways.

4.5.1

EMI at Universities—Only Option

The student teachers explained that most universities use English as LoLT and that it was the only option available to them. ST1: I didn’t really have an option. Most universities in South Africa now have English as the medium of instruction.

4.5.2

Parental Influence and International Studies

The learners were influenced by the opinions of their parents and indicated that they wanted to pursue their studies abroad and that studying in an EMI environment while at school would ensure that their English proficiency and competence was good enough to give them access to the opportunities they wanted to explore later in life. L1: My dad is Afrikaans and my mom is English. They were of the opinion that it would be better for my future if I studied in English because I want to study overseas when I am older. If I want to study overseas, I will need to be fluent in English so that I can express my thoughts well in writing as well as when speaking.

4.6 Advantages of Studying in This Environment: Students 4.6.1

Obtaining a Qualification

The student teachers were of the opinion that the major advantage was that they could get a qualification in a field in which they wanted to teach. ST3: I will be the first one in my family to get a degree. I will be able to teach, hopefully in a good school.

4.6.2

Access to Information for Homework and Projects, Getting Along with Classmates from Different Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds

The learners indicated that being in an EMI environment enabled them to improve their English language skills as they have to speak, read and write in English in all their subjects, and they could also easily access information required for homework and projects. One learner believed it enabled him to get along better with his classmates who came from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

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L2: I get to ensure that my English language abilities are good enough so that I can go and study overseas. I can get information for my homework easily because everything is in English. I also think that I get along with my African language classmates much better than my friends who are in an Afrikaans school; I have learnt to communicate and respect my classmates who come from different cultures and home language backgrounds – we can communicate in English.

4.7 Difficulties Experienced in This Environment: Students 4.7.1

Difficulty Communicating with Lecturers, Lecturers’ Lack of Ability to Explain Comprehensibly, Feelings of Incompetence, Lack of Ability to Express Themselves During Assessments

The student teachers indicated that they had difficulty communicating with their lecturers because they didn’t always understand them or the content they were trying to teach; if they asked questions, the answers confused them even more and they were often just referred to the writing centre or to do additional reading on their own. The students often felt incompetent because they could not express themselves in a comprehensible manner either during class or during their assessments. ST3: When I went out for teaching practice and really had to teach the children using English I realised how difficult it was for me; I couldn’t explain all the work to the learners. In order to feel safe, I read the material from the textbook. ST4: I can’t explain everything in detail to the lecturer and I have trouble sometimes understanding what they are trying to say. The concepts in our subject are difficult and I don’t always understand. I get together with a group of my friends and we try to figure it out. We don’t go to the lecturers because they just confuse us further or they say we must get support at the writing centre or other places. I don’t know if I will be able to teach my learners properly one day.

4.7.2

Teacher Proficiency and Learners’ Lack of Vocabulary

One learner indicated that he found the English proficiency of some of his teachers problematic because they couldn’t explain the work to him in the detail he wanted. He also mentioned that he sometimes corrects the teachers’ spelling on the board. The second learner indicated that his vocabulary in English was not what it should be, and he also mentioned that the Afrikaans-speaking teachers had trouble explaining the work in English so they merely gave them the numbers of people who could provide extra instruction after school hours. L1: Being in class with classmates who speak so many different languages make it difficult because I can see they don’t always understand the teacher so they ask me to help them. They say I use “big boy” words. Maybe I can explain it better to them or in a different way. Sometimes our teachers only explain a little bit and then we have to sit the rest of the period and write things from the board. I also correct some of their spelling…. Some of my teachers actually speak Afrikaans and they can’t always explain the content well; so I have to google it or ask my parents.

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This comment seems to echo research conducted in Uganda by Ssentanda (2014b). The classroom observations in his study revealed that the classroom interactions conducted in English after the transition class hindered proper learning and exchange of knowledge between teachers and learners.

4.8 Recommendations for Addressing the Difficulties: Students 4.8.1

More Practice Opportunities to Use the Language, Study Aids Such as Glossaries, Subject-Specific Language Training

The student teachers indicated that they would appreciate more opportunities to practice giving lessons in their subjects where the specific focus is on their use of English; they mentioned subject-specific language training. The students also mentioned that the provision of study aids such as glossaries that explained the core content or core concepts in their home languages would help them to comprehend the material more quickly. ST2: Because I want to be a teacher, I think if we can have more opportunities to practice not only doing our subject lessons, but also focusing on the language we use. TS3: It will help if the lecturers can sometimes use our language and explain the important parts we need for the exams. I just feel incompetent sometimes, and I struggle so much, and I just do ok, not very well. If we could get study materials or things like a glossary to help explain the main content or concepts in our language.

4.8.2

Teacher Proficiency

The learners indicated that they would like their teachers to explain the content of the subjects to them more effectively instead of referring them to other people who provide extra lessons. They seem to be implying that their teachers are not competent in English, and this has implications for teacher training and the language-specific practice opportunities teachers are provided during their coursework and teaching practicum. L2: In most of my classes up to Grade 10, I have been in a class where the learners are very diverse; they speak Afrikaans, SeTswana, SeSotho, isiZulu and even French and Italian. So, I don’t really know what teachers can do because the majority in the class don’t have English as their home language. I would like my teachers to explain the work better and not just refer us to go for extra classes if we don’t understand.

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5 Implications An overview of Sub-Saharan African countries’ language of instruction policies in the schooling and tertiary sector, which is imposed on the majority of the learners, does not seem to take into consideration that they are linguistically not ready to study in English without explicit support. In addition, whether content teachers and teacher educators are linguistically and pedagogically competent to teach in English, without explicit support, is also worth considering. Teachers and teacher educators may utilise ineffective teaching practices such as transmission of knowledge, allowing learners to mechanically copy from the board or referring them elsewhere for support. Instead of facing the medium of instruction issues, educators may be perpetuating the vicious cycle of going through the motions of language practice. Students may resort to practices such as translation which takes time and increases their workload. This may lead to them not completing assignments and even dropping out. On the other hand, learners may remain quiet and not interact or actively engage with teachers and this also negatively impacts their learning (Ssentanda, 2014b).

6 Suggestions for Further Research The majority of the research conducted within the Sub-Saharan African context tends to be limited to the local context and usually within a small area including only a few schools or a single university. The result is that there has been limited influence on national-level practice within the various countries. We would like to suggest participatory action learning and action research studies that enable all participants concerned about language of instruction issues within Sub-Saharan Africa to work together to find viable and sustainable solutions. Wood (2020, p. 1) states that “Participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) is a transformative, collaborative and democratic approach to educational research”. We are suggesting the adoption of transformative, collaborative and democratic paradigms to inform research and practice. These concepts are defined by Wood (2020, p. 3) as: By transformative I mean a way of thinking that is continually open to change, and constantly in search of new ideas, innovations and ways to bring about improvements. By collaborative, I mean actively seeking out and liaising with others, particularly those who hold knowledge that we may not have access to, to create a synergy that will broaden our minds to the possibilities for change as we work towards attaining mutual goals. By democratic, I mean that everyone should have equal say in decision-making about the what, why, how, who, where and when of the collaborative learning process.

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7 Conclusion Research clearly demonstrates that mismatches between the language of instruction and the language that students and learners speak and understand best can hamper effective teaching and learning. Various projects have been initiated in Sub-Saharan countries and show pockets of excellence, but there does not seem to be an explicit focus on teacher training, which is becoming crucial and can no longer be ignored. Teachers and teacher educators, are rarely prepared for the reality of bilingual or multilingual classrooms. Conflict of Interest The two learners in the study are the children of one of the authors. The data was, however, checked by the second author to ensure that there was no bias.

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Carisma Nel is a research professor in the School for Language Education, at North-West University in South Africa. She specialises in reading literacy. Her research interests include reading literacy assessment and interventions, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and pre- and in-service teacher training in reading literacy. She is currently the project leader for the Work Integrated Learning project within the Learning Development Capacity Improvement Programme. She has published approximately 62 articles, and acts as supervisor (45 students) and promotor (25 students) for post-graduate students where she has won an award twice for most productive supervisor. Medadi E. Ssentanda is a lecturer in the Department of African Languages, School of Languages, Literature and Communication, Makerere University, Uganda. He is also a Research Associate in the Department of General Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. His research interests are in language policy in the school context, multilingual education, early literacy development, and the linguistic landscape.

EMI in the Middle East Yasemin Kırkgöz, Muhammed Emin Yüksel , and Hamide Aslantürk

Abstract Similar to global tendencies, the trend towards EMI has also been observed in the Middle East (Kirkgöz et al., 2023). This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the studies related to the EMI policies of Middle East countries by referring to the perceptions of lecturers and students on the use of EMI. A study was also conducted in a state university within the Turkish context in order to crosscheck the local and regional findings. In addition, a discussion of the perceptions of lecturers and students, the perceived challenges, and recommended strategies to overcome those challenges is presented.

1 Introduction The prominence of English as the lingua-franca of commerce and politics has spurred the universities offering English Medium Instruction (EMI) to grow in number in the entire world. Although it is accepted that EMI is an inevitable reality in the globalizing world, we find that the studies in this field are limited in terms of how EMI is perceived by lecturers and students. Likewise, the Middle East has seen an increase in the prevalence of EMI in higher education; however, the perceptions on the efficacy of such programs have not been empirically and adequately addressed. This chapter presents an extensive literature review of the EMI studies in the Middle East countries, which is followed by a study conducted in a state university in Turkey. Y. Kırkgöz (B) Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] M. E. Yüksel Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] H. Aslantürk Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_4

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2 Previous Research on EMI in the Middle East In an effort to facilitate intelligibility of the literature review, the Middle East region has been divided into four sub-regions in terms of countries’ geographical closeness to each other. The Fertile Crescent, Arabian Peninsula, south Caucasia and Anatolia are covered in the next sections in turn.

2.1 The Fertile Crescent (Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran) English enjoys the status of an unofficial yet prestigious language in Israel. Although the country is insistent on the Hebrew-only policy of tertiary instruction, English has been adopted as the language of instruction in certain universities. A conference report by Or et al. (2016) focusing on the perceptions of students and lecturers in EMI programs finds that almost half of the students had positive perceptions. The report also notes some concerns about not having Hebrew as the language of instruction and difficulties in improving English due to the lack of EMI resources and the occasional use of Hebrew in the lessons. In Symon and Weinberg’s study (2015), even though the majority of students took a positive stance toward EMI courses, only a small number of the participants reported to have gained confidence in English. The lecturers in the study also mentioned problems stemming from low proficiency of the content language and limited spoken interaction. Another study conducted by InbarLourie and Donitsa-Schmidt (2012) reports the challenges that prospective teachers encountered when they were introduced to a scheduled EMI initiative program. It is found that many students preferred not to participate in the program despite their willingness to improve their English with English speakers. Their reservations were attributed to their low level of English proficiency and lack of experience in such programs. Those who participated in the program reported moderate language gains from the course and the redundancy of EMI in teacher training programs since they would be working in Israeli schools and would not need English professionally unless they taught English. As for Palestine, Amara (2003) presents a comprehensive overview of the recent foreign language policies in the country. English is used as a medium of instruction in several programs in all of the universities in Palestine. Alnajjar et al. (2015) found that Palestinian lecturers and students considered Arabic as a satisfactory language to deliver scientific content. Similarly, the students and lecturers had positive attitudes toward English as a language of science. They also referred to English as a way to solidify their competence in their fields. Despite their inadequacy in English, both groups were motivated to take part in EMI courses. The students faced difficulties following course content; therefore, teachers sometimes had to use Arabic to clarify certain points. The lecturers found code switching a practical option to overcome this problem, and thought that a mixture of both languages to deliver lessons

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proved effective, especially when the exam scores of the students were taken into consideration. Several studies have been conducted in Lebanon to investigate the perceptions of students and teachers on EMI policies (Diab, 2009; Esseili, 2011; Orr & Annous, 2018; Zakharia, 2010). The general opinion in these studies is that EMI policies are approved due to the global importance of English. Many Lebanese students in the relevant studies regarded graduating from schools with EMI programs as the next step towards emigration to wealthier countries and as a way to seek better incomes. The majority of universities in Jordan are currently using EMI in fields such as medicine and engineering. The main incentive to be a graduate of such departments is to use English as a means of communication in international business, information technologies and professional conferences (Al Musa & Smadi, 2013). Much as EMI has been adopted in many institutions, we were unable to find empirical studies on the perceptions of lecturers and students on this matter. The medium of instruction in most of the state universities in Syria is Arabic mostly because of Arab nationalism in the country. Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) considers EMI as a threat to the fundamental linguistic human right whereas Mazawi (2005) attributes “Arabization” to the reduced use of English as the medium of instruction in Syrian higher education institutions. One challenge of EMI is students’ low level of English proficiency, which may impede the comprehension of content (Troudi, 2009). The main perceived benefit of EMI is that university students have better prospects for employment at prestigious companies upon graduating. Iraq appears to be lacking data as to how EMI is put into practice. However, the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq has adopted the EMI policy in all of its 13 state universities. A comprehensive study by Borg (2016) elicited information on benefits and challenges of EMI in higher education. According to the findings, the majority of the lecturers agreed that EMI improved the English proficiency of themselves and their students. Code-switching is a frequently used technique in the EMI context. Similarly, lecturers in this region switched to Kurdish or Arabic occasionally to deliver content. The participants also acknowledged the students’ inability to understand the exam questions. Most lecturers agreed that students’ levels were much lower than what would have been sufficient for EMI. Under the circumstances of the current political and social structure of Iran, the studies about the perceptions on EMI in higher education are mostly based on assumptions because even the universities admitting international students offer programs mainly in Persian (Zare-ee & Hejazi, 2017). Nevertheless, Ghorbani and Alavi (2014) investigates the potential perceptions of lecturers and undergraduate students. Both groups welcomed the idea of adopting EMI and regarded it as a bridge to promote Persian culture to the scientific world. The integration of EMI would also increase the number of international articles published in Iran and reduce the cost of translating English texts into Persian. Zare-ee and Hejazi (2017) extensively present academic, cultural, technological, economic and social reasons for and against EMI from the perspectives of lecturers. It is noted that success in EMI depends highly on the English

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proficiency level of lecturers and students. A recent study by Derakhshan et al. (2022, pp. 13–14) yields six key findings for the benefits and six for the challenges of EMI. For the benefits: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

More chances to improve language proficiency. More access to specialized sources. Higher chance of continuing education abroad. Higher chance of employment. More exposure to English. Higher chance of publishing articles in prestigious journals.

When it comes to the challenges: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Difficulty in expressing the ideas/opinions. Difficulty in comprehending the materials. Inadequate English proficiency of instructors. Inadequate English proficiency of students. Lack of student motivation and interest. Lack of student confidence.

2.2 The Arabian Peninsula (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Yemen) As for the learner and teacher perceptions on EMI in Qatar, Ahmadi (2017) found contradictory perceptions. There are some students with the opinion that English should be the instructional language because it is considered as the language of communication, business and technology. However, it is also found that “… if given the choice, students would rather receive instruction in the Arabic medium instead of English to pursue undergraduate studies” (p. 11). Most of the students consider EMI as a waste of time, and respect Arabic as their religious or heritage language. These findings are in alliance with the findings of the study conducted by Ellili-Cherif and Romanowski (2013) who conclude that educational reform changes may pose threats to the Arabic culture and language. In a study conducted by Al-Kahtany et al. (2016) in Saudi Arabia, it was found that there is a sharp contrast between the attitudes and beliefs of teachers and students in Saudi universities. Teachers are in favor of English as the instructional language while “the students consider English with a strong awareness of the learning challenges it creates for them” (p. 53). The researchers claim that English puts an obstacle to learning the content as students’ proficiency level is not high enough; therefore, they do not want English to be the instructional language especially in challenging courses. According to Abou-El-Kheir and MacLeod (2017), because there are a lot of international students in Bahraini universities, EMI is very common across the country. Another reason is that EMI enhances the employability of EMI graduates who can communicate in English (Thomas et al., 2016). On the other side of the

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pendulum, though, there are concerns about the loss of cultural and language heritage of Bahrainis who prefer English language and culture for the sake of economic development of their countries (Abou-El-Kheir & MacLeod, 2017). As a solution to this dichotomy, they suggest “teach[ing] technical and scientific courses in English and traditional courses (i.e. Islamic studies, history, etc.) in Arabic” (p. 24). In Kuwait, Alazemi (2020) studied students’ perspectives regarding EMI alongside its effect on Arabic language. According to the results, students consider English as the language of science and academia, and they believe that it is more beneficial to study in English for their future careers and employment prospects. This has a downgrading effect on Arabic which is left to be used in social contexts only, about which the majority of the students are not happy at all. The students are also concerned about their decreasing ability in Arabic because of focusing on learning and studying in English. As a solution, they suggest moving back to Arabic medium of instruction or having both Arabic and English as the instructional languages. The necessity for a bilingual curriculum with two instructional languages, English and Arabic, can be observed in other studies regarding other Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Belhiah & Elhami, 2015). In a study conducted by Karmani (2010), students in UAE have stated that in the past, Arabic used to be more popular because it was the language of science, but now English is the lingua-franca in technology and science, and they are open to learn and use it. However, in practice, the case is not this optimistic because Craig (2007) suggests that when instructed in English, Emirati students at university level tend to use surface learning strategies in order not to “lose face” since their English language proficiency is not adequate. Also, Rogier (2012) states that students avoid taking notes during the lessons due to the lack of motivation or ability to do so. Therefore, teachers or lecturers are told to provide students with ready-made notes in order to compensate for this situation. Like Qatar and the UAE, English has a prominent place in Oman especially in the field of business. This is mostly because of the country’s relations with Britain as a trade and commerce partner and also countries such as India, Pakistan and Philippines which provide a labor force for Oman (Al-Bakri, 2013). As a result, English has become a necessary job qualification especially for the private sector, which has resulted in a shift from Arabic to English medium instruction at colleges and universities. In her critical research, Al-Bakri (2013) aimed to investigate the views of Omani college students on EMI and its effects on the students’ learning experience. According to the results, Al-Bakri (2013) states that all the students believe in the necessity of EMI in Oman, and they support it for realistic and practical reasons. Especially the students from the Information Technology field considered English as the only possible instructional language in order to learn terminological and technical information in their field. As for the effects of EMI, the students’ low proficiency level was considered as one of the biggest challenges for their academic success. In another study, Ismail (2012) reports that although they are challenged a great deal to understand English textbooks, Omani university students do not favor Arabic instruction as they develop antipathy towards Arabic, which the researcher argues to be the result of “colonised consciousness” (p. 143).

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In the republic of Yemen, a monolingual country where Arabic is used as the native language, it is not possible to see EMI at tertiary level apart from a limited number of private universities (Al-Selwi, 2016). The review of literature, therefore, indicates a research gap concerning EMI in Yemen and perceptions borne out of its implementation.

2.3 South Caucasia (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia) The study conducted by Linn and Radjabzade (2020) seems to be the only comprehensive study on EMI in south Caucasia. It investigates the experiences of students and teachers in the context of EMI in higher education in this area. The student perspectives in Azerbaijan included both positive and negative comments. The perceived benefits were determined based on the motivations to choose EMI programs. Among nine reasons, the main motivations were to improve English skills, gain access to up-to-date knowledge and have an opportunity to find a job in international companies. Low proficiency level in English, on the other hand, appeared to be the main challenge among students. It is reported that foundationlevel courses and academic English courses prior to their degree program were very much required due to their poor English and grammar-based learning history at public schools. The level of English and pedagogical knowledge of lecturers was also found to be insufficient. Furthermore, some international students complained about lecturers’ and students’ code-switching between Azerbaijani and English in and out of the classroom. As for the challenges from the perspective of teachers in the study, they mentioned the lack of innovative methods to convey complex terminology, which eventually led them to use a simple language or resort to code-switching as their solution. In Georgia, according to the results of Linn and Radjabzade (2020), the international students who come from another country to study in Georgia have an advantage over Georgian students who need English support courses during their studies in their departments due to their low level of English proficiency. In the presence of competent teachers, the majority of the students believe that EMI courses have higher quality education than the Georgian-medium ones. When asked about their motivation to study at a university with EMI, students pointed out working at international companies with a good salary thanks to their English language skills. As for the experiences of teachers, the researchers suggest that teachers acknowledged the challenges that they went through while delivering the academic content in English. They also pointed out the necessity for language support programs to prepare students for EMI. In Armenia, Linn and Radjabzade (2020) asked students the main reason to choose an English medium program, and almost half of the students argued that EMI helped them improve their English skills. The second most popular answer was the access to the most up-to-date knowledge in their field of study. Although one of the most

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recurring concerns of the teachers was the difficulty of teaching the content terminologies in English, almost half of the teachers thought that their English proficiency level was sufficient to do so.

2.4 Anatolia (Turkey and North Cyprus) The global effects of English in Turkey can be clearly seen in its inclusion in the curriculum as a compulsory subject and the adoption of English as the language of instruction in many state and private universities. The establishment of the Middle East Technical University as the first university to implement EMI in 1954 paved the way for other universities to adopt this policy. The steps of globalization in the 1980s increased the number of universities providing education in EMI to keep up with scientific and technological advances, and language policies began to be adapted accordingly (Kırkgöz, 2009a). The positive attitudes of students towards EMI programs have been documented in studies in Turkey as well as in many countries in the Middle East (Macaro & ¸ & Sahan, ¸ 2021). The overall positive Akıncıo˘glu, 2018; Ozer & Bayram, 2019; Sahan outlook for EMI programs is often associated with future careers, job opportunities, a good salary and abundance of English resources (Demirbulak, 2011; Ekoç, 2020). Likewise, Kırkgöz (2014) found that the students in Turkish medium instruction (TMI) were aware of their disadvantageous positions in a business area prioritizing field knowledge in English. Besides the favorable perceptions of EMI, Co¸sgun and Hasırcı (2017) and Yuksel et al. (2021) reported statistically significant language gains in favor of students from EMI programs by referring to limited exposure to authentic and conversational language in the classrooms. While EMI programs are perceived as promising for the future, pedagogical challenges and low English proficiency of students and lecturers are also not to be underestimated. Ekoç (2020) found that the failure in English proficiency in Turkey is mostly attributed to poor learning history in elementary and middle schools. This deficiency manifests itself particularly in academic writing and speaking skills of students (Kama¸sak et al., 2021). EMI practices are likely to prove ineffective in the classrooms with the current language policies in Turkey and low English proficiency of students (Turhan & Kırkgöz, 2018). By referring to language proficiency as a significant factor in attaining success, Kırkgöz (2014) shows that the students could not fully internalize their field knowledge and resorted to rote learning when they were instructed in English. Accordingly, Yıldız et al. (2017) call attention to the content of English preparatory curricula and the lack of language support in EMI programs. Code-switching is a common practice that finds a place in EMI literature. The findings of Karaka¸s (2016b) note that more than half of the lecturers were in favor of the use of Turkish for the sake of “content knowledge acquisition” rather than following a purist approach as long as Turkish is supplementary to English. Those adopting an EMI-only approach were mostly directed by institutional policies or

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the presence of international students in the classroom. The lecturers in Kırkgöz and Küçük’s (2021) study also stated positive comments on code-switching so that students were able to use their language repertoire fully to facilitate learning. The results of Curle et al. (2020) maintain the inclusion of native language as a hybrid model in increasing students’ academic success in EMI programs. The stated benefits and challenges on the students’ part are mostly valid and have a place in the findings of studies examining lecturers’ perspectives on EMI (Ozer, 2020a; Sert, 2008; Turhan & Kırkgöz, 2018). To begin with the challenges in the implementation of EMI, the low proficiency level of lecturers affects their teaching and lecturing in a negative way because of the decreasing clarity and accuracy of the lectures (Turhan & Kırkgöz, 2018). Teachers state that although they can convey the content well in English, students’ understanding of the academic content is impaired, and the lessons are quite monotonous as they lack humor and color (Sert, 2008). Furthermore, lecturers report that the lengthened teacher talking time in an EMI classroom impedes effective student–teacher communication, which affects students’ performance negatively (Turhan & Kırkgöz, 2018). Also, Ozer (2020b) states that students’ reluctance to participate because of their insufficient English proficiency is the most frequently reported constraint by the teacher. In a comprehensive study conducted by Kırkgöz (2009b), it is stated that teachers highlight the necessity of developing students’ efficient and analytical reading and writing abilities, which can be achieved by a teaching philosophy that considers reading and writing as social practices rather than just language skills per se. Also, Ozer (2020a, 2020b) reports that teachers feel the need to receive some training to implement EMI more effectively. They also think that a collaboration between the content lecturers and the language teachers in the preparatory programs will increase the student and teacher performance in EMI classes (Ozer, 2020a). The language policies of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) have largely gone hand in hand with the language policies of Turkey despite changing political and economic conditions. English is now seen as an important springboard for the education of individuals rather than being a language brought by the colonial powers (Pehlivan, 2018). The importance attached to EMI can be understood from the widespread use of EMI in most universities and the number of international students in the country. Similar to the findings in Turkey, Arkın (2013) confirms that EMI is perceived positively in terms of academic and professional development, but students do not have the necessary language proficiency to profit from EMI at an optimum level. The study focuses on the challenges that the students encounter while learning content knowledge because of limited exposure and deficiency in English. The challenges include students’ inability to follow lectures, shyness to ask questions, unwillingness to participate, difficulty in understanding terms and limited mastery of knowledge, most of which is also evident in the following study.

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3 The Study The study was conducted in the Spring Term of 2021–2022 at a state university in Turkey. A qualitative research design was employed to collect data concerning the perspectives of lecturers and students on the effectiveness of EMI. A purposive sample of 20 students with an age range of 20–22 was selected from the department of Electrical-Electronics Engineering. The sample also included 5 teacher participants from the departments of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Electrical-Electronics Engineering. Their years of teaching experience in EMI courses ranged from 2 to 30 years. All of the departments mentioned offer 100% EMI courses. The data were collected in line with ethical principles and confidentiality. The following research questions were addressed in accordance with the purpose of the study: 1. What are the reasons teachers and students choose to work in an EMI environment? 2. What are the benefits of working in an EMI environment? 3. What are the perceived challenges concerning EMI? 4. What are the recommendations to overcome these challenges? The qualitative data was gathered through two open-ended questionnaires which were administered for the participant lecturers and students. Both questionnaires included two sections to elicit personal information and their perceptions about the implementation of EMI in their programs. The participants were asked to fill in the questionnaires either in Turkish or English to help them feel comfortable and elicit as much data as possible. The questionnaires filled in Turkish were translated into English by the researchers. Three researchers conducted thematic analysis independently to increase the reliability of the study. The questionnaires were examined inductively to generate code lists. The codes were later discussed to reach consensus and only the relevant statements were classified into themes.

4 Results and Discussion Table 1 presents the frequencies of the themes which emerged from the analysis of the data gathered from the questionnaires given to the lecturers. First of all, when asked about their reasons for working in an EMI faculty, two of the five lecturers perceived English as an international language, which could be understood as their main motivation. Whereas one lecturer pointed out the practicality of conveying course content as a reason for working in an EMI faculty, the other two lecturers did not mention a specific reason. The second category in the table shows the perceived benefits of EMI, the most frequently mentioned being the enhancement of English language skills. That is, the majority of the lecturers specified that providing and receiving instruction in

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Table 1 Perceptions of lecturers (N = 5) Themes

Frequency

Reasons for working in an EMI faculty

English as an international language Practicality of conveying content

2 1

Perceived Benefits of EMI

Enhancement of English language skills Practicality of conveying content Easy access to resources Increased job opportunities

3 2 2 1

Perceived Challenges of EMI

Low English proficiency level of students Lack of learning strategies in English Students’ lack of EMI experience Decrease in teacher motivation

5 2 1 1

Recommendations

Remedial language courses for speaking Bilingual medium of instruction Turkish medium of instruction Increasing the number of international students

2 1 1 1

English would help them increase their English language proficiency. The second most frequent benefit mentioned by the lecturers is the practicality of conveying the content in English and easy access to resources in their fields. In other words, lecturers find it more convenient to teach their subject in English and easier to find sources in English while doing research. One of the lecturers referred to increased job opportunities for graduates of an EMI faculty. As for the perceived challenges of EMI, low English proficiency level of students stand out as the most frequently identified difficulty. All the lecturers without an exception acknowledged students’ poor English level as the main constraint in the implementation of EMI. Besides this, two of the lecturers commented that students had not developed enough learning strategies in English because, as one of the lecturers pointed out, most of them encountered EMI for the first time at university level. Lecturers were also asked about their recommendations for addressing the challenges mentioned. As can be seen in the last category of the table above, two lecturers suggested providing remedial language courses to develop students’ speaking and communication skills. One of the lecturers was of the opinion that having both Turkish and English as the mediums of instruction could help the problem to be solved whereas another lecturer thought that switching to Turkish as the only medium of instruction would be the actual solution. One of the lecturers, though, stated that if faculties had more international students, it might affect the implementation of EMI positively. In Table 2, students’ reasons for studying in an EMI faculty and their perceptions of the benefits of EMI can be observed with the frequency rates of each theme appearing in the answers to the questionnaire. There is a fairly sharp cut off in the frequencies of the first three themes and the last four. Noticeably, almost half of the 20 students thought that they would have increased job opportunities provided that

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they graduated from an EMI faculty. Moreover, some students regarded English as important in engineering and as an international language. It can be understood that students are aware of the significance of English both in their field of study and as a common language for most in the world. Table 2 also presents the student perceptions on the challenges of EMI and the recommendations made by students to deal with those challenges. To begin with, two categories of challenges emerged: language-related and lecturer-related. Within language-related challenges, almost half of the 20 students complained about not being able to follow the course content when given in English. Seven students detailed this challenge even further by pointing out the difficulty they had in understanding terminologies. The second group of EMI challenges derived from the data can be categorized as lecturer-related ones. One of the participants blamed the low English proficiency level of lecturers as the main problem while another student thought it was the variations in lecturers’ pronunciation that was challenging in EMI. When asked specifically about the benefits of EMI, the students provided similar answers, and the theme increased job opportunities emerged as the most frequent benefit. The same number of students considered the enhancement of English language proficiency as the main advantage of EMI. As can be inferred from the table regarding the student perceptions on the benefits of EMI, there is a balanced range of ideas provided by the students, which shows their increased awareness of the EMI benefits. As for the students’ recommendations for addressing the difficulties, the most frequent suggestion was to have elective speaking courses as students complained about their lack of effective speaking skills. Three students stated that they needed more opportunities to practice what they learnt on paper. The same number of students expressed their need to focus more on technical vocabulary. Interestingly enough, bilingual medium of instruction was proposed by one of the students to facilitate content delivery. One student put forward the idea of lecturers taking proficiency exams regularly to resolve their incompetence in English. The positive perceptions of both teachers and students in this study largely overlap with those in other universities in Turkey and the region. As in many Middle Eastern countries, the participants in this study are aware of the critical importance of English in the international community. According to some of the participants, being proficient in a common language will open the way for many international opportunities as it will mean keeping up with the advancements in software and devices. The following excerpt is taken from one of the students: The first thing that will enable me to do business and communicate with engineers and companies from all over the world in business life is knowing English.

One student specifically associated graduating from EMI programs with the opportunity to work abroad in the future, which was a similar finding in the case of Lebanon, where many students regarded English as a next step towards emigration to wealthier countries. The engineering programs in Turkey are among the ones in which EMI is most frequently adopted, similar to the situation in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Oman. The

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Table 2 Perceptions of students (N = 20) Reasons for studying in an EMI faculty

Perceived Benefits of EMI

Perceived Challenges of EMI

Themes

Frequency

Increased job opportunities

8

The importance of English in engineering

7

English as an international language

7

Enhancement of English language proficiency

2

Easy access to resources

2

Personal development

2

Academic development

1

Increased job opportunities

6

Enhancement of English language proficiency

6

Easy access to resources

5

Developing familiarity with technical terms

4

English as an international language

3

Professional development

3

Academic development

2

Emotional development

1

Language related challenges

Unable to follow content

9

Difficulty in understanding terminologies

7

Unable to understand examination questions

2

Insufficient English learning background

Lecturer related challenges

Recommendations

Shy to ask and answer questions

2

Unable to speak English

1

Low English proficiency level of lecturers

1

Variations in lecturers’ pronunciation

1

Elective Speaking courses

4

Increased opportunity for practical learning

3

Focusing on technical vocabulary

3

Remedial reading sessions before courses

2

Bilingual medium of instruction

1

Using English outside the classroom

1 (continued)

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Table 2 (continued) Themes

Frequency

Proficiency exams for lecturers at regular intervals

1

students of the current study regarded English as an indispensable criterion for professional, academic and personal development, especially when it comes to having a career in engineering. Increased job opportunities were found to be a popular response especially among students, also discovered by the majority of studies in the region. A student stated that “(s)tudying in English is advantageous because if you want to look for a job after graduating from this department, they will definitely want to know if you know a foreign language”. One of them emphasized the advantage of EMI over TMI: “I believe that English will give me an advantage after graduation compared to other Turkish-speaking engineers. Studying English will help you find a better job or find a job faster”. Derakhshan et al. (2022) and Linn and Radjabzade (2020) specify the access to specialized and up-to-date sources as a positive outcome of EMI programs in Iran and Caucasia respectively. It is clear in the findings of the current study that one of the most salient benefits of EMI programs is providing an access to the resources in English. One student draws attention to the significance of researching in the field of engineering: I am an enquiring person and I think…we should use English sources in our most comprehensive investigation of information.

The lecturers are also in line with the fact that English has long been the lingua franca of academic and educational settings. One of the lecturer participants remarked on this matter as follows: The studies carried out in my branch are in a competition process in the global sense rather than the local. That’s why, I think that the undergraduate education given in my branch should be in English.

Co¸sgun and Hasırcı (2017) and Yuksel et al. (2021) found statistically significant language gains in favor of students from EMI programs. Likewise in this study, the enhancement of English language proficiency was found to be one of the most recurring benefits among lecturers and students. Almost half of the students reported that it had enabled them to master the field-specific terms and create opportunities to use English. One lecturer also counted: instructing in English as a way to keep the lecturers up to date for fluent speaking.

Although it has been observed that language skills can be improved thanks to EMI, it should be noted that success in EMI depends on sufficient level of English proficiency. It is now clearly evident in the literature that the proficiency level of students is much lower than what would be adequate for content acquisition. As the most stated challenge in this study, the lecturers complained about the low proficiency level

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of students, which hindered communication and content delivery. As reported by a lecturer, one of its negative effects was the loss of motivation to teach: I must admit that the insufficient English of the students causes a reduction in my motivation. You can easily understand that some students are unable to follow the lesson due to insufficient English language. This situation makes me mentally tired.

The students’ negative perceptions also revolved around language-related challenges. Success in EMI depends highly on the English proficiency level of lecturers and students because the clarity and intelligibility of content will be impeded substantially by their inability to communicate (Turhan & Kırkgöz, 2018). Low English proficiency led to situations where students were unable to follow the course and did not understand field-related terminology, especially if they were learning the subject matter for the first time. Two students also reported difficulty understanding the questions in exams, a similar finding reported by Borg (2016). Some students complained that the language education in the preparatory schools did not match the English they encountered in the department and that it was far from the academic English they needed in their fields. It is once more important to note that such problems were repeatedly addressed in Turkey and in the region (Karaka¸s, 2016a; Kırkgöz, 2014; Turhan & Kırkgöz, 2018; Yıldız et al., 2017). Finally, it was found that students were too shy to ask questions and contribute to the lesson as a result of their language inadequacy. That is similar to the students in Inbar-Lourie and Donitsa-Schmidt (2012) and Ozer (2020b), who displayed reservations about participating in EMI courses because of their incompetence in English. Based on the participant’s views, a number of recommendations can be put forward to improve teaching methodology in EMI courses. The students and lecturers, who complained about the lack of communication and interaction in their classrooms, thought that it would be a good method to include elective speaking courses and more practical learning in their programs. Due to the inadequacy of the language, code-switching becomes a common technique in EMI courses, which is included for the sake of delivering the content intelligibly. Although only two participants in this study referred to the applicability of this practice as a systematic way of delivering content, bilingual medium instruction widely finds its place in the literature as a compensatory strategy (Alnajjar et al., 2015; Borg, 2016; Kırkgöz & Küçük, 2021).

5 Implications Based on the findings and discussions of the current study, numerous implications can be recommended for various fields such as policy making, teacher training and curriculum planning. As a significant actor in the field, policy makers can gather many inferences as to how they can scrutinize the EMI-related challenges and integrate the recommendations made by the students and lecturers, such as whether it is wise to apply bilingual medium of instruction and so on. Moreover, teacher education programs should also derive their own conclusions from what has been found by

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considering the needs, difficulties and wants of the prospective educators willing to work in EMI contexts. To focus more on the micro curriculum planning situations, there are some conclusions to be drawn as to what extent the curricula should reflect the realities and necessities of EMI contexts and how the implementations would mirror such considerations in the actual classrooms.

6 Suggestions for Further Research There are several studies that have shed light on the benefits and challenges of EMI in the field; however, considering the developments and changes in the educational and language policies of countries, it is fair to argue that there is a need for ongoing research. Although the main emphasis in the field of EMI studies is on the perceptions of students and lecturers, there are other stakeholders to be included in the process such as departmental executives of the universities as well as the material developers across countries. Thus, such stakeholders together with their needs and responsibilities should also be the matter of further research, and this may provide a bigger picture of EMI and its implications in differing contexts.

7 Conclusion In this chapter, we have presented a broad overview of EMI-related benefits and challenges in the Middle East region through the perceptions of teachers and students. This is followed by a study conducted in a Turkish state university, which provided an opportunity to crosscheck between the local and regional findings. It has been observed that most of the findings overlap in that the most salient benefits include academic and professional advantages on the part of the students, whereas the most recurring challenge is reported to be the low English proficiency level of lecturers and students. The chapter has been written in the hope that the gathered information will contribute to the existing literature by raising further awareness of the prospects and difficulties of EMI in practice.

References Abou-El-Kheir, A., & MacLeod, P. (2017). English education policy in Bahrain—A review of K-12 and higher education language policy in Bahrain. In R. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), English language education policy in the Middle East and north Africa (pp. 9–32). Springer. Ahmadi, Q. S. (2017). Unwelcome? English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in the Arabian Gulf. English Language Teaching, 10(8), 11–17.

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Karaka¸s, A. (2016a). Turkish lecturers’ and students’ perceptions of English in English-medium instruction universities [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Southampton. Karaka¸s, A. (2016b). Turkish lecturers’ views on the place of mother tongue in the teaching of content courses through English medium. Asian Englishes, 18(3), 242–257. Karmani, S. (2010). On perceptions of the socialising effect of English medium education on students at a gulf Arab university with particular reference to the United Arab Emirates [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Exeter. Kırkgöz, Y. (2009a). Globalization and English language policy in Turkey. Educational Policy, 23(5), 663–684. Kırkgöz, Y. (2009b). Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of foreign language instruction in an English-medium university in Turkey. Teaching in Higher Education, 14(1), 81–93. Kırkgöz, Y. (2014). Students’ perceptions of English language versus Turkish language used as the medium of instruction in higher education in Turkey. Turkish Studies - International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic, 9(12), 443–459. Kırkgöz, Y., & Küçük, C. (2021). Investigating translanguaging practices in an English medium higher education context in Turkey. In B. Di Sabato & B. Hughes (Eds.), Multilingual perspectives from Europe and beyond on language policy and practice (pp. 155–176). Routledge. Kirkgöz, Y., Yüksel, M., & Aslantürk, H. (2023). EMI in the Middle East. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 33–51). Springer. Linn, A., & Radjabzade, S. (2020). English-medium instruction in higher education in the countries of the south Caucasus. British Council. Macaro, E., & Akıncıo˘glu, M. (2018). Turkish university students’ perceptions about English medium instruction: Exploring year group, gender and university type as variables. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 39(3), 256–270. Mazawi, A. (2005) Contrasting perspectives on higher education governance in the Arab States. In J. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. 20, pp. 133–89). Springer. Orr, M., & Annous, S. (2018). There is no alternative! Student perceptions of learning in a second language in Lebanon. Journal of Language and Education, 4(1), 79–91. Or, I., Spector-Cohen, E., Amdur, L., & Inbar-Lourie, O. (2016). Current trends and future directions for English in higher education: Widening horizons for teachers, students and graduates. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Association of Applied Linguistics, Toronto. Ozer, O. (2020a). English medium instruction at tertiary level in Turkey: A study of academics’ needs and perceptions. Journal of Higher Education and Science, 10(1), 88–95. Ozer, O. (2020b). Lecturers’ experiences with English-medium instruction in a state university in Turkey: Practices and challenges. Issues in Educational Research, 30(2), 612–634. Ozer, O., & Bayram, N. (2019). Students’ experiences of English-medium courses at tertiary level: A case in Turkey. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 11(1), 61–70.

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Pehlivan, A. (2018). Medium of instruction policies: Turkish Cypriots and their reflections on instructional technologies. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(5), 1683–1693. Rogier, D. (2012). The effects of English-medium instructions on language proficiency of students in higher education in the UAE [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Exeter. Sahan, ¸ Ö., & Sahan, ¸ K. (2021). The driving forces behind monolingual and bilingual English medium instruction: A comparison of students’ perspectives in Turkey. Novitas-ROYAL (research on Youth and Language), 15(2), 81–97. Sert, N. (2008). The language of instruction dilemma in the Turkish context. System, 36, 156–171. Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2000). Linguistic genocide in education–or worldwide diversity and human rights? Routledge. Symon, M., & Weinberg, L. (2015). To what extent does the integration of content and language in tertiary-level education improve students’ English proficiency? In R. Wilkinson & M. Walsh (Eds.), Integrating content and language in higher education: From theory to practice. Selected Papers from the 2013 ICLHE Conference (pp. 309–322). Peter Lang. Thomas, A., Piquette, C., & McMaster, D. (2016). English communication skills for employability: The perspectives of employers in Bahrain. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 13(1), 36–52. Troudi, S. (2009). The effects of English as a medium of instruction on Arabic as a language of science and academia. In P. Wachob (Ed.), Power in the EFL classroom: Critical pedagogy in the Middle East (pp. 199–216). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Turhan, B., & Kırkgöz, Y. (2018). Motivation of engineering students and lecturers toward English medium instruction at tertiary level in Turkey. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 14(1), 261–277. Yıldız, M., Soruç, A., & Griffiths, C. (2017). Challenges and needs of students in the EMI (English as a medium of instruction) classroom. Koninskie Studia Jezykowe, 5(4), 387–402. Yuksel, D., Soruç, A., Altay, M., & Curle, S. (2021). A longitudinal study at an English medium instruction university in Turkey: The interplay between English language improvement and academic success. Applied Linguistics Review, 812. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/ 10.1515/applirev-2020-0097 Zakharia, Z. (2010). Language-in-education policies in contemporary Lebanon: Youth perspectives. In O. Abi-Mershed (Ed.), Trajectories of education in the Arab world: Legaciesand challenges (pp. 56–184). Routledge. Zare-ee, A., & Hejazi, Y. (2017). University teachers’ views on English as the medium of instruction in an Iranian higher education institution. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), 8(4), 1–19.

Yasemin Kırkgöz is a professor in ELT at Çukurova University, Turkey. She completed her master and doctoral degrees at the University of Aston in the UK. Her main research interests include language policy and practice, EMI/EAP/ESP, curriculum design, problem-based learning, teacher education, and reflective practice. She has published in a number of international journals including European Journal of Teacher Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, Educational Policy and Teaching in Higher Education. Her recent co-edited book English as the Medium of Instruction in Turkish Higher Education: Policy, Practice and Progress has been published with Springer. Muhammed Emin Yüksel is an English instructor in the School of Foreign languages at Gaziantep University, Turkey. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in English Language Teaching at Çukurova University. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. program in English Language Teaching at the same university. His research interests include English medium instruction in higher education, affective variables in SLA and language assessment.

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Hamide Aslantürk graduated from Bo˘gaziçi University Foreign Language Education Department in Istanbul, Turkey. She received an M.A. degree in Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. During her studies, she also worked as a Teaching Assistant and ran English language courses at the university. Since 2011, she has been teaching at the Orta Do˘gu Teknik University, School of Foreign Languages as an English instructor. Currently, she is pursuing the Ph.D. program in English Language Teaching at Çukurova University.

EMI in North Africa Amira Salama

Abstract This chapter considers EMI in the north African region, which has witnessed rapid changes in EMI implementation in the last two decades due to the assumption that English is the international language and that EMI instruction would improve students’ English proficiency and provide them with better opportunities in today’s competitive job market (Salama, 2023). However, this rapid EMI adoption in many cases has not been grounded in theory or successful pedagogical practice, and empirical research that provides evidence of EMI effectiveness in this context is still lacking. Thus, this chapter presents a study conducted in one Egyptian university to examine teachers’ and students’ views of its significance and practice in the classroom with the aim of exploring successful practices for EMI implementation in this context.

1 Introduction English as a medium of instruction (EMI) refers to “the teaching and learning of content or academic subjects in the English language in situations where English is not the majority language” (Ducker, 2022). EMI has been adopted widely due to internationalization and the use of English as a lingua franca (Aizawa & Rose, 2019; Dearden, 2015; Macaro et al., 2018). The EMI accelerated movement in many countries around the world can also be ascribed to the increasing mobility and the impact of social and economic expansions (Wilkinson, 2013). This, along with the perceptions of English as an international language that provide better job opportunities (Crystal, 1997; Kachru, 1986), have made it imperative for educational institutions to use EMI to cope with the global changes and local competition for attracting students and providing quality education. “All language planning activities take place in particular sociolinguistic settings, and the nature and scope of the planning can A. Salama (B) Nile University, Giza, Egypt e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_5

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only be fully understood in relation to the settings” (Ferguson, 1977, p. 9). Accordingly, education reform agendas have increasingly come to focus on implementing EMI not only in some schools, but also in universities. However, with implementing EMI in this non-English speaking context, issues of inequality and access to quality education and student academic achievement have emerged. Extensive body of literature on EMI policies, there is still a lack of consensus on its effects on students’ learning and academic achievement in the Arab world (King, 2015; McLaren, 2011; Troudi & Jendli, 2011). Some of this criticism is due to the belief that using EMI would affect the linguistic identity of Arab speakers, leading to the diminishing status of Arabic and its use in these higher education institutions. Language education policy “is considered a form of imposition and manipulation of language policy as it is used by those in authority to turn ideology into practice through formal education” (Shohamy, 2006, p. 76). An example of language education policy is the adoption of EMI in higher education. Tollefson and Tsui (2003, p. 2) note that the “medium of instruction is the most powerful means of maintaining and revitalizing a language and culture”. Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) even argues that EMI is the most direct agent of linguistic genocide. The belief that education is best provided in English seems to be unchallenged in north Africa. Despite the implementation of EMI in some higher education institutions, some educators still question its effect on personal status (Byram, 2004), and how it is influencing the status of native languages such as Arabic (Ahmed, 2011; Troudi, 2009). On the other hand, EMI studies in the Arab world and north Africa are rather scarce (Ismail, 2011). Moreover, arguments against EMI implementation in this context, and other bilingual or multilingual contexts, have called for the use of bilingualism or multilingualism in an EMI context (Muttaqin & Chuang, 2022), but research on the impacts of using EMI in these contexts is also still scarce.

2 Contextual Background of English as a Medium of Instruction in North Africa According to the World Atlas (online), north Africa comprises 6 countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Sudan. English has a different status in each country based on its political, historical and social context. Other languages are spoken such as French and Berber. In this section, the EMI context in the 4 countries that adopt this system (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt) are summarized. This chapter, however, focuses on one country (Egypt) with implications that may apply to other north African countries that have similar language challenges. The use of EMI in some of these countries follows a language policy that is set by the government to respond to the economic and social requirements of the modern world. In Morocco, although French is the language used for instruction in higher education, students view the use of English in instruction as needed since it has “its crucial importance in conducting scientific research, pursuing studies abroad,

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and ensuring better job prospects” (Belhiah & Abdelatif, 2016, p. 237). HM King Mohamed VI (2013), the King of Morocco, has called for an educational language policy that favors the use of foreign languages such as English in higher education. He explained that: The education sector is facing many difficulties and problems. They are mostly due to the adoption of some syllabi and curricula that do not tally with the requirements of the job market. Another reason has to do with the disruptions caused by changing the language of instruction from Arabic, at the primary and secondary levels, to some foreign languages, for the teaching of scientific and technical subjects in higher education. Accordingly, students must be provided with the necessary linguistic skills so that they may fully benefit from training courses. Moroccans should, therefore, be encouraged to learn and master foreign languages. (www.maroc.ma)

In Algeria, after the failure of Arabisation and challenges with using English in primary education, the government has decided to take English a step back to be taught in middle school (Kouicem, 2019) and used in some higher education institutions as a medium of instruction. Teachers and students view the use of English in instruction in higher education, instead of French, as a necessity as it can positively affect the Algerian universities’ ranking and increase the number of published articles (Rahmani, 2021). For students, it is regarded as a way to cope with the new digital era. However, teachers rejected the quick shift to English without providing a well-planned training program to support teachers who have little or no knowledge of using English in instruction (Rahmani, 2021). In Tunisia, the situation is not very different, English has started to gain grounds over Arabic (L1) and French (L2) in schools (Boukadi & Troudi, 2017). Most university subjects are taught in French with the exception of social sciences and Arabic literature. Daoud (1996) pointed out that “Tunisia still suffers from a lack of functional users of English, primarily in the business and communication sectors of the economy” (p. 599). In recent years, there has been a growing interest in learning English. As a result, some universities have started adopting an EMI system and introducing English courses. Badwan (2019) examined the EMI perceptions of university teachers and students and found that Tunisian university teachers and students have a high regard for “their multilingual repertoires, which means that while they appreciate the need to improve their English proficiency, they highlight the importance of both Arabic and French as part of being a Tunisian citizen” (p. 4). The push for English in this country, and other similar contexts in north Africa, has been driven by the belief that English is needed for business and international communication, but evident drawbacks on implementing the system have shown that teachers are not yet ready for this change and national or familiar languages used are not easily left behind. It is recommended that EMI be viewed as a process to be piloted in some universities first before a wider implementation to avoid the problems that may happen due to the sudden change (Lassadi, 2015). Egypt is also one of the north African countries that started adopting EMI in higher education. English is the main foreign language in Egypt. Having been a British colony in the past, Egypt has historical reasons why it has adopted English as an important foreign language. With the economic requirements and cultural

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expansions, English has started to gain a prestigious status in Egyptian society as those who speak English can get better access to job opportunities at the private sector and are able to travel abroad to study or work in reputable institutions. Schaub (2000) explains that “with the exception of religion, English has found a significant role in the popular culture of Egypt, as manifested in advertising, television, clothing, and music” (p. 225). He states that the demand for English in Egyptian society has become like “hysteria” since everyone wants to learn it as it has become a requirement for providing a better quality of life. In the early 1970s, foreign institutions like the British Council mentioned that the reason for the decline in Egyptian education was the use of Arabic in teaching English. The problem of students graduating from universities in Egypt and not finding a job or graduating with weak English skills and unable to communicate sufficiently in English has driven many institutions to adopt an EMI policy with the aim of improving students’ English skills and preparing them for the labour market locally and globally. This has created a trend within the language education sector to advocate for the use of English only by the teacher even in non-English classes in an EMI context. Thus, English has continued to grow and gain more status for the most part in what Kachru and Nelson (1996) calls the “Expanding Circle” of English, including Egypt. Passing in English classes at the pre-university stage qualifies students to join more prestigious universities and is considered a requirement for getting a scholarship at university as one of the top achievers. This is reflected in education at the preuniversity level. English is taught at all schools and is used as a medium of instruction in international and language schools. In Universities, English is used to teach majors like medicine, science, business, computer science and engineering. This has put a lot of pressure on students to excel in subjects in English and to learn English to have a better chance in higher education and later in the job market after graduation. In such a system, engaging students with the curriculum and providing suitable opportunities for engagement have been problematic especially with the low level of students’ English skills. Pre-university education has an important effect on students’ attainment at university level (Torenbeek et al., 2010). In Egypt, students usually come from Arabic-medium high schools where Arabic is used as the language of instruction and teachers speak Arabic to teach all subjects including science and math. When they join an EMI university, the face many struggles as they may find some teachers who are native speakers of English or even Arabic speaking teachers who carry negative perceptions about using Arabic in teaching. One of the requirements, therefore, is to pass the English foundation program at their university to be able to study for their major. If students are not equipped with the necessary skills to succeed in these programs, they lose their opportunity to pass. Thus, they regard English as a barrier to study rather than a tool to facilitate their understanding of the subject matter. Students who join these foundation programs come with varying levels of proficiency. Those who were taught in international or English languages may find studying less difficult than those whose education was in Arabic at high school. Asking those struggling students to bear the burden of using extra vocabulary and language learning strategies to make studying easier in

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an EMI system may have a negative impact on their overall academic progress and achievement (Wenr website, 2019).

3 The Study This section outlines the study design, research instrument, and the procedures for data collection and analysis adopted for the study reported in this chapter.

3.1 Study Design This study 2.2 adopted an exploratory design with the purpose of examining the perspectives of university teachers and students with regard to EMI implementation. It addresses perceptions that these teachers and students have of EMI opportunities and challenges, their abilities to teach or learn through the English medium, and whether they have certain issues they face in this context being Arabic speakers. A survey was chosen to investigate the use of EMI in a private university in Egypt where professors and students teach and learn academic subjects in English. The design is essentially qualitative, for which Creswell et al. (2004) offers five defining characteristics, namely that it a) b) c) d) e)

is naturalistic; draws on multiple methods; is context based; is emergent and evolving; is fundamentally interpretive.

These five perspectives offer the key defining qualities of qualitative research which guide this study as follows: • It occurs in a natural setting. This was achieved by asking teachers and students working in an EMI context in Egypt. • It draws on multiple methods that respect the humanity of research participants. This was possible through data collected from the questionnaires with students and teachers. The researcher did not share her opinion about the EMI implementation with students or teachers who were approached to take part in this study. A thematic analysis was used to cross-check the data for patterns and themes using counting and simple grouping of the similar responses to avoid the researcher’s bias. • It is context-based as the research was taking place inside a private Egyptian university where EMI is implemented. Flyvbjerg (2004) states that the knowledge that is context-dependent could be considered more contextually valuable than the search for predictive theories and universals of large scale quantitative data.

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Qualitative design relies on natural settings as the data that will be collected will come from the questionnaires. • The design of this study, being a qualitative design, was an emergent design as it could not be initially “tightly prescribed” as described by Creswell (2014). The purpose was to get as close as possible to not only capturing the perceptions of the two groups about EMI implementation, but also understanding the reasons for these perceptions or challenges shared through the demographic data section of the questionnaire. • Another characteristic of qualitative research in this study was the use of multiple sources of data and interpretive data analysis (Creswell, 2014) since the study used the data to constitute themes based on the EMI perceptions and effects for both the teachers and students.

3.2 Sampling and Data Collection As mentioned above, this study was conducted at a private university in Egypt. Data was collected from a convenience sample of students and teachers in the computer science (CS) and business schools. The total number of responses was 33 from students (15 males and 18 females) who have an age range from 18 to 20, and there were 7 teachers from the business school. The data collection started in March 2022 in two stages due to the interruptions during the semester because of student examinations. Students learned CS and business in English while being enrolled in English classes at the university as a requirement. Most of the students who joined these programs attended language schools and have a good command of English. As for the professors or teachers, they had a range of experience in teaching their subjects in English. All the students were Egyptians and all the teachers were also Egyptians except for one.

˙ 3.3 Instruments Two different surveys for teachers and students were used as the main instruments for data collection. The necessary ethical approval was obtained before conducting the survey. In both questionnaires, the participants were told that they could use English or Arabic.

3.3.1

Students’ Survey

In terms of its structure, the questionnaire consisted of 10 questions (see Appendix), five of which related to the participants’ demographic information, and five are openended questions to target their attitudes toward EMI education. The questions on

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students’ demographic information included questions about their gender, age, and education in the pre-university level. This information was included to help in data analysis since connections between students’ English level and language education and their EMI education perceptions might be relevant. Gender was also included as a question to know whether it affects perceptions of EMI, but due to time restrictions in the current study, it was suggested for further research as Sultana (2014) has suggested a relationship between gender and student EMI perceptions. The questionnaire was shared online with students from Business and Computer Science on social media groups and via email. Students’ identity was kept anonymous in the design of the online form to make sure privacy was not compromised in any way and that students were free to write their answers without any threats to their privacy or identity. Some copies of the questionnaire were also given as hard copies to reach out to students on site.

3.3.2

Teachers’ Survey

This survey consisted of 9 questions, four of which related to the participants’ demographic information, and five open-ended questions targeted their attitudes toward EMI teaching. The aim of this survey was to explore the teacher’s perceptions of EMI implementation Seven responses were included in this study. There was a response received from an Engineering professor, but it was not included in the analysis to ensure the data was homogeneous since the sample for this study was from Business and Computer Science schools.

3.4 Data Analysis The initial step of data analysis involved examining the open-ended surveys for themes. The answers were listed and grouped according to main themes. In the students’ survey, there were 5 main questions: the reasons for choosing to study in an EMI system, the advantages, the difficulties of studying in EMI system and recommendations to face these problems and the preference of using Arabic (L1) in class. The data from the hard copies of the student survey were inserted in the form to be added to the online responses and prepared for analysis.

4 Results This section presents the results of the student and teachers’/lecturers’ survey together using quotes from their responses to address the survey questions.

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4.1 Reasons for Choosing an EMI System for Studying/Teaching 4.1.1

English as a Global Language

Students indicated that they had to choose this context because English is used now as an international language for work and that it is the preferred language for communication. S2: More and more people are using the English language everyday all around the world so it is becoming increasingly popular and it makes sense to study in the language that’s almost universal. Another student said that English is used in every field, not only their field of study so it is imperative to learn it and use it in studying. S20: Because it is better to study the subject in the language that is used around the world and in every field of technology in order to have a better understanding. As for teachers, one teacher agreed with students’ responses and indicated that studying in English would also enable students to be more qualified for the job market.

4.1.2

Better Job Opportunities

Students reported that learning in English would allow them to have better job opportunities and become competitive in the labour market after graduation. This is highlighted in the example responses from students below. S1: Because it’s required in the multinational companies nowadays S17: As most of the companies now prefer good English students and speakers S8: Because it’s more professional and jobs nowadays accept English talkers and workers. 4.1.3

Access to Information

Some students mentioned that the materials of business or computer science are available only in English and this makes studying in English better for them to facilitate acquiring the business or computer science concepts easily. S20: Because it is better to study the subject in the language that is used around the world and in every field of technology in order to have a better understanding. S21: Because my field is needed to English. S25: programming is only taught in English. S26: easier for programming.

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Teachers indicated that the course materials have been developed in English and this makes it hard to teach in Arabic. Finding materials for their classes would be difficult since the recent research and publications in their field are available in English. T1: English is the business language. T6: All course material have been developed in English. T7: Because i studied in English and we should consider that most of the science is in English and the latest researches is in English Language. One teacher indicated that learning new vocabulary in business in English is necessary as this enables students to acquire the information in their field since most terms are in English (T2). 4.1.4

A Way for Improving English Skills

Students talked about studying in an EMI as a way for them to improve their English skills since these skills are much needed in the job market. They see learning in an EMI systems as a supporting way to help them with their rather weak English skills. S4: Because I want to improve my English language and this will help me in the work a lot. S18: This is the best way to improve my language. One teacher (T2) also agreed with this opinion and added that teaching in English is good to enrich awareness of students with English language as well as business academic courses. 4.1.5

Pre-university Language Education

Some students reported that learning in English is more familiar for them because they were in language and international schools. S5: My English is better than my Arabic. It’s my preferred language as well. S14: Because I am not good at Arabic i do not understand it. Moreover, I did not study many courses in Arabic. S18: I was in language school that I studied all subjects with English. S23: Because of my high school was international and American.

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4.1.6

Only Option Left

Two students reported that this was their only option to study in an EMI context. One male student indicated that his English skills are “good” and that he did not go to a language school. Another female student said this was her “last option” and also indicated that she has not been to a language school. Two teachers indicated that they have to use English while teaching because it is a university requirement without mentioning any other reasons. One teacher said that she does not speak Arabic so teaching in English is the only option for her.

4.2 Advantages of Studying/Teaching in an EMI System 4.2.1

Improving English Skills

Some students mentioned that studying in an EMI context would strengthen their English skills and improve their ability to communicate the business or CS concepts they learn in English. S3: I improve my language when I study. S8: It strengths our English skills through presentations and discussions, and it helps us to get to know the work requirements as well. S17: It will help me develop my English skills. One teacher agreed with this opinion and shared the importance of studying in English to improve students’ language skills in addition to learning about their content area. T2: to enrich awareness of students with English language as well as business academic courses. 4.2.2

Obtaining a Qualification

Students and teachers were of the opinion that studying in English would provide students a better certificate for the future. S23: It is a good certificate to get in English. S24: English is a better certificate. T7: It will open many doors and bring new career opportunities for students. 4.2.3

Better Job Opportunities Abroad

As mentioned before in the reasons for choosing to study in an EMI system, getting better job opportunities was also shared again by students and teachers as one of the advantages of studying in English.

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S4: It can help make a good impression on your interviewers and also contribute to our employer’s business when communicating with some of their international clients. S5: You’re not limited to work in Arabic based countries. You can work abroad. S16: More employment opportunities and probably and the ability to work any were I want without a language barrier. Teachers indicated that learning in English would also strengthen students’ professional skills to be better competitors. T2: It improves your skills to compete globally. T4: It ensures that the students can compete on the international level. 4.2.4

Better Access to Information and Communication

Students and teachers indicated that English can give them access to materials and course resources since all these resources are written in English, not Arabic, their L1. Being in an EMI environment would enable them to acquire communication skills and information that is only accessible in English. S14: It is easier to learn in my study. There are also a lot of sources for studying and research. S27: It is easy to understand in my field since business terms are in English. S18: It makes it easier as all the courses and internet materials are in English. S21: It’s the easiest language to communicate with people. S10: It facilitates communication and learning materials. T3: All well-known databases and research in my field of study (finance) is in English.

4.3 Difficulties of Studying/Teaching in an EMI System 4.3.1

Difficulty with New Vocabulary and Weak English Skills

Students indicated some problems while studying in English such as memorization and lack of understanding of difficult terms. Students said that the lack of using L1 made some course material hard to understand especially since professors/teachers did not check understanding. S9: I find problems occasionally when professors mention business terms that I don’t know of, also vocabulary wise, some words might be vague to the person. S12: English isn’t my first language, so it will be difficult for me to understand some vocabs. S16: Sometimes some words are hard to understand. S29: There are terms I did not know before.

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S13: Some Jargons are hard to memorize. S30: I was in Arabic school, English is difficult for me. Teachers shared similar challenges while teaching in English, but some of them use L1 in class to facilitate students’ understanding. T2: Students sometimes don’t have good English skills. T5: Sometimes, there are some business aspects that need to be clarified in Arabic for students - for example the legal forms of companies. T7: Sometime I find that I should turn to Arabic because I teach Math and some students don’t understand some parts very well. 4.3.2

Lack of Confidence in Using English in Speaking in Class for Students

Two students indicated their lack of confidence in expressing themselves in English and these two students also mentioned they did not learn in a language school, so their English does not provide them with enough chances to express their thoughts. S3: I can’t memories or find another term to right when I have easy question in the exams so I lose a lot of marks. S21: I don’t have the confidence to speak to the people.

4.4 Recommendations to Address the Difficulties As for the recommendations shared by students for studying in an EMI system, there were some ideas for facing the shared challenges. Improving student English skills through English for Specific purposes (ESP) courses and vocabulary learning strategies and more opportunities for practice.

In addition to taking English classes, students and teachers indicated the need for English courses that focus on ESP so students can acquire the language needed for their majors. Some students also indicate the need to simplify the language and use easier terms. S1: I think they should take English for business course first. S2: Reading books written in English and watching shows in which the actors speak English. S3: Just one thing is to study day per day and to write the word couple of time and try to find another word with the same meaning in case something happened and you forgot the word or the sentence. Plus I recommend to write in your own words when you study don’t just copy and paste what the doctors write. S10: I think for those who are facing difficulties they should practice speaking and listening as much as they could.

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S20: Joining English courses with the CS material as a basic part of understanding the language fully. S29: Focus on these difficult terms to understand them using a dictionary. T4: Work on the students English language skills. Another teacher indicated that English courses do help students in improving their skills. This confirms the need for English classes to aid students in their learning. T7: This problem appears only on the first and second semester for the students but after they get all the English course levels, they become better. 4.4.1

Using L1 in Class and Checking Understanding by Teachers/Professors

Some students indicated that some vocabulary and course content are difficult to understand and that it is recommended that professors use L1 in class to facilitate learning and explanation. S9: When mentioning new terms, the professor must ensure that all students understand what those terms mean. S6: Teaching the content in English but also provide the Arabic terms. Teachers agreed about the need for English courses to qualify students to study in English, but they had different opinions about using L1. One teacher indicated the need for using only English in class. T6: Keep all the lectures in English as it is a good practice for students. While another teacher indicated they use L1 in class to facilitate learning. T5: I use both languages to clarify difficult points. 4.4.2

Perceptions of Using Arabic in an EMI System

This question asked students if they prefer their professors to use Arabic while teaching Business or CS. The results indicated that 54.5% of students said No, while about 18% said Yes. Other responses were qualified and they opted for using English and Arabic to explain the difficult concepts and help students understand, as reported in students’ long responses. What is intriguing in this finding is that many of the students who preferred using a mix of both languages are language school students not only those whose high school studies were in Arabic. Out of the 9 students who recommended using both languages, only 2 students were Arabic high school graduates. The rest were all language and international school students. S7: Use both because not everyone can understand. S15: Mix of both as i will not understand anything if the professors only explained in Arabic.

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S17: I prefer mixing as to say the concept in English as how it will me in the exam and explain it in Arabic. S18: I prefer to speak in English but if someone did not understand a point there is no problem to teach this point by English. S19: I think they should do a mix between both English and Arabic while teaching. S29: I prefer my professors to speak Arabic sometimes not always. The same question was addressed to teachers. Out of the seven teachers, 3 teachers said Yes and 2 said No. Two teachers said they sometimes mix English and Arabic to help students understand. T1: Sometimes mixing both languages is needed for those who are having weak English. T5: Speaking Arabic while teaching improves the level of student’s engagement as well.

5 Discussion and Implications An overview of the implementation of an EMI system in Egypt shows that it does not seem to take into consideration that students are facing major challenges when it comes to studying content in English without enough linguistic preparation. In addition, while the use of L1 in class in these contexts is seen by some teachers and students as the solution to some of these challenges, the perception of this practice is still negative and not explicitly encouraged by policy makers or language pedagogical practices. As a result, teachers may use their own intuition concerning using L1 in class to facilitate student understanding through strategies such as memorization and translation without a clear understanding of the pedagogical implications of using these strategies. This agrees with what Rahmani (2021) suggested for teachers in Algeria to get the necessary training to teach in an EMI system and what Lassadi (2015) pointed out as a sudden change in Tunisia that needed more preparation. Instead of facilitating learning, these strategies may have dire consequences on students’ well-being and stress as they increase their workload and provide only a temporary solution for overcoming the language barrier. Pu et al. (2020) explained that students with more workload, spend less time in each subject and this affects their overall academic achievement and performance. On the other hand, this may allow for practices of inequality and injustice in education to prevail as students from Arabic schools or students who have no strong language background are at a double disadvantage being unable to cope with studying in a context where the language is not familiar to them and having to do extra work of memorization and extra practice to survive in this system. They may also resort to the easiest option which is to stay silent as they cannot use the language to express their thoughts in class. High school major is shown to correlate with English proficiency and academic achievement since, as (1985) indicated, secondary school provides an important foundation for

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university students’ academic life, especially in an EMI context. In this study, the secondary school being a language school or international school also predicted the EMI students’ survival in university, with those from a language-school background indicating fewer challenges than others from Arabic as a medium of instruction schools.

6 Suggestions for Further Research The research done in EMI implementation in north Africa is scarce. Directions for future research can take into account some issues that remain under-researched such as the relationship, if any, between academic achievement in an EMI system and gender, social class and teachers’ experience. A question on the best practices for implementing EMI still needs an answer. An evaluation of EMI programs in different countries and contexts based not only on teachers’ and students’ perceptions but on concrete evidence of students’ academic achievement and performance can help in designing a framework for implementing successful EMI in these contexts taking into account the peculiarities of the situation. The EMI teacher training is an issue that is also under-discussed despite the evidence in the literature about it being a need for implementing a successful EMI system. The current study has identified views of teachers and students about EMI in this context, but examining these views and perceptions over time especially with an increasing input of English as students graduate from their English foundation program and join their majors can be a topic for further research. Whether EMI leads to improving English proficiency is also a topic for further study as it was mentioned as one of the advantages and reasons by students and teachers to use EMI. One last question can be to study the effect of using EMI systems on the use of the mother tongue and perceptions of national, cultural and linguistic identity in education.

7 Conclusion This study has found that the implementation of EMI in educational contexts, while maximizing opportunities, has many challenges. Given the growing economic and cultural value of English as an international language, EMI has major potential advantages, but it is also a challenge given the particular circumstances of each country as explained with reference to the EMI systems in different north African countries in the introduction section of this chapter. The urge to revise current EMI systems and introduce teacher and language preparation policies that identify the bilingual and/or multilingual context of education and acknowledges its value in EMI implementation rather than its exclusion, has become evident through this research.

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Education policy makers need to address the emergent problems that hinder the successful application of this system to reach the target goals and effectively provide equal opportunities for students from different socio-economic contexts to avoid the equity and inclusion problems that are created by the implementation of EMI in this context and by the promotion of English as the international language for commercial and business gains since its educational benefits are not yet strongly proven by research in this context.

Appendix Teacher Survey Dear Teacher, I am wanting to do some work on English as a medium of instruction (EMI) for a book on the subject that we are working on. Would you mind looking at the questions below and letting me have your thoughts. QUESTION

COMMENT

1. What is your major? 2. What is your gender? 3. How do you evaluate your English skills? 4. How often do you use English while teaching? Why did you choose to work in an EMI environment? What are the advantages of working in this environment? What are the difficulties? Do you have any recommendations for addressing the difficulties? Do you recommend using Arabic while teaching?

Student Survey Dear Student, I am wanting to do some work on English as a medium of instruction (EMI) for a book on the subject that we are working on. Would you mind looking at the questions below and letting me have your thoughts.

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What is your major? What is your gender? How do you evaluate your English skills? Did you go to a language school? How often do you use English while teaching? Why did you choose to study in an EMI environment? What are the advantages of studying in this environment? What are the difficulties? Do you have any recommendations for addressing the difficulties? Do you prefer that your professors speak in Arabic in class while teaching?

References Ahmed, K. (2011). Casting Arabic culture as the “other”: Cultural issues in the English curriculum. In C. Gitsaki (Ed.), Teaching and learning in the Arab world (pp. 119–137). Peter Lang. Aizawa, I., & Rose, H. (2019). An analysis of Japan’s English as medium of instruction initiatives within higher education: The gap between meso-level policy and micro-level practice. Higher Education, 77(6), 1125–1142. Badwan, K. (2019). Exploring the potential for English as a medium of instruction in Tunisian Higher Education. https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/623468 Belhiah, H., & Abdelatif, A. (2016). English as a medium of instruction in Moroccan higher education. In Arab World English Journal, December 2016 ASELS Annual Conference Proceedings (pp. 211–222). Boukadi, S., Troudi, S. (2017). English Education Policy in Tunisia, Issues of Language Policy in Post-revolution Tunisia. In R. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), English language education policy in the Middle East and north Africa (pp. 257–277). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46778-8_15 Byram, M. (2004). Routledge encyclopedia of language teaching and learning. Routledge. Creswell, J. W. (2014). A concise introduction to mixed methods research. SAGE publications. Creswell, J. W., Fetters, M. D., & Ivankova, N. V. (2004). Designing a mixed methods study in primary care. The Annals of Family Medicine, 2(1), 7–12. Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge University Press. Daoud, M. (1996). English language development in Tunisia. TESOL Quarterly, 30(3), 598–605. Dearden, J. (2015). English as a medium of instruction: A growing global phenomenon. British Council. Ducker, N. (2022). English as a medium of instruction. In J. I. Liontas, & M. DelliCarpini (Eds.), The TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching. Online: https://doi.org/10.1002/978111 8784235.eelt0968 Ferguson, C. A. (1977). Sociolinguistic settings of language planning. Language Planning Processes, 21, 9–29. Flyvbjerg, B. (2004). Phronetic planning research: Theoretical and methodological reflections. Planning Theory & Practice, 5(3), 283–306.

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HM King Mohamed VI. (2013). Full text of the Royal speech to the nation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People. Retrieved March 15, 2016, from http://www.map.ma/en/activites-royales/hm-king-delivers-speech-nationoccasion60th-anniversary-revolution-king-and-people Ismail, A. (2011). Language planning in Oman: Evaluating linguistic and sociolinguistic fallacies [Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Newcastle University]. Kachru, B. B. (1986). The alchemy of english: The spread, functions and models for non-native englishes. Oxford University Press. Kachru, B. B., & Nelson, C. L. (1996). World Englishes. In S. McKay & N. Hornberger (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language teaching (pp. 71–102). Cambridge University Press. King, M. J. (2015). An exploratory investigation into content teachers views on English as a medium of instruction policy enactment in the UAE Federal Tertiary Sector [Doctoral thesis, University of Exeter]. Kouicem, K. (2019). Exploring English in education policy in Algeria: Obstacles to its promotion. Ichkalat Journal, 4(8), 573–592. Lassadi, B. (2015). Establishing English as a medium of instruction (EMI) strategy in Tunisian universities; challenges and expectations. In EDULEARN15 Proceedings (pp. 3520–3524). Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Dearden, J. (2018). A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education. Language Teaching, 51(1), 36–76. McLaren, P. B. (2011). English medium in the United Arab Emirates: Serving local or global needs? [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Exeter]. Muttaqin, S., & Chuang, H. H. (2022). Variables affecting English-medium instruction students’ achievement: Results of a multiple regression analysis. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 3, 100–152. Pu, S., Yan, Y., & Zhang, L. (2020). Peers, study effort, and academic performance in college education: Evidence from randomly assigned roommates in a flipped classroom. Research in Higher Education, 61, 248–269. Rahmani, A. (2021). A glance into the status of english language in the Algerian higher education context. Retrieved from http://dspace.univ-batna.dz/xmlui/handle/123456789/3671 Salama, A. (2023). EMI in north Africa. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 53–71). Springer. Schaub, M. (2000). English in the Arab Republic of Egypt. World Englishes, 19(2), 225–238. Shohamy, E. (2006). Language policy: Hidden agendas and new approaches. Routledge. Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2000). Linguistic genocide in education-or worldwide diversity and human rights? Routledge. Sultana, S. (2014). English as a medium of instruction in Bangladesh’s higher education: Empowering or disadvantaging students? Asian EFL Journal, 16(1), 11–52. Tollefson, J. W., & Tsui, A. B. (Eds.). (2003). Medium of instruction policies: Which agenda? Whose agenda? Routledge. Torenbeek, M., Jansen, E., & Hofman, A. (2010). The effect of the fit between secondary and university education on first-year student achievement. Studies in Higher Education, 35(6), 659–675. Troudi, S. (2009). The effects of English as a medium of instruction on Arabic as a language of science and academia. In P. Wachob (Ed.), Power in the EFL classroom: Critical pedagogy in the Middle East (pp. 199–216). Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Troudi, S., & Jendli, A. (2011). Emirati students’ experiences of English as a medium of instruction. Peter Lang Publishers. Wenr website. (2019). https://wenr.wes.org/2019/02/education-in-egypt-2 Wilkinson, R. (2013). English-medium instruction at a Dutch university: Challenges and pitfalls. In A. Doiz, D. Lasagabaster, & J. M. Sierra (Eds.), English-medium instruction at universities: Global challenges (pp. 3–24). Multilingual Matters. World Atlas. https://worldatlas.com

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Amira Salama is an academic English Instructor at Nile University, Egypt. She is the current President of Africa ELTA, the regional association of African English language teachers. Amira has an MA TESOL from the American University in Cairo with a research focus on teacher leadership and is currently pursuing her PhD in Egypt. She is a Past President of NileTESOL in Egypt and the Incoming Chair of the TESOL International Research Professional Council. Her research and professional interests include teacher mentoring, inclusive ELT materials development, and education leadership.

EMI in Western and Southern Europe Zoe Gavriilidou

and Lydia Mitits

Abstract There is a long tradition of EMI in some countries in western and southern Europe (e.g., Italy, Spain, France) but there are also less researched countries (e.g., Croatia, Serbia, northern Macedonia) (Gavriilidou & Mitits, 2023). This chapter offers a systematic overview of the literature on EMI in the area, followed by a small-scale qualitative case study of EMI practices in Greek public universities. The authors suggest some preliminary conclusions for the region and propose ideas for further research in the field.

1 Introduction English medium instruction in education has been continuously gaining ground in recent years and there are many educational contexts where a language other than the home language of the students is being used for the teaching of course content. In Europe, various terms for this practice are used, including content and language integrated learning (CLIL), integrating content and language, or English-taught programs. English as a medium of instruction (EMI) is a term usually applied to higher education (Macaro et al., 2018). Dimova et al. (2015) add that in the context of higher education, EMI has been investigated under different labels and with different objectives, such as CLIL (Dalton-Puffer, 2011; Wilkinson & Zegers, 2007) or ELFA English as a lingua franca in academia (Jenkins, 2014; Mauranen, 2014; Seidlhofer, 2011). Macaro et al. (2018) conclude that the labels given to the phenomenon of EMI and their definition are “inconsistent and problematic” making the overall global picture “extremely complex and sometimes confusing” (p. 37). In this chapter we use the label “English medium instruction” and adopt the following definition:

Z. Gavriilidou (B) · L. Mitits Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_6

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Z. Gavriilidou and L. Mitits The use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language of the majority of the population is not English. (Macaro et al., 2018, p. 37)

English medium instruction is characterized by four main features: 1. 2. 3. 4.

English is the language used for instructional purposes. English is not itself the subject being taught. Language development is not a primary intended outcome. For most participants in the setting, English is a second language. (Pecorari & Malmström, 2018, p. 499)

Besides this inconsistent use of terminology, there are also numerous issues, tensions and debates surrounding the use of EMI. Dimova et al. (2015) point out the heterogenous attitudes as well as different reactions to EMI in different contexts. In their volume it is reported that in Italy, for example, a group of lecturers and researchers at the Politecnico di Milano, decided to sue their university for implementing EMI claiming that it violated their freedom in teaching (Pulcini & Campagna, 2015; Santulli, 2015). Also, a similar response has been reported in France, where EMI is viewed, even at the highest level, as a threat to the national language and an authentic French identity (Gallix, 2013). In other western and southern European countries, EMI seems to have been implemented with less resistance, for instance in Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Cyprus and Slovenia. According to Dimova et al. (2015) some contexts are of particular interest as they need to manage minority languages alongside English as well as a majority language, such as Catalan or Basque in Spain (Doiz et al., 2014). Also there are contexts about which very little is known, such as Bosnia and Hercegovina, Montenegro and Malta. It appears that the study of EMI in western and southern Europe is still in its infancy (Dimova et al., 2015). To account for this gap in previous literature, this chapter provides a detailed report on EMI programs existing in the region of western and southern Europe, with a special focus in Greece, and also offers a systematic overview of the literature about EMI in this region, followed by a small-scale qualitative case study of EMI practices in Greek public universities. We finally arrive at some preliminary conclusions for the region of our interest and propose ideas for further research in the field.

2 Overview of Previous Research This section will look at the previous research that has been done on the subject of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in western and southern Europe. The studies included will present various perspectives, including those of lecturers, students and institutional policies.

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2.1 EMI Programs in Western and Southern Europe English medium instruction programs in countries such as Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus (EU member), France, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, northern Macedonia, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain are the focus of this report. Particular geographical regions of Europe have been mapped in recent years, particularly for full bachelor or master level studies offered in English (Engel et al., 2015; Sandström & Neghina, 2017; Wächter & Maiworm, 2014) (for detailed analyses see Dafouz & Smit, 2020). A closer look at EMI in Europe reveals an unequal distribution of both undergraduate and graduate programs offered in English between the northern and southern European countries (Hultgren et al., 2015). The northern European countries show a significantly higher proportion of English medium programs (20%) than those in southern Europe (approx. 2.5%) (Maiworm & Wächter, 2014, pp. 40–41). The results of the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) reports also point towards significant differences concerning the level of studies, with 80% of all such programs being offered to graduate students. Moreover, different national policies in the region are responsible for even further distinctions between the number of undergraduate and graduate English medium programs offered. Lastly, the surveys reveal a constant ranking of academic disciplines across different countries, with the top disciplines for English medium programs being Business & Management, followed by Social Sciences, Engineering, Technology & IT and the Natural Sciences & Mathematics (Sandström & Neghina, 2017, pp. 13–14). It is generally acknowledged in the literature that it is difficult to obtain comparable and updated figures on English medium programs at European universities (Dimova et al., 2015). Based on information obtained from mastersportal.eu, the MA degrees offered to international students in the countries belonging to western and southern Europe significantly differ in number. Also, it is worth noting that the program descriptions provided by each country do not correspond to the MA degrees and do not necessarily specify the language of instruction, making it even more difficult to obtain reliable data on the exact number of English medium programs in the countries in question (see Table 1). Since 2003 up to the present, there has been an increasing number of EMI courses provided by education institutions (Wächter & Maiworm, 2008). A rise of 38% was noted at MA level in just one and a half years from the end of 2011 to June 2013 (Brenn-White & Faethe, 2013; Brenn-White & van Rest, 2012). Again, we should be cautious about interpreting the numbers since the provision of MA programs in total (including those taught in a national language) has also increased (Brenn-White & Faethe, 2013). In 2012, the OECD report showed that the countries belonging to the geographical region of our interest offered some or no programs in English as a medium of instruction. A possible interpretation according to OECD was that the official language as well as the language(s) used in instruction sometimes determine the country of choice. Countries whose language of instruction is widely spoken and read, such as English,

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Table 1 MA degrees offered to international students Country Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria

Number of programs Language of instruction 7

Courses are offered in English and French

7

Not specified

34

Some universities offer courses fully taught in English

Croatia

41

Not specified

Cyprus

207

Not specified

France

1,121

There are over 1,500 courses taught in the English language, and the number is growing every year

Greece

125

There are over 500 English-taught courses in Greece

Italy

847

Not specified

14

Not specified

344

Not specified

5

Not specified

Northern Macedonia Portugal Serbia Slovenia Spain

24 805

There is a considerable selection of English-taught programs Not specified

French, German, Russian and Spanish, are therefore leading destinations for foreign students. Another possible explanation is that students intending to study abroad have most likely learned English in their home country or wish to improve their English-language skills through immersion in a native English-speaking context. The proportion of tertiary education institutions offering English-taught programs at International Standard Classification of Education level 5 or 6 in 2013/2014 shows a great discrepancy between the north and the south. Within the sample for which the Academic Cooperation Association collected data (Wächter & Maiworm, 2014) for the OECD report (2015), the countries belonging to the south-western Europe geographical region in which a majority of institutions offer at least one program entirely taught in English are Spain (20%), Italy (20%), Greece (20%), Bulgaria (18%), France (18%), Portugal (16%), Slovenia (9%), and Croatia (7%). In general, the proportion of institutions offering English taught programs tends to be above average in the groups of countries that Wächter and Maiworm (2014) define as “Nordic” and “central-west Europe”, and below average in southern and east European countries. The possibility of establishing MA programs exclusively taught in English was given to Greek Universities in 2014 and, in the same year, according to Article 73 of Law 4316/24-12-2014 Regulation of Higher Educational Institutions, it was determined that Bachelor programs were, for the first time, to be established in Greek higher educational institutions with courses taught entirely in a foreign language. These programs were exclusively open to international students who did not have

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citizenship of a member-state of the European Union and did not hold a Greek high school diploma. International students who were selected to attend would contribute financially to the running costs of these programs. Paragraph 6 of the presidential decree of the same article was supposed to regulate the name of these departments and the specific issues concerning their operation, their staffing, the procedure for the admission of foreign students, the amount of their financial contribution, the means of payment of this financial contribution and any other necessary details. Based on that law, the University of Crete and the University of the Aegean established departments offering bachelor degrees in Tourism studies. The University of the Aegean also established a department of Maritime bachelor studies and the Democritus University of Thrace established a department of BA in Hellenic studies in accordance with paragraph 11. The curriculum of the above departments was to be taught entirely in English. However, with the change of government in 2015, the possibility of establishing an EMI BA became a field of political controversy on the grounds that any form of education should be free of tuition fees, and, as a result the decision was suspended. It was not until 2020 that the possibility of establishing an EMI program of study was provided again by article 82 of Law 46192/2020. Thus, today in Greece, according to the above provision, there is: a. an EMI undergraduate program of studies entitled BA program in archaeology, history, and literature of ancient Greece at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, b. an EMI undergraduate program of studies in Medicine at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and c. an EMI undergraduate program of studies entitled BA in Hellenic Studies at the Democritus University of Thrace, from 2024. The above are the only undergraduate university programs with tuition fees in public universities in Greece. At the same time, there are multiple EMI postgraduate study programs. Today, the establishment of English-language programs of study is a high priority of the Ministry of Education in Greece, as it is considered a key tool for the internationalization and outreach of Greek universities. Through a program co-funded by the European union and national funds, Greek universities have received a grant of 20 million euros in order to operate 200 additional EMI postgraduate and/or undergraduate programs, leading to a considerable increase of English medium programs in this country. In their systematic review of EMI in higher education, Macaro et al. (2018) recorded 102 relevant empirical studies worldwide and 33 in Europe. With respect to the countries that we focus on here, they found a very small number of such studies—France (2), Italy (6), Spain (11), and multiple European countries (2). The study of EMI in western and southern Europe revolves around three major subject areas—teachers, students, and administrators (Dimova et al., 2015). With the use of varied methodologies, such as interviews, questionnaires, analyses of language policies, university websites, and job advertisements, among others, the researchers are

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attempting to investigate different aspects of a very complex issue. In our overview, we present a selection of studies concerned with the role of (a) the lecturer, (b) the student, and (c) institutions and their policy.

2.2 Focus on the Lecturer EMI is increasingly being introduced across western and southern European universities, in countries where English is neither an official nor a commonly-used language, such as France, Italy, and the Balkan countries. At the same time, the competences and concerns on behalf of the lecturers who find themselves teaching courses in English are not necessarily included in the process of English medium program development. As a result, concerns regarding lecturers’ proficiency arise and are reflected in studies reporting that the majority of lecturers admit that they have linguistic problems (Macaro et al., 2018). For example, Helm and Guarda (2015) report on a survey conducted with 115 lecturers in a public university in northern Italy in which they sought to identify lecturers’ perceived strengths and weaknesses in English, their concerns as well as their evaluations of the experience of teaching through the medium of English. They discuss ways in which European Language Centers can support EMI at their universities. In their next study (Guarda & Helm, 2017), at least 10 out of 53 participants reported that their language skills were one of the major causes of difficulty in teaching on English medium programs. Similarly, other reports from Italian university lecturers show a belief that their English was inadequate, which could possibly lead the students to learning incorrect language (Pulcini & Campagna, 2015). Pulcini and Campagna (in Dimova et al., 2015) examined the attitudes of 79 lecturers at the University of Turin in the light of the initial decision by the management at the Politecnico di Milano to switch to English only for courses at graduate level, which caused a lot of controversy. They call for the need to balance “local” and “global” concerns, namely those related to culture and identity and to international competition, and conclude that English medium programs should not be introduced unless they are pedagogically justified. A number of studies have focused on the attitudes of university lecturers towards introducing EMI in their universities. Margi´c and Vodopija-Krstanovi´c (2015) present the first such study at a Croatian university, where higher education is still almost exclusively conducted in Croatian. Their survey findings show that the majority of the lecturers believe that their university benefits from EMI but, at the same time, only about 50% of them feel competent to actually teach in English. In - c and Blagojevi´c (2019) surveyed the context of Serbian higher education, Ðordevi´ 64 lecturers from the humanities who also expressed concerns about possible challenges and obstacles related to the implementation of EMI. Lourenço and Pinto (2019) conducted an exploratory qualitative study at a Portuguese higher education institution with the aim of identifying, comparing and discussing expatriate and home teachers’ beliefs concerning the benefits and challenges of EMI. Their results suggest that expatriate and home teachers share similar beliefs regarding

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the challenges of introducing EMI. There are differences between the two groups concerning the possible benefits, with the former focusing on educational and the latter on economic benefits. The last group of studies present teacher training practices in universities in countries like Spain, Italy, and France. In Spain, Aguilar and Rodríguez (2012) report on a 15-week course which revealed that the participants’ main motivation for taking part was the desire to improve their English language rather than make changes in methodology. In Italy, on the other hand, a training program was seemingly successful. It involved over 50 lecturers presenting lectures and participating in seminars followed by group discussions. Pre- and post-analysis of their views demonstrated a change of perceptions and greater willingness to interact with students in English, as well as to consider student needs (Guarda & Helm, 2017). An overview of how an EMI program was designed at the University of Coruña to implement courses taught in English by its teaching staff by Crespo and Llanos Tojeiro (2018) explains the principles of a particular teaching methodology for non-native speakers of English and how it is implemented. The authors conclude that a further level of teacher professionalism should be aspired to, involving commitment, reflection, and responsibility as well as a shift away from particular teaching traditions coupled with lecturers’ communicative competence. As for French universities, any support or training for teachers in EMI are sparce. At the University of Bordeaux, however, a training program focusing on both pedagogical and language skills was implemented and a post-training survey of participants showed that the training helped them change their teaching approach (Pagèze & Lasagabaster, 2018).

2.3 Focus on the Student We now turn to studies which have investigated students’ point of view and their experience of attending an EMI program. Macaro et al. (2018) underlines that there is very little research on students in EMI as key stakeholders and that it is important to examine both local and international students. In the Italian context, Doiz et al. (2014) carried out a study which looked into the attitudes towards the use of English in EMI courses of native and non-native students, since English is an additional language for Italian students who have the same educational needs as non-native international students. Their data show that knowledge of English is still problematic for Italian students compared to that of international students (Costa & Mariotti, as cited in Bowles & Murphy, 2020). At the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy the majority of the students participating in the survey expressed satisfaction with their learning experience, and revealed a positive attitude towards EMI. At the same time, however, they were unanimously critical of the communicative competence in English of the non-native speaker teachers of the nonlanguage courses (Bagni, 2021). A number of studies in the Spanish context aimed to measure specific skills or areas of language competence. Aguilar and Munoz (2014) examined the effect of

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EMI on postgraduate engineering students’ listening proficiency and grammatical knowledge and their results show improved listening but not grammar skills after a semester. Students who benefited more from attending an EMI course were those with the lowest initial level of proficiency. The performance of higher-level proficiency students in the grammar post-test was worse than their (corresponding) performance in the pre-test. In another study in Spain, Dafouz et al. (2007) compared EMI and non-EMI students’ official grades from different departments at one university, using a self-reported questionnaire. However, according to Macaro et al. (2018), the authors do not provide sufficient information about the design of the EMI and non-EMI tests.

2.4 Focus on the Institution and Its Policy Dimova et al. (2015) point out that the lecturer and the student have probably received the most attention in the research on EMI; nonetheless, research into policies is also beginning to take shape. EMI in higher education is inevitably affected by the contexts of the countries in which it is implemented, including various ideological, social, and political issues. For example, Lasagabaster (2015) analyses the opinions of the teaching and administrative staff of the bilingual (Basque and Spanish) University of the Basque Country with regard to the implementation of a new multilingualism program (the UBC Multilingual Plan). According to his study, both teachers and administrators have mostly positive comments about the program and express little concern that the program is dominated by English language courses. However, Dafouz and Smit (2020) add that the use of three typologically distant languages with different societal, academic and institutional functions is not without tensions (Doiz et al., 2014; Ruiz de Zarobe & Lyster, 2018; Santos et al., 2017). From a sociopolitical perspective, the introduction of English is viewed as a hindrance to the role of the Basque language and a way has to be found of balancing between the protection of Basque language, culture and identity and the use of two international languages: English and Spanish. There are also a few studies reporting on different perspectives on language policy and ideology in the Italian higher education context. Costa and Coleman (2013) report on a survey of English medium programs in Italian higher education. In 2010, 50% of Italian universities completed a questionnaire which addressed both organizational and pedagogical factors. The findings showed differences between public and private institutions as well as their geographical location (the wealthy, industrialized north, the centre, and the less developed south). Nevertheless, all institutions showed a clearcut focus on content over language. Santulli (2015) reports on how the decision to adopt EMI on all MA and PhD programs from 2014 at the Italian university Politecnico di Milano led to a heated debate and a lawsuit. Aiming to investigate the institution policy and its implementation, the author focuses on the university’s website and identifies discrepancies in the Italian and English versions, arguing that there is a link between language and knowledge and between academic English and epistemicide.

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The last research study reviewed in this section comes from northern Macedonia, in particular the South East European University. Agai-Lochi (2015) investigates the use of English as a third language among multi ethnicities at the university where Albanian, Macedonian and English are the mediums of instruction. The study compares language objectives and learning outcomes between the English Department and the Language Center and documents some crucial differences based on English language proficiency. The author concludes that such findings should be taken into consideration during language planning in higher education.

2.5 Microlevel Studies and Projects Involving Institutions from Western and Southern Europe Some insightful studies that look at microphenomena of EMI in education are briefly presented here (for detailed analysis see Block & Khan, 2020). Dafouz et al. (2007) investigated the use of the pronoun “we” and its relation to modal verbs by 3 lecturers in an EMI setting in a Spanish university; their findings show that “we” was used as a device to create solidarity with the audience: “We will see later”; “here we have” … “we tried to solve yesterday” (p. 655). These were often collocated with the modal verb “can”: “we can calculate”. Macaro et al. (2018) add that a further study should examine whether the lecturers themselves were aware of using these features for the benefit of the students as well as whether the students believed they benefited from them. More recently, Moncada-Comas (2020) offered a multimodal analysis of a brief episode of classroom interaction from the perspective of social identity. Sabaté-Dalmau (2020) reports on her investigation of students’ resistance to the English monolingual norm of EMI while Block and Mancho-Barés (2020) found that EMI lecturers acted as English language teachers on certain occasions although they did not recognize the particular behavior and claimed to be deliverers of exclusively disciplinary content. As for projects aimed at providing structured instruction to EMI teachers, we found a couple of them in our geographical region. In Serbia, from 2013 to 2016, a project was realized, one of whose specific objectives was capacity building of teaching and non-teaching staff for full participation in EMI. A crucial activity was providing language support which included the EMI Training Course for University - c & Blagojevi´c, 2019). and College Teachers (Ðordevi´ Another, much larger project, was TAEC Erasmus + Project (2017–2020). Its purpose was to develop a common framework for EMI quality assurance and support, which would help the partners (Italy, Spain and Croatia being 3 out of 5) adapt local EMI training and language assessment certification instruments for transnational uses. It also aimed at raising awareness about the specific characteristics of EMI and offering opportunities for linguistic and pedagogical training for teaching in the EMI context. The project resulted in three intellectual outputs: (a) a report on the facets of a common EMI framework, (b) a technical report on alignment, and (c)

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an EMI handbook. Moreover, in the Transnational Alignment of English Language Competences for University Lecturers Literature Database (2020) 206 resources, i.e., articles, books, book chapters, chapters in proceedings, handbooks, institutional documents can be found. The database entries were annotated based on various criteria relevant to the study of EMI at higher education level and are believed to be a very useful source for literature review in the field. Finally, the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, is running a program with a budget of 70,000 euro, whose purpose is to (a) train lecturers teaching in an English medium program of that university in order to raise their awareness about the specific characteristics of EMI, and (b) produce pedagogic material which addresses the needs of EMI students in various scientific fields.

3 The Study Taking into consideration the literature review, as presented above, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the following research questions: RQ1: What is the rationale for teaching or studying in an EMI program in Greece? RQ2: What are the advantages of getting involved in an EMI program? RQ3: What are the difficulties of getting involved in an EMI program? RQ4: What are the recommendations of people involved in EMI programs to address these difficulties?

3.1 Methods 3.1.1

Sampling

A total of 15 questionnaires were filled in and returned to the authors. Table 2 illustrates the make-up of the focus groups. Group 1 consisted of twelve professors, who participate in EMI teaching. There were three students in Group 2.

3.1.2

Procedure and Instrumentation

A qualitative study was conducted from January 2022 to May 2022 to investigate the RQs presented above. Two questionnaires including four open-ended questions investigating the rationale for teaching or studying in an EMI program, the advantages and difficulties of getting involved in such an environment, and participants’ recommendations were sent by email to two focus groups to obtain the maximum quality of information: teaching staff and students at EMI programs at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the Democritus University of Thrace in Greece (DUTH).

EMI in Western and Southern Europe Table 2 Focus group participants

Group Group 1 professors

Group 2 students

3.1.3

83 Gender P1

M

P2

M

P3

F

P4

M

P5

F

P6

F

P7

F

P8

M

P9

M

P10

F

P11

M

P12

F

S1

M

S2

M

S3

M

Data Analysis

Data were inserted into an Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using thematic analysis. Following Creswell (2012), the steps for qualitative data analysis and interpretation included in this research were coding, grouping of themes, displaying data, interpreting the findings, and validating the results with the use of stability measures through which the two researchers used the same method of analysis at different points in time and yielded identical results concerning the distribution of the samples’ answers to themes and views.

4 Results Table 3 shows a summary of the results of the focus group answers in which the two groups of stakeholders consisting of professors and students discussed their views on the rationale for EMI practice, advantages, difficulties, and recommendations.

4.1 RQ1/Teachers: Rationale for Teaching in EMI Programs As shown in Table 3, the contribution to institution’s internationalization was the most frequent reason for working in an EMI program in our sample:

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Table 3 Participant responses Themes

Group 1 (teachers)

Group 2 (students)

Rationales

• Contribution to Institution’s Internationalization (6 professors) • Opportunity to interact with and teach to more diverse, multicultural student audience (3 professors) • Academic challenge/Personal development (3 professors) • Practice previous teaching experience in English (2 professors) • Prepare students for an international career (2 professors)

• Opportunity (2 students) • Knowledge extension (1 student) • Acquaintance with carrying out research in English (1 student)

Advantages

• Personal/teaching development (6 professors) • Institution’s Internationalisation (5 professors) • Reaching a more diverse audience (4 professors) • Offer career opportunities to students (2 professors) • Access to better teaching material (1 professor)

• Improvement of students’ skills in English (3 students) • Interaction with people from different cultural settings (1 student) • Obtaining a qualification (1 student) • Empowering the research profile (1 student)

Difficulties

• Proficiency of students and professors in English (12 Professors) • Lack of pedagogical support (2 professors) • Students coming from different cultural settings (2 professors)

• Different levels in students’ knowledge of English result in lack of communication (all three students)

Recommendations • Professional development (3 • Preparative courses in English (1 professors) student) • Providing English instruction (2 • More practice (1 student) professors) • Improvement of means of distance • Homogeneity of student language learning (1 student) level and competence (1 professor) • Foundation/Introductory course (1 professor) • New curricula/syllabi (1 professor) • Student-centered learning (1 professor)

P1: I will have the opportunity [….] to contribute to the internationalization of my institution […]. P3: Because […] the use of English as the language of instruction will allow me to teach an […] international group of students. P4: In order to reinforce the outreach of my home institution.

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P6: Because the messages transmitted can be received by a larger and varied audience. P10: I chose to work in an EMI environment, because I wanted to contribute to the efforts to have an international profile. Another common view which was shared by three professors was the opportunity to interact with and teach to more diverse, multicultural student audience: P1: Because I will have the opportunity […] to interact with students of various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. P3: Because I love teaching and the use of English as the language of instruction will allow me to teach a multiethnic […] group of students. P5: Teaching in English offers access to a wider pool of students. Working mainly in Greek…typically results in a fairly homogenous student population. I welcome the opportunity to teach to more diverse, multicultural student audience. Three other professors shared the opinion that they chose to get involved in an EMI program because it was an academic challenge and an opportunity for professional development: P1: Because I will have the opportunity to…enhance my subject matter learning and expansion. P9: Academic challenge for me personally. Finally, giving benefits for the graduates in the future and the opportunity to practice previous teaching experience in English were two more shared views: P12: I had been teaching in the UK for many years in the past, so I welcomed the opportunity to teach again in English while in Greece.

4.2 RQ2/Teachers: Advantages As indicated in Table 3, professors’ responses were more varied about the advantages of working in an EMI environment: P2: EMI provides a way to create international collaborations, attract international students, and foster student mobility. P6: I enjoy the challenge of transmitting a message to an audience that…comes from very different cultural origins. This makes me think in a new way and to try and avoid any notion that there is given knowledge or self-evident truths. P8: The constant all-the-year-round familiarity with English is also excellent exercise for the frequent international conferences and meetings that are part of our yearly schedule. For me, personally, thinking/reflecting/ teaching on two different languages (Greek and English) within the same semester has been remarkably stimulating, with mutual benefits for structuring both Greek and English language courses.

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P10: The transmission to the students’ knowledge and terminology in another language which will enable them to work in an international environment. P11: Working in such an environment allows educators to engage with students from an extensive range of cultural backgrounds, a fact that leads to a reconsideration of the content, the aims, the syllabus, etc. of one’s lectures, as well as the teaching methods deployed…Overall, it enriches and diversifies one’s teaching, while it demands a beneficial process of self-reflection as a professional.

4.3 RQ3/Teachers: Difficulties On the other hand, professors reported few difficulties which mainly had to do with proficiency in English: P6: The fact that English is not my native language and at the same time not the mother tongue for many of the students creates sometimes misunderstandings and it can work as a boundary. P2: Students with lower English skills get demotivated…the implementation of an “English only” policy in a classroom might affect the confidence of the students who have lesser knowledge in English…There is often a dearth of curricular planning and pedagogical support for instructors tasked with implementing EMI.

4.4 RQ4/Teachers: Recommendations Finally, Professors’ recommendations focused mainly on the need to be trained, to provide English language or preparatory courses to students and to try to achieve more homogeneous classes. P2: The training and mindset of lecturers teaching through English is an important but neglected topic. What is needed, is professional development for lecturers (teacher training). P5: A. Educating teachers on handling such classes. B. Providing English instruction for non-native students specifically for their topic of studying.

4.5 RQ1/Students: Rationales for Studying in EMI Programs Students saw their participation in an EMI program as an opportunity which would extend their knowledge and cultivate research skills: S3: There are several reasons why I would choose to study in an EMI environment. First of all, the course is conducted in English and that gives the opportunity to students to touch upon international literature. Having that in mind, students

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can gradually learn to search out research based on international literature. Therefore, students are not restricted in using resources from their country and culture but rather extend their knowledge.

4.6 RQ2/Students: Advantages All three students considered as the major advantage for participating in an EMI program the improvement of their proficiency in English, while other views included the fact that upon completion of their studies, they would have obtained an extra qualification and during their studies they have the opportunity to interact with people from different cultures: S2: First of all, we learn to speak and write superb English. Moreover, due to the fact that also foreign students choose the English-taught programs in Greece, we have the opportunity to interact with people from all over the world. Finally, acquiring a degree in English is a great plus for a job later either in Greece or somewhere abroad. Also, it is much easier to work abroad because of the acquaintance with the language.

4.7 RQ3/Students: Difficulties Students unanimously cited the different levels in students’ knowledge of English as the only difficulty they face: S1: Sometimes I can’t understand what my professor said. S2: One disadvantage is that not all students are going to have the same level of proficiency in English, and this might create gaps or some delays regarding the comprehension and the production of written and spoken language as well.

4.8 RQ4/Students: Recommendations Finally, they suggested that in order to improve their English, preparatory courses should be organized in EMI programs, while more practice and improvement by means of distance learning would enhance the service offered by these programs: S1: To practice more. S2: The universities should improve the online lessons by setting up better and more modern electronic means. S3: For extra support, intensive preparatory courses can be organized to assist those students whose English language proficiency level is inadequate.

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5 Discussion and Implications This research examined professors’ and students’ rationale for teaching or studying in an EMI program in Greece, the perceived advantages and difficulties of getting involved in such programs and their recommendations to address these difficulties. The results showed that the most shared view among the professors about the reasons to get involved in such an environment is the fact that they contribute to the internationalization of their institution. This view reflects policy makers’ beliefs in Greece who constantly promote the idea that EMI is the ideal mechanism for internationalizing institutions’ study programs which may increase international mobility. However, in Greece, as elsewhere, “policy makers insist on introducing EMI for reasons of economic growth, prestige and internationalization without considering the teaching resources needed to ensure its proper implementation such as sufficiently trained teachers, materials and assessment” (Dearden, 2014, p. 24). For instance, no specific provision was foreseen for teacher training in the recent call by the Greek Ministry of Education for funding EMI programs (see section EMI in Greece above) indicating that there is no clear strategy nor specific guidelines for EMI instruction. Some other “idealistic” or instrumental reasons for EMI proposed by professors who consider their involvement in EMI as an academic challenge, included the opportunity to interact with a more diverse audience and provide their students with an empowering learning experience leading to skill development allowing them to join the global academic community and be competitive in the global labor market. This finding is in line with previous studies (Dearden, 2014; Hellekjær, 2010; Lueg, 2015; Margi´c & Vodopija-Krstanovi´c, 2015). On the other hand, students of our sample reported that they participate in EMI programs because they see it as an opportunity to gain knowledge and be prepared for research in the international setting. This finding is in line with previous research (e.g., Corrales et al., 2016; Phuong & Nguyen, 2019) which found that participants agreed that EMI brings them cognitive advantage. Personal/teaching development, institution’s internationalization, reaching a more diverse audience, offering career opportunities to students and access to better teaching material were acknowledged as the main advantages for EMI involvement by professors who participated in this study. This diversity indicates that on the surface, advantages and reasons for the introduction and use of EMI may look very similar, but if we shed more light on the subject, each context where EMI is used is unique. This diversity in views may have a deep impact on the teaching methods and performance of professors in classrooms. Considering the difficulties reported by the professors, what was striking is that language proficiency in English is regarded as the most important prerequisite for effective EMI and is closely connected with the recommendation to provide English language or preparatory courses to students. This result indicates that professors have limited understanding of the implications of teaching through EMI, neither are they aware of the importance of extensive and systematic training; the finding may also indicate that they have not participated in professional development programs

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nor have they received any guidelines before participating in EMI programs. To respond to this drawback, Teaching and Learning Centers recently founded in all Greek Universities should produce training material, highlight good practices in EMI and train EMI professors by offering peer learning through practice communities. Teacher training was one of the recommendations shared by only two professors of our sample. Students, on the other hand, see as a major advantage the fact that, since EMI provides more exposure to English, it is a way to enhance their English language proficiency which ensures that they will be able to compete in a world labor market. This view is commonly shared by EMI students around the world (Phuong & Nguyen, 2019; Tamtam et al., 2012) and indicates that students get involved in such programs mainly for instrumental reasons. This particular view is also closely connected to the difficulty also reported by students, namely that different proficiency levels in knowledge of English result in lack of communication in the classroom and their recommendation for intensive preparatory English courses. Actually, the fact that an EMI professor, in a university which has succeeded in attracting international students, is required to teach a class of students, many of whom may not speak his L1 and may demonstrate various levels of proficiency in English, raises the question of whether a standard level of proficiency in English should be required by professors and students (Dearden, 2014).

6 Conclusion and Suggestions for Further Research Our study has followed what is obviously a favored methodology in the general EMI literature—attitudinal studies based on questionnaires (Macaro et al., 2018) and we hope that it has revealed some important attitudes towards the policy and practice of EMI as well as the challenges of teaching and learning in English. Results have shown that teachers and students participating in English medium programs in Greece share similar attitudes and beliefs toward EMI as those presented in literature about EMI in other countries of western and southern Europe. We have also attempted to overview the research interests in the particular geographical area and it appears that there is a very uneven distribution of EMI programs and accompanying studies in different countries. Another major issue that was highlighted in this overview is the lack of reliable data on the exact number of English medium programs in the countries in question. As Macaro et al. (2018), and Block and Kahn (2020) propose, extending the scope and methods of study should include looking into language policies, conducting ethnographic studies and studies which focus on the interface between tertiary-level education and comparative studies among other educational institutions.

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Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the Vice-Rector of Academic affairs and student welfare of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Professor Dimitrios Karadimas and Eleni Karamalegou, Director of the EMI program on Archaeology, history, and literature of ancient Greece at the same university for their valuable help in data collection.

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Engel, L., Sandstrom, A. M., van der Aa, R., & Glass, A. (2015). The EAIE barometer: ˙ Internationalisation in Europe. European Association for International Education. Gallix, A. (2013). The French protect their language like the British protect their currency. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/23/language-frenchidentity Gavriilidou, Z., & Mitits, L. (2023). EMI in western and southern Europe. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 73–92). Springer. Guarda, M., & Helm, F. (2017). ‘I have discovered new teaching pathways’: The link between language shift and teaching practice. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 20(7), 897–913. Hellekjær, G. (2010). Assessing lecture comprehension in Norwegian English-medium higher education. Language Use and Language Learning in CLIL Classrooms, 7, 233–258. Helm, F., & Guarda, M. (2015). “Improvisation is not allowed in a second language”: A survey of Italian lecturers’ concerns about teaching their subjects through English. Language Learning in Higher Education, 5(2), 353–373. Hultgren, A. K., Jensen, C., & Dimova, S. (2015). English-medium instruction in European higher education: From the north to the south. In S. Dimova, A. K. Hultgren, & C. Jensen (Eds.), English-medium instruction in European higher education (pp. 1–15). De Gruyter Mouton. Jenkins, J. (2014). English as a lingua franca in the international university: The politics of academic English language policy. Routledge. Lasagabaster, D. (2015). Multilingual language policy: Is it becoming a misnomer at university level. In S. Dimova, A. K. Hultgren, & C. Jensen (Eds.), English-medium instruction in European higher education (pp. 115–136). De Gruyter Mouton. Literature Database. (2020). The transnational alignment of English language competences for university lecturers literature database. TAEC Erasmus+ Project (2017–2020). https://www. maastrichtuniversity.nl/transnational-alignment-english-competences-university-lecturers-0 Lourenço, M., & Pinto, S. (2019). Expatriate and home teachers’ beliefs about English-medium instruction at a Portuguese university. European Journal of Higher Education, 9(3), 252–267. Lueg, K. (2015). English as a medium of instruction and internationalization at Danish universities: Status, perspectives, and implications for higher education executives. Communication & Language at Work, 4(4), 53–73. Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Dearden, J. (2018). A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education. Language Teaching, 51(1), 36–76. Maiworm, F., & Wächter, B. (2014). Part I—The big picture. English-taught Programs in European higher education: The state of play in 2014 (pp. 25–62). Lemmens Medien GmbH. Margi´c, B. D., & Vodopija-Krstanovi´c, I. (2015). Introducing EMI at a Croatian university: Can we bridge the gap between global emerging trends and local challenges. In S. Dimova, A. K. Hultgren, & C. Jensen, C. (Eds.). English-medium instruction in European higher education (pp. 43–64). De Gruyter Mouton. Mauranen, A. (2014). Lingua franca discourse in academic contexts: Shaped by complexity. In J. Flowerdew (Ed.), Discourse in context: Contemporary applied linguistics (3rd ed., pp. 225–245). Bloomsbury. Moncada-Comas, B. (2020). ‘Being a student’ and ‘doing education’: A multimodal analysis of backstage and frontstage interactional episodes in EMI. In D. Block & S. Khan (Eds.), The secret life of English-medium instruction in higher education (pp. 43–69). Routledge. OECD Education at a glance. OECD indicators—2015 report. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/ docserver/eag-2015en.pdf?expires=1654932959&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=0C5F64 EC64791FD8093D2EE99F6E5BB3 Pagèze, J., & Lasagabaster, D. (2018). Teacher development for teaching and learning in English in a French higher education context. L’Analisi Linguistica E Letteraria, 25(2 Supplement). https://www.analisilinguisticaeletteraria.eu/index.php/ojs/article/view/139 Pecorari, D., & Malmström, H. (2018). At the crossroads of TESOL and English medium instruction. TESOL Quarterly, 52(3), 497–515.

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Phuong, Y. H., & Nguyen, T. T. (2019). Students’ perceptions towards the benefits and drawbacks of EMI classes. English Language Teaching, 12(5), 88–100. Pulcini, V., & Campagna, S. (2015). Controversy in Italian higher education. In S. Dimova, A. K. Hultgren, & C. Jensen (Eds.), English-medium instruction in European higher education (pp. 65–88). De Gruyter Mouton. Ruiz de Zarobe, Y., & Lyster, R. (2018). Content and language integration in higher education: Instructional practices and teacher development. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(5), 523–526. Sabaté-Dalmau, M. (2020). Whispers of resistance to EMI policies: The management of Englishisation through alternative local multilingual practices and dissenting identities. In D. Block & S. Khan (Eds.), The secret life of English-medium instruction in higher education (pp. 70–95). Routledge. Sandström, A. M., & Neghina, C. (2017). English-taught bachelor’s Programs Internationalising European higher education. European Association for International Education. Santos, A., Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2017). Attitudes and anxieties of business and education students towards English: Some data from the Basque Country. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 31(1), 94–110. Santulli, F. (2015). 12 English in Italian universities: The language policy of PoliMi from theory to practice. In S. Dimova, A. K. Hultgren, & C. Jensen, C. (Eds.), English-medium instruction in European higher education (pp. 269–290). De Gruyter Mouton. Seidlhofer, B. (2011). Understanding English as a lingua franca. Oxford University Press. TAEC EMI Handbook. (2019). TAEC Erasmus + project (2017–2020). Tamtam, A. G., Gallagher, F., Olabi, A. G., & Naher, S. (2012). A comparative study of the implementation of EMI in Europe, Asia and Africa. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47, 1417–1425. Wächter, B., & Maiworm, F. (2008). English-taught Programs in European higher education. ACA Papers on International Cooperation in Education. Semantic Scholar. Wächter, B., & Maiworm, F. (Eds.). (2014). English-taught Programs in European higher education: The state of play in 2014. Lemmens. Wilkinson, R., & Zegers, V. (Eds.). (2007). Researching content and language integration in higher education. Valkhof Pers.

Zoe Gavriilidou (BA, D.E.A., PhD) is Professor of Linguistics at the Department of Greek Philology at Democritus University of Thrace and currently Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago. She was the supervising coordinator of the THALES Project on Language Learning Strategies and of the Project on Heritage Greek and she has been member of the experts’ committees for the revision of curricula in Greece and Cyprus in primary and secondary education. Her main areas of research interest include language learning strategies, dictionary strategy use, heritage languages, language teaching and language policies. Lydia Mitits is Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Department of Education Sciences in Early Childhood at the Democritus University of Thrace. She has taught EFL in primary, secondary and tertiary education since 1989. She has presented at international conferences and published peer reviewed research papers on multilingualism, heritage languages, language learning strategies, instrument adaptation, etc., in books, international journals and conference proceedings. Her main research interests lie in the fields of bilingualism in education, language learning strategies and multilingualism, heritage languages, and language teaching methodology.

EMI in Central Asia Anas Hajar , Yelena Babeshko, and Juldyz Smagulova

Abstract ˙Included in central Asia are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan (Hajar et al., 2023). The study conducted in Kazakhstan reported in this chapter found that most students indicated that although it was their parents’ decision to send them to an EMI school, they gradually realised that studying at this school supported their identity formation as users of English and helped them visualise their ideal end state, relating to professional, intercultural and academic gains. The teachers also valued working in an EMI environment with highly-motivated, talented students and helping them achieve their desired future selves.

1 Introduction After the collapse of the USSR, newly independent central Asian states—Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—introduced drastic education and language policy reforms. The common agenda for all new republics has been nation-building and developing systems and institutions independent from the Soviet centralised structures. One of the major first moves in this direction was elevating the role of national languages. In these countries, titular languages (languages of assigned ethnic majority after which the Soviet republics were named) were given the status of the main state/national language. The new state languages became the only medium of instruction and/or a required school subject. The role of A. Hajar (B) Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan e-mail: [email protected] Y. Babeshko · J. Smagulova KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan e-mail: [email protected] J. Smagulova e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_7

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Russian has been demoted to the status of an official language, often de facto designated as an interethnic lingua franca (Liddicoat, 2019). Also, the value and use of English in the region have increased dramatically, mainly as a result of the growing integration of local markets with the international global market (Ahn & Smagulova, 2021). In this new linguistic market, most education systems in the region have adopted a trilingual approach, which includes the first language (L1), Russian and English (Liddicoat & Kirkpatrick, 2020). When it comes to language planning efforts of spreading English, central Asian post-Soviet states have followed the trend of other international contexts where English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) is used. EMI refers to using English to teach academic subjects in countries where the first language of most individuals is not English (Macaro, 2018). It is content-driven because the main focus is not on an individual’s language improvement. However, Rose et al. (2020, p. 2150) point out that EMI can “kill two birds with one stone”, because it helps students learn and develop their English, along with acquiring content knowledge. This chapter reports on a qualitative study of seven male Grade 9 students and their four teachers’ reflections and assessment of their learning and teaching experiences at one of the highly selective schools in Kazakhstan, where EMI is used for teaching science subjects. The special focus is on the participants’ challenges and the strategies they used to deal with these challenges. The chapter is organised into four sections, beginning with an overview of the policies and implementation of EMI in central Asian countries, followed by details of the current study, then results, and finally reflections on how educational policy and distribution of resources in similar contexts can affect students’ strategic language learning efforts and their language identity construction and development.

2 Policies and Implementation of EMI in Central Asia 2.1 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is a multilingual and multicultural country with over 130 ethnic groups and languages. Article 14 of the Constitution promises the protection of the language rights of every citizen of Kazakhstan, granting all citizens the right to use their native languages and choose their language of communication. Although language rights are protected, in practice, minority languages are confined mostly to community activities (Ahn & Smagulova, 2021). Since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has been undergoing dynamic processes of socio-cultural-political change, including its language and education policies. According to Ahn and Smagulova (2021), 83.1% of Kazakh people reported that they can speak or understand Kazakh, 94.4% can understand spoken Russian and 22.3% are trilingual in Kazakh, Russian, and English ().

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Kazakhstan is the first country in central Asia to actively develop a trilingual education policy of teaching different subjects in Kazakh, Russian, and English in secondary schools and higher education institutions (Hajar & Si Mhamed, 2021). Reagan (2019, p. 448) states that Kazakhstan’s growing focus on English reflects “the neoliberal agenda of the government as it seeks to become a player in the global economic community”. Kazakhstan’s former president, Nur-Sultan Nazarbayev, presented in 2015 the following justification for adopting EMI in science subjects in secondary schools and universities. The transition to EMI in upper-secondary schools and universities has also been indicated as Step 79 in “The Plan of the Nation: The Path to the Kazakhstan Dream”. The President emphasized that the main goal was to enhance the competitiveness of graduates and the growth export potential of the education sector (cited in Karabassova, 2020, p. 44). Kazakhstan joined the Bologna Declaration process in 2010 and began integration with the European Higher Education network. One way of achieving integration is implementing EMI programs in higher education in line with global trends. Karabassova (2020) points out that over 40 of 125 Kazakhstan universities in 2016 offered programs with EMI, and this number is growing. As for secondary school education, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan set up 20 Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NISs) for gifted children around the country in 2008. NISs are the main site for testing Kazakhstan’s trilingual educational model of Kazakh, Russian and English to ensure “the transformation of Kazakhstan into a country with competitive human capital” (Shamshidinova et al., 2014, p. 72). Bilim-Innovation Lyceums (BILs) are also highly selective schools for the gifted in Kazakhstan. In 1992, the first three BILs (former Kazakh-Turkish Lyceums) were established in Turkistan, Kokshetau and Almaty for boys only, following the initiative of the Kazakh–Turkish Education Foundation (Yakavets, 2014). There are currently thirty-four BILs operating across the country, and they are all classified as boarding schools for children aged 13 to 17 (grades 7 to 11). Twenty-six BILs have been providing education on a single-sex basis, 20 schools for boys and 6 schools for girls. They are all funded and governed by both the Ministry of Education and Science and the Bilim-Innovation International Social Foundation. Curriculum subjects at BILs are taught in two major languages: science subjects in English, and social sciences in Kazakh (Karabassova, 2020). From Grade 7 on, about 50% of instruction is in English, and the rest is in Kazakh (Karabassova, 2020). Turkish is taught as a separate language subject.

2.2 Tajikistan The Republic of Tajikistan is a small, landlocked, multiethnic society with more than 143 ethnic groups and 2 major ones—Tajiks (84.3%) and Uzbeks (13.4%) (Bahry et al., 2016). It has the lowest ethnic Russian population in central Asia (0.5%). School education in Tajikistan is divided into primary (grades 1–4), lower

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secondary (grades 5–9) and upper secondary education (grades 10 and 11). The school system in Tajikistan reflects its rich ethnic and linguistic diversity. It caters to students from different ethnic backgrounds, where Tajik is the most widely used medium of instruction, and Uzbek medium schools constitute roughly a quarter of all schools (Liddicoat, 2019). The rest use Russian or other language programs such as Kyrgyz and Turkmen. Language policy in post-Soviet Tajikistan is primarily based on The Law on the State Language of the Republic of Tajikistan signed by Tajikistan’s president, Emomali Rahmon, in 2009. Tajik was declared the official language and Russian the language of interethnic communication, while all nationalities were given the right to freely use their own mother tongues. English is taught at schools from grade three in Tajikistan. Bezborodova and Radjabzade (2022) suggest that since international organisations require local staff who can speak English but the quality of higher education provided by the state is poor and does not meet international standards, this encouraged the opening of the only private English medium university in Tajikistan in 2017, namely, the University of Central Asia in Khorog. In addition, some local universities in Tajikistan and elite schools now teach several subjects in English. Bezborodova and Radjabzade (2022) comment that although the country seems to be open to developing or widening the use of English, the implementation of EMI in formal settings in Tajikistan faces several challenges, including limited opportunities to use English outside the classroom and a lack of funding for the education sector and the consequent poor facilities, shortage of resources and qualified teachers, and absence of the special EMI training necessary for both students and teachers. In sum, the politically and economically weak Tajik government has difficulty in funding, and hence providing, good quality education. There is a dearth of empirical studies in Tajikistan, due to limited freedom of movement within the country and the dangerous situation in the country during the civil war in the 1990s, both of which continue to impact on the integrity of Tajikistan’s education system today.

2.3 Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is an ethnically diverse country with numerous ethnic groups. Turkmen are the largest ethnic group in the country, comprising around 85% of the population. The other ethnic groups are Uzbeks, Russians, Tatars, Kurds, and Armenians. Turkmen is the country’s official language, and 72% of the population speaks it (Misachi, 2019). It serves as the only medium of instruction in mainstream schools, and other languages are formally excluded. The education system of Turkmenistan has undergone a number of reforms since its independence in 1991. Turkmenistan developed a trilingual education policy in 1993, with Turkmen as the primary language of teaching, and English and Russian as the main foreign languages. However, this policy was not entirely implemented. Only Turkmen was taught in a comprehensive manner in schools, whereas Russian and English language courses were frequently canceled due to the shortage of teachers

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and language resources (Ahn & Jensen, 2016). In 1997, the school curriculum was restructured to focus primarily on Turkmen while restricting the use of Russian and English in special language schools and higher education establishments (Liddicoat, 2019). In Turkmenistan, English is formally taught in schools beginning in the first grade. The curriculum includes Turkmen, Russian, and English, although due to the shortage of English language teachers, the English subject is not taught in all schools. However, certain private schools use EMI to teach science subjects from the seventh grade. (Linn et al., 2021) As for higher education institutions, the International University for Humanities and Development was established in 2014 as Turkmenistan’s first and only university to offer instruction exclusively in English. Linn et al. (2021) state that the country’s 24 higher education institutions offer courses in the English language. There is still a scarcity of empirical studies that have examined the use of EMI in Turkmenistan (Linn et al., 2021).

2.4 Uzbekistan Uzbekistan is a central Asian country that borders five countries: Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. The Uzbeks account for about 80% of the population, followed by the Tajiks, Kazakhs, Tatars, Russians, and British. Uzbek, the official state language of Uzbekistan, is spoken by over 85% of the population. Russian is the second most spoken language and is used by 5.4% of the population (Liddicoat, 2019). Although Uzbekistan has implemented policies to encourage the use of minority languages, only Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Russian, Tajik, and Turkmen have been approved as mediums of instruction (Liddicoat, 2019). The adoption of English in formal settings has grown in recent years in Uzbekistan. Since its independence in 1991, the government of Uzbekistan has implemented a number of national education reforms, many of which are linked to the study of foreign languages. English was introduced in the first grade of primary school as a result of the presidential decree in 2012 in relation to further improving the system of foreign language learning (Linn et al., 2021). Hasanova (2016) points out that the process of English language learning in Uzbekistan is divided into two stages. During the first stage, students are expected to develop their basic skills in English. The focus is on students’ acquiring basic lexical and grammatical materials and developing listening comprehension and communication skills. In the second stage, from grade seven to nine, students continue working on the development of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Some positive changes in foreign language education have been observed since the regulation was introduced; however, Linn et al.’s (2021) study suggests that following these measures is proving difficult and that students are relying on private English language instruction to prepare for university studies. University professors in Linn et al.’s (2021) study stated that many students of English were ill-prepared for university study, attributable to significant practical barriers to staffing in schools,

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particularly outside major urban areas. In this regard, Hasanova (2016) comments that the education sector in Uzbekistan continues to suffer a variety of major concerns, primarily due to a lack of financial support. Thus, local teacher-training institutions lack professionals with expertise in innovative approaches to teaching English as a foreign language, and as a result, they are unable to give appropriate training to local EFL teachers.

2.5 Kyrgyzstan In Kyrgyzstan, 71% of the population belong to the titular ethnicity, Kyrgyz (National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, 2022). There are two major minorities, Russians in the north and Uzbeks in the south. Other ethnic and linguistic groups include Germans, Dungans, Ukrainians, Uyghurs, and Tajiks (Ferdinand & KomlosiFerdinand, 2016). Kyrgyzstan issued a law in 2000 designating Kyrgyz as the state language and Russian as an official language, both of which are allowed to be used in all public and legal domains and in interethnic contact. According to Bekmurzaev (2020), the State Language Law of 2004 reestablished Kyrgyz and Russian as the state and official languages, respectively. State agencies were required to utilize Kyrgyz, while Russian can be used when necessary. The 2010 constitution did not make any significant changes to language policy, with the exception of the switch from bilingualism to multilingualism, when the state assumed responsibility for offering residents the chance to study a third language. Following independence in 1991, higher education in Kyrgyzstan became increasingly diversified in terms of the language used in particular contexts. Improvement in the educational quality in both Kyrgyz and English as well as Russian became the focus of educational policy as several aspects of higher education reform were in operation, ranging from nation-building to regionalisation and internationalisation (Silova, 2011). As the economic market conditions in the country demand knowledge of English, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic demanded that English language be introduced into the secondary school curriculum from grades three to eleven (Bezborodova & Radjabzade, 2022). Ferdinand and Komlosi-Ferdinand (2016) stated that the Kyrgyz government had attempted to implement the study and use of English by assigning a certain number of hours per week in all schools. Additionally, the affluence of certain parts of the Kyrgyz society has prompted the establishment of schools that use EMI. Many private schools in the major cities offer EMI. According to the research conducted by Ferdinand and Komlosi-Ferdinand (2016), most students had a positive attitude toward the learning of English; however, it varied considerably depending on the location of the schools and the programs implemented. There are a number of challenges to teaching and learning English, such as a lack of competent teachers and insufficient materials and language resources (Liddicoat, 2019). Thus, following the results of the study conducted by Bezborodova and Radjabzade (2022), a lack of English instruction in secondary schools was the

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most pressing issue. Students were unsatisfied with secondary school education, due to their lack of English competence, a grammar-focused curriculum, low English proficiency levels of teachers, and a dearth of teaching resources. Students found it necessary to take additional English classes in order to prepare for university entrance exams, which typically cost a lot of money. Moreover, after being accepted to universities in Kyrgyzstan, many students complained that they were not given enough help learning and using English. Foundation courses were unavailable to students who took EMI programs at state universities. Students and lecturers both thought that they had not been properly prepared to work in an EMI environment (Bezborodova & Radjabzade, 2022).

3 The Study The overall aim of this qualitative study was to explore the attitudes and experiences of seven Grade 9 academically gifted students and their four teachers of science subjects from one BIL (Bilim-Innovation Lyceum), a special purpose school, in Almaty for studying science subjects through the medium of English. More specifically, this research addressed the participants’ challenges, strategies used and their evaluation of learning or teaching science subjects in English, and the underlying mediating role of contextual factors. Griffiths (2015, p. 426) defined learning strategies as “actions chosen by learners for the purpose of learning or regulating learning”. The present study aimed to answer the following research questions: 1. Why did the participants choose to study/ teach in a Bilim-Innovation Lyceum (BIL)? 2. What were the advantages of studying/teaching in this BIL? 3. What challenges did the participants face in the classroom? 4. What strategies did they use to overcome the challenges? The data were collected online from one BIL for gifted boys in Almaty, the former capital and the largest urban centre in Kazakhstan. In the present study, the data were collected from seven male Grade 9 students and four teachers, and they were not known to the researchers prior to collecting the data. Three teachers were Kazakh, and one was Turkish. They have been given pseudonyms, and their profiles are provided below, in Tables 1 and 2: The data were collected from face-to-face individual interviews in Kazakh or Russian between 15th January and 19th March 2022 after the schools reopened, as reported cases of COVID19 cases in Kazakhstan and elsewhere were low. Ethical procedures were followed concerning confidentiality before the participants gave their informed consent. The interviews were conducted in empty classrooms on school premises. The participants were informed at the beginning of each interview that their participation was entirely voluntary, and that they had the right to withdraw from the study at any point, without penalty. Two interviews with each participant were conducted to check the responses from the first interview and to give them

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Table 1 Demographic data of the students Name

Gender

Age

Age when began learning English

Nationality

Family background

Almaz

Male

15

10 years old

Kazakh

Father is a lawyer, mother a teacher of Kazakh

Azamat

Male

15

10 years old

Kazakh

Father is a businessman, mother a housewife

Dulat

Male

15

7 years old

Kazakh

His father and mother are primary school teachers

Nurlan

Male

16

10 years old

Kazakh

Father is a sales representative, mother a shop assistant

Murat

Male

15

10 years old

Kazakh

His father is a security guard and his mother a housewife

Ruslan

Male

16

7 years old

Kazakh

Both parents are primary school teachers

Yeldos

Male

16

10 years old

Kazakh

Father is a taxi driver, mother a housewife

Table 2 Demographic data of the teachers Name

Gender

Age

Total Teaching experience

Teaching experience at a BIL

Nationality

Subject taught

Academic qualification

Teacher 1

Female

41

15 years

10 years

Kazakh

Maths

MA in Maths

Teacher 2

Female

35

10 years

6 years

Kazakh

Chemistry

MA in Chemistry

Teacher 3

Male

31

7 years

2 years

Turkish

Physics

BA in Chemical Physics

Teacher 4

Male

33

10 years

5 years

Kazakh

Maths

MA in Maths

enough time to describe their experiences. Each interview lasted around 45 min and was tape-recorded for transcription purposes. The researchers conducted member checks, that is, they gave the participants transcripts of their interviews to review and asked them to indicate if their perceptions and experiences had been accurate. The data were produced in Kazakh or Russian to help them express their ideas clearly and with confidence. Clarke and Braun’s (2013) guidelines for conducting thematic analysis were used to arrange the students’ perceptions of studying science subjects through the medium of English. The researchers familiarised themselves with the data through reading and re-reading the interview transcripts “actively, analytically and critically” after they had been translated into English (Clarke & Braun, 2013, p. 205). After the process of familiarisation, the data were coded to generate initial codes in relation to the aims of

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the research questions. For this purpose, a selected reading approach was used; the researchers read the transcripts and highlighted statements that captured the participants’ diverse challenges, strategies and learning goals. After this, codes that shared common features were combined to generate themes: motives for studying/working in a BIL, advantages of studying/working in a BIL, participants’ challenges of studying/teaching science subjects in English and the strategies used to respond to them. Once all the themes had been identified, the researchers selected extracts under each theme to illustrate the participants’ experiential accounts, explained in the next section.

4 Findings This section will present the results of the current study.

4.1 Participants’ Motives for Studying/Teaching in an EMI Environment An analysis of the students’ data showed that apart from Ruslan, the participants indicated that their parents (mostly mothers) were responsible for deciding to send them to a BIL where science subjects are taught through the medium of English. The following extracts from Azamat and Murat illustrate this point: Extract 1 My mother’s friends told her that BIL teachers were highly qualified and would help me expand my knowledge because science subjects are taught in English. Also, it would be easier for me to enroll in an elite university in future…I had no choice but to accept my parents’ decision. (Azamat, Interview 1) Extract 2 I enrolled in a BIL because the quality of education and training in a BIL is better than in mainstream schools. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Algebra and Geometry are taught in English. Many learning resources are available in BIL. So, my parents decided to send me to this school because my brother studied at BIL as well. (Murat, Interview 1) In this sense, the participants’ parents seemed to buy into the idea of the earlier the better when it pertains to their children’s education. That is, although almost all parents had limited English proficiency, they invested in the English language by sending their children to BILs, which use English as the medium of instruction for science subjects, hire experienced local and foreign teachers and have technologymediated language resources in the classroom. The participants’ parents, perhaps, did not want their children to blame them in the future for not supporting their academic studies, especially since mastering English could help them conceptualise their desired professional and academic identities and achievements, for instance,

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visualising themselves going overseas to stay or work after completing their school education. Ruslan indicated that he had decided with his parents to attend a BIL, as shown in Extract 3. Extract 3 The decision to enroll in this school was taken not just by my parents but by me, too. In Kazakhstan, everyone knows that a BIL is one of the top schools for education and training. I know many students who were studying there. (Ruslan, Interview 1) As regards teachers participating in the study, the three Kazak teachers indicated that their decision to teach at a BIL was because they graduated from EMI universities and sought to keep practising their English, along with being able to use different English resources in their classes as well as preferring to work with gifted children of similar abilities. Extracts 4 and 5 exemplify this point. Extract 4 I graduated from an EMI university and the quality of education at a BIL is high. Mathematics is taught in English here and this is useful to my students and me because I can find many useful resources in English rather than Kazakh or Russian. Also, I like to work with gifted children who represent Kazakhstan’s future. (Teacher 1, Interview 1) Extract 5 Only gifted children are admitted to BILs. They have academic excellence. I myself studied at a BIL and found it convenient to work in a such supportive environment in terms of the administration and the learning sources. (Teacher 2, Interview 1) Teacher 3, the Turkish teacher, indicated that he decided to come to Kazakhstan to work at a BIL mainly for financial gains along with expanding his intercultural awareness of Kazakhstan and its people, as elucidated in Extract 6. Extract 6 I found a job advertisement for BIL two years ago. I was motivated by the good salary offered and the history of this school, because the Turkish language is taught at a BIL…. My English proficiency is very good, and I have no major problem teaching Physics in English… I also wanted to know more about Kazakhstan and the students here. (Teacher 3, Interview 1)

4.2 Advantages of Studying/Teaching in an EMI Environment It emerges from the analysis of students’ interview data that almost all the participants had a positive attitude towards the assessment modes used by their science teachers, a balance between summative and affirmative assessment. More precisely, the participants’ teachers used Summative Assessment per Unit (SAU), Summative Assessment

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per Term (SAT) and different types of formative assessment, including discussionbased tasks, group projects, oral presentations and participation in different academic competitions and clubs organised by the school. Extracts 5 and 6 explain this point. Extract 5 We have an online platform used by our teachers called Edupage. It calculates the average score, and each student has his own page that we can see as well as our parents. The assessment consists of two SAUs, one SAT and some formative assessment such as homework, classroom participation, group projects and “subject weeks”. If a student decides to participate in subject weeks for some subjects such as Mathematics and Physics, he can get additional marks. These activities help us increase our knowledge, develop our leadership skills and practise our English. (Dulat, Interview 1) Extract 6 In addition to SAU and SAT, we have formative assessment consisting of homework, exercises during lessons and group projects. I’m satisfied with the assessment scheme used in science subjects because one can make up for a low test score by working hard during term-time…We mainly use English during group activities. (Yeldos, Interview 1) In this sense, the formative assessment used by the participants’ teachers seemed to play a central role in making them aware of the potential of English for their futures. They also gave the students opportunities to use English with their classmates to expand their interest in and knowledge of science subjects. The analysis of students’ data also reveals that attendance at a BIL where English is emphasised offered participants exposure to a resource-rich language environment by, for instance, being in contact with many competent teachers of English and using digital and mobile technologies in the classroom, along with being encouraged to participate in different academic competitions such as “Science Subject Week” and Olympiads. Therefore, in addition to improving linguistic competence, studying in an outstanding academic school was viewed by most participants as a bridge to help them construct a more privileged identity to achieve their ideal future selves related to professional, cultural and academic achievement, like visualising themselves studying at an elite EMI university in Kazakhstan or abroad, going overseas to stay or work, and having meaningful interaction with people from different cultures. Almaz and Nurlan made the following comments regarding this point: Extract 7 My plan is to study medicine at one of the elite EMI universities in Kazakhstan. As I have been studying science subjects in English, I don’t think I will face so many challenges in my future studies. After graduation, I want to move to the United States to complete my Master’s degree and live there. As my English level is quite good, it probably will not be difficult to communicate with people from different cultures in the US…Taking part in different competitions at school such as “Subject Week” has helped me develop my habit of reading books in English. (Almaz, Interview 2) Extract 8 Various technologies are effectively used by my teachers. For example, my Mathematics and Chemistry teachers often use the interactive whiteboard, PowerPoint slides, and illustrative videos when presenting a new topic. This is useful for

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understanding the topic better and learning to use new terminology… My dream is to complete my studies abroad and work in an international company. I want to be a Programr and English is essential for this profession. Therefore, I’m glad I’m now studying science subjects in English. (Nurlan, Interview 1) The data analysis also revealed that the teachers had reported several advantages of working at a BIL, including the availability of enabling learning resources (e.g., technologies and labs) and stimulating and friendly atmosphere among colleagues, the existence of reasonable numbers of students in each class and teaching highlymotivated, gifted students of similar academic ability levels. Extracts 9 and 10 elucidate this point. Extract 9 As students have to pass a specific exam in science subjects to join BILs, we teach the best students here. They are motivated to learn Chemistry and have a good level of English. I can see the result of the teaching process immediately…The friendly atmosphere at our school is another advantage. We are not overloaded with paperwork like teachers at public schools. We also have the freedom to express our opinions to the school principal and adjust the formative assessment to accommodate our students’ needs…Students have well-equipped labs to conduct experiments. This helps them remember chemistry formulas easier. (Teacher 2, Interview 2) Extract 10 In public schools, there can be 35 students in the classroom and many of them are of different academic levels. So, it is quite challenging to teach them the same material, especially since English is not in their first language. In our school, the number of students in the classroom is reasonable and all students took the Maths exam to enter this school. They have similar knowledge levels in science subjects and good mastery of English. The school also gave teachers some flexibility to assess students’ progress. (Teacher 4, Interview 1)

4.3 The Challenges of Studying/Teaching Science Subjects in English and Participants’ Strategies Soruç and Griffiths (2018, p. 39) point out that “although strategies might reasonably be expected to contribute to successful learning for students in an English-medium environment, they are virtually invisible in the EMI literature”. This section aims to reveal the difficulties participants encountered in an EMI context and the strategies they used to cope with difficulties. Almost all students reported that they faced no major challenges while studying science subjects in English, given that they had been exposed to an EMI environment since they were in Grade 7. Nevertheless, all the students referred to the challenges of understanding new vocabulary or terminology used in class, inferring vocabulary meaning from context and then remembering it. Extracts 11 and 12 exemplify this point, along with the strategies the participants employed to deal with this challenge:

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Extract 11 My main challenges mostly stem from the terminology. For example, when I’m solving equations, I sometimes find difficult words that prevent me from completing the task although I like Mathematics…To deal with this challenge, I often guess the meaning of the text or check the textbook glossary. If I don’t find it in the glossary, I seek help from my schoolteacher or my private tutor… I have private tutoring because I need additional support for mathematics and Physics. (Murat, Interview 2) Extract 12 I have difficulty remembering and retrieving some terminology, especially in Biology…. I use certain strategies such as searching for terms in the electronic dictionary installed on my iPhone to find the meaning in Russian. I also repeat it in my head for a minute or two and sometimes add it to the Notes feature on my iPhone. I ask a couple of my classmates to test me on the meaning of words I have written in the Notes and correct my pronunciation…My parents hired a private tutor for Physics and Biology to help me. (Dulat, Interview 2) Two important points can be inferred from the above extracts. The first is that the participants made genuine efforts to overcome the difficulty of understanding and remembering some terminology by using effective strategies such as saying or writing new vocabulary down to remember it, making guesses based on the context, repetition (cognitive strategies), asking more proficient fellow classmates, schoolteachers and private tutors for clarification or correction (social strategies) as well as evaluating and organising the learning process (metacognitive strategies). The second point relates to receiving fee-charging private tutoring in core subjects (e.g., English, mathematics and Physics) by three participants although they were attending an outstanding school. Bray and Hajar (2022) point out that “shadow education” is the academic term for fee-charging private tutoring which operates alongside regular schooling and, to some extent, copies its curriculum. Two students (Azamat and Yeldos) also described the challenge related to speaking skills whereby they occasionally found difficulty in expressing their ideas in English fluently, as shown in the following extract: Extract 13 I often understand my teachers’ explanation of new topics. Also, it isn’t difficult for me to read and understand the texts and complete the tasks in science subjects; my sole challenge is sometimes to answer my teachers’ questions fluently…I recently adopted certain strategies like talking to myself in front of the mirror. I asked myself how I spent my day. I also began to be more active in group activities without being ashamed of mispronouncing words. (Yeldos, Interview 2) In this way, Yeldos uses a number of social and affective strategies such as being uninhibited about making mistakes, self-talk and co-operating with classmates. The data analysis showed that the science subjects were taught by both Kazakh and foreign teachers. The foreign teachers mainly came from Turkey and, to a lesser extent, from African countries and the Philippines. All the participants were satisfied with the quality of their local teachers and that they were competent in the subjects they taught and fluent in English, as well as having received extensive training in

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teaching their academic subjects in English. The participants mentioned that their teachers tended to use English almost exclusively inside the classroom; however, they might translate some difficult words into Kazakh or Russian, which was welcomed by all the participants. Two participants (Azamat and Ruslan) indicated that they sometimes had difficulty understanding lesson content due to the heavy accent of their teacher. The following extract illustrates this point, and how Ruslan approached his classmates for help: Extract 14 Our Physics teacher[’s]… English is not quite so good. His accent is heavy, and this creates difficulty in understanding the topic. Even when we sometimes ask him to repeat, his explanations remain unclear…I ask one of my brighter classmates to explain some ideas to me. (Ruslan, Interview 2) The data collected from teachers also showed that they were largely satisfied with working in a supportive environment and teaching gifted students whose English level was good and who were motivated to learn. Extracts 15 and 16 described how the teachers of science subjects demonstrated their agency in using technologies effectively inside the classroom and other interactive activities to facilitate students’ understanding of difficult topics in English and promote their oral participation in the classroom. Extract 15 I noticed that students in the back didn’t sometimes prefer to participate in my physics classes, and they were busy with their smartphones. In order to draw their attention, I sometimes integrated games and quizzes to be done on their phones. Such activities can improve their skill of instant response, positive competition among students, and oral participation. I also use Kahoot to help my students revise new terminology. (Teacher 3, Interview 2) Extract 16 Some students face difficulty in understanding the difficult topics of Maths in English. I always try to use simple words and expressions and speak slowly. We have all the essential technologies at our school. Students get bored if I only use the blackboard and chalk. When I prepare PowerPoint slides to explain the topic, I leave certain gaps so that the students can fill them during the lessons. They do not listen to me passively. I also showed them YouTube videos, in addition to using storytelling and games to help them brainstorm on the topic. (Teacher 1, Interview 2)

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5 Discussion and Implications The findings presented above reveal that the national policies adopted in central Asian countries seem to be similar to those followed in many other developing countries, based on creating “divisions in terms of educational resources among rural and urban schools and non-key and key institutions” (Gao, 2008, p. 183). In this study, almost all students indicated that although it was their parents’ decision to send them to an outstanding EMI school, they gradually realised that this supported their identity formation as users of English and helped them visualise their ideal end state, relating mainly to professional, intercultural and academic gains. The ideal language self, according to Dörnyei (2009), refers to the future self-image that a person internally wishes to achieve (i.e., it represents the individual’s personal hopes, aspirations and wishes for their vocational or social purposes). There is evidence that the students’ awareness of English was largely nurtured by the many qualified teachers who provided them with plenty of opportunities to expand their knowledge of science subjects and practise English meaningfully by encouraging them to participate in academic competitions at the level of the school and the country (“Science Subject Week” and Olympiads), used effective types of formative assessment and incorporated technology-mediated learning artefacts inside the classroom. This finding seems to support what Besser and Chik (2014) found in their longitudinal qualitative study with a group of secondary school students in Hong Kong, whose research participants were studying in an EMI private school and exposed to academic subjects in English, and had access to iPods, computers and good quality English books as well as popular culture media. Consequently, Besser and Chik (2014. p. 308) concluded their study suggesting that “educational policy, cultural values, and distribution of resources may impact on young learners in similar contexts”. The unequal distribution of learning resources and its influence on students’ language identity formation and development were particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hajar and Manan (2022), for instance, point out that there was a stark difference in the actions taken by stakeholders in Kazakhstan to the transition to emergency remote teaching in elite and mainstream schools. The authors reported that teachers in EMI schools were offered extensive online training to prepare themselves for the switch to online education. These schools also distributed laptops, computers and Wi-Fi routers to teachers and students. Students also received prepaid Wi-Fi cards. In contrast, most mainstream schoolteachers, according to the schoolteachers in Hajar and Manan’s (2022) study, were late to subscribe to online platforms and did not receive proper training on how to use them. Having a resource-rich EMI environment, like the participants in this study, should not reduce the mediating role of their agency in using the appropriate strategies and validating their identity as language users. The students exercised their agency by employing a variety of effective strategies to face the difficulties they faced in an EMI environment, to accomplish their personal, academic and professional goals, such as expanding their own knowledge in science subjects and working or studying

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in an English-speaking country after completing their school education. Palfreyman (2014, p. 177) stresses the point that the availability of “enabling language resources” in an individual’s life “does not guarantee that they will contribute to learning” or that the individual will invest in these resources for their language use and identity development. Likewise, the teachers in this study exhibited critical reflexivity and their growing sense of awareness of the importance of taking action and capitalising on the availability of a supportive teaching environment, to fulfil their teaching responsibilities effectively. Fisher (2010, p. 412) points out that “agency is mediated through the way people act to use the tools available to them in the historical and social setting”. It should be noted that the references the participants made to the immediate impact of studying in an EMI environment on visions of their ideal future selves point to the new generation in central Asia’s increasing awareness of the significance of English in their lives. As Zhunussova et al. (2021) point out, the growing interest of most central Asian families in sending their children to EMI schools and universities is because of their potential to foster better employment prospects as well as the government’s program to become one of the most developed countries of the world, for which English proficiency plays a pivotal role. Interestingly, three students (Azamat, Ruslan and Yeldos) indicated that they were receiving fee-paying private tutoring in core subjects (e.g., Biology, English, mathematics and Physics), despite the high quality of education provided at their school. The students reported that private tutoring gave them additional support, especially since most parents were not themselves competent in English. Bray (2013, p. 20) points out that parents’ investment in “private tutoring may give them the feeling that they are doing what they can for their children at crucial stages in their children’s lives”. Commenting on the phenomenon of fee-charging private tutoring in central Asia, Hajar et al. (2022) suggest that this phenomenon is mainly due to the central testing system and increased demand for access to highly selective schools and institutions. Hence, private tutoring can be an additional force for reducing rather than increasing inclusion and equity, since prosperous families are likely to afford both higher quantities and qualities of private tutoring (Bray & Hajar, 2022; Hajar & Abenova, 2021).

6 Conclusion and Suggestions for Further Research This study has limitations that must be acknowledged. It was based on data from only seven Kazakhstani Grade 9 students and four teachers at one EMI elite school as research participants. In addition to exploring the perceptions of students and teachers of science subjects, as in the present study, a holistic study conducted with larger numbers of participants in a variety of contexts is needed. The perceptions and actions of other individuals (such as peers, family members and policy makers) who can influence students’ language learning strategy choices and their motivation and endeavours to achieve their future selves is also required. ˙In addition, this study

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can be a call to researchers to conduct additional research to further understand the nature and effectiveness of fee-charging private tutoring in central Asia and elsewhere. Despite its popularity and implications for the nurturing of new generations, economic growth, the operation of formal education systems, and cultural and social development, research on private tutoring is still in its infancy. The study reported here is one of the few in-depth, qualitative studies exploring a group of secondary school students’ and their teachers’ experiences of their learning and teaching science subjects in English. The study found that the teachers, who were competent and chosen carefully, valued working with gifted students and encouraged them to view learning science subjects in English as a means of self-expression and self-development. They did so by helping students become engaged in different activities assisted by technology-mediated language resources so that they expressed their own preferred interests and linked their own learning experiences to accomplishing their desired future selves. Acknowledgements This chapter is based on a project funded by the Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education [17162998 (Faculty Grant)].

References Ahn, E. S., & Jensen, A. (2016). Language teaching in Turkmenistan: An autoethnographic journey. In E. S. Ahn & J. Smagulova (Eds.), Language change in central Asia (pp. 59–99). Mouton de Gruyter. Ahn, E. S., & Smagulova, J. (2021). English language choices in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. World Englishes, 41(1), 9–23. Bahry, S., Niyozov, S., Shamatov, D.A., Ahn, E., & Smagulova, J. (2016). Bilingual Education in Central Asia. Bilingual and multilingual education. (pp. 1–22). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3319-02324-3_20-1 Bekmurzaev, N. (2020). Language policies of the Central Asian states. CABAR.asia. https://doi. org/10.46950/202004 Besser, S., & Chik, A. (2014). Narratives of second language identity amongst young English learners in Hong Kong. ELT Journal, 68(3), 299–309. Bezborodova, A., & Radjabzade, S. (2022). English in higher education in the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. World Englishes, 41(1), 72–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12556 Bray, M. (2013). Benefits and tensions of shadow education: Comparative perspectives on the roles and impact of private supplementary tutoring in the lives of Hong Kong students. Journal of International and Comparative Education, 2(1), 18–30. Bray, M., & Hajar, A. (2022). Shadow education in the Middle East: Private supplementary tutoring and its policy implications. Routledge. Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. Sage. Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self system. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9–42). Multilingual Matters. Ferdinand, S., & Komlosi-Ferdinand, F. (2016). Vitality of the Kyrgyz language in Bishkek. International Journal of Russian Studies, 2(5), 210–226. Fisher, R. (2010). Young writers’ construction of agency. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 10(4), 410–429.

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Gao, X. (2008). You had to work hard ‘cause you didn’t know whether you were going to wear shoes or straw sandals! Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 8(3), 169–187. Griffiths, C. (2015). What have we learnt from “good language learners”? ELT Journal, 69(4), 425–433. Hajar, A., & Abenova, S. (2021). The role of private tutoring in admission to higher education: Evidence from a highly selective university in Kazakhstan. Hungarian Education Research Journal, 11(2), 1–19. Hajar, A., Babeshko, Y., & Smagulova, J. (2023). EMI in central Asia. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 93–111). Springer. Hajar, A., & Manan, S. A. (2022). Emergency remote English language teaching and learning: Voices of primary school students and teachers in Kazakhstan. Review of Education, 10(2), e3358. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3358 Hajar, A., & Mhamed, A. A. S. (2021). Exploring postgraduate students’ challenges and strategy use while writing a master’s thesis in an English-medium üniversity in Kazakhstan. Tertiary Education and Management, 27(3), 187–207. Hajar, A., Sagintayeva, A., & Izekenova, Z. (2022). Child participatory research methods: Exploring grade 6 pupils’ experiences of private tutoring in Kazakhstan. Cambridge Journal of Education, 369–389. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2021.2004088 Hasanova, D. (2016). English education in Uzbekistan. In E. Ahn & J. Smagulova (Eds.), Language change in central Asia (pp. 245–266). De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/978161451 4534-016 Karabassova, L. (2020). Understanding trilingual education reform in Kazakhstan: Why is it stalled? In D. Egea (Ed.), Education in central Asia: A kaleidoscope of challenges and opportunities (pp. 37–51). Springer. Liddicoat, A. J. (2019). Language-in-education policy in the central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In A. Kirkpatrick & A. J. Liddicoat (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of language education policy in Asia (pp. 452–470). Routledge. Liddicoat, A. J., & Kirkpatrick, A. (2020). Dimensions of language education policy in Asia. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 30(1–2), 7–33. Linn, A., Shrestha, P., Bezborodova, A., & Hultgren, A. (2021). Current practice in English-medium education in higher education: Case studies from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. British Council. Macaro, E. (2018). English medium instruction. Oxford University Press. Misachi, J. (2019, June 12). What languages are spoken in Turkmenistan? https://www.worlda tlas.com/articles/what-languages-are-spoken-in-turkmenistan.html#:~:text=Turkmen%20is% 20the%20official%20language,the%20family%20of%20Altaic%20languages National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic. (2022). http://www.stat.kg/en/ Palfreyman, D. (2014). The ecology of learner autonomy. In G. Murray (Ed.), Social dimensions of autonomy in language learning (pp. 175–192). Palgrave Macmillan. Reagan, T. (2019). Language planning and language policy in Kazakhstan. In A. Kirpatrick & A. J. Liddicoat (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of language education policy in Asia (pp. 442–451). Routledge. Rose, H., Curle, S., Aizawa, I., & Thompson, G. (2020). What drives success in English medium taught courses? The interplay between language proficiency, academic skills, and motivation. Studies in Higher Education, 45(11), 2149–2161. Shamshidinova, K., Ayubayeva, N., & Bridges, D. (2014). Implementing radical change: Nazarbayev intellectual schools as agents of change. In D. Bridges (Ed.), Educational reform and internationalisation: The case of school reform in Kazakhstan (pp. 71–82). Cambridge University Press. Silova, I. (2011). Higher education reforms and global geopolitics: Shifting cores and peripheries in Russia, the Baltics, and central Asia. Russian Analytical Digest, 97(30), 9–12.

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Soruç, A., & Griffiths, C. (2018). English as a medium of instruction: Students’ strategies. ELT Journal, 72(1), 38–48. Yakavets, N. (2014). Educational reform in Kazakhstan: The first decade of independence. In D. Bridges (Ed.), Educational reform and internationalisation: The case of school reform in Kazakhstan (pp. 1–27). Cambridge University Press. Zhunussova, G., Cortazzi, M., & Jin, L. (2021). Roles and models of English teachers in Kazakhstan. World Englishes, 41(1), 104–114. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12558

Anas Hajar is a graduate of Warwick University in England, holding a PhD in language education. He has worked as a post-doctoral research and teaching fellow at Warwick, Coventry and Christ Church Universities in England, and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr Hajar is currently an Associate Professor of Multilingual Education, and the PhD program Director in the Faculty of Education at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. He is particularly interested in motivational issues in language learning and in intercultural engagement. He also works in the areas of shadow education, internationalisation, education abroad, and language learning strategies. E-mail: [email protected] Yelena Babeshko is a Senior Lecturer in English Language, KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan and a PhD student in Education Policy and Management. Her research has focused on EMI in Higher Education in Kazakhstan. Her research interests also include second language writing, classroom assessment, content-based instruction, educational policy and curriculum design. Yelena has participated in a number of conferences held in Kazakhstan, the CIS countries and Europe. She is in the process of examining various research topics, and regularly presenting at various venues. She is actively involved in training, seminars and workshops in the field of methodology. Email: [email protected] Juldyz Smagulova is Associate Professor and Dean of College of Humanities and Education, KIMEP University (Almaty, Kazakhstan). Her research interests include language ideology, language education, and language policy; these strands are held together by a scholarly interest in multilingual contexts where speakers have differential access to linguistic and other resources. She co-edited the Language Change in Central Asia (Mouton de Gruyter, 2016) and co-authored the bilingual Kazakh-Russian Dictionary of Sociolinguistics (3rd edition, 2020). Her recent publications include journal articles in Journal of Sociolinguistics, International Journal of Bilingualism, International Journal of the Sociology of Languages, and World Englishes. Email: juldyz@kimep. kz

EMI in South-East Asia Fenty Lidya Siregar, Robbie Lee Sabnani , and Thuy Dinh

Abstract ˙In Southeast Asia, EM˙I has been increasingly popular. The study reported in this chapter focused on the Indonesian Higher Education context to investigate EMI students’ and lecturers’ perceptions and practices. It was found that policies at their institutions explicitly and implicitly reflect the compulsory use of English, the challenges in teaching and learning using EMI in both online and face-to-face contexts and the strategies to overcome those challenges which are diverse and context-specific. The results highlight the need for professional development on EMI to equip teachers with approaches to teaching effectively in English.

1 Introduction The use of English as a medium of instruction is surging in Southeast Asia, in both outer and expanding circle countries. In the outer circle countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, EMI and local languages have both gained high importance in policies and curricula from the early years to higher education. In the expanding circle countries (Kachru, 1985), for example, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, EMI has been implemented in a rising number of universities and institutions. This shows that the benefits that EMI brings to teachers and students in the region are better acknowledged and are appealing to much research in the present time. F. L. Siregar (B) Universitas Kristen Maranatha, Bandung, Indonesia e-mail: [email protected] R. L. Sabnani National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore e-mail: [email protected] T. Dinh Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_8

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The study in this chapter is based in the context of Indonesia where one of the authors is living and working. Indonesia, like some other expanding circle countries, has witnessed a growing popularity of EMI across tertiary sectors. There are, however, only a few studies conducted to investigate the pros and cons and perceptions of EMI among staff and students. So far. the latest studies by Dewi (2017), Lamb et al. (2021) and Bolton et al. (2022) highlight a complexity around the teaching quality of EMI, the representation of EMI in polices and the variations in how EMI is perceived among teaching staff and students. These studies suggest that more research needs to be done given the limited studies in the growing climate of EMI.

1.1 Literature Review This section provides an overview of the key developments in South East Asian countries’ EMI policies and curricula over recent decades.

1.1.1

EMI in Outer Circle Countries

Previous studies in outer circle countries highlight the dual importance of both EMI and local languages in the policies and curricula across subjects from early years to higher education. For example, in Malaysia, with Malaysia’s Education Act of 1996, English was used as the medium of instruction (MoI) for Math and Science from 2003 for Primary 1 and Secondary 1 students, though in 2009, Bahasa Malaysia was adopted as the MoI for Mathematics and Science. Currently, English remains as the MoI for Mathematics and Science at Institutes of Higher Learning, and most private universities have adopted EMI (Low & Ao, 2018). In the case of Brunei, the 1984 Education System of Brunei introduced a Malay-English bilingual policy, recognising the prominence of English and its importance for communication on the global stage. A new education system introduced in 2009 further underscored the importance of English for the development of twenty-first century engaged learners, with the instruction of Mathematics and Science in English from Primary 1 onwards (Low & Ao, 2018). In the Philippines, English has been used as the MoI alongside the national language Filipino since 1974. Under this Bilingual Education Policy (BEP), English was used as the MoI for Mathematics and Science while Filipino was used as the MoI for other subjects (Gonzalez, 1997). The policy has been replaced with the Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) which highlights the mother tongue as MoI from the first grade until the third grade while Filipino and English can be used as the MoI from the fourth grade onward (Dumanig & Symaco, 2022). As can be seen, in Malaysia, Brunei and Philippines, the role of English is recognised as important as that of the mother tongue and English is the means of instruction in key subjects such as Maths and Science. Another emerging theme from previous studies is the development of EMI corresponds with the role of English as a lingua franca in the region and contributes to

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the improved language proficiency of students. For example, in Singapore, English has been chosen for its importance as the Lingua Franca in the country and for the promotion of meritocracy, as well as for its substantive economic benefits in interaction with countries in the international arena (Rubdy, 2001). It has been used as the MoI in schools from primary schools right through to the higher education levels since the implementation of its bilingual policy in 1987. Such use of EMI in the country has indeed contributed to the development of its students’ high language proficiency, which Bolton (2008) suggests, may not be as apparent yet in other Asian contexts. In fact, Bolton (2008) suggest that Singapore’s language policy on the use of English for instruction at all levels of education has contributed significantly to its overall high English standard in Asia. The examples above demonstrate that despite variations in policies in these countries across time, the implementation of EMI has been emphasised. EMI has been introduced early in the education system and exists alongside the mother tongues and contributed to the overall bilingual proficiency of students.

1.1.2

EMI in Expanding Circle Countries

In the expanding circle countries, even though EMI may not have been implemented yet in the majority of primary schools, it has become increasingly popular across tertiary education settings. The use of EMI in the various educational contexts for a range of learners has fuelled numerous discussions around possible challenges and the effectiveness of the implementation across schools and institutions of higher learning. For example, in the context of Thailand, despite a variation in views regarding the variety of English to be used in classes, the study identified limitations in instructors’ knowledge for EMI teaching and a need for professional development for educators in EMI (Baker & Hüttner, 2017). Baker and Hüttner (2017) also found that the policy of using EMI was not always overt, in other words, it still appeared to be largely unofficial across institutions and subject to individual teachers/schools’ interpretation and implementation. In Vietnam, the government’s National Foreign Languages 2020 project and their Higher Education Reform Agenda have encouraged the use of EMI to increase the success of their international exchanges, revenue from education, and the quality and prestige of educational programs. The intention to promote EMI was to provide a well-qualified, bilingual workforce for Vietnam’s rapidly developing economy (Nguyen et al., 2017). While research by Tran et al. (2021) reveals an optimistic impact of EMI on students’ proficiency in a number of universities across the country, the studies by Nguyen et al. (2017) reflect that the implementation of EMI in individual institutions appears uneven despite the accentuated presence of EMI at the macro-level. Recently, Sahan et al. (2022) conducted a large-scale study that surveyed stakeholders in 17 universities in Thailand and Vietnam to gain an insight into their norms, practices, and beliefs about EMI and L1 use in EMI classrooms. The study involved 1377 students, and a total of 231 teachers teaching English for academic purposes

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(EAP) or 148 content courses. They also interviewed 35 students, 31 EAP teachers, and 28 content teachers and obtained data from 14 focus groups with teachers and students at seven universities in Vietnam. They found that students’ L1 was used in EM˙I classrooms in Thailand and Vietnam. The student participants preferred teachers with native accents and experience in overseas teaching and English-only instruction for their courses. The findings suggest a need to balance views towards native-speakerism, policies and recruitment practices with bilingual instruction or L1 use in EMI classes to support learning. The suggestion is in line with what Kirkpatrick (2017) argues about the use of English as a medium of instruction in Southeast Asia: to ensure the success of EMI implementation in SE Asian universities, it should be planned and prepared and not be adopted without considering other languages in the contexts. He also proposes that when implementing EMI policies and programs, universities should consider the use of English as a lingua franca as well as create policies which encourage bi/multilingual practice (Kirkpatrick, 2017). In line with that proposal, to assist students in EMI classes, lecturers may adopt teaching strategies such as code-switching, slow utterances, repetition, and meaning negotiation (Cook, 2008; Lo & Macaro, 2012). Moreover, professional development programs are crucial to ensure and enhance the quality of EMI (Lamb et al., 2021; Macaro, 2018; O’Dowd, 2018). In Indonesia, which is the context of this current study, the role of EMI, similar to other expanding circle countries, has become more important. However, despite its significance, there appear to be only a limited number of studies. Of the few studies, former research reveals diverse perceptions regarding the use of EMI, a variation in policies and varying emphases of the role of EMI across institutions. For instance, Dewi (2017) found that the participants’ perceptions of EMI at higher education institutions in Indonesia are complex since not only do they underscore linguistic issues but also larger social concerns including “national identity and sentiment towards English as an instructional language originating in the West” (p. 241). In 2021 the British Council and the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture which were represented by researchers from different universities in Indonesia conducted one of the largest studies on EMI in Indonesia. The research, which involved approximately 300 decision makers and faculty members from over 100 universities around Indonesia, revealed that EMI is growing across a number of prestigious higher educational institutions (HEIs). The research also identified a number of poor practices of EMI due to students’ limited English proficiency, lecturers’ lack of understanding of how to adapt their teaching for EMI as well as the absence of any explicit policy statement related to EMI implementation and assessment. Based on the findings, the researchers proposed that: HEIs should be explicit about their MOI policy, and offer a clear rationale for their use of English or other languages as medium of instruction…Lecturers and students need explicit information about whether any particular course is designed to promote language skills as well as subject knowledge; whether subject knowledge goals are equivalent to those on

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Indonesian-medium courses; and how the objectives are assessed in a valid and reliable way. (p. 68)

Recently Bolton et al. (2022) examined the practice of EMI in Indonesian higher institutions in two linked studies. The first study investigated the EMI perception of students at a private university using a mixed method approach. The second study researched EMI practice and perception of 17 educators from different institutions. The former found that the students at this university did not have any difficulty in coping with EMI due to their high levels of English proficiency. However, most of them still supported the use of code-switching. The latter showed that when using EMI, teachers did engage in some code switching. The study also suggests that senior faculty had more problems when using EMI than their younger colleagues. Regarding the language policy foundation of adopting EMI, the study revealed that the institutions involved used Section 12, paragraph 37 of Law No.12 of 2012 as their legal justification which stated that the use of foreign languages as “a medium of instruction” is allowed. However, Law No. 24 of 2009 on the National Flag, Language, Symbol and Anthem (Republik Indonesia, 2009), and Presidential Decree No. 63 of 2019 on the Use of Bahasa Indonesia (Republik Indonesia, 2019) state that Bahasa Indonesia should be used as the medium of instruction in all educational institutions. Articles 29 and 35 of Law No. 24 of 2009 on the National Flag, Language, Symbol and Anthem (Republik Indonesia, 2009) state that foreign languages can be used as a medium of instruction as a means to support students’ learning. In other words, the emphasis is still on the use of Indonesian as the medium of instruction. These studies and policies have highlighted both the opportunities and the challenges of EM˙I in ˙Indonesia and demonstrated a significant potential for further research and improvement. Together with studies by Kirkpatrick (2017), Cook (2008), Lo and Macaro (2012), Lamb et al. (2021), Macaro (2018) and O’Dowd (2018), studies and policies in Indonesia have emphasized the importance of improving the quality of EMI and the need to understand teachers’ current practice and perception. This study, therefore, was conducted to respond to that need in research in EMI in the country.

2 The Study This qualitative study investigated participants’ practices and perceptions with respect to EMI. There were 12 participants: six Indonesian lecturers and six Indonesian students who use EMI to teach or study. Prior to the data collection, the researchers sought for ethical approval to conduct the study. Once the approval was gained, a pre-interview survey of four questions and a number of demographic questions were distributed to a number of Indonesian lecturers on a variety of social media platforms and to selected students. The lecturers who completed the survey and indicated their willingness to participate in the interview were then contacted. The semi-structured interviews were conducted online on

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Zoom and each interview lasted for about 30–40 min. Thirteen people completed the survey and six of them were willing to be interviewed. Five of the interviewees were female and one of them was male. After the lecturer interviews, the interviews with the selected six students were conducted. All participants were allowed to use both Indonesian and English when answering the survey and interview. The majority of them chose to respond to the survey and interview questions in English. All recorded data were transcribed and thematically coded. For responses in Indonesian, they were translated by one of the researchers who is an Indonesian. To ensure participants’ confidentiality, pseudonyms were used. The ones who only completed the survey were labelled SP followed by a number (e.g., SP1). The tables below provide information on the lecturer participants and student participants (Tables 1 and 2): Table 1 Lecturers’ demographic data Pseudonym

Work

Education

Gender

Experience of using EMI

Courses

Rina

full-time

Master’s degree from a university in US

Female

More than 10 years

American Culture, Learning Styles and Strategies, Lesson Planning, Grammar, Indonesian

Tina

part-time

Master’s degree from a university in Indonesia

Female

More than 10 years

Business English, Indonesian

Rosa

full-time

Master’s degree from a university in US

Female

5–10 years

Pedagogy courses for pre-service English students

Budi

part-time

Master’s degree from universities in New Zealand and Switzerland

Male

5–10 years

Management

Santi

full-time

Master’s degree from a university in Indonesia

Female

5–10 years

Calculus

Nina

full-time

Master’s degree from a university in UK

Female

5–10 years

Mathematics

EMI in South-East Asia Table 2 Students’ demographic data

119 Pseudonym Gender Major

Semester

Lukman

Male

Computer Science

4

Yudi

Male

English Literature

4

Asri

Female English Literature

6

Aya

Female Accounting

4

Ingrit

Female English Language Education 8

Anisa

Female English Language Education 8

3 Results and Discussion 3.1 Reasons for Working in the EMI Environment (Lecturers) 3.1.1

Gaining a Higher Salary

Three lecturers who completed the survey highlighted that they were motivated to work in an EMI environment because of a high salary. Interestingly, no interviewed lecturers mentioned that particular reason. They tended to highlight that the advantage of developing their English when asked about their motivation of working in an EMI environment. Not only am I benefited from working with students with diverse background (native language etc.), professionally I am more confident as [a] teacher and [I] get paid higher. (SP1) I’ve gained much confidence to communicate with other lecturers overseas and have more options for giving references to students as they’re getting used to reading resources in English, and get a better salary. (SP2)

This finding is in line with a previous study in Vietnam in which the lecturers who taught in EMI were paid four times higher than their colleagues who taught in Vietnamese (Le, 2020). In other words, teachers who teach with EMI are appreciated more than those who teach their subject in the local language. This reward might also be offered to encourage teachers to teach in an EMI context. The study by Bolton et al. (2022) suggests that students who studied in EMI programs typically are from middle-class and upper-class backgrounds suggesting that the programs can pay their teachers for their expertise more than non-EMI teachers. One possible reason was the students who joined the EMI program paid a bigger tuition fee than other students.

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4 Advantages for Working in an EMI Environment (Lecturers) 4.1 Developing Teachers’ and Students’ English Competence All lecturers who were interviewed stated that the benefit of working in an EMI environment is that they can develop their English competence. For the English lecturers, they also believed that it was related to their field and they could also expose students more to English: I am teaching pre-service English teachers and it’s more beneficial for us (me and the preservice teachers) to practice using English in an academic setting. This will promote our English proficiency and prepare the pre-service teachers to use English in teaching and make them ready to be global citizens. (Rosa)

For non-English subject lecturers, both the interviewed lecturers and those who only completed the survey believed that they benefited from EMI because the environment allowed them to maintain and improve their English competence. One of the teachers mentioned that. We are pushed to communicate mainly in English. Consequently, we improve our skills in using English both in writing and oral.

Another lecturer said that she can communicate with many people from different parts of the world using English as a lingua franca and help her students to use English in an academic context. Despite the teachers’ belief that working in EMI environment can improve their English, it is worth remembering that when English is used “for instructional purposes” only, there is no adequate focus on language in EMI unless some courses are specifically prepared for explicit language learning to optimise the conditions for incidental language acquisition (Pecorari & Malmström, 2018, p. 509).

5 Perceived Difficulties (Lecturers) 5.1 Lecturers’ English Proficiency One of the perceived difficulties is the lecturers’ English proficiency in the subject that they are teaching. Two teachers, Nina and Santi, revealed that they were still struggling with the terminologies of their subjects at present. Nina shared that. that’s my struggling still in the specific mathematical terms.

Santi acknowledged that as mathematics terms have different meanings, she found it hard to explain those terms to students. For Santi, it was understandable as she did

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not learn Maths in English before. The data indicates that the challenge lies in the teachers’ difficulties in using English in their fields. The lecturers shared that outside of class, they generally used Bahasa Indonesia more frequently in communication with students. Code-switching and the use of Bahasa Indonesia in informal conversations and social media communication (for example, through WhatsApp messaging applications) with students could also be the approach adopted by teachers to help contend with the stress and manage challenges in using English. The lecturers interviewed generally had a positive view towards the use of English in their classes, both for language lessons as well as for the teaching of technical subjects. In addition to enhancing students’ use of English, they themselves leveraged the benefits of in-class speaking practice to improve their own command of the language. On the converse, those who were limited by their linguistic skills were less confident about using English exclusively in their classes and used a range of multimodal activities to engage students. They were also more inclined to use a blend of English and Bahasa Indonesia for instruction. Because of my limitations (in English), I have to repeat many conversations, even though I know they understand what I mean, but in terms of vocabulary, or explaining terms, I need to actually improve my ability to have more variety of techniques, vocabulary. Even though I try to compensate… to conduct conversations in English, sometimes listening to songs, or discussing videos, but of course, I have limitations in conducting the course in English fully. (Budi) If they (students) still do not get the instructions, I will use bilingual mode to ensure that they understand my explanations. I think that my challenge is in explaining in an English medium instruction environment. (Nina)

Lecturers’ belief in the value of EMI for their student’s growth and their own professional development is in alignment with the “active promoters” of EMI identified by Macaro (2018). Their strong learner-centred focus and efforts to ensure students’ understanding were evident across all the interviews. In this connection, some used a blend of English and Bahasa Indonesia, and code-switched between the two languages with the objectives of improving comprehension of content, conveying information about course practicalities as well as clarifying assessment requirements. It helps students better understand the instructions for their assignment… Code-switching is important to ensure students’ understanding. (Tina) Actually, the students sometimes need more practice, some of them feel shy… Giving encouragement. Giving them time to think so that they could use more English… (this) creates a positive atmosphere of class for students so that students feel relaxed in using English as a medium of instruction. (Rina)

Kaur (2020) identified similar motivations for code-switching in her EMI classroom study, highlighting that despite overall highly positive attitudes towards EMI, students and teachers still had a preference for mixing English with their first language. While this manner of code-switching could possibly be a resource in classes where the L1

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is a shared language, it would be much less easily implemented in classes where students have a range of different L1s, for example, in classes with other international students. In more formal contexts such as email communication, there was a greater variation in the preferred language and mode of interaction. The range spanned from a small number who mainly used English in response to students’ queries, to most of them who used English for certain aspects (for example openings, greetings, closings and other standard phrases in English, and other parts of the message in Bahasa Indonesia—for example responding to students’ specific questions on course material), to one participant who corresponded with students mainly in Bahasa Indonesia in written communication.

5.1.1

The Teaching Context

Another difficulty pertained to the teaching contexts, which despite the teachers’ familiarity with the range of modes for lessons, posed some issues with respect to EMI instruction. While the covid-era has brought along with it some changes for teaching and learning such as the requirement for social distancing and mask-wearing in class, as well as the move towards a greater percentage of online and remote learning, they shared that they had already been conducting a range of offline, online and blended lessons prior to the pandemic and were comfortable with the various modes. For example, Budi shared he had already been conducting both face-to-face and hybrid classes, Before the pandemic, we had 100% offline classes, and also hybrid classes, so it’s not strange for me to teach on the online platform. (Budi)

Others, such as Tina, too had been availing of online collaborative meeting software to conduct virtual lessons with their students and were comfortable with both online and offline lessons. Generally, they have not had issues with adjusting to the new normal or have been required to make major changes in terms of their lesson preparation and classroom delivery. All lecturers articulated their respective universities’ expectations for the use of English as a medium of instruction. In this connection, instructional materials such as textbooks and PowerPoint slides are all in English. Four out of the six lecturers elaborated on their institutions’ processes with respect to monitoring their use of English in online and offline classes by reporting officers. In face-to-face classes, their supervisors could visit classes and observe lessons to monitor the use of English as a medium of instruction. Similarly, online lessons were recorded for supervisors to review and monitor EMI usage as well. The language we need to use is English. That’s the policy…Some of the programs have dual degrees (with overseas partner universities). We have to push ourselves and motivate students to use English as they have to take courses from those institutions. (Rosa)

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In this [university] all lecturers are required to speak in English. Especially when we deliver class. (Santi)

While the other two lecturers did not explicitly make reference to recording and observation of their lessons, these part-time/adjunct faculty members were clearly aware and able to convey the university’s expectations with respect to the use of English as the medium of instruction in their classes. What I know is that the class is conducted in English, everyone in the class should communicate in English. (Budi)

Lecturers are cognizant of non-Indonesian students in class and try to communicate as much as possible in English. For example, by chunking information presented to enhance comprehension of the texts, using simple English sentences to convey meaning, and frequently checking for understanding. If they don’t understand, I would code-switch at the end. First I would try speaking slower (in English), and using the vocabulary that they understand…I would chunk the instructions to make it clear and easy to understand for my students before I finally use Indonesian. (Tina)

However, all six raised the issue of it being more difficult to assess students’ engagement in lessons or comprehension of content in online classes. To clarify, Budi noticed that in face-to-face classes, teachers could walk around and gain a clearer understanding of what students were struggling with and clarify misconceptions where necessary. In the online platform, nonetheless, it was less easy to ascertain if students had trouble following lessons or required additional clarification by the teacher. This led to the use of more English in some classes, on the teachers’ belief that students could google or use the online dictionary quickly. In this connection, Rina shared that she routinely used a blend of English and Bahasa Indonesia in her face-to-face classes. Conversely, in her online classes, she used a greater percentage of English as the medium of instruction – this she rationalised, was largely attributed to her students as highly visual learners, who were able to avail of resources to translate content and instructions delivered in English to their L1. On the other hand, more frequent code-switching for fear that some students could otherwise be too shy to ask questions, as in the case of Santi’s classes.

5.1.2

Enhancing Students’ Comprehension

The third challenge was in enhancing students’ comprehension. The use of Bahasa Indonesia and consequently, code-switching between Bahasa Indonesia and English appears to have been largely learner-dependent, varying according to students’ level of comfort and proficiency with English. In classes where students indicate that they do not understand aspects of the lesson, Bahasa Indonesia is used for conveying instructions and explaining content for example, with teachers encouraging students to converse in English:

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I try to answer them in English. If they say to me they don’t understand, I will try to explain it Bahasa and switch it to English. What we do is we try to encourage and reinforce the students to speak English more and more often. (Santi)

On the other hand, English is promoted in teacher-facilitated classes and small group oral activities and presentations to create avenues for speaking practice, and for the honing of students’ pronunciation skills. It can be seen in the following excerpt: Probably certain topics or skills, For speaking, we use more English, so that they can practice. (Tina) I will actually translate their questions into English and encourage them to reply again or maybe re-asking the questions using English. (Nina) If students answer in Bahasa, I will give him/her time to think in English and I paraphrase in English and check if it is correct. (Rina)

The conscious choice to use Bahasa Indonesia could be seen as a means to create a warm conducive environment in class to promote discussions. In scaffolding students’ speaking, the teachers strategically raised their awareness to heighten their grasp of the various subject areas. These actions depict the teachers’ efforts to involve students in constructing knowledge, as Sabnani and Goh (2022) underscore as important in engaging them in actively thinking about their gaps in knowledge to develop their capacities for self-regulation of learning.

6 Recommendations for Addressing Difficulties (Lecturers) 6.1 Disciplinary Support, Professional Development on Effective Language-Supportive Pedagogies and Support in Terms of Glossaries, or Study Aids To tackle these challenges, the teacher participants recommended a range of strategies that they have employed and hoped to improve as well as key areas that they believed to be crucial for better teaching and learning of EMI in their contexts. First and foremost, the teachers contended that professional development (PD) on effective teaching approaches were in dire need. All participants acknowledged the lack of specialised PD sessions in their own departments and expressed a keen interest in partaking in more PDs organised by both their institutions and other education organisations. Santi, for instance, shared that her expectation to attend both internal and external PD sessions has not been fulfilled for her institutions have not organised those PDs yet and external PD sessions run by RELO or Coursera require timely information and do not always address specific needs of specific subjects. Other participants including Nina, Budi and Rosa expressed similar concerns and suggested issues such as how to teach their subjects effectively, when and how to code-switch effectively in an EMI classroom, how to enhance students’ confidence

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in using English and improve their own confidence in using and teaching English in their fields. It is evident that PDs are critical and the content of PDs should be specific to subjects and practical. Another recommendation made by the teacher participants was disciplinary support in terms of both pedagogies and resources. In terms of the pedagogies, as demonstrated above, teachers needed pedagogical support to improve their teaching skills. In terms of resources, glossaries and teaching aids were proposed. As evident in the interviews, one of the strategies commonly implemented by the teachers to ensure students’ comprehension of complicated concepts is using visuals, videos, discipline-specific bilingual dictionaries, and problem-solving tasks. From the interviews, it can be inferred that the departments could develop a collection of resources that are accessible and relevant to different subjects. A common recommendation made by all participants was various strategies to encourage students to use English. According to some teachers such as Rosa and Budi, due to less proficient English, some students tended to switch to their mother tongue to ask questions or respond. What the teachers did was repeating the questions in English and constantly encouraging students to use English. They also reminded students of the benefits of using English for proficiency improvement and for future career opportunities and performance. Even though code-switching did occur on an occasional basis, the teachers agreed that using as much English as possible or ideally full English is the goal; hence, they constantly encouraged students to use English and overcome the shyness to express themselves as much as they can. As can be seen, to cope with different challenges in EMI classes such as students’ lack of confidence in using English and a lack in resources and PD training, three main recommendations were made. They include a diversity of strategies to encourage students to use English, teaching aid resources and internal and external PDs specific to their subjects. These recommendations highlight teachers’ aspiration for a better teaching and learning of EMI.

7 Reasons for Studying in an EMI Environment (Students) 7.1 Developing English Skills The results of the interviews revealed that student participants’ main motivation for enrolling in an EMI program is to develop their English skills besides their knowledge of the focus of their major. The findings are in line with the previous studies (Galloway & Ruegg, 2020; Galloway et al., 2017; Sahan et al., 2022). Some of the participants mentioned that their parents support their choice of studying in an EMI environment. This was in regards to the many potential benefits of English language competence for their academic work.

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8 Advantages of Studying in this Environment (Students) 8.1 Future Employability All student participants of this study perceived that by developing English competence through getting immersed in an EMI program, they get a better future employability especially in foreign companies which use English as their workplace language. In other words, English was seen as an important tool for students to be internationally competitive when getting jobs. This was especially so in contexts where English was used as the main medium of communication. The finding is similar to that found in the study by Bolton et al. (2022) who highlights that the participants were also instrumentally motivated to learn in an EMI context for having a good future career.

8.1.1

Access to Information for Homework and Projects, Getting Along with Classmates from Different Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds

Another benefit of studying an EMI program was that the students felt that they could get a lot of information in English for their homework and projects. Also, they could meet students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In this connection, English could be used as a common language (lingua franca).

9 Difficulties Experienced in this Environment (Students) 9.1 Command of English One of the difficulties experienced by students was their relatively lower command of English, which impacted their learning in the EMI environment. Their lack of proficiency in the language often left them too shy to volunteer responses, so they remained silent in class, even if they had questions for the teacher about various aspects of the lesson. Their participation in class and group discussions was also limited by their grammar and vocabulary knowledge.

9.2 Comprehension of Lessons Students’ limitations in English affected their understanding of the content imparted during lessons. For example, the use of technical terms in English has to be translated and explained to students to facilitate their understanding of concepts taught and the application.

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9.3 Perceptions About the Use of English One of the students interviewed articulated the issue of feeling that they were being judged by other students when speaking in English. This could possibly result in students not being keen to converse in English in class as well as out of class, to avoid criticism. In this connection, students generally appeared to be less inclined to provide and receive feedback from their classmates on their English-speaking skills.

10 Recommendations for Addressing the Difficulties (Students) The student participants in recognising the challenges made numerous recommendations in regard to improving their English proficiency and engaging with the classes better. Those recommendations can be categorised into four main aspects: study aids, tactful code switching in and outside of class, teacher proficiency and opportunities to be exposed to English. All participants suggested that study aids including dictionaries both bilingual and monolingual, mainly online dictionaries, were crucial in EMI classes. According to them, accessing online dictionaries could help them understand the instructions, terminologies and materials better. According to Lukman, for example, dictionaries were frequently used when she encountered any problems in understanding English in class. Yudi also shared that dictionaries, specifically Oxford Learners Dictionary, were a useful resource. Other study aids were also recommended by the students including glossaries and multimedia resources such as videos. These recommendations are similar to those made by the teachers. This emphasises the need for multimodal resources to support the teaching of EMI. The students also recommended the effective use of code-switching could help build rapport and enhance the understanding of difficult terms. For instance, Lukman made it clear that the use of Indonesian was sometimes very beneficial for example in “relaxing the tension” and “breaking the ice”. What is interesting about the findings is the students’ positive attitude towards the use of Indonesian in their EMI classes, despite the fact that sometimes the percentage of use could be 50%. To them, the switch to the mother tongue by the teachers had a specific pedagogical purpose, especially regarding difficult jargon. The code-switching also was dependent on the subjects. For example, Asri shared that in subjects that are loaded such as semantics or syntax, or Liksa who was taking the accounting class, using the local language was useful and more frequent. A similar practice of code-switching was also present in the study by Bolton et al. (2022). More than 60% of their student participants did code-switch. The finding indicates that although they have a positive attitude toward EMI, they also still support the use of Indonesian to complement the process of their learning.

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Another point made by the student participants is teachers’ proficiency. In the interviews, all participants suggested that teachers’ competence in the language, in terms of pronunciation, fluency, grammar and vocabulary, is important. They highlighted that teachers are their models of English users and have a significant impact on their motivation to use English in and outside of class. With regard to improving their own confidence and proficiency in English, students also recommended a greater exposure to English via a range of contexts and forums. Some suggestions are English cafes, English clubs, and online English speaking groups. When being asked which skill they would like to improve, most participants selected speaking so the suggested activities, as they explained, could help them be exposed to natural English use and encourage them to use English in a less academic context. As can be seen from the findings, the recommendations made by the students are relatively consistent with those by the teachers. It is evident that a diversity of teaching strategies and teaching resources is beneficial for the effective delivery of EMI.

11 Implications There are a few possibilities of how this specific focus on EMI in Southeast Asia can be manifested in both professional development (PD) and instruction. It is evident from the findings that PD activities are important and critically needed as teachers could have a forum to exchange ideas and gain more strategies to teach their specific subjects effectively. Therefore, it would be helpful for institutions to organise more training and workshops at the department, institution and cross-institution levels, focusing specifically on the teaching of EMI of different subjects. The institutions, for example, can also collaborate with English language development organisations such as RELO so that their teacher can participate and obtain benefits from RELO’s EMI course. In terms of instruction, exposure to English both in and out of class helps boost students’ confidence in using English and readiness for the workplace in the future. For lecturers, it means their encouragement, guidance for students on where to find useful resources and how to practise English beyond the classrooms and their creation of a friendly and supportive English using environment need to be in place. Furthermore, because students do find discipline-specific terminologies difficult and lecturers find the teaching and explaining of those terminologies plus grammar challenging, using multimodal resources is useful and needs to be incorporated. For example, teachers could use a visual image or a video to demonstrate a concept and develop students’ understanding of the content in which the concept is used. Overall, these strategies could build both teachers’ and students’ confidence in using English in specific contexts. The study also provides relevant implications for learners in an EMI environment. As shown in the findings, a lack of confidence, English proficiency and familiarity

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with discipline-specific jargons presents the main hindrances for students. Henceforth, it is crucial that they themselves use a range of resources including academic and non-academic to support their learning, such as bilingual dictionaries, videos, music, and divergent readings materials to build their macro and micro skills and join English speaking clubs to enhance the exposure to English as much as they can. The use of various resources and active participation in extracurricular activities will help students enhance the comprehension of their unit content and communicate more confidently in and out of class.

12 Suggestions for Further Research As EMI is growing in the Southeast Asian region, especially with the requirement of the new Kampus Merdeka policy in which HEIs have to form a number of international collaborative agreements, more research on EMI is needed to enrich the literature and provide significant implications for policies and practice. We agree with the previous EMI researchers that it is important to examine bilingual instruction or L1 use in EMI classes (Sahan et al., 2022; Sahan & Rose, 2021).

13 Conclusions The study provided insights into the practices of the six lecturers teaching different subjects as well as their perceptions regarding EMI. The interviews with the lecturers indicate an unevenness in terms of implementation of EMI policies with respect to requirements for teachers’ language proficiency, professional development and the use of English in and outside of class. They also demonstrate flexible implementation of EMI in online and face-to-face contexts, a range of challenges in teaching complicated concepts and terminologies and diverse teaching strategies to overcome the challenges. The interviews with students highlighted their motivation for studying in an EMI environment, namely to develop their English competencies and in this connection, enhance their employability in future. They described their difficulties with communication in English and elaborated on several strategies employed to contend with the issues. These included the use of print and digital resources such as dictionaries, as well as code switching with teachers and peers to improve comprehension. The students conveyed the significance of language skills and the importance of leveraging opportunities for more speaking practice during lessons as well as in less formal contexts with their classmates and friends. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Universitas Kristen Maranatha for supporting this research project.

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References Baker, W., & Hüttner, J. (2017). English and more: A multisite study of roles and conceptualisations of language in English medium multilingual universities from Europe to Asia. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 38(6), 501–516. https://doi.org/10.1080/014 34632.2016.1207183 Bolton, K. (2008). English in Asia, Asian Englishes, and the issue of proficiency. English Today, 24(2), 3–12. Bolton, K., Hill, C., Bacon-Shone, J., & Peyronnin, K. (2022). EMI (English-medium instruction) in Indonesian higher education. World Englishes, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/weng.12622 Cook, V. (2008). Second language learning and language teaching (4th ed.). Routledge. Dewi, A. (2017). English as a medium of instruction in Indonesian higher education: A Study of Lecturers’ Perceptions. In B. Fenton-Smith, P. Humphreys, & I. Walkinshaw (Eds.), English medium instruction in higher education in Asia-Pacific: From policy to pedagogy (pp. 241–258). Springer. Dumanig, F. P., & Symaco, L. P. (2022). Internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia and the Philippines: A comparative analysis of mission and vision statements of selected universities. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 43(2), 154–166. Galloway, N., & Ruegg, R. (2020). Supporting students to study through the medium of English: A comparative study of language and academic skills support in EMI programmes in Japan and China. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2020. 100846 Galloway, N., Kriukow, J., & Numajiri, T. (2017). Internationalisation, higher education and the growing demand for English: An investigation into the English medium of instruction (EMI) movement in China and Japan. ELT Research papers 17.2 The British Council. Available online at: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/internationalisation-higher-education-gro wingdemand-english-investigation-emi-movement Gonzalez, A. (1997). The history of English in the Philippines. In M. Bautista (Ed.), English is an Asianl Language: The Philippine context. (pp. 25–40). The Macquarie Library. Kachru, B. (1985). Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk & H. Widowson (Eds.), English in the world: Teaching and learning the language and literatures (pp. 11–36). Cambridge University Press. Kaur, J. (2020). Using English for interaction in the EMI classroom: Experiences and challenges at a Malaysian public university. In H. Bowles & A. Murphy (Eds.), English-medium instruction and the internationalization of universities (pp. 129–154). Palgrave Macmillan. Kirkpatrick, A. (2017). The languages of higher education in east and southeast Asia: Will EMI lead to Englishisation? In B. Fenton-Smith, P. Humphreys, & I. Walkinshaw (Eds.), English medium instruction in higher education in Asia-Pacific: From policy to pedagogy (pp. 21–36). Springer. Lamb, M., Waskita. D., Kuchah, K., Hadisantosa, N., & Ahmad, N. (2021). The state of English as medium of instruction (EMI) in higher education institutions in Indonesia. https://www.britishcouncil.id/sites/default/files/the_state_of_english_as_medium_ of_instruction_in_heis_in_indonesia_full_report_final.pdf Le, N. (2020). University lecturers’ perceived challenges in EMI. ˙In V. Le, H. Nguyen, T. Nguyen, & R. Barnard. Building teacher capacity in English language teaching in Vietnam: Research, policy and practice (1st ed., pp. 115–132). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429457371 Lo, Y., & Macaro, E. (2012). The medium of instruction and classroom interaction: Evidence from Hong Kong secondary schools. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 15(1), 29–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2011.588307 Low, E., & Ao, R. (2018). The spread of English in ASEAN: Policies and issues. RELC Journal, 49(2), 131–148. Macaro, E. (2018). English medium instruction: Content and language in policy and practice. Oxford University Press.

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Nguyen, H. T., Walkinshaw, I., & Pham, H. H. (2017). EMI programs in a Vietnamese university: Language, pedagogy and policy issues. English Medium Instruction in Higher Education in AsiaPacific: From Policy to Pedagogy, 21, 37–52. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51976-0_3 O’Dowd, R. (2018). The training and accreditation of teachers for English medium instruction: An overview of practice in European universities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(5), 553–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1491945 Pecorari, D., & Malmström, H. (2018). At the crossroads of TESOL and English medium instruction. TESOL Quarterly, 52(3), 497–515. Republik Indonesia. (2009). Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 24 Tahun 2009 Tentang Bendera, Bahasa, dan Lambang Negara, Serta Lagu Kebangsaan. (Law No. 24 of 2009 on the National Flag, Language and Symbols, and the National Anthem.) Republik Indonesia. (2019). Peraturan Presiden Nomor 63 Tahun 2019 tentang Penggunaan Bahasa Indonesia. (Presidential Decrees No 63 of 2019 on the Use of Bahasa Indonesia). Rubdy, R. (2001). Creative destruction: Singapore’s Speak Good English movement. World Englishes, 20(3), 341–355. Sabnani, R., & Goh, C. (2022). Developing young learners’ metacognitive awareness for speaking. TESOL Quarterly, 56(1), 336–346. Sahan, K., & Rose, H. (2021). 1 problematising the E in EMI: Translanguaging as a pedagogic alternative to English-only hegemony in university contexts. In B. Paulsrud, Z. Tian, & J. Toth (Eds.), English-medium instruction and translanguaging (pp. 1–14). Multilingual Matters. https://doi. org/10.21832/9781788927338-005 Sahan, K., Galloway, N., & McKinley, J. (2022). ‘English-only’ English medium instruction: Mixed views in Thai and Vietnamese higher education. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/13621688211072632 Tran, T. H. T., Burke, R., & O’Toole, J. M. (2021). Perceived impact of EMI on students’ language proficiency in Vietnamese tertiary EFL contexts. IAFOR Journal of Education: Language Learning in Education, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.22492/ije.9.3.01

Fenty Lidya Siregar holds an MA in English Language Education from De La Salle University (the Philippines) and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand). She currently teaches English as a foreign language at Universitas Kristen Maranatha (Maranatha Christian University), Indonesia, and has taught in other countries in Asia as a visiting lecturer. She is the chair of Indonesian Extensive Reading Association. Her recent research has focused on extensive reading, intercultural language teaching, and taboo topics in the language classroom. Robbie Lee Sabnani is a lecturer and teacher educator at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her interests include speaking and listening, metacognition in learning and the development of teacher expertise. She publishes on education research and language instruction and contributes to theory and practice through invited keynotes and presentations at conferences. Her recent publications include a book chapter with Cambridge University Press as well as articles in international journals such as TESOL Quarterly and several others. Robbie was awarded the prestigious Dean’s Commendation for Research in 2019 in recognition of research excellence. Thuy Dinh is currently a language and learning advisor at Charles Darwin University, Australia. She obtained an MA TESOL from the University of Canberra and a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Monash University where she worked as a lecturer, researcher and learning advisor for 10 years. Thuy has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in the fields of teaching English, ELT curriculum, culture in textbooks and lexical innovations.

EMI in Latin America Loreto Aliaga Salas

and Gonzalo Pérez Andrade

Abstract This study explores the emerging implementation of EMI in Latin America from the perspectives of both teachers and students (Aliaga Salas & Andrade, 2023). Although Latin American EMI is recent and limited, there is evidence of a growing interest in implementing this approach in these countries. Through open-ended questionnaires, participants report on their experiences in EMI courses, their opportunities and challenges, and how they address potential difficulties. While both groups regard EMI as an approach that boosts opportunities for mobility and collaboration, its implementation may be negatively affected by students’ low English proficiency. The authors also conclude that further support for teacher education is needed.

1 Introduction Latin America, for the purpose of this study, is understood as the 20 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama) in the Americas where people speak predominantly a romance language. The most commonly spoken language is Spanish followed by Portuguese and French. Although having been colonised by Spain and Portugal, and therefore, mostly having a baseline culture, there is great diversity among the countries due to varied geographical, climatological, political, and educational contexts. Despite this rich diversity, globalisation has motivated the adoption of English as the primary mandatory foreign language taught at schools in many of L. Aliaga Salas (B) University of Leeds, Leeds, UK e-mail: [email protected] G. Pérez Andrade London Metropolitan University, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_9

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these countries as well as the creation of nation-wide plans to promote the learning of this language in the region (Cronquist & Fiszbein, 2017). Similarly, some higher education institutions throughout Latin America have started to respond to the internationalisation of higher education by implementing courses using English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI). EMI has been defined as “the use of English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language of the majority of the population is not English” (Macaro et al., 2018, p. 37). Although EMI is expected to contribute to “reducing language exchange isolation in the region” (Reus, 2020, p. 1), EMI in Latin America is still scarce (Macaro et al., 2018). While limited in number, EMI research has had a recent growth in Latin America. Most research in this field has been published in the last five years, showing an emergent interest in adopting and implementing EMI, particularly at higher education level. The motivations behind the adoption of EMI tend to be associated with attracting international students and making university courses more globally-oriented (Martínez, 2016). Despite the potential benefits of EMI, its uptake has been considerably smaller across Latin American countries in comparison to European and Asian contexts. Publications that examine the impact of the EMI phenomenon across Latin American contexts and that evaluate its effectiveness are currently nonexistent to our knowledge. Therefore, this study intends to explore how teachers and students already engaging in EMI education experience this method of instruction and seeks to understand why the spread of EMI has not been as successful in Latin America as in other non-English speaking contexts.

2 EMI in Latin America Macaro et al. (2018) indicate that EMI’s presence in Latin America has mainly been anecdotal rather than systematic. In an interview with Sahan (2021), Macaro suggests that EMI has not been widely adopted in Latin America due to a language factor, since Spanish is the predominant language in the continent, with only a few exceptions. In this section, we present an overview of the context focusing on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.

2.1 Argentina There is limited research on EMI in the Argentinean context. To our knowledge, the only published research was done by Banegas and Manzur Busleimán (2021), who report on a self-study on developing EMI materials in an online initial teacher education program. As program tutors, they analysed their own engagement designing EMI materials, and their student teachers’ experiences with them. The authors conclude

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that EMI materials should include activities for language development in addition to the subject content, with a hint to Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). EMI tutors, similarly, should receive guidance to support language learning in a systematic manner, and materials, and tutors’ practices need to respond to the “content, context, and learners’ trajectories and needs” (Banegas & Manzur Busleimán, 2021, p. 123).

2.2 Brazil In recent years, EMI has grown quickly in Brazil, where Portuguese is the dominant language. According to the British Council (2018), between 2016 and 2018 the offer of EMI courses increased from 671 to over 1,000 in an attempt to internationalise Brazilian education and become a key player in global knowledge mobilisation. This survey also evidences an increasing demand on EMI for mobility and creation of global networks. Martinez (2016) offers a review of the current state of affairs of EMI in Brazil where it has grown significantly, particularly as of 2014, and it has now been adopted at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. This increase may be influenced by an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and students’ international mobility, particularly motivated by the Science Without Borders program which allows STEM students to study in top universities worldwide. However, the implementation of EMI in Brazil has not been without shortcomings. Martinez (2016) divides these into linguistic, cultural and institutional challenges. First, linguistic challenges appear to be related to students’ language proficiency in English to study EMI. In fact, Brazilian universities do not seem to require a minimum proficiency level to study or teach an EMI course. Gimenez and Marson (2022) suggest that there is hope that through exposure to content and jargon, there will be some residual language learning. At the cultural level, Martinez (2016) mentions that despite the great diversity that Brazil has due to its large population and vast territory, Brazilian universities have failed to attract international students as most EMI students are Brazilian, with only a few exceptions. In this respect, he suggests EMI in Brazil is more concerned with developing English skills than on offering opportunities for intercultural contact. Another observed limitation is that EMI may be sensed as a threat to national heritage, which is a common phenomenon when decision-making is made top-down. However, Martinez (2016) reports that the Brazilian implementation of EMI has mostly been bottom-up, i.e. it has been initiated by teachers rather than by institutions. It is recommended that for change to be sustainable over time, both top-down and bottomup forces need to converge (Fullan, 2015). Regarding institutional challenges, Martinez (2016, p. 18) reports that EMI courses are “internationalisation window dressing” in the sense that universities do not necessarily have to accommodate EMI to all their courses. Thus, keeping

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a balance between individual and institutional initiatives proves sometimes challenging. For example, differences in funding are more evident as lecturers at private institutions are likely to be offered monetary and special training incentives to teach EMI. However, the reality is different at public universities which may not have the funds to properly implement EMI and train teachers accordingly. Pusey (2020, p. 8) agrees with Martinez’s (2016) observation and suggests that teachers working in EMI contexts are expected to demonstrate “pedagogical, communicative, and linguistic skills” together with “an understanding of the larger historical and ideological underpinnings of EMI”. Similarly, Gimenez and Marson’s (2022) study on EMI teacher education in Brazil gives visibility to the internationalisation strategy that has led to a wide implementation of EMI across the country. They also agree with Martinez (2016) in terms of the challenges posed by EMI, e.g., curriculum diversity, and a greater need for EMI teacher education.

2.3 Chile There is little experience of EMI in Chile, with only one documented case of EMI (Reus, 2020), to our knowledge. This quantitative study aims at determining the effect of EMI on content acquisition, based on Macaro et al. (2018), by testing students of economics-related optional modules taught in English. All participants are Chilean, and their mother tongue is Spanish. Reus does not find significant differences in students’ performance when implementing EMI. However, the study reports that proficient students perform better than those with a lower proficiency level and that proficient students’ prior GPA correlates with their overall performance in the course. The students also acknowledge that their language level helps them advance in their professional careers.

2.4 Colombia Corrales et al. (2016) report on the implementation of EMI in a Colombian university from the perspective of computer science professors, students and the program administrator in developing intercultural and international competences (IIC) together with foreign language learning. Internationalisation at Home (IaH) is an initiative where students “develop IIC without leaving their home institutions” (Corrales et al., 2016, p. 322). In this study, EMI is understood as “the type of context where content is the priority and where no assessment of students’ English competence is made because no language learning outcomes are acknowledged” (Aguilar, 2015, p. 4). The results show that both teachers and students appreciate the opportunity to use English in authentic communicative situations and be able to “join the international conversation on their discipline in English” (Corrales et al., 2016, p. 335).

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Tejada-Sanchez and Molina-Naar (2020) present the implementation of an EMI course at a Colombian university as part of an internationalisation process from the perspective of administrators, faculty and students. Colombia has a strong internationalisation plan, devised by the Colombia Bilingüe governmental program to develop human capital through English language teaching. Tejada-Sanchez and Molina-Naar (2020, p. 344) acknowledge that the lack of English proficiency in Latin America, together with “low teacher training quality, insufficient resources, and inconsistency in language educational policies” make the Colombian context particularly challenging. Their findings suggest that EMI plays a crucial role in the internationalisation process of this university, leading to a curriculum reform and the strengthening of an EMI environment during a two-year period. The fast implementation of this program appears to be two-fold. English was considered very relevant by all the participants, yet the students’ proficiency level was seen as an issue by administrators and faculty. Although some students enrolled in the EMI courses to enhance their professional careers, most of them saw it as a requirement. This disagreement suggests that there is a mismatch between the program aspirations and the actual implementation of EMI in a succinct period of time. To be successful, it requires all actors to be involved and better articulate strategies for its implementation and institutionalisation in the Colombian context.

2.5 Mexico Higher education in Mexico represents one of the most noticeable adoptions of EMI in Latin America, particularly since 2012, as its implementation has been strongly supported by educational policy (Sibaja, 2020). This interest in offering courses taught in English has led to the creation of “BIS” universities which are institutions that aim “to provide bilingual education to low income students who otherwise would have never had the opportunity to develop English skills, access scholarships to study abroad or have opportunities to position themselves in the international industry sector” (Saracho, 2017, in Sibaja, 2020, p. 10). In the Mexican Higher Education context, BIS stands for “Bilingual, International, and Sustainable”, where, according to Sibaja (2020), “bilingual” refers to EMI, “international” refers to mobility, and “sustainable” refers to social justice, solidarity, and environmental responsibility. Sibaja (2020) also reports that the Mexican Ministry of Education aims to open a BIS university in each Mexican state; however, this goal has not been achieved yet. What is striking about the BIS initiative is that EMI (within the BIS approach) is promoted as a model to challenge existing inequalities in HE rather than perpetuating them. In this respect, Sibaja (2020) points out that students who join these programs need to demonstrate a minimum A2 level and students are supported with English language lessons throughout their studies. Similarly, students experience a gradual transition through their studies adding more subjects taught in English each term. However, despite these governmental initiatives and the rapid growth of BIS

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universities in Mexico, EMI literature that focuses on this context is surprisingly limited. Another study was conducted by Santana (2019) who explored the extent to which EMI can affect instructor-student rapport in a Mexican University. She compared the interactions and relationship between a teacher and her students in two identical modules that had different media of instruction: one taught in Spanish and one taught in English. Using lesson recordings, teacher’s logs, and student-instructor rapport scales, she concluded that the language of instruction was not a barrier to establish rapport.

2.6 Evaluation of Existing Research The emergence of EMI in Latin America is relatively new and has shown some similarities within the continent and the general literature. Brazil is the country with the largest number of EMI programs in the continent as a result of a systematic internationalisation policy, where the adoption of EMI was a political decision. Similarly, in Mexico, the BIS programs respond to internationalisation from a social justice perspective, with an expectation to expand at a national level. In both contexts, EMI was implemented following a top-down model. On the other hand, in Argentina, Chile and Colombia, there is evidence of EMI emerging from bottom-up initiatives led by universities or module leaders who have implemented this innovation at course or even module level. In some of these examples, EMI modules are presented as options that are not expected to replace but to offer an alternative to the Spanish-medium mainstream version of the module. Interestingly, English language teaching training courses at university level, where students are expected to learn English as part of their degree are also treated as EMI courses in the reviewed literature (Banegas & Manzur Busleimán, 2021). However, these courses would not meet the criteria of what constitutes the essence of EMI education—as in Macaro et al.’s (2018) definition—as English would also be the subject of study. In this scenario, EMI could be interpreted as CLIL (content and language integrated learning). Within the reported EMI courses, there are differences in proficiency level requirements for students: from no specific requirements to a high proficiency level. Similarly, teachers’ proficiency level and training offered to teach in an EMI program is varied, which tends to coincide with a top-down institutional implementation of EMI. From this literature review, we can conclude that EMI is still at an early stage in the Latin American context, and with the exceptions of Brazil and Mexico, its implementation has been at individual institutions, mainly bottom-up, disconnected from one another, rather than as a regional or national policy.

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3 The Study This small-scale qualitative study intended to answer the following questions from the perspective of teachers and students in different Latin American countries: 1. How do teachers and students working in EMI courses in Latin America experience the implementation of EMI in their contexts? 2. What opportunities and challenges in the implementation of EMI are perceived by teachers and students? 3. How do teachers and students believe that potential difficulties emerging from EMI instruction in their contexts should be addressed? 4. To what extent has EMI been successful in Latin America? As we were interested in the experiences, opinions, and recommendations of teachers and students working in EMI contexts in Latin America, we designed two openresponse questionnaires - one for teachers, and one for students. Brown (2009, p. 201) suggests that this kind of questionnaire “provide[s] a way to find out, in an unstructured manner, what people are thinking about a particular topic or issue”. As the study intended to collect data from participants engaging with EMI education in a variety of Latin American contexts, the questionnaires were designed as Google Forms online surveys and were shared via different channels including social media (e.g., LinkedIn, and teachers’ organisations on Facebook), and through researchers’ personal and professional contacts. In other words, we adopted a combination of convenience and snowballing sampling approaches (Dörnyei, 2007) to recruit participants for this study. Both questionnaires consisted of two parts. The first part gathered demographic information about participants’ linguistic backgrounds, contexts where they have taught or studied through EMI, the levels of education in which they engaged with EMI (e.g., school, undergraduate, postgraduate), age range, and gender. The second part required participants to explain why they decided to work or study in an EMI context, discuss the advantages and disadvantages that they have faced working or studying in this educational modality, provide recommendations for addressing the challenges they have encountered, and evaluate the success of the implementation of EMI in their respective educational contexts.

3.1 Participants and Data Generation Due to the scarcity of EMI programs in Latin American higher education, finding participants for this study proved to be a challenging task. Similarly, as some of the institutions contacted by the researchers were in the early stages of the implementation of an EMI approach (e.g., courses that have recently been created or were offering this modality for the first time), locating students who were willing to participate in the study was even harder. In total, 14 teacher questionnaires and 5 student questionnaires were completed. The data collected included contributions from participants

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who have taught or been taught courses where English is the medium of instruction from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico. Teacher participants had different levels of experience and engagement with EMI in their professional roles. Most (64%) had at least 5 years of experience with 6 out of 14 reporting more than 10 years working under this modality. Four had worked in an EMI environment for about 3–5 years, while only one was relatively new to EMI. The most dominant age groups in the sample were 36–45 (5) and 46–55 (5), while the rest of the participants were aged 56 or over. Almost all participant teachers (13) indicated English and Spanish as the languages they speak, while one teacher reported being able to communicate in Portuguese and English. 5 teachers could communicate in more than 2 languages with French and Japanese also being reported. Regarding the context where they taught in an EMI modality, 6 teachers had worked only in Mexico, 4 had done so in Chile, 2 in Brazil, 1 in Colombia, and only 1 teacher reported having worked in an EMI environment in more than one Latin American context: Argentina, Colombia, and Ecuador. In terms of gender, most of the participant teachers identified as females (9); the rest identified as male (5). All teachers were working in EMI at Higher Education level. The most common level of education where these teachers had engaged with EMI was undergraduate (78%), followed by taught postgraduate (master’s) (42.9%). Two of them also reported having worked in EMI at school level. Out of the 5 students that completed the survey, 4 studied in Chile and 1 in Mexico. All the students could communicate in Spanish and English and 3 of them indicated that they also mastered a third language (Korean, German, and French). All students identified as female; 3 of them were between 18 and 25 years old, one was in the 26–35 age group, and one in the 36–45 group.

3.2 Ethics Ethics clearance was obtained through a UK University where one of the authors works. All participants were informed about the purpose of the project and how the collected data would be stored and handled, as well as any potential risks. All participants were asked to tick the corresponding checkboxes to give consent to the use of their data before submitting their answers. The data collected was anonymised to make sure that individuals and the institutions they mentioned are not identifiable.

3.3 Data Analysis The qualitative data collected via the online survey was retrieved from the online platform and analysed following a thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006). We collated the participants’ responses and organised it into themes, drawing on the research questions. Participants’ answers were initially read and checked

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for comprehension and correction of typos in order to facilitate the analysis and presentation of results. Participants’ names and their institutions were anonymised and a system of codes was generated to represent the views of the participants. These were expressed by the use of “T” for teachers and “S” for students together with a number that helped us locate their answers in the questionnaire (for example, T1; T2; S1; S2; and so on).

4 Findings 4.1 Teachers’ Perspectives 4.1.1

Reasons for Working in an EMI Environment

Teachers’ questionnaires revealed that participants perceive the implementation of EMI in their contexts as a university-driven initiative that intends to enhance the recruitment of “international”—non-Spanish/Portuguese speaking—students and thus contributing to the internationalisation of Higher Education. For example, T1, a teacher based in Mexico, mentions: My institution wanted to increment the number of EMI classes to attend to an increasing number of international students.

T14, based in Chile, comments that in her institution the partial incorporation of EMI has been one of the strategies implemented to boost internationalisation.

In this respect, the data evidences that the universities’ decisions to offer courses in EMI has impacted them in different ways as some see their newly found roles as unexpected turns in their professional careers. For instance, T8 reveals that her choice to work in an EMI environment wasn’t particularly intentional.

T2 confesses that she was asked to teach her classes in English and since then […] decided to improve [her] skills.

Such comments are also in line with claims about the lack of qualified professionals who have the necessary linguistic and pedagogical skills to offer courses in EMI. T3, a program director at a Chilean university, comments that finding different teachers for the different courses is a challenge.

In support of this claim, T5, who works in the same context reveals that many colleagues do not speak English, it is hard finding teachers who can teach in English with confidence.

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Interestingly, this situation is also perceived as an advantage by some teachers who see their ability to work in an EMI environment as an opportunity to better-position themselves in the market since, as T11 demonstrates, teachers who are linguistically and methodologically equipped to teach English as a medium of instruction will thrive in this area, as there is a gap in the market due to the lack of prepared professionals.

4.1.2

Advantages of Working in an EMI Environment

The teachers also identify a series of benefits associated with offering and delivering courses in EMI in Latin American contexts, particularly in relation to their own and their students’ professional development, and the generation of wider academic networks. T10, for example, refers to how teachers and students can benefit from EMI beyond just improving their English language skills by stating that I consider that more than practising other languages, I can develop knowledge related to specific fields and to teach students to become professionals in such fields.

Similarly, T6 points out that for both English L1/L2 users this can be an opportunity to develop metalinguistic and intercultural awareness […] [while] also provid[ing] opportunities for networking and establishing academic or professional partnerships with other contexts.

This advantage is also supported by T1, who claims that the opportunities that EMI offers by bringing together students from different backgrounds broadens the horizons of local students, and it allows them to create broader networks.

Another salient positive aspect of adopting an EMI approach is access to quality resources. References to the status of English as the dominant language of research and technological development were common. T5, for example, indicates that cutting edge research and educational materials for History, Geography, and Social Studies (my area) are mainly in English [and] there are many more quality teaching resources in English.

Similarly, T9 emphasises the benefits that EMI brings to her students by indicating that studying literature in English, doing presentations and writing papers provide them with quality input that enhances their skills and increases their chance to get an international certification.

From these comments, it is possible to infer that engaging with English at Higher Education level is generally perceived, at least by the teachers from our sample, as more beneficial than simply using local languages (primarily Spanish and Portuguese) as working languages. A few participants, however, criticise this hegemonic understanding of English and suggest that if English becomes more prominent in academic contexts, these [local] languages might get even more ignored together with the knowledge and ancestral wisdom they carry (and that is so important for our identity). (T6)

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Challenges of Working in an EMI Environment

Teachers identified the differing levels of proficiency in English that students enrolled in these courses display as the most significant difficulty across the contexts. For instance, T3, based in Mexico, mentions that the main challenge is that students are not native English speakers and not all of them have the same level of fluency.

This is replicated by T7, who teaches in Chile, by indicating that not all students are at the same proficiency level which provides an additional challenge for some students.

Similarly, T12, based in Brazil, points out that sometimes students’ levels of proficiency in a classroom may vary, which may pose some issues.

4.1.4

Suggestions for Dealing with the Challenges

In order to deal with the challenges, the participants suggest that students should be required to pass a test to enter the course, or they should prove their level of English in some way. (T1)

Or, since such imbalances in proficiency pose an important problem for the development of their lessons, they suggest the need to apply surveys previously in order to divide the group according to different levels. (T2)

Similarly, the participants recommend that more support is given to English language learning (T13, T14), especially in relation to reading and completing tasks in the second language. (T3)

Important differences, however, arise when referring to the role of local languages in EMI courses since, as the data reveals, English can be considered to be a foreign language or a common lingua franca depending on the EMI context under scope. In other words, in environments where the student body is relatively homogeneous in cultural and linguistic aspects, the dominant local languages (e.g., Spanish or Portuguese) are likely to be used as a resource as these languages are often shared by the students, and, in most cases, the teacher. For example, T6 who works in Chile, indicates that during my career I have had to translate a lot.

On the other hand, the usefulness of local languages is much more limited in contexts where students from different linguacultural backgrounds meet. This is evident in T1’s words when referring to the difficulties faced working in EMI in Mexico by saying

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using Spanish with the whole group was not an option because there were non-Spanish speaking international students in the group.

Regardless of these challenges, most teachers agree that the implementation of EMI in their teaching contexts has been a relatively successful one. Reasons for such a success, again, are based on linguistic development and student satisfaction. For instance, T9 comments that, in her experience, most of our students succeed and their skills in English improve.

T11 mentions that the implementation of EMI in his context has been absolutely successful and this is based on my own learners’ feedback comments in the surveys that the university applies at the end of the course.

Interestingly, references to disciplinary content or pro-internationalisation discourse are very limited in the evaluations provided by these teachers. As most comments focus on linguistic development, it is evident that, from the perspective of these participants, meeting an English proficiency threshold seems key to fulfilling the corresponding learning outcomes of the courses since as, T5 mentions, without a sufficient level of English, these students would not be able to access content at all.

4.2 Students’ Perspectives 4.2.1

Language Learning for Personal and Professional Benefit

All students chose to study in an EMI environment because they were interested in English and in learning English, for they perceived it as a tool for their personal and professional lives, as illustrated by S3: I chose to study in an EMI environment because I am obsessed with English and I knew that I wanted to do something related to it professionally.

A similar motivation is mentioned by S4, who focuses on the benefits of knowing more languages, as they are crucial for communication and, at the same time, to open yourself to more people, cultures and knowledge.

4.2.2

Advantages of Studying in an EMI Environment

As shown above, knowing more languages brings the benefit of advancing opportunities to understand and interact with others. There is agreement on the benefits of becoming a more profitable professional, who can be more employable than one that does not know English. S2 illustrates this well:

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I am going to be a primary teacher and in my country English speaking schools are growing, thus giving me an advantage with other teachers.

In this case, S2’s motivation to learn English is driven by the fact that knowing English becomes a professional advantage. S3, on the other hand, sees being a teacher who speaks English as a factor that leads to job security: The best-paid teachers are those who speak English proficiently. Teachers that don’t know English are being fired, so obviously it is pretty advantageous to speak the language.

Although S3 does not refer to other aspects that may affect employability, she believes that knowing English offers certain stability when referring to job security. There is also agreement among the participants on their enjoyment and motivation to learn English for personal and professional reasons. On the one hand, they focus on aspects of teaching and learning English by referring to language learning and bilingualism. S3 sheds some light on what she believes are the advantages of teaching and learning a foreign language at an early age: Teaching students (at an early age) to be bilingual can have many benefits in the brain. When you have a bilingual brain, you have a different way of thinking and creating, it can be said that your brain “works differently” rather than just having one language.

On the other hand, referring to the challenges that teaching (in) English brings to teachers working in a bilingual environment, S3 also believes that teaching the language isn’t easy.

4.2.3

Challenges of Teaching and Learning

Students observe some challenges in studying in an EMI environment, which mostly rely on learning English as a foreign language. For example, S1 refers to her motivation, stating that: a lot of the learning depends on me, on how committed I am in using and learning English.

When studying in an EMI environment, autonomy, competence and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2012) are crucial to keep students engaged. In addition, students comment on their EMI teachers’ capacity to teach their subjects in English. S2 is critical about her teachers’ proficiency levels: Not all teachers speak quite well or have a high domain of English or other language.

This statement correlates with research in other EMI contexts (e.g., An et al., 2021), where students perceive that teachers’ proficiency has an impact on their learning.

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Suggestions for Coping with the Challenges

To address these challenges, students have some suggestions for themselves as EMI students and their programs. Firstly, participants reflect on staying motivated with learning, as stated by S1: Be reflective and know yourself to know what drives you.

Similarly, S3 suggests: Just try harder. People think that by attending a couple of English classes a week will be enough to learn English efficiently and quickly, but no. You need to expose yourself to the language as much as you can.

Regarding their programs, and their teachers, students suggest practical aspects of teaching and learning, such as dividing students’ groups into proficiency levels. S4 suggests that teachers check for understanding, see what they were able to understand and let them explain what they [students] learn in their own words, that way, the teacher can address those problems right away.

S5 looks into EMI as part of her future teaching practice, where she is taught to implement strategies in order to teach curricula in a foreign language.

These considerations, however, do not shed light on the wider view of the EMI programs where the students study. Overall, participants believe that the implementation of EMI has been mostly successful in their contexts, as their expectations have been met. For example, S2 believes that she gets to know more about the language, the reason behind its usage, as well as more tools to communicate and teach.

Similarly, S4 believes that she has learned many strategies that as a teacher you can do so that having more languages in a classroom can be easier for the students and simpler for them to understand.

Both S2 and S4 focus on the three areas of teaching knowledge: knowing the language, knowing about the language, and knowing how to teach the language (Malderez & Wedell, 2007), which highlight their relevance. However, neither makes references to being in an EMI environment. In the only comment that refers to EMI in relation to learning about other disciplines through English, S5 thinks that her EMI program has been successfully implemented because I have learnt a lot about other fields while practising the language.

Albeit brief, S5 nods to the integration of content and language learning. Summing up, all participants showed similarities in their experiences studying in an EMI environment. However, the data does not provide enough evidence to gauge that the

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students understand the concept of EMI. They appear to focus on their bilingual programs, with some modules taught in English, as well as learning English at the same time, rather than discussing EMI itself. Their first-person testimonies do not delve into their programs and how EMI is embedded in them.

5 Discussion and Implications Given the limited research of EMI in the Latin American context as a single region, this study intended to explore how teachers and students already engaging in EMI education experience its implementation, and sought to understand why the spread of EMI has not been as successful in Latin America as in other non-English speaking contexts. The findings prompt critical questions about the underpinning reasons of the current status and its implications for practice.

5.1 How do Teachers and Students Working in EMI Courses in Latin America Experience the Implementation of EMI in their Contexts? Internationalisation and “opening doors” is the most salient factor to answer for the decision of having adopted EMI, agreeing with EMI literature. Within internationalisation, many institutions seem to lead an “Englishisation” of the curriculum (Galloway et al., 2020), so that more modules are taught in English, also with a hope that this will overall improve their students’ command of the language. In this respect, both the existing literature on EMI in Latin America and the participants’ views support the view that, to date, EMI implementation relies mostly on changing the language of instruction of existing courses to English - or offering an “English version” of them. In other words, the lack of student mobility in Latin America forces EMI programs to cater for the academic needs of English-speaking locals rather than act as a form of internationalisation of HE since, in most cases, these EMI classrooms do not represent an international student body but a local elite instead. The role of local languages in EMI classrooms in Latin American institutions raises questions about what the drivers of this educational approach (e.g., higher education institutions, governments) intend to achieve in relation to internationalisation since the composition of the target audience and those delivering these courses may reveal the actual understanding of internationalisation that is being adopted. In fact, internationalisation is not mentioned by teachers referring to their practices, nor by students referring to their learning experiences (apart from seeing English as a tool for international communication). This dichotomy, i.e. internationalisation as the core of the implementation of EMI yet not factored by the main actors, suggests

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that the focus of EMI is still on language and content learning, and that there is an evident mismatch between the intended and the enabled curriculum . The vision of the participants suggest that there needs to be a mindful EMI implementation in Latin America, where local traditions and languages present in the region are respected. Following Rose et al. (2022, p. 168), “a socially responsible and politically empowering implementation of EMI should see authority given to local teachers and academic staff for conceiving and implementing the appropriate curriculum and pedagogy to meet their students’ needs”. This is in line with a harmonic implementation of a curriculum change, where both top-down and bottomup forces work together towards the initiation, implementation, and institutionalisation of change. In practical terms, enabling an EMI curriculum does not necessarily need to lead to a monolingual environment. In fact, the sought-after internationalisation can be enhanced by promoting a translanguaging environment (Wei, 2018) to enhance all actors’ teaching and learning experiences.

5.2 What Opportunities and Challenges in the Implementation of EMI are Perceived by Teachers and Students? This study suggests that EMI is generally perceived as a platform for professional development due to its perceived links with global networking, intercultural awareness, and access to knowledge (Galloway et al., 2020). Participant teachers evidence that this method of instruction not only can help their students to be better-prepared professionals by developing a deeper and up-to-date engagement with their disciplines, but also allows them, as teachers, to broaden their academic networks. Interestingly, however, discussions around EMI in Latin American Spanish-speaking contexts do not seem to consider the role that Spanish may have had in achieving these newly perceived goals. Little is mentioned about how instruction in Spanish may have previously served a similar purpose in the region. In this respect, the somewhat idealised internationalisation that these teachers and their institutions seem to seek is beyond the continental borders. It is important to point out, however, that participants did not make reference to any specific country or geographical context when referring to internationalisation. The students, on the other hand, tended to attribute the benefits of EMI mostly to linguistic development which is seen as a professional advantage in itself. In fact, students perceive enrolment in EMI courses as an opportunity for future economic return as completing courses in English is understood as the acquisition of a higher level of professionalisation than just doing so in the local language. Similarly, students linked EMI with opportunities for intercultural exchanges even when their classrooms tended to be linguaculturally homogenous. As previously discussed, English proficiency is clearly the most important challenge to the implementation of EMI identified by teachers and students. Both groups stress the importance that a sufficient proficiency level has in the success of this

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method of instruction. Interestingly, participants did not make explicit reference to how the content of the courses can be compromised because of these imbalances. This may be explained by the fact that local languages can still be used as major resources due to the dominant linguistic and cultural homogeneity of the teaching and student bodies. In this respect, the benefits that EMI has promised to bring to the Latin American context would only be enjoyed by those who manage to overcome the linguistic barrier who, in most cases, happen to be those who are privileged enough to receive quality English language education before starting higher education, as the student participants demonstrate. Ultimately, this makes us wonder whether the implementation of EMI in Latin America represents another way of broadening the socioeconomic gaps that already exist in such an unequal context (Lasagabaster, 2022).

5.3 How do Teachers and Students Believe that Potential Difficulties Emerging from EMI Instruction in their Contexts Should be Addressed? Both groups of participants suggest that proficiency is an issue in EMI. Regarding teachers’ proficiency, current research does not evidence a significant impact of teachers’ proficiency and students’ learning, but classroom practices and interaction do (An et al., 2021; Galloway et al., 2020). The main barrier to the success of EMI identified in this study referred to the teachers’ and students’ ability to communicate in English (Tejeda-Sánchez & Molina-Naar, 2020). Thus, teachers and students’ opinions differ in how this challenge can be overcome since, on the one hand, teachers agree that institutions that offer courses in EMI should test students’ levels of English before entering their courses and provide them with in-sessional English language support; while students tended to focus on individual effort and agency in the learning process (e.g., more exposure to English; checking for understanding; paraphrasing). As demonstrated above, most teachers find themselves teaching in EMI environments because of institutional decisions or better career prospects; therefore, professional development, understood as linguistic and pedagogical tools for EMI teachers is key. To our knowledge, there is no documented evidence of whether EMI teachers in Latin American receive this kind of support and, if so, what it looks like.

5.4 To What Extent has EMI been Successful in Latin America? Although EMI is, by definition, not expected to teach “English”—making this fact its fundamental difference with CLIL—the implementation of EMI in Latin America appears to lean towards CLIL. The student data strongly suggests that their focus

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is on learning English rather than a particular subject area. It is still unclear to what extent institutions (at a micro-level) and/or governments (at a macro-level) prepare the grounds for implementing EMI in a contextually-relevant manner. The data indicates that EMI has been ill-implemented in some contexts, which may be in relation to the length of time in which EMI has been adopted, and therefore, it may correlate with the degree of current EMI expertise. EMI teachers’ professional development is crucial. As Martinez (2016) lists, linguistic, cultural and institutional constraints undermine the implementation of EMI in Latin America. The data suggest that current micro-management of the programs, where teachers have been prompted to teach EMI without any previous experience or training, may also have an impact on its success. Recruiting teachers that have some preparation to teach subject-specific modules proves to be challenging. A possible solution to this would be to create partnerships with ESP colleagues, for example, to develop and provide pertinent training to support teachers in the planning and delivering of their EMI classes. Similarly, neither group of participants gave a strong sense of the relevance of content. Although the literature reports that EMI teachers perceive themselves as content teachers rather than language teachers (Lasagabaster, 2022), teacher participants saw themselves as language teachers with a strong view on proficiency level as the most detrimental aspect of their EMI experience, since without having a baseline level, students cannot access content. Although both groups of participants agree that the implementation of EMI is successful in their context, the data is inconclusive in relation to how or if teachers adapted or simplified their practices and/or materials to reach all students, and if so, whether students mastered the expected contents.

6 Conclusion and Suggestions for Further Study This chapter has attempted to give some visibility to the teaching and learning experiences of teachers and students in different EMI contexts in Latin America, looking into their opportunities and challenges, and to what extent these initiatives have been successful. The greatest limitation of this study is the restricted number of participants as a result of the scarce implementation of EMI across the continent. Regardless, it was possible to observe commonalities across the different groups of participants, particularly among the teacher participants. Further research with more participants in a single country or a group of countries would be beneficial to understand the commonalities and differences in the practice of EMI from the perspective of teachers and students, with a longitudinal focus, so that there is a systematic study of the initiation, implementation, and institutionalisation of EMI, at a macro, meso and micro-levels. Similarly, insights into the impact that EMI in this context has had on the learning of content as well as the support that students and faculty receive to facilitate its implementation would enrich the EMI literature emerging from this context.

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Our study demonstrates that the concept of EMI may not be still well understood. With a patchy and uneven implementation in Latin America, we conclude that EMI is a concept that has not been fully processed and has been mostly implemented in a somehow improvised manner due to lack of experience and knowledge. Furthermore, it appears that CLIL and EMI have blurred boundaries, as there is a heavy focus on language learning rather than content learning. Similarly, the internationalisation factor seems to be nominal, that is it is a driver that leads decision-makers to implement EMI, but internationalisation is absent from the discourse and practice of our participants.

References Aguilar, M. (2015). Engineering lecturers’ views on CLIL and EMI. International Journal of Education and Bilingualism, 20(6), 722–735. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2015.1073664 Aliaga Salas, L., & Andrade, G. (2023). EMI in Latin America. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 133–152). Springer. An, J., Macaro, E., & Childs, A. (2021). Classroom interaction in EMI high schools: Do teachers who are native speakers of English make a difference? System, 98, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.system.2021.102482 Banegas, D. L., & Busleimán, G. M. (2021). EMI materials in online initial English language teacher education. In D. Lasagabaster & A. Doiz (Eds.), Language use in English-medium instruction at university (pp. 100–125). Routledge. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. British Council. (2018). Guide to English as a medium of instruction in Brazilian higher education institutions. British Council & FAUBAI. Brown, J. D. (2009). Open response items in questionnaires. In J. Heigham & R. Croker (Eds.), Qualitative methods in applied linguistics: A practical introduction (pp. 200–219). Palgrave MacMillan. Corrales, K. A., Paba Rey, L. A., & Santiago, E. N. (2016). Is EMI enough? Perceptions from university professors and students. Latin American Journal of Content and Language Integrated Learning, 9(2), 318–344. https://doi.org/10.5294/laclil.2016.9.2.4 Cronquist, K., & Fiszbein, A. (2017). English language learning in Latin America. Retrieved from https://www.thedialogue.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/English-LanguageLearning-in-Latin-America-Final.pdf Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Motivation, personality, and development within embedded social contexts: An overview of self-determination theory. In R. M. Ryan (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of human motivation (pp. 85–107). Oxford University Press. Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford University Press. Fullan, M. (2015). The new meaning of educational change. Teachers College Press. Galloway, N., Numajiri, T., & Rees, N. (2020). The ‘internationalisation’, or ‘Englishisation’, of higher education in east Asia. Higher Education, 80, 395–414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734019-00486-1 Gimenez, T. N., & Marson, M. Z. (2022). Teacher education in English medium instruction settings: A partial view from Brazil. Ilha Do Desterro, 75, 155–172. Lasagabaster, D. (2022). English-medium instruction in higher education (Elements in language teaching). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108903493 Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Dearden, J. (2018). A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education. Language Teaching, 51(1), 36–76.

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Malderez, A., & Wedell, M. (2007). Teaching teachers: Processes and practices. Continuum. Martínez, R. (2016). English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in Brazilian higher education: Challenges and opportunities. In K. Finardi (Ed.), English in Brazil: Views, policies and programs (pp. 191–228). Eduel. Pusey, K. (2020). Lessons learned piloting an EMI support course at a southern Brazilian university. BELT-Brazilian English Language Teaching Journal, 11(2), e39470–e39470. https://doi.org/10. 15448/2178-3640.2020.2.39470 Reus, L. (2020). English as a medium of instruction at a Chilean engineering school: Experiences in finance and industrial organization courses. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 67. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2020.100930 Rose, H., Sahan, K., & Zhou, S. (2022). Global English medium instruction: Perspectives at the crossroads of Global Englishes and EMI. Asian Englishes, 24(2), 160–172. https://doi.org/10. 1080/13488678.2022.2056794 Sahan, K. (2021). In conversation with Ernesto Macaro on English medium instruction. RELC Journal, 52(2), 334–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882211005508 Santana, J. C. (2019). Establishing teacher-student rapport in an English medium instruction class. Latin American Journal of Content & Language Integrated Learning, 12(2), 265–291. https:// doi.org/10.5294/laclil.2019.12.2.4 Sibaja, M. E. (2020). Professional development for EMI faculty in Mexico: The case of bilingual, international, and sustainable universities. Routledge. Tejada-Sánchez, I., & Molina-Naar, M. (2020). English medium instruction and the internationalisation of higher education in Latin America: A case study from a Colombian university. Latin American Journal of Content & Language Integrated Learning, 13(2), 339–367. https://doi.org/ 10.5294/laclil.2020.13.2.8 Wei, L. (2018). Translanguaging as a practical theory of language. Applied Linguistics, 39(1), 9–30.

Loreto Aliaga Salas is a Teaching Fellow in TESOL at the School of Education of the University of Leeds (UK). She teaches and supervises students across the undergraduate and MA TESOL and MA TESOL studies programs. Her research interests focus on curriculum change and development in TESOL, language teachers’ professional development, mentoring, and teacher research. She is a co-founder of RICELT, the Chilean network of research in ELT, and is the Web and Digital Manager of IATEFL’s Research SIG. Gonzalo Pérez Andrade is a Senior Lecturer in English Language Teaching and the Course Leader for the M.A. in Teaching Languages (English) and English Language Teaching (Distance Learning) at London Metropolitan University. His research focuses on exploring language ideologies in teacher education programs as well as understanding their impact on English teachers’ beliefs and attitudes. His main areas of interest are teacher education, multilingual education, and English as a Lingua Franca. He has presented his research in a number of conferences and workshops in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

EMI in Central and Eastern Europe Mirosław Pawlak

and Katarzyna Papaja

Abstract The present chapter provides an overview of issues related to English medium instruction (EMI) in Central and Eastern Europe, with the following countries being included in this region: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine (Pawlak & Papaja, 2023). In the first part, contextual issues are addressed, and selected policies and research findings are briefly overviewed. The second part is devoted to the presentation of a study that explored the perceptions of EMI among university students and teachers in Poland.

1 Introduction It has long been recognized that one of the most effective ways in which target language (TL) instruction can be enhanced is through integrating language and content, thus adopting one of the variants of content-based instruction (CBI), with content being understood as topics, themes or specific subject matter rather than components of the target language per se (cf. Lasagabaster, 2021; Macaro, 2018; Romanowski, 2022; Snow, 2017). CBI can come in different shapes and sizes, some of which are often confined to specific educational settings (e.g., the immersion model for language majority school students in Canada). Two most influential, widespread M. Pawlak (B) Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland e-mail: [email protected] University of Applied Sciences, Konin, Poland K. Papaja Institute of Linguistics, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_10

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and distinctive manifestations of this approach include content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English-medium instruction (EMI) (Lasagabaster, 2021; Snow, 2017). While in both CLIL and EMI the TL is not used by the wider community outside the classroom and they may pursue a combination of content- and language-related objectives, with variable focus on the former or the latter (Doiz & Lasagabaster, 2020), there are also differences. The most obvious is that in CLIL content can be taught in different languages and EMI relies on English for this purpose. In addition, CLIL has typically been associated with pre-university settings whereas EMI is often viewed as the application of CLIL in tertiary education. In line with this distinction, given the aims, focus and scope of the present volume as well as the limitations of space in this chapter, EMI is considered here to encompass university-level courses. Following Dearden’s (2015) definition, which is adopted by numerous scholars (e.g., Briggs et al., 2018; Macaro, 2018), it is understood as “the use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language (L1) of the majority of the population is not English”. The chapter focuses on ways in which EMI has been conceptualized, implemented and investigated in Central and Eastern European countries. The first part offers a brief overview of the context in question as well as the selected policies that have been followed in this context and examples of empirical investigations. The second part provides a report of a qualitative study which focused on teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of different aspects of EMI in Poland.

2 Contexts in Focus, Selected Policies, Practices and Research Projects The crucial issue that needs to be clarified at the outset is what countries are included in the region of Central and Eastern Europe for the purpose of this chapter in accordance with the structure of the edited collection. In alphabetical order, these countries were initially meant to include: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine. Even a cursory look at this list is probably bound to make many readers pause in huge surprise. The main reason for this is that such countries as Poland, Hungary or Romania are put in the same bag as, for example, Austria, Belgium or Switzerland, despite evident differences not only in terms of geographical location but also the historical and political development as well as the impact that they exerted on the functioning of educational systems, the position of English in those systems as well as everyday opportunities to learn and use this additional language. In view of such considerations, we were confronted with a truly formidable challenge of striking the right balance between our earnest desire to respect the editor’s expectations, on the one hand, and the contradictions pointed out above, on the other. Luckily, problems of this kind were limited to the literature review which by definition had to be selective and gave us a lot of leeway as

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to what to include and leave out. The task was also alleviated for two other reasons. First, putting such diverse countries in one category presented a unique opportunity to highlight contrasts that could have otherwise gone unnoticed. Second, the sheer number of countries to be covered in this short chapter made it easier for us to foreground contexts that would be most suited to helping us to bring out those contrasts. When trying to provide a picture of EMI in Central and Eastern Europe in the sense in which this region has been defined above, it is warranted to first examine the publicly available statistical data with three important caveats: (1) such data can only reflect general trends and have to be interpreted against the background of the total population as well as number of institutions of higher education (IHE) in a particular country, (2) detailed statistical information about EMI programs is not available in many cases and, besides, the numbers keep changing, which makes comparisons somewhat risky, (3) due to space limitations, it is not possible to discuss such data for all the countries included in this overview and only representative examples can be provided. Starting with countries that are traditionally regarded as part of Western rather than Eastern or Central Europe, in Austria, which has around 9 million inhabitants, there are currently 22 public universities, 21 universities of applied sciences, 17 accredited private universities and 14 colleges of teacher education (Federal Ministry of Republic of Austria). Among these, in the academic year 2019/2020, the Vienna University of Economics and Business alone had 11 EMI programs out of the total of 23, which is almost 50%, whereas in the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria only 9 BA and MA programs out of 69 on offer are EMI programs (13%). Additionally, students also had access to 20 doubledegree programs as well as over 300 courses taught in English, with the share of EMI courses ranging from 9 to 30% (Smit & Komori-Glatz, 2022). To take another example of a country often associated with Western Europe, the Netherlands boasts 14 universities, including three universities of technology and 48 higher vocational IHEs (Government of the Netherlands). In the academic year 2017/2018, out of the total number of programs offered by research universities, about 74% of MA programs and 23% of BA programs were taught entirely in English (Breetvelt, 2018). Shifting the focus to countries that are typically regarded as prototypical for the region of Central and Eastern Europe, Poland had a total of 349 IHEs in the academic year 2020/2021, 130 run by the state and 219 private (Statistics Poland), offering 600 study programs in English (Radon: Reports – Analyses – Data). Hungary has 28 public and 11 private IHEs, with more than 70 programs offered in English (European Education Area), whereas in Estonia there are 15 public and 9 private IHEs offering in excess of 80 EMI programs (European Education Area), with 9% of the total number of students enrolled in programs where English was a principal medium of instruction in the academic year 2015/2016 (Rozenvalde, 2019). On the whole, however, according to the European Commission (2020), the percentage of students from IHEs receiving education in English in Central and Eastern European countries had increased from 9% to 25% in the past three years. Moving on to the consideration of EMI policies, it should first be emphasized that although the approach was introduced by some European countries much earlier

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(i.e., the Netherlands in the 1950s), including some located in Eastern Europe (i.e., Hungary in the 1980) (cf. Coleman, 2006), the implementation of this type of education started to gain momentum with the adoption of the Bologna Declaration, which emphasized the need for “successful learning mobility, cross-border academic cooperation and the mutual recognition of study periods and qualifications earned abroad” (European Commission, 1999). This exponential growth is well illustrated by the fact that the number of university-level programs taught in English increased from 725 in 2001 to 8,089 in 2014 (cf. Wächter & Maiworm, 2014). As so aptly summarized by Macaro (2018), the burgeoning development EMI in higher education in any context is primarily driven by three factors: the financial benefits of attracting lucrative students from other countries, increasing emphasis on internationalization which contributes to the prestige of an institution, and the encouragement of student mobility (cf. Hultgren et al., 2015). Related to the last point, when provided with EMI, students are believed to be better equipped to face the challenges of the globalized world where primarily English is used in most spheres of life (Briggs et al., 2018). All of these drivers of EMI development have also contributed to the expansion of EMI programs in higher education in Central and Eastern Europe, with the caveat that they have been stressed to varying degrees over time in the countries included in this region for the purpose of the present chapter, except perhaps economic incentives which are always relevant irrespective of an educational setting. When it comes to such countries as Austria, Belgium, Germany (especially after the reunification in 1990), the Netherlands or Switzerland, it is reasonable to assume that the focus on academic and student exchanges, the desire to boost the recognition of the institution at home or abroad, or the need to provide graduates with the right tools to better meet the challenges of the labor market have played a key role at all times because of the freedom of travel, availability of information and easier access to jobs. Therefore, participation in English courses and content programs taught in English has always been taken for granted, with the effect that the dominance of English may not be welcomed by everyone and, in line with official European Union policies, the importance of multilingualism is stressed (e.g., Philipson, 2008). By contrast, the attitudes towards English and English teaching have always been positive in what could be referred to as “typical” Central and Eastern European countries, such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, or Romania. This is because, after having been closed behind the Iron Curtain for several decades and thus having been deprived of all the opportunities and freedoms mentioned above, the inhabitants of these countries came to associate those opportunities and freedoms with the use of the English language. In fact, introducing English into schools became a symbol of integration into the European Union and was seen as a gateway to the modern and globalized world. It is thus not surprising that extending the range of individual courses or entire programs offered in English has been a major priority for many IHEs and the percentage of such courses and programs has been on the increase for the last several decades. This trend has surely been facilitated by the fact that, in contrast to secondary education, IHEs typically have considerable autonomy in designing study programs, even if in some cases approval from national accreditation

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bodies is required. A major impetus for the development of EMI programs in this part of Europe has also come from mobility programs such as the Erasmus+ in its present form that became available to students and academic staff with the accession to the EU. Because of its status as a global language, English has been somewhat of a default choice for the delivery of academic content in most cases and thus its good mastery has become one of the major requirements for being qualified for academic exchanges. In effect, the importance attached to this language as a necessary skill has further contributed to the growth of EMI in countries geographically situated in Central and Eastern Europe. It should be emphasized at this point that regardless of the differences between the two blocks of countries distinguished above, the challenges of English-taught programs are similar. They concern, for example, teachers’ qualifications in terms of sufficient command of English and knowledge of specific academic content, students’ English proficiency, legal issues surrounding the implementation of EMI programs, the methodology of EMI classes, and the success of such programs, measured in terms of language gains and content knowledge, in comparison to “regular” instruction (cf. Lasagabaster, 2021; Macaro, 2018). Still, a reasonable argument could be made that some of these problems, especially those concerning sufficient command of English are less acute in countries that, thanks to their location and political situation, had not been largely deprived of access to that language for many decades. Research targeting different facets of EMI has been on the increase around the world and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are no exception (e.g., Dearden & Akincioglu, 2016; Fenton-Smith et al., 2017; Macaro et al., 2018; McKinley & Galloway, 2022) but even here, once again, relevant empirical investigations have been more frequent and broader in scope in countries which are geographically located in Western rather than Central or Eastern Europe. This is well illustrated in the overview of research on EMI conducted by Macaro et al. (2018), according to which out of a total of 52 empirical studies conducted in the context of tertiary education, 8 took place in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands and just one in Ukraine and one in Poland (this was a three-country comparison in fact). There are crucial qualifications which should be made, however: (1) such a situation can be partly reflective of the choice of the databases and journals taken into account and (2) a number of papers have been published since the syntheses appeared and these trends could have been reversed to some extent. Since a detailed overview of such research is not feasible in this chapter, only general comments on its main foci can be made and some examples of specific studies can be provided. On the whole, reflecting dominant trends in research on EMI in higher education in its entirety (cf. Macaro et al., 2018), the bulk of such research has focused on the status of this approach in different contexts as well as teachers’ and students’ attitudes and beliefs rather than specific pedagogical approaches used in the classroom and their effectiveness, aspects of classroom interaction, objectively measured effects of EMI in terms of language and content, or factors mediating these effects. For example, Tatzl (2011) investigated the attitudes, experiences and challenges of Austrian students in

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MA programs with respect to EMI, whereas Dearden and Macaro (2016) compared the beliefs towards EMI in three countries, including Austria and Poland. Goodman (2014) adopted an ethnographic approach to explore the impact of EMI on pedagogical practices in a private university in Ukraine and, in the German context, Stuers (2019) investigated access and experience of EMI in IHEs by examining English language entry requirements and their relevance. In a more recent investigation, Neerut (2021) looked into the attitudes towards and perceptions of EMI manifested by Estonian students at the University of Tartu. Taking into account actual learning outcomes, Tatzl and Messnarz (2013) compared the performance of two groups of students pursuing a degree in aviation at an Austrian University of Applied Sciences, one of which solved physics problems in German and the other in English. Particularly insightful is the intervention-based study undertaken by Richter (2019) who investigated the pronunciation gains of students benefiting from EMI at the University of Applied Sciences in Vienna compared to students receiving standard foreign language instruction. The study reported in the remainder of this chapter focused on the perceptions of EMI by students and teachers in the context of Polish higher education.

3 The Study The study aimed to shed light on the perceptions of EMI held by Polish students and teachers at the university level who are involved in this type of education. The following research questions were formulated: 1. What are the teachers’ and students reasons for choosing EMI programs? (RQ1). 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such programs? (RQ2). 3. What changes can be made to enhance the quality of such programs? (RQ3). The investigation involved 94 students (34 males and 60 females) and 41 teachers (16 males and 25 females) from IHEs in different parts of Poland. The students were enrolled in BA and MA programs in the following areas: architecture (28), modelling and data science (22), nanotechnology (18), industrial biotechnology (12), computer science (7), and electronics and telecommunication electronics (7). The teachers taught the following content courses in English: entrepreneurship (4), applied data science (3), communication management (3), computer engineering (3), accounting (2), basic economics (2), data analytics (2), e-commerce (2), managing project teams (2), physical Chemistry (2), standards for engineers (2), statistics (2), chemistry (2), introduction to problem-based-learning (2), introduction to designing (2), business strategies (1), computer networks engineering (1), fluid mechanics (1), introduction to coaching (1), introduction to urban planning (1), and interdisciplinary graphics (1). The data were collected by means of a questionnaire that included four openended items that were the same for the student and teacher participants, with minor differences in wording reflecting their respective roles. The items were the following:

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(1) Why did you choose to study (work) in an EMI environment?, (2) What are the advantages of studying (working) in this environment?, (3) What are the difficulties? (4) Do you have any recommendations for addressing the difficulties? The questions were worded in English and it was assumed that participants would respond in that language. The two questionnaires were distributed online using Google forms between March and June 2022 with the help of our networks of professional contacts. The students and teachers were informed about the aims of the research project, they were ensured of the anonymity of their responses and they were made aware that their participation was voluntary. The informants were also provided with our email addresses in case of any further inquiries. The collected data were analyzed qualitatively with the help of thematic analysis, which entailed identifying and examining recurring patterns in the participants’ responses. The six-stage procedure suggested by Braun and Clarke (2012) was followed: familiarizing oneself with the data, generating initial codes, determining themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and, finally, writing up a research report. We conducted the analysis together, which allowed prompt and effective resolution of any disagreements and other problem that may have arisen. In order to illustrate the relative importance of the identified themes, in some cases quantitative analysis was applied which involved calculating percentages of specific responses.

4 Results For the sake of clarity, the results are presented below separately for the students and teachers, with the themes identified in the two sets of responses being integrated in the discussion section. Two issues need to be highlighted here: (1) many of the responses were short or indexical, which explains the brevity of some of the excerpts, and (2) the excerpts are provided in their original version without an attempt to correct errors or fix stylistic problems.

4.1 Students’ Responses When asked about their reasons for working in EMI environments, the students offered three main types of justifications. They most frequently mentioned the language gains accruing from studying content subjects in English because being forced to use that language in class would help them improve their general language skills and enhance their communicative ability (44 respondents or 47%). The following responses illustrate some of those motives: Because it’s easier to learn English in this way. Because it can improve my language skills.

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I wanted to get more familiar with the language and learn it better. To become a better English speaker. I chose to study in an EMI environment because I have never had problems with communicating in other language than my mother tongue. I like to speak in English with other students’ since it makes me more professional.

The other two recurring themes concerned future opportunities and the possibility of approaching the academic content from different perspectives. In relation to the former, the students explained that gaining subject-specific knowledge in English would broaden their horizons and allow them to find better employment opportunities in Poland and abroad. When it comes to the latter, the respondents were convinced that the familiarity with content-specific language would facilitate access to additional resources and materials, which, in turn, might help them better understand the concepts covered. These issues are evident in the following excerpts: I wanted to have more job opportunities outside of Poland. Because of the opportunities to go abroad and use my language skills in a future job. I wanted to live in a community where I can interact with other people in English language freely and openly. The English language is in some cases clearer than Polish, and so it can be easier to understand the material

When it comes to the second query, which pertained to the advantages of studying in an EMI environment, the vast majority of the responses (61 students or 65%) were also related to issues concerning the mastery of English and its actual use. Specifically, the students mentioned opportunities for the development of language skills, in particular speaking skills, which allowed them to gain more self-confidence in using the TL in various situations, thus enabling them to overcome foreign language anxiety. Some respondents also highlighted the value of getting to know contentspecific vocabulary in English, which can be learned more easily in EMI classes, mainly because it is incorporated into communicative activities (e.g., debates) and can be recycled thanks to the authentic materials used (e.g., scientific articles). The following excerpts illustrate the advantages reflecting language-related issues: It helps a lot to improve language skills. Practicing my English skills, developing and improving them in an effective way. Developing self-confidence and mastering language and communication skills. It helps me overcome my fear of speaking. It stimulates me to express my thoughts and ideas in English rather than in my native language. It also helps me to understand spoken English and overcome the language barrier.

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Participants also mentioned other advantages of being enrolled in EMI programs that went beyond the mastery of English. These were grouped into four categories: (1) the opportunity to acquire more content-related knowledge because of access to a broader spectrum of materials and resources, (2) increased chances of participating in webinars, courses, or exchange programs offered by other universities; the students were aware of the fact that they would not have access to such activities without the knowledge of content-specific language, (3) cooperation with other students from other universities, which could entail completing joint projects or exchanging ideas and information, and (4) opportunities for taking part in mobility programs and apprenticeships abroad, which could pave the way for their future careers. Examples of responses representing the four themes follow: Getting to know professional language in English, practicing language skills regularly. It is satisfying to study in this environment. A possibility to take part in exchange programs such as Erasmus+. A possibility to continue studies abroad. I can meet many people from other countries at my university, for example Erasmus students, because they often choose language studies. Getting to cooperate with students from different countries A possibility to participate in an apprenticeship abroad.

Moving on to the challenges of studying in an EMI environment, the participants most frequently mentioned the lack of content-specific vocabulary, which was the source of many difficulties (39 students or 42%). Related to this issue, numerous responses also touched upon the time constrains, which precluded them from learning such specialized vocabulary and negatively affected their ability to grasp new concepts that were introduced in English. Another theme that emerged from the analysis pertained to the teaching methods employed by teachers. In particular, the students were dissatisfied with the fact that some of the instructors paid scant attention to the development of language skills, placing a premium on memorizing vocabulary lists rather than implementing communicative activities. Other difficulties that were mentioned in this category were related to the lecture-style adopted by some teachers, which made it hard to assimilate new information, as well as their reliance on their mother tongue (i.e., Polish), which may have at times facilitated the learning process but was often excessive and spoke to inadequate English skills. The remaining two themes concerned the difficulty in accessing content-specific books, which were either unavailable in libraries or too expensive to buy, and huge disparities in the level of English proficiency in student groups, which had a detrimental effect on the pace of teaching and learning, with some students finding the material far too easy and others struggling to keep up with the tasks performed. The following excerpts illustrate these different categories: Sometimes it is hard to understand some complicated topics.

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Sometimes lack of words is stressing. Describing the words, which appear only in my L1, might be challenging. Some terms or words may be difficult to understand and then some additional L1 explanations help. What is more, sometimes it is more time consuming to learn something in English, because apart from the knowledge and information to gain we have to learn the terms in English teachers do not provide us with a suitable number of communicative activities, instead, they give lectures. Some of the teachers have problems with speaking English. Sometimes English books can be harder to get in libraries. Not every student is fluent enough in English to understand everything the teacher says. Different levels of language proficiency among students. Sometimes teachers think that if one student understands a word or a phrase, all students understand it, which is not always the case

The students also offered concrete recommendations that could be taken on board in order to deal with some of the difficulties mentioned above, although it should be noted that the majority of respondents left bank spaces. One important theme was the need to introduce more activities that would allow practicing content-specific vocabulary in context since this would facilitate the employment of such vocabulary in different situations. Another pertained to the introduction of a greater number of more varied language-oriented activities that would aid the development of specific skills such as speaking. The students also suggested that the teacher-centered approach based on lectures and explanations should be replaced with a learner-oriented one drawing open communicative activities, project work, pair- and group work. Some of them also expressed the opinion that the language proficiency of teachers in EMI courses should be carefully verified and the same criterion should apply to students, with admission into such programs being preceded with oral and written examinations in English. Finally, there were voices that teachers should be more careful when assigning materials to be covered in class, making sure that they are available in libraries or that the university is willing to cover the costs of access to such resources. Examples of responses representing these themes are given below: Practice, practice and practice. Moreover, I think that speaking exercises are the best when learning new vocabulary. Increase the number of classes organized before the semester starts that would provide us (students) with key vocabulary necessary to understand the subject. Listening to podcasts connected to the course. Watching documentaries. Vocabulary and grammar exercises. Using various techniques may help. We can learn through pictures, films, movement pair or group work activities; explaining things and making sure that everyone knows what and how to do it.

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4.2 Teachers’ Responses The analysis of the teachers’ responses to the question concerning the reasons for choosing to work in an EMI environment allowed identification of several distinct categories. The most important of these proved to be their passion for the English language (10 respondents or 25%) and increased opportunities to develop their English language skills (7 respondents or 17%). The teachers also pointed to such motivators as contact with students from various nationalities who were enrolled in EMI courses alongside Polish students, cooperation with researchers from other universities, especially those from other countries, participation in international projects or grants, but also down-to-earth economic or practical considerations such as higher salary or a reduced teaching load. These themes are exemplified in the following excerpts: It’s been always my dream to work in English but I think I was never brave enough. Teaching in English gives me a lot of pleasure. When preparing for the classes I always learn some new vocabulary so I thought it would be very motivating for me to improve my language skills. I did it because I wanted to work on my English more and I thought it would be a great opportunity. I wanted to have contact with students from other countries. Nearly all my students are Erasmus students. My students come from different countries and I like learning about their culture and tradition I think the possibility to work with others abroad. I knew that working in the English language would give me a lot of opportunities to meet other people from different universities. The most important reason was cooperation with other colleagues working abroad. I knew that we could work on some projects together and also involve our students. Salary. I agreed because I could work the same number of hours and earn more money.

What is interesting but also disconcerting, quite a few participants (8 or 19%) had not chosen to work in an EMI environment of their own accord but were forced to do so to keep their jobs. As a result, they were not happy with the job and some of them even felt constantly stressed because of the huge amount of preparation or the realization that their English was inadequate. One of them commented: “I didn’t want to teach physical chemistry in English because I was not prepared but I had no choice. I knew that I might lose the job so I agreed”. Another offered the following explanation: “My Dean called me to the office and told me I was the only one who could do it. I wasn’t sure and I’m still very stressed about teaching in English especially my 5th year students who often work in English and know the language much better”. When asked about the benefits of working in EMI programs, the teachers most frequently mentioned professional development (14 respondents or 35%) because working in English in their specific fields allowed them to cooperate with researchers from other universities, work on joint projects and publish papers in top-tier academic

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journals. Some of them also brought up the issue of incorporating the latest research findings into their own teaching and empirical studies because most relevant articles are written in English. Another theme that emerged from the analysis was job satisfaction that came from teaching academic content in English. Related to this, some of the participants pointed out that that students in EMI programs tend to be more engaged, cooperative, open-minded, and diligent than “regular” students. Finally, financial issues were also frequently mentioned, with some respondents stating that thanks to working in EMI environments they can make three times as much as “regular” teachers. The excerpts below illustrate such issues: Working in English and constantly developing language skills. Since I develop my language skills I also develop my professional skills by taking part in some trainings, which are in English. Working on international projects with colleagues from other universities. The knowledge of English gives me a possibility to have access to the newest findings in my field, which I can incorporate into my classes but also into my own research. Working in English gives me a lot of satisfaction because I can see that my students apart from gaining specific knowledge also develop language skills. Engagement of my students is the greatest benefit of this approach. I can see that students who learn in English are more engaged and motivated than students who learn in Polish; students’ motivation and hard work. I have a feeling that they need to put more effort into studying but it develops their critical thinking skills. Definitely financial benefits.

The teachers also identified some difficulties of working in EMI programs which were grouped into several clear-cut themes. According to almost all of the respondents, the most acute problem was lack of specific EMI training and language teaching skills which would allow them to more effectively focus on both content and language. Another source of difficulty turned out to be insufficient English proficiency, which somewhat naturally gave rise to speaking anxiety when complex concepts had to be explained in English. Similarly to the students, the teachers expressed concerns about access to free and student-friendly resources. When elaborating on this issue, they stated that most of the available materials were authentic and therefore too difficult to use by most students. They further commented that the books they would like students to use are too expensive and thus they have no choice but to spend time preparing their own materials, which is extremely time-consuming. The final theme was insufficient English proficiency of many students, which made attending EMI classes challenging for such students but also considerable disparities in the level of English, ranging from B1 to C2, which made it difficult to come up with materials that would be suitable for everyone but also to explain content in a manner that would be approachable to most students. Issues of this kind are exemplified by the following responses: I’m not prepared how to teach in English and I think that lack of knowledge concerning EMI methodology is the greatest challenge.

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I have no idea how to teach language so what I do I just give lectures in English but I wish I had more knowledge about teaching language. My limited knowledge of English is the greatest difficulty. I know a lot of specific vocabulary but I have problems with communication. My English is not good enough and I’m always afraid that students will ask me questions that I can’t answer. Most of the books that are available for students are written in a complicated language so I need to spend a lot of time to prepare each lecture in a more student-friendly language. Students complain that books in English are too expensive so I do all my best to prepare materials for them but I think it’s not enough; students say that the acadEMIc articles are too difficult for them and I’m afraid there are no proper course books written for my subjects. There are students whose level of English is not very high and I have a feeling they don’t understand much.

In response to the last query, the participants suggested several solutions to such problems. All of them agreed that university teachers who work in EMI environments should be provided with proper EMI teacher training that would specifically focus on foreign language pedagogy and allow them to better integrate teaching content and language. They openly admitted that although they had expertise in teaching academic subjects, they had little idea about how to teach language. Therefore, their classes were too teacher-centered and did not focus on how to actually use content in communication. Another proposed solution concerned creating academic communities within the university, such as special interest groups, which could regularly meet face to face, but also the Internet to share ideas. In their view, such communities would help address two crucial issues: (1) inadequate TL proficiency because teachers could work together to come up with effective pedagogical practices but also hold discussions with native speakers or specialists in particular academic fields, and (2) availability of teaching resources since teachers could exchange materials, make decisions about which books to purchase or perhaps even devise new resources. Finally, the teachers who expressed concerns about students’ level of English suggested that written and oral language tests should be administered at the beginning of the first year so that students could be assigned to groups based on proficiency. The following excerpts illustrate these themes: EMI teacher-trainings should be provided for each teacher who wants to teach subjects in English. Definitely teacher trainings from teachers focusing on EM pedagogy. Creating support groups on the Internet. Support groups formed at the universities and between universities. Forming SIG groups for University EMI teachers and also providing them with EMI training. Students being given written and oral tests before entering EMI education.

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5 Discussion In this section an attempt is made to address the three research questions against the backdrop of the thematic analysis of students’ and teachers’ responses. RQ1 concerned participants’ reasons for choosing to study or work in EMI programs. Interestingly, for both groups, it was language-related and career-related issues that constituted the main drivers pushing them to take advantage of such programs. The respondents stressed the ability to enhance their mastery of English and, while the students focused on better employment opportunities and useful content knowledge, the teachers mentioned greater chances of being involved in international projects and cooperating with colleagues from other universities. Such results are not really surprising since English has assumed the status of an indispensable skill in most walks of like and EMI students are aware of this whereas their teachers are fully cognizant that being able to deliver the content in which they are experts in English might advance their careers in multiple ways. There were also motivators that were distinct to lecturers, some of which testified to their overall openness (e.g., meeting students of different nationalities) and others spoke to the necessity of dealing with the exigencies of everyday life (i.e., financial considerations). One major cause for concern is that quite a few teachers were left with no option but to teach EMI courses, which had a detrimental effect on their well-being (Mercer & Gregersen, 2020) and must have also negatively affected the quality of instruction. Moving on to RQ2, many advantages of EMI programs mirrored the reasons for choosing such programs in the first place. The students mentioned the development of language skills and greater ease in the use of English as well as firmer grasp of the content taught, complemented with enhanced opportunities to take part in international exchanges, mobility programs or projects that require collaboration with students from abroad. The teachers most often pointed to professional development (e.g., participation in projects and exchanges, cooperation with colleagues from other countries) but it was once again the mastery of English that was seen to enable it. In their view, the other advantages included job satisfaction, which was at least in part related to the ability to work with more ambitious, diligent and motivated students, as well as purely pragmatic, financial reasons. On the whole, it is interesting to note that in weighing the advantages of EMI environments, many teachers when beyond tangible gains and focused on things that made their jobs more enjoyable and rewarding. With respect to the challenges of EMI programs, the responses in both groups overlapped to a large extent and concerned students’ and teachers’ inadequate English proficiency, teachers’ inadequate preparation to deliver content in a foreign language, and the difficulties involved in accessing appropriate materials and resources. While these are without doubt serious issues jeopardizing learning outcomes, the fact that students and teachers concurred in viewing them as problematic might provide an important impulse for introducing change. RQ3 pertained to recommendations concerning things that could be done to alleviate some of the difficulties mentioned above. The students focused in particular on improving instructional practices so that they would have copious opportunities to

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use content-specific lexis in activities enabling the development of language skills. They also mentioned the need to verify the level of English proficiency of teachers and students as well as to choose resources to which they can gain free access. Being aware of their own limitations, the teachers stressed the need for EMI training which would allow them to more effectively integrate content and language, and devising ways of stimulating cooperation with other EMI teachers with the aim of resolving language-related issues, exchanging ideas and resources. Some of them also recommended that students’ level of English should be determined not so much with an eye to denying them access to EMI programs but, rather, to ensuring that groups with similar proficiency levels are formed. Once again, the similarity between the recommendations of students and teachers is striking. Given that the respondents represented different IHEs in Poland, such a situation might well indicate that the problems of EMI environments are to a large extent universal in the Polish context, which points to an urgent need to take concrete steps to ameliorate them.

6 Implications The study provides a basis for some implications concerning the way in which EMI programs are organized and implemented. These are as follows: (1) organizing teacher training courses focusing on the specificity of EMI, (2) ensuring that teachers have requisite language skills to teach in such courses, (3) conducting observations of EMI classes to pinpoint potential problems and suggest ways in which teaching methodology can be improved, (4) encouraging cooperation between EMI teachers within the university but also with colleagues from other IHEs, (5) whenever feasible, allowing teachers to decide whether or not they wish to work in EMI environments, (6) ensuring free access to appropriate materials and resources or developing such materials by dedicated EMI teacher groups, (7) determining the English proficiency of EMI students and, whenever possible, assigning them to groups on this basis. Although these recommendation are mainly intended for EMI programs in Poland, based on the results of pervious research (cf. Macaro et al., 2018), there are grounds to assume that many of them would also enhance the quality of EMI in other countries. This said, it should be emphasized that although ideas might come from the classroom level, it is university authorities that in most cases are responsible for ultimate decisions.

7 Suggestions for Further Research Given the paucity of research on EMI in Central and Eastern Europe, irrespective of how the region may be conceptualized, there is a clear need for more empirical investigations. For one thing, the field would benefit from national and comparative studies that would provide detailed information on the number, character and scope

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of such programs since requisite data are hard to come by and their interpretation within specific educational contexts would be invaluable. It would also make sense to investigate students’ and teachers’ perceptions of EMI along the lines of the study reported above, as this would allow a more comprehensive picture of the strengths and weaknesses of such programs as well as modifications that might benefit them. There is also a need for investigations that would determine the effectiveness of EMI with respect to both language gains and content knowledge using objective measures, also taking into account the contribution of mediating factors such as individual differences (e.g., motivation, self-efficacy or strategy use). Even more important is uncovering what is happening in the “black box” by exploring the actual teaching practices in EMI classrooms but also by conducting intervention-based studies that would gauge the effects of improvements made to such practices.

8 Conclusion The present chapter has focused on EMI in Central and Eastern Europe by, first, considering contextual issues, selected policies and research findings, and second, reporting on a qualitative, study which tapped into the perceptions of EMI environments by students and teachers in Polish universities. The empirical investigation provided a number of interesting insights into the reasons for choosing EMI environments, the benefit and drawbacks of such programs as well as the ways in which they could be improved upon. Although the study is not free from limitations, related in particular to the inclusion of a single national context and the general nature of the questionnaire items, it is our hope that its results will offer a much-needed impulse for further research into EMI and initiate discussions on how EMI programs can be made more effective.

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Snow, M. A. (2017). Content-based language teaching and academic development. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), The handbook of research on second language teaching and learning (Vol. III, pp. 159– 172). Routledge. Statistics Poland. https://stat.gov.pl/files/gfx/portalinformacyjny/pl/defaultaktualnosci/5488/8/7/1/ szkolnictwo_wyzsze_w_roku_akademickim_2020-2021.pdf Stuers, S. (2019). Access to and experience of English-medium instruction in higher education in Germany: A study into English language entry requirements and their relevance. Unpublished EdD thesis, The Open University. Tatzl, D. (2011). English-medium masters’ programs at an Austrian university of applied sciences: Attitudes, experiences and challenges. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 10, 252–270. Tatzl, D., & Messnarz, B. (2013). Testing foreign language impact on engineering students’ scientific problem-solving performance. European Journal of Engineering Education, 38, 620–630. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2012.719001 Wächter, B., & Maiworm, F. (Eds.). (2014). English-taught programs in European higher education, the state of play in 2014. Lemmens.

Mirosław Pawlak is Professor at the Department of English Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland, and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Applied Sciences, Konin, Poland. His main interests are SLA theory and research, form-focused instruction, corrective feedback, classroom discourse, learner autonomy, learning strategies, motivation, willingness to communicate, emotions, study abroad and pronunciation. Mirek is Editor-in-Chief of the journals Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching and Konin Language Studies, as well as the book series Second Language Learning and Teaching (Springer). Katarzyna Papaja received her PhD in Applied Linguistics and works as Assistant Professor at the Institute of Linguistics, University of Silesia (Poland). She specialises in EFL methodology and bilingual education, on which she has published widely, and she was a part of the team, which published the Profile Report—Bilingual Education (English) in Poland. She was also awarded scholarships and, as a result, was able to gain teaching experience in countries such as Great Britain, the USA, Germany and Switzerland. She is the founder of the international CLIL and CLILiG symposium, which she organises every year.

EMI in East Asia Aiko Sano, Yongyan Zheng, and Carol Griffiths

Abstract East Asia covers a very large area, and includes a large and diverse population (Sano et al., 2023). This chapter reviews the EMI situation in this context and presents an original study conducted in Japan, which is then examined for its implications for the wider region. Findings from this study suggest that students choose EMI courses to improve their English and employability, while the most frequent response from teachers to the same question was that they did not “choose” it—it was required by their institution. A variety of difficulties are noted, and a number of recommendations for dealing with difficulties suggested.

1 Introduction For the purposes of the current text, east Asia is taken to include China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Korea, Mongolia, eastern Russia and Japan. Compared with some other regions the number of separate countries is not large, but they cover a huge area, and include a very high percentage of the world’s population. Although English as a medium of instruction emerged in the European context driven by a long tradition of multilingualism, it has been expanding fast in non-Anglophone Asian countries/regions during the past decades. In Asian contexts, EMI is both a reaction to and an outcome of Asian governments’ endeavors to craft “international education” (Galloway et al., 2020). Given, however, that the countries in this region A. Sano (B) Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan e-mail: [email protected] Y. Zheng College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Fudan University, Shanghai, China e-mail: [email protected] C. Griffiths Girne American University, Kyrenia, Cyprus e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_11

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are very linguistically, culturally and ethnically distinct, we have a look at each of them in turn before presenting a study conducted in Japan and examining it for its implications to the wider area.

2 Previous Studies in East Asia 2.1 EMI in China Compared to Europe where English as a medium of instruction has had a longer history (Coleman, 2006), EMI growth in China is much more recent (Rose et al., 2020), despite the long existence of EMI in Hong Kong due to historical and economic reasons. A similar mushrooming development of EMI programs has also been observed in Taiwan (Lin, 2020; Yang, 2015). The development of China’s EMI policies is accompanied by the country’s internationalization processes in past decades. Empirical research has been booming on EMI-related issues in the Chinese context, and the latest developments can be found in two recently published special issues (De Costa et al., 2021; McKinley et al., 2022). This section aims to provide a brief review of the EMI research conducted in greater China.

2.1.1

EMI Language Policies in China

The fast development of English as a medium of instruction in China is also associated with the expansion of higher education in the country, particularly the quest for world university rankings (De Costa et al., 2022). In recognition of EMI as a language policy, a group of studies have looked into how national policies trickle down to institutional management. National EMI policies tend to envision a dual goal of mastery of subject knowledge and improvement of English proficiency at the same time (Galloway & Ruegg, 2020; Hu, 2008; Macaro et al., 2018). For example, Hu and Lei (2014) conducted a critical analysis of national and institutional policy documents and interviews with key stakeholders of the EMI program. Their findings revealed misalignment between policy intentions that emphasized the role of English competence, and actual practices that featured lack of English competence by both teachers and students. A later qualitative study (Zhang, 2018) demonstrated both inward- and outward-orientations of internationalization in EMI documents, that is, to attract international students to study in Chinese universities and to help Chinese students’ study abroad simultaneously. This study also revealed that teachers’ and students’ English proficiency emerged as a main obstacle to successful EMI implementation in China. Similarly, Rose et al.’s (2020) large-scale survey confirmed that the booming development of EMI programs is a direct response to top-down policies to increase international student enrolment and to develop local students into an English-proficient labor force. Most recently, Yuan and Li (2021) noted that

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macro-level language ideologies are in line with national development of politics, economy and culture. In particular, the tuition and scholarship policies are successful in attracting international students to EMI programs, but classroom implementation is still problematic.

2.1.2

EMI Implementation at the Institutional Level in China

Research centering on the institutional implementation of English medium policies has generally pointed to the lack of support for students and teachers. Galloway and Ruegg (2020) found that, although many Chinese universities indeed provided EAP (English for academic purposes) support, both students and faculty members criticized the relevance of this support, were dissatisfied with its limited availability, and complained about the lack of collaboration between EAP teachers and content instructors. They also found that in addition to knowledge of the subject, teaching skills through English as an additional language was also essential for EMI instructors, but they could hardly access resources of pedagogical training. These findings also echo what was found by Macaro and Han’s (2020) investigation of teachers’ perspectives on competencies, certification and professional development of EMI. Chen and Peng (2019) demonstrated the improvement of EMI teachers’ self-efficacy and beliefs about teaching approaches and practices after a five-day intensive training session and called for more systematic institutional support for EMI teachers’ professional development. The type and quality of institutional support for EMI teaching, however, vary across different university types (Rose et al., 2020), thus creating additional difficulties for the ground-level implementation of EMI policies.

2.1.3

EMI Classroom Interactions in China

More nuanced perspectives on English medium implementation have been offered by classroom-based studies. Jiang et al. (2019) reported a classroom-based investigation with a focus on EMI teachers’ perceptions and practices as well as students’ motivation and needs in English learning. They showed that EMI teachers utilized pragmatic strategies to sustain effective EMI delivery, but generally they were depicted as deficit users in the EMI instructional setting. The students did not achieve the goal of improving their English proficiency through EMI learning. Hu and Duan (2019) also focused on the actual classroom interactions and showed that the questioning and responding observed in EMI classrooms are of lower-order teacher questioning and students’ responses; higher-order teacher questioning was extremely rare. Based on the findings, they doubted if EMI instruction could really achieve the dual goal of content learning and language improvement simultaneously if EMI instructors were not provided with sufficient training to form higher-order questions. Similar situations were observed in Taiwanese universities, where bilingual teaching of a mixture of Chinese and English instruction was found to feature the implementation of EMI (Lin, 2020).

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Students’ Perspectives on EMI in China

Some studies have looked at the students’ motivation, attitudes, and perceived impact of English medium learning. For example, Kong and Wei’s (2019) largescale survey revealed slightly positive attitudes to EMI, mainly because students perceived improvements in their English proficiency and academic subject content knowledge, as well as perceived competitive edge in future career development. This point is consistent with Jiang et al.’s (2019) finding that most Chinese students choose EMI learning to improve their English abilities to acquire academic information and content knowledge. Rose et al. (2020) found that Chinese students are less confident about learning content effectively mainly due to numerous languagerelated challenges. Du and Jackson (2018) documented stronger motivation when their participants moved from Chinese mainland’s EFL context to Hong Kong’s EMI setting, as they could develop more elaborated English-using self-images in the Hong Kong EMI context. Most recently, Ivanic and Wang’s (2022) study on Chinese students’ motivation to enroll in EMI programs showed that better future career prospects, a clearer professional bilingual outlook to the globalized world, as well as potential gains in both content knowledge and language knowledge are the most prominent motivators. In general, the often-reported benefits of enrolling in EMI programs include more cosmopolitan and open attitude toward the international community (Jablonkai & Hou, 2021).

2.1.5

Emergent Lines of Research on EMI in China

An emergent line of research on English as a medium of instruction in China has focused on a critical reappraisal of current practices. For example, Hu et al.’s (2014) critical examination of the policy documents and interview data with key stakeholders of a focal EMI program revealed the discrepancy between policy rhetoric and implementational realities, which perpetuated and accentuated unequal access to English resources and to potential benefits brought by English proficiency. Nonnative English speaking students enrolled in EMI programs are positioned as vulnerable English learners compared to English native-speakers, thus implying an asymmetrical power relationship between the two groups on EMI campuses (Ou & Gu, 2021a). Similarly, Song (2021) critically discussed the “uneven consequences” when students with different linguistic and cultural capital entered the EMI classroom. The EMI curriculum constructed an implicit hierarchy that prioritizes epistemologies of the Global North, and thus sustained the hegemonic dominance of Anglophone knowledge. These points are taken up by de Costa et al. (2021) in their call for future EMI research to “solidify its commitment to social justice by ensuring that diversity, inclusion, equity and access are preserved and enhanced on university campuses” (p. 232). Another emergent focus of EMI research is the acknowledgement of the linguistic and cultural diversity inherent in the EMI setting and the defiance of an Englishonly monolingual approach (Slaughter & Cross, 2021). If EMI policies are to be

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more broadly implemented in Chinese higher education institutions, they need to be recontextualized in a multilingual framework and should encourage bilingualism/multilingualism (Fang, 2018). A series of studies have answered the call by administering the translanguaging pedagogical approach in Hong Kong’s secondary classrooms (2021), showing that translanguaging creates a safe place for teacherstudent co-learning, promotes equity in knowledge construction, and allows the teacher and students to creatively perform a range of activities and experiment with diverse voices. Gu and colleagues (Gu et al., 2022; Ou & Gu, 2021b) have focused on transnational or international universities in mainland China and demonstrated how EMI instructors co-ordinate diverse linguistic and semiotic resources to align with the affordances of the EMI context. These studies have accentuated the role of language beyond a set of linguistic codes, but also as an important means for knowledge construction. Thus, EMI becomes not simply language-in-education planning but also entails significant trans-epistemic and transcultural processes (Song & Lin, 2020).

2.2 EMI in Korea The situation with English as a medium of instruction in China is in many ways similar to the EMI situation in Korea. According to Byun et al. (2011, p. 431) there is a major discrepancy between EMI policy and the reality in Korea, since there has been “compulsory enforcement of EMI without regard to students’/instructors’ language proficiency. A similar point is made in a systematic review of EMI in South Korea, where Williams (2015, p. 1) concludes: the review indicates that current EMI implementation produces more challenges than opportunities to both parties and that this may be a by-product of a rapid implementation of the policy and a lack of adequate support for students’ and instructors’ linguistic academic needs.

Kim (2017), who points out that EMI was first offered in Korea towards the end of last century, and its use has increased “dramatically” (p. 53) since then, largely agrees with Williams (2015). Benefits are claimed to be that students can learn English at the same time as acquiring subject knowledge, thereby equipping themselves for careers in diverse environments, while governments see EMI as a way to improve university rankings and to attract international students. Criticisms of the way EMI has been implemented in Korea include the fact that language abilities of both students and teachers have not been considered or supported, and it leads to reduced subject knowledge. This has led to considerable stress, even suicides. To deal with this unsatisfactory situation, Kim (2017) suggests that participation in EMI should be voluntary and well supported. A study by Jon et al. (2020, p. 297) into the effect of EMI on teachers discovered that “their perception of EMI was largely negative and EMI even made some professors question their professional identities”. According to Jon (2020), teachers

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coped by “decoupling”, that is separating their teaching practice from institutional policy. As for students, from a study of 1,333 university students in South Korea, Ahn (2022) concluded that the reality is that students cope by means of parallel use of both English and Korean. The studies described above, relate to the situation in South Korea. As Adams (2017, p. 221) comments: “When examining Korean Englishes it can be easy to ignore the question of English in North Korea simply because the country is notoriously reclusive and virtually inaccessible to outsiders”. ˙In fact, English is a compulsory subject in North Korea, and there was a British Council teacher training program operating there for some years. Teacher trainers on this program would go into classes of teacher trainees in several of the top universities in Pyongyang with the aim of informing them about contemporary English teaching methods. Given the restrictive practices operating there, however, it was impossible to know to what extent what was taught in these classes ever made it into the North Korean classroom, but according to what we can learn from refugees and informal sources, we have to conclude that EMI as we would define it is currently virtually non-existent in North Korea.

2.3 EMI in Mongolia and Eastern Russia According to Yenbuu (2010, p. 681), Mongolia is the “second-largest landlocked and least densely populated country in the world”. Situated to the north of China and south of Russia, perhaps because of its isolation and small population, Mongolia does not often feature prominently in international discussions. It appears, however, to be aware of the potential for English as a medium of instruction to promote its goals, which, according to Gundsambuu (2019, p. 72) include: 1) 2) 3) 4)

increasing the employability of domestic graduates, promotion of international collaboration, generating more income, increasing domestic and international profile.

These goals would appear to accord with those expressed in most other places where EMI is practised. As for eastern Russia, which is considered Asia, the authors of this article have been unable to find anything published specifically on the east. Given, however, that Russian influence extends all the way to Vladivostok, there is probably little reason to doubt that policies originating in Moscow extend all the way to the Pacific. Although the potential advantages of implementing EMI are well-recognized, from a study among 30 faculty members at a Russian university, Murtazina et al. (2019, p. 1113) conclude that: despite the pressing need for courses with English instruction in the curriculum, very few universities provide them…. The reason is quite obvious—low English proficiency of professors and students on the one hand, and poorly-documented methodological framework for using EMI in the classroom, on the other.

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More precisely located for the purposes of this chapter on the Pacific rim, Maximova and Toporova (2021, p. 515) conclude that although “The overall strive for internationalization of higher education makes EMI a highly valuable tool and even commodity…in Russia the process of establishing such a system is still under development”.

2.4 EMI in Japan Macaro (2015, p. 7) pointed out that the rapid growth of English as a medium of instruction across the globe is like an “unstoppable train”, and Japan is no exception to this trend. The increase in the number of EMI courses in Japan is in part due to the initiatives for the globalisation of higher education set forward by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). The emphasis on increasing the number of international students became especially apparent in Asian Gateway Initiative in 2007, which was a turning point in the government policy toward internationalisation (Yonezawa, 2014). In 2008, the Education Rebuilding Council’s final report came out, arguing for 30% of the classes to be EMI. A few months later, “the 300,000 International Students Plan” was launched, with a specific goal of recruiting more international students, and the “Global 30” plan, in which the selected 30 universities would receive intensive support from MEXT to provide more EMI courses (see Hashimoto, 2018 for a more detailed description). The perceived urgent need to recruit more international students coincides with the time when two negative evaluations of Japan’s education came from external sources: the 2003 PISA results and the World University Rankings. The so-called “PISA shock” refers to the sudden drop in ranking of OECD program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results in 2003, in which Japan ranked 14th place out of 41 countries, as opposed to 8th place three years earlier. The results in mathematics likewise dropped from 1st place in 2000 to 6th place in 2003, and the public severely criticised MEXT for its incapability to provide better education to the young people of Japan. Another source of embarrassment came from the Times Higher Education rankings that started in 2004, with only four Japanese universities coming into the top 100 in the world. Mulvey (2018, p. 35) points out that: “[A] reoccurring theme in Japanese education has been how government defensiveness over international reputation and/or embarrassment over perceived poor showings on diagnostic tests becomes impetus for attempts at sweeping change”. Because the calculation of the World University Rankings involves “international outlook” as one of the five criteria, and because it is in that area the Japanese universities lag far behind their counterparts in English-speaking countries, MEXT sought to boost the rankings of Japanese universities by increasing the number of incoming international students as well as international faculty members, and so the number of EMI courses needed to be increased. However, there was another driving force for the education reformation from the business community in Japan. The business arena of Japan shares a “sense of crisis that Japan’s competitiveness is weakening in

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Asia and the world” (Hashimoto, 2018, p. 15), related to the rapidly declining birth rates and the aging population. Such a sense of crisis was heightened in 2010 when China’s actual GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate recorded 10.3%, and as a result, Japan lost its position as the world’s second-largest economy. Keidanren (the Japan Business Foundation) called for an urgent reformation in education, with a special focus on fostering Guro-baru Jinzai (global human resources). In 2012, “Go Global Japan” policy was announced by Guro-baru Jinzai Ikusei Suishin Kaigi (The Meeting for Promotion of Fostering Global Human Resources), and five out of the nine members of this meeting were business persons while the rest were educational professionals. Many have pointed out that the definition of Guro-baru Jinzai was loosely constructed, with definitions varying from report to report, and very often it is used synonymously with people with a strong command of English (Hashimoto, 2018). Hasegawa (2013) reports an interesting result of a survey conducted with 514 companies in Japan: when asked what they wanted from the universities to foster global human resources, 271 companies agreed with the answer “to design a curriculum with EMI courses”, which makes this the most popular answer. The objectives of EMI courses further get skewed by the universities’ institutional needs to attract domestic students to their programs. Implementing EMI courses has become a powerful means to project a “globalised” image of the university to attract more domestic applicants, together with a more diversified community offering more opportunities for inter-cultural exchanges. Bradford and Brown (2018, p. 11) point out that “EMI is an asset for boosting Japan in the world scene, and a useful tool for institutions vying to recruit local students”. Thus, the purposes of implementation of EMI courses shifted from recruiting more international students to developing English proficiencies of domestic students. In other words, the concept of EMI has been widened to include more language focus in teaching as in CBI (Content Based Instruction) and CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Instruction).

2.4.1

Challenges of EMI Courses in Japan

Having two differing objectives, one to recruit more international students and the other to help domestic students improve their English proficiencies causes various problems in the implementation of English medium courses in Japan. One of the most urgent problems is the lack of instructors capable of implementing EMI, which is referred to as “the Achilles heel of policy implementation” (Chin Leong, 2017, p. 64). Anecdotal comments reported in Heigham (2018) illustrate the frustration experienced by the international students of instructors who were not proficient enough to deliver academic content in English. Very often instructors are given a top-down task of teaching academic courses in English, but with limited proficiency in English, many of the instructors find it difficult to communicate the content clearly, and elaborate on it, or improvise to meet the needs and expectations of the students during the class (Wilkinson, 2013). The lack of English proficiency on the instructors’ side often leads to oversimplification of the content, leading to great disappointment for motivated learners. Heigham (2018), analysing the comments made by international

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students, sums up their frustration: “These comments reveal how students can feel superficial content, unclear lectures, or inadequate assignment explanations prohibit them from engaging in in-depth learning, and as a result, some question their decision to attend this university” (p. 173). Such disappointment from international students stems from one of the objectives of the implementation of EMI in Japan: to recruit more international students. Because they are invited to Japanese universities with brochures promising degrees offered entirely in English, it is not surprising that they feel deceived when they find many of the EMI courses are in fact taught with heavy use of Japanese or very limited English (Galloway et al., 2017). The dubious nature of the objectives of EMI classes leads to dissatisfaction among domestic students as well.

3 The Study 3.1 Methodology This section reports the results of the survey conducted in the first author’s class at a university in the western part of Japan. Out of the 75 students (70 domestic students and 5 international students) enrolled in an introductory course on multilingualism and multilingual education, 25 (22 domestic students and 3 international students) responded to the writing prompt: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Why did you choose to study in this EMI course? What are the advantages of taking this EMI course? What are the difficulties? What strategies do you use to manage the difficulties? Do you have any recommendations for addressing the difficulties?

Two instructors, Sakura and Kaede (pseudonyms) at private universities in Japan answered the following 5 questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Why did you choose to work in an EMI environment? What are the advantages of teaching in this environment? What are the difficulties? What strategies do you use to manage the difficulties? Do you have any recommendations for addressing the difficulties?

Both of the instructors have more than 5 years of teaching experience at Japanese universities. They teach academic courses in the area of linguistics, and deliver some of the courses through the medium of English.

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4 Results This section will present the results of the study, first from the students’ point of view, and then from the teachers’ perspective.

4.1 Students’ Perspectives Table 1 presents the students’ answers to the questions organised into categories extracted by the authors from the responses. In the table, D = Domestic students (n = 22), I = International students (n = 3). (Some of the answers were counted for two categories). As for the first question, “Why did you choose to study in this EMI course?”, 8 domestic students as 2 international students answered because it was partly required for the program. Among the students who chose to take this course on a voluntary Table 1 Answers to the Questions Organised Into Categories Why did you choose to study in this EMI course?

D

I

Because I was interested in the course contents

11 1

Because it was partly required for my programme

8

2

Because I wanted to improve my English by attending an EMI course

7

0

What are the advantages of taking this EMI course?

D

I

It helps my English to improve

17 2

It offers academic knowledge in multilingualism and multilingual education

4

2

The content is more accessible because it is delivered in English

1

0

What are the difficulties?

D

I

To understand the course contents in English

16 0

The contents of the course

3

2

Class discussion in English

3

0

Not knowing Japanese vocabulary in the area making it difficult to discuss the contents 0 outside of the class

1

What strategies do you use to manage the difficulties?

D

I

To spend time learning the class contents in advance

10 2

To practice English outside of the class and enhance my English proficiency

9

0

Do you have any recommendations for addressing the difficulties?

D

I

To help students prepare for the class

4

0

To let students translanguage in class discussion

1

0

To provide students with opportunities for output in English

1

0

Note D: Domestic students (n=22) I: International students (n=3) Some of the answered were counted for two categories.

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basis, 12 students responded because they were interested in the class contents, while 7 students indicated that they were motivated to take the course because it was delivered in English, and they hoped it would enhance their English proficiency. While international students are less likely to be motivated to improve their English skills by attending EMI courses in Japan, it is clearly the driving force for domestic students. It is noteworthy that 2 out of the 3 responses from the international students indicated that they had little choice but to take the course, because the number of the EMI courses available to international students are limited. The responses to the second question reflected strong motivation for improving English; 17 domestic students as well as 2 international students indicated that taking this course is advantageous for their English study, both in terms of input and output. It is worth noting that international students too indicated the benefits of taking an EMI course for their English proficiency, and also one domestic student commented that the course is more accessible because it was delivered in English, reflecting the linguistic diversity of the international students at this university. The high motivation of the students to enhance their English abilities reflects the low self-perceptions of English abilities of these students. Indeed all of the students who responded that the perceived advantage of taking this course was the improvement of English also reported that they found difficulties in relation to English used for this class. Of the 16 who commented on difficulties, 10 reported that they have difficulties comprehending the lecture due to lack of listening skills, 6 of them noted that academic vocabulary and area-specific vocabulary were the major source of challenge. Three reported challenges in output and/or interaction in their second language during the class discussions. While the majority of the students point out linguistic challenges in this course, 5 students (3 domestic and 2 international) reported the contents of the course are difficult. One response from an international student that caught the author’s attention was that she found it difficult to discuss what she learnt in the course outside of the class because she does not have enough vocabulary in Japanese to do so, which might have been the case because of the course contents, multilingualism and multilingual education, that could potentially be a good topic of conversation between Japanese students and international students. The strategies the students were employing to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties were clearly divided into two categories: one is to prepare for the course in advance, and the other is to improve their English skills outside of the course. The pre-study strategy was also supported in the final question as well; 4 students recommended providing students with pre-study materials. Of the 4 responses, 3 mentioned the preparatory videos the instructor provided were helpful, while the other suggested a list of vocabulary for the course would be helpful. While watching the video provided by the instructor in advance was a direct strategy the students were using to overcome the challenges they faced, they also felt a great need to improve their English skills as well. Since this was the course offered for the freshmen, it was probably the first EMI course at a university level for many of the students, and it appears that having to understand the academic lectures in their second language was harder than they had thought.

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As for the recommendations, in addition to the above-mentioned recommendation for providing students with preparatory materials, one student explicitly stated that having opportunities for output in English is important, which was one of the characteristics of this particular course. Another student noted allowing students to translanguage in class discussion was helpful. Students in this course are asked to hold group discussions several times during the class each week, but are given choices of languages to hold the discussion in. The students indicate their preference of language for group discussion by choosing the “Japanese zone” or the “English zone” when finding their seats, and they are allowed to change the seats at any point of the course. Making a new zone for students to translanguage might be an attractive addition to language management of the course.

4.2 Results: Instructors’ Perspectives It is not only the students, both international and domestic, who are confused by the two different objectives of English medium classes, but instructors also find this situation a challenge. Both of the teachers answered the first question that they had no choice: teaching the EMI course was pre-determined. As for the second question, both Sakura and Kaede found very few advantages in teaching EMI courses. Sakura pointed out that taking an EMI course may help the students clearly imagine what it is like to study at an international institution, and Kaede pointed out that having not to translate academic vocabulary into Japanese means less trouble to instructors, but both agreed that these are very minor advantages of teaching EMI classes. Both Sakura and Kaede had many points to share in terms of the difficulties of teaching EMI courses. Both find it a great challenge that the students’ English proficiencies vary greatly in classes, especially when they ask students to hold group discussions during the class. Sakura observed that those students with a strong command of English tend to dominate discussions in class. Kaede similarly noted that when she tells the students to discuss in groups during the class, they tend to remain quiet in EMI classes unlike when classes are delivered in Japanese. She states: I do not know if I should deliver the class entirely in English as required, or if I should provide scaffolding in Japanese. There are some highly motivated students who want to take advantage of EMI courses to practice their English, but some students feel too much anxiety about participating in the discussion in English. It is so difficult to meet the needs of both types of students.

Since it is not at all unusual to have students with very limited English proficiency at Japanese universities, both Sakura and Kaede find it a challenge to deliver highly academic content in English. The following comment from Sakura clearly illustrates such frustration:

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I believe students should learn complex things like how to construct arguments in your discipline or how to organize academic papers in a language they can easily access. When teaching students with limited English proficiency, no matter how much you dumb it down, quite often they miss the point and the most important point gets lost, which leaves me feeling uneasy, to be very honest. Teaching academic contents through English to students with limited English proficiency leads to a very shallow understanding of the contents but on the surface, we are teaching the content using academic terminologies and everything and the students appear to listen to that kind of lecture, and on the surface, people will believe “those students are studying academic content through English”. I worry that many students and their parents have an impression like “Wow, it’s great, they teach you academic content through English at this university!”.

Kaede likewise casts doubt about the degree of understanding of the Japanese students. She points out that the biggest challenge is that there are many international students with limited Japanese proficiency in her class as well, which makes it difficult for her to scaffold in Japanese. She notes this dilemma is brought about because these EMI courses are placed in the curriculum for two different objectives: one to meet the need to enhance Japanese students’ English proficiency, and the other to increase the number of international students studying at Japanese universities. International students with limited Japanese proficiency have no choice but to take the small number of EMI courses. To manage the above-stated difficulties, Sakura tries to make her lecture slides and handouts multimodal and/or bilingual, using visual representations where applicable and providing Japanese translations for key concepts. In addition to providing important information in Japanese, Kaede lets her students use Japanese in class discussions and tests, or the reflections that they write after each class. This is to accommodate the linguistic needs of her students with limited English proficiency, while meeting the needs of those students who want to study through the medium of English, Kaede states. As for the recommendation to address the difficulties, Kaede answered that EMI courses should be offered at introductory levels only. ˙It is better to teach highly academic courses in Japanese.

5 Discussion: Chasing Two Hares and Getting None It appears that the loosely constructed objectives of English as a medium of instruction in Japan are casting a shadow on its pathways. The government, pressured by the urgent call from the business community to “internationalise” higher education in Japan, sought EMI to be a solution to the two differing objectives: attracting more international students and internationalising domestic students, the latter of which is often understood as students with high command of English. Bradford and Brown (2018) point to the absence of language management or language policy statements at Japanese universities as a prime factor contributing to the failure to meet the expectations of international students, and observe:

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Even among the more formalized degrees, there is not a consistent, shared understanding of appropriate language proficiency benchmarks for entry into program…Consistent exit requirements or expectations for performance are also rare. There are also no established policies regarding faculty members’ language proficiency or language use. (p. 7)

In fact, it is not only language management that is absent in many of the universities practicing EMI, but also the lack of understanding that learning takes more than teachers giving lectures. ˙It is critically challenging and requires getting responses from instructors as well as collaborative activities with peers. If universities are to seek successful EMI to attract and satisfy the academic needs of international students as well as domestic students with high command of English, then institutions need to ensure they have enough instructors sufficiently proficient to conduct classes with meaningful discussion. There has to be a threshold above which students are allowed to take the course to ensure active and meaningful collaboration among the students. ˙In spite of the geographical, cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity which exists across what might be called east Asia, the findings regarding perceptions of English as a medium of instruction in this region would seem to be remarkably consistent. The main reasons for adopting EMI appear to accord closely with those suggested by Dearden and Macaro (2016), that is the desire to establish an international profile and to attract fee-paying international students. The main advantages seem to be the opportunity to improve language competence while learning subject matter at the same time, thereby saving time and money, and also improving employability prospects, both domestically and internationally. These advantages, however, are offset by a number of perceived disadvantages. Perhaps top of this list would come inadequate English proficiency on the part of both students and teachers, and inadequate support, as noted also by Byun et al. (2011) among others. For the students, this often results in disappointment, since the level of their English often does not improve as hoped, neither do they learn the content as well as expected. For the teachers, who often have no training for this kind of teaching and who did not join the EMI program voluntarily but were appointed to these classes by their institutions, the situation results in stress and frustration, since they are obliged to “dumb it down” (as Sakura in the study reported in this chapter puts it) in an attempt to make the material comprehensible to their students.

6 Implications If the universities are committed to making use of EMI to enhance domestic students’ English proficiency, then it is crucial to have instructors who are trained in such a special type of education. Teaching academic content while developing students’ language skills is not an easy task, but often institutions (and the government) appear to naïvely believe instructors with good command of English can naturally take the burden. Without expertise in teaching language, the objective of EMI to enhance students’ English proficiency (or CBI/CLIL type instruction) will always fail to meet the expectations, both from the students’ side as well as the institutional level.

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Institutions implementing EMI need to stop the “unstoppable train” (Macaro, 2015) for the moment to decide which of the two objectives they are seeking from their EMI courses and take due measures to satisfy the needs of the students who take these courses. Recommendations for dealing with these numerous and serious problems include recruiting teachers with an adequate level of proficiency and an urgent need for teacher training, both at pre-service and at in-service level. Furthermore, participation in EMI programs should be voluntary rather than imposed. The proficiency issue also needs to be addressed at student level (e.g., Soruç & Griffiths, 2018): assigning students to courses with inadequate proficiency is only setting them up for disappointment and failure. Making translanguaging more acceptable, as opposed to insisting on a monolingual model, is also suggested as a way of helping to cope with difficulties in EMI classes.

7 Suggestions for Further Research and Conclusion Given that teacher and student proficiency perhaps emerges as the main difficulty expressed, perhaps the most urgent need for further research relates to this area. First of all a viable language threshold for participation in EMI programs (whether as a teacher or a student) needs to be established (preferably internationally), and then the question of how to attract and/or train suitably qualified teachers needs to be addressed. Allied to this question, the ethical issue of how justifiable it may be to accept fee-paying students without adequately checking their suitability for EMI requires careful and soul-searching thought, which does not appear to have been carried out to date. As noted in the literature reviewed and the study reported in this chapter, the current situation with EMI leaves much to be desired. Should EMI be abandoned, we might wonder. However, in spite of cautions about linguistic imperialism and potentially negative effects on local languages and cultures (e.g., Philipson, 1992), English currently continues as the predominant international lingua franca. From this perspective, it is an extremely useful international communication tool, and, therefore for the foreseeable future, it is likely to remain in demand. As a consequence, EMI courses are also likely to remain in demand. However, the issues raised in this chapter (and elsewhere) are overdue for serious consideration.

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Aiko Sano obtained an MA from the University of Toronto and a PhD from Hokkaido University and is a professor at Ritsumeikan University in Japan. Her areas of expertise are English education in an EFL context and bilingual education, with a special focus on biliteracy development and family language policies fostering biliteracy development of heritage language learners. She is currently involved with a nation-wide research project for biliteracy development for culturally and linguistically diverse students studying in Japan, as well as a project to promote bilingual deaf education. Yongyan Zheng is Professor of Applied Linguistics at Fudan University, China, where she teaches English academic writing and applied linguistics. Her research interests include secondlanguage development, bilingual and multilingual education, and academic literacy practices. Her recent publications have appeared on Current Issues in Language Planning, International Journal of Multilingualism, Language Awareness, Language Policy, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Journal of Scholarly Publishing, System, and The Modern Language Journal. She is the Editor of Language, Culture and Curriculum, and also the Co-Editor-in-Chief of System. She is also one of the co-founders of Hamburg-Fudan-Macquarie “New Generation Literacies Network”.

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Carol Griffiths has been a teacher, manager and teacher trainer of ELT for many years. She has taught in many places around the world, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, China, North Korea, Turkey and UK. She is currently working as Professor for Girne American University in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. She has presented at numerous conferences and published widely, including The Strategy Factor in Successful Language Learning. Language learning strategies, intake, EMI, ELF, burnout, individual differences and using literature to teach language are her major areas of research interest.

EMI in South Asia Amol Padwad , Harsha Wijeskera, Prem Phyak, Syed Manan, and Naashia Mohamed

Abstract This chapter presents an overview of EMI in some countries of South Asia, namely, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka (Padwad et al., 2023). While sharing cultural, social and historical commonalities, these countries also exhibit unique characteristics of the socio-cultural make-up. Both the commonalities and unique features are reflected in the EMI scenario in these countries. The chapter first presents a country-wise overview of EMI, followed by the presentation of the findings of two small-scale studies from India and Sri Lanka on perspectives of teachers and students on EMI. Key insights and implications from the country overview and the studies are included in the conclusion.

1 Introduction The countries usually clubbed together in “South Asia” have both common and distinct socio-political, emotional and educational concerns and challenges, as well as historical legacies, when it comes to EMI. Apart from teaching English as a A. Padwad (B) Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, Delhi, India e-mail: [email protected] H. Wijeskera Open University of Sri Lanka, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka e-mail: [email protected] P. Phyak The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR e-mail: [email protected] S. Manan Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan (Astana), Kazakhstan N. Mohamed The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_12

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language, its use as a key medium of education is quite widespread across these countries for various historical, political, economic and pragmatic reasons. What is quite distinct in these postcolonial (and some post-conflict) countries with regards to English is that it is not just another language learnt and taught on massive scales, it is also intricately tied with aspirations, identities and socio-cultural status of people, resulting in a quite complex role it plays in the nations’ lives. In this chapter, five scholars from these countries bring their “insider” understandings of EMI and its practices in each country: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Our study is framed by two overarching questions: • What are the present EMI policies and practices in these countries? • What are the perceptions of teachers and students about EMI as they aspire for and experience it? While we engage in a literature review and country profiling to address the first question, for the second we report from two small scale qualitative studies conducted in India and Sri Lanka. Based on these data and discussions, we attempt to draw some useful inferences and insights on EMI policies, practices, affordances and challenges in the south asian sub-continent.

2 EMI – Country Profiles 2.1 EMI in Afghanistan Afghanistan is a multilingual and multi-ethnic country, with at least 36 major languages identified in the Ethnologue data (Simons & Fennig, 2017). While the Constitution of Afghanistan recognises Dari and Pashto as official languages, in major provinces the principal local language is included as the third language. The history of English in the education system can be traced back to the beginning of the twentieth century. However, the nature of the contact with English has been intermittent and superficial, with English remaining a foreign language in the country. English teaching and learning in Afghanistan showed a wide variety of practices across the regions and educational streams before the Taliban takeover in 2021. English was introduced from year four in government schools, and taught for nine or ten years. Private schools mostly introduced English as a subject from year one. Some madrasahs (religious seminaries) also taught English from year eight. The National Education Strategic Plan of 2018 had envisaged more time for English raising from one to up to six sessions per week. In reality, English teaching continued to suffer from various problems. One major problem was that English was neither tested in school final examinations, nor required for university admissions, so students preferred to downplay its importance (Coleman, 2022).

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Aspiring English teachers usually attended a three-year degree program in university, which focussed more on mastering English than pedagogy. Another route to becoming an English teacher was to enrol in a teacher training college for two years. Consequently, English teachers either learnt how to teach, or they learnt English but not both. Teachers’ low English proficiency and pedagogic knowledge was a key challenge. Coleman’s (2022) study of English teachers from a variety of sectors found English proficiency levels to be alarmingly low, with a majority of teachers at beginner or elementary levels of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Regarding EMI, another study by Coleman (2019) found that the presence of EMI was reported but officially unconfirmed. The report mentions that some private schools taught science and mathematics at all levels through EMI, while some other private primary schools taught all subjects in English. At least one university reported using EMI in three faculties. EMI seemed to be catching the imagination of the regime at that time, but it received very subdued response from teachers and students. Until the regime change in 2021, English was taught in high schools, universities and private centres, most of which are not functioning any more. Coleman (2019) had identified 12 roles English played in Afghanistan, partly functional but largely aspirational, and points out how English is associated with ideas of escape (both physical and symbolic), with affiliation with the world outside, and with modernization (Coleman, 2022). Zemach (2021) also found similar aspirations for English in her interviews of Afghan youth. However, English and modern education, seen to represent Western values, face resistance from those who believe such values to be corrupting.

2.2 EMI in Bangladesh Though nearly 98 per cent of people speak Bangla in Bangladesh, it has a mulitlingual context with scores of ethnic languages and dialects. Before its independence in 1971, it was first part of the colonial India and then of Pakistan from 1947. Thus it shares the colonial legacy of the dominance of English in education. In the independent Bangladesh, Bangla was the medium of all education except for Madrasah schools (where it would be Arabic or Persian) and some urban, elite EMI schools, for several years, until the National Education Policy of 2010 initiated the promotion of English language education as an important vehicle for economic growth and global presence (Das et al., 2014; Hamid, 2010; Hamid & Honan, 2012; Hamid & Erling, 2016; Ministry of Education, 2010). English is also widely used in urban areas and large business organisations. While the teaching of English as a compulsory subject dates back to 1986 (Das et al., 2014), the rise of EMI is a later phenomenon, acquiring much larger dimensions in the recent years. The use of English as a medium of instruction has brought along issues of access and equity, since resources and opportunities for teaching or learning English are not equitably distributed across the country due to the urban–rural divide and the medium

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of instruction (MOI) policies. This has become a significant social justice issue. Hamid (2009) argues that language policies in Bangladesh seem to have swung from one extreme of a complete disregard of English and EMI until 1990s to the other of proactively and aggressively embracing it, especially since the 2005 education reform (Ahmed, 2005; Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014; Hamid, 2009). The medium of instruction scenario in Bangladesh is complex now, with EMI dominating HE particularly in the private sector, while school education and public sector institutions largely providing Bangla medium instruction. Following the privatisation first of primary and secondary education and then of higher education, there has been a general scenario of the private sector predominantly offering EMI education while public sector slowly following suit to meet the stiff competition from the private sector, though there are additional complexities in the public sector around national identity, nationalist ideologies, concerns about economic development, ethnolinguistic relations and so on (Islam, 2013; Rahman & Singh, 2019; Rahman et al., 2020). There are further disparities in terms of the access to and quality of EMI education between the private and public sector, between students with Bangla background and EMI background, and among different social and gender classes (Islam, 2013; Sultana, 2014).

2.3 EMI in Bhutan Bhutan is geographically and demographically small and landlocked, but it is linguistically quite diverse, with four major language groups and over 20 different dialects spoken among a population of approximately 750,000. A small break from the traditional monastic education, for which young Bhutanese typically went to Tibet for 12–15 years of study, came over a hundred years ago with the establishment of a handful of modern schools in Bhutan. Modern formal education got a substantial boost from the 1950s when a formal national education system was set up, national curricular guidelines were prepared and a formal commitment was made to provide free universal modern education to all eligible age groups (Hirayama, 2013; Penjore, 2013). Until then the common practice was for the children of the royals and other families with means to be sent to India (especially Jesuit schools in the north Assam) for education. When home-grown education began, it was largely supported and supplied by India, with an interesting result of Hindi becoming a medium of instruction, primarily thanks to the supply of teachers and cheap textbooks sourced from India (Driem, 1994, p. 6). Equally interestingly, the move towards English and EMI seems to be rooted in an individual’s efforts – of Father William Mackey, a Jesuit priest, who found a new home in Bhutan after his expulsion from Assam (see Malone, 2008 for an account of Mackey’s work). What began with a small 7-student school in a cowshed in 1964 gradually grew into a large network of public schools. In 1988 the government took over the control and management of all schools, including the Jesuit, with Bhutanese teachers and administrators replacing Jesuit and Indian ones,

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but keeping English as a mandatory subject of study and the principal medium of education. Currently, English is included as a “core” subject across all levels from preprimary to tertiary, though explicit learning of grammar starts only in upper primary classes. English is also offered through non-formal education programs for those who cannot attend the general education. A major curricular reform in 2007 introduced a shift away from the “traditional”, “rote learning” methods and a greater focus on acquiring language skills (Phuntsho, 2000, p. 100). A set of standards for English schools has also been introduced, which informs the planning and practice of English education (CERD, 2002). English has been the medium for all education, a policy introduced by the government of Bhutan in 1964, presumably in view of the fact that most Bhutanese students would need to pursue higher studies in other (typically English-speaking) countries in the absence of enough provision at home. However, in spite of the EMI environment, there are concerns about low competence and fluency in spoken English, the possible reasons for which include neglect of oral skills in the curriculums, unsupportive pedagogic practices and the local cultural norms of modesty (LaPrairie, 2012).

2.4 EMI in India Historical roots of EMI in India can be traced to the British colonial rule, which introduced the English language and the “English” (“modern”, Western) education in India in the early nineteenth century. The network of schools that evolved during nineteenth century India broadly followed vernacular medium primary education and English medium secondary education, the pattern continuing well into the middle of the twentieth century. Many EMI schools and higher education institutions were set up as early as 1860s (some of them still surviving). While initially no place was envisioned for English and EMI in the India that would become free in 1947, political and socio-economic compulsions led to abandoning any exit plans for English, which is now arguably one of India’s own possessions, a naturalized citizen in a sense. The current EMI scenario in India is like this. The technical-professional higher education is almost exclusively EMI throughout the country, while social sciences, humanities and arts education is mostly in vernacular mediums in non-urban locations, and EMI in major urban centres. In school education, the private sector is predominantly EMI, while public schools are typically vernacular medium. In the private sector too, “low-cost private schools”, with lower costs but serious quality concerns about teachers, infrastructure, resources and EMI environment itself, form a major share of EMI institutions (CCS, 2017; Endow, 2018, 2019). Now EMI is set receive a boost in the public school sector too with more state governments and local governing bodies turning to EMI. State sponsorship of EMI had been rare in the past and may be seen as a recognition of (and catering to) the aspirations of lower and middle classes—important political constituencies largely dependent of public education—for English. Various EMI models now operate in the school sector—EMI

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cohorts in vernacular schools, EMI subjects alongside vernacular medium subjects (so-called “semi-English” medium), vernacular medium lower grades followed by EMI in later grades, etc. Education policies in India have consistently favored (at least primary) education in the languages children operate in (MHRD, 1998, 2020; Ministry of Education, 1968), though never followed by rigorous implementation. In fact, the economic liberalization in 1990s seems to have triggered a leaning towards “English early, English everywhere, English only” (Phillipson, 1992), leading to increasing presence of EMI. EMI is drawing some research attention recently, with studies exploring aspirational, economic, social, historical etc. dimensions of EMI. For example, Gupta (2015), Vennela and Smith (2019), Jolad and Doshi (2021), Naregal (1999), and Gupta-Basu (1999) explore the history and evolution of EMI in India. Issues of social justice, inequality and access are examined in Borooah and Sabharwal (2017), Bhattacharya (2013) and Jayadeva (2019), while broad educational and socio-economic aspects are researched in Vaishnav (2020), Endow (2018) Priyadarshini (2018), Mohanty et al. (2010), and Rathore and Pancholi (2013). However, in spite of several such studies, EMI in India still remains underexplored and inadequately understood area.

2.5 EMI in the Maldives The Maldives, dispersed across 1190 islands, is small in terms of population (400,000) and geographical size. It is relatively homogenous in terms of race, ethnicity, language, religion, and culture. Although Dhivehi is the national language of the country, English dominates the educational domain as a result of a long colonial rule (Mohamed, 2020). Education is a legal obligation with primary schooling beginning at age six, while pre-school education is optional but widely popular. Since 2012, it has been legally binding to provide pre-primary education through Dhivehi (Preschool Management Act, 2012). The National Curriculum also reinforces the need to prioritise Dhivehi for pre-primary education (National Institute of Education, 2015). Despite this policy requirement, as Mohamed (2021) suggests, after decades of privileging English in education some teachers remain reluctant to see Dhivehi as a valid language of instruction. English was introduced first as a foreign language in the elite schools of the country in the 1950s under British imperial influence. At this time, education was not a national priority, and access to schools was very limited. English was seen to be the ticket to modernizing education and the pathway to national development. Within a few years of introducing English as a subject, it was declared to be the medium of instruction in government-run schools in Malé, the capital island (Lutfi, 2011). This created a stratification in the school system: English-medium schools staffed by foreign-nationals in Malé, and Dhivehi-medium schools elsewhere. While students

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in the English-medium system studied till 16 years of age and sat for British examinations, Dhivehi-medium schools only catered to primary grades and taught English as a subject. As demands for EMI grew, all schools gradually gave up Dhivehi-medium instruction, and by the new millennium, there were no schools providing education in the mother tongue (Mohamed, 2019), and many schools actively discouraged the use of Dhivehi, expecting English to be used for all purposes in the school (Mohamed, 2013). This relates to what Desai (2016) calls the “all or nothing approach” and appears to severely impact language attitudes. The National Curriculum recommends teaching English at preschool. This ensures that children are familiar with the language by the time they begin school. All through primary and secondary school English is the language of instruction for all subjects, except for Dhivehi and religious education. Despite this prominence, low levels of English achievement in school and on national assessments have caused concern (Yamada et al., 2015), raising questions about educational quality and the suitability of EMI. With the spread of formal education, some tertiary institutes were established, first with Dhivehi medium programs, but later shifting to EMI. Today, a majority of programs at the two public universities and seven private higher education colleges are in English. In fact, English plays a role in programs that specialize in Dhivehi language too. This dependence on English in the educational domain disregards the needs, identities, and ways of being of large groups in society and suggests that English continues to influence small language communities with its symbolic imperialism.

2.6 EMI in Nepal Nepal is a multilingual and multi-ethnic country, with 123 “mother tongues” and 125 ethnic communities. Nepali, spoken by 44.6% of the population, has been the medium of instruction in education for a long time. Though English is hardly used in everyday interactions, English medium education has a long history in Nepal. Jung Bahadur Rana, the founder of the 100-year-long Rana autocracy, established an elementary English school at his residence in 1853, known as Durbar School (the Palace School) today, to educate the Rana children. In 1918, the Ranas established Tri-Chandra College that followed EMI. For a long time EMI was the symbol of elitism and high-class identity, and a de facto policy of the missionary schools and the British Government supported boarding school in Budhanilkantha. Very few could afford to send their children to these schools, which were considered good models for quality education (Phyak, 2016). A massive expansion of EMI has occurred since the early 1990s, following a neoliberal policy allowing commercial enterprises and individuals to open private schools, which attract high- and middle-classes from urban areas, using EMI as their

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distinctive asset. They follow strategies like language policing, language shaming and corporal punishment to promote English speaking on campus. The EMI model in private schools has become a hegemonic ideology in educational policy reforms. Consequently, public schools are positioned as deficient and ineffective due to their use of Nepali as the medium of instruction. This has influenced parental choice of school, leading to a preference for private schools, and a fall in public school enrolment. Ghimire (2019) states that “the public consider English medium schools to be better than others [Nepali medium] and they send their children to private schools in the name of quality education” (p. 148). He finds EMI to be “a fashion” putting pressure on public schools to adopt EMI to compete with private schools and increase student numbers (Phyak & Sah, 2022; Phyak & Sharma, 2020; Sah & Li, 2018). In 2006, the revised educational policy opened school education to EMI by allowing Nepali or English or both as the medium of instruction, though “mother tongues” would be preferred for basic education (Grades 1–8). Local governments are also pushing public schools to implement EMI for quality education. However, studies have consistently shown that EMI is not only promoting linguistic inequalities but also posing challenges for effective teaching–learning engagement. The teaching–learning of English is not effective due to low English proficiency of teachers (Phyak, 2016). Lessons are usually textbook-based and teacher-fronted; students mostly remain silent because of English language barriers; and teachers also struggle to provide comprehensible input and make classes interactive. In addition, EMI leads to various educational and socio-political issues including the question of linguistic justice (Phyak, 2021; Phyak & Sah, 2022). The EMI policy reproduces monolingual ideologies and downplays the constitutional provisions of right to mother tongue education and use of mother tongues in public spaces.

2.7 EMI in Pakistan English is an official language of Pakistan. It is considered a passport to privileges, and a key to the domains of power (Manan, 2021; Rahman, 2005). The situation about the use of English as a medium of education is rather complex as various streams and systems of schooling use it variously: as a medium of instruction and as a subject. Importantly, an equal amount of complexity can be witnessed in the quality of English which different schooling systems provide to their clientele. The quality largely depends on the resources of these schools, and the kind of students they cater to. For instance, the elitist English-medium government schools as well as private schools offer state-of-the-art English-medium instruction because these schools are well-resourced. These schools mostly host students from the upper classes. On the other hand, the Urdu-medium government schools that cater largely to the lower strata and working classes of the society, offer English as a subject. There also exists another type of English-medium private schools, known as low-cost or lowfee schools. The number of these schools has risen exponentially over the last two

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decades. Such unprecedented expansion of these mushrooming private schools seem to be a result of an “English-medium fever” (Manan et al., 2015). These schools claim English-medium provision, charge relatively lower fees, and attract parents from the lower-middle and working classes. Parents who admit their children to these schools believe that English language would enable them to get better opportunities for their academic careers. In addition, various Madrasas (religious seminaries) also teach English as a subject. Higher education institutions uniformly use English-instruction. Research conducted on EMI in Pakistan points to an array of challenges. Lack of a uniform EMI policy is possibly the biggest challenge as there exist multiple types of schools with significant differences in nature, quality and content of EMI. This leads to a major structural problem where English language seems to create a form of social divide, because the provision of quality EMI is acutely skewed and inequitable across socioeconomic classes. English is evidently taught very well to the children of the rich, while very poorly to the children of the working classes. Children in the government schools in particular suffer from poor quality of English teaching and learning. Lack of resources, untrained or poorly trained teachers, and low-quality curriculum and textbooks are among some of the major constraints in the effective teaching and learning of the English language. Similarly, results from the low-cost English-medium schools also point to numerous challenges, where classroom learning is predominantly based on rote-learning and memorization rather than substantive conceptual understanding of the course contents.

2.8 EMI in Sri Lanka English had a very diminished role in the first few decades after Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948. Such measures as promulgation of Sinhala as the only official language, free education in Sinhala medium, discouragement of private English schools, and nationalisation of private education, had a considerable impact on EMI in Sri Lanka. In tertiary education, programs in humanities, social sciences and liberal arts ran largely in the Sinhala medium, though most STEM programs continued with EMI (Raheem & Devendra, 2007) while English continued to be prominent outside the government education system (Kandiah, 1984; Navaz, 2021). Remarkable changes were triggered by the General Educational Reforms of 1997, which brought English back into the system, introduced English from Grade 1, and launched “partial” EMI in secondary schools via the Bilingual Education (BE) program, introduced in Sri Lanka in 2001, involving EMI in up to 5 subjects in Grades 6–11, and all subjects in Grades 12–13. ˙In 2020, BE was being implemented in 716 out of 10,612 public schools, catering to 99,396 students (Ministry of Education, 2020, p. 11), up from 16,371 in 2003 (DCS, 2004). Additionally, government-assisted or private schools offer EMI to over 33,000 students (p. 106). Shortage of qualified teachers and pre/in-service BE teacher education have hampered larger implementation of BE.

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The BE program has four objectives: developing English proficiency while conserving two national languages; enhancing social cohesion through English as a link language; enhancing access to knowledge; and developing skills required for future employment. The current BE introduced in 2001 seems driven by two reasons: the failure of teaching English as a subject, and the global trend of functional orientation to language learning as medium of instruction. It suffers from the absence of adequate policy guidance, though some initiative is planned through a better national policy on education, including BE. BE is not new to Sri Lanka; it was followed in Sri Lankan monasteries as early as third century BC. Yet, unlike the home-grown BE, the EMI version introduced during the colonial rule was socially disruptive. Access to EMI was limited to only select social groups, since it was feared that wider access would lead to “half-educated idlers who deem that a little pigeon-English place them above honest work” (Colonial Office, 1892, p. 17 cited in Brutt-Griffler, 2002, p. 214). The present BE apparently has both positive and negative outcomes. It enhances national cohesion by bringing students from rival speech communities (Sinhala and Tamil) together through a “neutral” English in some schools (Wijesekera & Hamid, 2022). Also, BE brings EMI to some students in public schools, who cannot afford high-fees international schools. But, it also fuels social and economic inequity due to limited access to EMI in public schools, resulting from the failure to offer EMI in every District (NEC, 2003). In addition, schools are not allowed to increase their already limited BE capacity, which leads to various gate-keeping strategies to handle the high demand for EMI.

˙ 3 Studies on Perceptions and Perspectives on EMI in India and Sri Lanka This section reports on two small qualitative studies carried out in India and Sri Lanka in order to explore how people working in EMI environments perceived and experienced it. The participants in the studies included students and teachers from the tertiary sector, and from a diverse mix of disciplines, locations and types of institutions. The Indian study involved 138 students and 19 teachers, while the Sri Lanka study targeted 80 teachers (with 26 complete responses returned). Nearly 90% of student participants from India were undergraduate students, largely (75%) from professional-technical disciplines. The teacher participants were largely mid- and late- career teachers (95% teaching for over 10 years), and mostly (69%) from social sciences and humanities. In Sri Lanka, the participants were EMI teachers who were enrolled on the Postgraduate Diploma in Bilingual Education, the only in-service BE teacher education program available. All participants in this study were given a common survey, consisting of four open ended questions concerning:

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the reasons for choosing EMI environments to study/work; the advantages of such environments; difficulties faced in those environments; suggestions, if any, for addressing these difficulties.

The survey was administered, and responses collected, via online channels. The qualitative data thus collected were analysed using thematic analysis techniques, and key trends and patterns were identified. Given below is a summary of the responses from both ˙India and Sri Lanka on each of the four questions, followed by a discussion of the findings from the study.

4 Summary of Responses 4.1 Reasons for Joining EMI Environments Not surprisingly, the status of English as a global language and national lingua franca was the most cited reason for choosing EMI in the case of students, followed by the opportunities and prospects tied up with knowledge of English, including job and career prospects, higher studies, high-stakes examinations, wider networking and communication, better perks and performance, better exposure and better social “fit”. But interestingly, the third most common response was that EMI was actually no choice: it was compulsory for various reasons such as students’ past EMI background, absence of other mediums, parental pressure, or not knowing a local language. The desire to improve one’s English figured extremely low on the list of student’s reasons. In the case of teachers, half of the Indian respondents (9 out of 19) mentioned that working in an EMI environment was hardly a choice, either because EMI was the only option in their domain, or because their own background (qualifications, training or EMI education) excluded other options. Only a small number (4 out of 19) talked about opportunities and advantages of EMI environments. The Sri Lankan respondents reported three main reasons: importance of English, to enhance their own English and career opportunities, and higher accessibility to learning materials, while only two respondents mentioned their appointments as EMI teachers as the simple reason. In general, it seems that the teachers chose EMI mainly for personal advantage.

4.2 Advantages of EMI The two most common advantages of studying in EMI environments cited by the Indian students (45%) related to English offering greater exposure, networking and

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communication opportunities and the personal gains to be made (better communication skills, heightened confidence, broadening of mind, etc.). Better opportunities in jobs, careers, higher studies, high stakes examinations and social mobility was the third theme (reported by 26%). A small number (about 11%) mentioned high prevalence of study materials and resources, technology and academic proceedings in English. Socio-cultural advantages such as enhanced social status, better image, freedom from caste biases and social mobility were also mentioned by a few. Most teachers from India reported such social advantages as national and global networking, ease of communication, and cross-cultural interactions, followed by job-related advantages (portability, satisfaction, and developmental opportunities) and resources-related advantages (availability of and access to software, research literature and teaching–learning materials). Interestingly, two teachers mentioned personal-affective advantages of teacher comfort and learner motivation, while one underlined the problematic/polemic nature of the “(False)-Prestige, (Misplaced)Self-confidence” which EMI environments seem to offer. Prominent advantages the Sri Lankan teachers mentioned were improving their English proficiency, availability of learning resources on the net and textbooks in English, easy to prepare lesson material, higher recognition in society as EMI teachers, higher demand for BE teachers in their schools, overseas job opportunities, higher education opportunities, developing personality and competing with international levels. Only one respondent reported no special advantage.

4.3 Challenges of EMI While a quarter (24%) of the students did not find any major challenges in studying in EMI environments, others reported four kinds of challenges (in decreasing order of frequency): first, challenges related to the structure of or competence in English; second, cognitive and motivational issues (lack of interest, fear of being corrected, feeling “under-confident” or “dumb”, and difficulties in comprehending texts or conversations); third, challenges related to the social (prestige) status of English; and finally, challenges related to resources, environment and support (high fees, lack of good or supportive teachers, rural environment and lack of interaction with English speakers). Two most common difficulties equally reported by the Indian teachers (11 out 19 each) may be termed teacher issues and student issues. Teacher issues included difficulty in dealing with students from non-EMI backgrounds, lack of teacher training, difficulties of communication and translation, and “disconnect between the teacher and the taught”. Student issues included such problems as poor English proficiency, sense of inferiority or exclusion, non-EMI background, and lack of support or resources. An interesting observation by a teacher was about “students from elite background” performing well and dominating the class, wherein not only poor students but even teachers might feel “excluded and even ridiculed”. The Sri Lankan teachers also seemed to report similar teacher and student issues. The student

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issues included a list of their low English proficiency, lack of exposure to English, and lack of confidence, whereas there was a long list of teacher issues: lack of support from parents and administrators, fear of low results, feeling of alienation and separation within the school, negative attitudes of other teachers, students and administration, and lack of teacher development and support. They also reported many resource-related difficulties, such as lack of separate classrooms and resources, heavy time-taking syllabus, examination-oriented educational culture, and burden of translating test papers to English and vice versa.

4.4 Suggestions for Addressing the Challenges A large number (over 40%) of the students chose not to offer any suggestions for addressing the challenges they had mentioned. The suggestions given by others covered four broad themes—providing material and language support, working on one’s own language development, providing affective help, and providing alternatives or systemic resources. Ideas for material and language support included financial support, free access to English learning materials, guidance and mentoring, inclusive curriculum, and bridge and online courses. The proposals for working on one’s own included doing a lot of practice, approaching teachers, participating in peer interactions, and undertaking reading/writing/speaking activities. The suggestions for affective help included sensitisation about individual needs, ensuring individual attention, respect for all languages, no discrimination on the basis of fluency, and offering problem-sharing sessions; while the suggestions for resources and alternatives included blending English with local languages, providing quality teachers, and creating a supportive environment. The bulk of the suggestions (11 out of 15) from the Indian teachers related to institutional or systemic provisions, and much fewer (6 out of 15) to pedagogic approaches and teacher initiatives. The former included parents’ involvement in promoting English, parity across regions or boards of education, EMI to be mandatory in all sectors, refresher and remedial courses, use of local dialects and regional languages, and earmarking more resources. The latter included teachers speaking a mix of languages, better lesson planning, facilitating cross-language use of terminology, and bilingual approach to teaching. The Sri Lankan teachers’ recommendations were: providing separate EMI classrooms, awareness programs for administrators, students and parents about the benefits of a BE/CLIL approach, extra teaching/learning hours, more use of Sinhala/Tamil in the transitional stage (Grade 6 and 7) and slowly increasing English, use of bilingual textbooks (Sinhala/Tamil and English), collaboration between English and content teachers, making the syllabus lighter, alternative assessment methods, use of group work, appointing teacher teams to translate papers, and streamlining the standards for teacher appointment and promotions.

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5 Discussion of Findings from This Study The students’ and teachers’ observations in both studies clearly indicate that EMI holds a major attraction and perceived value both for practical-academic (education, employment, development) as well as social reasons (status, prestige, social mobility). Conversely, challenges in working in EMI environments are not just material (lack of resources and support, high costs), but also social (inequality of access, hierarchies, discrimination) and socio-cultural (issues of stigma, fear, self-esteem, confidence, etc.). Paradoxically, EMI seems to be a matter not only of aspiration and opportunity, but also of social inequality and injustice. It is also remarkable that at the tertiary level (at least in India) EMI becomes a default rather than a choice, not just because the domain has no other options, but also due to personal accumulated history of EMI in many cases. Apparently, the issue of EMI is not as contentious at the tertiary level as it is at the school level. Both Indian and Sri Lankan teachers point out how EMI can be discriminatory and lead to intellectual and emotional stress for teachers, since teachers are always under pressure to perform, while their own proficiency remains a core concern for them. It is therefore not surprising that the desired solutions include not just material and professional support, but also attitudinal and motivational support via sensitization and awareness-raising of key stakeholders.

6 Insights and Implications EMI is present in all countries of the South Asian region, but it is characterised by a great diversity of contextual features on the one hand, and shared traits on the other. Despite significant geographic, demographic and socio-cultural differences, the countries share many interesting commonalities. Firstly, all are multilingual societies, though with different degrees of linguistic diversity and complexity, which fact has a significant bearing on the place of English on the linguistic map of a country as well as its relationship with home languages. It is interesting to observe that in many countries English seems to be used as a lingua franca or a politically neutral language or both, though to different extents and with different justifications. Secondly, all countries have home-grown traditions of education, particularly language learning, which seem to lie in an uneasy (sometimes conflicting) relationship with the teaching–learning of English inevitably coloured by Western educational cultures and practices. The reports of widespread failures in learning English and exhortations to shift from “traditional” to “modern” approaches in teaching English are possibly some manifestations of this uneasy relationship. Thirdly, all countries share a colonial legacy of an English-speaking coloniser. Even in Bhutan, a country without any direct colonial rule, the colonial influence seem to have passed through India, which significantly shaped the early evolution its modern education. The colonial legacy bestowed on English a certain status and role, connecting it with identity, prestige, social mobility and power, which continue to define public

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perceptions and attitudes towards English and EMI long after the end of colonial rule. Fourthly, nearly all countries in the region seem to have initiated a move towards free market economies and opening to globalisation roughly around the same time, leading to noticeable changes in the economic and employment scenarios. This has in turn led to a renewed interest and investment in English and EMI. It is equally interesting to observe some common trends in EMI education found in these countries. While one finds some diversity in EMI provision in school education across the countries, it seems to be uniformly common in the tertiary sector, more particularly in STEM disciplines. Secondly, the private sector appears to have emerged as a significant player (except for Bhutan) in providing EMI, which in many cases has led to grave concerns about quality, access, equity and regulation. The rise of the private sector may be linked to another common trend in most countries. On one hand, English and EMI represent key aspirations of large sections of populations, especially middle and lower classes typically dependent on affordable state provisions in education. But, on the other hand, state provision has been low, resulting in severe constraints of resources, including quality teachers. The private sector may have arisen in response to this gap, but with the attendant issues of a for-profit education system. While various commonalities across the countries may be identified as above, there are also some significant differences. The countries remarkably differ in terms of the stages at which EMI is introduced, the coverage of EMI (in grades, subjects, disciplines, institutional types, etc.), and the ways in which English complements or replaces local languages as a medium of instruction. Secondly, the countries also differ in terms of the role and initiative of governments and their investments in EMI. If one looks at such concrete aspects of EMI as resource planning and allocation, policy guidance, regulatory norms and standards, or defining the place of EMI in overall education, one finds a great diversity across the countries. Thirdly, there are also interesting differences in the EMI models followed in different countries and at different levels of education. EMI models show such a wide variety of combinations of grades, subjects, purposes and aspects of education, including or without local languages, that they are worth further exploration.

7 Suggestions for Further Research The foregoing discussion suggests several areas for further research. EMI is not understood and practised uniformly, leading to multiple EMI conceptualisations and models, which is one fertile area of research. The relationship of EMI with social justice is another area of research, especially where EMI is associated with social liberation and prosperity. In view of largely unclear and inadequate policy provisions across South Asia, research is needed on how policy gaps are addressed in practice and policy provisions required for effective EMI. Finally, EMI vis-à-vis the widespread multilingualism in these contexts needs substantial research.

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8 Conclusion The description of EMI contexts in different countries of the South Asian region given above shows both a rich diversity of these contexts and some common shared features. A shared legacy of the British colonial rule in some countries of the region, and the influence of these countries on the others without a direct colonial rule, contribute to a unique socio-political dimension to the teaching and learning of English in the region. On the other hand, a shift to free market economies and opening up to the demands of globalisation by the turn of the century in most countries seem to have led to a renewal in some cases and further consolidation in the others of interest and investment in English and EMI. While there are several common concerns and challenges related to EMI faced by the countries, their responses have been different, leading to diverse EMI models, different degrees of governmental intervention and investment, varied relations between English and home languages and differential treatment of EMI in the planning and allocation of resources. The perceptions and experiences of EMI teachers and students, explored in two qualitative studies from India and Sri Lanka, reflect how EMI seems to operate on several levels in the region—social, cultural, political, economic, educational and personal-emotional—both for individuals and nations. An important implication of this complex scenario is that EMI in South Asia cannot be adequately understood and handled if seen simply as an educational enterprise.

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Mohamed, N. (2013). The challenge of medium of instruction: A view from Maldivian classrooms. Current Issues in Language Planning, 14(1), 185–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/14664208.2013. 789557 Mohamed, N. (2019). From a monolingual to a multilingual nation. In A. Kirkpatrick & A. Liddicoat (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Language Education Policy in Asia (pp. 414– 426). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315666235-29 Mohamed, N. (2020). First Language loss and negative attitudes towards Dhivehi among young Maldivians. TESOL Quarterly, 54(3), 743–772. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.591 Mohamed, N. (2021). Representations of power and prestige in children’s multimodal narratives of linguistic identities. In C. Porteau & C. Winkle (Eds), Advocacy for social and linguistic justice in TESOL: Nurturing inclusivity, equity, and social responsibility in English Language Teaching. Multilingual Matters. Mohanty, A., Panda, M., & Pal, R. (2010). Language policy in education and classroom practices in India. In K. Menken & O. Garcia (Eds.), Negotiating language policies in schools: Educators as policymakers (pp. 211–231). Routledge. Naregal, V. (1999). Colonial bilingualism and hierarchies of language and power. Economic and Political Weekly, 34(49), 3446–3456. National Institute of Education. (2015). National Curriculum. National Institute of Education, Ministry of Education. Navaz, A. (2021). English Education in Sri Lanka. International Journal of Social Science and Human Research, 4(7), 1880–1891. https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v4-i7-44 NEC (National Education Commission). (2003). Envisioning education for human development, proposals for a national framework on general education in Sri Lanka. NEC. Padwad, A., Wijeskera. H., Phyak, P., Manan, S., & Mohamed, N. (2023). EMI in south Asia. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 191–210). Springer. Penjore, D. (2013). The state of anthropology in Bhutan. Asian and African Area Studies, 12, 147–156. Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford University Press. Phuntsho, K. (2000). On the two ways of learning in Bhutan. Journal of Bhutan Studies, 2, 96–126. Phyak, P. (2016). Local-global tension in the ideological construction of English language education policy in Nepal. In R. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), English language education policy in Asia (pp. 199– 218). Springer. Phyak, P. (2021). Epistemicide, deficit language ideology, and (de)coloniality in language education policy. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 21(267–268), 219–233. Phyak, P., & Sharma, B. (2020). Functional variations in English. In R. Giri, A. Sharma, & J. D’Angelo (Eds.), Functionality of English in language education policies and practices in Nepal (pp. 321–335). Springer. Phyak, P., & Sah, P. (2022). Epistemic injustice and neoliberal imaginations in English as a medium of instruction (EMI) policy. Applied Linguistics Review, 2021(267–268), 219–233. https://doi. org/10.1515/applirev-2022-0070 Preschool Administration Act (2012). Maldives. Priyadarshini, G. (2018). The impact of integrating English language in higher education for improving communication skills. International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, 4(1), 1215–1223. Raheem, R., & Devendra, D. (2007). Changing times, changing attitudes. In Y. Choi & B. Spolsky (Eds.), English education in Asia: History and politics (pp. 181–203). Asia TEFL Book Series. Rahman, M., & Singh, M. (2019). Language ideology of English-medium instruction in higher education. English Today, 36(4), 40–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266078419000294 Rahman, M., Singh, M., Johan, M., & Ahmed, Z. (2020). English medium instruction ideology, management and practices. English Teaching & Learning, 44(1), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s42321-019-00036-z Rahman, T. (2005). Passports to privilege. Peace and Democracy in South Asia, 1(1), 24–44.

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Amol Padwad is currently Professor and Director, Centre for English Language Education, Ambedkar University Delhi, ˙India. He is the Secretary of Association of English Teachers (AINET) and a former National President of English Language Teachers’ Association of India. He pioneered “English Teachers Clubs” in central India, which continue to significantly contribute to teachers’ professional development. His key publications include Teachers’ Handbook on CPD (with Rod Bolitho), CPD: Lessons from India (with Rod Bolitho), Teaching in Low Resource Classrooms: Voices of Experience (with Richard Smith and Deborah Bullock) and Research in English Language Education in Indian Universities: A Directory. Harsha Wijeskera (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the Postgraduate Institute of English, Open University of Sri Lanka. She is also a Visiting Fellow at Australian National University (2023– 2024). Her research interests include language policy in education, English medium instruction, ethnicity, social cohesion, teacher education and applied linguistics. She has written many course books and has published journal articles and book chapters. Her most recent book chapter is “Recognizing diversity: Multiethnic Sinhala – and Tamil-medium schools in Sri Lanka” (2021). She was a school teacher, and a lecturer at several other higher education institutions: semigovernment, military and public. Prem Phyak taught at Tribhuvan University (Nepal) for eight years. He currently teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include language policy, multilingualism, critical pedagogy, and teacher education (identity & agency). He obtained an M.A. TESOL from UCL and Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii. He has co-authored a book Engaged Language Policy and Practices (Routledge, 2017) and published several papers on language policy. He has presented at a number of international conferences and also worked in a number of projects and community activities related to teacher education, multilingual education, and language policy.

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Syed Manan holds a Ph.D. degree in Applied Linguistics. He presently serves as Associate Professor in the Multilingual Education program in the Graduate School of Education Nazarbayev University Nur-Sultan (Astana) Kazakhstan. His work on sociolinguistics, language policy and planning, bi/multilingual education and linguistic landscape has been published in a number of leading journals in the field. Those include Language Policy, Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Multilingua, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, World Englishes, and many others. Naashia Mohamed is a Senior Lecturer of TESOL at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her teaching and research contribute to understanding how school and society can empower linguistically marginalised children, youth, and families to achieve greater social equity. Through her scholarship, Naashia illustrates how home languages serve as powerful resources for students, helping them not only to attain academic success, but to promote second language and literacy development. Her publications critically analyse educational policies and practices in the Maldives and New Zealand contexts to promote those that validate multilingual learners’ assets while building on their ethnolinguistic identities.

EMI in the Nordic and Baltic Countries Kenan Dikilita¸s

and Carol Griffiths

Abstract This chapter looks first of all at the currently available literature for the Nordic (including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and ˙Iceland) and Baltic states (including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) with regard to the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) (Dikilita¸s & Griffiths, 2023). A small scale study carried out among both teachers and students at a Norwegian university is then reported. The study investigated reasons for choosing to work or study in an EMI environment, perceived advantages and disadvantages, and suggestions for dealing with the disadvantages. ˙Implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions made for further research.

1 Introduction As we are well aware, English as a medium of instruction (EMI) has spread, and is continuing to spread, around the globe (e.g., Macaro, 2018), including to the Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweeden, Finland, ˙Iceland) and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) located to the north west of Europe. As Airey et al. (2017, p. 561) note, Nordic countries have consistently been “at the forefront of this trend towards English-medium instruction (EMI)”. They go on to suggest that a major reason for this trend has been the recognition of the need by relatively small populations (such as those in the Nordic states) for internationalization, at least partly motivated by economic imperatives and accelerated by the Bologna process and declaratıon (1999) which aimed to standardize academic qualifications across Europe and which has also been adopted beyond (e.g., ˙India, Turkey). K. Dikilita¸s (B) University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway e-mail: [email protected] C. Griffiths Girne American University, Kyrenia, Cyprus e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_13

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This trend, however, has not been without criticisms. ˙Included among these are the loss of status and use for local and minority languages (e.g., Gunnarsson, 2001) and concern among both teachers and students about the increasing use of EMI in higher education (e.g., Seske, 2014), resulting in “domain loss” (Hultgren, 2016a, p. 153), which refers to the loss of status of a local language in particular domains (e.g., education, business, etc.). Pragmatic difficulties have also been noted such as the need for more student support (e.g., allowing more time) when studying in EMI (e.g., Shaw & McMillion, 2008). Teachers also need more support since, although they may be experts in their own specialties, they sometimes struggle to provide instruction in their subject matter in English (e.g., Hahl et al., 2016; Thøgersen & Airey, 2011) and it requires more effort and tıme (e.g., Niva, 2019). ˙Indeed, Tange (2010) likens the situation experienced by teachers for whom English is not their first language when they are obliged to teach in English to the Tower of Babel which “affects the quality and quantity of classroom communication” (p. 137). These concerns have led to policies of “parallel language use” (Hultgren, 2016b, p. 158), where languages are considered equal and used concurrently according to the needs of the situation.

2 Previous Literature It cannot be assumed, however, that experience with EMI is similar for all countries. ˙If we begin with Sweden, which has the largest population, we find that English has a long history, having been a required subject in Swedish schools since the middle of the nineteenth century, and has been seen “as a tool for gaining socioeconomic opportunities” (Hult, 2012, p. 232); nevertheless, Hult (2012, p. 242) concluded that “without question Swedish is the dominant language of education in Sweden”. Similarly, although English as a lingua franca (ELF) is widely used in Swedish educational institutions, where international students are often mixing with Swedish students, “students establish local norms for when, how and with whom it is appropriate—or inappropriate—to speak English” (Söderlundh, 2013, p. 113). Concerns about the “threat” of EMI in Sweden (Bolton & Kuteeva, 2012, p. 429) exist at all educational levels. According to a study conducted among young learners by Toth (2018), content knowledge may suffer where subjects are taught in English, partly because of students’ lower proficiency in English, and also because their teachers’ English level is not high enough for them to be able to easily convey the subject matter in a language other than their own L1; in addition, concerns have been raised that the dominant role of English may threaten linguistic diversity, especially for minority languages such as Yiddish and Romani. Likewise in secondary schools, language hierarchy is mentioned as a concern by Yoxsimer Paulsrud (2016) who also notes in her study that translanguaging (that is, communicating by means of more than one language) is common. Nevertheless, in spite of these concerns, the use of English in higher education seems to be increasing (Eliasson, 2022), a major reason for which is the dominant role of English in publication, a priority for students at university level.

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The situation is somewhat similar in Finland (including the autonomous Aland ˙Islands), Sweden’s eastern neighbour. Here Finnish is the dominant language, but Swedish is also recognized as an official language, and there are also several minority languages, including Russian and sign language. As in Sweden, English is taught from a young age (e.g., Peterson, 2022). According to an international survey, Finland ranked sixth out of 80 countries for English proficiency, behind the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Singapore (Stenger, 2018). ˙In a study of English as a medium of instruction at a Finnish university, Niva (2019) found a lack of unanimity regarding issues related to EMI among both teachers and students. She quotes one teacher as saying, “the English language should constitute a significant part of the degree—the significance of English is growing all the time” (p. 80). According to another participating teacher, however, “a Finnish student should be taught in Finnish…The supremacy of the English language should not be grown anymore” (p. 80). Niva goes on to report that positive attitudes among students relates to employability, although challenges include “misunderstandings, communication problems, and inadequate English skills” (p. 80). To the west in Norway, there are two official languages, Norwegian and Sami (the language of the indigenous people), as well as several minority languages. English is taught as a foreign language from Grade 1 (Indrelid, 2021). Thanks perhaps partly to such an early start, like most Scandinavians, the level of English proficiency in Norway is generally high; indeed, the level and use of English is often so high that it is sometimes regarded as a second rather than a foreign language, though this is controversial (e.g., Speitz, 2003–2004; Vattøy, 2017). Although Norwegian is the national language and most widely used in education, English is also used as a medium of instruction, partly in response to the increased need for internationalization as a result of the Bologna process (e.g., Bukve, 2018). Else (2017) reports that the language Council of Norway has expressed concern about the number of university courses taught in English, since the majority of students go on to work in their home country, and EMI does not prepare them for this. Nevertheless, although the majority of the students in Seske’s (2014) study thought they learned more from lessons in Norwegian than in English, they did not see English as a threat to Norwegian language; they valued English in terms of future employment, and they were quite comfortable using English in class. According to Bukve’s (2018) study, attitudes towards EMI is to some extent discipline-specific. She found, for instance, more positive attitudes among natural science students where 95% of publications are in English compared with law students where 70% of publications are in Norwegian. She also found goal orientation to be a factor influencing attitudes: those who planned to study abroad tended to display more positivity towards EMI than others. Across the Atlantic to the west, there is ˙Iceland. Although ˙Icelandic is the main language of ˙Iceland, and the main language of instruction in educational institutions, English is also widely used; however, the enthusiasm for English is tempered by the desire to also protect the status of ˙Icelandic (e.g., Hilmarsson-Dunn, 2009). Similar reservations are expressed by Albury (2014), who explains that although ˙Icelanders recognize that English is “the predominant language of the globalization

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process” (p. 105), they still wish to protect their “small but ancient language” (p. 105). According to Arnbjörnsdóttir (2018), English education begins early and ˙Icelanders are exposed to English in their daily lives (e.g., from tourism), resulting in high levels of English ability, much of which is acquired outside the classroom. And south of Norway, across the Baltic Sea, we have Denmark (including the autonomous regions of Greenland and the Faroe ˙Islands). Denmark is, perhaps, best known in the west for Hans Christian Andersen’s delightful stories (in translation) and is also known for its excellent general level of English. Like its Nordic neighbours, Denmark has also moved to employ English as a medium of instruction in the interests of internationalization, but this has not been without opposition from those who see EMI as a threat to Danish language and culture and also likely to result in poorer learning because of students’ and/or teachers’ inadequate levels of academic and subject-specific English (e.g., Jensen & Thøgersen, 2011). Concerns are also raised by Leug (2015) who, although she supports the use of EMI as “a necessity in a globalizing economy” (p. 58), nevertheless stresses the need for careful implementation. Despite the controversy about the EMI issue, however, the trend towards increasing use of English as a medium of instruction appears to have continued. According to Werther et al. (2014, p. 444), although there has been “debate” about the effect of EMI on the status of Danish and the quality of education, the number of courses taught in English has “soared”. And according to Airey et al. (2017, p. 563) higher education institutions in Denmark see “internationalization as a strategic priority with the intention of developing more EMI programs that will attract more international students to the country”. Also located around the Baltic sea are the ex-Soviet states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. According to the Language Education Policy Profile (2010), approximately two thirds of education in Estonia is conducted in Estonian, with another third in Russian, a legacy of the Soviet era which lasted into the 1990s. Less than 1% of educational institutions use English as the medium of instruction. Nevertheless, according to the policy document, “in Estonia as in other European countries, English has become one of the key competences that every student is entitled to develop and that society expects schools to provide” (2010, p. 44). A developing problem is that the increasing demand for English teachers is greater than the numbers of teachers available, which affects the quality of instruction. ˙In Latvia, Latvian is the official language, but, since Latvia is another ex-Soviet state, Russian is also widely spoken and understood, and there are also several other minority languages, including Polish, Ukrainian and Belarusian (Kibbermann, 2019). ˙In 2018 there was a government decision that all education would be in Latvian, with only very few exceptions, but this has aroused much controversy about minority rights which is still ongoing. Nevertheless, English is becoming increasingly popular as an additional language and, according to their official website (2022) the University of Latvia offers some courses in English. Like Estonia and Latvia, Lithuania is also an ex-Soviet state, so, although Lithuanian is now the official language, Russian is still in evidence. Other ethnic groups include Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews, Germans, Tartars and Latvians, and

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their languages are allowed as languages of instruction. Nevertheless, the number of courses offered in English is constantly growing, partly in order to accommodate international students who come to Lithuania in order to study (Bulajeva & HoganBrun, 2008); although this was written some years ago, based on tendencies in other parts of the area, we might expect that this trend has continued. As we can see from the foregoing, although the Nordic and Baltic countries are independent, they tend to have similar (though, of course, not identical) characteristics which are reflected in the attitudes towards English as a medium of instruction. Perhaps foremost among these characteristics is a general awareness of the importance of English as an international language, especially for the purposes of education, business, and participation in international activities such as publishing. This has led to generally early starts for English instruction from the early years in school which in turn has led to generally high levels of English proficiency in the population, meaning that EMI is relatively easily accepted and coped with. This is true for Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, although less so for the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), perhaps as the result of Soviet influence until relatively recently. There have, however, been concerns raised about the possibly negative effects of English as a medium of instruction. These include concerns about the effect on the status of the national languages as well as possible attrition for minority languages, to the detriment of linguistic and cultural identity and diversity. Concerns have also been raised about the quality of education delivered in English, since it cannot be taken for granted that all students or teachers are as fully proficient in English as they are in their L1. As a result of these concerns, some countries have tried to limit EMI, but in spite of these efforts, the use of English as a medium of instruction seems to be continuing to increase across Nordic and Baltic states.

3 The Study The study reported in this chapter was carried out in a Norweigian university in departments where English was being used as a medium of instruction. Four teachers responded to the request for feedback on their perceptions of the use of EMI: Teachers 1 and 3 were German, Teacher 2 was Canadian, and Teacher 4 was Turkish. Five students from the university also responded. The instrument used was the same questionnaire used for the other studies in this volume, which asked: • • • •

why the respondent chose to teach or study in an EMI environment; the advantages they had found; the disadvantages they had found; any recommendations for addressing the difficulties they might have.

The questionnaie was sent by email to the participants, who were asked to respond to the questions in writing. The responses were analyzed by means of thematic

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analysis by the two authors, who read the data independently and compared their findings. Differences were resolved by negotiation. We look first of all at the teachers’ responses and then at the students’.

4 Results This sectionwill present the overall findings from the examination of the data received from the separate regions.

4.1 Teacher’ Responses 4.1.1

Q: Why Did You Choose to Work in an English as Medium of Instruction Environment?

Teachers reported two main justifications for their choice if English as medium of instruction: since they lack the ability to speak and teach through the host language (Norwegian) and since English is the program language together with the host language. So, it was not a choice but a need for them to use English while teaching their subjects. T1 also highlights the role of English in the discipline he teaches even though he believes they should also be instructed in their own language. Having been hired to a teaching and research position in Norway on relatively short notice I did not have ample time to start learning the language before taking up the new position, so English was the lingua franca. In the undergraduate realm, instruction in the mother tongue of the students is often advantageous for learning success, but in later semesters in my field (physics) it is paramount that students learn the technical vocabulary in English as all professional communication and publications are written in English.

T2 reports her bilingual practices of instruction especially for sharing and delivering the course content, which also shows that international academics tend to learn the host language and include it in their instructional and interactional processes. I can write my notes in English and Norwegian primarily for students who have English or Norwegian as an additional language.

T3 highlights the top-down rule to teach in English for some of his courses while also instructing in Norwegian. I didn’t really ‘choose’ it, but some of my teaching is or will be in English, because the university administers it that way.

T4 also addresses the lack of his ability to instruct in Norwegian and the context requires the use of English. However, he also reports that he creates spaces for his

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students to use Norwegian while communicating asynchronously via emails and submitting course-related tasks or assignments for evaluation. I have been teaching in English language education departments, so I am supposed to teach in English rather than in Norwegian. English has been my working language in my profession. It is not a choice of mine since I did not have another option to choose but to teach in English. But even in EMI context I sometimes sought for ways of enabling students to use their own languages for understanding content too or communicating with me or submitting their assignments.

4.1.2

Q: What Are the Advantages of Working in This Environment?

The participants also reported several advantages. T1 stresses his teacher confidence in using English which also offers them linguistic flexibility since English is internationally established as the language of science. There are two main advantages as far as I can see: I can immediately start teaching students in a language that I feel confident in, so I am able to provide them with the professional and flexible teaching environment that they deserve, and the students from an early-stage train to communicate in the internationally established language of physics, which is English.

T2 emphasizes the positive role of English in understanding the content since they can access online lexical support through various digital resources. English has a wide base of support, such as dictionaries and translation tools. If a student is unsure of a word or a sentence, they can generally share with others to understand its meaning.

T3 on the other hand focuses on the inclusivity of non-Norwegian international students in the education system: Foreign students can attend, but also support staff can just use English.

T4 argues how English creates a common space for linguistically diverse student groups to be able to discuss and communicate in the courses. He also adds that scientific materials are more widely and authentically represented and presented through English as the internationally accepted scientific language for communication and publication. Since we teach international students who are from different countries, the instructional language is English as an international language where communication and teaching are facilitated through use of the lingua franca. The advantages include the insightful argumentation with those coming from different countries where diverse thinking skills are combined to offer mental variety in thoughts, and experiences. English is also key to sharing materials in one language where everyone reads scientific materials universally produced and disseminated. It seems to be a unitary language that facilitates collaboration among students and academics. English as a language of science provides a wealth of resources and opportunities whereby learning is fostered by allowing students to make new meanings, gain new insights, and understand new possibilities for knowledge generation and capacity building internationally.

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Q: What Are the Difficulties?

The difficulties reported by the participants included three main aspects. T1 expressed his empathy for Norwegian students who might experience alienation since they need to use English where most speak Norwegian. I can see as main drawback that students may feel alienated if they are supposed to use a foreign language when studying in their own country. As an academic expat myself, I can empathize with this.

Although some students might question the instruction in English, EMI may still present advantages such as accessibility to resources, inclusivity, diversity in learning and engagement. T2 and T3 stress the students’ proficiency in both languages. International students often come to the study program with varied degrees of proficiency of English and their lack of knowledge of Norwegian language also poses challenges for the teachers. T2: The biggest difficulty I face when preparing my notes in English is encountering students who struggle with Norwegian and English to such a degree that the translation tools and dictionaries are not as effective as I would like. T3: Different skill levels can be a challenge. On courses which require a Norwegian qualification, it is counterintuitive for students that instruction is in English.

T4 also highlights different levels in the students’ ability to use English for learning and engagement in courses delivered in English. The success in EMI depends on the language skills of the teachers and students. He also argues that Norwegian and international students might have different levels of English which could influence negatively or positively the pace and quality of interaction among them while learning takes place. The difficulties might include the low proficiency or diverse level of English among students. Learning content is very much linked to how well students use English both verbal and written. The English language skills and proficiency of the students are generally high in Norway and students can read and write well enough to develop their understandings. It seems to me that English is acquired early on and ensures a fluent use of it throughout their study. However, when international students participate in the same class the linguistic diversity might be influencing student-student interaction leading to misunderstanding and keep the argumentation level on a low level without making it a deep and insightful discussion. EMI might thus be advantageous to the extent that students can communicate swiftly and at a similar depth of thinking.

T4 mentions the choice of English medium materials (digital or printed) as another difficulty: Language which is too academic seems to create conceptual difficulties for students since they are academic papers and mainly aimed for circulation among the academics rather than for students. Coursebooks are often not common in higher education, and we normally use the articles and books as course materials, which is variably processed by students depending on their language proficiency and language skills. When it is too hard, this might lessen the learning that might take place.

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T4 implies that language proficiency is not adequate, learning is not well supported due to the linguistic barriers, and the insights and knowledge that can be learnt may lack depth and breadth which might go unnoticed by the education system. Learning opportunities might be missed without being noticed by the students since they might be focused on passing the tests that are delivered in English only. Some students really want to write in their own language when they are tested and in Norway, I saw that some PhDs submitted Norwegian texts as assignments although the course itself is in English only because of the instructors’ lack of Norwegian language proficiently. I noticed that although Norwegian students have high fluency in speech, they might not feel confident enough to write in English.

4.1.4

Q: Do You Have Any Recommendations for Addressing the Difficulties?

The participants express some recommendations to address the difficulties. T1 first laments on how German lost its role as the language of modern physics and maths and recommends that students be part of scientific communities to develop their language skills and support their career development. Honestly, I do not think that there is anything that can be done about it. Germany, for instance, sometimes has this nostalgia about when modern physics and maths was predominantly published in German and in German journals, but that time is gone. To me communicating clearly to the students that command of English in their professional domain allows them to participate in a global scientific community and the benefits that this entails for their own growth and career is the best way forward.

T2 offers a practical suggestion on the language difficulties such as translation of the content to the students’ own language as extra support. This is an interesting practice if used strategically for difficulties students might experience. In these cases, I find translating to another language can be helpful. I have had instances where I can generate a nearly correct sentence using “Google translate” in the student’s primary language and this is sufficient to communicate my meaning.

T3 mentions bilingual instruction meaning parts of the course are delivered in two languages: Norwegian and English. Enhancing inclusivity in instructional design could be a useful practice for both Norwegian and international students. I suppose managing expectations is a big factor, that is early information: your course is bi-lingual, so some modules will be in English, etc.

T4 also discusses the potential use of two languages for teachers who might have low proficiency to avoid superficial learning: Teachers often feel inadequate to elaborate on abstract and sophisticated concepts and theories. Therefore, the instruction and acquisition of subject knowledge might not be completely learnt, and students might obtain only superficial knowledge.

T4 also reports that some Norwegians expect to be instructed or trained in Norwegian despite their proficiency.

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I can’t say I am sure that happens in Norway but at some point, I saw that some students chose to be instructed in Norwegian and some teachers wanted the training to be delivered in Norwegian to increase their chances of learning, although there are highly confident language users too.

T4 suggests that the difficulties can be addressed by creating learning spaces where different languages are offered to students to learn with rather than using only English. EMI contexts need to liberate students in the uses of languages since multiple language facilities the learning of deeper argumentation and sophisticated knowledge as well.

4.2 Students’ Responses 4.2.1

Q: Why Did You Choose to Study in an English as Medium of Instruction Environment?

Student participants also highlight the reasons for choosing EMI. Their responses point to the fact that English is an internationally functioning language: S1, S2, and S4 emphasize the international role of English in higher education and its being the language of science and how English helps them communicate internationally and access scientific resources. S1: The first reason is the UK has some of the best universities in the world and I wanted to further my studies in better universities. Secondly, English is the language of science. It is the language predominantly used in scientific literature so I could be able to update and improve myself by catching up with the literature and produce work in that language. S2: English is an international language, and it is easy to communicate with everyone around the world. S4: Studying in English is advantageous for both reaching various resources and offers many options for future research and opportunities.

S3 and S5 say English is the language of the program they study at and suggest that they might need to develop fluency in speech and accuracy in listening. S3: As I studied English language teaching, English as medium of instruction was compulsory. I didn’t choose it; however, if I were to choose, I’d choose it to improve my listening and speaking skills as well as to be familiar with the terminology. S5: I study English Literature, so it is better for me to study at an English-medium program rather than studying translated books. Also, I believe that BA can be in English or the vernacular; however, MA needs to be in English.

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221

Q: What Are the Advantages of Studying in This Environment?

Students report some advantages of studying in EMI contexts. S1 stresses the potential to access leading academics in the field while S4 says access to new developments in the field through English can be easier. S1: English facilitates access to leading academics in the field. Advantages are keeping yourself updated without any extra effort and being able to express and produce in the language I have trained in. Being able to work closely and directly with people who lead the research in my area. S4: I wanted to receive a promising education. Also, English is a common language all over the world and I can easily follow the new developments in the field I am studying.

S2 indicates that she can find employment in international settings: It makes easier to find a job and work in an international environment.

According to S5, English medium instruction can open doors all over the world: I do not need to learn another language: the diploma is accepted all around the world.

On the other hand, S3 emphasizes how she develops her language skills within the EMI context: You get to know the terminology and improve your language skills as you hear and produce the language during the lectures.

4.2.3

Q: What Are the Difficulties?

The students highlight the need for re-adjustment to the interactional use of English in the EMI programs. S1 implies her language challenges in the environment, while S2 focuses on the difficulty in thinking in English while engaging in the courses. S1: It takes time to adjust to the culture, and daily language is completely different than formal scientific language. To participate in daily life, you need to learn about a foreign culture and its effects on language. Once you get used to it, it becomes easier. S2: It can be hard to adjust and think in another language at first. There were times that I felt like I can express myself better in my mother tongue.

S3 indicates how daunting it might be to focus simultaneously on language and content: S3: It might be hard to adjust at first. If you are learning the language and you don’t have a full understanding, you need to give yourself some time. That means double work. Learn the subject matter and learn English at the same time.

S4 also mentions the lexical difficulties, which teachers also implied, by saying: Sometimes it can be difficult to read or write and express yourself in a language other than your mother tongue, so encountering unknown words can sometimes slow down our research speed.

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S5 mentions the varying degrees of proficiency among students and how this can be challenging while also adding that the library resources are often in Norwegian: Almost everyone’s level of English is different; therefore, the program does not meet my expectations. Also, some books and sources are not in English at the library.

The difficulties reported are often similar to those indicated by the teachers. Both groups focus on the language difficulties which impact learning and teaching as a key factor.

4.2.4

Q: Do You Have Any Recommendations for Addressing the Difficulties?

Students provide some recommendations to consider. S1 highlights the need for extra English support: Workshops or social events to help foreign people to blend in easily. Extra support for language if needed as it is our secondary language.

S2 points to the need for exposure to English: It helps to expose yourself as to the targeted language as much as possible to adjust.

S3 mentions the access to opportunity for more practice by saying: Practice English after school. Once you learn English, it’ll be a lot easier.—

S5 on the other hand suggests that the entry requirement be reconsidered, and students provide a test result from an international high-stakes exam: The criteria to be admitted in my program needs to be rearranged. Tests results such as IELTS and TOEFL must be required.

5 Discussion Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and ˙Iceland) have long been acknowledged for their high level of proficiency in English. Reasons given for this include the tendency to start English learning early, as well as the perceived need by relatively small populations for internationalization, emphasized by the Bologna process, which has been adopted throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world (e.g., Airey et al., 2017). In recent years, however, there has been a growing resistance to the prominence of English because of the perceived negative effect on local languages, leading to “domain loss” (the loss of status of local languages in particular domains such as education and business), which has been counteracted by the development of “parallel language use” (where languages are used concurrently with each other, e.g., Hultgren, 2016a, 2016b). ˙In spite of this, the adoption of English

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as a medium of instruction appears to have grown steadily (e.g., Eliasson, 2022; Werther et al., 2014). The situation in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) is somewhat similar, although, since they are all emergent ex-Soviet states, the adoption of English has been delayed. Russian is still very much in evidence in all three states, but even here the use of English is increasing, partly in response to a perceived need for internationalization (e.g., University of Latvia website, 2022). Of the teachers who responded to the request to participate in the study reported in this chapter, all were international (that is, none were local Norwegians). The dominant response to the question of why they chose to work in EMI was that it was not a choice: it was the only option. Advantages noted by these teachers were that they believed they were helping to develop the international language, that support materials (e.g., dictionaries) were readily available, and that, given that their students came from a number of different language backgrounds, English was the lingua franca, thereby facilitating communication. Difficulties included an awareness of a sense of alienation by local students being taught in a foreign language, and the low proficiency levels among some of the students leading to lower acquisition of content knowledge. Suggestions for coping with the difficulties included translanguaging or parallel teaching in the student’s L1 (as suggested by Hultgren, 2016b) and providing positive information about the benefits of studying in English in order to help maintain motivation. All of the students who responded were also international (no Norwegian students chose to participate). Reasons for choosing to study in English included that they wanted to go to a university in an English-speaking country, that they realized that their subject was mainly published in English and they wanted the opportunity for research and publication, and that they valued the ability to communicate in English as the international lingua franca. Advantages included enhanced employability and the availability of publications in English. Difficulties mentioned related mainly to adjustment to a different culture and to being unable to work and communicate in their own L1. And recommendations for addressing the difficulties included events organized where students could communicate with others, strengthening the requirements for entry to the courses, and more support (e.g., Shaw & McMillion, 2008).

6 Implications and directions for further research The ideas expressed in the literature relating to the Nordic and Baltic states and by the participants in the study reported in this chapter tend to echo many of those expressed elsewhere. That is that the advantages of EMI are that it facilitates internationalization and provides students with an extremely useful tool for global communication. ˙It enhances employability and gives access to publications and publication opportunities. Nevertheless, EMI can pose a threat to local languages and cultures, and because it is not the student’s L1, they are likely to struggle with learning subject content more than if they were learning in their own familiar language. Because of

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this, both students and teachers require more support than seems to be commonly provided. These issues therefore leave much room for further research to clarify some important questions, including: • What, exactly, is the degree to which EMI threatens local languages and leads to “domain loss”? • How effective are translanguaging or “parallel language use” in counteracting the difficulties students and/or teachers experience with EMI? • How should entry to EMI courses be strengthened, and what should the criteria for entry be? • How should students and teachers be supported?

7 Conclusion Overall, from both the available literature and the results of the study reported in this chapter, the situation in regard to English as a medium of instruction in the Nordic and Baltic states appears to be much the same as those reported in other regions. That is, EMI is valued as an agent of internationalization and as an enhancer of employability, but it may also create language and/or culture related problems and this may result in inadequate content knowledge, as well as presenting a threat to local languages, cultures and identities. We might conclude that EMI, although it has the potential to be a useful learning tool, is often employed with insufficient preparation and support and with inadequate attention given to the local effects. These issues are potentially critical in terms of teacher stress levels, student learning outcomes, and local consequences, and are overdue for some serious research and remedial action as necessary. Acknowledgement With acknowledgement and thanks to Kristina Hultgren, of the Open University, UK, for her helpful and insightful comments.

References Airey, J., Lauridsen, K., Räsänen, A., Salo, L., & Schwach, V. (2017). The expansion of Englishmedium instruction in the Nordic countries: Can top-down university language policies encourage bottom-up disciplinary literacy goals? Higher Education, 73, 561–576. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10734-015-9950-2 Albury, N. (2014). Fearing the known: English and the linguistic ramifications of globalizing Iceland. Journal of Globalization Studies, 5(2), 105–122. Arnbjörnsdóttir, B. (2018). The policies and contexts that frame English education and use in Iceland. In B. Arnbjörnsdóttir & H. Ingvarsdóttir (Eds.), Language development across the life span (pp. 1–18). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67804-7_2

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Bolton, K., & Kuteeva, M. (2012). English as an academic language at a Swedish university: Parallel language use and the ‘threat’ of English. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(5), 429–447. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2012.670241 Bukve, T. (2018). Students’ perspectives on English medium instruction: A survey-based study at a Norwegian university. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 17(2), 215–242. Bulajeva, T., & Hogan-Brun, G. (2008). Language and education orientations in Lithuania: A cross-Baltic perspective post-EU accession. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 11(3–4), 396–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050802148764 Dikilita¸s, K., & Griffiths, C. (2023). EMI in the Nordic and Baltic states. ˙In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 211–226). Springer. Eliasson, O. (2022). English is increasingly dominant in higher education. https://universitetslar aren.se/2022/03/17/english-is-increasingly-dominant-in-higher-education Else, H. (2017). Norwegian universities warned on English use. https://www.timeshighereducation. com Estonia: Language Education Policy Profile. (2010). Language education policy in a changing society: Shaping the future. Estonian Ministry of Education and Research. Gunnarsson, B. (2001). Swedish, English, French or German—The language situation at Swedish universities. In U. Ammon (Ed.), The dominance of English as a language of science. Effects on other languages and language communities (pp. 229–316). Mouton de Gruyter. Hahl, K., Järvinen, H.-M., & Juuti, K. (2016). Accommodating to English-medium instruction in teacher education in Finland. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 26(3), 291–310. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijal.12093 Hilmarsson-Dunn, A. (2009). The impact of English on language education policy in Iceland. European Journal of Language Policy, 1(1), 39–59. https://llink.gale.com/apps/doc/A24335 8476/AONE?u=anon~fcbe2a3d&sid=googleScholar&xid=b8623468 Hult, F. (2012). English as a transcultural language in Swedish policy and practice. TESOL Quarterly, 46(2), 230–257. Hultgren, A. K. (2016a). Domain loss: The rise and demise of a concept. In A. Linn (Ed.), Investigating English in Europe: Contexts and agendas (pp. 153–158). Mouton de Gruyter. Hultgren, A. K. (2016b). Parallel language use. In A. Linn (Ed.), Investigating English in Europe: Contexts and agendas (pp. 158–163). Mouton de Gruyter. Indrelid, T. (2021). The language of teaching in Norwegian schools. https://www.lifeinnorway.net/ language-in-norwegian-schools Jensen, C., & Thøgersen, J. (2011). Danish university lecturers’ attitudes towards English as the medium of instruction. Ibérica, 22, 13–33. http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=287023 888002 Kibbermann, K. (2019). Languages in higher education in Estonia and Latvia: Language practices and attitudes. ˙In S. Lazdi¸na, & H. Marten (Eds.), Multilingualism in the Baltic states: Societal discourses and contact phenomena (pp. 407–442). Palgrave Macmillan. Lueg, K. (2015). English as a medium of instruction and internationalization at Danish universities: Status, perspectives, and implications for higher education executives. Communication and Language at Work, 4, 53–73. Macaro, E. (2018). English medium instruction. Oxford University Press. Niva, A. (2019). English-medium instruction in a Finnish higher education institution: Attitudes and experiences of IS students and lecturers (Master’s thesis). University of Oulu. Peterson, E. (2022). The english language in Finland. Finnishness, Whiteness and Coloniality, 267. Seske, E. (2014). A study of attitudes towards English-medium instruction in higher education among students at the Faculty of Medicine at NTNU (Master thesis). NTNU. https://ntnuopen. ntnu.no/ntnu-xmlui/handle/11250/301684 Shaw, P., & McMillion, A. (2008). Proficiency effects and compensation in advanced secondlanguage reading. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 7(3), 123–143. Söderlundh, H. (2013). Applying transnational strategies locally: English as a medium of instruction in Swedish higher education. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 13(1), 113–132.

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Speitz, H. (2003–2004). Country report: Norway. Ministry of Education and Research. Stenger, W. (2018). Finland ranks sixth in English skills, early instruction crucial. https://yle.fi/ news/3-10071036 Tange, H. (2010). Caught in the Tower of Babel: University lecturers’ experiences with internationalisation. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(2), 137–149. https://doi.org/10. 1080/14708470903342138 Thøgersen, J., & Airey, J. (2011). Lecturing undergraduate science in Danish and in English: A comparison of speaking rate and rhetorical style. English for Specific Purposes, 30(3), 209–221. Toth, J. (2018). English-medium instruction for young learners in Sweden: A longitudinal case study of a primary school class in a bilingual English-Swedish school. Academic dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Language Education at Stockholm University. Vattøy, K. (2017). Learning English in Norway. Language Issues: THe ESOL Journal, 28(2), 51. Werther, C., Denver, L., Jensen, C., & Mees, I. (2014). Using English as a medium of instruction at university level in Denmark: The lecturer’s perspective. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 35(5), 443–462. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2013.868901 Yoxsimer Paulsrud, B. (2016). English-medium instruction in Sweden: Perspectives and practices in two upper secondary schools. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 4(1), 108–128.

Kenan Dikilita¸s is Professor of University Pedagogy at University of Stavanger in Norway. He previously worked in Turkey on graduate and undergraduate programs. His recent research interests include teacher education and professional development with emphasis on teacher identity, reflective practice, teacher action research, and bilingual teaching often examined through qualitative methodologies. He has published related articles and books in international journals and publications. Carol Griffiths has been a teacher, manager and teacher trainer of ELT for many years. She has taught in many places around the world, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, China, North Korea, Turkey and UK. She is currently working as Professor for Girne American University in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. She has presented at numerous conferences and published widely, including The Strategy Factor in Successful Language Learning. Language learning strategies, intake, EMI, ELF, burnout, individual differences and using literature to teach language are her major areas of research interest.

The Practice of EMI Around the World: A Metaview Izzettin Kök

Abstract This chapter attempts to amalgamate the insights from previous chapters regarding the state of EMI in multiple regions across the world (Kök, 2023). Although these regions are geographically, culturally and linguistically distinct, findings tend to be remarkably consistent: EMI is valued as a means of developing the global lingua franca (English), of achieving an international profile, and of benefiting from the revenue it generates. But the problems are also recognized, in terms of the effect on local languages and cultures, and from problems generated by inadequate preparation and support and a frequently low level of proficiency on the part of both teachers and students. The chapter concludes by suggesting much stronger levels of support for both students and teachers.

1 Introduction Due to innovations in technology, especially in the mass communications media and transportation, the world has become smaller, borders have been lifted, and travelling has been easier, cheaper, and faster. In this changing world, so as not to fall behind in the international arena economically, culturally, academically, and technologically, countries have tried to find ways keep up with the developments. To do this, they needed to find a shared code to communicate with each other, as communication is the most important part of this fierce competition. By virtue of historical and political developments such as colonization and wars, English has gained a status of being the global lingua franca in economics, technology, information and education.

I. Kök (B) Girne American University, Kyrenia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 C. Griffiths (ed.), The Practice of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) Around the World, Second Language Learning and Teaching, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30613-6_14

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2 Literature Review Learning an additional language is hard not only in that it requires an extended period of time but a great deal of energy and resources to overcome the challenges. According to research carried out in California, Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) students would take 3–5 years to develop oral and 4–7 years for academic English proficiency (Hakuta et al., 2000). In a university environment such as the foundation schools, a minimum of 18 months of intensive language education with qualified language instructors and resources is required in a country where the target language is spoken as the medium of daily exchange. It is even harder and takes longer in countries where the target language is not the native language of the country. Everyone agrees trying it that way is irrational, not feasible and expensive. Therefore, countries and institutions resort to trying to hit two birds with one stone, and use the target language (English in our case) as the medium of instruction in all or selected courses; the idea is that, while learning the content, students also learn the language. Of all those languages, perhaps, English is the leading one (lingua franca) compared to others such as French, Spanish, German or Portuguese, as it is used for communication, technology, business and education by more non-native speakers than native speakers. The practice of English as the medium of instruction is not new. Starting from the governments, all the stake holders are trying to do their best to implement an environment where English can be learned to compete with globalized economies, to establish an international profile, to follow technological innovations, and even sometimes to promote their own culture in the international academic arena (Ghorbani & Alavi, 2014). Considering the high cost of language education time and moneywise, almost all countries agreed to implement English as the medium of instruction (EMI). However, it is not a rose garden without thorns. EMI also has its own challenges. This chapter will discuss motivations of stakeholders, advantages, challenges, suggestions made both at the macro level by government and institutions, and at the micro level by learners and teachers, and finally suggestions to make EMI more efficient as well as coping strategies employed.

3 Methodology The methodology employed in the process of constructing this Metaview involved reading and re-reading the 11 chapters in the book which deal with a particular region, and noting down the points made by each. These were then assembled into tables headed by the particular topic being considered (reasons, advantages, disadvantages, recommendations and strategies). These were then cross checked by a colleague working independently, who suggested addition of some themes (e.g., “functionality” to Table 2); or the moving of some themes to other tables (e.g., “Academic international publishing opportunities” and “International publishing opportunities”

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from Table 2 to Table 3); or combination of some terms in the themes (e.g., “codeswitching and translanguaging”, and “bi-lingualism and parallel language use”) (Hultgren, 2016; Nordic Council, 2007); and sometimes the removal of a whole table (e.g., the one that listed quantitative information about regions and participants across regions such as the number of countries in each region, demographic information about the participants, etc., since this information is included in the relevant chapter). One of challenges confronted was whether only information stated explicitly should be included or whether implied themes should also be included. In this case, both were noted and discussed case by case with the independent colleague, and determined which should be included. Similarly, during the interviews, the answers provided by the participants, regardless of the frequency (by one participant or more) needed to be equally reflected in the data shared with the idea that every participant counts, as the number of participants was sometimes very few in comparison to the geography (the number of countries involved) and the huge population they represented. In addition, not only the data the individual chapter writers raised from their research but also from the literature they provided needed to be considered (Table 4). Last but not least, some themes were listed in more than one table, for instance, code-switching/translanguaging (see Tables 5 and 6), because they were mentioned in the data used.

4 Results 4.1 Motivations of Policies of Governments and Institutions The biggest motivation of governments and institutions such as K12 schools and universities stem from their political and economic concerns. Of all the driving forces, perhaps internationalism is the leading factor (See Table 1). By being international they aim to be recognized by the world so that they can attract more foreign students and increase international mobility in and out of country, as a result of which they gain prestige. This way they also want to motivate their students to improve their English proficiency, thereby contributing to the future workforce with better qualified manpower equipped with the right tools to better meet the challenges of the labor market (Pawlak & Papaja, 2023) as those students with high English proficiency will naturally have access to academic and technological resources where English is the lingua franca. Besides, studying in a multicultural environment will also enhance intercultural awareness and competence, which will make international cooperation possible among nations. Some countries sometimes are more specific with their motivations. In addition to the reasons we have discussed, China, for example, pursued more world university rankings (De Costa et al., 2022) in order to enhance their global profile. To enable this, sometimes political decisions have been necessary as in the European Union (Coleman, 2006). The implementation of this type of education started

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Table 1 Motivations and policies of governments and institutions—Adapted from Dearden and Macaro (2016) and Su and Cheung (2021) Themes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

The desire for internationalization and creating a global profile

* * * * * * * * * *

*

The desire to attract international students and the revenue that they bring

* * * * * * * * * *

*

The desire to increase international mobility

* * * * * * * * * *

*

The desire to contribute to a future work force

* * * * * * * * *

*

The desire to gain access to academic resources where * * * * * * * * * * English is the lingua franca

*

The desire to enhance intercultural competence

* * * * * * * * * *

*

The desire to improve domestic students’ English proficiency

* * * * * * * * * *

*

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

to gain momentum with the adoption of the Bologna declaration in and out of the European Union (e.g., Turkey and India, as they are a part of Bologna Process but not part of European Union (Dikilita¸s & Griffiths, 2023). Often, they were part of the individual countries reforms made by their national jurisdictions. Once those decisions were made, the number of university level programs increased (Maiworm & Wächter, 2014) and EMI turned into an “unstoppable train” (Macaro, 2015, p. 7). Despite the gains, there is also serious opposition to EMI. The resistance is basically due to nationalism and negative attitudes of people towards English speaking countries. That is why no consensus has been reached among the nations regarding whether to accept and implement EMI in their countries, even in countries which share the same geography or countries with similar linguistic and cultural background. The reasons why they resist the idea of EMI varies. Israel, Syria, Kuwait, Qatar, for instance, opposed it for nationalistic reasons to protect their native language and national identity. Ironically the opposite is also the reality. Iran, for instance, supported EMI to promote Persian culture in the Western World through academic publications and showing their scholars in international venues (Ghorbani & Alavi, 2014), and Oman supported EMI because they developed antipathy towards Arabic as a result of “colonized consciousness” (Ismail, 2012, p. 143). Perhaps, of all the objections, the most unique one is the case of Italy: a group of lecturers and researchers at the Politecnico di Milano, decided to sue their university for implementing EMI claiming that it violated their freedom in teaching (Campagna & Pulcini, 2014; Santulli, 2015). In addition to Italy, France viewed EMI as a threat to the national language and an authentic French identity (Gallix, 2013). Sometimes the same concern can be seen for more than one language (English and Spanish) as in the Basque region of Spain (Doiz et al., 2014; Ruiz de Zarobe & Lyster, 2018; Santos et al., 2017) Besides some of the countries offer no EMI because the official or

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Table 2 Motivations of teachers to be a part of EMI (reasons/teachers) Themes

1

Close to home

*

Functionality (EMI schools are well managed)

*

Discipline (EMI schools are well disciplined)

*

Support available

*

Have no other choice

*

Institutional pressure

*

2

3

4

5

6

7

*

*

*

*

*

*

8

9

10

11

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

the medium of instruction is the language which is widely used in oral and written discourse in those countries, such as English, French, German, Russian and Spanish. To improve their language further, they prefer to go to those countries to develop language skills through immersion in a native-speaking context.

4.2 Motivations from the Teachers’ Points of View EMI, as perceived by many who work in EMI contexts is seen as a platform where people can develop professionally, and which links individual students, teachers and institutions with global networking to increase intercultural awareness and provide collaborations. (Galloway & Ruegg, 2020) (See Table 2 for details). The motivations of the majority of teachers who are involved in EMI schools can be seen in Table 2.

4.3 Advantages from the Teachers’ Points of View The advantages of EMI from the teachers’ point of view are set out in Table 3. According to Derakhshan et al. (2022, pp. 13–14), the advantages of working in an EMI environment include: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)

more chances to improve language proficiency; more access to specialized sources; higher chance of continuing education abroad; higher chance of employment; more exposure to English; higher chance of publishing articles in prestigious journals.

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Table 3 Perceived advantages of EMI (teachers) Themes

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

International publishing opportunities

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

English as an international language

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Practicality of conveying content

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

More chances to improve language proficiency

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

More access to specialized sources

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Higher chance of continuing education abroad

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Higher chance of employment

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

More exposure to English

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Chance to emigrate to an English speaking country

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

Besides those, there are also shared advantages the teachers see working in an EMI context. Almost all the teachers see studying in an EMI context as motivating in that they will improve their linguistic proficiency as they are more exposed to English, and EMI will contribute to their academic proficiency, especially their oral skills, along with other skills, and vocabulary expansion; therefore, they will have more access to updated, specialized content and will be able convey the contents of their disciplines more easily and accurately, so that they will be better prepared professionals. By being proficient in English, they believe they will be able to show themselves in international academia participating in international events, publishing academic research results, thereby being recognized inside and outside their countries, and by extending their academic networks they will, perhaps, have better prospects to work in better conditions domestically and internationally. They also see that EMI creates an international environment in their institutions by welcoming students and teachers from other countries for education for longer periods of time through long term partnerships or short-term exchange programs through mutual collaborations or via programs such as Erasmus. In addition they believe they will also be better equipped with more updated pedagogical knowledge and skills, and be able to enhance their qualities. Being international, teachers believe they also contribute to the recognition of their institutions and countries internationally. Besides the aforementioned advantages and motivations teachers shared, there are a number of other issues that some of the participants believe are among the reasons why they choose EMI. Some teachers preferred working in an EMI environment because the schools that provide English medium instructions happen to be close to their homes, which saves them time and energy, and perhaps the cost of transportation. A number of others pointed out that that was their only option to work in EMI schools as it is the only possibility in their location. Sometimes the majority of the schools they can work at are EMI schools, and sometimes there is a huge pressure on the

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teachers by their administrators to teach in an EMI context due to the country’s or institution’s policy as they believe EMI schools are more popular, more lucrative and they attract more international students. Last but not least, some prefer EMI schools, as they are the so-called “functional” schools in their country, providing both the learners and teachers with great support in terms of infrastructure and educational assistance with more motivated students.

4.4 Challenges Teachers Face Nevertheless, although the teachers in the various regions represented in this book mentioned many advantages for EMI, they also noted a number of challenges, as set out in Table 4. EMI schools can be of many different sorts: schools where only certain subjects such as science math classes, or where content of all courses are taught in English, or where EMI is used at secondary or tertiary level. However, the perceived problems Table 4 Challenges teachers face in implementing EMI Themes

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Linguistic inefficiency

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Difficulty communicating

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Lack of vocabulary

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Inability to think on feet

*

*

*

*

Difficulty explaining content

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Lack of previous training *knowledge and skills *techniques

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Lack of practice

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Diverse L1 backgrounds

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Low English proficiency level of students

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Lack of learning strategies in English

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Students’ lack of EMI experience

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Decrease in teacher motivation

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Difficulty in expressing the ideas/opinions

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Difficulty in comprehending the materials

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Lack of student motivation and interest

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Lack of student confidence

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

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by teachers and students are very similar. teaching the content in English is not easy from a number of perspectives: 1. It is not easy to find teachers with bi-lingual competency—one in English and the other the native language of the students. 2. finding suitable course and supporting material. 3. lack of linguistic and pedagogical support for the teachers to teach effectively and provide discipline in the classroom. 4. designing appropriate curricula. Major challenges teachers faced by all the teachers is the linguistic and pedagogical (in)efficiency and lack of resources and support. Their linguistic inefficiency causes demotivation, sometimes degrading, as in one study where the pronunciation of the teacher was laughed at and corrected by a student (Nel & Ssentanda, 2023). A good number of these problems are also mentioned by the students. There is a relationship between linguistic levels, success, motivation, and confidence. In almost all contexts, linguistic competence is considered to be a determining factor in motivation and as a corollary of this, success and self-confidence follow. A good number of teachers complain about their linguistic inefficiency not only in that their overall language competence is low but they also suffer from a lack of the necessary jargon to teach the content. The situation worsens in cases where the teacher does not speak the native language(s) of the students. In some cases, students come from many different L1 backgrounds none of which the teacher is able to speak. In other cases, some students may have a higher level of linguistic competence than the teacher, and they try to correct their teachers’ language of instruction (English) which humiliates and degrades the teacher. This naturally demotivates the teachers, and causes the students to lose their trust in the teacher. Teachers do not see their linguistic inefficiency as their only problem. They also suffer from the students’ lack of English proficiency. They complain that the students cannot understand them because they do not have the necessary linguistic skill or vocabulary to understand the lectures, or read the books and discuss the content with their teachers, which eventually decreases their motivation and self-confidence. Even the unequal level of linguistic competence among the students can cause problems for teachers who strive to level the education so it suits everyone. Both teachers’ and students’ lack of proper linguistic competence often results in oversimplification of the content leading to great disappointment for motivated learners (Heigham, 2018). As most of the teachers do not generally have a proper EMI preparation education before they start to teach, they lack pedagogical skills such as the capacity to plan, initiate, lead and develop education and teaching with a suitable starting point by warming up students and introducing the subject after reviewing the previously learned knowledge and skills, and then continuing with the new knowledge. They often do not even have the necessary classroom management skills that will provide a productive learning environment with discipline for EMI. When they need help, assistance is non-existent in most cases, if not at all. A great many teachers also suffer from a lack of the appropriate strategies to teach and cope with the challenges

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which they encounter. They, similarly, complain that students lack the learning skills to study and learn effectively in an EMI context.

4.5 Recommendations of Teachers for Better EMI Instruction In response to the challenges teachers face, there are a number of recommendations they share to make EMI practices in their countries more fruitful (see Table 5). The most frequently repeated recommendation they made is about their need for linguistic, educational and pedagogical support, support for English language both for themselves and their students, support with the instructional material, etc. The most frequently cited challenge teachers face was linguistic and pedagogical inefficiency. Linguistic inefficiency is a problem for both teachers and students. They recommend providing an English preparatory education to learners before they start EMI, and/or English for Academic Purposes/English for Specific Purposes Education where possible. During EMI education, remedial speaking classes are also given as a constructive recommendation to ease the problems. This way they will be ready and benefit more from EMI education linguistically and content-wise. Teachers want to be equipped with the necessary pedagogical skills such as education, learning, teaching, and classroom management via pre-service or in-service training so that they become more efficient teachers of EMI. They also want to be provided with facilities and easy-access materials to refer to whenever needed. Support materials include EMI, pedagogical and English language learning material. Table 5 Recommendations teachers make for better EMI practices in their countries Recommendation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Disciplinary support

*

Professional development

* * * * * * * * * *

*

Pedagogical support

* * * * * * * * * *

*

Provide reference material

* * * * * * * * * *

*

Provide study aids

* * * * * * * * * *

*

* *

Revision of curricula

* * * *

Remedial language courses

*

Bilingual medium/parallel language instruction Native medium of instruction Increasing the number of international students Code switching/Translanguaging Stricter English requirement levels for EMI courses?

* *

*

* * * * * * *

*

* * * * * * * * * *

*

* *

*

* *

*

*

*

* * *

*

* * * * * *

*

* * * * *

*

* *

*

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

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Other recommendations cover increasing the number of international students to motivate the domestic learners and teachers, and international collaborations so the teachers can exchange their content and pedagogical knowledge and practices and experiences along with the methods they use. Bilingual or in some contexts native language medium of instruction are also offered as recommendations. Last but not least, educational institutions should change their curricula to suit EMI education by adding linguistic education for both teachers and students and pedagogical education for teachers, and including English education as an integral part of content education.

4.6 Strategies Employed by Teachers to Cope with the Challenges Dealing with challenges is a challenge in its own right. Although strategies were not one of the key original questions, they were mentioned by many of the teachers, so they have been included in this metaview. The most common strategies teachers report resorting to are listed in Table 6. Unanimously all teachers refer to code-switching/translanguaging. This is done either using both languages during the instruction or stopping and translating a couple of words or sentences so the students can comprehend the content better. In some contexts, teachers summarize the content in the shared native language after discussing it in English throughout the lesson. Frequently, again, they make the content comprehensible through conversational interactions: slow delivery of the content in English by using simpler words and shorter sentences, self-repetitions, paraphrasing, comprehension checks and encouraging the students to ask for clarification if they fail in comprehending a part. Sometimes teachers also recommend the learners practise more often after the classes; or in the case of linguistic inefficiency, teachers make the students copy the content of what is written on the board and study at home. In rare cases, teachers direct the students to private tutors outside the school. This is also preferred by parents in some countries (e.g., Kazakhstan, Turkey, etc.). Table 6 Strategies teachers employ to cope with some of the challenges Strategy

1

2

3

Make the learners copy the content from the board

*

*

*

4

5

Using short sentences in class and repetitions

*

*

Give more responsibility to learners

*

*

*

*

(Teacher-student) resort to translation

*

*

*

*

*

Code switching/translanguaging

*

*

*

*

*

6

7

8

9

10

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

11

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

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Table 7 Motivation of students to enroll in EMI programs (reasons/students) –

1

2

EMI only option

*

*

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Parental influence

*

*

*

Desire and encouragement for overseas study

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

To study and work abroad

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

To get qualification to teach

*

To have access to study materials

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Intercultural communication

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

To improve English

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

To find better jobs

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

10

11

* *

* *

*

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

4.7 Motivations of Learners Students prefer EMI schools because they perceive EMI schools as the best ones among the others both at secondary and tertiary levels (see Kazakhstan chapter). By going to an EMI school they believe they will get the internationally best education by having access to better teachers equipped with the necessary qualifications, and better study material, develop their linguistic competence, intercultural competences and increase their intercultural communication. After graduating from an EMI high school, their prospects to go to a quality university in or out of their countries will increase. When they finish the school, they believe their qualifications will increase and they will gain better qualifications and self-confidence and have better chances to go abroad for their higher education or seek better employment in better conditions. For that reason, with that perception in mind, families in those countries urge their children to go to a secondary school where EMI is practised. To help with their classes they also hire private tutors to help their children with their courses. In some contexts, learners study in EMI universities so they can teach in EMI schools after graduation (Nel & Ssentanda, 2023). See Table 7 for details.

4.8 Advantages of EMI as Perceived by Students Students’ perceptions of the advantages of EMI are set out in Table 8.

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Table 8 Advantages students expect to find in EMI Programs Themes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Qualification and the chance to have teaching degree * *

* * *

Improves English

* * * * * * * * * *

Access to information

* * * * * * * * * *

Intercultural communication awareness

* * * * * * * * * *

Emotional development

*

* * * * * * * * *

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

4.9 Challenges Students Face As with the teachers, the biggest challenge students have to face is their linguistic (in)efficiency. As they lack the necessary linguistic skills and vocabulary (Sano et al., 2023), they find it difficult to understand the teachers or read the textbooks and comprehend the content. Communicating with the teachers and expressing themselves in and out of the classroom environment to discuss an issue with the teachers also becomes very difficult especially in the cases where they do not share the same L1 with their teachers and sometimes not with their fellow classmates (see Table 9). This situation results in students feeling incompetent, demotivated and eventually unsuccessful in their courses. Lack of English turns into a barrier to study rather than a tool to facilitate their understanding of the subject matter (Salama, 2023). In some cases, learners who need assistance are directed to private tutors by their course instructors. Table 9 Perceived challenges of students in EMI practices Themes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Communicating with teachers is difficult

* *

* * * * * * *

Teachers’ level of English and their pedagogical education

* *

* * * * * * *

Feeling incompetent

* * * * * * * * * *

Difficulty with expressing self

* * * * * * * * * *

Lack of vocabulary

* * * *

Failure in exams

* *

*

Diverse L1 backgrounds

*

* * * * *

Teachers’ directing them to private tutoring or elsewhere to * get support

* * * * * *

* *

*

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

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Table 10 Recommendations students make to better their learning in EMI environments Recommendation

1

2

More practice opportunities

*

*

Study aids/support

*

*

Subject-specific language training

*

*

Improving teacher proficiency

*

*

Subject specific glossary aids

*

Bilingual education Code-switching/translanguaging

*

3

*

*

*

*

*

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

11

*

Key 1 = Sub-Saharan Africa; 2 = Middle East; 3 = North Africa; 4 = Western & South-western Europe; 5 = Central Asia; 6 = South-east Asia; 7 = Latin America; 8 = Central & Eastern Europe; 9 = East Asia; 10 = South Asia; 11 = Nordic & Baltic countries

4.10 Students’ Recommendations for Better EMI Education Students’ recommendations so they can benefit more from EMI schools are summarized in Table 10. The biggest barrier to EMI education, as students see it, is the lack of linguistic skills, and the problems they face as a result of lack of linguistic proficiency. A majority of the student recommendations run around language learning and how to comprehend the content of EMI instruction. Firstly, they suggest providing preparatory language education for those students who do not have the basic linguistic proficiency. Besides, additional speaking courses to develop their oral skills should be provided. It is not the students only who suffer from lack of English skills, but some teachers as well. Therefore, teachers in need should also be provided with courses, time and material to develop their English proficiency. Online provided courses such as EAP/ESP are to be recommended for the students who might need them. To provide more exposure to English via different forms of activities, open forums, English clubs and cafes are also recommended (Siregar et al., 2023). Besides, various types of other study aids and activities such as listening to podcasts, watching documentaries, doing vocabulary and grammar exercises are also considered to be helpful to develop their English proficiency (Pawlak & Papaja, 2023).

5 Discussion and Implications Internationalism is a natural result of globalization which has resulted from the development in technology and communication and the decrease in the time and cost of travel. More and more people along with companies and institutions have started to extend the boundaries of their lives and business worlds. More people have decided to travel to other countries to do business, study, work or live, which entails learning an additional language. Of all the languages, being the lingua franca of education,

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international commerce, military, art, etc., English has become the language of international communication. However, additional language teaching/learning is hard. It is both time-consuming and expensive. It requires a great deal of sacrifice on the part of the learners, teachers, institutions and governments. Being aware of this fact, governments have made changes in their educational policies and systems to implement foreign language education at schools. The best option that almost all countries agreed on is the implementation of EMI in their countries and institutions. While doing so, they have had different motivations such as creating a global profile, attracting more international students and the revenue that they bring, adding to the overall quality of their citizens’ work force equipped with English proficiency and intercultural awareness who can compete in the international arena, to be internationally recognized and being a part of the international community, etc. Although there are more commonalties among different countries in terms of their motivations, reason why they prefer EMI, challenges and the strategies they use and recommendations they make, there are also differences (Padwad et al., 2023) such as: • the level EMI starts at (kindergarten-primary school, junior-senior high school or university); • contents (science classes, science and social science classes or all subjects); • field of study (engineering, all positive sciences, all disciplines); • types of schools (government vs private schools, specially founded functional schools where the learners and teachers are more carefully selected and better administered). Even though the motivation of the learners may be seemingly similar, they might differ from each other at the beginning, or they may change throughout the process. In some countries, almost all students pointed out that going to an EMI school was their parents’ choice as EMI schools were providing better education such as Bilim-Innovation Lyceum (BIL) in the case of Kazakhstan (Hajar et al., 2023). Later, however they also agreed these EMI schools contributed to their identity formation with their professional, intercultural and academic gains. Yet, implementation of EMI has its own challenges. The biggest of all is, perhaps, linguistic (in)efficiency of the teachers and students, which results in low motivation and self-confidence, and low quality of linguistic and content-based gains, and often resulting in oversimplification of the content leading to great disappointment for motivated learners (Heigham, 2018). Another one is the lack of proper curricula that clearly plan the content, integrated with language, and give guidance as to how EMI is to be implemented along with teachers’ experience, pedagogical support for EMI, and infrastructure. Some other challenges EMI brings are social (inequality of access to EMI schools or resources, hierarchy between schools (EMI vs. non-EMI schools) and socio-cultural issues such as fear, (lack of) self-esteem or confidence. (Padwad et al., 2023). If EMI is a national policy and supported by government by taking all these issues into account, it is successful. If well-educated teachers are used in well-planned programs, success can be expected to be a natural result (Kazakhistan, Greece, Turkey, Hong Kong to name a few). Besides, teachers with a high level of

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linguistic proficiency enjoy working in EMI programs as they develop linguistically and academically, thereby contributing to the internationalization of their institutions and their countries by teaching and publishing in more multicultural environments. Students with the necessary linguistic and study skills also benefit more from the education linguistically and content wise, eventually contributing to the future labor force.

6 Conclusion and Suggestions for Further Research In spite of serious reservations, EMI is like “an unstoppable train” (Macaro, 2015, p. 7). In theory, it is the optimum way of learning English as well as the content of the courses as in the familiar metaphor of hitting two birds with one stone. However, experience is showing that there are also serious challenges. Its planning and implementation should be carefully done by providing its legal foundations by passing laws and regulations to design EMI programs, laying the necessary infrastructure with well-prepared curricula, training well-qualified teachers as well as linguistically well-prepared and motivated students, setting linguistic prerequisites for both students and teachers and providing economic benefits for teachers who work in EMI schools. If proficiency requirements are not met, compulsory English language education should be given to both teachers and students (e.g., Nhung, 2020). And these generalizations are in evidence across virtually all of the regions surveyed in this book in spite of their geographical, linguistic or cultural differences. The teaching body should be carefully chosen from among the teachers who are proficient in English and the courses that they are to teach, and who have received the necessary pedagogical education so that they can cope with the challenges they might face. Students should be linguistically ready to receive EMI instruction by going through screening processes to make sure they are sufficiently proficient to cope with EMI without jeopardizing the quality of their content knowledge. As a supporting assistance to students, curricula should be modified so that supporting English language education material is embedded in the content. The number of research studies carried out concerning EMI is not equally distributed. In some regions there are quite a few studies investigating EMI and in some others there are only few, as in the case of North Africa (Ismail, 2011, in Salama, 2023), Latin America (Macaro et al., 2018 Aliaga Salas & Andreade, 2023), East Asia (Sano et al., 2023), Western and Southern Europe (Gavriilidou & Mitits, 2023), and Central and Eastern Europe (Pawlak & Papaja, 2023). Carrying out more and varied research will shed more light on EMI and EMI related issues to better understand it and its challenges. Besides although the research model followed in this book was structured and all the researchers followed the same model and procedures, the majority of the research was carried out in a single country and usually focused on a certain group of participants. Replication of similar research in more countries focusing on different schools with larger populations would better portray

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the practices more accurately, and offer more suggestions about the models and techniques for further studies (Wood, 2020, in Nel & Ssentanda, 2023) and solutions to the challenges, which may have stronger effects on the institutional administrators and governments to take actions. Furthermore, almost all of the studies listed in the book focus on learners and educators of EMI. However, there are also other stakeholders equally important in the EMI endeavor who are worth investigating, such as institutional administrators and curricula designers and publishers (Kırkgöz et al., 2023). In addition, other specific suggestions for further research made by individual chapter writers include: • What, exactly, is the degree to which EMI threatens local languages and leads to “domain loss”? • How effective are translanguaging or “parallel language use” in counteracting the difficulties students and/or teachers experience with EMI? • How should entry to EMI courses be strengthened, and what should the criteria for entry be? • How should students and teachers be supported? (Dikilita¸s & Grifiths, 2023) In multi-lingual and multi-cultural societies, people need a common code of communication to understand each other and continue with their education and daily life. In others, despite all the challenges, oppositions, and cultural and native language concerns, considering the importance of internationalism and globalization, and the pressure they put on countries, institutions, and individuals, EMI is the most, if not the only, rational, feasible and economical way of teaching English as a lingua franca until some other ways are introduced.

References Aliaga Salas, L., & Andreade, G. (2023). EMI in Latin America. In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 133–152). Springer. Campagna, S., & Pulcini, V. (2014). English as a medium of instruction in Italian universities: Linguistic policies, pedagogical implications. Textus, 27(1), 173–190. Coleman, J. A. (2006). English-medium teaching in European higher education. Language Teaching, 39, 1–14. Dearden, J., & Macaro, E. (2016). Higher education teachers’ attitudes towards English medium instruction: A three-country comparison. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 6(3), 455–486. De Costa, P. I., Green-Eneix, C. A., & Li, W. (2022). Problematizing EMI language policy in a transnational world: China’s entry into the global higher education market. English Today, 38(2), 80–87. Derakhshan, A., Rakhshanderoo, M., & Curle, S. (2022). University students and instructors’ attitudes towards English medium instruction courses: Voices from Iran. In S. Curle, H. Ali, A. Alhassan & S. Scatolini. (Eds.), English-medium instruction in higher education in the Middle East and North Africa: Policy, research and practice, Bloomsbury. Dikilita¸s, K., & Griffiths, C. (2023). EMI in the Nordic and Baltic states. In C. Griffiths (Ed.), The practice of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) around the world (pp. 227–244). Springer.

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Izzettin Kök completed both his undergraduate and graduate education at the ELT Department of Dokuz Eylül University in Turkey. He has worked in various positions including faculty member, chair of ELT Department, director of the school of foreign languages at different government higher education institutions, and universities. He is currently working as the Vice Dean of the Education Faculty at Girne American University in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kök’s research interest covers a large area of foreign language learning and teaching as well as testing and evaluation in language education. He has published on the relationship between learner variables such as hemispheric dominance, multiple intelligences, and learning strategies, especially those of listening comprehension, and foreign language learning and teaching.