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English medium Instruction: A Growing Global Phenomenon

Research · October 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.12079.94888

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English as a medium of instruction
– a growing global phenomenon
Julie Dearden

© Mat Wri ght

www.teachingenglish.org.uk
English as a medium of instruction
– a growing global phenomenon
Julie Dearden
The author
Julie Dearden

Julie Dearden is the Senior Research and

Development Fellow in English as Medium of
Instruction (EMI) at Oxford University Department
of Education (OUDE) and has a particular interest
in the global shift from English being taught as
a ‘foreign’ language to English being used as a
medium of instruction for other academic subjects.
She is a member of the OUDE Applied Linguistics
research group which aims to increase
understanding of the acquisition and use of
language from both a theoretical and a practical
perspective. Julie manages a new research centre
which was established in March 2014: EMI Oxford.
This centre conducts research into English as
Medium of Instruction and develops and teaches
professional development programmes for
teachers and lecturers.

 Contents
1 Executive summary.................................................................................................................................................................................. 2

2 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4

3 Methodology................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
3.1 The preliminary study...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
3.2 The 55 countries study................................................................................................................................................................... 5
3.3 Methodological challenges posed by this study.................................................................................................................. 7

4 The findings.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
4.1 The growth of EMI as a global phenomenon.......................................................................................................................... 8
4.2 Official policies and statements on EMI.................................................................................................................................12
4.3 Different national perspectives on EMI..................................................................................................................................15
4.4 Public opinion on EMI.....................................................................................................................................................................20
4.5 Teaching and learning through EMI.........................................................................................................................................23
4.6 Internationalising higher education.........................................................................................................................................29

5 Looking ahead...........................................................................................................................................................................................32

6 Bibliography...............................................................................................................................................................................................34

Contents  | 1
 1
Executive summary
This report presents the findings of a study which The main conclusions are:
attempted to provide an initial picture of the rapidly ■■ The general trend is towards a rapid expansion
growing global phenomenon of English medium of EMI provision.
instruction (EMI). Our working definition of EMI was:
■■ There is official governmental backing for EMI
The use of the English language to teach academic but with some interesting exceptions.
subjects in countries or jurisdictions where the first
language (L1) of the majority of the population is ■■ Although public opinion is not wholeheartedly
not English. in support of EMI, especially in the secondary
phase, the attitudes can be described as ‘equivocal’
The study was conducted by EMI Oxford (The Centre or ‘controversial’ rather than being ‘against’ its
for Research and Development in English Medium introduction and/or continued use.
Instruction), a centre based in the University of ■■ Where there are concerns these relate to the
Oxford’s Department of Education. The research potentially socially divisive nature of EMI because
group included Professor Ernesto Macaro, instruction through English may limit access
Dr Catherine Walter, Julie Dearden and Ting Zhao. from lower socio-economic groups and/or a fear
The study was enabled thanks to the support of the that the first language or national identity will
British Council and the data were collected between be undermined.
October 2013 and March 2014.
In many countries the educational infrastructure
The broad aim was to map the size, shape and does not support quality EMI provision: there is a
future trends of EMI worldwide. In order to meet shortage of linguistically qualified teachers; there
the challenge of researching a global phenomenon are no stated expectations of English language
with limited resources it was decided that the proficiency; there appear to be few organisational
methodology of this initial and unique study would or pedagogical guidelines which might lead to
be to ask British Council staff in 60 countries to act effective EMI teaching and learning; there is little
as ‘informed respondents’ for the countries in which or no EMI content in initial teacher education
they were resident. Open-ended questionnaires were (teacher preparation) programmes and continuing
sent to these respondents and they were asked to professional development (in-service) courses.
provide information on the current state of EMI under
a number of headings. Further information on the We are quite some way from a ‘global’ understanding
methodology used is provided in the main report. of the aims and purposes of EMI because it appears
We obtained information on 55 countries. to be a phenomenon which is being introduced
‘top-down’ by policy makers and education managers
rather than through consultation with the key
stakeholders. We are also quite some way from
an understanding of the consequences or the
outcomes of EMI.

We conclude and recommend that there is an urgent

need for a research-driven approach which consults
key stake-holders at a national and international level
and which measures the complex processes involved
in EMI and the effects of EMI both on the learning
of academic subjects and on the acquisition of
English proficiency.

2 |  Executive Summary
 Specifically we call on the relevant research ■■ What are the implications for secondary education
community to answer the following questions: resulting from EMI expansion in tertiary education?
■■ Who or what is driving EMI implementation ■■ How does classroom interaction change as the
and expansion? medium of instruction changes? Does it become
■■ What are the different forms of EMI currently more interactive or less interactive?
being developed? ■■ What are the psycholinguistic representations in
■■ What kind of English is being used in EMI and the mental lexicon of abstract concepts
does this matter? encountered in academic subjects through EMI?

■■ What are the implications for teacher education, ■■ Do abstract concepts result in restructuring
teacher educators and materials developers? of a developing bilingual lexicon? Are we indeed
Furthermore, what are the most sustainable creating bilinguals/multilinguals through EMI?
mechanisms of teacher education and ■■ What strategies are used by students in EMI
development beyond the immediate period classrooms in oral and written comprehension
of engagement on a course? tasks which are designed to facilitate their
■■ Are there content areas where the transition to understanding of their academic subjects?
EMI is easier for teachers and/or for learners? ■■ What are the psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic
Are there particular language problems associated effects on students’ home language resulting from
with particular content areas? EMI used in various phases of education?
■■ What levels of English proficiency enable EMI
teachers/professors to provide quality instruction
in their respective academic subjects?
■■ In those countries which have an intermediate
year of English (between secondary and tertiary
education), how effective is this year in preparing
students to learn their academic subjects through
EMI? Similarly, what makes English for Specific
Purposes programmes effective in enhancing
student performance in EMI content learning?
■■ How would we measure the success of an EMI
programme in the tertiary phase? Is the learning
of academic subjects improved by EMI? Does it
lead to deep understanding? If so by which groups
of students? All students? Only international
students? Only home students?
■■ To what extent do language assessment systems
need to change (both for teachers and for
students)? Should we explore the potential of
bilingual examinations?

Executive Summary  | 3
 2
Introduction
There appears to be a fast-moving worldwide shift, Oxford University Department of Education’s Centre
in non-anglophone countries, from English being for Research and Development on English Medium
taught as a foreign language (EFL) to English Instruction (EMI Oxford) has the broad aim of
being the medium of instruction (EMI) for academic carrying out research on where EMI is being
subjects such as science, mathematics, geography implemented, how it is being implemented, and what
and medicine. In this report a working definition are the effects and outcomes of this implementation.
of EMI is: This is a research agenda that will take a number of
The use of the English language to teach years to complete.
academic subjects in countries or jurisdictions
The study described in this report was a first phase
where the first language (L1) of the majority
in tackling that research agenda in that its intention
of the population is not English.
was to investigate in very broad terms what the
This definition is important in that it provides a current situation is globally. This initial phase, carried
conceptual separation between EMI and content out with the support of the British Council, set about
and language integrated learning (CLIL). Whereas mapping the size and shape of EMI in the world today.
CLIL is contextually situated (with its origins in the What is reported here therefore is a ‘bird’s eye view’
European ideal of plurilingual competence for EU of 55 countries where EMI is established or is in the
citizens), EMI has no specific contextual origin. process of being established.
Whereas CLIL does not mention which second,
The study was conducted from October 2013 to
additional or foreign language (L2) academic
March 2014 and investigated the current situation
subjects are to be studied in, EMI makes it quite
of EMI in terms of country particularities, subjects
clear that the language of education is English,
being taught through EMI and important variables
with all the geopolitical and sociocultural implications
according to educational phases.
that this may entail. Whereas CLIL has a clear
objective of furthering both content and language
as declared in its title, EMI does not (necessarily)
have that objective.

EMI is increasingly being used in universities,

secondary schools and even primary schools.
This phenomenon has very important implications
for the education of young people. Yet little empirical
research has been conducted into why and when
EMI is being introduced and how it is delivered.
We do not know enough with regard to the
consequences of using English rather than the first
language (L1) on teaching, learning, assessing,
and teacher professional development.

4 |  Introduction
 3
Methodology
The research consisted of: 2. EMI Oxford gathered responses to a post-course
1. A preliminary study of three countries in Europe. questionnaire from the participants in all three
countries. The questionnaire included eleven
2. An overview study of 55 countries around
questions directly relating to the course which
the world.
provided additional insights in relation to the
research questions.
3.1 The preliminary study
The findings from the interviews and questionnaires
In September 2013 preliminary research was carried
in three countries in Europe then served to inform
out in three European countries by investigating
the design of a study of 55 countries around
university teachers’ experiences of and views on EMI
the world.
in order to help define potential research questions
for use in later and larger scale research. This
3.2 The 55 countries study
preliminary study took place in universities in Austria,
Italy and Poland. The challenge of such a global survey led us to
seek the help of British Council staff who are
The research took the form of 1. semi-structured resident in countries around the world. In October
interviews, and 2. written questionnaires: 2013, a survey with open-ended, predominantly
1. EMI Oxford carried out 25 semi-structured 15–20 qualitative, questions was sent to British Council staff
minute interviews with university teachers who in 60 countries. This was a one-reply-per-country
were participating in three separate one-week survey and the British Council respondents were
professional development courses organised encouraged to consult with other stakeholders in
by the British Council. The teachers came from the field of education, for example local university
different disciplines, including Mathematics, professors or policy makers. Some respondents also
Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Information Technology, supplied policy documents and articles to support
Media Studies, Social Work. They taught both their statements. Primary analysis of the data was
undergraduates and graduates. followed by a request for further information to fill
any gaps. We can thus categorise our data as
The interviews were based on open questions
deriving from ‘informed respondents’.
about EMI aimed at investigating:
■■ the teachers’ experience in EMI at The responses were coded into a number of
university level categories by coding the items. For closed questions
■■ beliefs about whether students’ English improved (e.g. the percentage of public and private schools),
when learning through EMI the coding process for each item involved converting
the answer into a numerical score. For open-ended
■■ indications of whether students’ academic questions (e.g. attitudes towards EMI), the coding
subject learning was affected when learning process for each item involved condensing the
through EMI diverse information contained in the responses
■■ if teachers were aware of an EMI policy in into a limited number of categories, thus allowing
their university a rough attempt at quantification. This allowed us
■■ teachers’ perceptions of the level of English to construct a broad global picture of:
needed by students to follow a course in EMI ■■ the percentage of public and private universities
and how they could reach that level ■■ the percentage of public and private
■■ teachers’ beliefs of the level of English needed secondary schools
by a teacher to teach in EMI and how they could ■■ the number of countries in which EMI is permitted
reach that level. or prohibited by the government
The interviewer also asked the teachers themselves ■■ the existence of policy documents or official
what research questions they would like EMI Oxford statements on the use of EMI
to investigate in the future in relation to EMI.

Methodology  | 5
 ■■ current and future trends in EMI ■■ numbers of subject teachers who are bilingual
■■ changes in policy over past ten years ■■ numbers of monolingual English-speaking teachers
■■ the supply of qualified teachers ■■ any provision for EMI on Initial Teacher
■■ the existence of written guidelines about how Education programmes
to teach through EMI ■■ any assessment of EMI teachers’ English proficiency
■■ the existence of guidelines with regard to ■■ any stated expectation of teacher language
English-only use or permission/suggestions to proficiency to qualify as an EMI teacher.
use both English and the L1 (codeswitching)
Processing closed questions
■■ public opinion
Data cleaning was undertaken before the actual
■■ which subjects are most often reported to be analyses were conducted so as to correct as many
assessed in English errors and inaccuracies as possible. The main checks
■■ subjects not taught in English but assessed included: impossible data, contradicting data,
in English incorrectly entered values. Data manipulation was
conducted to make changes or to update survey
■■ numbers of primary and secondary students
answers. Respondents were contacted again via
from immigrant communities
email to complete the items that they had missed
■■ numbers of non-national students in universities out the first time.
■■ L1s of foreign students

The 55 countries and/or jurisdictions which participated in the study are:

Afghanistan Cyprus Iran Netherlands Sri Lanka

Argentina Czech Republic Iraq Nigeria Switzerland

Azerbaijan Estonia Israel Pakistan Taiwan

Bahrain Ethiopia Italy Portugal Turkey

Bangladesh Germany Japan Qatar Uganda

Bosnia and Ghana Kazakhstan Saudi Arabia Ukraine

Herzegovina

Brazil Greece Macedonia Senegal United States

Bulgaria Hong Kong Malaysia Serbia Uzbekistan

China Hungary Mauritius South Africa Venezuela

Colombia India Montenegro South Sudan Vietnam

Croatia Indonesia Nepal Spain Zambia

6 |  Methodology
 There is some debate as to whether or not the United students with the type of academic vocabulary and
States should be counted as an EMI country. In one (usually written) discourse enabling them to operate
sense it clearly is not according to our definition successfully at a university which delivers its
above (see Executive Summary) as the majority of academic subjects through the medium of English.
the population does not speak a language other
than English. In another sense it has large areas or Although EMI is none of these, it is not a fixed
educational jurisdictions (Miami Florida; Texas) that concept but one that is evolving as an increasing
have majority populations where English is not the number of countries adopt it as a system of
first language. It has been included in this report education. The 55 Countries study was therefore
as the respondent considered it an EMI country. prefaced by a glossary of terms to help the
respondents understand the focus of the research.
Moreover terms such as home and majority language
3.3 Methodological challenges posed
by this study were defined in order to overcome the hurdle of
different countries having different labels and to
Methodological challenges encountered during this
provide a common terminology for this report.
study included:
1. Definitions and nomenclature In the preliminary study the number of participants
and their teaching contexts were limited. The
2. Research methods
university teachers were taking part in a British
3. Sampling and generalisability of data. Council Academic Teaching Excellence (ATE) course
and it might therefore be assumed that they were
Carrying out a world-wide study of EMI poses a
already interested in and generally positive towards
number of challenges for researchers. EMI is a global
EMI. Findings from 25 interviews cannot therefore be
phenomenon, yet each EMI context in each country
considered as generalisable but it was hoped that
is potentially different. Each context has its own
they would indicate some of the main issues for
vocabulary for discussing educational issues
teachers in EMI teaching and learning.
and systems.
In the 55 countries study the data represent a
Access to key participants, stakeholders and experts
snapshot view of a particular country from the
presents another major challenge for researchers
standpoint of one British Council representative,
attempting to obtain valid and reliable data. EMI is
supported by any experts they chose to consult.
also subject to rapid change, and whatever a
We therefore have to treat the information they
researcher claims to have found out today may
provided with some caution.
become rapidly outdated.
It is also important to note that trends in the
The term English medium instruction itself is
data may be strongly influenced by local factors.
relatively new and no universally accepted definition
These may be political, socio-economic or cultural.
exists. The term EMI is used in some countries
Categories may not correspond with the same
(for example Hong Kong) and not in others. It is
underlying phenomenon from one country to
sometimes used as synonymous with CLIL (Content
another. For example in most countries private
and Language Integrated Learning). However CLIL
schooling is for the elite, but in some countries the
has a dual educational objective built into its title
most prestigious secondary schools are state
(the enhancement of both content and language)
schools (e.g. France); and in some countries private
whereas EMI does not. Taken at ‘face value’ EMI
schools may be low-cost schools (e.g. Pakistan).
simply describes the practice of teaching an
Private universities are often smaller than state
academic subject through English which is not
universities and teach fewer students but we used
the first language of the majority population.
the university as the unit of analysis when comparing
EMI is sometimes confused with teaching English as private and state universities. Moreover, the overall
a Foreign Language (EFL) through English, meaning results are based on the nation-state or autonomous
that the interaction and texts used for instruction in region as the unit of analysis. This means that in
EFL should avoid any recourse to the students’ first figures and tables, we are giving Mainland China
language. EMI is also confused with ESP (English for the same weight as Cyprus, when China’s population
Specific Purposes) in which courses involve English is over fifteen hundred times that of Cyprus. This
for journalism or business studies for example, needs to be borne in mind when reflecting upon
specifically designed to enable a student to the results. The findings are nevertheless worthy
undertake that profession in an English-speaking in that they provide an indication of trends and raise
context. It may also be confused with EAP (English issues that can be explored in greater depth in
for Academic Purposes) which is designed to provide subsequent research.

Methodology  | 7
 4
The findings
We report the findings under the following The research field of EMI can be conceptualised as
five sections: having two dimensions. The first is its presence in
1. The growth of EMI as a global phenomenon. primary, secondary and tertiary education and the
transition points between these phases. The second
2. Official policies and statements on EMI.
is the separation between public (state funded) and
3. Different national perspectives on EMI. private education.
4. Public opinion on EMI.
Respondents reported on the percentage of public
5. Teaching and learning through EMI. and private provision of education. According to their
estimations, whilst in most countries the number of
4.1 The growth of EMI as a public secondary schools heavily outweighed the
global phenomenon number of private secondary schools (Figure 1), in
In summary, respondents reported: most countries the numbers of private universities
■■ There is more EMI in private than public education. almost equalled that of public universities (Figure 2).

■■ EMI is more likely to be sanctioned or ‘officially

allowed’ in the private sector than the public sector.

Figure 1: Secondary schools: the percentage of secondary schools in each country which
are public and the percentage which are private as reported by British Council respondents
100

90

80

70

60
Percentage

50

40

30

20

10

0
Saudi Arabia

Bahrain
Malaysia
Azerbaijan
Sri Lanka
Netherlands
Vietnam
Serbia
South Africa
Macedonia
Afghanistan
Czech Republic
Hong Kong
Greece
Croatia

Cyprus
Qatar
Kazakhstan
Mainland China
Germany
Japan
Taiwan
Bulgaria
Ghana
Italy
Argentina
United States

Venezuela
Hungary
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Indonesia
Pakistan

Public secondary schools Private secondary schools

8 |  The findings
 Figure 2: The percentage of universities in each country which are public and the percentage which
are private as reported by British Council respondents
100

90

80

70

60
Percentage

50

40

30

20

10

0
Israel

Bahrain

Saudi Arabia

Brazil
Greece
Sri Lanka
Netherlands
South Africa
Cyprus
Hong Kong
Qatar
Bulgaria
Japan
Argentina
Azerbaijan

Vietnam
Germany
Spain
Serbia
Pakistan
Estonia

Venezuela
Macedonia
Senegal
Hungary
Croatia
Ghana
Mainland China
Taiwan
United States
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Malaysia
Bangladesh
Afghanistan
Kazakhstan

Montenegro
Public universities Private universities

Globally, the percentage of institutions in the private sector which respondents reported as sanctioning or allowing
EMI is consistently higher than those in the public sector. When comparing each phase, (primary, secondary and
tertiary) there is more EMI reported at tertiary level than at secondary level. There is more EMI at secondary
level than at primary level and, at all levels, EMI is more prevalent in the private sector.

Figure 3: Out of 55 countries, the percentage of primary schools, secondary schools and universities
reporting that EMI is allowed in the public and private sectors as reported by British Council respondents

Public primary schools 52.7% 38.2% 9.1%

Public secondary schools 70.9% 23.6% 5.5%

Public universities 78.2% 18.2% 3.6%

Private primary schools 87.3% 7.3% 5.5%

Private secondary schools 87.3% 7.3% 5.5%

Private universities 90.9% 5.5% 3.6%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

 Allowed Not allowed Not answered

Respondents reported on whether or not EMI is allowed in their countries and at what levels of education
in both the public and private sectors.

The findings   | 9
 The summary of countries, sector and level where EMI was reported as allowed is shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Countries where EMI was reported as allowed, by sector and level
(Y = allowed; N = not allowed; ? = no answer)

Public Private Public Private Public Private

Country primary primary secondary secondary university university

Afghanistan ? Y ? Y Y Y

Argentina N Y Y Y Y Y

Azerbaijan N Y N Y N Y

Bahrain ? ? ? ? ? ?

Bangladesh N Y N Y N Y

Bosnia and Herzegovina N N N N Y Y

Brazil N Y N Y N Y

Bulgaria Y Y Y Y Y Y

China Y Y Y Y Y Y

Colombia ? Y ? Y ? Y

Croatia Y Y Y Y Y Y

Cyprus Y Y Y Y Y Y

Czech Republic ? Y Y Y Y Y

Estonia Y Y Y Y Y Y

Ethiopia Y Y Y Y Y Y

Germany Y Y Y Y Y Y

Ghana Y Y Y Y Y Y

Greece N Y Y Y Y Y

Hong Kong ? Y Y Y Y Y

Hungary Y Y Y Y Y Y

India N Y N Y Y Y

Indonesia Y Y Y Y Y Y

Iran N N N N N N

Iraq N Y N Y N Y

Israel N N N N N N

Italy N Y Y Y Y Y

Japan N Y Y Y Y Y

Kazakhstan Y Y Y Y Y Y

Macedonia Y Y Y Y Y Y

Malaysia Y Y Y Y Y Y

Mauritius Y Y Y Y Y Y

Montenegro N ? N ? N ?

10 |  The findings
 Public Private Public Private Public Private
Country primary primary secondary secondary university university

Nepal Y Y Y Y Y Y

Netherlands Y Y Y Y Y Y

Nigeria Y Y Y Y Y Y

Pakistan Y Y Y Y Y Y

Portugal Y Y Y Y Y Y

Qatar Y Y Y Y Y Y

Saudi Arabia N Y N Y Y Y

Senegal N N N N N N

Serbia Y Y Y Y Y Y

South Africa Y Y Y Y Y Y

South Sudan Y Y Y Y Y Y

Spain Y Y Y Y Y Y

Sri Lanka N Y Y Y Y Y

Switzerland N Y Y Y Y Y

Taiwan Y Y Y Y Y Y

Turkey Y Y Y Y Y Y

Uganda Y Y Y Y Y Y

Ukraine N Y Y Y Y Y

United States Y Y Y Y Y Y

Uzbekistan N ? N ? Y Y

Venezuela N Y N Y N Y

Vietnam N Y Y Y Y Y

Zambia Y Y Y Y Y Y

Respondents judged that the prevalence of EMI in the private sector was largely due to EMI giving an international
image, prestige and reputation to the institution in question. However, such generalisations mask a multitude of
varying situations in EMI. In India for example, private schools are not exclusively for the rich and elite, and EMI
provision varies across different types of institutions.

The findings   | 11
 4.2 Official policies and statements on EMI The following comments are from respondents in
Respondents reported that policies on EMI exist various countries summarising the reasons found
in 22 of the 55 (40 per cent) countries surveyed. in official policies and statements for introducing
Twenty-seven countries out of 55 (49 per cent) EMI in their country.
reported that official statements concerning EMI
had been made publically available. Hungary:
The new Public Education Act [4/2013. (I.11.)]
Table 2: Existence of policies contains aims for bilingual education in primary
Number Per cent and secondary schools:
Yes 22 40.0 ■■ developing Hungarian and foreign
No 27 49.1 communication skills
Not known 6 10.9 ■■ developing language learning skills
■■ developing knowledge of target culture
Table 3: Official statements have been made
■■ maximising subject integration opportunities
Number Per cent
■■ enabling students to study or work in a foreign
Yes 27 49.1
language environment. Higher education EMI
No 23 41.8
is encouraged in particular to:
Not known 5 9.1
–– raise foreign language skills to prepare
This result was surprising as in our preliminary students for compulsory language exams
research teachers in three European countries were –– attract international students.
overwhelmingly unaware of any policy on EMI in their
universities, although they were well aware of a growth
in EMI and the importance of programmes such as Malaysia:
the European Commission’s Erasmus programme. Malaysia’s multicultural society makes it a natural
The majority of the teachers interviewed suspected environment for producing students who are
that there was a strategy but it was not explicit and proficient in more than one language.
believed that the lack of official policy was perhaps
due to the fact that EMI was new, as the following
comments show: Japan:
There isn’t a comprehensive policy more a general [they are] Resolutely proceeding with
trend not set in stone. internationalization and making educational
You mean that we need a ...? ...we have a masters environments at universities that can compete
starting in Fall...Here isn’t a document at least that with the best in the world.
I know. [they are] Providing opportunities for all students
with the desire and capability to study abroad.
A number of respondents in the 55 countries study
Enhancing education from the primary
were able to peruse official policies and statements
and secondary school levels to respond
as to why EMI has been introduced in their country.
to globalisation.
They then analysed and summarised the reasons.
These reasons included a desire or intention to Cultivating identity as a Japanese and spreading
develop English language learning skills; improving Japanese culture to the world.
knowledge of a target culture; opening up possibilities
for students to work and study abroad as well as
Macedonia:
spreading the country’s own culture throughout the
The Government encourages the opening of
world; political reasons of nation-building and aligning
international and bilingual schools aiming to
a country with English-speaking neighbours.
get students who can speak at least one foreign
language well and because we can have
exchange programmes.

12 |  The findings
 Czech Republic: Sri Lanka:
EMI in bilingual schools is introduced to firstly The mission statement of the Bilingual Education
improve knowledge of foreign languages among Branch of the MoE is ‘Empowering future
students and, secondly, to prepare them for generations to be multilingual (minimum bilingual)
potential HE study abroad. University study using English as a tool presenting Sri Lankan identity.
programmes in English are created mainly for
the sake of foreign students.
India:
There is ... an English language policy in schools
Hong Kong: in the National Curriculum Framework and the
Former Secretary of Education, Michael Suen, Position Paper on English in Schools, but none
notes at the beginning of ‘Enriching Our Language such document or thinking exists for higher
Environment-Realising Our Vision: Fine – tuning education in India... .
of Medium of Instruction for Secondary Schools’
that we are entering a new era as globalisation
has taken hold. In line with the policy goal of Uganda:
‘upholding mother-tongue teaching while The official statement is the National Curriculum
enhancing student proficiency in both Chinese developed by the National Curriculum Development
and English’, the fine-tuning of Medium of Centre. It confirms that English is the official
Instruction for secondary schools will enhance language of Uganda. It is also enshrined in the
our students’ exposure to English and its use 1995 constitution of the Republic of Uganda.
at junior secondary levels … prepare them to
embrace new challenges and enhance Hong
Kong’s status as an international city. Cyprus:
EMI is introduced in tertiary education to attract
foreign students to Cyprus.
South Sudan:
South Sudanese participants at the 2012
Language-in-Education Conference in Juba stated Pakistan:
a number of reasons, including the political heritage The Punjab School Education Department has
issue (i.e. breaking away from the previously notified the conversion of all its schools from the
enforced Arabisation policy), nation building and Urdu medium to English medium. The government
aligning themselves more closely with neighbours decision aims at competing with the globalized
to the east, e.g. Uganda and Kenya. world in the field of knowledge.

Indonesia: Bahrain:
The policy states: ‘A school/madrasah which fulfils There is an initiative from the EDB (Bahrain
all the National Standards for Education and which Development Board) to improve schools and one
is further enriched by taking into consideration area is to improve English in public education
the education standards of one member nation through three initiatives:
of the Organization for Economic Co-operation 1. establishing Bahrain teachers’ college where
and Development (OECD) and/or another all courses are EMI
advanced nation which has particular strengths
2. establishing a technical college with EMI to
in education such that it achieves competitive
feed the workforce with skilled Bahrainis
advantage in the international forum’.
3. establishing the national examinations unit
to assess the outcome of teaching English at
Netherlands: the end of every cycle (primary, intermediary
The Dutch government has a policy in place and secondary).
that is aimed at internationalisation of education,
especially for secondary and tertiary. Next to that,
there has been a recent policy proposal for the
increase of early foreign language teaching in
primary education, mostly focussing on English.

The findings   | 13
 A comparative case study: EMI in Turkey For both Turkey and Kazakhstan, respondents
and Kazakhstan reported that one objective of EMI is to increase the
As has been suggested earlier, each country and number of international students. The respondent
each context where EMI is used is unique. On the from Turkey explained that The Higher Education
surface, reasons for the introduction and use of Council aims to increase the number of overseas
EMI may look very similar, but when we dig deeper, students dramatically over the next few years. In
there are a myriad of contextual, geographical, Turkey most overseas students are from Africa and
historical and political reasons which make each Asia, from Middle Eastern countries and countries
country’s adoption of EMI different in nature and in South-East Asia, especially Malaysia and Indonesia.
extent. For example, from a geographical Respondents from both countries reported that a
perspective, Turkey and Kazakhstan are both parallel aim is to prepare home students to be
countries which span an Asian–European boundary. competitive in an integrated world.
Linguistically, they are both countries where several
different languages are spoken and people are often However, Turkey is an example of a country where
bilingual and even multilingual. Yet the decision as to the trend towards EMI has been reversed in state
which language is used as a Medium of Instruction schools. In the past, the elite state Anadolu High
has different historical and cultural origins and Schools used EMI in the first year, but this system,
the impetus for and introduction of EMI varies according to our Turkey respondent, was abolished
considerably between the two countries. The rich a few years ago. The stated reason for abolishing
linguistic variety in the two countries is summarised EMI was that pupils were performing poorly in
by the respondents as follows: science and mathematics. Schools have returned
to teaching English as a foreign language, with six
hours of English language per week scheduled on
Turkey:
the timetable. Other subjects are mainly taught in
The students in Turkey’s state schools have various
Turkish and the official language in all state schools
L1s and from academic year 2013–14, grade 5 and
is Turkish. However EMI is widely used in the private
6 students (11–12 years of age) may choose an
sector in international high schools.
optional two-hour per week ‘Living Languages and
Dialects’ course from among a range of courses, As in many other countries in the study, the level of
which include various Kurdish dialects and Laz the teachers’ English is a cause for concern in both
which is spoken in the Black Sea region. For many Turkey and Kazakhstan. The respondent in Turkey
students in the East of Turkey especially, Kurdish is estimated that 20 per cent of state school teachers
actually their L1 and Turkish their L2. of English have only a CEFR (Common European
Framework of Reference) A2 language level and
reported that, although there is a standardised civil
Kazakhstan: service exam which includes English, there is no
There is a tri-lingual policy. The three languages separate test of teachers’ English language ability.
of instruction are Kazakh, Russian and English. The assumption is that any graduate of an ELT or
Some ethnic languages are used as official other English-related subject (e.g. English Literature)
languages of instruction at ethnic schools, is proficient enough to teach. There is little Teacher
e.g. Uighur, Uzbek, Korean, where the language Professional Development provision for teachers
of instruction depends on the ethnicity of the in state schools and higher education institutions
majority of the population. Current language although private schools and universities sometimes
policy is directed at gradually strengthening the run their own professional development programmes.
home language, and there is discussion about
the place of Kazakh and Russian languages in the At tertiary level in Turkey, institutions are free to
future of the country. The use of Russian is slowly determine the extent of EMI. Our respondent estimated
declining as a medium for scientific and cultural that approximately 110 out of 178 institutions have
information, and English has become important some kind of EMI provision. EMI has been introduced
for many forms of communication. However, only in newly-established private universities in Istanbul,
1.6 per cent of students studied in English in Ankara and Izmir as well as the elite state universities.
2009–10 and almost half studied through Kazakh. Our Turkish respondent reported that there seems to
be an ambivalent attitude to EMI in universities in
Turkey, with both lecturers and students expressing

14 |  The findings
 the wish to have less EMI in higher education. Turkey The formation of an intellectually, physically
has adopted a preparatory year in many universities and spiritually developed citizen of the Republic
during which students are required to undertake an of Kazakhstan in general education institutions,
English language course intended to bring them to a satisfying his/her needs in obtaining education, in
level at which they can operate through EMI. It is only order to ensure success in a rapidly changing world.
after successfully passing the end-of-year test that (State Program of Education Development in the
students may commence their chosen field of study. Republic of Kazakhstan for 2011–20).
Respondents in the study reported that tests are
often written in-house by individual universities with Internationalising the higher education system
little standardisation and that university teachers are is a high priority and languages are seen as key.
not convinced that the preparatory year adequately Kazakhstan is an example of a country whose
prepares students for EMI study. Preparatory year language is used only within its borders and so
teachers are concerned that students arriving in using English in higher education is seen as a way
the preparatory year with a low level of English, of internationalising the country. Degrees from
sometimes CEFR A2 level, were supposed to reach Kazakhstan, with its Soviet background, were not
a B2 level in just eight months. Teachers also believe recognised in developed countries and EMI is not
that many preparatory year students are not simply a new medium of instruction, but also a way
motivated to learn English as they really just want to implement a pedagogy and curriculum which is
to get on with studying their subject at university more in line with established world standards of
rather than learn English. teaching and assessment.

The respondent reported that Turkish university In Kazakhstan EMI is a means to develop the
teachers express concerns about EMI. They believe country economically and politically. EMI exists
that EMI reduces a student’s ability to understand in leading private universities, Kasipkor College,
concepts and leads to low levels of knowledge of the and Nazarbayev Intellectual schools and there are
subject studied. Teachers believe it takes too much joint educational programmes and international
time to teach the curriculum through EMI, that EMI collaboration agreements between universities.
causes feelings of alienation and separation and Nazarbayev University is an example of an EMI
reduces student participation in class due to university where graduates are taught in English
students’ low level proficiency in English. EMI might with the expressed intention that they contribute
be seen as a vehicle for creating an elite class to research, education and the national economy.
excluding the masses as the majority of students do
Our respondents in Kazakhstan reported, as did
not have access to English education. Interestingly,
nearly all the respondents in the study, that a
Turkish-medium instruction is also facing problems;
majority of institutions are facing difficulties with
the translation of specific academic or technical
teaching resources in EMI and there are problems
terms into Turkish, the lack of resources for teaching
in implementing EMI. Older teachers may not speak
in Turkish and the low level of participation of
English. In 2010 the British Council and BISAM
students in class are cited as concerns.
Central Asia agency found that only four per cent of
According to our Kazak respondent, in Kazakhstan university faculty in Kazakhstan were highly proficient
there has been a move firmly in the direction of EMI. in English. The younger generation can learn English
Kazakhstan was the first among post-Soviet countries with the Bolashak International Scholarship scheme
to join the Bologna process in March 2010 and which provides the opportunity for a one-semester
became a member of the European Education Area. foreign language course for future researchers and
In secondary schools, approximately 35 per cent of graduate programmes abroad.
subjects are taught in English, and there are also
elective courses in English. 4.3 Different national perspectives on EMI
If we look at the global picture, it would appear that
There is a State Education Programme of Education
the EMI phenomenon is in a state of flux. From country
Development for 2011–20 and the government’s
to country EMI is being promoted, rejected, refined
tri-lingual policy which states that 15 per cent of the
and sometimes even reversed.
adult population should speak English, Kazakh, and
Russian by 2020. EMI should be introduced at all Nearly 62 per cent of respondents reported that the
levels of education – university, college and school country they represented had experienced EMI policy
and in both sectors (private and state). The Ministry changes over the past ten years. Not all changes had
requires that English be used by 20 per cent of been in the same direction:
teachers as a language of instruction by 2020.
Its aims are stated as:

The findings   | 15
 Figure 4: Percentage of the 55 countries which In Azerbaijan it was reported that EMI was perceived
reported that changes in policy had taken place as a ‘means of possible improvement of suitable
over the past ten years employment chances’.

In Saudi Arabia English is recognised as a basic skill,

9%
and the prestige attached to English ability was said to
include the potential for accessing better employment.

In Japan the business sectors, such as Keidanren

29% 62%
(Japan Business Federation) and Japan Association
of Corporate Executives, issued recommendations
on English education reform. These associations
focus on fostering practical English skills, the
internationalisation of school curricula (International
Baccalaureate), study abroad and university entrance
Yes No Not known
examination reform. Our respondent reported that
the associations ‘were concerned with the tendency
of Japan’s young people to be ‘inward-looking’ and
In some countries EMI is being promoted by policy
the fact that they remain low-ranked internationally
makers, administrators, teachers and parents as
in terms of English proficiency’.
EMI is thought to be a passport to a global world.
Many of these sentiments were echoed by the
Policy makers consider EMI as a mechanism for
university teachers and administrators in our
internationalising their education offer, creating
preliminary study interviews in three countries
opportunities for students to join a global academic
in Europe. They reported that administrators of
and business community. They see EMI as a way of
universities consider EMI an attractive proposition
rapidly increasing international mobility. Some see
for many reasons, including promotion, globalisation
EMI as a way to build the English language capacity
and financial survival. This comment by an
of their home country and ensure that their home
administrator during the preliminary research
students can compete in a world market. The
illustrates this:
following descriptions, provided by respondents
in Uzbekistan and Croatia, illustrate this: For the university central offices it’s financial,
they want to promote the university more. It’s a
local university; they want to attract students
Uzbekistan:
from abroad.
In Uzbekistan the presidential decree of 10
December 2012 encourages English to be taught, The ability to teach a class of mixed nationalities
spoken, and used for business communication at through the medium of English means that
all levels and at any institution, be it journalism, universities can attract high fee-paying international
economics or ministry staff. students. It also means that universities can produce
high quality research papers in English, helping them
move up in the international rankings.
Croatia:
In Croatia, in the context of the Bologna process Interestingly, the reasons for EMI given by the
and with increased international mobility as one teachers interviewed were more idealistic than those
of its priorities, the Ministry of Education, Science of administrators. Teachers considered EMI as a way
and Sport has developed an Action Plan for the to improve communication, to exchange ideas and
removal of obstacles and strengthening of the create relations between countries, even a way of
international mobility in education, which includes facilitating world peace as well as a key to success
the increase in the number of study programmes and a way to open doors for their home students.
offered in foreign languages as one of its measures. They expressed the wish to teach their students
to access academic literature in English and hold
In many countries respondents reported that their own at international conferences or in their
English is seen as the way to access modernity professions. Some teachers also spoke about their
and prosperity. wish to ‘attract intelligent people to their university
and share their own knowledge more widely’.
In Hong Kong, for example, EMI was seen as a way Statements included:
of preparing children for the diverse linguistic needs
For my university it is necessary to open the doors,
that will be placed upon them in the business hub
globalisation has arrived.
that is Hong Kong.

16 |  The findings
 We’re linguistically an isolated country. were stopped due to hostile media coverage.
Internationalisation is one of the big words The reintroduction of the Hebrew language as a fully
here. English as world language, as the key successful language was thought to be put at risk
to success, omnipresent. by EMI. This had been the focus of some newspaper
articles, for example in the Jewish Daily Forward,
Some considered English the new Latin, a world it was reported that:
language that could enable movement in academia The renewal of Hebrew arrived at its full success
and business. EMI was also a personal challenge, at the time that Hebrew became the language of
a way to improve personally and professionally as teaching in the universities .... Hebrew could not
teachers and to advance their careers. In other just be the spoken language of the street or the
words not only students but teachers too can market. A real language is a language that exists
become international in an EMI context. in all fields of life.
Many of our respondents made it clear that EMI is President of The Academy of the Hebrew Language,
a controversial and sensitive issue in their countries. The Jewish Daily Forward 20 April 2012.
EMI is sometimes being rejected for political reasons,
A counterargument to this view was that academic
to protect a national identity, a home language or
work can only be read internationally if it is in English:
the freedom to study in a home language.
Hebrew is the language of the Jewish People,
In Argentina, for example, it was thought that but if you write your thesis in Hebrew, it is buried.
deploying EMI throughout the education system on Professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
a national scale would be seen negatively due to the The Jewish Daily Forward 20 April 2012.
UK’s involvement in the Falklands/Malvinas conflict,
combined with nationalist claims and the status of Despite these reservations, the respondent
Spanish as the national language and the official reported that the trend in Israel is towards EMI
language for local education. at the postgraduate level in the natural, physical
and computer sciences. English is also being used
Protecting national identity was another reason given more widely in undergraduate studies and in
as to why countries might be wary of EMI. This view is humanities courses at all levels. The natural sciences
represented by the report from Bangladesh, in which faculty at Ben-Gurion University recently formalised
the respondent explains that it was thought that EMI a rule that lectures and classes are taught in English
might bring with it western views to the detriment of if there are international students in the class.
the home culture: At Tel Aviv University there are EMI courses and
assessments in humanities undergraduate
Bangladesh: programmes, including archaeology, East Asian
More and more people in Bangladesh seem to be studies and (surprisingly) Jewish history. The Hebrew
interested in English medium education as good University of Jerusalem recommends that students
knowledge of English provides many opportunities. complete at least one course taught and assessed
Students of English medium schools tend to learn in English.
western literature, geography, history and so on.
Though these schools contribute towards the rise Nevertheless the following quotes from respondents
of English there is an impression that this education in other countries also illustrate the desire to protect
is gradually fostering western culture that a home language.
undermines Bangladeshi culture and tradition.
Estonia:
EMI is being rejected by some countries because The Estonian Language Act declares that Estonian
of the wish to protect a home, unifying language medium instruction should be provided in all
or education system. Israel, Senegal and Venezuela curriculum fields at all levels. There has been
for example, were reported to be resisting the public discussion about protecting Estonian.
spread of EMI in public education for this reason.
This concern expressed about the effect of EMI
on the home language was also elaborated on in
terms of how the latter might become used only for
everyday communication but not in academia, and
that as a consequence the academic use of the home
language would be lost. In Israel EMI was considered
a sensitive issue for this reason, and it was reported
that moves to run CLIL courses in English in the past

The findings   | 17
 We strongly believe our classes should be
Pakistan: international classes – and the only way to have
In the Pakistani context, three schools of thought international classes is to use the English language.
can be identified: ‘those who believe that the
BBC news website,16 May 2012 –
mother tongue should be used as the medium
www.bbc.co.uk/16 May 2012
of instruction for non-native speakers of Urdu
(at least in primary schools); those who feel Urdu, However, in 2013 this process was stopped by
the national language, should be the medium of the Regional Administrative Tribunal judges, who
instruction, whatever the child’s first language accepted the appeal of 100 members of the faculty.
is; those who argue for maintaining or extending The faculty’s main claim was that it is wrong in
the role that English currently has in the principle for an Italian public university to force
education system. students and staff to use English. The precision
and quality of teaching and learning would be lost
in translation, it was claimed, if both teachers and
Portugal: students used a second language:
There has been some controversy in the press
Speaking Italian to our countrymen is like
coming from traditional quarters who support
watching a movie in colour, high definition,
the use of Portuguese.
very clear pictures. Speaking English to them,
even with our best effort, is like watching a movie
in black and white with very poor definition,
Netherlands:
with blurred pictures.
There are also initiatives that are aimed at
countering the increased levels of non-Dutch Professor Emilio Matricciani, Appeal for Freedom
being used in formal education, like the of Teaching, quoted on the BBC news website,
‘Stichting Taalverdediging’ (Foundation for 16 May 2012 – www.bbc.co.uk/16 May 2012.
Language Defence), who have actually gone
A compromise seems to have been reached and the
to court on some developments, especially
university website now shows undergraduate and
a successful early English programme.
graduate courses taught in English and in Italian.

Questions of equality and even human rights arise

Taiwan: when we start discussing which language(s) should
Generally speaking, in primary and secondary be used as a medium of instruction. If there is more
education, EMI is welcome in some but not EMI in private education and it is seen as a door to
all courses as acquisition of the local official new opportunities, then should it be available to all?
language is attached great importance. Some countries, e.g. Pakistan, make provision in their
education policy to ensure that students from poorer
In countries wanting to protect their home language, backgrounds can also learn English. On the other
it was also thought that students graduating from hand, all students have a right to education in their
university to work in business, engineering and home language. In Article 29(c) of the UN’s
medicine should have a deep knowledge of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (www.ohchr.
language in the country where they live. Although org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdf),
they should have the opportunity to study in English, which entered into force in 1990, it states that:
this should not be to the exclusion of their home ‘States Parties agree that the education of the child
language or other important international languages. shall be directed to... [t]he development of respect
for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural
In Italy, the home of Latin, possibly the last global
identity, language and values’ as well as ‘for the
language, our Italian respondent drew our attention
national values of the country in which the child is
to the dispute at the Politecnico di Milano which had
living, the country from which he or she may
caused a stir in 2012. The university announced that
originate, and for civilizations different from his
from 2014 most of its degree courses – including all
or her own.’ Only Somalia, South Sudan and the
its graduate courses – would be taught and assessed
United States have not ratified this Convention.
entirely in English rather than Italian. The university
rector believed that if the Politecnico di Milano
remained Italian-speaking, it risked isolation and would
be unable to compete as an international institution:

18 |  The findings
 A thorough reversal of EMI implementation was The main argument used in the court case was that
reported to have taken place by a few respondents, EMI might endanger Indonesians’ national identity,
in their countries. Where EMI was reversed the with the risk of the national unifying language Bahasa
reasons for this were reported as being political Indonesia becoming the language of the poor, and
reasons, teacher protests, differences between English becoming the language of the elite classes.
public and private sectors or fears that students It was also argued that the use of EMI could hinder
were performing badly. students from loving Bahasa Indonesia and that the
use of English or any other language as a medium of
The Hungarian government, for example, was instruction (MoI) contradicts the spirit of the Youth
concerned that EMI was benefiting only a small Pledge 1928, proclaiming three ideals: one
number of learners and was costly to operate. motherland, one nation and one language.
Qatar, which switched to EMI in public schools
and state universities during the reform era, Some respondents reported that the countries
reported a possible movement away from EMI. which they represent, despite the potential for
cultural devaluation, have moved in the opposite
Indonesia is an interesting example of a country direction and sanctioned EMI provision. Sri Lanka
where the respondent reported that the move is an example of this. EMI is limited to five subjects
towards EMI was being reversed. The national by Circular 2008–12 which also states that students
language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia and there cannot be streamed as EMI students. In other
are more than 700 vernacular languages. Until 2003 subjects they must join those who study all subjects
international EMI schools operating in Indonesia were through the Sinhala/Tamil medium of instruction.
restricted to the children of expatriates. Education However the attitude to EMI has changed as this
Law Number 20 of 2003, article 50, relaxed these quote from our respondent in Sri Lanka shows:
restrictions and required that the central or regional
governments establish one ‘International Standard
Sri Lanka:
School’ (ISS) at all levels, primary, junior, secondary
In the immediate post-colonial period, English
and senior secondary. This government sponsored
was called the ‘kaduwa’, the ‘knife’ or ‘sword’ that
programme was implemented in 2006 in a special
cut the Sri Lankan community from its heritage.
stream of public schools, the Rintisan Sekotah
Sinhalese nationalism in the 1950s resulted in the
Bertaraf Internasional (RSBI) or International
‘Sinhalese only’ laws, which saw both English and
Standard Schools (ISS) and was known as RSBI/SBI
Tamil downgraded (and was certainly a major step
or the International Standard Schools programme.
towards the ethnic conflict). These days, English
EMI was used for core subjects such as science
has lost this association for most, though not quite
and maths.
all, Sri Lankans, and is seen as the way to access
In 2013, parents, teachers and NGOs requested modernity and prosperity. EMI is widely seen
that the Constitutional Court of Indonesia should among the public as being valuable as a means
revoke the legislation on the RSBI/SBI programme. of learning English as a language/skill.
The Constitutional Court approved the public appeal
to cancel the law governing ISS and declared the
law unconstitutional. This forced the Ministry of
Education and Culture to stop the programme as
from school year 2013–14. However, this rule does
not apply to private schools that choose to offer
English bilingual education.

The findings   | 19
 Case study: Hong Kong Hong Kong has 17 local degree-awarding higher
Hong Kong has an almost unique political complexion education institutions, eight of which are funded
and is a country where the medium of instruction through the government’s University Grants Council.
has changed and changed again. As a former British Among these eight government-funded institutions
colony and now a Special Administrative Region (SAR) (seven universities and one teacher training
of China, Hong Kong regards English as having high institution), only two maintain a bilingual/trilingual
social status and proficiency in English is considered policy, whereas the others are all English-medium
to be a prerequisite for good academic and career universities. Students in the teacher training
prospects. Hence, when the colonial government was institution (except English language majors) are
adopting a non-intervention policy towards the required to take only 25 per cent of courses taught in
Medium of Instruction, over 90 per cent of secondary English. There was a proposal that English should be
schools claimed to be EMI. Following the handover used for more courses, but this immediately aroused
of Hong Kong from Britain to China, a mother tongue debate among the teaching and academic staff.
policy was implemented in 1998 even though around
In universities which implement an EMI policy almost
25 per cent of schools were permitted to remain as
all courses at different levels (except Chinese-related
EMI. A decade after 1998, the government introduced
subjects or foreign language courses) are taught
its ‘fine-tuning’ MoI policy: as long as they fulfil certain
in English.
criteria, secondary schools in Hong Kong can choose
to be EMI schools. This would internationally be In one university, the student evaluation questionnaire
considered as ‘late start immersion’, where all conducted at the end of each course includes a
subjects (except Chinese History, Chinese Language question about the percentage of English used as
and Literature) are taught in English from Grade 7. the medium of instruction in lessons; it is thought
The fine-tuning policy introduced in 2009 provided that the university closely monitors the use of English
a flexible way in which schools could increase their as the MoI .
use of EMI according to student ability, teacher ability
and school preparedness. It allows schools to ‘adopt While there are news reports or television
diversified MOI arrangements’. programmes about the MoI in secondary schools
from time to time, there has been very little
Currently around 30 per cent of secondary schools discussion about the MoI in universities in the mass
are EMI schools and over 65 per cent of schools media. In a piece of news in October 2013 about the
use English to teach at least one academic subject. MoI of some courses at a post-secondary institution
The trend in Hong Kong is to increase EMI whilst (not a university), some international students
preserving mother tongue teaching. This in itself complained that the lecturers mainly used Cantonese
is interesting and perhaps due to the fact that there as the MoI in class, which was different from what
are an increasing number of school-aged students was stated in the programme information. This raised
for whom Cantonese is not the first language. some concerns about the language proficiency of
Approximately 30 per cent of the Hong Kong the lecturers.
population was born in Mainland China, Taiwan or
Macau, and speak Mandarin as their first language, 4.4 Public opinion on EMI
while other immigrant families come from India,
In the 55 countries researched, 51 per cent of
Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia and the Philippines.
respondents reported that EMI was thought to be
In Hong Kong, the student’s proficiency level in controversial in public opinion, 38 per cent thought
English is a determining factor in decisions about that public opinion was in favour of EMI and 11 per
when to introduce EMI and children are tested at cent did not give an answer. By ‘controversial’ was
primary six (aged 11), prior to being accepted in a meant that there were different shades of opinion or
particular type of school or language programme. that individuals might be torn between one attitude
Those classified as suitable for EMI schools need and another, rather than public opinion being
to be among the top 40 per cent in both English wholeheartedly against. The reasons given for
language and Chinese language in public the controversy in public opinion were interesting.
standardised assessments. These reflected many of the reasons mentioned
in the earlier sections, including the desire to protect
national languages and cultures, a concern that
policies had not been clearly thought through,
and that EMI was potentially divisive and could lead
to social inequalities.

20 |  The findings
 In Indonesia, for example it was reported that the
public were questioning the nature of huge funding Nigeria:
allocated for minor and generally already well-off state EMI is ‘highly supported by parents’. There is
schools. They were also questioning whether EMI was ‘[s]ome dissent from academics’. Parents support
something that students in the public school system English especially in the south where private
really needed. Concern was expressed that not all schools are offering EMI earlier and earlier.
teachers were competent or able to teach through
EMI, with a possible generation gap: older teachers
Spain:
not having sufficient English language proficiency.
Public opinion is demanding EMI especially in
A concern was also apparent with regard to home
primary and secondary education as English is
students who might find it too demanding and not
considered a fundamental skill crucial for mobility
be able to fully comprehend the academic input.
and employability and not simply a foreign
Figure 5: Percentage of the 55 countries where language. Provision of bilingual/ CLIL education is
respondents thought that public opinion was in favour considered a vote winner by public administrations.
of EMI, against it or found it controversial

10.9% Venezuela:
The vast majority of parents want their kids to
learn English at school, and there have been cases
38.2% in the public sector where parental pressure has
forced local education authorities to retain an EFL
50.9% programme that was under threat.

Hong Kong:
Schools have been notified that their information
about EMI must be accurate and if found not to
In favour Controversial be will receive feedback and perhaps a warning.
Not answered/not applicable This may be an indicator that there may be
situations where schools exaggerate their EMI
Parental pressure was reported as a major factor offer. Newspaper reports of schools with
promoting EMI. Respondents in the 55 Countries increased amounts of EMI being inundated
study reported that EMI is equated in parents’ by applications may be exaggerated.
minds with good education and learning outcomes.
In Mainland China, for example, in the private
education sector, ‘EMI is used to convey that a school India:
has a high profile, is international and provides a Demand for EMI is on the increase, particularly at
noble or elite education’. Parents consider EMI as the school level, in order to access opportunities
a way for their children to become part of a social in the tertiary level and for employment. EMI is
elite and are willing to spend a large part of their equated with good education and learning outcome,
income on giving their children an EMI education. but studies don’t support this parental assumption.
Schools may therefore be under pressure to
exaggerate their EMI offer as shown in the quotes
from respondents below:

Hungary:
Diverse, very diverse belief systems. Some think
this is instrumental in developing a good command
of English. Others think that it hinders Hungarian
language development. Generally speaking,
well-educated parents are very happy about EMI
primary and secondary schools. It is an important
criteria of selecting schools.

The findings   | 21
 The following quotes are from our respondents and
they illustrate the various reasons why the general Senegal:
public might be in favour of EMI and why they might Public opinion is positive. The MOE rationale
find it controversial. for introducing English at the primary school
level is that this is what parents want and they
The following quotes from respondents portray advocate the ‘earlier is better’ approach to
public opinion in favour of EMI: language learning.

Germany: Mauritius:
No controversy, yet. It is expected in Germany to I think public opinion is in favour of keeping EMI.
spend some time abroad, there are many initiatives
to encourage study abroad. And there is a high
expectation that everyone speaks a second India:
language or has a reasonable level of English. Public opinion is mainly positive. Demand for EMI
is on the increase, particularly at the school level,
in order to access opportunities in the tertiary
Bosnia and Herzegovina: level and for employment. EMI is equated with
No public controversy with EMI. The public would good education and learning outcomes, but
appreciate that foreign languages (English really) studies don’t support this parental assumption.
are included in core curriculum from Grade 1
and this is not the case. There were a number
of demands in this direction and government Serbia:
has responded in some parts of the country. EMI is being encouraged yet only the most
talented children join bilingual classes.

Azerbaijan: The following quotes from respondents suggest

Positive attitude towards EMI. Because the demand greater equivocation in public opinion:
in the employment market is vast, EMI is perceived
as means of possible improvement of suitable Switzerland:
employment chances. The public is very much It is seen as economically worthwhile by parents
interested in seeing EMI as a part of the teaching and employers but it is politically sensitive in a
curriculum, but more work needs to be done on country with four national languages.
the policy level.

Spain:
Colombia: At university level the increase in the provision
No major controversies, public opinion seems of courses in English is largely considered
positive but there exist a variety of views. essential if Spanish universities are to compete
for international students. There has been some
public controversy around the assessment and
Czech Republic: standardisation of levels of English in tertiary
EMI is positively received in general. This education and at all levels about the poor level
arrangement is predominantly offered to foreign of English of pupils and students.
students in the country.

Taiwan:
Saudi Arabia:
In HE, EMI is welcome more broadly. A general
Public opinion is positive. English is recognised
controversy usually focuses on the comprehension
as a basic skill and there is prestige attached to
of students on an EMI course.
English ability including better jobs.

22 |  The findings
 4.5. Teaching and learning through EMI
Malaysia:
Critics of the Malay Language as a medium of Respondents were asked to report on any issues
communication policy (MBMMBI) believed that the centring directly on teaching and learning through
abolishing of PPSMI (the teaching and learning EMI. In summary, and as well as a general concern as
of science and mathematics in English) was made to whether EMI produced better or worse outcomes,
to appease the Malay conservatives and their replies touched on the following areas:
nationalists ahead of the general election in 2009. ■■ a lack of EMI teachers
The Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia ■■ a lack of resources
(PAGE) plays a huge part in representing the voice
■■ a lack of clear guidelines for teaching.
of pro-PPSMI parents who are hoping that the
Ministry will reinstate and allow PPSMI policy to ■■ whether English alone should be used or
continue alongside MBMMBI. However, their wish whether a mixture of English and L1 might
remains unheeded. permitted or advised
■■ subjects which are taught through EMI
■■ exams and assessment
Brazil:
It is very much seen at the moment as something ■■ the age at which EMI starts, policies on age
for the elite. There may be some controversy over ■■ a standard level of English for EMI teachers
the introduction of state-funded EMI schools as
■■ the changing role of the teacher
many believe there are more useful areas of
education that could be invested in, in what is ■■ the role of language centres and English teachers.
considered as an inadequate education system.
An EMI teacher in a school or university which has
successfully attracted international students is faced
In a minority of countries public opinion appears
with a class of students many of whom may not speak
to be quite negative:
the teacher’s L1. One would imagine that a minimum
requirement would be a sufficiently high level of
Qatar: English proficiency to be able to operate in that
Lots of controversy and not welcome due to the language. However, one could hypothesise that they
way it was implemented. would additionally need to find alternative ways of
presenting academic material to students for whom
English was also a second language. In which case
South Sudan: similar skills required of an EFL teacher would need
People have become increasingly aware of the to be found in an EMI teacher. They would need to
complexities involved in its introduction. There have know how to modify their input, assure
been some riots as some teachers objected to it. comprehension via student-initiated interactional
modifications and create an atmosphere where
students operating in an L2 are not afraid to speak;
Argentina: all this whilst taking into account the many cultural
System-wide national deployment (of EMI) would differences present in the room and the potentially
be seen negatively, in part due to the reactions different language levels of individuals.
towards the UK emerging from the Malvinas/
Falklands issue combined with claims and the In the preliminary study teachers were found to have
status of Spanish as the national language and limited self-experienced or no previous understanding
official language for local education. of the implications of teaching through EMI. If it is
indeed the case that teaching through EMI involves
changing from a teacher-led style to a more
Ghana: interactive dynamic, then few teachers said they had
It has been considered unsuccessful due to considered the idea that EMI was not simply a matter
the lack of consideration of the fact that most of translating course material and slides from L1 to
teachers do not teach in their home town, and L2. Recall that these teachers were on the British
may be teaching in an environment where the Council’s ATE courses and so must have been aware
predominant home language is foreign to the that they faced language problems when teaching in
teachers themselves. EMI, yet certainly at least at the beginning of the
course were not sure what these problems were.

The findings   | 23
 They were asked to rank seven attributes of an Difficulties were expressed in resourcing EMI exams,
EMI lecturer. The most important attributes were securing the appropriate number of qualified teachers
considered to be ‘the ability to explain difficult and providing the learning materials and textbooks.
concepts’ and ‘the ability to create an interactive In the preliminary research, two universities gave no
environment’. The least important attributes were consideration to the extra time needed to prepare a
considered to be ‘a belief that you can help students lesson in EMI while the other university counted an
improve their English’, ‘a reflective approach’ and EMI lesson as one and a half times the teaching stint
‘an awareness of the potentially diverse cultural of an L1 lesson.
backgrounds of the students’.
It appears therefore that policy makers in many
One interpretation of the Bologna process is that countries insist on introducing EMI for reasons of
it is a lever for forcing change in higher education economic growth, prestige and internationalisation
pedagogy. If teachers teaching through English are without considering the teaching resources needed to
sufficiently skilled only to deliver a more ‘monologic’ ensure its proper implementation such as sufficiently
approach and less skilled at engaging in a dialogue trained teachers, materials and assessment.
or interaction, how can they convey and discuss
difficult concepts in their subject in English? 4.5.2 Guidelines on how to teach through EMI
A monologic approach also sits uneasily alongside Although 27 per cent of respondents reported that
the belief that EMI is a new tool for authentic their country had had some limited guidelines about
language learning in the classroom and a how to teach through EMI, 60 per cent reported
multilingual and multicultural tool for developing none. Moreover in very few countries adopting EMI
intercultural communication. was there a clear strategy in terms of educational
structure with regard to EMI. For example one might
4.5.1 EMI teacher qualifications have expected some guidelines or policy on a
Overwhelmingly, the respondents in the 55 Countries phased introduction, or a recognition that schools or
study felt that there were not enough qualified universities had to reach a certain level of proficiency
teachers. In answer to the question ‘Are there before they could adopt an EMI course, as in the
enough qualified teachers in your country to teach Hong Kong model described above.
through EMI?’ the answer was a resounding ‘No’
Figure 7: The percentage of respondents reporting
with 83 per cent of countries responding in this way.
on the existence of written guidelines about how to
Only one country, Ghana, responded that it had
teach through EMI
enough qualified teachers; this was surprising in
view of the earlier negative attitude expressed
by ‘public opinion’. 12.7%

Figure 6: Percentage of the 55 countries answering 27.3%

Yes or No to the question ‘Are there enough qualified
EMI teachers?’
1.8%
60%
14.5%

Yes No Not answered/not applicable

83.6% The only countries where some written guidelines

about how to teach through EMI were reported were
the Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Hong Kong,
Hungary, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Netherlands,
Yes No Not answered/not applicable Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka and
Taiwan. Even here it was not clear what level of
advice was being provided.

24 |  The findings
 One issue which has been the focus of research Maths, English literature, translation, science,
and practice interest in the EFL sphere is that of engineering, physics, business, geography, biology,
‘codeswitching’ or the use of the L1 in the L2 agriculture, chemistry, arts, history, medicine,
classroom as opposed to English-only. Clearly this is international relations, regional studies, and religious
also a contested area in the EMI content classroom. education were all quoted as subjects taught
76 per cent of respondents reported their country as through EMI. In other words there is no subject
having no written guidelines specifying whether or not which is clearly designed as a subject that can only
English should be the only language used in the EMI be appropriately taught in the majority students’
classroom. Only Qatar, Zambia, Vietnam and Ghana home language. Yet medicine might be a subject
reported having such guidance. The EFL field has for where learning it through the L2 might result in
some time now come to recognise that principled problems when qualified students begin to practise.
codeswitching could be beneficial for L2 learning in a Whilst it may be advantageous to be able to read the
classroom situation where the teacher and students many medical journals written in English thanks to a
or students and students share an L1. Clearly this may putative improved English language proficiency
also be applicable to the EMI classroom. resulting from EMI, how will a doctor who has not
experienced clinically-oriented interaction in his/her
Figure 8: Percentage of respondents who reported
home language during training perform when talking
their country having guidance on using English-only
to patients who may not speak a word of English?
or code-switching
Table 3: Number of respondents reporting
7.3% that the subject was taught or assessed through
16.4% EMI in their country

Subject Countries

Maths 9

English and literature 7

76.4% Translation 7

Science 6

Engineering 4

Yes No Not answered/not applicable Physics 4

Business 3
There are further questions as to the use and
future of the home language. If students learn their Geography 3
academic subject only in English, what happens to Biology 3
those concepts and technical terms in their home
Agriculture 2
language – do they survive? If English-only is being
used, and a teacher is not proficient, what kind of Chemistry 2
English are the students going to be exposed to? Arts 2

4.5.3 Subjects taught and subjects History 2

examined through EMI
Medicine 1
Guidance is given in some countries as to which
subjects should be taught in English, but the basis International relations 1
for those decisions is not clear. There is also a great Regional studies 1
difference between countries: in Pakistan, for
Religious education 1
example, the National Education Policy 2009 set
out two subjects which should be taught through
EMI: Maths and Science. In Sri Lanka, however,
ten subjects can be taught through EMI and more
subjects can be taught if the students want this and
permission is sought from the Ministry of Education.

The findings   | 25
 Exams and assessment were also described as being In Pakistan, science and mathematics education
problematic. Respondents reported that at university through EMI should take place at Class IV onwards.
level, lectures were sometimes in English while This is still at primary school, which consists of five
exams were in L1 due to university policy, student classes, I-V, and enrols children age five–nine years.
pressure or the law, or subjects were not taught in It is also possible to teach Science and Maths in Urdu
English but were assessed in English. In Taiwan, for for the first five years; but after that, the statement
example, English Literature is not taught in English is clear: both should be taught in English only.
but it is assessed in English. In Nepal, in English
medium schools, subjects such as Social Studies In Ethiopia, English is the medium of instruction at
and History are taught in a mixed approach but secondary school and at university, whilst the policy
assessed in English. Our respondent in Mauritius from 1994 states that English is taught as a foreign
reported that this was the case for all subjects. language from year 1 of primary school.

EMI raises many questions for exams and In Sri Lanka, ten subjects can be taught in English;
assessment: What language should exams be in? and if a school wishes, it can teach more subjects
What form should they take? Do teachers have a through EMI but no teaching resources will be supplied.
sufficiently high level of English to write and mark In Nepal, the Nepali language or English language
exams? What is being assessed, the English or or both can be used.
the subject content?
In Hungary the Education Act of 1985 made it
4.5.4 Age of EMI introduction possible to carry out education in a language
Traditionally, students have learnt English as a other than Hungarian. Secondary CLIL (1985) was
Foreign Language (EFL) at school, in other words a Ministry initiated, top-down innovation. From 2004
English as a subject in its own right. A question to all secondary schools were allowed to initiate a
be asked therefore would be at what point, if at all, special extra preparatory year for students, with
should EMI take over from EFL? an intensive language development programme.
In 2004, 407 schools were implementing the extra
At university level, in our preliminary study, teachers
preparatory year. In higher education, CLIL, which
knew vaguely what level of English their students
may well mean EMI in this context, is also allowed,
needed in order to follow a course in EMI at university,
and encouraged to a certain extent.
although expressing this varied from ‘quite good’ to
quoting the Common European Framework B2 (CEF). In 1997 the Ministry of Education declared some
guiding principles for all schools where education is
Policies around the world vary enormously.
carried out in a language different from Hungarian:
The examples below illustrate the diversity of practice
these were aimed at CLIL schools:
in this area.
■■ an adequate number of lessons must be
In Italy in 2010, legislation regarding content and devoted to language development
language integrated learning (CLIL) methodology
■■ CLIL schools have to adopt a specific
(DD.PP.RR. 87, 88, 89 15/03/2010) was introduced
language syllabus
in the last year of higher secondary education
(starting in language schools from the third year). ■■ the civilization of the target language countries
must be taught
In the Netherlands the starting point for all phases
■■ three or more subjects must be taught in the
of formal education is Dutch. However, government
target language
policy is in place with regards to English as a subject
in primary education. Policy concerning EMI ■■ the target language must be present in
(especially Early English and bilingual education) is 35–50 per cent of the students’ time-table
currently in the making. Government policy with ■■ the school must employ at least one teacher
regards to EMI in secondary mostly focuses on whose native language is the target language
bilingual schools. In tertiary education, there is of the programme.
a policy in place that allows instruction in other
languages if: 1) the language in question is the object Schools working under the above conditions are
of study; 2) there are guest lecturers whose first entitled to receive additional per capita financial
language is not Dutch; 3) it is necessary due to the support from the educational budget.
specific nature of the subject, for the quality of the
education or the background of the students.

26 |  The findings
 4.5.5 Levels of English for EMI teachers
Respondents reported that most teachers who Indonesia:
were expected to teach through EMI were not A study by MoEC on English language competences
native speakers of English, and it is as yet unclear of teachers and principals in 549 international
what the requirements are with regard to English standard schools in 2009 found that the overall
language competence. picture is of a teacher workforce which is not ready
to function in English and where more than half of
In the preliminary research, teachers found it all teachers possess a level of ‘novice’, that is, a
difficult to answer the question on what level a competence which is even lower than ‘elementary’.
teacher should have before teaching through EMI
and how teachers should reach an appropriate In Ethiopia, teachers were considered to be qualified
level of English. if they were university or college graduates, but the
Phew, wow, I’m not sure what level the teacher low level of English proficiency was a problem.
needs, erm, it’s not necessary that the teacher
needs a higher level than the students. Ethiopia:
Pof...Good question.. I don’t know actually … The public wants their children to learn in English
at least you have to be able to understand the (more) than in any other language but educated
questions of the students. parents feel that the teachers’ proficiency level is
very low and usually complain of not having
I think for technical disciplines we don’t need very
competent teachers in public schools.
deep knowledge of the language. The vocabulary
is 400 or 500 words.

Teachers in the preliminary study and respondents Bahrain:

in the 55 Countries study were unaware of a language Most of them are expatriates and work in private
level, test or qualification for EMI teachers. They had schools and universities.
been nominated to teach through EMI because they
had been abroad, spoke well or had volunteered.
Teachers would welcome a standard level of India:
proficiency in English for EMI. EMI is not a priority at Teacher Education level
where it comes to state funded education. In
Professors and staff not fluent in English are private education, this is a huge concern for the
sometimes expected to gain proficiency by taking low cost sector, but in elite, urban schools, this is
weekly English classes. Whether or not this is not an issue as they have access to teachers with
sufficient training to enable teachers to be able C1 to C2 levels of English for reasons of class and
to work in English is open to debate. economic background.

In most countries there is currently no standardised

English benchmark test for subject teachers teaching
through EMI. As one teacher in the preliminary study
remarked:
We intentionally left out a standard as requirement
as it’s difficult enough to encourage faculty to
teach in English.

Sometimes the level of English was thought

to be very basic, and inadequate for teaching
an academic subject.

The findings   | 27
 In many countries there was a generation gap. 4.5.6 The changing role of the teacher
Younger teachers were more likely to speak English, Another issue is the changing role of the teacher in
while it was thought that older, more experienced an EMI context. EMI teachers in the preliminary study
subject teachers were struggling to teach through firmly believed that teaching English was not their job.
EMI. These quotes from respondents illustrate They did not consider themselves responsible for their
the issues: students’ level of English. They did not see themselves
as language teachers in any way. University teachers
Pakistan: definitely thought that EMI was beneficial to students
There is a dearth of qualified respondents to cover and more specifically, that students made progress
the need especially at primary and secondary level in English when they studied through EMI. Teachers
and more in public sector. Primary and secondary felt that the students would improve their English by
school teachers across Pakistan are not fully being exposed to it, by having to express themselves
qualified to use English as a Medium of Instruction. and by reading and writing:
The British Council tested the English language For sure yes, they will be exposed to more input,
skills of 2008 primary and middle school teachers relevant input.
in public and private schools in 18 districts of Yes because they are forced to communicate
Punjab using the British Council’s Aptis language with me in English and forced to think in English.
testing system. According to the findings:
I’m sure they will improve because they have to
1. 62 per cent of private school teachers and express themselves and collect the vocabulary
56 per cent of government school teachers to express and for their writing.
registered scores in the lowest possible band
in the Aptis test, meaning they lack even basic It was thought that improvement in English
knowledge of English, including the ability to proficiency would happen as a by-product of the
understand and use familiar everyday content lessons and most interviewees in the
expressions and simple phrases. preliminary study firmly believed that students were
responsible for their own progress. We may ask how
2. Most of the remaining teachers received scores
students are supposed to understand lectures and
that placed them in beginners’ level.
classes if the EMI teacher does not help with their
3. Even in EMI schools, 44 per cent of teachers knowledge of English by paraphrasing, by teaching
scored in the bottom Aptis band. In all, 94 per subject-specific vocabulary and technical terms.
cent of teachers in EMI schools have only
pre-intermediate level of English or lower. I’m not interested in their English, I’m interested in
their comprehension of micro-biogenetics
4. Younger teachers had a much higher level of
English than older colleagues. 24 per cent of errr I don’t think so, I’m not going to improve (their)
teachers aged 21–35 scored in the pre- English. I’m going to transfer basic knowledge, try
intermediate and intermediate categories, to communicate in a correct way but I’m not going
compared with just seven per cent of those to correct or teach them English.
aged 51 and over.

28 |  The findings
 If subject teachers do not consider it their job In this rush to internationalise, there may be
to improve the students’ English, whose job is it? variability in the quality of student experience for
This raises the question of what sort of teachers an international student. Are international students
are required to teach an academic subject through receiving the same content as home students?
EMI? Clearly these attitudes are what separates Quotes from teachers in the preliminary study
EMI from CLIL where the notion of furthering suggest not:
language competence is built into the acronym. They end up being taught individually as the main
It would be useful to consider what English language course is taught in L1.
provision will be in the future and who will be
A special course for foreigners.
delivering it; some thoughts on this are offered
in the concluding section. Some of these teachers claimed that older university
teachers might hand over their teaching to younger
4.6 Internationalising higher education teachers if it had to be done through EMI, as they felt
One of the main aims of policy makers, teachers, incapable of delivering lectures in English.
parents and students in implementing EMI is to We are lucky because we have two PhD students
internationalise the education on offer in their from India so they speak very well English and they
country, particularly in the higher education phase. have given the seminars, we give them the
The very notion of ‘internationalisation of universities’ literature and the papers.
is a contested one. Internationalising a university can
be conceived in the narrow sense of attracting and The speed at which universities are internationalising
admitting foreign students. It may additionally be and English is being used as the academic lingua
conceived as attracting and employing international franca is accelerating. Ironically, EMI means that
faculty. However internationalisation can mean much learning in English no longer means going to a UK
more than this. It may be that a university strives to or US university. In Europe for example, the number
prepare its home students for an international world of courses taught in English is increasing rapidly due
and in order to do this the very nature of a university to the Bologna process and these courses attract
located in a single geographical space begins to international students from around the world.
be challenged.
In South Africa, the respondent reported that
In the study 72 per cent of respondents answered 7.25 per cent of university students were non-South
that in their country universities admitted international African, with the majority (46,496) coming from
students. However, in many cases the numbers were Southern African Development Community (SADC)
said to be not substantial or even negligible. countries: Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland,
Mozambique and Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia,
Figure 9: Percentage of 55 countries who have whilst the next largest group (10,986) came from the
international students rest of the world, notably from the USA (7,302).

Universities are becoming increasingly international

11%
in the sense that their campuses are also becoming
global. South Sudan for example is working with
16% universities in the USA to train agriculture specialists
and New York University has bases in Africa, Asia,
Europe, the Middle East and South America. This new
73% sort of global university with partnerships and
campuses around the world, is facilitated by EMI.

Yes No Not answered

The findings   | 29
 Case study: Taiwan Mandarin. In state primary and secondary schools,
According to our respondents in Taiwan: a proportion of native English-speaking teachers
The Ministry of Education (MoE) of Taiwan are hired to teach English. In private primary and
is encouraging universities to establish secondary schools, native English-speaking teachers
an international environment, including teach all kinds of academic subjects.
internationalised campuses, curricula and
In 2003, the Executive Yuan (the policymaking
administration systems, and to promote
organ of the government) ordered that the task of
global cooperation and exchanges.
attracting more foreign students to study in Taiwan
The official language of instruction in the country be included in the National Development Plan, with
is Mandarin Chinese. The Ministry of Education is the objectives of raising national competitiveness
encouraging EMI at university level. There are 60 and fully exploiting global exchange, solidifying
public universities and 100 private universities in diplomatic relations, providing high-tech individuals,
Taiwan and EMI is an important benchmark to filling the population deficit, making education a
internationalise a university, improve its international services industry, and promoting economic
competitiveness and attract international students. development. The target for attracting foreign
The MoE provides incentives to HE academics who students to study in Taiwan was ‘ten times in ten
lecture in English e.g. an EMI lecturer may have a years’ from 1,283 in 2002 to 12,830 in 2011.
Teaching Assistant assigned to help students The MoE’s policy is to attract more foreign students
understand the course content and receive to study in Taiwan, to encourage Taiwanese students
sponsorship for overseas training. to study abroad, and to promote international
cultural and educational exchange and cooperation.

Taiwan: The distinction is not so clear in state or private

Foreign students are the bridge of international universities, although state universities often have
friendship. The number of foreign students is better students whose tendency to select an EMI
not only a key indicator of a nation’s educational course is higher than that of average private
internationalization and competitiveness, but also university students. Universities have autonomy
the characteristic of the nation’s national appeal in course design and delivery. Some universities
and international influence. Therefore, the more have delivered EMI courses to attract international
advanced the nation, the more foreign students it students; the MoE has budgets to encourage EMI,
has and the more efforts it has made to attract but controversies arise as to whether EMI has been
foreign students. effective in teaching and successful in attracting
international students. In 2012–13, the number of
There is more EMI at university level than in schools. university students was 1,254,066. The total of
In tertiary education, the courses that are most likely international students studying for a degree in
to be taught in English are at master and doctoral Taiwan was 11,554 so slightly below the target set for
degree level: English, Commerce, Engineering, MBA 2011. The top five countries these students are from
and IMBA. are Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and the USA.

According to the 2007 statistics of the MoE, there There is little EMI in primary and secondary schools.
were 2651 primary schools, 740 junior high schools, In state primary and secondary education, courses
320 senior high schools, and 156 vocational high delivered by native English-speaking teachers are
schools. EMI is allowed by the central and local taught in English. The average number of hours
governments in all stages of education in private per week taught in English is one or even lower
and state schools. In state primary and secondary because most schools have no native English-
schools, only Mandarin as a subject and a few speaking teachers. In private primary and secondary
dialects cannot be taught in English. However, even education, this may be five hours or higher. In state
though the ideal is for English (as a subject) classes primary and secondary schools, all subjects are
to be taught in English as much as possible, most taught in Mandarin except for English, which is
English classes are still said to be delivered in taught in English and Mandarin.

30 |  The findings
 There are some local dialects and indigenous
languages which are different from the majority
language. In 2012, the ratio of indigenous students
in primary/secondary/tertiary education to overall
student population was 2.75 per cent. There are no
large immigrant communities whose language is
different from the majority language.

The vast majority of primary and secondary school

teachers are not bilingual teachers – they speak the
majority language in school. The majority of university
professors speak English since most of them have a
PhD degree. However, that does not mean they are
well trained to deliver courses in English.

The percentage of English-speaking monolingual

teachers employed in state institutions (all three
phases) who teach academic or vocational subjects
is very low. In primary and secondary education,
the only English-speaking monolingual teachers
employed in primary and secondary education
are foreign English teachers.

There is no professional standard that a qualified

EMI teacher has to reach. Each university may have
its own standards and no provision for EMI on Initial
Teacher Education programmes. In primary and
secondary education, local state school English
teacher-trainees participate in teacher training to
enhance their teaching methodologies but there are
no training opportunities that are designed to train
other subject teachers to teach their subject through
the medium of English. The Ministry of Education
or local education bureau sends experienced local
state school teachers overseas for school visits
or short courses (two weeks), e.g. Content and
Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) could be a
module part of a course, depending on the design
of the course or the needs of the education bureau.

The findings   | 31
 5
Looking ahead
Broad conclusions have already been offered in the The evidence from the data collected for this
Executive summary. The report now limits itself to report suggests that the private sector will continue
considering what the likely trends and implications to drive the push for EMI for some years to come.
are for EMI in the future. Apart from notable exceptions alluded to earlier,
the private sector, relatively free of national political
In the 55 country study, respondents were asked to and cultural constraints will continue to portray EMI
comment on what they thought future trends were as the distinguishing feature of its educational offer.
with regard to EMI. They reported that overwhelmingly Some public institutions may therefore be constantly
there would very likely be an increase in EMI provision playing ‘catch-up’ in order to survive as places where
(see Figure 10). quality education can be accessed.
Figure 10: General trend of EMI for the future
With regard to furthering competence in English as
– more, less, same or mixed?
an L2, the picture is slightly more encouraging.
4% Given the amount of exposure to English that EMI
provides, it would be surprising if it were anything
other than encouraging. However, again the evidence
20%
is mixed with some indications that receptive skills
improve but not productive skills. Future discussion
2%
about what the linguistic objectives of EMI
7% programmes are must take place if it is not to remain
67%
a sclerotic practice with limited benefits, or at least
benefits that can only be measured in a limited way.
Moreover, if future research evidence suggests
improvements in English language competence,
More Less Same
then the debate must also include the nature of that
competence and whether it should be enabling access
Mixed Not answered to learning in a narrow sense (just the academic
subject to be studied) or a broader sense of being
What this means for the future of the academic able to operate using English as a lingua franca in
subjects being taught through the medium of English a number of different interactional scenarios.
is an empirical question that urgently needs some
The question therefore needs to be asked as to
well researched answers. To date we have some
whether and to what extent EMI can follow the same
evidence from immersion programmes in Canada
dual objective ideals of CLIL – that is to integrate
and some from Hong Kong. Whereas some bilingual
content learning with language acquisition. This then
programmes have shown advantage (or at least
brings a whole new dimension into the discussion
comparable achievement) for immersion in terms
– whether EMI teachers should be language teachers
of academic achievement, in Hong Kong recent
as well as content teachers and therefore whether
large-scale studies tend to suggest that EMI may
they should be specifically trained as such. This debate
help with L2 learning, but is not necessarily beneficial
is not new. It occurred in 1975 in the UK context when
to academic progress. Some research has been
Sir Alan Bullock’s report A Language for Life argued
carried out in the CLIL European context but once
strongly for a policy of language across the curriculum,
again the evidence is inconclusive because of the
one where all subject teachers were responsible for
many different typologies of CLIL programmes.
furthering the linguistic competence

32 |  Looking ahead
 of their students. Will the future be one of ‘English
across the curriculum’ for all countries adopting EMI
for academic subjects? Given some of the evidence
gathered from university teachers for this report it
would seem to be unlikely – at least in the immediate
future until and unless there is clear evidence that
EMI is or is not resulting in the desired outcomes.

If EMI teachers slowly become more or additionally

like language teachers then is it the case that
EMI will gradually replace EFL as the main vehicle
for furthering English language proficiency? The
evidence so far is that this is already occurring to
a limited extent but may well accelerate as a trend
when government agencies and principals begin to
consider their inevitably limited resources. This in
turn raises further questions. What will be the
role of language centres and preparatory year
(pre-sessional) teachers and what status will they
have in a rapidly developing EMI context?

Another implication, should the trend of EMI

replacing EFL accelerate and increase in volume,
is the status of the native speaker of English teacher
of academic subjects. There has been an increasingly
acrimonious debate in the EFL field centred around
‘who is better’, the native speaker of English who
cannot communicate to any operational level with
their students (who have a different home language)
or the bilingual speaker who may not have near-
native proficiency in English but knows the L1 of
his/her students and therefore may be able to relate to
the linguistic challenges that they are experiencing.
The same debate may then arise in the EMI field with
‘imported’ English native speaker university academics
and school teachers being highly valued and elbowing
out their ‘locally produced’ counterparts. This may
well already be happening as universities increasingly
conceptualise ‘internationalisation’ by attempting to
attract overseas (and very likely anglophone) faculty.

One thing of which we can be reasonably sure:

given the current momentum observed in the EMI
phenomenon it is highly unlikely that the majority
of countries, certainly in the tertiary phase, will seek
to reverse the decision to push forward with even
more courses taught in English. If the phenomenon
cannot be slowed down to a speed that will allow
reflection, then at the very least it is encumbent on
researchers and teachers alike to strive to make the
experience for their learners as enabling and as
rewarding as possible.

Looking ahead   | 33
 6
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