EMI in Higher Education: Current Challenges

Abstract

English Medium Instruction (EMI) consists in delivering content in English to students who are non-native speakers of English. With English becoming a supranational and intercultural tool of professional and academic communication, EMI is being introduced by various entities in higher education at a rapid pace in different parts of the world. The focal point of the present research on EMI is the collection of data provided by teachers and students regarding their attitudes toward EMI. Along with the immediate spread, numerous doubts have emerged that need to be addressed in order to render EMI more effective and accessible. This paper presents the current literature on the subject of EMI in higher education, where it is primarily present, and aims to recognize and provide an overview of the challenges that teachers and students face in education in which EMI is incorporated. The challenges may be identified in three main areas, that is at the level of policy and social processes, at the level of teacher’s agency, and finally at the level of students’ perspective. Some of the challenges may be fixed with basic policy changes; however, others, such as the factor of translanguaging, the methodology of establishing linguistic standards, or the process of transition between particular stages of education, require more research into the subject of EMI.