English Language And Linguistics: Medium Instruction

The Implementation of English as Medium Instruction (EMI) Policies in Universities

The project is about the implementation of English as Medium Instruction (EMI) policies in universities in parts of the world where English is used as a second/foreign language. EMI policy is very important at the universities both academically and linguistically. Academically because there are many educational publications, books journals and research papers in English, so it would become very easier for studying. Linguistically it is important because, it is a very common language, spoken by most of the countries. The project will help us understand how the policy is being implemented at the tertiary level and to what extent the policy meets the expectations of students, parents, higher education authorities and policymakers.

The Medium of instruction (MOI) refers to the language that is used for teaching and learning. MOI mediates access to learning and academic achievement. Therefore, selecting MOI is a critical question, the languages that can be used as Medium of Instruction is English, French and German because these are the most popular languages.

Universities are places, which has cultural diversity, in such case there has to be a common medium of instruction that would be helpful for both the authorities to communicate to the students. Due to the global trend, scholars travel beyond geographical boarders. There are so many lingual and communication barriers that the students face, even the authorities face the same problem to instruct and interact with the students. This problem creates a need for having a medium of instruction, a language that is common among all the students, irrespective of their nationalities, it would make it very easy for the authorities to communicate, teach, instruct and inform the students about the various rules and regulations (Kaplan & Baldauf, 2013).

English is a global language for education and research. Therefore, the universities are also becoming international institutions, EMI in higher education is becoming common all around the world.

From the very beginning of the millennium, the internalization has now become common trend in most of the countries. In context to higher education, the government is also putting emphasis on EMI in the universities, in the area like IT, finance, biotechnology, law, economics and foreign trade. English is widely most used lingua franca today, it has gained s very prominent role and status around the world (Milligan & Tikly, 2016).

According to Kaplan, (2014), From the very beginning of the millennium, English as language has became a global trend, and now this is increasing, because of Globalization there is lot of interaction of people beyond borders, which creates a need for having a language that would sort the problems related to lingual diversity so that people can interact among themselves. English is one such language that is widely spoken across the globe. English is the language that breaks all the lingual barriers and makes it very easy for people from different countries to communicate among them. Universities also need to follow the trend and make English the Medium of Instruction (Belhiah & Elhami,  2015).

According to Hashimoto, (2013) English is an international language, it is the most widely used language globally, universities are places where students from all around the world pursue their courses together. Geographical borders does not restrict students from pursuing studies anywhere in the world according to their desire, students from Asia, middle east and Africa travel all around the world, to pursue higher education, therefore it is very important for the Universities to have a language that popular, and common to all the places. (Dearden, 2014).

The globalization has made studying anywhere in the globe very easy, but the language and cultural barriers somewhere hinders the process, it calls upon the need to have a medium of language that is globally accepted and beneficial for international students as well. English is also one of the main languages of many regions of the world, including Asia, Africa and Middle East. it is also good for native students, moreover it would be very beneficial for students irrespective of their origin to get acquainted to the language, this might help them when they plan they career outside Australia, because English is medium of communication globally, many countries have English as one of their main languages. Choosing any other language as a medium of Instruction at universities might create problems for the students, there will be cultural barriers and University Administration would find it difficult to teach or instruct or even communicate to their students. The whole learning process would be hindered and it may happen that students would restrict themselves to their own countries when it comes to pursuing education. So in order to maintain a cultural diversity, which is very important in the present era of Globalization and to open doors for students from all around the world, to get education anywhere in the world. There is a need for Implementation of a language as Medium of Instruction and teaching, the following research investigates that why among all the other languages English should be Medium of Instruction. (Vu & Burns, 2014).

Why it is Important to Research

The need for the research is to find out, that why English is preferred for Medium of instruction over other language, that are also popular, like French and German how feasible it is to use English as MOI.  Through the research the various policies that will be required for the implementation of the EMI will be researched and discussed in the later chapters.

Why MOI

Why should English be the Medium of Instruction in the Universities?

What is the extent of using English as a language of Instruction in higher education?

What policies should be used and how it can be used and how it can be implemented in higher education?

What are the challenges facing MOI?

Scope of the study

The study focuses on Implementing English as the medium of Instruction at universities. The need for medium of Instruction serves as the scope for this study. Medium of instruction and teaching needs to be implemented in the universities, it would become easy for the authorities to design the curriculum of the courses. Since there are many educational publications in English, and also English has been the language of major research papers and academic works as well, so it would be advantageous to have English as a Medium of Instruction over other languages, equally popular like, French and German(Cots, 2013).

Outline

The various chapter of this research includes Introduction of the thesis, MOI in universities, In the next chapter there will be discussion on the challenges faced by MOI. The next chapter will focus on the extent to which English can be used as the Medium of Instruction.The next chapter will include the policies required for the implementation of English as a Medium of Instruction.

References

Belhiah, H., & Elhami, M. (2015). English as a medium of instruction in the Gulf: When students and teachers speak. Language Policy, 14(1), 3-23.

Cots, J. M. (2013). Introducing English-medium instruction at the University of Lleida, Spain: Intervention, beliefs and practices. English-medium instruction at universities: Global challenges, 106130.

Dearden, J. (2014). English as a medium of instruction–a growing global phenomenon. British Council. Online: https://www. britishcouncil. org/education/ihe/knowledge-centre/english-language-higher-education/report-english-medium-instruction (accessed 2/2/2016).

Hashimoto, K. 2013. ‘English-only’, but not a medium-of-instruction policy: the Japanese way of internationalising education for both domestic and overseas students. Current Issues in Language Planning, 14(1), pp.16-33.

Kaplan, R. B. (2014). Language PLANNING IN THE PRESENT: AN INTRODUCTION. Studies in Honour of Marianne Nikolov, 163.

Kaplan, R. B., & Baldauf Jr, R. B. (2013). Language and language-in-education planning in the Pacific Basin (Vol. 2). Springer Science & Business Media.

Milligan, L. O., & Tikly, L. (2016). English as a medium of instruction in postcolonial contexts: issues of quality, equity and social justice. Comparative Education, 52(3).

Vu, N. T., & Burns, A. (2014). English as a medium of instruction: Challenges for Vietnamese tertiary lecturers. The journal of Asia TEFL, 11(3), 1-31.