Journal of English-Medium Instruction - Volume 3, Issue 1, 2024

This article analyses some of the linguistic tensions derived from international academic mobility in English-medium instruction multilingual university contexts, focusing on local and international academic staff’s interests from a linguistic justice viewpoint. Firstly, we develop a normative argument to explore whether international academic mobility and increased use of English can become a source of linguistic domination for local staff, or if suggested countermeasures, such as requiring international scholars to learn the local language, might lead to linguistic discrimination against the latter group. Secondly, via a qualitative analysis of survey data, we ask local and international scholars at the University of Tartu about their views on the language policy regime at the university. Protective language policies that encourage locals to use Estonian more and require internationals to learn some Estonian could help enhance linguistic justice, according to local staff. However, international scholars may perceive such requests as discriminatory. Linguistic domination and discrimination play a key role in the clashing interests of stakeholders, creating tension. The study highlights the complexity of the dilemmas faced by many university officials today in their attempt to balance institutional goals with on-the-ground realities.

The simultaneous global growth in higher education’s student population and demand for English-medium instruction (EMI) have created various models of transnational education (TNE) partnerships that use EMI to recruit students and increase opportunities for international collaboration. Inevitably, in transnational collaborative efforts, stakeholders have far more conflicting considerations as they navigate multiple countries’ academic policies and norms, diverse student, staff and faculty expectations, and the myriad of linguistic and cultural differences. In response to these concerns, this qualitative case study analyzed instructor discursive positioning in a TNE partnership between a US and a Vietnamese institution. Using a collaborative action research approach, this article features the experience of two instructors teaching in a TNE partnership using an EMI model in Vietnam. Using identity and positioning theory as guiding theoretical frameworks, instructors’ and students’ discourses were thematically analyzed. The findings reflect dominant discourses and language ideologies surrounding the “Englishization” of higher education, in addition to highlighting stakeholders’ challenges of working between two institutions and having conflicting responsibilities as both instructors and administrative staff. Similarly, the students’ interview data reflected their navigation of being participants at two universities with different academic systems and norms.

EMI programmes have grown exponentially in various parts of the world. While the reasons for the growth in EMI programmes have been commonly discussed, the consequences or outcomes of EMI studies did not attract too much attention. Moreover, various stakeholders of EMI, such as students, lecturers, parents and administrators, have been examined, but the stakeholders in industry have received less consideration. Motivated by the necessity for a deeper investigation of the business stakeholders’ opinions about EMI, this study examined the perspectives of business stakeholders about EMI programmes and their graduates in Turkiye. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 company managers and 12 human resources (HR) supervisors from a range of large, medium and small companies. Our findings revealed that recruiters perceived obtaining a degree from an English-taught programme as an important aspect of human capital taken together with other factors such as prior working experience, certificates and/or further training. Nevertheless, company managers and HR supervisors occasionally had different perspectives regarding EMI graduates’ English proficiency levels, which might be a sign of these stakeholders’ different perceptions towards EMI graduates and their language proficiency.

In Vietnam, English-medium instruction (EMI) has been implemented in parallel with Vietnamese-medium instruction (VMI) in higher education, partly to help remedy its shortcomings. However, only economically advantaged students can access EMI, which suggests EMI graduates may accrue discrepant advantages compared to VMI graduates. Research has, nonetheless, not explored the effects on these stakeholders. Hence, to partially address the gap, this study explores EMI in information technology (IT). Using the theoretical concepts of parity, distribution, and self-amplifying loop, this study draws on eight in-depth semi-structured interviews with EMI and VMI graduates. Thematic analysis of the data reveals disparities in advantages ensuing from EMI and VMI including English skills and Anglo-American acculturation, access to English-speaking jobs at different rates, and divergent professional opportunities. These disparities are accounted for by the disciplinary paradigm of IT and the unevenly distributed resources between EMI and VMI and are then enlarged by self-amplifying loops. In this process, EMI in IT constitutes a double accelerator and therefore enables EMI graduates to gain the foregoing advantages by a larger margin and VMI graduates to do so but at a slower rate. The study recommends addressing this widening gap through the formation and implementation of VMI- and EMI-related policies at all levels.

To identify stakeholders’ conflicting interests regarding English-medium instruction (EMI) in multilingual university settings, this cross-case study utilised part of the data from a larger project examining the perceptions and experiences of stakeholders (i.e., students, teachers, and management) in business schools at a Chinese university and a Dutch university. Semi-structured interview data from 20 second- and third-year students and 13 staff members comprising management and teachers, both universities in total, were analysed using the ROAD-MAPPING framework. The results revealed conflicting interests in both contexts but in different forms and with different causes. Students’ opinions at the Chinese university conflicted most with teachers and management in terms of perceptions of counterparts’ English proficiency, while teachers at the Dutch university revealed concerns about the position of the national language, Dutch, which was less emphasised by the administration. We discuss these conflicting interests through the lens of Bourdieu’s capital theory, which posits a hierarchy of permanent conflicts in the field of higher education. Drawing carefully on each case, we present generalised suggestions to inform EMI policy and practice that could lessen conflicting interests among stakeholders.

English as a medium of instruction (EMI) has increased rapidly. This study adopts a Bourdieusian framework to investigate two research questions. First, it examines whether there is a change in the content learning of EMI business students over time. Second, it explores the connection between students’ social milieus and their academic performance in an EMI tertiary context. The study collects GPA scores and background survey data from EMI and Vietnamese-medium instruction (VMI) students over a two-year period. The findings reveal that EMI students experience a greater decline in learning when transitioning from year 3 to year 4, compared to VMI students. Additionally, students with higher levels of cultural capital, as measured by English entry grades and English private tuition time, experience a drop in their academic performance. From a Bourdieusian perspective, the EMI group lacks the necessary form of capital to reproduce their class privilege in relation to the VMI cohort over time. Theoretically, the study reinforces the notion that EMI serves as a mechanism of cultural reproduction that aligns with the unequal distribution of resources. Empirically, it contributes to the understanding of EMI’s impacts, and its implications for policy implementation in Vietnam and similar contexts.