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Journal of English-Medium Instruction - Online First
Online First articles are the published Version of Record, made available as soon as they are finalized and formatted. They are in general accessible to current subscribers, until they have been included in an issue, which is accessible to subscribers to the relevant volume
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Ideological tensions in identity construction of Chinese medical teachers and students in EMI
Author(s): Paiwei Qin, Mai Shirahata and Tarja NikulaAvailable online: 06 May 2025More LessAbstractEnglish-medium instruction (EMI) has been promoted in China’s mainland for over two decades, and its developmental landscape is complex. This article explores ideological tensions and how these tensions are created in the discourse of Chinese medical teachers and students in EMI courses. Drawing on the concept of tension-filled English, this article employs critical discursive psychology (CDP) to analyse ideological tensions in identity construction that emerged in semi-structured interviews with teachers and students about their imagined EMI courses. The analysis identifies two main ideological tensions between monolingual and bilingual approaches to EMI and between standard and practical orientations to English. By observing the interplay among different language ideologies in identity making, this study provides a valuable angle to understand the challenge-ridden experience of EMI teachers and students according to their own contextual needs and disciplinary practices. The findings suggest the importance of EMI stakeholders reflecting on how teaching and learning practices can enable learners (and teachers) to reflexively understand the role of English (and other languages) and leverage their bilingual repertoires for medical careers.
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Assessment in EMI in the higher education context of Taiwan : Practices, challenges, and needs
Author(s): Naihsin Li and Jessica R. W. WuAvailable online: 30 April 2025More LessAbstractEnglish as a medium of instruction (EMI) has been adopted as an official education policy in Taiwan, leading to a significant expansion of EMI programs across universities in recent years. Substantial resources have been allocated to enhance teachers’ professional development in EMI. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it uses a questionnaire to examine EMI teachers’ self-reported assessment practices in their classrooms and their perceived levels of skillfulness in assessment techniques. Second, it explores the challenges and assessment training needs of EMI teachers through interviews. The findings indicate a growing awareness among EMI teachers of the effect of instructional medium on learning, leading them to employ supportive strategies in assessment. However, additional guidance on assessment is needed to reduce excessive reliance on personal experiences. The results of this study underscore the need for institute-level guidelines, institutional support, and targeted professional development in assessment to ensure effective practices that align with the goals of EMI. These findings have significant implications for improving EMI teacher assessment literacy and advancing EMI professional development courses within an EFL context.
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Redefining faculty preparedness in English-medium instruction : Impact from an innovative professional development initiative in Taiwan
Author(s): Meredith Doran, Jacob Rieker and Yunhua YangAvailable online: 08 April 2025More LessAbstractResponding to calls for greater attention to the structure, substance, and scope of English-medium instruction (EMI) faculty professional preparation programs and their impact on teacher instructional practices, this paper explores the design, implementation, and impact of a professional development initiative at a technical university in Taiwan. Based on needs analysis findings and grounded in Vygotskian sociocultural theory, the program was designed and implemented to support faculty development through engendering new forms of teacher reasoning and instructional action. Exemplifying this process of change, an in-depth case study of a faculty-participant’s learning shows how they developed new ways of reasoning about their instructional decisions and teaching their disciplinary content. Analysis of instructional coaching sessions, faculty-produced teaching artifacts, and classroom observations demonstrates how the faculty-participant translated individualized, concept-based instructional support into innovations in their course design and in-class engagement with students. The results foreground the value of conceptualizing EMI faculty development as an individualized, longitudinal process in which responsive instructional support is a catalyst for reasoned, pedagogically sound innovations. More generally, this study offers an alternative definition of EMI professional support that moves beyond preparedness and locates development-the process of creating qualitative change in teacher practices and reasoning-at its core.
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Importance marking in EMI and L1 lectures : A case of similarities and idiolect
Author(s): Katrien L. B. Deroey and Jane Helen JohnsonAvailable online: 08 April 2025More LessAbstractThis study compares how lecturers signal important points with metadiscursive importance markers (e.g., the point is; remember) when they lecture in English as their first language (L1) as opposed to English as an additional language (English-medium instruction, EMI). Importance marking is a feature of discourse structuring, which is widely advocated for inclusion in listening and lecturing training. We analysed a corpus of 46 engineering lectures from Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand and the UK. Comparing the EMI with the L1 corpus revealed that importance marking happened to the same extent. However, this belies substantial frequency differences between the two components that make up each of these corpora. We further found that both L1 and EMI lecturers used a large variety of markers and lexis. Overwhelmingly, differences could not be attributed to the different lecture contexts. Instead, they were typically due to idiolect. This suggests the specificity of language use in lectures and the dangers in lumping together varieties as representing EMI or L1 lecture discourse. We conclude with pedagogical implications for lecturer training.
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Student machine translation use in a transnational English-medium instruction university : Navigating development and expedience
Author(s): Michael D. High, Andrew McIntosh, Shuhan Li and Yu JiAvailable online: 05 November 2024More LessAbstractResearch on machine translation in language courses has proliferated over the last decade, yet few studies have considered use in English medium-instruction programs that aim to simultaneously develop student language ability and knowledge of content. This study therefore investigates student use and beliefs about machine translation at a transnational Chinese university. Interviews with twenty-one undergraduate students and fourteen instructors found that student use of machine translation is widespread, though variable. Students report using machine translation to increase reading comprehension, vocabulary, and speed; translate first language writing to raise target language writing quality and complexity; and decrease the amount of copied (though cited) content. Instructors report student use of simultaneous speech translation in class, mistranslations in student writing indicating a lack of engagement with English language texts, and cross-language plagiarism. Both students and instructors view machine translation as a tool: a potentially beneficial one that, if used uncritically and constantly, can stunt language development. Students are thus faced with a choice between developing their English and the expediency of quickly reading and writing in Chinese, a choice heavily affected by student workload, performance pressures, and, arguably, lack of machine translation literacy.
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