English Medium Instruction and Human Linguistic Rights: Academic, Psychological and Cultural Suffering

Author(s):  
Taghreed Masri

In higher education in the UAE, English is used as the medium of instruction, while academic Arabic is relegated to few electives that can be also taken in English. Policy makers perceive the transition from Arabic medium instruction (ami) schools to English medium instruction (emi) universities as normal and automatic. This study aims to explore how students see this transition, and whether they find it automatic and smooth, or embroiled in hardship and difficulties. It is based on a critical theoretical framework and is approached using exploratory critical methodology. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty undergraduate Arab students in three English-medium universities. Results showed that students faced psychological, academic, social and cultural difficulties associated with the transition from Arabic schools to English-medium instruction universities.

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-25
Author(s):  
Kamran Akhtar Siddiqui ◽  
Hassan Syed ◽  
Zafarullah Sahito

English language has grown to be a lingua franca of the present day world. Therefore, even non- English European and Asian countries have adopted English as a medium of instruction. English has continuously been the medium of instruction in the higher education of Pakistan in spite of having a great linguistic diversity and national language Urdu as the medium of instruction at school level. This study aims to explore the perceptions of undergraduates about EMI, challenges they face in EMI classrooms and solutions they suggest for mitigation of their issues. The qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews reveals that students perceive EMI to be beneficial for higher education, employment and progressive thought. However, they face challenges related to teachers’ English proficiency, code-switching, vocabulary and receptive as well as productive skills. They suggest that English-proficient instructors, continuous use of English, language support from university can help them overcome these challenges effectively.


2021 ◽  
pp. 47-54
Author(s):  
Kamran Akhtar SIDDIQUI ◽  
Hassan SYED

The English language has grown to be a lingua franca of the present day world. Therefore, even non-English European and Asian countries have adopted English as a medium of instruction. Despite having a great linguistic diversity in the country and varied medium of instructions at different educational levels, English has continuously been the medium of instruction in the higher education of Pakistan. Although the attitudes of undergraduates have been studied in urban centers in the country on a smaller scale, very little attention has been paid to exploring specifically the challenges undergraduates face in universities located in small cities. Therefore, this study aims to explore undergraduates’ perceptions about EMI, particularly the challenges they face in EMI classrooms and solutions they suggest for mitigation of their issues. The qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews reveal that students perceive EMI to be beneficial for higher education, employment and progressive thought. However, they face challenges related to teachers’ English proficiency, code-switching, vocabulary and receptive as well as productive skills. They suggest that English-proficient instructors, continuous use of English, language support from university can help them overcome these challenges effectively. The study offers recommendations for further exploration of the research area in the context of Pakistan.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-27
Author(s):  
John Trent

Abstract The proliferation of English-medium instruction (EMI) in higher education institutions (HEIs) across non-English-speaking Europe has been recently documented in several large-scale surveys. The opportunities and challenges of designing and implementing EMI policies are also widely recognized. However, our understanding of the use of EMI in Russian HEIs is limited. This study responds to this research need by exploring the experiences and perspectives of instructors teaching business-related subjects using the English language in two different Russian HEIs. A contribution of the study is to investigate these perspectives and experiences using the analytic lens of positioning theory. Results reveal the ways in which instructors are positioned by the university, as well how they position themselves, within an EMI environment. Acknowledging the potential antagonism that might result between different EMI stakeholders because of this positioning and repositioning, suggestions are then made as how this outcome could be avoided. Implications for future research are also considered.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 683-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurdiana Gaus ◽  
David Hall

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how academics resisted and accommodated changes towards the reform process in higher education institutions in Indonesia which has introduced market-driven principle of new public management and the principle of Neo-Weberian model. Using the theory developed by Scott concerning the resistance patterns by powerless or subordinated groups through “weapon of the weak”, this study aimed at mapping the resistance exhibited by Indonesian academics. Design/methodology/approach – This study was a case study using semi-structured interviews conducted with 30 academics in three state universities in Indonesia. Findings – The results of this study demonstrated that academics in Indonesian universities resisted and accommodated the policy reform using their discursive, unobtrusive tactics of resisting. Research limitations/implications – The method of data collection used in this research was based on the interview alone. It would be useful to consider to deploy other forms of data collection such as, observation to allow the building up of strong trusthworthiness of the findings of this research. Practical implications – The authors believed that this study may be useful to give better understandings for policy makers on implementing policies by considering aspects of behaviours of academics as street level bureaucrats in accepting, interpreting, and implementing policy imperatives. These results might also be beneficial for policy makers from other sectors outside higher education in effectuating policy imperatives. Originality/value – The authors argued that, academics actively responded to external pressures which contradicted their own values and beliefs with their unique intellectual strategies by which have been overlooked in the formulation of policy.


Author(s):  
Reuben Addo

Individuals experiencing homelessness and housed residents have increasingly been in conflict over the use of public spaces, which has led to efforts to regulate how individuals experiencing homelessness use public spaces. However, the discourses around the use of public parks seem to value housed residents over homeless individuals. How individuals experiencing homelessness construct meanings of public spaces has not been given adequate attention in the literature. Drawing on a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework and grounded theory methodology, the researcher conducted 10 semi-structured interviews on how individuals experiencing homelessness construct meanings of a public park. Participants ascribed instrumental and intangible meanings to the park by describing it as a homeless safety hub, a homeless resource hub, and a homeless network hub. This study suggested that homeless individuals’ constructed meanings of public parks may be motivated by their interactions with their peers and housed residents. This study recommends policy makers to make an effort to understand factors that force people experiencing homelessness to congregate in public parks and to discontinue regulations that criminalize how individuals experiencing homelessness use public parks.


Revista Foco ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 191
Author(s):  
Luiz Da Costa Alves Filho

Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar os relatos dos gestores de micro e pequenas empresas de João Pessoa-PB sob a perspectiva da Teoria Crítica, discutindo aspectos destes relatos associados aos mitos e fatos defendidos por Mintzberg (1990). A fundamentação teórica aborda três aspectos centrais: a importância da ciência da administração nos contextos teórico e prático; os mitos e fatos gerenciais e; a perspectiva da Teoria Crítica (TC) e suas reflexões no âmbito organizacional. Participaram da pesquisa 12 gestores, divididos em: graduados em administração, outra graduação e gestores sem formação superior. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas, sendo, posteriormente, analisadas por meio da análise de conteúdo. Os resultados revelaram alguns aspectos peculiares entre os grupos de entrevistados, tais como: a necessidade dos mesmos em ter auto responsabilidade dentro e fora da empresa para buscar as informações e os conhecimentos necessários para garantir a sua sobrevivência ou ascensão no mercado atuante. Além disso, verificou-se que a abertura da gestão frente às propostas, sugestões ou críticas dos funcionários é um aspecto fundamental para tornar o ambiente de trabalho um lugar mais democrático e favorável às discussões pertinentes aos interesses de todos os colaboradores.  This study aims to analyze the reports of the managers of micro and small enterprises of João Pessoa-PB from the perspective of Critical Theory, discussing aspects of these reports associated to the myths and facts defended by Mintzberg (1990). The theoretical framework addresses three main aspects: the importance of management science in theoretical and practical contexts; the myths and facts and management and; the perspective of Critical Theory (CT) and its reflections on the organizational level. The participants were 12 managers, divided into: managers degree in business administration, with other graduate and managers without higher education. Semi-structured interviews, and later analyzed using content analysis were performed. The results revealed some peculiar aspects of the interview groups, such as the need for them to have self-responsibility inside and outside the company to find the information and knowledge needed to ensure their survival or rise in the active market and the sense of constant learning. Furthermore, it was found that opening the front to management proposals, suggestions or criticisms of the employees is a key aspect to make the workplace a more democratic and favorable place to discussions relevant to the interests of all employees.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-72
Author(s):  
Nashwa Nashaat-Sobhy ◽  
Davinia Sánchez-Garcia

In this chapter we analyzed lecturers’ attitudes towards using English in European Higher Education settings. Twenty-eight university teachers were brought together from thirteen universities across six European countries for an online training for teachers in English Medium Instruction (EMI) settings. The lecturers’ written exchanges about English as an academic Lingua Franca (ELF) in one of the training modules were the target of our study. These exchanges (110 posts) were coded and analyzed using Martin and White’s (2005) Appraisal Theory, which is a model of evaluation within the general theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics. In this framework, affect, judgement and appreciation are regarded as regions (types) of feelings in interpersonal language that reflect attitude (positive or negative). The results showed that teachers’ exchanges about ELF are interwoven with other types of English, in which they discussed different stakeholders and aspects of English, towards which their attitudes vary, which points to the multidimensionality of attitudes towards EMI. The results also show that appreciation and judgment regions were used more than affect in their language when discussing the use of English in Higher Education (HE).


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Hyouk Im ◽  
Jeongyeon Kim

<p class="apa">Although researchers agree with the strengths of an English-medium instruction (EMI) in addressing internationalization of a non-English higher education (HE) context, its implementation in classrooms has been widely criticized, mostly because of ineffective delivery of course content and a lack of evidence of English improvement. Grounded upon a critical review of the current state of internationalization of Korean HE and the subsequent examination of supplementary interview data from 15 college students who have taken EMI courses, this study proposes a model which integrates critical factors of EMI into one framework. This model aims at guiding the EMI policy from initiation to implementation. A major feature of this model is blended learning as a strategy to address the shortcomings of current EMI in this context and to facilitate the allocation of diverse online materials to scaffold EMI instruction. The benefits of the approach are presented from the perspectives both of policy-makers and of classroom participants.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangwei Hu

Abstract This paper takes a look at English medium instruction (EMI) in Chinese higher education, offers comments on the five articles included in this special issue, identifies challenges and conundrums in EMI, and invites further research on the processes and products of EMI in the Chinese context.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanna Broggini ◽  
Francesca Costa

English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) has rapidly become a widespread phenomenon in Europe, especially in many Italian institutions. The growth of EMI is currently exponential as well as non-regimented; it is therefore very important to obtain updated, local data regarding this phenomenon, which could be of use in developing future national policies. This study describes the data gathered in a 2015 survey of English-Medium Instruction (EMI) which included all Italian universities. The survey concentrated on three areas, the lecturers and students involved and the overall organisation of the courses in both private and public institutions in the North, Centre and South of Italy. The paper updates information on the same topic gathered from a previous questionnaire (Costa & Coleman, 2012), reflecting on what has changed during the intervening three years.


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