An ethnographic study on the “Use of English Language by the Students of Grade nine” in a Private Boarding School of Chitwan

English in Nepal is generally believed to be used only for international communication. The medium of instruction in private boarding schools is English & in most public schools are also practicing English medium classes. Most of the private schools have applied compulsory English language policy. English continues to play a crucial role in the communication among the students in those schools. This study has made an attempt to analyse the reason behind adopting compulsory English language policy and also tried to explore the trend of following the language policy by the students of grade nine. The study concludes that parents in particular and the society as a whole is responsible for the compulsory English language policy and the students of grade nine do not follow the school policy for exercising the freedom.

The Role of Language Ideologies in the Self-Efficacy of Pre-Service Bilingual Education Teachers

This chapter examines how language inequities within education are associated with perceptions of Spanish language self-efficacy in pre-service bilingual education teachers. The chapter delves into how language ideologies play a role in shaping disparities amongst bilingual education programs. The teacher shortages which exist within the field of bilingual education have assisted in the increased demands placed on bilingual pre- and in-service teachers. The programs created to instruct bilingual teachers have had to modify their design in order to meet the needs of future teachers. The needs are determined by the perceptions of each bilingual. Additionally, each bilingual chooses what skills are needed in order to use Spanish as a medium of instruction and, in some cases, to teach Spanish as a foreign language. Using a grounded theory, this study analyzed the cycle of language ideologies, self-efficacy, and language inequities. The results show that language ideologies have impacted the bilinguals' self-efficacy. Finally, it was determined that language inequality has played a key role in shaping language ideologies.

The dilemma of instructional language in education: The case of Ghana

According to Victor Hugo (1802–1885), “He who opens a school door, closes a prison”. This powerful statement demonstrates the importance of school in the development of a nation and the lives of individuals. It has been proven that the language used in early childhood education has an impact on the cognitive development and learning achievement of children in their educational arena. Most countries in Africa are still discussing the language to be used as a medium of instruction in their educational system. Ghana, which is known as a multilingual society with over 80 languages is not excluded from this controversy. The language policy of education in Ghana has had a complex history since the colonial era. The question of international schools in Ghana is critically examined; most of these schools do not teach any of the Ghanaian languages, but a foreign language. Ghana, however, has been a strong advocate of the so-called African personality and the use of English as the medium of instruction is in overt opposition to this ideology. The argument about which language to be used as a medium of instruction in Ghanaian Schools has been going on for a long time without coming to a specific conclusion.

Experiences and Challenges of an English as a Medium of Instruction Course in Taiwan during COVID-19

Recently, Taiwan’s higher education has been impacted by COVID-19 and the necessity of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI). In 2018, the Taiwanese government approved a roadmap for the development of a bilingual nation by 2030. This resulted in a renewed focus on EMI. However, the fluctuating surges of COVID-19 have caused university classes to shift from face-to-face to online. To assess its effectiveness, the current paper describes the quantitative and qualitative experiences and challenges associated with a blended EMI course within a private Taiwanese university. The data was collected from the students in the spring semester of 2020 (40 students) and 2021 (23 students). Overall satisfaction rate is calculated at 4.13; indicating that the transition from face-to-face to online has not affected the students’ overall satisfaction with the course. In addition, interviews and focus groups respondents pointed out the importance of a student-centered course approach and the opportunity to practice English in order to improve their competitiveness. While the flexibility offered by the blended learning approach during COVID-19 has given students more freedom to learn at their own pace. Lastly, in times of uncertainty, a careful pedagogical design will help to make the learning process fruitful and sustainable.

Possible implementation of subjects taught using English as a Medium of Instruction methodology in tourism studies

The present study analyses which conditions would be necessary to implement subjects taught using English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) methodology in the undergraduate degree in tourism studies at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). In the literature review, some of the concepts related to this methodological approach are examined to clarify diverse methodological approaches that are frequently confused, namely Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), EMI, and English for Specific Purposes. With the objective of finding out the specific conditions necessary for implementing EMI subjects in the Degree in Tourism at the ULPGC, a revision of EMI subjects that have been already implemented at this institution would be made. Then a proposal indicating the conditions that are regarded as vital for implementing EMI subjects in this degree would be presented.

Carrió-Pastor, M. L. - Bellés-Fortuño, Begoña (2021) (Eds.). Teaching Language and Content in Multicultural and Multilingual Classrooms CLIL and EMI Approaches. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan, ISBN 978-3-030-56614-2, pp. 377

It is not surprising that there is a clear interest in specialised English language teaching at a time when academia needs to evidence its strong connection to social practices and internationalization (Carrió-Pastor 2019, 2020). This is a timely book, both in scope and usefulness. The contents are organised in such a way as to allow an understanding of methodological practices, firstly by establishing the difference between CLIL, i.e. Content and Language Integrated Learning, and EMI, i.e. English as a Medium of Instruction. In principle, these two terms refer to clear concepts, but in practice the distinction does not always seem to be so apparent. In fact, this book succeeds in providing a theoretical stance and examples to illustrate and clarify these approaches. The usefulness of this Palgrave volume for language professionals, namely teachers, researchers and newcomers, is easy to foresee.

English as a Medium of Instruction in Learning Professional Skills for Engineers

In this article, we reflect on the variables to be considered when teaching in English a subject of the bachelor’s degree of Computer Engineering: “Learning Professional Skills for Engineers”. In order to make this study, we start from an analysis of the recent history of teaching in English at university level and the institutional context in which it happens. Three research questions are posed, with the intent to check what minimum conditions must be met to be able to teach this subject in English. The results lead us to conclude that the option of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) is not the appropriate one, taking into account both the linguistic and didactic training of the teaching staff and the language accreditation of the students. However, it is feasible to opt for the Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education (ICLHE) option.