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Article published In: Decolonial Approaches to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Applied Linguistics: Addressing local and global EDI challenges
Edited by Kyria Finardi, Marina Orsini-Jones and Azirah Hashim
[AILA Review 38:2] 2025
► pp. 160–186

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Individual differences in English-medium education

Comparing multilingual identity, beliefs, motivations and perspectives in EME in Spanish and Chinese undergraduates

ORCiD logo with link | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
ORCiD logo with link | Xi’an International Studies University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Published online: 11 December 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.24047.ame
Abstract
The rise of English as an international language has led to the widespread implementation of English-medium education (EME) programs in higher education institutions around the world. Due to the relationship between EME and access to opportunities, knowledge and valuable capital it is unclear if the practice enables or hinders diversity, inclusion and equity. This study examines the beliefs, motivations and perceptions of 107 Spanish and Chinese EME students with an aim to shed light on the relationship between these variables and multilingual identity and context. The participants completed four questionnaires, and the results show significant effects for context as well as for multilingual identity. Participants who self-identify as multilinguals felt more confident, were more open-minded and enjoyed their EME classes more than those who did not. Regarding context, findings revealed that the Chinese students felt less confident, suffered from higher anxiety and perceive less use for English in both the present and future than the Spanish students. These findings suggest that empowering EME students to feel like multilingual users of English rather than learners of the language could have a positive impact on their EME experiences and long-term outcomes, as well as foster diversity, inclusion and equity in this context.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework
    • 2.1Perspectives in EME
    • 2.2Motivations in EME
    • 2.3Multilingual identity, beliefs about multilingualism, open-mindedness, and future multilingual self
      • 2.3.1Multilingual identity
      • 2.3.2Beliefs
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Design
    • 3.2Instruments
      • Section 1: Multilingual habits (9 items)
      • Section 2: Beliefs about multilingualism, future multilingual self, and open-mindedness (25 items)
      • Section 3: Multilingual identity (3 items)
    • 3.3Participants
    • 3.4Analysis
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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