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Whose needs are met?

Navigating tensions in academic language support at a Vietnamese EMI university

ORCiD logo with link | University of Sheffield
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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 University of Sheffield.

Published online: 6 October 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jemi.24017.pha
Abstract
In keeping with the marked expansion of English-medium instruction (EMI) in Asian contexts, this study offers detailed evaluation of academic language support for EMI courses in a Vietnamese university. It explores academic language needs and current provision of support and challenges through the perceptions of multiple stakeholder groups: students, language instructors and content lecturers. Data was obtained from 10 semi-structured interviews with teaching staff and a questionnaire involving 175 students. Survey data was processed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics while interview data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated a general alignment between teachers’ and students’ views on students’ current abilities, but a divergence in their perceptions of target academic language needs. Moreover, language and content teachers were found to offer support mostly in areas of writing and reading, and their focus was on either teaching generic skills or assisting content comprehension, respectively, rather than catering to subject-specific language as desired by students. Key challenges to their support were identified, including students’ limited English proficiency and motivation, coordination issues and time constraints. Finally, practical implications regarding teachers’ pedagogical roles and professional development, as well as institutional guidance in the implementation of language support in EMI contexts, were discussed.
Tóm tắt
Nghiên cứu đánh giá việc hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ học thuật trong chương trình giảng dạy bằng tiếng Anh (EMI) tại một trường đại học ở Việt Nam. Qua 10 cuộc phỏng vấn với giảng viên và khảo sát 175 sinh viên, nghiên cứu tìm hiểu nhu cầu học, thực trạng hỗ trợ và thách thức từ góc nhìn sinh viên, giảng viên ngôn ngữ và giảng viên chuyên ngành. Kết quả cho thấy giảng viên và sinh viên có góc nhìn tương đồng về năng lực của sinh viên, nhưng khác biệt trong đánh giá về nhu cầu tiếng Anh học thuật. Giảng viên ngôn ngữ chú trọng kỹ năng học thuật tổng quát, còn giảng viên chuyên ngành hỗ trợ hiểu nội dung, thay vì đáp ứng ngôn ngữ chuyên ngành theo mong muốn của sinh viên. Thách thức chính gồm trình độ tiếng Anh và động lực của sinh viên, sự phối hợp giữa giảng viên và hạn chế thời gian. Nghiên cứu nêu hàm ý về vai trò sư phạm và phát triển chuyên môn của giảng viên, cũng như định hướng của nhà trường trong công tác hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ tại bối cảnh EMI.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • English-medium instruction
    • Language-related challenges in EMI
    • English for academic purposes
    • The roles of language and content teachers
    • Current gaps and research questions
  • Methodology
    • Design
    • Sampling
    • Data collection
    • Data analysis
  • Results
    • Perceived academic language needs
      • Students’ views
      • Teachers’ views
    • Addressing academic language needs
      • Students’ views
      • Teachers’ views
    • Challenges in support practices
      • Students’ proficiency and motivation
      • Lack of coordination
      • Time constraints
  • Discussion
  • Implications and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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