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Article published In: Language Problems and Language Planning
Vol. 43:1 (2019) ► pp.8–31

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Attitudes toward EMI in East Asia and the Gulf

A systematic review

ORCiD logo with link | Texas A&M University
ORCiD logo with link | Texas A&M University | Texas A&M University at Qatar
Published online: 22 March 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.00030.gra
Abstract
In order to raise global profiles of universities, governments around the world have pushed universities to offer English medium instruction (EMI) courses. While research examining the attitudes toward EMI has been conducted in various countries, these studies generally look at a single university and rarely examine attitudes between countries or regions. In order to investigate attitudes from a macro perspective, this study used a systematic literature review method to synthesize findings on attitudes toward EMI in East Asia and the Gulf. The review was guided by the following research questions: (1) What are the attitudes toward EMI in countries in the Gulf and East Asia? and (2) What are the similarities/differences between countries and what factors can be attributed to these? Attitude scores were calculated for twenty studies from ten countries, and the studies were coded by common themes affecting EMI attitudes. Results show that factors affecting attitudes include language and content issues, choice of medium of instruction, instructor quality, motivation to learn English, and deficit views of the L1. As a result of the findings, it is suggested that governments and universities review their EMI policies in order to ensure education quality and maintain the status of local languages.
摘要
為提升其大學的國際影響力，各國政府積極敦促各大學推廣雙語課程(EMI)。雖然研究資料收集了各國家對於EMI的看法與態度，但這些資料只侷限於各個大學而較少研究不同國家以及地區對此課程的想法。這份研究使用了系統化的文獻研究並整合東亞及波斯灣阿拉伯國家對EMI的看法與態度，以期對此進行宏觀的分析此文獻研究針對以下問題進行探討：(1)東亞及波斯灣阿拉伯國家對於EMI的看法及態度。(2)不同國家間對於此議題的想法有何異同，以及是什麼樣的因素影響他們對於EMI的看法。此份研究從以上區域的10個國家中收集了20篇相關研究來統計，並做成一份對於EMI的看法評分表。並對各文中影響其看法的因素進行標記從而歸納出共同主題。研究結果顯示其影響這些國家對於EMI看法的因素包含：語言和內容關係的爭論，對教學媒介語的選擇，師資，學習英文的動機以及對於母語的認識缺陷。依研究結果，本文建議政府以及大學院校重新審視其EMI的政策以保教學品質並維護其母語應有之地位。
Resumo
Por plibonigi la mondskalan rangon de unversitatoj registaroj ĉi en la mondo premis universitatojn oferti mezan instruadon en la angla (MEA). Dum en diversaj landoj fariĝis studoj pri la sintenoj rilate MEA, tiuj studoj ĝenerale koncernas nur po unu universitato kaj malofte konsideras ekzamenas sintenojn inter landoj aŭ regionoj. Por esplori sintenojn le pli larĝa perspektivo, ĉi tiu studo sisteme analizas la literaturon, resumante la rezultojn pri sintenoj rilate MEA en orienta Azio kaj ĉirkaŭ la Persa Golfo. La ĉefa demandoj de la studo estis jenaj: (1) Kiaj estas la sintenoj rilate MEA en orienta Azio kaj ĉirkaŭ la Persa Golfo?, kaj (2) Kiaj estas la (mal)similecoj inter la landoj kaj kiuj faktoroj povus ilin kondiĉi? Estis kalkulitaj poentoj por sintentoj el 20 studoj el 10 landoj, kaj la studoj estis komparataj rilate komunajn temojn pri sintinoj pri MEA. La rezultoj estas, ke gravaj faktoroj por sintenoj estas problemoj de lingvo aŭ enhavo, de la elekto de la instrurimedoj, kvalito de la instruistoj, motiviĝo lerni la anglan, kaj malvaloriga rigardo al la gepatra lingvo. El la rezultoj sekvas la propono, ke registaroj kaj universitatoj reviziu siajn politikojn pri MEA por certigi altan nivelon de klerigo kaj konservi la statuson de la lokaj lingvoj.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Theoretical framework
    • Attitudes and their formation
    • Defining English-medium instruction
  • Literature review
    • Motivations for implementing EMI
    • The current study
  • Method
    • Data collection
    • Selection process
    • Coding and data analysis
  • Results
    • Overview of included articles
      • Publication year
      • Method
      • Participants
      • Academic disciplines
    • Question 1.What are the attitudes toward EMI in countries in East Asia and the Gulf?
      • China
      • Iran
      • Japan
      • Kuwait
      • Oman
      • Qatar
      • Saudi Arabia
      • South Korea
      • Taiwan
      • UAE
    • Question 2.How are the attitudes different and what factors can they be attributed to?
  • Discussion
    • Roles of English (RO)
    • Academic disciplines (AD)
    • Agents (A)
    • Practices and processes (PP)
    • Internationalization/glocalization (ING)
    • (Language) management
  • Limitations and conclusion
  • References
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