Impacts of English Medium Instruction on Disciplinary Learning and English Proficiency From Students’ Perspectives in a Vietnamese Technical University

Over the last few decades, the global expansion of English has seen an increase in the significance given to not only English language instruction, but also teaching other subject areas in English at various levels of education. By providing programs and courses that employ English as a medium of instruction across subjects, higher education institutions in non-native English speaking countries have tried to internationalize their image and boost their competitiveness in the education market. English as a medium of instruction (EMI) has been regarded as a language policy with the distinct advantage of addressing two objectives: content learning as the primary goal and English proficiency as a byproduct. However, studies on EMI practices have revealed inconsistency about the effects of EMI on both students' content learning and English competence, necessitating further investigation into this contentious issue. This qualitative case study aims to explore how EMI students at a Vietnamese technical institution perceive the influence of EMI on their disciplinary learning and English proficiency. The data from in-depth interviews with thirty-five students indicated some discrepancies in how students perceived the effects of EMI on students' subject learning and English proficiency. The study findings also identified several issues that students face in EMI courses and provides implications to optimize EMI approaches in the Vietnamese higher education context.

Discipline · EMI · Higher education · Medium of instruction · Relevance (law) · Subject (documents) · Vietnamese · Vocational education · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Second Language Learning and Teaching · Shallot Cultivation and Analysis