Abstract
Drawing on Kaplan and Baldauf's framework for language policy and planning, this study was designed to shed light on the English as a medium of instruction (EMI) policy in higher education programs in Vietnam. Three groups of participants, including administrators, teachers, and students, were invited to join the study. The data obtained from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were analyzed and categorized following Kaplan and Baldauf's framework using major aspects related to access, personnel, curriculum, methods, learning materials, resources, community involvement, and student assessment. The study results highlight a stratum of opinions and comments from those involved in the implementation of EMI policy, as well as the challenges they had to deal with. The study speaks to the literature on EMI policy in developing educational contexts and the nexus between global mandates and local constraints.
Top2. Emi And Language-In-Education Policy Implementation Framework
The definition and implementation of EMI in higher education are still debatable. Even Macaro, Director of the EMI Oxford Centre for Research and Development in EMI, was reported to posit that “we don't yet know what EMI is…” (Rigg, 2013). Walkinshaw et al. (2017) therefore argue that EMI is a contested debate and its meaning is still “a long way from being settled.” However, it seems that most prominent scholars (e.g., Dafouz, 2018; Macaro et al., 2018; Walkinshaw et al., 2017) agree that EMI can be best defined as the use of English to teach other subjects in countries where the first language of the majority of the population is not English (Macaro et al., 2018, p. 19). Walkinshaw, Fenton, and Humphreys (2017) go on to argue that EMI should not be conceptualized in a binary fashion (either EMI or not EMI). Rather, it should be understood as a more nuanced concept with varying degrees of implementation, depending on the teaching and learning context.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Translanguaging: A teaching/learning strategy that aims at improving language and content competence in school contexts by using resources from the learner’s whole linguistic repertoire.
Matthew Effect: The compounding effect of advantageous or disadvantageous factors, leading to the rich getting richer and the poor becoming increasingly impoverished.
National Foreign Language Project: The first large-scale effort by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training to improve instruction of and through foreign languages (primarily English) within its educational system.
Language-in-Education Policy: Organized efforts to promote the learning of a language.
EMI (English as Medium of Instruction) Policy: A language policy that mandates the use of English to teach academic subjects in countries where English is not the native language.