English-Medium Instruction in Chinese Universities

Perspectives, discourse and evaluation

Jing Zhao, L. Quentin Dixon, Jing Zhao, L. Quentin Dixon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317211495
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This edited book is about the rationale, practice and classroom implementation of English-medium instruction courses in Chinese universities. It specifically focuses on classroom discourse analysis across different disciplines and settings. The main themes of this book are: describing the state educational policies toward English-medium instruction at the tertiary level; distinguishing English-medium instruction from mainstream foreign language learning; analyzing curricula and discourse at the classroom level and evaluating the learning effectiveness of these courses. This book covers the widespread implementation of English-medium courses in China across different disciplines, and it provides a window for researchers and practitioners from other parts of the world to see the curriculum design, lesson planning, discourse features and teacher-student interaction in English-medium classrooms in China. Contributors to this volume consists of a panel of highly respected researchers in the fields of bilingual education, English-medium instruction, classroom discourse analysis and language program evaluation.

Chapters include,

1. Balance of Content and Language in English-Medium Instruction Classrooms
2. English-Medium Instruction in a Math Classroom: An Observation Study of Classroom Discourse
3. Asking and answering questions in EMI classrooms: What is the Cognitive and Syntactic Complexity Level?

Part I

Perspectives

1 Balance of content and language in English-medium instruction classrooms

Xiao Yang

In recent years, English as a medium of instruction to teach content subjects has been increasingly popular in countries around the world (Björkman, 2011; Wei & Feng, 2015). Much research can be found which evaluates the effectiveness of English-medium Instruction (EMI) programs (Dalton-Puffer, 2011). However, studies reported mixed results. Several studies reported positive attitudes towards EMI from students and faculties (Ball & Lindsay, 2013; Costa & Coleman, 2013; Tong & Shi, 2012). With regard to content mastery, Aguilar and Rodriguez (2012) and Park (2007) found no negative impact on content mastery in using English. Park (2007) also found that EMI encouraged genuine communication so that students can really produce meaningful use of the language. Along the same vein, Björkman (2010) reported that students had more opportunities of meaning negotiation in EMI courses than in traditional English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses.

Despite findings substantiating the effectiveness of EMI (Aguilar & Munoz, 2013; Park, 2007), there is also much research subverting its effectiveness as a pedagogical approach, such as resistance from faculties and students (Doiz, Lasagabaster, & Sierra, 2013), negative effect on content learning (Hellekjær, 2010), and inadequate language ability to fully implement an effective EMI course (Ball & Linsay, 2013; Doiz et al., 2013; Jensen & Thøgersen, 2011). Therefore, more research is needed to shed light on the discussion of the effectiveness of EMI.

Although EMI only became known in China in recent decades, the enthusiasm for English learning in the country as well as official promotion as indicated by related policies have led to booming practices of EMI. According to a large-scale survey, 132 universities were reported to have provided EMI courses or programs in mainland China (Wu et al., 2010). The Ministry of Education in China issued 12 key policy initiatives (2001) which clearly stated that universities should encourage instructors to teach content courses in English, especially in the fields of science and technology. As a result, the number of English courses a university offers has also become an important criterion for the evaluation of higher education institutes (Hu & McKay, 2012). According to Cai (2010), key universities like Tsinghua University, Peking University, Fudan University and Sun Yat-sen University have all adopted authentic English textbooks for EMI courses. The Department of Education of Guangdong Province also stated its goal to gradually increase the use of English as the instructional language in universities (Cai, 2010).

Despite the popularity of EMI programs at the tertiary level throughout the country, very little empirical research was done to investigate the quality of such programs and the effectiveness of EMI in the specific context of Chinese universities, unlike in Europe. According to a comprehensive synthesis (Zhu & Yu, 2010) which reviewed over 90 Chinese papers on the topic of EMI after the year 2000, most research focuses on the introduction of theoretical concept and models of EMI (Fang, 2006; Hu, 2004). There are also plenty of papers comparing EMI courses in mainland China with other countries and regions (Cao, 2008; Lv, 2008; Wang, 2005; Yu & Han, 2003; Yuan & Yu, 2008). In contrast, empirical research evaluating the quality and effectiveness of such EMI courses is scarce. Yu (2008) conducted a questionnaire survey among college students in the Wuhan area which revealed that students generally thought the quality of EMI courses needed to be improved. In the same survey, among the factors that influence the effectiveness of EMI courses, 40.2% students rated teaching method as the most important factor. A recent case study by Hu and Lei (2014) reported clearly and systematically about an EMI Business Administration program in a major university in China from the language policy perspective. After critical reviews of policy documents (Hu, Li, & Lei, 2014) and interviews with professors and students, the findings revealed that the language barrier for both the faculty and the students in the program has limited the effectiveness of the courses. Furthermore, pedagogical support and methodological training were much needed in addition to other forms of support.

The preceding review presented a sharp contrast between the popularity of EMI practices at the tertiary level in China, and the paucity of empirical research examining its effectiveness in the context given. Considering the complexity of different education contexts, it is unrealistic to apply directly the findings from other countries as reviewed. The present study, therefore, sets out to provide more insight on the topic by first surveying 49 college students who were enrolled in an EMI program in a major university in China. Then further examination was conducted through class observation and interviews to provide more qualitative data.

In this paper, following the introduction and brief review above, research questions are presented. Then, the method section introduces the background information of the participants and the school as well as instruments and data collection procedure. The result section reports both quantitative data from student surveys and qualitative data from instructor interviews to provide another perspective. In addition, observations of classroom practices from four EMI courses were also reported. In the discussion section, the researcher will further analyze the imbalance between content and language in the current context and provide interpretation for the results. The classroom practices adopted in the EMI program are further examined and their effectiveness in realizing the language goal is also discussed. Last but not least, the conclusion section summarizes the major findings and proposes a different language goal for the EMI program taking contextual factors and limitations into consideration.

Research Questions:

1. 1 What are students’ language goals for the EMI program?
2. 2 What is the balance between content and language in the EMI program as perceived by students and instructors?
3. 3 What is the influence of the students’ English proficiency on their language improvement through the EMI courses as perceived by students and instructors?
4. 4 What is the influence of the instructor’s English proficiency on students’ language improvement through the EMI courses?
5. 5 How do current classroom practices of the EMI courses meet the language goal?

Method

Design

The study adopts a mixed method, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. The exploratory quantitative interpretive paradigm (Grotjahn, 1987) is used to analyze the quantitative data for the major part of the study.

Participants

Major participants of the study are students in Lingnan (University) College, Sun Yat-sen University, which is a major university in southern China. Lingnan (University) College, being one of the leading business schools nationwide, has adopted the EMI approach in its pilot program since 2008. Students were accepted into the EMI program based on English proficiency as demonstrated in a previous placement test upon matriculating to the university. Forty-nine junior students were chosen from three intact classes. All students were assumed to have received compulsory formal English instruction for at least ten years as required by the national education policy. Furthermore, these participants were judged to be advanced learners as only the highest performers (top 20%) in the placement test can be admitted to the EMI program. However, as the placement exam did not include a speaking test, the participants’ speaking ability was unaccounted for.

Two instructors teaching the EMI courses were interviewed to provide data from a different perspective. It would be ideal to interview the instructors teaching the courses being observed by the researcher; however, due to schedule conflicts and other reasons, the instructors were not able to participate in the interview. The two instructors who were willing to be interviewed also taught EMI courses in the college. Both instructors are content experts of the course they taught, but neither of them have a related degree or professional training in the field of foreign language or language teaching. Both instructors are native Chinese speakers. Instructor 1 acquired all degrees in China whereas Instructor 2 had overseas learning and research experience in an English speaking country for more than two years. Instructor 1 has teaching experience in the content area for more than 12 years whereas Instructor 2 has taught the content courses for 4 years.

The findings of the study are intended to be generalizable to other colleges in the university that also adopt EMI to teach a non-foreign language course to students with a high proficiency in English. However, any generalization needs to be made with caution, taking into consideration the potential differences in teaching method, class size, instructional time, and so on.

Instruments

Questionnaire survey

The questionnaire survey designed by the researcher consists of 12 items. The questionnaire started with basic information including a written explanation of the questionnaire. Students were asked to rate on a four-point Likert scale for the close items. The four-point Likert scale was adopted mainly to avoid central tendency bias. The first part of the questionnaire asked for students’ general attitude toward EMI courses and their specific language learning goals. The second part elicited information related to their opinions about the balance of content and language in the EMI program. The third part asked students to evaluate some current practices in their EMI courses and the extent that their content and language goals were achieved. The last part was an open-ended question that elicited comments on the current EMI program.

A certain number of items in the survey were similar to questions asked in the interview for triangulation purposes. The questionnaire was designed in Chinese, the students’ native language, to ensure accuracy of comprehension as well as response rate. Students were also expected to provide more elaborate answers to the open item when responding in their native language. The researcher conducted a pilot run of the questionnaire and revised accordingly before finalizing the items. All questionnaires were anonymous to ensure that students felt free to express their opinions and provide a genuine evaluation. The translated English version of the questionnaire is attached as Appendix 1.

Interview

Interview questions for...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Perspectives
• Part II Classroom discourse
• Part III Evaluation
• Conclusion
• Index