| dc.description.abstract | This doctoral project aims to conduct case studies of English as a medium of instruction
(EMI) at three higher education institutions (HEIs) in China, Japan and the Netherlands – three
‘Expanding Circle’ countries. The research focuses on how EMI in each case is approached and
how the major stakeholders’ (academic staff, students, administrators) perceive EMI. However,
it must be pointed out this project is implementing cross case studies, rather than comparative
studies defined in the field of comparative education. Furthermore, though three cases are
situated in different contexts, general implications are expected to be explored to understand
EMI implementations worldwide, or at least these three countries.
Chapter One sets the scope and breadth of the research, beginning with an introduction to
the rise of Global Englishes/World Englishes in the context of the rapid globalisation. Kachru’s
Three Circles of English are elaborated. Particularly, among the Expanding Circle countries,
further discussion is pursued about English and its use in China, Japan and the Netherlands. The
internationalisation of higher education (HE) worldwide, a growing phenomenon driven by
globalisation and the rise of Global Englishes means changes in educational policies across the
globe at the national, regional and institutional levels. EMI is one of the key components of
internationalisation strategies used in higher education. At the end of the chapter, the rationale,
significance and goals of this research are described. The chapter concludes with a definition of
EMI suitable for this study and an overview of the thesis structure.
Chapter Two narrows down the scope and focus on EMI. The literature review centres on
the origin, the development and the expansion of EMI in different regions of the world. Layers
of its complexity are depicted through a comprehensive review of previous studies on EMI.
Previous research topics are categorised at the macro level, such as EMI policies, and at the
micro level, such as attitudes and EMI pedagogical approaches. Specifically, accounts of
previous studies in perception-based EMI research are provided to summarise, and draw a
comparison between, stakeholders’ EMI perceptions in different contexts.
Chapter Three explores the context of the research in each case study. Following the vein
of English forms in Kachru’s Three Circles of English, the internationalisation of higher
education and the EMI development worldwide mentioned in previous chapters, a specific
description of the EMI in each country is presented to summarise the history, status quo,
problems and challenges of EMI in each country. Chapter Three demonstrates a sense of
compatibility between the three institutions with contrasting features. Notably, previously
conducted comparative EMI studies across institutions and nations are summarised to highlight
the recent research focus on contrastive studies.
Chapter Four examines the research methodologies in previous EMI studies and present
the chosen methodology in this current research, namely a mixed-methods approach with a
concurrent design. Three research questions of this doctoral project are presented, aiming to
answer how EMI in each case is enacted and approached, and how the principal stakeholders,
i.e. students, faculty teachers and management levels, perceive EMI . Specifically, the details
cover how convenience sampling with a case study style was selected, a description of the
research instruments and the administration, as well as the ethical research aspects. The
research instrucments employed are questionnaires, semi structured interviews, archive
examination and classroom observation. At the operational level, the chosen methodology
involves the use of SPSS for quantitative analysis of questionnaires and Nvivo for the
processing of the qualitative data, the interviews, observation notes and EMI course-related
documents.
Chapters Five to Seven consist of a presentation of the data collection and analysis that are
conducted by the order of the research questions. Interpretations of the separate qualitative and
quantitative data are combined when necessary to provide a multifacted and sophisticated
understanding of EMI. Chapter Five answers the first research question, exploring how EMI is
approached in each case study and the general implications emerged beyond universities. The
qualitative data gathered from the interviews, classroom observation and archive examination
are presented to illustrate how each dimension of the ROADMAPPING framework is enacted at
each university. Chapter Six elaborates the second research question, addressing students’
perceptions focusing on English improvement and general content learning outcomes. The
quantitative data from the questionnaires provide a comparison of students’ EMI perceptions in
three universities, combined with in-depth information and illustrations from students’
interviews. Chapter Seven investigates the thir research question, focusing on teachers’
perceptions with an emphasis on perceived students’ English proficiencies and content
comprehension. Additionally, comparative perceptions between the teachers and students in
each university are drawn upon.
Chapter Eight pursues further discussion on the findings and a cross-case analysis for
exploration of possible similarities and differences in the EMI implementation in the three
institutions. The chapter then concludes by summarising the significant general findings,
emphasising the important arguments and stressing the significant comparisons. The
implications based on the findings are integrated into further general suggestions and
recommendations for EMI implementation in different contexts, in terms of explicit EMI goals
at the institutional level, fundamental transition to a proactive pedagogical approach, efficient
collaboration between content and language support faculties and consistent training support for
teachers, as well as high awareness of implementing EMI in a multilingual university setting. | en |
