english-medium-instruction
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- PaperTESOL Quarterly24 Jul 2026
Mixed‐Methods Research on English‐Medium Instruction in Higher Education: A Systematic Review
Haemin Kim, Keith M. Graham
This systematic review of 136 studies on English-medium instruction (EMI) in higher education reveals significant methodological gaps in mixed-methods research: only seven studies explicitly stated an epistemological orientation, six presented an integrative mixed-methods research question, and no study specified sampling procedure terminology. Questionnaires and interviews were the most common instruments. The authors provide recommendations for strengthening future EMI mixed-methods research.
Original abstract
With the rapid growth of research in English‐medium instruction (EMI) in higher education, much research has been conducted through qualitative and quantitative approaches. Yet, little attention was paid to the use of mixed‐methods research (MMR) in this field. Therefore, this systematic review aims to examine previous literature that adopted MMR in EMI research, specifically evaluating the methodology across three aspects: epistemological orientation and purpose, MMR question formulation, and MMR design. Among 136 studies identified, substantial methodological gaps were found across all three aspects. First, only seven studies explicitly stated an epistemological orientation whereas 27 studies provided explicit purpose terminology. Second, only six studies explicitly presented an integrative MMR question, while 112 studies provided qualitative and/or quantitative research questions, and 18 studies lacked explicit research questions. Finally, MMR design characteristics were rarely described: (1) nearly half of the studies did not specify a design, (2) no study used specific sampling procedure terminology, and (3) questionnaires and interviews were the most frequently used instruments. Based on these methodological gaps, this study offers recommendations for strengthening future EMI studies that employ a mixed‐methods approach.
- PaperTESOL Quarterly17 Jul 2026
Tracing the Change in the Status of a Language Teacher in University Governance through English Medium Instruction
Ikuya Aizawa, Yuka Akiyama
A longitudinal case study of one language teacher in a Japanese engineering school found that top-down EMI implementation raised the teacher's status in faculty governance and enabled collaboration with a senior content teacher, leading to formalized EMI support and recognition of language support in engineering education.
Original abstract
This article examines how a top‐down English medium instruction (EMI) decision changed a language teacher's status and participation in faculty governance in a graduate engineering school at a national university in Japan. Using a longitudinal single‐case design, the study follows one language teacher across the period from policy announcement to early rollout of EMI implementation. Data comprise three milestone interviews, audio‐recorded research‐practice meetings, reflective journals and implementation documents. Two main findings emerged. First, EMI acted as a catalyst for cultural change by raising the status of the language teacher in a setting where language support had been dismissed as a distraction from “real” engineering. Second, EMI granted the language teacher access to collaborate with a senior content teacher, who served as a gatekeeper to institutional leadership. This collaboration resulted in the formal establishment of EMI support provision and repositioned language support as a recognized component of engineering education. We found that EMI transformed not only the teacher's participation in governance but also faculty‐wide decision‐making processes. The study demonstrates how process tracing can document the decision‐making mechanisms that contribute to institutional cultural change during a faculty‐level transition to EMI.
- PaperELT Journal10 Jul 2026
Teacher code alternation in a Sri Lankan tertiary level EMI classroom
Dilini Leelachandra, Dushyanthi Mendis
A case study of a Sri Lankan tertiary EMI classroom identified five distinct functions of teacher code alternation: enhancing comprehension, managing classroom dynamics, building rapport, alleviating stress, and clarifying complex ideas. Code alternation serves as a strategic linguistic tool for inclusive multilingual education, highlighting teacher–student perspectives in an underexplored context.
Original abstract
This study explores teacher code alternation in an English medium instruction classroom at a higher education institution in Sri Lanka. Acknowledging that code alternation is common in multilingual settings, this case study highlights its various functions, motivations, and implications for classroom purposes, addressing a gap in research within the Sri Lankan higher education context. Data were collected through classroom observations, transcriptions of recorded lessons, and semi-structured interviews. The analysis revealed five distinct functions of code alternation that aid the learning process. As a strategic linguistic tool, code alternation enhances comprehension, manages classroom dynamics, and builds rapport. Specifically, it serves to alleviate the stress of using English, foster a comfortable environment, and clarify complex ideas, thereby underscoring the importance of teacher–student perspectives on the use of code alternation for inclusive, multilingual education.
- PaperLanguage Teaching Research9 Jul 2026
Outcome-Based Language Teaching in EMI Listening: Balancing Accountability With Ungraded Supports for Low-Proficiency Learners
Camik Wanhassan
A three-year longitudinal reform of an EMI listening course found that combining graded accountability with ungraded supports (collaborative learning, voluntary practice, reflective work) reduced failure risk and sustained engagement among low-proficiency STEM learners. Listening was re-conceptualized as a transferable academic skill rather than a short-term requirement. The study offers design principles for balancing accountability with ungraded supports in EMI listening courses.
Original abstract
Listening plays a critical yet undertheorized role in English-medium instruction (EMI), where subject courses are taught through English rather than learners’ first language, and access to disciplinary knowledge relies heavily on real-time comprehension of lectures and academic tasks not designed for language development. For low-proficiency students enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programmes, this creates a high-stakes learning condition in which assessment-driven accountability can intensify cognitive and affective pressure. While outcome-based education (OBE) offers curricular structure and transparency, it is frequently criticized for privileging measurable outcomes over sustained engagement and long-term skill development. This study examines how accountability in EMI listening courses can be structurally balanced with ungraded pedagogical supports to foster engagement and learning sustainability. Drawing on a three-year longitudinal reform of a compulsory elective EMI listening course, the study analyses how a design approach integrating graded accountability with collaborative learning, voluntary practice, and reflective work reshaped learners’ engagement and learning trajectories. Using a mixed-methods design combining descriptive and inferential quantitative analyses with thematic analysis of learner reflections, integrated through triangulation, the analysis synthesizes performance data, engagement logs, and learner reflections collected from 533 low-proficiency STEM learners across three cohorts. Findings indicate that assessment-driven designs alone were insufficient to support learning progression in EMI listening. When graded accountability was complemented by ungraded, low-risk supports, learners demonstrated reduced failure risk, sustained voluntary engagement, and heightened reflective awareness of listening strategies and goals. Listening was increasingly construed not as a short-term course requirement, but as a transferable academic skill. The study contributes to EMI and language teaching research by theorizing EMI listening as a pedagogically constrained condition and by illustrating how OBE can be enacted as a supportive, rather than compliance-oriented, design. The findings offer transferable design principles for balancing accountability with ungraded pedagogical supports in EMI listening courses beyond the immediate institutional context.
- PaperELT Journal7 Jun 2026
Toward affective linguistic justice in English-medium instruction
Pramod K Sah
Examines the affective dimensions of multilingualism in English-medium instruction (EMI) in the Global South, theorizing how affect is shaped by ideological, historical, and political entanglements of English dominance. Argues that affective experiences are central to understanding emotional economies in EMI, showing how social imaginaries of English as a language of modernity generate emotional attachments while producing affective harms for multilingual learners. Proposes a framework of affective linguistic justice to address linguistic inequality alongside students' emotional lives.
Original abstract
This paper examines the affective dimensions of multilingualism in English-medium instruction (EMI) in the Global South. While existing research increasingly attends to emotions in EMI, little work has theorized how affect is shaped by the ideological, historical, and political entanglements of English dominance and multilingual marginalization. The paper argues that affective experiences are central to understanding the emotional economies of EMI, showing how social imaginaries of English as a language of modernity and success generate powerful emotional attachments while simultaneously producing affective harms for multilingual learners whose linguistic repertoires are undervalued. It conceptualizes affect not as an individual reaction but as a structuring force shaped by linguistic hierarchies, neoliberal ideologies, and postcolonial histories. By foregrounding emotions as socially constructed and politically consequential, the paper proposes a framework of affective linguistic justice and outlines its implications for EMI/ELT policies and practices that seek to address linguistic inequality alongside students’ emotional lives.