English-medium education in East Asian universities

Julien Fleischmann & Andreia Abreu Remigio

This article is a short introduction to English-medium instruction in higher education in several East Asian countries, the role of governments, the economic aspect of and students’ attitude towards EMI.

Keywords: Asia, university, English, EMI, government, globalisation

Introduction

If you are reading this, chances are you are a student. And what kind of student does not want to know more about education? I know, I know, but please bear with us. Bilingual education is all the rage at the moment. Bilingual programs are multiplying before our very eyes. European countries are competing against each other. Who has the most attractive programs? Switzerland is no exception to the rule, with more and more disciplines being taught in English, instead of one of the four national languages. A second language is finally considered to be a resource, rather than a problem, as it was the case from WWI to the 1970s as European nation-states were deeply dependent on a common tongue, which was closely linked to national identity. During the 70s and 80s bilingualism came to be regarded as a right, with the multiple minorities’ movements gaining momentum (García 2009: 9). Bilingual education is good for everyone (yes, you too): you are not only learning the content of the syllabus, you are also learning the language that the teacher is teaching you in. This is a win-win situation that you will learn more about below.

Let us look more to the East now. A lot of countries such as the UK, the US and Australia/NZ are already anglophone and dominate the academic market. How are East Asian countries coping with the increasing Englishisation of higher education, then? They receive very few international students and see their own students leave and head west. A lot of money is being invested into English-medium instruction (EMI) programs, hoping that will in time help their position in the international market by offering more attractive career opportunities, sometimes at the expense of the local language. Ambitious new policies such as year-long pre-EMI intensive English courses cause the universities to struggle to attract enough qualified staff. The result is higher fees, blocking the access to higher education to working-class students and widening the class divides. In this entry, we will look into these EMI policies and their implementation, as well as their impact on the attitudes and motivations of students in EMI courses in higher education in Japan, China, South Korea and Vietnam.

Theoretical Framework

Bilingual education usually means teaching another language as a medium of instruction. According to García and Beardsmore, the perks of bilingual education are “provid[ing] a general education, teach[ing] in two or more languages, develop[ing] multiple understandings about languages and cultures, and foster[ing] appreciation for human diversity” (6). García and Beardsmore stress the fact that bilingual education is good for everyone, which has not been exactly a given, even though the concept has been around for thousands of years, like Greek-Latin education under the Roman Empire (though only for male elites)!

After the last world war, a Westernisation motivated by the cold war occurred. English and Western culture thus became even more present in societies. In Asia, the pressure of the English language is felt even more. Indeed, speaking English is a mark of success since it is connected to the academic world, but it also divides the social classes further (Tollefson and Tsui 2014: 200). Higher Education Institutes (HEI) to become international in the wake of the still ongoing globalisation. In Europe in the late 80s, students exchange programs such as Erasmus emerged, while in Asia similar programs have followed in the early 2000s. These changes had a bearing on the education and HEI started to implement English Medium Instruction (EMI) programs, which consist in teaching a non-language subject such as economy or mathematics in English. The main aim of EMI is to improve the students’ general level of English And therefore their employability on the international market (Galloway, Numajiri and Rees 2020: 397).

Previous Studies

Government policies: what are their intentions?

Governments have put some policies in place concerning EMI. They also created funding programs to support HEI financially and to motivate them to make those classes available to a broader audience. EMI classes enable HEI to attract more international and local students and to increase their price.

In Vietnam for instance, the government has ordered Vietnamese HEI “to identify high quality programs in strategic disciplines provided by high-ranking universities overseas and to start delivering [EMI] programs” (Tri and Moskovsky 2019: 1331). The goal is to improve the quality of local higher education. The switch from English as the enemy language (due to colonisation) to English as the modernisation language was quite effective. Tri and Moskovsky (2019) conducted a study based on policy documents, interviews and discussions. They see these policies as an onion: the first layer corresponds to the government stating the policies, the second layer to the institutional level where policies are implemented and the third to the interpersonal level (individuals). English serves as a multifaceted tool: a shortcut to original scientific knowledge; a gatekeeper for under-qualified students and staff; and linguistic capital (in a word, English helps you get better job opportunities).

For government officials, EMI is especially valued for “its ability to attract international students, international academic staff and researchers, as well as to raise Vietnamese universities’ standing in the global academe” (Tri and Moskovsky 2019: 1340).

However, the Vietnamese government does not look at all the disciplines the same way. The ones prestigious enough to be taught in English are the scientific (“hard applied”) disciplines, such as Economics, Science, Engineering, Medicine and Information Technology, prioritised in order to nurture the socio-economic development of the country. And before even dreaming of enrolling in these courses, you had better deserve it: one year-long pre-EMI intensive English courses are required to ensure you have all your chances to get your degree. And once you are there, you will have pretty much the same curriculum as your Anglo American counterparts. Cool? Not so much, Tri and Moskovsky (year) conclude that this borrowing without any adaptations might actually be counterproductive, since some parts are not adaptable such as Western contexts and point of views in soft applied disciplines. In addition, Galloway et al. (2020) explain that a large number of universities in Japan have actually made it mandatory for students to take one or several classes being taught in English in order to finish their degrees! While it is challenging for students to take a subject in English, it allows them to be more employable in the market and it improves their general level of English, or at least it is assumed by staff and students (Galloway, Numajiri and Rees 2020: 397). For HEI, EMI has a big attractive economical point: they can attract more foreign students, charge local students a higher price and get funded by the government.

Students: motivational factors and satisfaction levels

China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan seem to be the countries that make the most out of EMI. It also seems to be most popular in countries that used to be colonies of English-speaking powers! Singapore, for instance, has made English the official language of government, legislature and the legal system as well as the medium of the entire education system.

Asian students’ primary motivation is to improve their English, according to Le’s findings in her thesis (2016). In addition, students’ second motivation goes straight to the point: they believe English is more useful in the job market, sometimes going as far as saying they would like to work abroad, where English is the working language (which is exactly what East Asian governments are trying to avoid). The takeaway from this is that the lack of English proficiency is a valid reason to exclude someone from job opportunities (Hang as quoted by Le year: 102). But unfortunately for Asian governments, the majority of EMI students aim to use their proficiency elsewhere, where the conditions are better and the salaries higher. Regarding their English level, the majority feels it is good and is confident when using the language. Only 8% rated their English as poor, according to Le, and 17.7% rated their level as excellent.

In their article, Galloway et al. found that overall, students agree that EMI improved their level of English, while still being able to understand the subject of the lesson. However, they also think that the mother tongue usage should be permitted during EMI lessons. EMI will continue as English is increasingly the businesses’ lingua franca, but measures (financially, tutoring…) to support the staff as well as the students should be properly implemented.

Problems and downsides

Of course, putting EMI in place is not a piece of cake and has a lot of downsides, especially for the students. Usually, the group of students interviewed by reseachers (Le 2016: 38) who seemed unhappy about EMI in their universities were English-speaking students travelling east to improve their level of another language and that were met with courses mostly in English, which is totally understandable (Le: 41). This leads us to the following point: courses still taught in the local languages are neglected, financially notably, and the attitudes towards the local languages themselves are changing for the worse. One of the downsides of such a focus on English is the implied inferiority of the local languages in academic settings. Do they not have the adequate and necessary vocabulary? In the case of Vietnam, studies have even revealed distinctly discriminatory attitudes towards the traditional Vietnamese-medium instruction education from students and university staff. Researchers therefore recommend a controlled and limited use of alternative linguistic resources alongside English, such as code switching (switching languages in a single conversation) and/or translanguaging (using languages together in a single system) (Tri and Moskovsky 2019: 13). In practice, there is sometimes a lack of linguistic support, in cases where pre-EMI intensive courses did not succeed in preparing students meaning students naturally circle back to their mother tongue: lessons that are taught in English are often simplified and the students ask the teacher to code switch. In China, some students enrolled in English-medium courses audit the same lesson, but in the Chinese course, defying the main dual objective of the EMI classes. It is also hard to find qualified teachers who can teach their subjects in English (Galloway et al. year).

In his research paper, Park (2019) highlights that South Korean students are often anxious about language and in particular their English abilities. They feel behind in relation to other countries by their competency in English and language is often used to perpetuate the hierarchical order and positioning in society. South Korea came from a place of colonial Japanese rule to a free country (influenced by the United States which brought English). They became somewhat dependent on them, but also saw them as the ideal of modern and advanced society and thinking. In South Korea there is still a sense of “superiority” of the white native speaker, which the Koreans feel they cannot meet. Since the job market is changing and becoming more international, students and universities must adapt and think forward. Companies need workers who are multiskilled; therefore, students are encouraged to take a more active role in their language learning.

These EMI policies led South Korean universities to succeed in being ranked within the top global universities and are therefore able to attract more teachers and students from overseas (Park 2017: 87). As said previously, universities with more English usage in courses receive more funding by the government, because of their importance for socio-economic development. Furthermore, the state has introduced greater competition between universities, and so, many push for the developments which will help them get noticed. Unfortunately, this competition puts a lot of pressure on students and creates inequalities. English-medium lectures are now unavoidable, which can cut some students off from certain disciplines if their English is not good enough.

To sum up, EMI in Asia is still in its infancy and still faces quite severe challenges, including local lecturers’ and students’ (sometimes) low English competence, inadequate resources and facilities (such as support for students and enough qualified staff), and insufficient and/or selective funding.

Discussion and conclusion

We have looked at the advantages and disadvantages, the successes and failures of the implementation of EMI in East Asian universities. If we had to summarise it for you), we would say EMI attracts foreign students and teachers, and it seems to overall increase the level of English of local students efficiently. These two points are important, because they are exactly what governments aim at when developing and funding EMI policies. Unfortunately, many students see EMI as a shortcut to work abroad, which is the opposite of what governments intend. English as a gatekeeper for higher education has also revealed itself to be deepening class divides, preventing students with less linguistic capital to enrol, even with measures such as pre-EMI courses like in Vietnam. Additionally, EMI has not been adapted enough, with curricula from the US and the UK being basically copied and pasted to Asian settings. EMI courses have not been welcoming of every student’s discipline either, with only scientific disciplines being available in English (or at least they are prioritised in the Englishisation process). A considerable number of students and staff have also expressed the desire of not completely erasing the mother tongue in EMI programs, which tend to impose a monolingual rule.

Therefore, EMI initiatives are an excellent way to improve students’ level of English, but they should be carefully thought through before being put in place. Indeed, sometimes it feels that governments and schools care more about the potential money they could make from the EMI program, rather than the social investment. Students are often placed into a course in English, without a lot of support, resulting in an increase of drop-outs. They are also often confused about when they can use their mother tongue in an EMI class and when they should not, which leads students to participate less (Galloway, Numajiri and Rees 2020: 398). Furthermore, English should stop being seen as the superior language, as it increases the social gap and inequalities among students because English can be an obstacle to better paid jobs. Governments and schools should promote local languages and cultures as an economic and academic tool, in order to shift the current mindset. In addition, studies of EMI in a wider range of Asian countries should be conducted. EMI in Asian countries has been less studied than EMI in Europe and therefore conclusions can only be drawn from a few countries.

Bibliography

Galloway, N., Numajiri, T., and Rees, N. 2020. The ‘internationalisation,’ or ‘englishisation,’ of higher education in East Asia. Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education Research 80.3, 395-414. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00486-1

García, O., Baetens Beardsmore H. 2009. Introducing Bilingual Education. In M. Malden (ed.), Bilingual Education in the 21st Century : a Global Perspective. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 3-18.

Le, T.T.N. 2016. Exploring students’ experiences of English-medium instruction in Vietnamese universities MA Thesis, University of Newcastle.

Park, J. 2017. English as the Medium of Instruction in Korean Higher Education: Language and Subjectivity as Critical Perspective on Neoliberalism: Critical Studies in Sociolinguistics. In A. Del Percio and M. Flubacher (ed.), Language, Education and Neoliberalism. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 82-100.

Tollefson, J., and Tsui, A. 2014. Language Diversity and Language Policy in Educational Access and Equity. Review of Research in Education 38, 189-214. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732×13506846

Tri, D. H., Moskovsky, C. 2019. English-medium instruction in Vietnamese higher education: A ROAD-MAPPING perspective. Issues in Educational Research 29.4, 1330-1347. Available at: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2391969156?accountid=12006.

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