The importance of a support system for a successful EMI program completion

We all have someone in life who we can rely on when things get difficult, and they help us
succeed; the same happens when developing an academic program. So far, EMI has grown
rapidly like a trend because of the many benefits that they can offer to international students and
the institutions itself. However, at many HEIs and universities, learners and teachers have
revealed that the courses were not as they expected and that they face difficulties related to
content, English proficiency, etc., unveiling the lack of support from the institution. Thus, this
paper aims to describe the importance of a support system in EMI programs and what aspects it
should focus on. The sources outlined in here, contain the perceptions of students and teachers
on EMI, which will guide the path to how the support system should be constructed to meet
everyone’s needs and provide a better teaching and learning experience.

Galloway, N. (2017). How effective is English as a medium of instruction (EMI)?. British

Council. https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/how-effective-english-medium-
instruction-e mi

In this interview report, Galloway, researcher on the use of English as a global language, claims
that EMI courses are effective but only to a certain degree. This is because some students want to
focus on learning English rather than the content, which results in a lack of acquiring knowledge.
Also, given the different English levels from students and teachers, multilingualism must be the
rule during classes, to help them understand and get better results. The report purpose is to
explain how EMI has developed at universities and its effectiveness, so that improvements can
be made. In this way, the audience is mainly academic staff, who can recollect the opinions of
students and teachers, which are important for building a support system that addresses the
critics.
Soruç, A. & Griffiths, C. (2018). English as a medium of instruction: students’ strategies. ELT Journal,
Volume 72, Issue 1, January 2018, Pages 38–48. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccx017

In their research article, Soruc and Griffiths, investigators on the process of learning new languages,
address the difficulties that EMI students present during the courses and the resources they use to
overcome them. Through video recordings, questionaries, and interviews, they found that the main
challenges were related to listening and speaking in English. However, the one aspect that was not
touched by the subjects was the emotional one because they do not know how to manage them. For that
reason, the intention of the article is directed to understand in which ways students struggle and the
importance of a support system for helping them in their fears to talks in public, connecting with peers,
etc. The audience gets to know the students better through their own words, and teachers can find ways to
help them. The importance goes beyond, with the open gap on the strategies that students use for their
emotions, giving foot to further research on this variable.

Dearden, J. & Macaro, E. (2016). Higher education teachers’ attitudes towards English medium
instruction: A three-country comparison. [Department of English Studies, Faculty of Pedagogy and
Fine Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz] doi: 10.14746/ssllt.2016.6.3.5

The research article by Dearden and Macaro, outlines the concerns that teachers have on EMI, claiming
that regardless of their nationality, those are very similar. For example, a common saying was that the
rapidly growing trend was coming from the desire of universities to internationalize rather than helping
students., or that it may have a negative effect on their home language. The purpose is to find the main
concern regarding EMI classes, and for the audience to know what the teachers themselves are going to
expect from their students during a class. All of this makes the article important to understand different
background in EMI environments so that a better support system can come out, taking into account the
differences in cultures.

Shohamy, E. (2012). A Critical Perspective on the Use of English as a Medium of Instruction at

Universities. In A. Doiz, D. Lasagabaster & J. Sierra (Ed.), English-Medium Instruction at
Universities: Global Challenges (pp. 196-210). Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters.
https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847698162-014
Shohamy, a professor at the School of Education, claims in her book chapter that using a variety of
languages for EMI classes can be more effective as policies at HEIs than simply using English. To
support this, she relies on different studies made to students learning in their L2 who were given
accommodations during tests. They proved that when studying in a different language always involves
using their L1 as a tool for better comprehension, so when using the accommodations, they performed
better and got higher grades. Also, more inequality was present for immigrants and indigenous since
national language is their L2 and English is their third or fourth language, which gave them more
challenges even with the said resources. In this way, the purpose was to encourage institutions to use
accommodations for learners in a different language. By outlining the problems, audience can simply
understand the need of a support for this type of students, and makes it easier for academic staff to
implement what is needed.

Galloway, N., Kriukow, J., & Numajiri, T. (2017). The role of metacognition in the success of reading
and writing tasks across cultures (S. Larkin, Ed.). British Council Global English.
https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/publications/internationalisation-higher-education-and-the -
growing-demand-for-

In this research article, Galloway, Kriukow and Numajiri, approaches the different attitudes towards EMI
regarding everyone involved in the program, given the answers from the focus groups in Japan and China.
When it comes to the frequency in which tests are done in English, Japan scores higher than China. Also,
attitudes towards the need of a support system varies but always in the higher answer, strongly agree and
agree, and comments on the current ones have both negative and positive. In addition, students may see
EMI whether for learning English, or learning content through English. The purpose of the authors was to
investigate the global trend on EMI in HEIs from China and Japan, to understand the driving forces for
students and institutions. Then, the paper is important to gather what are the expectations of EMI and how
a support system would help to achieve all of that.

Stacey, V. (2018). UK launch of quality mark in English as medium of instruction. The Pie News.
https://thepienews.com/news/uk-naric-launches-emi-quality-mark/
In his article posted on The Pie News, Stacey, a multimedia journalist, affirms that a support system is
required for the teaching staff to develop a correct EMI program on an institution. He outlines a new
scheme that is designed to assess universities by rating their courses -Gold, Silver, Bronze or Developing-
and giving them feedback to improve. Countries are currently investing more in the developing of EMI,
with the aim to internationalize. However, we should not forget that EMI is not a substitute, and
cooperation is still needed between organizations and institutions to improve language competence. Thus,
the purpose of the article is to remark the importance of giving teachers a support system. The audience
gets to meet the new scheme by the simple and attractive explanation given to it, which can motivate
them to use it. The reflection of this post is that this resource can be implemented to find the lacks in each
individual EMI program, so that the support systems can be more effective and individualized based on
the needs of every institution.