The Assessment Of The English-medium Instruction Courses At Chinese Research Universities

With the impact of globalization,the educational authorities all over the world propel earnestly the internationalization of higher education,during which process English often acts as the academic lingua franca.To attract foreign students and faculty,prepare local students for the global job market and gain better reputation,universities in non-anglophone nations offer an increasing number of English-taught courses and programs,which has become a global phenomenon.Such courses are generally known as English-medium instruction(EMI)courses,defined in this thesis as the non-language courses that employ English in the whole teaching and learning process,where English is often a foreign language for teachers and/or students.Nevertheless,against the fast pace of starting EMI courses,the universities know little about their effects.The low English proficiency of both teachers and students has aroused researchers’ questioning the effectiveness of the courses.From the researchers’ side,however,a large majority of the existing literature are authored by applied linguists,focusing on the language policy,the attitudes and experiences of teachers and students,etc.,quite few assessing the students’ learning outcomes.By analyzing the documents,surveying EMI teachers and reviewing the literature,this study concludes that the intended learning outcomes of EMI courses consist of three dimensions,namely disciplinary cognition,English for academic purposes and intercultural competence,or a trinity of content,language and culture.With that in mind,I then designed and conducted a questionnaire survey on the undergraduates from four research universities based in Shanghai,collecting 361 samples.The data indicate that the overall effectiveness of the EMI courses is underachieved and that students’ English proficiency,prior knowledge,learning motivation and engagement,teachers’ teaching expertise and international students are contributing factors.