1st Edition

Research Methods in English Medium Instruction

Edited By Jack K.H. Pun, Samantha M. Curle Copyright 2022
    152 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    152 Pages 5 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    In this special edited volume, the editors and invited English Medium Instruction (EMI) researchers, from different parts of the world, outline the latest EMI research methods. Providing academic instruction using English is rapidly spreading in many countries where English is a second or foreign language, and there is a growing interest in researching the effectiveness and effects of EMI across different educational levels. This volume includes chapters on everything from research into classroom interaction to teachers’ and students’ perceptions and motivations to language challenges and strategies and the pedagogical implications of translanguaging in EMI classrooms. These specific topics were chosen to reflect different approaches to researching EMI.

    Each chapter focuses on a specific type of research methodology. It begins with an overview of the literature of the topic under discussion. Then an example study is provided to illustrate how this methodology can be used to investigate EMI. Each chapter identifies the process that the EMI researcher used to conduct their research and discusses key dilemmas they faced, focusing particularly on the methodological issues they encountered. By exploring these issues, this volume hopes to inform theory (or the lack thereof) underlying research into the phenomenon of EMI.

    This volume is indispensable for EMI tutors, curriculum developers, policymakers, and teachers, as well as students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It is particularly valuable for researchers from across the globe working in the fields of applied linguistics, language education, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English Language Teaching (ELT), and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).

    1. Introduction

    1.1. Research Methods in EMI studies

    1.2. A Detailed Synopsis

    1.3. A Description of the Target Market

    2. Researching Conducted on Classroom Interaction in the English Medium Instruction Context

    2.1. Overview and Context

    2.1.1. Why Researchers are Interested in Exploring Classroom Interactions as a Method?  

    2.1.2. Research Planning & Design

    2.2. Amount and Pedagogical Functions of Classroom Interactions 

    2.3. Individual Teaching Strategies of EMI Teachers

    2.4. Codeswitching and Translanguaging Practices in EMI Classrooms 

    2.5. Analytical Framework 1: Classroom Discourse Model (Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975)

    2.6. Analytical Framework 2: Pedagogical Functions of Classroom Interaction (Tsui, 1985) 

    2.7. Analytical Framework 3: Communicative Approaches (Mortimer & Scott, 2003)

    2.8. Analytical Framework 4: Teacher’s Questioning Style (Yip, 2004) 

    2.9. Concluding Summary

    3. Trends in Using Questionnaires for EMI Research: Suggestions for Future Improvements

    3.1. Questionnaires and their Significance in EMI

    3.2. Current Trends in EMI

    3.3. Current Research Designs in EMI

    3.4. Suggestions for Improving Quality of Questionnaires in EMI

    3.5. Concluding Remarks

    4. Teacher’s Cognitions on Motivational Practice in Medium of Instruction Settings: Lessons Learned in Using Stimulated Recalls Interviews

    4.1. Background of the Study 

    4.2. Motivational Teaching Practice 

    4.3. Teacher Cognition

    4.4. The Study 

    4.5. Lessons Learned

    5. Researching Assessment in EMI 

    5.1. Project Overview and Context

    5.2. Research Planning 

    5.2. Research Design

    5.3. Method in Detail  

    5.3.1. Data Sources

    5.3.2. Data Analysis 

    5.4. Practical Lessons Learned

    5.5. Concluding Summary

    6. Establishing Quality Criteria and an EMI Certification Procedure 

    6.1. EMI Teacher Assessment – Initial Idea for a Certification Procedure

    6.2. EMI Quality Assurance – How to Measure and Assess Quality 

    6.3. Developing a Certification Procedure and Assessment Criteria

    6.3.1. The Certification Procedure and Evaluation Process  

    6.3.2. The Criteria for Linguistic Competencies

    6.3.3. The Criteria for Communicative Competencies 

    6.4. An Excerpt of Dual-Perspective Assessment Criteria in Practice 

    6.5. Findings, Lessons Learned and Potential Implications

    7. Corpus Linguistic Methods in EMI Research: A Missed Opportunity? 

    7.1. Overview

    7.2. Introduction 

    7.3. Focus on Vocabulary and Grammar

    7.4. Focus on Written and Spoken Discourse 

    7.5. Focus on Discourse Functions and Interaction

    7.6. Concluding Remarks

    8. Developing Collaborative Lesson Planning Tool in EMI 

    8.1. Introduction

    8.2. EMI in Turkey 

    8.3. Collaboration between Language Specialists and Content Specialists 

    8.4. Teacher Collaboration in Higher Education Context

    8.5. An Intervention: Collaboration between PYP Teacher and EMI Teacher 

    8.6. Collaborative Planning Tool (CPT): A Framework for EMI Teacher Collaboration

    8.7. Limitations 

    8.8. Conclusion

    9. Researching Translanguaging in EMI Classrooms 

    9.1. Introduction

    9.2. The Study  

    9.2.1. Research Planning and Design

    9.2.2. Methodological Framework: Combining Multimodal Conversation Analysis with an Ethnographic Approach  

    9.2.3. Methodology in Details

    9.3. Concluding Thoughts

    Index

    Biography

    Jack K.H. Pun is an assistant professor in the Department of English at the City University of Hong Kong. He holds a doctorate in education from the University of Oxford, which explored the teaching and learning process in EMI science classrooms, with a special focus on classroom interactions, use of codeswitching, and teachers’ and students’ views of EMI. His research interests lie in EMI and health communication.

    Samantha M. Curle is an assistant professor in the Department of Education at the University of Bath, UK. She completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford. She teaches subjects related to applied linguistics and is currently the director of the MRes Programme in Advanced Quantitative Research Methods. Her main research interest lies in factors affecting academic achievement in EMI. Her research has been published in journals such as Language Teaching, Applied Linguistics Review, System, and International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

    "The book is a helpful resource for researchers, and for interested teachers, students and policy-makers." - Fei Li, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development