Does international(ized) education meet the expectations? Students´ development of English proficiency as a result of English-medium instruction

Two proposed workshops will bring together leading scholars within English-Medium Instruction (EMI) for the purpose of exploring comparative research designs targeting a question of key importance to international higher education worldwide: Does the use of English for teaching and learning academic content in higher education – English-Medium Instruction (EMI) – contribute to the development of students’ English proficiency?

Increased English proficiency is widely considered part of the raison d´être of EMI but previous research has produced mixed results, and rigorously designed (valid, reliable, replicable, and generalizable) research is lacking in this area.

The workshops, conducted in Apr. 2023 and Jan. 2024 and involving seven researchers connected through the CRiEMI (Comparative Research in EMI) initiative, aim to (i) critically evaluate research design ideas and (ii) conceptualize a research project based on the identified design(s).

Workshop themes include e.g., the operationalization of language proficiency in EMI, and international comparative education research quality standards.

The research planned could have an unprecedented and global impact on research in EMI, language and educational policy work in higher education, and research on teaching and learning in internationalized higher education.

Research following a multi-site-same-design formula requires extremely careful planning, and the workshops organised will be instrumental in delivering it.