Abstract

This book provides critical insights into the English-medium instruction (EMI) experiences which have been implemented at a number of universities in countries such as China, Finland, Israel, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and the USA, which are characterised by differing political, cultural and sociolinguistic situations. In particular, it reflects on the consequences of implementing EMI as an attempt to gain visibility and as a strategy in response to the need to become competitive in both national and international markets. The pitfalls and challenges specific to each setting are analysed, and the pedagogical issues and methodological implications that arise from the implementation of these programmes are also discussed. This volume will serve to advance our awareness about the strategies and tools needed to improve EMI at tertiary level.

The settings of these chapters are different in population scale and in socioeconomic backgrounds and cultural settings, as well as in the numbers of students investigated in empirical studies, and the value of the book should perhaps also be seen in this light. The book is able to illuminate these distinct cases with flesh-and-blood descriptions of individual interactions, survey responses, policy histories, or other significant moments that inevitably are part of a process that is at one and the same time at the political macro, meso, and microlevel; for that achievement it comes recommended by this reviewer.

I highly recommend the volume to those seeking guidance in how best to implement EMI in their instructional settings. The editors have done a very credible job of compiling the views of international experts in the field of EMI. The book is a significant contribution to the growing body of literature on the integration of language and content and is a highly worthwhile read.

This book should be a highly recommended reading for language policy makers at HEIs in their commitment to improve multilingualism amongst their students and foster internalization policies, EMI and CLIL practitioners, as well as researchers and teacher trainers.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone who is interested in EMI at university level. Generally speaking, the papers gathered together here provide insights and questions which will be of most interest to researchers, policy-makers and senior managers in universities. The quality of several chapters is very high and overall the book’s contents repay close reading.

This volume was a pleasure to read with each chapter making a significant contribution to the overall success of the volume. The volume will undoubtedly hold appeal to teacher-researchers across numerous contexts, especially those on the frontlines of university internationalization where issues of language policy and language planning are unavoidable.

From a range of thought-provoking perspectives, this book provides a timely and critical account of the challenges specific to various tertiary contexts where English-medium instruction (EMI) has been implemented. It raises important issues worthy of further reflection and research concerning the effectiveness of EMI, including the perennial challenge of integrating both language and content objectives and the pressing issue of how EMI can be implemented to foster rather than hinder a multilingual mindset.

Universities worldwide are increasingly squeezed for resources, and many academics have become wary of buzzwords such as 'internationalization' and 'innovation', linked to 'mobility' and 'quality assurance'. There are concerns that English-medium instruction may sometimes be expediently used as a panacea for coping with market-driven needs without being well enough understood as the very complex phenomenon it is. Addressing many difficult questions head-on, this timely book will be a rich resource for all those who wish to think through for themselves the intricate issues involved in this global trend in an informed and critical way.

Aintzane Doiz, David Lasagabaster and Juan Manuel Sierra are associate professors at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain. Their research interests include, among others, internationalisation in higher education, second/third language acquisition, CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), language teaching methodology, attitudes and motivation, and multilingualism at pre-university and university levels. They have published widely in international journals, books and edited books.

This volume is a truly interesting read, which I can fully recommend to all (novice) researchers and (advanced) students interested in EMI and language policy at university-level. As a last word, I would still like to acknowledge the impressive work done by the editors and publishers, who did not only do an excellent job in selecting the contributions, but also engaged in careful and detailed editing that provides readers with regular cross-references between chapters as well as a factually typo-free final product.

As universities throughout the world strive to internationalize, many are introducing English as a medium of instruction. Does this mean the end of other languages as languages of education and scholarship? Or can English co-exist with other languages in higher education? The chapters in this valuable and highly informative collection examine these and related questions against a range of specific contexts. This should be required reading for all involved in the internationalization of higher education.

Overall, this book provides an important contribution to work on EMI by bringing critical insights to bear on processes and practices - such as internationalisation, globalisation, and EMI - that are frequently regarded as inevitable, and treated as either progressive or oppressive. As such, it forms a useful resource for content and language instructors and university officials seeking to understand higher education language policies and their role(s) in them, as well as those seeking a deeper understanding of how EMI is perceived and practised around the world.