Abstract

This book offers new insights into the language gains of adult learners enrolled in an English-medium instruction (EMI) degree programme. It provides longitudinal empirical evidence of the phonological gains of the learners; discusses which individual factors contribute to the changes in the learners’ pronunciation and investigates whether and to what extent increased exposure to the target language in EMI classrooms leads to incidental learning of second language pronunciation. Furthermore, it expands on the discussions surrounding the Critical Period Hypothesis, the native-speaker norm, foreign language accent and the role of English as a Lingua Franca. The comparative and longitudinal design of the research study fills a significant gap in the literature and the book offers considerable original and important research-informed insights into the fields of EMI, bilingual education and second language acquisition. As such, it is a valuable resource and must-read book for researchers, practitioners and policymakers in these areas.

Karin Richter is Senior Lecturer at the University of Vienna, Austria. She has been working in the field for over 15 years and her research focuses on English-medium instruction, teaching speaking skills and pronunciation learning and teaching.

This book not only effectively demonstrates that long run EMI instruction can improve students’ pronunciation, it also shows that the critical period is not absolute – adults can improve their pronunciation. The impressive literature reviews of EMI in Europe, of language learning in the EMI classroom, and of factors influencing L2 pronunciation mastery, are in themselves are compelling reasons to read the book.

Those interested in pronunciation will find this volume most enlightening. At a time when EMI programmes are burgeoning, pronunciation has unfortunately been largely disregarded by researchers, although both teachers and students are very concerned about its role in EMI. This study successfully manages to bridge this research/concern gap.