In the world in general and in Vietnam in particular, English as Medium of Instruction (EMI) for students not majoring in foreign languages has attracted much attention due to the trend of international integration. However, this implementation is still facing certain language barriers, so the efficiency of lecture delivery is not as expected. Thus, to purge such limitations and enhance students’ performance in EMI-based classes, the article suggests the CDIO framework and its application in curricular activities as a prominent approach. The comparative method was used to study the case of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University Ho Chi Minh City, specifically in the two EMI-based subjects, namely English for Journalism (2017 program) and English for Journalism 1 (2022 program applying the CDIO framework). The research results show that the application of the CDIO framework in the EMI-based subject teaching process has a significant impact on students' knowledge acquisition, in which the professional qualifications and foreign language ability of lecturers are optimized. At the same time, teaching methods, class organization, and assessment also have a positive impact on the acquisition process.