An Instrument for English Medium Instruction (Emi) Classroom Observation in Higher Education

Abstract

Classes taught through English in higher education (in countries where English is not an official language) is a growing phenomenon worldwide. In Brazil the trend has only emerged in the last decade, and has faced some resistance on many fronts, including among professors. One of the concerns raised by professors is related to their identity: essentially, are instructors who teach through a foreign language delivering a class that is qualitatively different? For example, are they as able to interact with the students in the same way they would in their L1? In order to move beyond mere conjecture regarding these and related questions, the present study describes the development and validation of a classroom observation instrument designed to be used (or adapted for use) by researchers wishing to investigate issues surrounding, especially, interactivity in English Medium Instruction in higher education settings.RESUMO: Aulas ministradas no ensino superior por meio de língua inglesa (em países onde o inglês não é um idioma oficial) é um fenômeno crescente no mundo acadêmico. No Brasil, a tendência só surgiu na última década e tem enfrentado certa resistência em muitas frentes, inclusive entre os professores. Uma das preocupações levantadas por docentes é relacionada à identidade: isto é, será que os professores que ensinam através de uma língua estrangeira ministram uma aula qualitativamente diferente? Por exemplo, será que eles conseguem interagir com os alunos da mesma maneira que eles conduzem uma aula na primeira língua? Para ir além da mera conjectura sobre essas e outras questões relacionadas, o presente estudo descreve o desenvolvimento e a validação de um instrumento de observação de aula projetado para ser usado (ou adaptado para uso) por pesquisadores que desejam investigar questões relacionadas, principalmente, à interatividade didática quando em contextos de Inglês como Meio de Instrução em inglês no âmbito do ensino superior.

Investigating the Challenges of Studying Science in English as a Medium of Instruction: Foundation Year Students’ Perceptions at the University of Jeddah

“…The same findings were identified by many scholars in different settings. Martinez et al (2020), for example, insisted that focusing on the content or the language during the lecture is still issuable in most EMI classes. More interestingly, the students informing this research voiced their need to use their mother tongue to understand the lectures.…”

“…Regarding content-or language-focused courses, Martinez et al (2020) argued that despite the fairly well-established position of EMI at the tertiary level in almost every institution around the world, the question of whether to focus on content or on the language itself still persists and is posed by teachers and learners alike. In an attempt to an answer this question, Al-Kahtany et al ( 2016) articulated that when investigating the students' perceptions of English as MOI, the focus should not be on the English language per se but on the performance of the students as English-medium students.…”