English‐medium instruction at a university in Macau: Policy and realities

Abstract

This paper discusses the sociolinguistic background to the use of English in higher education in Macau by presenting the results of a sociolinguistic survey on the use of English in a privatelyowned university in the special administrative region of Macau. A survey of language use and attitudes was administered to 26 teaching staff and 227 undergraduate students at the university in mid-2012. The results report on the status and functions of English at the university, as well as attitudes and ideologies. However, they also point to a gap between the stated policy of the institution and the realities of language use at the university, and also provide insights into the ways in which English is used outside the formal curriculum. 1 *

English in Hong Kong higher education

“…Overall, though, both the survey and interview findings suggest that institutional MOI policy was consistently applied across the university. This uniformity contrasts with Botha's (: 465) study of policy and practice at an officially English‐medium (private) university in neighbouring Macau, which revealed considerable disciplinary variation in students’ exposure to and use of English. Such variation also appears to have been a characteristic of HEIs in Hong Kong in the late twentieth century (Pennington & Balla ), but this is evidently not the case in first‐year courses at the focal institution.…”

“…There are understandably fewer participants from the smaller faculties (humanities) and schools (design, hotel and tourism management), but in terms of size and disciplinary distribution the sample is reasonably representative of the 4YC undergraduate population. Previous research in Hong Kong (Pennington & Balla : 166) and Macau (Botha : 465) has revealed considerable disciplinary variation in students’ exposure to and use of English. The present study did not seek to compare the experiences of students from different disciplines.…”

English as a medium of instruction in East Asia’s higher education sector: a critical realist Cultural Political Economy analysis of underlying logics

“…By 2023, the sector plans to increase this number to 200,000 by permitting universities to open departments and programmes exclusively for foreign students and by further expanding the use of English as a teaching medium -particularly in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) subjects (ICEF Monitor 2015). Similarly, in Macau, English is widely used in local HEIs, either as an official medium of instruction, or is an important additional language -including in its most prestigious HEI, the University of Macau (Botha 2013). EMI also dominates the higher education landscape in Hong Kong, where even the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) -which was founded specifically to offer a Chinese medium university education -has recently opted to increase the number of EMI programmes in order to improve its international standing.…”

Differentiating factors in ARA Groups(groups of high academic achievement) and its effects on the definition of university strategies

“…Since EMI makes students face language and instruction problems (He & Chiang, 2016;Manjet, 2016), they used strategies to cope with these difficulties (Airey & Lindey, 2006;Botha, 2013;Hahl, Järvinen, & Juuti, 2016;Manjet, 2016;Suliman & Tadros, 2011). These strategies included avoiding asking or answering questions and reduced interaction (Airey & Lindey, 2006;Suliman & Tadros, 2011), resorting to one's first language (Botha, 2013;Hahl, Järvinen, & Juuti, 2016;Suliman & Tadros, 2011), and focusing on notetaking .…”

“…These strategies included avoiding asking or answering questions and reduced interaction (Airey & Lindey, 2006;Suliman & Tadros, 2011), resorting to one's first language (Botha, 2013;Hahl, Järvinen, & Juuti, 2016;Suliman & Tadros, 2011), and focusing on notetaking .…”