MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY ------------ VO VAN KHUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION (EMI) AT A VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2020 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY ------------ VO VAN KHUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE USE OF ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION (EMI) AT A VIETNAMESE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN VAN HUY, Ph.D HUE, 2020 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- VÕ VĂN KHƯƠNG ĐIỀU TRA THÁI ĐỘ CỦA SINH VIÊN TẠI MỘT TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC Ở VIỆT NAM VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG TIẾNG ANH NHƯ MỘT NGÔN NGỮ GIẢNG DẠY LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TIẾN SĨ NGUYỄN VĂN HUY HUE, 2020 STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby certify that this thesis is my original work. The data and findings in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates, and have not been published elsewhere. Hue, November 7th, 2020 Author Võ Văn Khương i ABSTRACT Recently, English as a Medium Instruction (EMI) has witnessed a growing trend together with the internationalization of higher education institutions. English has also become popular in higher education in Viet Nam.
The overall picture of EMI at tertiary level in Vietnam has therefore become a growing phenomenon. This study aims to investigate students’ attitudes towards EMI and some challenges they faced at a Vietnamese higher education institution. Questionnaires and semi- structured interviews were used to obtain data on how students viewed English medium instruction and what difficulties they encountered when taking EMI courses. The results showed that the students had a favorable attitude toward using EMI to improve the content knowledge while simultaneously enhancing their English language proficiency.
It was also found out that the students encountered a variety of challenges in EMI concerning understanding lectures, engaging the class discussions, understanding textbooks and course materials, as well as their performance in tests and examinations. As far as the study results are concerned, EMI could be troublesome for students mainly due to their low English language proficiency and partly because of lecturers’ linguistic ability while they delivered the content, particularly with regards to pronunciation. Several pedagogical implications can be drawn and discussed about the enhancement of English learning experiences of students in EMI as well as ways to deal with some of the difficulties they encountered when talking EMI. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would especially like to thank my supervisor, Dr.
Nguyen Van Huy for the wholehearted support extended to me throughout the conduct of the research. Without his guidance, support and suggestions during this long journey, this work would not have reached its final destination. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Truong Bach Le for inspiring and suggesting an interesting research topic.
I wish to thank Assoc. Tran Kiem Minh, Dean, Faculty of Mathematics, Assoc. Truong Minh Duc, Dean, Faculty of Physics, Dr. Le Quoc Thang, Dean, Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Education, Hue University for necessary help, valuable suggestions and critics.
I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Do Xuan Truong and the staff of the University of Economics, Hue University for providing necessary support. My sincere thanks go to all students at the University of Education and University of Economics who participated in this study and gave their valuable time to respond to the questionnaire and interviews. This work would not have been done without their involvement.
Finally, I cannot forget to thank my family and friends for their unconditional support and encouragement. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
vii LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES. ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study.
Aims of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Structure of the study.
4 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definition of EMI. The growing trend of EMI research in Vietnam. EMI in Vietnamese higher education.
Benefits and disadvantages of EMI in Vietnamese higher education. Overview of Attitude. Definitions of Attitude. Components of Attitude.
Expanded model of attitudinal analysis: attitude plus motivation, gender, seniority and specialization. Natural sciences and social sciences taught in EMI programs at higher education institutions. 19 iv CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Participants’ demographic information.
Students’ self-evaluations of English ability. Survey respinse rate. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire. 28 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Students’ attitudes towards EMI. Students’ motivations for enrolling in EMI courses. Students’ satisfaction with EMI courses. Students’ viewpoints on EMI lecturers.
Students’ viewpoints of their ability to interact in English. Students’ viewpoints on resources for learning in English. Students’ behavioral intentions regarding the use of EMI. The variables of gender, year group and study major.
Students’ difficulties in EMI courses. Difficulties in comprehending lectures. Difficulties in participating in classroom discussion. Difficulties in understanding textbooks and course materials written in English.
Difficulties in tests and examinations. 53 v CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH. Limitations of the study. Suggestions for further research.
73 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AEF Agriculture Economics and Finance AP Advanced Physics BA Business Administration C Chemistry CLIL Content and Language Integrated Learning EFL English as a foreign language EMI English as a medium of instruction ESP English for specific purposes HE Higher education HEIs Higher education institutions HUEco University of Economics, Hue University HUEdu University of Education, Hue University L1 First language M Mathematics MOET The Ministry of Education and Training of Viet Nam NFL 2020 National Foreign Language 2020 Project NNES Non-native English speaking NS Natural Sciences SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences SS Social Sciences vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 EMI programs in Vietnamese HE system .1 Participants’ demographic information .2 Cronbach Alpha values for study questionnaire scales .1 Motivations for enrolling in EMI courses (n=215) .2 Students’ satisfaction with EMI courses .3 Students’ viewpoints on instructional practices .4 Students’ viewpoints of their ability to interact in English .5 Students’ viewpoints of resources for learning in English.6 Students’ behavioral intentions regarding the use of EMI .7 Differences in students’ attitudes towards EMI according to gender .8 Differences in students’ attitudes towards EMI according to year group .9 Differences in students’ attitudes towards EMI according to major .10 Difficulties in comprehending lectures .11 Difficulties in participating in classroom discussion .12 Difficulties in understanding textbooks and course materials .13 Difficulties in tests and examinations. 53 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Three components of attitude .1 Students’ self-evaluations of English ability (n= 215) .2 EMI survey response rate. A design of an online questionnaire on students’ attitudes towards EMI.4 Five steps in the data analysis process.1 Students’ ability in English by year group .2 Students’ difficulties in lecture comprehension by year .3 Students’ difficulties in classroom discussion by year group.4 EMI students’ satisfaction by major .5 EMI students’ viewpoints on lecturers by major .6 Students’ ability in English by major .7 EMI students’ behavioral intentions by major .8 EMI students’ difficulties in lecture comprehension by major 48 ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study With internationalization and marketization, English is being adopted as a media language worldwide (Hu & Lei, 2014) and has become one of the most common languages spoken in most countries.
In the field of education, English- medium instruction (EMI) programs are widely accessible (Hu & Lei, 2014) and become a widespread phenomenon. These programs have attracted a great deal of attention in recent years across the world. Researchers have examined the reasons why EMI becomes popular and more extensive with regard to wider issues such as economic, social, political and, educational forces (Tsui & Tollefson, 2004) or institutional policies that encourage outbound student mobility (Altbach & Knight, 2007), global university rankings and English for research and scholarship. In recent years, EMI has undergone rapid growth as an internationalization tool of the higher education institutions (HEIs).
In Europe, for example, only over 400 institutions of higher learning offered EMI programs in 2002, however, this figure more than doubled to 817 by 2014 (Wächter & Maiworm, 2008). Given today’s degree of globalization and the dominance of English as a global lingua franca, a working knowledge of spoken and written English is progressively viewed in various fields as an indispensable competency. To keep pace with this movement, EMI is being globalized through the adoption of English as a means of instruction at many institutions of higher learning (Coleman, 2006; Wächter & Maiworm, 2008). EMI globalization through Asian countries such as Singapore, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, China and Korea (Byun et al., 2011; Chang, 2006) has likewise been quite remarkable, with hundreds of universities providing EMI programs to equip national human resources with both competency in professional knowledge and proficiency in the English language for global integration.
Vietnam, a developing country in South East Asia, started adopting English as a subject for schooling in the 1950s (Le, 2007). Since 2008, English has become the most popular foreign language in its educational system and eventually the medium of instruction in some universities (Le, 2007). In 2008, the Vietnamese government officially initiated a national program on foreign language teaching 1 and learning in the educational system from 2008 to 2020 (Vietnam Government, 2008), which is also known as the National Foreign Language Project 2020 (Chi, 2012). Educational institutions are encouraged to develop and implement bilingual programs that aim to strengthen EMI programs in Vietnam (Vietnam Government, 2008).
As a result, numerous EMI programs have been established not only in public universities but also in private ones since 2008 (Vu & Burns, 2014) adapting to the changes in these days of technology, globalization and becoming competent in the job market. EMI students tend to report a mix of positive and negative attitudes (Belhiah & Elhami, 2015; Yen & Thong, 2019). EMI system is believed to foster students' mastery of English while students are getting English lectures and instructions in class. However, there are considerable strains and issues concerning EMI, for instance, students’ attitudes towards EMI, challenges they encounter with EMI, students’ motivation to attend EMI classes, or their levels of English proficiency to comprehend EMI.
Besides, students cannot express or ask their questions in EMI classes smoothly in English, interaction between the lecturers and their students during EMI courses is considered to be limited, and teachers and students’ language skills could be a major barrier to EMI (Al-Bakri, 2013; Vu, 2014; Yen & Thong, 2019). Researchers have been analyzing English language policies, practices and orientations towards EMI. More specifically, these explorations contribute more explicitly to the process of interpreting and arranging stimuli in order to create a positive experience (Pickens, 2005). Meanwhile, there are a small number of studies that investigate student’s attitudes using all three domains of attitude (cognitive, affective and behavioral) towards the implementation of EMI in higher education (HE), particularly in Asian countries.
Moreover, the attitudes in the current research comprise not only three types of components: cognitive, affective and behavioral (Abidin, Pour-Mohammadi & Alzari, 2012), but also a variety of other factors such as motivation, gender, seniority and specialization that may have some influence on EMI students (Fernández Rodríguez & Carrasquier, 2007; Uitto, Juuti, Lavonen, Byman & Meisalo, 2011).