The impact of participant background on ELF interactions in EMI

2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K13137
• Research Institution: The University of Shiga Prefecture
• Principal Investigator: Hawkes Martin 滋賀県立大学, 人間文化学部, 准教授 (60756675)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: EMI / lingua franca / international education / ELF

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

Last year, I was finally able to make some progress due to the return of foreign exchange students to our university. Unfortunately, the numbers of English L1 students in EMI classes has not returned to pre-COVID times, so I am having to adjust my plans for collecting recordings in intact classrooms.

I was able to design and conduct a questionnaire of EMI class participants at my institution. I am currently analysing these data and hope to present it, along with the previously collected spoken interaction data, at conferences in the autumn and winter.

I have also been able to attend some conferences and expand my knowledge on issues related to EMI in Japan and the use of English as a lingua franca in such contexts.

Current Status of Research Progress

4: Progress in research has been delayed.

Reason

Because of the COVID pandemic, I am essentially two years behind schedule, not to mention the extra disruption caused by the last three years. Because the presence of foreign exchange students in EMI classes at my institution is critical, I was unable to make much progress.

Since last spring and autumn, a limited number of students have returned, so I sincerely hope that I can make significant progress in the next six months or so.

Strategy for Future Research Activity

This semester I have begun recruiting research participants to take part in some data collection sessions. Initially, I had planned to make recordings of EMI task interaction in intact classes. However, because of the lower number of foreign students in these classes, I am now planning to hold special sessions outside of class time.

I plan to combine this semester's data with my previously collected interaction data (conducted in spring 2020 before foreign exchange students returned home) and the recently collected questionnaire data, and present at some conferences in the autumn and winter.

Causes of Carryover

I intend to use funds mainly to offer some compensation for research participants, purchase books, attend conferences, hire a research assistant to help with data processing, and support travel to present research findings at conferences in autumn and winter.