An Investigation of English-medium Instruction in higher education in Japan

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370638
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Foreign language education
• Research Institution: University of Niigata Prefecture
• Principal Investigator: Brown Howard 新潟県立大学, 国際地域学部, 准教授 (40562145)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): Iyobe Bethany (元)新潟県立大学, 国際地域学部, 准教授 (90570424)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: EMI / CLIL / ICLHE / higher education / English-medium / 英語による授業

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Over one-third of Japanese universities offer undergraduate content classes taught in English. These classes are often designed for domestic students and serve less than 10% of the student body in most cases. Generally, these classes do not form full-degree programs taught in English; rather, most English-medium Instruction (EMI) programs are a part of students’ mainly Japanese-medium degree. For language teaching and teachers, EMI seems to have implications in four areas. First, language teachers may have new roles as language programs implement EMI classes. Also, due to EMI, domestic learners' engage with English differently, implying changing needs for language students. In addition, growing EMI also implies both more need and potential for communication between language and content faculty. Finally, the rising popularity of EMI in higher education may lead to positive washback on language teaching in secondary schools.

Free Research Field

応用言語学