English-medium instruction in European higher education: Review and future research. 2015. With S. Dimova and C. Jensen. In English-Medium Instruction in European Higher Education. Mouton. (original) (raw)

The purpose of this volume has been to give an account of the status of English as a medium of instruction in various political, geographical and ideological contexts: Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Central Europe, regions at different stages of EMI implementation. It is our hope that the preceding chapters have given comparative insights into some of the discussions and issues associated with EMI in European higher education. While contributors have investigated a diverse set of empirical, pedagogical and political issues, many issues remain to be addressed in more detail. In these final few pages of the volume, we briefly review some of the main issues that have arisen in the preceding chapters as well as in the broader EMI literature and propose further directions in methodological approaches, areas, and scopes. We believe the field would benefit from a broader range of research designs and methodological approaches. A favoured methodology both in the chapters of this volume (see Chapters 2–5) as well as in the wider EMI literature from its early days are attitudinal studies based on questionnaires and interviews (e.g. Lehtonen & Lönnfors 2003; Jensen et al. 2009; Tange 2010; Vinke 1995). Such studies unveil a complex range of attitudes – positive as well as negative – towards the policy and practice of EMI. Many point to the challenges of teaching and learning in an additional language and express concerns over a possible decrease in importance of the local language. Others highlight the benefits of EMI such as international collaboration, improved English language proficiency and heightened job prospects for graduates