Abstract
In this chapter I shall consider the increasing shift to the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in East and Southeast Asia, with the focus on the university sector. I shall also discuss possible implications of the trend towards EMI in Asian universities for the Australian university sector. The chapter begins with a brief discussion of the recently published Australian Government White Paper, Australia in the Asian Century and this is followed by summary of recent developments concerning the use of EMI in selected European universities. The main part of the paper reviews and discusses the adoption of EMI among selected universities in Asia. Some tentative predictions regarding the use of English and Asian languages in higher education in Australasia conclude the chapter.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Agcaoili, A., Arzadon, M. M., Awid, M., Ceso, N. I., III, Faelnar, M. L., Giron, P., Igcalinos, A., Labrador, V., Liwanag, L., & McEachern, F. (2013). Open letter to the Senate re K–12 Bill, Mother tongue based multilingual education (MLE)—Philippines, blog. http://mothertongue-based.blogspot.com.au/. Accessed 1 May 2013.
Altbach, P. G., & Knight, J. (2007). The internationalization of higher education; motivation and realities. Journal of Studies in Higher Education, 11, 290–305.
Australia in the Asian Century Taskforce. (2012). Australia in the Asian century: White Paper. Canberra: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/white-paper. Accessed 19 Aug 2013.
Barnard, R., & McLellan. J. (Eds.). (in press). Codeswitching in English medium classes: Case studies and perspectives from East Asian contexts. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Bolton, K. (2012). Language policy and planning in Hong Kong. In Low Wee-Ling & A. Hashim (Eds.), English in Southeast Asia (pp. 221–240). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Clayton, T. (2006). Language choice in a nation under transition: English language spread in Cambodia. Boston: Springer.
China’s University and College Admission Systems. (2012). http://www.cucas.edu.cn/. Accessed 14 Dec 2012
Doiz, A., Lasagabaster D., & Sierra, J. (In Press). Globalisation, internationalisation, multilingualism and linguistic strains in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 1–15.
Doiz, A., Lasagabaster, D., & Sierra, J. M. (2013). Future challenges for English-medium instruction at the tertiary level. In A. Doiz, D. Lasagabaster & J. M. Sierra (Eds.), English-medium instruction at universities: Global challenges (pp. 213–221). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Dunne, K., & Pavlyshyn, M. (2012). Swings and roundabout: Changes in language offerings at Australian universities 2005–2011. In J. Hajek & A. Woods (Eds.), The next step. Introducing the language and cultures network for Australian universities (pp. 9–20). Sydney: LCNAU.
English will be taught, Indonesia’s Education Ministry says. (2012). Jakarta Globe, 14 November. http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/archive/english-will-be-taught-indonesias-education-ministry-says/556066/. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Entrance University. (2012). http://www.entranceuniversity.com/2010/12/list-of-private-universities-in.html#.UMqDboOTyKohttp://www.entranceuniversity.com/2010/12/list-of-private-universities-in.html#.UMqDboOTyKo. Accessed 14 Dec 2012.
Gill, S. K. (2004). Medium-of-instruction policy in higher education in Malaysia: Nationalism versus internationalisation. In J. Tollefson & A. Tsui (Eds.), Medium of instruction policies. Which agenda? Whose agenda? (pp. 135–152). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Global 30 Project. (2012a). Study in English at Japanese universities. http://www.uni.international.mext.go.jp/documents/Study_in_English_at_Jp_Univ.pdf. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Global 30 Project. (2012b). http://www.uni.international.mext.go.jp/study/. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Gungwu, W. (2007). Keynote address. In L. H. Guan & L. Suryadinata (Eds.), Language nation and development (pp. ix–xvii). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Haberland, H. (2011). Local languages as the languages of internationalisation: Internationalisation and language choice. Intercultural Education Review, 9, 37–47.
Hadisantosa, N. (2010). Insights from Indonesia. In R. Johnstone (Ed.), Learning through English: Policies, challenges and prospects (pp. 24–46). London: British Council.
Hayhoe, R., Zha, Q., & Mei, L. (2011a). East China Normal University—education in the lead. In R. Hayhoe, J. Li, J. Lin & Q. Zha (Eds.), Portraits of 21st century Chinese universities (pp. 192–220). Hong Kong: Springer.
Hayhoe, R., Zha, Q., & Fengqiao, Y. (2011b). Peking University—icon of cultural leadership. In R. Hayhoe, J. Li, J. Lin & Q. Zha (Eds.), Portraits of 21st century Chinese universities (pp. 95–130). Hong Kong: Springer.
Hong Kong Education Bureau. (2007). The medium of instruction guidance for secondary schools. Hong Kong: Education Burea.
Hong Kong Education Bureau. (2009). Enriching our language environment, realising our vision: Fine-tuning of medium of instruction for secondary schools. Hong Kong: Education Bureau.
Howe, E. R. (2009). The internationalization of higher education in East Asia: A comparative ethnographic narrative of Japanese universities. Research in Comparative and International Education, 4, 384–392.
Jenkins, J. (2011). Accommodating (to) ELF in the international university. Journal of Pragmatics, 43, 926–936.
Li, J., Lin, J., & Yibin, L. (2011). Southwest University—an unusual merger and new challenges. In R. Hayhoe, J. Li, J. Lin & Q. Zha (Eds.), Portraits of 21st century Chinese universities (pp. 221–243). Hong Kong: Springer.
Kan, V., Lao, K. C., Kirkpatrick, A., & Law, A. (2011). Fine-tuning Hong Kong’s medium of instruction policy. Hong Kong: Institute of Education.
Kang, H.-S. (2012). English-only instruction in Korean universities: Help or hindrance. English Today, 28, 29–34.
Kim, H.-J. (in press). Codeswitching by Korean students in New Zealand and lecturers in Korea: Commentary. In R. Barnard & J. McLellan (Eds.), Codeswitching in English medium classes: Case studies and perspectives from East Asian contexts. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2010). English as a lingua franca in ASEAN: A multilingual model. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2011). English as a medium of instruction in Asian education (from primary to tertiary): Implications for local languages and local scholarship. In L. Wei (Ed.), Applied Linguistics Review (pp. 99–119). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
Kirkpatrick, A. (2012). English in ASEAN: Implications for regional multilingualism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33, 331–344.
Kirkpatrick, A., & Sussex, R. (Eds.). (2012). English as an international language in Asia. Dordrecht: Springer.
Kirkpatrick, A., & Xu, Z. (2001). The new language law of the People’s Republic of China. Australian Language Matters, 9, 14–18.
Li, D. C. S. (2013). Linguistic hegemony or linguistic capital? In A. Doiz, D. Lasagabaster & J. M. Sierra (Eds.), English-medium instruction at universities: Global challenges (pp. 65–83). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Li, N., Leung, D., & Kember, D. (2001). Medium of instruction in Hong Kong universities: The mis-match between espoused theory and theory in use. Higher Education Policy, 14, 293–312.
Maiworm, F., & Wachter, B. (2002). English-language-taught degree programmes in European higher education. Bonn: Lemmens.
Malaysia University Portal. (2012). International student guide. http://www.malaysiauniversity.net/why-study-in-malaysia/. Accessed 14 Dec 2012.
Mok, K. H. (2007). Questing for internationalization of universities in Asia: Critical reflections. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11, 433–454.
Osman, S. (2012). Finding a balance between English and Bahasa Indonesia. Jakarta Globe, 25 October. http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/commentary/finding-a-balance-between-english-and-bahasa-indonesia/552313. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Petronas University. (2012). http://www.utp.edu.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=2121#. Accessed 14 Dec 2012.
Phillipson, R. (2006). Figuring out the Englishisation of Europe. In C. Leung & J. Jenkins (Eds.), Reconfiguring Europe (pp. 65–86). London: Equinox.
Phillipson, R. (2009). English in higher education, panacea or pandemic? In P. Harder (Ed.), English in Denmark: Language policy, internationalization and university teaching: Vol. 9. Angles of the English-speaking world (pp. 2–57). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press and the University of Copenhagen.
Preece, S. (2011). Universities in the Anglophone centre: Sites of multilingualism. Applied Linguistics Review, 2, 121–146.
Preisler, B. (2009). Complementary languages: The national language and English as working languages in European universities. In P. Harder (Ed.), English in Denmark: Language policy, internationalization and university teaching: Vol. 9. Angles on the English-speaking world (pp. 10–28). Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press and the University of Copenhagen
Takeshita, Y. (2010). East Asian Englishes. In A. Kirkpatrick (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of world Englishes (pp. 265–281). London: Routledge.
Trevaskes, S., Eisenchlas, S., & Liddicoat, A. (2003). Language, culture and literacy in the internationalisation process of higher education. In A. Liddicoat, S. Eisenchlas, & S. Trevaskes (Eds.), Australian perspectives on internationalising education (pp. 1–12). Melbourne: Language Australia.
UK/US Study Group on Higher Education in a Globalised World. (2009). Higher education and collaboration in global context. Building a global civil society. A report to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. http://globalhighered.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/final-report_28_7_09.pdf. Accessed 17 Dec 2012.
Wachter, B., & Maiworm, F. (2008). English-taught programmes in European higher education. Bonn: Lemmens.
Wilkinson, R. (2013). English-medium instruction at a Dutch university: Challenges and pitfalls. In A. Doiz, D. Lasagabaster, & J. M. Sierra (Eds.), English-medium instruction at universities: Global Challenges (pp. 3–24). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Wilson, K. (2012). Policies without path? China Daily—Asia Weekly, 16 November. http://www.chinadailyapac.com/article/policies-without-path. Accessed 19 Aug 2013.
Xu, Z. (forthcoming) Functional English and Chinese as medium of instruction (MOI) in a multilingual educational context: A case study of two courses in higher education in Hong Kong.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kirkpatrick, A. (2014). English as a Medium of Instruction in East and Southeast Asian Universities. In: Murray, N., Scarino, A. (eds) Dynamic Ecologies. Multilingual Education, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7972-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7972-3_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7971-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7972-3
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)