Graduation Term

2021

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Department of English: English Studies

Committee Chair

Lisya LS Seloni

Abstract

This dissertation project aims to shed light on EMI instructional strategies through investigating undergraduate students' and instructors’ perspectives in the College of Applied Medical Sciences (CAMS) at KSAU-HS in the Al-Ahsa campus. This exploratory instrumental case study revealed the students’ and instructors’ beliefs toward EMI implementation to increase the awareness and understanding of the consequences of implementing EMI in one of the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts. In so doing, two major research questions about EMI implementation as well as perceived risks and benefits from implementing EMI in the CAMS drive the project: “How do science, health, and IT instructors at KSAU-HS in the College of Applied Medical Sciences (CAMS) in Al-Ahsa implement EMI? and what do lead instructors believe to be an ideal EMI approach in CAMS at KSAU-HS?” and “How do those who participate (students and instructors specifically) in EMI education perceive their educational benefits and risks in terms of achieving the program requirements and improving their English language proficiency?” From my observations notes and the interviews responses, I found that both stakeholders believed that some kind of a bilingual model of education was preferable to English-only in the CAMS case where all students come from the same linguistic background, the Arabic language. All participants agreed that EMI helps them to engage in global communications and provides them with better and wider access to modern knowledge compared to their first language (L1). On the other hand, all the participants of this study also acknowledged that students' low English proficiency hampers the effectiveness of EMI which is consistent with studies such as Albakri (2017), Al-Mashikhi et al. (2014), and Ellili-Cherif & Alkhateeb (2015). As a result, instructor and student participants indicated that they could preserve the information delivered through EMI for a short time compared to the instruction delivered through students’ L1; therefore, blind memorizations, lack of participation, burden of memorizing new vocabularies, and others impact students' information retainment in the long-term memory (Al-Bakri, 2017; Kim et al., 2014). This dissertation also compared and discussed the implications of EMI in different settings around the globe with data that I collected from the participants of this study to infer the participants’ positions toward EMI and how it may impact the students’ comprehension of the content, modes of delivery the lessons, the national language in the entire country, namely Arabic, and the education products either negatively, positively, or both (Altbach, 2019; Canagarajah, 2005; Kumaravadivelu, 2006; Ortmeier-Hooper, 2013; Pennycook, 1994). The results described in this dissertation have implications for teacher education, language policymakers, and pedagogies for EMI programs.

Access Type

Dissertation-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2021.20220215070316169636.1000000

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