- Title
- English-medium instruction in Vietnamese higher education: ideologies, management, and practices
- Creator
- Tri, Hoang Dang
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The past few decades have witnessed exponential growth in English-medium instruction (EMI) programmes at the tertiary level where English is used as a vehicle for content subject matter teaching and learning across the globe. Despite the strong interest in EMI implementation and delivery and the growing body of related research, there remain quite substantial gaps in our understanding of what an effective EMI programme is and how it is best implemented. There is indeed little research evidence concerning EMI implementation as well as the factors affecting its effectiveness from a language planning and policy (LPP) perspective. This research study sought to fill this gap by conducting a comprehensive examination of EMI implementation in the tertiary sector in Vietnam and on that basis to propose guiding principles which can improve the effectiveness of EMI implementation and delivery in this country (and more broadly). To that end, the study was based on Spolsky’s (2004, 2009) language policy framework and Ricento and Hornberger’s (1996) LPP model to investigate EMI ideology/beliefs, management, and practices among relevant stakeholders, including university administrators, content lecturers, and students at the national, institutional, and interpersonal levels. Delving into these multilayered dimensions of EMI enabled the researcher to gain a thorough understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of EMI implementation and delivery in Vietnam and to make recommendations for their improvement in the future. The study addressed four key research questions: 1. What ideological beliefs are embedded in EMI implementation and delivery at the national, institutional, and interpersonal levels? 2. How are policy mechanisms nationally and institutionally enacted to manage currently delivered EMI courses or programmes in the Vietnamese tertiary education context? 3. What are the current EMI practices as they are actually conducted in the classroom setting? 4. What are various stakeholders’ perceptions of effective EMI practices? To answer these research questions, the study employed a convergent parallel mixed methods research design for quantitative and qualitative data collection with a total of 412 participants (30 university administrators, 96 content lecturers, and 286 students) from ten universities in Vietnam. A variety of data sources were collected to uncover multilayered EMI implementation in Vietnamese higher education (HE). Specifically, the national level involved national policies and/or directives. The institutional level entailed university-level documentation and university administrators’ (Faculty/Department Deans/Heads) questionnaires and interviews, and the interpersonal level involved content lecturers and students’ questionnaires, interviews, and observations in the classroom setting. The overall findings revealed intricate and dynamic relationships of language ideology, language management, and language practices manifested in each of the levels or layers, affecting the formation of EMI policy in Vietnam. Ideological beliefs converging at the three levels embraced EMI as being nationally, institutionally, and personally beneficial. Such ideological values deeply ingrained in EMI shaped the adoption of EMI and led to the formulation of policy efforts to regulate and manage EMI practices. One unexpected consequence of the wide-ranging adoption of EMI was the emergence of a divide between EMI and Vietnamese-taught programmes, with the former being superior to the latter, inevitably engendering educational inequity as a result. The findings indicated that EMI implementation was not always a smooth process. Rather, EMI processes were complicated by tensions or contradictions between EMI implementation directives, as stipulated in management policies, and actual implementation practices within and between the levels/layers. It was pointed out that inconsistencies in practice resulted from policies enacted at the national level without adequately addressing or considering issues facing universities, content lecturers, and students at the institutional and interpersonal levels. Drawing on the research findings, the study has formulated a set of guiding principles designed to improve EMI implementation and delivery; these principles have specifically been conceived for the needs of the university sector in Vietnam, but they could also be used as a reference framework for other contexts. More generally, this study’s data and findings provide a valuable contribution to a growing body of research on EMI implementation as a dynamic and complex network of different agents/actors who clearly have a stake in EMI – from the national/macro to the interpersonal/micro-level.
- Subject
- EMI; EMI implementation; tertiary level; mixed methods research; languages
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1427161
- Identifier
- uon:38521
- Rights
- Copyright 2020 Hoang Dang Tri
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 6 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 467 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |