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Within the Asian region, Singapore has long been seen as a leader within the field of higher education, with an unmatched record of success in implementing English-medium instruction (EMI) at all levels of education, including colleges and universities. This present study reports on a large-scale survey carried out at one of Singapore's major universities on the use of English as a teaching medium at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Key findings from the survey foreground the difficulties and needs of students coping with EMI instruction at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. One important result here highlights the specific problems of overseas postgraduate students (including many from mainland China), a finding that resonates with the sociolinguistics of higher education in many other international universities in an era of global education.

In this article we report on the dynamics of English‐medium instruction (EMI) in Singaporean higher education, where we describe the context of EMI with reference to the multilingual background and multilingual practices of university students in their educational as well as personal lives. Our study surveyed over one thousand students from Singapore's six main universities, where we investigated the multilingual backgrounds of students at these universities, their language practices, and their experience of EMI education. Whereas our previous research has focused on the language policies and practices in just one of Singapore's universities, this project surveyed language use in all six major universities. It is hoped that the report presented here will serve as a record of current practices, as well as a benchmark for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has two main aims. First, to describe the general background to English‐medium instruction (EMI) with reference to Outer Circle and Expanding Circle societies in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Second, it analyses data from each of the four case studies in the symposium in this issue in order to identify and explain the background to, and varying forms, of EMI in higher education in Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, and South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This symposium comprises five articles dealing with English‐medium instruction (EMI) in higher education across the Asian region. All five articles report on original empirical research carried out in four diverse settings, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, and South Korea. It is intended that this collection of articles will make a meaningful contribution to the frontline of research on English‐medium instruction worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the Asian region, Singapore has long been seen as a leader within the field of higher education, with an unmatched record of success in implementing English-medium instruction (EMI) at all levels of education, including colleges and universities. This present study reports on a large-scale survey carried out at one of Singapore’s major universities on the use of English as a teaching medium at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Key findings from the survey foreground the difficulties and needs of students coping with EMI instruction at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. One important result here highlights the specific problems of overseas postgraduate students (including many from mainland China), a finding that resonates with the sociolinguistics of higher education in many other international universities in an era of global education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Historically, Singapore was home to a heterogeneous and highly multilingual population from across the Asian region and elsewhere in the world. In contrast with its historical past, or even the early days of the post-colonial period, Singapore's earlier diverse and linguistically heterogeneous society has evolved into a multi-ethnic nation state, with four official languages, of which three are recognised 'mother tongues'. This paper reviews the historical and contemporary dynamics of multilingualism in the Singapore community, and also serves as an introduction to the five other papers in this symposium on 'English in multilingual Singapore'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]