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Transnational higher education (TNHE), often based on export models of Western-based universities and driven by neoliberal market economy agendas, has spread across the globe. One example of TNHE is Qatar’s Education City where six prestigious American international branch campuses (IBCs) all administer their degrees through English medium instruction (EMI). While there is a burgeoning amount of research investigating and problematizing issues in EMI higher education institutions, IBCs are a unique EMI setting due to their heavy reliance on importing faculty, staff, curricula and practices from their home campuses. Thus, this study takes an ethnographic case study approach to examine the language planning and policy and linguistic landscape at one IBC in Qatar. Drawing on multiple sources of data, the study reveals both the overt and covert language policies and ideologies of the institution and its various stakeholders, and the extent to which languages other than English are used and accepted.

Bilingual education is spreading throughout the world as an approach for teaching content and language simultaneously. This is particularly true in Taiwan where implementation of bilingual educatio...

This study examines female–male differences in English writing outcomes for Taiwanese primary school learners enrolled in a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) program. Narrative and expository writing samples of 212 primary school students (Male = 103, Female = 109) in Taiwan were collected and scored using several measures including spelling accuracy, correct word sequences, lexical diversity, total t-units, and a holistic rubric for ideas. Students’ topic interest was also measured through a Likert-scale survey. The findings revealed differences between females and males and the two genres of writing. While there were statistical differences attributed to gender and topic interest variables for some writing measures, further analysis revealed that these effects were minimal in terms of practical significance. The paper raises questions about the relationship between female–male writing differences and CLIL and provides suggestions for future research to broaden our understanding and support diversity in the CLIL classroom.

This study utilizes a systematic review approach to examine current research in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English-medium instruction (EMI). Studies were examined for their use of language-related and content-related writing measurement and outcomes. Findings on CLIL/EMI writing measurement shows that studies have utilized a variety of methods for measuring language, but measurement of the content dimension is limited. While some studies in the review combine multiple types of writing measures, CLIL writing research often does not simultaneously assess both the language and content dimensions of writing. For writing outcomes, the reviewed studies show CLIL/EMI generally equals or exceeds traditional language classrooms and that CLIL/EMI instruction leads toward growth in some but not all (i.e. accuracy), language-related metrics. However, regarding the content dimension, the findings are mixed and show CLIL/EMI writing generally does not communicate disciplinary content knowledge appropriately. It is recommended that future research gives more attention to measuring both the language and content dimensions of writing while also incorporating new methods for measuring discipline-specific content in writing. It is also recommended that instructors increase their language awareness and reconsider how disciplinary writing is taught in their CLIL/EMI classroom.

In order to raise global profiles of universities, governments around the world have pushed universities to offer English medium instruction (EMI) courses. While research examining the attitudes toward EMI has been conducted in various countries, these studies generally look at a single university and rarely examine attitudes between countries or regions. In order to investigate attitudes from a macro perspective, this study used a systematic literature review method to synthesize findings on attitudes toward EMI in East Asia and the Gulf. The review was guided by the following research questions: (1) What are the attitudes toward EMI in countries in the Gulf and East Asia? and (2) What are the similarities/differences between countries and what factors can be attributed to these? Attitude scores were calculated for twenty studies from ten countries, and the studies were coded by common themes affecting EMI attitudes. Results show that factors affecting attitudes include language and content issues, choice of medium of instruction, instructor quality, motivation to learn English, and deficit views of the L1. As a result of the findings, it is suggested that governments and universities review their EMI policies in order to ensure education quality and maintain the status of local languages.

International students bring academic, cultural, and economic value to universities around the world. However, adjustments for these students can be difficult as a result of culture shock, resulting in early exit from the university. In order to help inform university personnel on how to better assist international students, this study examines the interpersonal, psychological, and physiological symptoms of culture shock of three Korean international graduate students at a large public university in the southwest United States. Data were collected through three interviews and seven weekly online journals. The findings uncovered the existence of culture shock for each of the three participants to differing degrees at various times throughout the semester. In particular, a comparatively higher incidence of interpersonal and psychological culture shock symptoms compared with physiological ones was displayed, thus showing strong support for theories that conceptualize culture shock as individualized in nature. In addition, the data revealed that personal characteristics, family, religion, and exercise all played a role in the participants' abilities to cope with culture shock. The results of this study could help universities better understand and support international students, ensuring that the university can benefit from the unique value these students bring to campus.

27 páginas This systematic review examines whether the use of children’s literature in EFL classrooms supports the 4Cs of CLIL—content, communication, cognition, and culture. Previous research has shown many benefits for using children’s literature in English-dominant classroom settings, but it seems little attention has been given to its use in EFL contexts and no attention in CLIL. This study utilizes a systematic search strategy to collect and synthesize current research on children’s literature use in EFL settings in order to better understand how children’s literature may impact EFL student learning and, specifically, examine whether its use can meet the 4Cs of CLIL. Records from four databases were screened for studies using children’s literature in EFL settings, resulting in the inclusion of 15 articles. The analysis of the articles reveals that current research shows evidence that the use of children’s literature can help facilitate student learning in content, communication, cognition, and culture. However, despite this clear connection to the goals of CLIL, investigations on children’s literature remain absent from CLIL research. We believe this research lends support for the use of children’s literature in the CLIL classroom and calls for more attention, both by practitioners and researchers, toward the use of children’s literature in CLIL classrooms. Esta revisión sistemática examina si el uso de la literatura infantil en las clases de in-glés como lengua extranjera es un apoyo para las 4 C de AICLE: contenido, comunicación, cognición y cultura. Previas investigaciones han mostrado muchos beneficios de usar la literatura infantil en contextos de clase en los que predomina el inglés, pero parece que se ha prestado poca atención a su uso en los contextos de inglés como lengua extranjera y ninguna atención en AICLE. Este estudio utiliza una estrategia de búsqueda sistemática para recopilar y sintetizar la investigación actual sobre el uso de la literatura infantil en contextos de inglés como lengua extranjera con el fin de entender mejor cómo la literatura infantil puede afectar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes de inglés como lengua extranjera y, específicamente, examinar si su uso puede cumplir con las 4 C de AICLE. Se realizaron búsquedas en los registros de cuatro bases de datos de estudios que utilizaran lite-ratura infantil en contextos de inglés como lengua extranjera, lo que resultó en la inclusión de 15 artículos. El análisis de los artículos revela que la investigación actual muestra evidencia de que el uso de la literatura infantil puede ayudar a facilitar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes de contenido, comunicación, cognición y cultura. Sin embargo, a pesar de esta clara conexión con los objetivos de AICLE, las investigaciones sobre la literatura infantil siguen estando ausentes de la investigación sobre AICLE. Creemos que esta investigación apoya el uso de la literatura infantil en el aula AICLE y que exige más atención, tanto por parte de los profesionales como de los investigadores, al uso de la literatura infantil en las aulas AICLE.

In recent years Qatar’s higher education system has undergone major changes as a result of an ambitious educational reform movement within the country. While this movement has brought in numerous foreign branch campuses that opened up academic opportunities that had not previously existed, it also has created some discord between the values of locals and the Western institutions. Research has been conducted on various aspects of Qatari higher education, but each study only provides a glimpse of a very complicated system. This chapter utilizes the ROAD-MAPPING Framework (Dafouz and Smit, Appl Linguis 37(3): 397–415, 2016) to examine higher education in Qatar from a macro, holistic view. The dimensions of Roles of English, Academic Disciplines, (Language) Management, Agents, Practices and Processes, and Internationalzation and Glocalization will be explored. Through the results of this multi-dimensional analysis, future recommendations for language policy and research are proposed.

While there has been a lot of recent research on teachers’ translanguaging practices in K-12 educational contexts, research on teachers’ translanguaging practices in higher education is sparse, and even more so within the contexts of internationalized higher education, such as found in the Arab states of the Gulf. Over the last two decades, there has been a rapid growth of international branch campuses (IBCs) offering English-medium degree programs in the Gulf. As these programs include bi- and multi/plurilingual teachers and students, they are a ripe setting for exploring translanguaging practices. Therefore, this study examines teachers’ translanguaging ideologies and practices at an American IBC in Qatar. Twenty-two bi- and multi/plurilingual faculty members and lab instructors completed a survey about translanguaging practices and a purposeful sampling of these instructors were video-recorded teaching their courses and then interviewed using stimulated-recall techniques. The results show that while instructors may report minimal mixing of languages in classrooms at this IBC due to different ideological tensions, in practice instructors still engage in translanguaging for various pedagogical purposes, both inside and outside of the classroom space. The study additionally sheds light on the complexities of the linguistic ecology of internationalized universities when it comes to translanguaging practices.

This study examined student attitudes toward the use of Arabic in English-medium instruction (EMI) in an international branch campus (IBC) in Qatar. A questionnaire was used to elicit attitudes of 57 engineering students (44 Arabic L1; 13 non-Arabic L1) taking EMI courses. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a one-sample t-test, and a qualitative analytic deduction approach. Overall, findings showed that students generally welcomed Arabic in this IBC and were supportive of English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual conception of EMI. For non-Arabic L1 students specifically, data revealed that despite not speaking the language, the students held neutral views toward Arabic use in the IBC courses. Data on Arabic L1 student attitudes in various academic courses that compose the degree program showed that Arabic use was most favored in political science/history and least favored in math. The Arabic L1 students indicated positive attitudes toward the use of Arabic during class discussions but held neutral to negative attitudes toward its use in lectures, readings, and assignments. In light of the findings, policymakers, university administrators, and IBC instructors are encouraged to implement practices that align with English as a medium of instruction rather than a monolingual EMI.

Around the world, language teachers are shifting to content-based instruction (CBI) as a way to teach English, most commonly in the form of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or English-Medium Instruction (EMI). With the spread of CBI around the world, it is important to understand how this shift in teaching has affected student outcomes. Using a systematic literature review approach, this study examines current literature on the effect of CBI on language and content outcomes. Twenty-five articles met the inclusion criteria for this study and were examined. The results show mixed findings on the effectiveness of CBI on student outcomes, with the majority of studies showing either positive or neutral effects for CBI when compared with non-CBI classrooms. However, the study also reveals multiple methodological issues that cause difficulties for any strong conclusions about CBI to be made. In addition, while CLIL in Spain has received a lot of research attention, other countries remain understudied. Therefore, this study concludes with a call for future research of CBI outcomes that examine a variety of countries and account for the methodological flaws identified.

This research study examines the effects of the cover, copy, and compare (CCC) spelling study method on Taiwanese junior high students enrolled in an upperbeginner level English as a Foreign Language course. Data were collected on the change in scores between four tests. Test results show a slight difference between a control group and experimental group in gains of correctly spelled words between the pretest and the posttest. However in two delayed posttests, the experimental group retained their gains slightly better than the control group. The results suggest that CCC may help English learners retain studied spelling words, but further research is required to confirm its effectiveness.