Student language mixing practices in English medium instruction courses at elite universities in South Korea

ABSTRACT

The present study examines the language use of 1,333 students taking English medium instruction (EMI) courses in four elite universities in South Korea. It employs a quantitative method with qualitative comments. The study investigates three language practice issues in EMI courses, including: (i) the extent of use of English in EMI courses, (ii) students’ use of English outside the university and (iii) students’ language mixing practices. The results show that the reality of EMI classes encompasses the parallel use of both Korean and English. This study also finds that while Korean is the dominant language outside the academic context, there is increasing use of English by students in social settings. This study argues that acknowledging the mixed-use of languages in EMI classes is critical and suggests implementing a dual language education policy. Finally, it discusses the impact of EMI on the language behaviour of Korean students and challenges a long-held view of a wholly monolingual Korean society.

KEYWORDS:

• English medium instruction
• higher education
• South Korea
• language practices
• dual language approach

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by Professor Kingsley Bolton in English at Stockholm University. I am immensely grateful to him for his expert knowledge and his insightful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. I would also like to thank Ms Susanna Carter and Mr Marc Yeo Yi Fei for their editorial assistance which greatly improved the text.

Funding details

This project is funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE) Academic Research Fun (AcRF) Tier 1 in Singapore, under grant number RG155/16 (MS)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [Ahn, H], upon reasonable request