English as a medium of instruction: evidence for language and content targets in bilingual education in economics

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes towards a framework for analysing the effect of teaching Economics through a foreign language, in order to discover best practices that foster key content and language skills for Higher Education institutions following language bilingual programmes. The first part of the paper deals with the benefits and problems of implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning. The central part of the paper outlines a two-year research project in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Oviedo, Spain, giving details about the context and participants, methodology used to ensure learning quality, assessment programme for these methodologies, student perception, real language progression and the impact on academic results in the period 2012–2014. Module results are contrasted with a control group of Spanish-taught students who sit the same exam in their native language. Results show similar grades in both cohorts but a notable gap in higher bands. While attributed to linguistic shortcomings, we make a case for the added value of a second language and highlight how most students quickly progress towards nullifying that difference. The study, which has been applied to first-year modules, is adaptable and applicable to similar Economics-related degrees taught through English.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingual education
• content and language integrated learning
• immersion education
• language testing
• adult language learners

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Antonio Jimenez-Munoz http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6375-2611

Notes

1. Alexander (2008a) argues that universities that refuse to provide English-taught modules risk remaining excluded from the scientific and academic worlds because the preponderance of English is so evident that using it would be the only valid strategy to enable academics from non-English-speaking countries to be visible internationally.

2. The University of Oviedo was founded in 1608, and it currently caters for circa 25000 students with over 2000 lecturers. It comprises 31 faculties which teach over 150 degrees, 14 of them taught in English, mainly in the fields of Economics and Engineering.

3. The rationale for using English as the medium of instruction in higher education, according to Coleman (2006, pp. 4-6), has been justified according to targets such as academic internationalization, student and staff mobility, the amount of teaching and research materials available, graduate employability, the market in non- subsidised international students, and the rise of methodological advances such as those promoted by European educational initiatives, some of which are mentioned here.

4. In developing a personal CLIL pedagogy, “teachers need a repertoire of approaches from which they can select on the basis of fitness for purpose in relation to the learners, the subject-matter and the opportunities and constraints of the context” (Alexander 2008b, p. 102).

5. How to tackle language as well as content is one of the many challenges facing global degrees such as those in Economics. The purpose or role of the Economics teacher (Shulman 1986), the introduction of professional requirements (Boud and Walker 1998; Rienties, Brouwer, and Lygo-Baker 2013) and technology (Mishra and Koehler 2006; Rienties and Townsend 2012) have consistently called for a revision of our degrees.

6. The faculty has pioneered English-taught modules in Spain since 2003, particularly in Business Administration and Economics degrees, in preparation for adaptation to the EHEA. This ambitious research project benefits from the experience and stability of these individual and institutional efforts.

7. Descriptors follow the typical “I can talk/write about … ” structure, hence the name. The full bank of descriptors for CEFR levels is accessible at http://www.eaquals.org/pages/?p=7399.

8. This entails a risk of acculturation, by which language learning is blocked through a lack of appreciation towards the target culture. The appreciation of the learner for the target linguistic culture is not a direct cause of second language acquisition, but rather it is the first in a chain of factors which results in natural acquisition taking place (Schumann 1986, p. 385).

9. In Spain the grades system is a combination of numeric grade up to 10 and a letter grade being Suspenso (less than 5) Fail; Aprobado (5-7)Pass; Notable (7-8) ; Sobresaliente (9); Matricula de Honor (10).