Integrating a cloud learning environment into English-medium instruction to enhance non-native English-speaking students’ learning

Abstract

Recently, there has been a rapidly growing trend in non-English-speaking countries for English to be adopted as the medium of instruction in higher education. Consequently, it has become necessary to conduct research that will guide lecturers in effectively adopting (EMI) on campus. This paper presents a blended learning strategy that integrates a cloud learning environment (CLE) to give students the opportunity to experience online learning activities. A two-group experiment shows that the use of this CLE-integrated learning strategy can greatly improve students’ learning results, strengthen their professional skills, and increase their motivation. These findings may be attributable to the reduced anxiety among students, increased access to learning resources and sufficient support available under the CLE-integrated learning strategy. Thus, this study confirms the positive effect of CLEs on courses that use EMI.

Keywords:

• English as a medium of instruction
• learning environments
• blended learning
• improving classroom teaching
• learning support