Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6dbcb7884d-4kfsg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-13T21:58:18.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Effects of EMI on Learners’ Linguistic Development

A Corpus-Based Analysis

from Part II - Empirical Chapters (Case Studies)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2024

By
Peng Bi  and
Yujun Liu
Edited by
Samantha M. Curle  and
Jack Pun
Samantha M. Curle
Affiliation:
University of Bath
Jack Pun
Affiliation:
City University of Hong Kong
Get access

Summary

The effect of English Medium Instruction (EMI) on language learning has been a classic and extensively discussed topic in EMI research, with various methods used to address it. One reliable method is corpus-based analysis, which provides quantitative evidence about the development of learners’ linguistic competence within an EMI context. This paper chapter aims to introduce the application of corpus-based analysis in EMI research through three tasks. Firstly, it summarizes relevant literature exploring the effects of EMI on English learning. Secondly, it elaborates on how to use corpus-based analysis to conduct relevant studies, including corpus construction, linguistic analysis instruments, and statistical analyses. Lastly, it presents an example study that demonstrates the value of corpus-based analysis in EMI research. The study examines learners’ longitudinal development of phraseological competences within an EMI course and explores the effect of textbook input on language learning. The data for the study consisted of learners’ written productions at three data collection times in the course. Learners’ phraseological competence was measured by eight measures targeting bi-grams’ and tri-grams’ complexity. The study found noticeable growth in learners’ phraseological competence with EMI education’s progression and similarities between high-frequency bi-grams and tri-grams in textbook input and learners’ written productions, proving the effect of the input on language learning.

Keywords

benefits of English Medium Instructioncorpus-based analysislinguistic developmenttextbook input
Type
Chapter
Information
Researching English Medium Instruction
Quantitative Methods for Students and Researchers
 , pp. 150 - 167
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aizawa, I., Rose, H., Thompson, G., & Curle, S. (2020). Beyond the threshold: Exploring English language proficiency, linguistic challenges, and academic language skills of Japanese students in an English medium instruction programme. Language Teaching Research, 27(4), 837–861.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bi, P. (2020). Revisiting genre effects on linguistic features of L2 writing: A usage-based perspective. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 30(3), 429–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolton, K., & Botha, W. (2015). English in China’s universities: Past and present. World Englishes, 34(2), 190–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brezina, V., & Pallotti, G. (2016). Morphological complexity in written L2 texts. Second Language Research, 35(1), 99–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulté, B., & Housen, A. (2014). Conceptualizing and measuring short-term changes in L2 writing complexity. Journal of Second Language Writing, 26, 42–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulté, B., & Housen, A. (2019). Beginning L2 complexity development in CLIL and non-CLIL secondary education. Instructed Second Language Acquisition, 3(2), 153–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Y.-H., Harrison, S., & Weekly, R. (2019). “I do not have communicate ability”: Deviations in an L2 multimodal corpus of academic English from an EMI university in China – errors or ELF? In Parviainen, H., Kaunisto, M., & Pahta, P. (Eds.), Corpus approaches into world Englishes and language contrasts. VARIENG. https://varieng.helsinki.fi/series/volumes/20/chen_harrison_weeklyGoogle Scholar
Gené-Gil, M., Juan-Garau, M., & Salazar-Noguera, J. (2015). Development of EFL writing over three years in secondary education: CLIL and non-CLIL settings. The Language Learning Journal, 43(3), 286–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilquin, G. (2015). From design to collection of learner corpora. In Granger, S., Gilquin, G., & Meunier, F. (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of learner corpus research (pp. 9–34). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hafner, C. A., & Wang, S. H. (2018). Hong Kong learner corpus of legal academic writing in English: A study of boosters as a marked language form in an English-medium instruction context. TESOL Quarterly, 52(3), 680–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jablonkai, R. R. (2021). Corpus linguistic methods in EMI research. In Pun, J. K. H. & Curle, S. M. (Eds.), Research methods in English medium instruction (pp. 92–106). London/New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, J., Bi, P., Xie, N., & Liu, H. (2021). Phraseological complexity and low- and intermediate-level L2 learners’ writing quality. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching. doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2019-0147CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, L., Zhang, L. J., & May, S. (2016). Implementing English-medium instruction (EMI) in China: Teachers’ practices and perceptions, and students’ learning motivation and needs. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(2), 107–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kong, M., & Wei, R. (2019). EFL learners’ attitudes toward English-medium instruction in China: The influence of sociobiographical variables. Linguistics and Education, 52, 44–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyle, K., Crossley, S., & Berger, C. (2018). The tool for the automatic analysis of lexical sophistication (TAALES): version 2.0. Behavior Research Methods, 50(3), 1030–1046.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lahuerta Martínez, A. C. (2017). Analysis of the effect of CLIL programmes on the written competence of secondary education students. Revista de Filología de la Universidad de La Laguna, 35, 169–184.Google Scholar
Lázaro, A., & García Mayo, M. d. P. (2012). L1 use and morphosyntactic development in the oral production of EFL learners in a CLIL context. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 50(2), 135–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lei, J., & Hu, G. (2014). Is English-medium instruction effective in improving Chinese undergraduate students’ English competence? International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 52(2), 99–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, L. H. F., & Morrison, B. (2010). The impact of the medium of instruction in Hong Kong secondary schools on tertiary students’ vocabulary. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 9(4), 255–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lo, Y. Y., & Lo, E. S. C. (2014). A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of English-medium education in Hong Kong. Review of Educational Research, 84(1), 47–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lo, Y. Y., & Murphy, V. A. (2010). Vocabulary knowledge and growth in immersion and regular language-learning programmes in Hong Kong. Language and Education, 24(3), 215–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, X. (2010). Automatic analysis of syntactic complexity in second language writing. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 15(4), 474–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, X. (2011). A corpus-based evaluation of syntactic complexity measures as indices of college-level ESL writers’ language development. TESOL Quarterly, 45(1), 36–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, X. (2012). The relationship of lexical richness to the quality of ESL learners’ oral narratives. The Modern Language Journal, 96(2), 190–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, X. (2017). Automated measurement of syntactic complexity in corpus-based L2 writing research and implications for writing assessment. Language Testing, 34(4), 493–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Dearden, J. (2018). A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education. Language Teaching, 51(1), 36–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marsh, H., Hau, K.-T., & Kong, C.-K. (2000). Late immersion and language of instruction in Hong Kong high schools: Achievement growth in language and nonlanguage subjects. Harvard Educational Review, 70(3), 302–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNamara, D. S., Graesser, A. C., McCarthy, P. M., & Cai, Z. (2014). Automated evaluation of text and discourse with Coh-Metrix. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paquot, M. (2018). Phraseological competence: A missing component in university entrance language tests? Insights from a study of EFL learners’ use of statistical collocations. Language Assessment Quarterly, 15(1), 29–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pun, J. K. H., & Curle, S. M. (2022). Research methods for English medium instruction in action. In Pun, J. K. H. & Curle, S. M. (Eds.), Research methods in English medium instruction (pp. 1–15). London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Roquet, H., & Pérez-Vidal, C. (2017). Do productive skills improve in content and language integrated learning contexts? The case of writing. Applied Linguistics, 38(4): 489–511.Google Scholar
Spoelman, M., & Verspoor, M. (2010). Dynamic patterns in development of accuracy and complexity: A longitudinal case study in the acquisition of Finnish. Applied Linguistics, 31(4), 532–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Mensel, L., Bulon, A., Hendrikx, I., Meunier, F., & Van Goethem, K. (2020). Effects of input on L2 writing in English and Dutch: CLIL and non-CLIL learners in French-speaking Belgium. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 8(2): 173–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wannagat, U. (2008). Learning through L2 – Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English as Medium of Instruction (EMI). International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 10(5), 663–682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, W. (2014). Content and language integrated learning next in Asia: Evidence of learners’ achievement in CLIL education from a Taiwan tertiary degree programme. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 18(4), 361–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoon, H.-J., & Polio, C. (2017). The linguistic development of students of English as a second language in two written genres. TESOL Quarterly, 51(2), 275–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuksel, D., Soruç, A., Altay, M., & Curle, S. (2023). A longitudinal study at an English medium instruction university in Turkey: The interplay between English language improvement and academic success. Applied Linguistics Review, 14(3), 533–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×