Issues and challenges of English-medium instruction (EMI) in Japanese universities

In the last two decades, the rapid development of the globalization and internationalization of higher education have promoted the adoption of English medium instruction (hereafter referred to as EMI) programs in higher education institutions in non-native English-speaking countries. Since the introduction of short-term student exchange programs by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in the middle of the 1990s, a significant growth of EMI programmes has been registered in Japan. EMI not only offers academic instruction through English but also fosters the international profile of EMI graduates. It can be suggested that, since EMI students learn academic content by means of English instruction, the development of EMI has had some impact on the field of English language education. Although numerous studies have analyzed the development of EMI across Japanese universities, it is still a relatively new educational method for Japan. We still have some questions about the difficulties of implementing EMI in Japan. The purpose of this study is to suggest some improvements for EMI that are suitable for the Japanese university context by analyzing the specific challenges and needs that EMI students encounter at Japanese universities. To achieve this goal, this dissertation will synthesize and discuss three issues by using a questionnaire as the main data collection instrument: the first issue is the language barrier that students may encounter during the EMI learning process because English is not their mother tongue; the second is related to the cultural barriers students might encounter in EMI classes, where learning in an additional language may make integration into the cultural environment difficult; the third one is the diversity of teaching styles used by lecturers, which might be different compared to teaching in their L1 and which might act as a barrier to the students’ learning. This study tries to provide a deeper insight into the use of English as a medium of instruction in Japan, specifically in three universities where EMI is regarded as a strategy to internationalize higher education. In Chapter one, we begin by explaining the definition of English as a medium of instruction, its historical development, its current situation in Asia and Japan, and previous studies carried out in those geographical areas. In Chapter two, we describe the questionnaire used to collect the data and the main results and implications based on the data collected. To conclude this section, the past two decades have witnessed a substantial surge in the adoption of English medium instruction (EMI) programmes in non-native English-speaking countries. The introduction of short-term student exchange programs by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) in the mid-1990s has fostered the proliferation of EMI programs in Japan. While numerous studies have scrutinized EMI development in Japanese universities, it remains a relatively new educational method. This study aims to address this gap by examining the specific problems that have arisen in Japanese universities during the implementation of EMI. Through the use of a survey, the main discussion revolves around the students’ challenges and needs in EMI courses, focusing on language and cultural barriers, as well as on the diverse teaching styles used in this educational context. Providing deeper insights into the role of EMI in Japan, this research contributes to the ongoing discourse of the implementation of EMI and the strategies used to offer EMI programmes.