TY - JOUR
T1 - EFL learners’ attitudes toward English-medium instruction in China
T2 - The influence of sociobiographical variables
AU - Kong, Mengxia
AU - Wei, Rining
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/8
Y1 - 2019/8
N2 - In China, as in much of the EFL world, English-medium instruction (EMI) at tertiary level has received increasing scholarly attention. Although EMI in the Chinese context has been examined from different perspectives, most studies investigating attitudes have examined the influence using a small number of sociobiographical variables. Furthermore, the relevant studies often reveal methodological limitations (e.g. failure to use effect sizes). To overcome these limitations, the present study examined the attitudes toward EMI of learners at six Chinese tertiary institutions and the influence of selected sociobiographical variables on their attitudes. Five previously-examined variables were used, together with two other under-studied ones, viz. perceived unfairness and perceived threat associated with the English language, thereby broadening the research scope of this line of inquiry. The participants reported slightly favourable attitudes toward EMI. Regression analysis identified ‘perceived unfairness’ and ‘university’ as statistically significant predictors for EMI attitudes. Policy and research implications were discussed.
AB - In China, as in much of the EFL world, English-medium instruction (EMI) at tertiary level has received increasing scholarly attention. Although EMI in the Chinese context has been examined from different perspectives, most studies investigating attitudes have examined the influence using a small number of sociobiographical variables. Furthermore, the relevant studies often reveal methodological limitations (e.g. failure to use effect sizes). To overcome these limitations, the present study examined the attitudes toward EMI of learners at six Chinese tertiary institutions and the influence of selected sociobiographical variables on their attitudes. Five previously-examined variables were used, together with two other under-studied ones, viz. perceived unfairness and perceived threat associated with the English language, thereby broadening the research scope of this line of inquiry. The participants reported slightly favourable attitudes toward EMI. Regression analysis identified ‘perceived unfairness’ and ‘university’ as statistically significant predictors for EMI attitudes. Policy and research implications were discussed.
KW - Bilingual education
KW - Effect size
KW - English-medium instruction
KW - Reliability
KW - Stakeholders’ attitudes
KW - Validity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068225239&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.linged.2019.03.005
DO - 10.1016/j.linged.2019.03.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85068225239
SN - 0898-5898
VL - 52
SP - 44
EP - 51
JO - Linguistics and Education
JF - Linguistics and Education
ER -