I know we had the opportunity to write in another language than English.However, I am not comfortable with writing a blog post about the English medium of instruction in any other language. Further, I realized after three years at Fasos that I like writing in English. It also a chance to show the improvement of my writing skills after three years of practicing the EMI system. I always wanted to pursue my higher education studies in English. I thought it would open many doors for me in the future since English has become a very important global language.
Before being accepted to Maastricht University you need to show a test of proficiency in English. I did an IELTS test at the British Embassy in Brussels. I thought my English was already pretty good and I managed to score a C1 level. Therefore, I thought it would be easy to study in an EMI environment. I was wrong, my academic English skills were lacking especially the writing part.
Yet, what is the English medium of instruction? The EMI is a system of instruction that has become more and more popular over the recent years. It is a teaching method where set or all subjects are thought in English to students for whom it is not the first language (L1). It can be used at various level of education but this blog post will focus on the university level. The reasons it has become popular are political, social, and mainly economic. Globalization has also a main role in the popularity of the system. Young students are traveling internationally to acquire a better education, and universities understood that they could attract more students if they thought their courses in a language that is well-known worldly. Universities across the world also understood that to be competitive and ensure their survival it was important to attract he brightest minds from over the world.
The system has many advantages. The first one being that students don’t only acquire academic knowledge during their studies but also language skills, mainly in English. It helps to put domestic studen
ts on a globalized scale and create international opportunities for them. Further, it creates a possibility for foreign students to stay in the university country and participate to the national economy. Next in professional careers English is the main language used. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of learning in an EMI environment for three years is that it opens many career opportunities for me. I was able to acquire not only a set of practical skills but also better my English. This would be a big boost for my career especially because I w
ant to pursue the sector of diplomacy, where the knowledge of English is essential.
However, an English medium of instruction can also have certain negative aspects. The first one relates to an actual advantage of the EMI. It is indeed ideal to be learning content and language at the same time. Nevertheless, it is very much complicated to understand the content of a course if you do not understand the language. The process of having to translate and comprehend the language costs much time that could be better spend studying the contents. This is also a problem when it comes to assessments. Students with English not as their L1 might have a lot of difficulties to score high on a test. A disadvantage I have not experience but many of my peers have, is the loss of domain in their L1. As a reason of speaking English all the time they tend to forget their first language. Luckily, I still live in a very French/Dutch environment thus I still practice those much. A difficulty I do have experienced at Maastricht university, which might point out to a negative aspect of the EMI, is the English proficiency of lecturers and tutors. Some tutors might lack a certain level of English or have a certain accent you may not be used to and this can lead to not understanding the content fully. Further, this also builds on the grading aspect, if the person who grades your do not understand it fully it might create a grade-loss.
I really appreciate the English medium of instruction however; it can still be improved on some points as mentioned hereabove. The formation of the teaching staff is something I would put a lot of attention to if I could make some changes to the system. I would make sure that they have a proficiency level of C2 according to the CEFR. Further, regarding the students I would maybe create lists with the important terms of the course. In order for them to see if they have enough knowledge to fully understand the course or if they need to first work on their English knowledge. Nevertheless, I still believe that Maastricht is doing a great job at accommodating students and their needs regarding English proficiency.
For this blog post I used the following resources
- Wilkinson, R (2012) English Medium Instruction at a Dutch University – Challenges and Pitfalls
- Shohamy, E (2012) A Critical Perspective on the Use of English as a Medium of Instruction at Universities
