English-medium education

An English-medium education system is one that uses English as the primary medium of instruction—particularly where English is not the mother tongue of students.

Initially this is associated with the expansion of English from its homeland in England and the lowlands of Scotland and its spread to the rest of Great Britain and Ireland, beginning in the sixteenth century. The rise of the British Empire increased the language's spread to British colonies,[1][2] and in many of these it has remained the medium of education. The increased economic and cultural influence of the United States since World War II has also furthered the global spread of English,[1][2] as has the rapid spread of Internet and other technologies.[3] As a result of this, in many states throughout the world where English is not the predominant language there are English-medium schools. Also in higher education, due to the recent trend towards internationalization, an increasing number of degree courses, particularly at master's level, are being taught through the medium of English.[4]

Known as English-medium instruction[5] (EMI), or ICLHE (integrating content and language in higher education),[6] this rapidly growing phenomenon has been contested in many contexts.[7]

  1. ^ a b "The Imperial Archive. A site dedicated to the study of Literature, Imperialism, Postcolonialism". Qub.ac.uk. 30 January 2006. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Lecture 7: World-Wide English". EHistLing. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  3. ^ Crystal, David (2003). "English as a Global Language" (PDF). culturaldiplomacy.org. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dearden was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education – international association about higher education at the interface of content and language". iclhe.org. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  7. ^ Phillipson, Robert (1 May 2008). "Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia? English in European integration and globalisation1". World Englishes. 27 (2): 250–267. doi:10.1111/j.1467-971X.2008.00555.x. ISSN 1467-971X.