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Strategy use to Overcome Difficulties in EMI Courses in Higher Education

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• Volume 7,Issue 6,Nov. 2020

Year:

2020

Type of Publication:

Article

Keywords:

English-medium Instruction, Higher Education, Learning Difficulty, Language Learning Strategy

Authors:

• Xiao, Dr. Jianfang
• Zou, Xuanqi

Journal:

IJIRES

Volume:

7

Number:

6

Pages:

503-519

Month:

November

ISSN:

2349-5219

BibTex:

@article{1795, author = "Dr. Jianfang Xiao and Xuanqi Zou", abstract = "A proliferation of English-medium instruction (EMI) courses has been witnessed in the past two decades in mainland China, which calls for attention to students’ problems in this new learning context. This research focuses on the difficulties Chinese EMI learners face and the learning strategies they use. We investigated 100 seniors majoring in Education who have experiences in learning EMI courses at University G. The data were collected by using semi-closed questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that the participants encountered difficulty in speaking and reading most when learning EMI courses. The findings also show that they presented a medium-high level in their overall use of learning strategies, among which communication strategies were regarded most effective to overcome difficulties in speaking; cognitive strategies were highly appreciated to solve problems related to reading and listening, while meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies could help overcome obstacles in writing.", issn = "23495219", journal = "IJIRES", keywords = "English-medium Instruction, Higher Education, Learning Difficulty, Language Learning Strategy", month = "November", number = "6", pages = "503-519", title = "{S}trategy use to {O}vercome {D}ifficulties in {EMI} {C}ourses in {H}igher {E}ducation", volume = "7", year = "2020", }

Abstract:

A proliferation of English-medium instruction (EMI) courses has been witnessed in the past two decades in mainland China, which calls for attention to students’ problems in this new learning context. This research focuses on the difficulties Chinese EMI learners face and the learning strategies they use. We investigated 100 seniors majoring in Education who have experiences in learning EMI courses at University G. The data were collected by using semi-closed questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that the participants encountered difficulty in speaking and reading most when learning EMI courses. The findings also show that they presented a medium-high level in their overall use of learning strategies, among which communication strategies were regarded most effective to overcome difficulties in speaking; cognitive strategies were highly appreciated to solve problems related to reading and listening, while meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies could help overcome obstacles in writing.

Full text: IJIRES_1795_FINAL.pdf Online version [Bibtex]