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Article published In:
Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 8:2 (2020) ► pp.257–284

EMI lecturers’ practices in correcting English

Resources for language teaching?

ORCID logo | University of Lleida
ORCID logo | Polytechnic University of Catalonia

Research on English-medium instruction (EMI) has pointed to lecturers’ refusal to teach or correct English. This study seeks empirical evidence to investigate the extent to which content lecturers’ assessment practices align with their expressed beliefs regarding language teaching. Drawing on three types of data – a questionnaire, interviews and students’ exams – we aimed at finding and exploring EMI lecturers’ written corrective feedback (WCF) as part of language assessment practices. Findings suggest that while EMI content lecturers repeatedly express their refusal to teach English, their actual teaching practices show evidence of some provision of language-related feedback. These findings are discussed against university language education policy. A gate opener lecturer profile is identified whose corrective feedback creates opportunities for correctly using disciplinary English.

Keywords: English-medium instruction, written corrective feedback, assessment, teacher attitudes
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1EMI lecturers and corrective feedback
    • 2.2Corrective feedback and assessment
  • 3.The study
    • 3.1Context
    • 3.2Research questions
    • 3.3Methodology and instruments
    • 3.4Participants
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Analysis of surveys
    • 4.2Analysis of interviews
    • 4.3Analysis of corrective feedback
    • 4.4Analysis of penalization of mistakes
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 May 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.19011.man
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