COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH MEDIUM INSTRUCTION (EMI) CLASSES: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF REPETITION STRATEGY FOR MEANING CO-CONSTRUCTION
Vol. 132 No. 6B (2023), Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
Vol. 132 No. 6B (2023)

COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH MEDIUM INSTRUCTION (EMI) CLASSES: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE USE OF REPETITION STRATEGY FOR MEANING CO-CONSTRUCTION

Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities
https://doi.org/10.26459/hueunijssh.v132i6B.6967
Published 2023-09-14
Huong Thi Lien Ngo
Phuong Le Hoang Ngo
Faculty of English, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University
Huy Van Nguyen
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Keywords

Chương trình giảng dạy bằng Tiếng Anh (EMI), Tiếng Anh ngôn ngữ bắc cầu (ELF), chiến lược ngữ dụng, lặp lại, Việt Nam English as a medium instruction (EMI), English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), pragmatic strategies, repetition, Vietnam

Abstract

The rising popularity of English-Medium Instruction (EMI) programs around the world has brought people of different linguacultural backgrounds into the same classroom. In such diverse settings, English is employed as a lingua franca (ELF) for academic communication. However, given the disparate levels of English and the academically demanding nature of higher education, many challenges exist that might hinder comprehension and cooperation in the classroom. For this reason, this paper seeks to investigate the use of repetition as a pragmatic strategy to facilitate ELF communication in EMI classes. The data was gathered from six lectures of a Business Administration course taught by an American lecturer to a class of third-year Economics-majored students, all of whom were Vietnamese.  The resulting eighteen hours of classroom recordings data were then transcribed and analyzed qualitatively. Findings reveal that various types of repetition were employed to realize seven specific means: highlight key information, organize discourse, elaborate on problematic terms, enhance clariry, show solidarity and alignment, improve mutual intelligibility, and show encouragement. This has pedagogical implications for training programs of both pre-service and in-service EMI lecturers.

https://doi.org/10.26459/hueunijssh.v132i6B.6967
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