English Medium Instruction in the Middle East and North Africa

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About this Research Topic

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Background

The past two decades have witnessed a rapid growth of English medium instruction (EMI) programs in many higher education institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The expansion of EMI has been especially rapid in higher education. Scholars identify several factors as to the reason for this rapid growth. Among these are the necessity for internationalizing universities and expanding collaboration in teaching and research, coupled with the desire to raise universities rankings, a move towards a more transnational world, a desire to 'kill two birds with one stone'; the notion that EMI improves both English language proficiency and mastery of academic disciplinary content. These forces have led to the expansion of EMI across universities, particularly top-tier universities across the globe. Drawing on this accelerated educational movement in MENA, it may be argued that governmentality in higher educational institutes has paved the way for enterprise EMI in the region.

The switch to EMI across academic disciplines has occurred as a dyad with curriculum 'Englishisation'. Scholars have described this process of Englishisation of higher education as muddying the waters of EMI implementation, as this shift to EMI frequently overlooks students'/teachers' lack of threshold English proficiency to benefit from EMI, resulting in a number of academic and social problems for both students and teachers. Unfair advancement possibilities, unequal access to EMI classes, and ghettoization of local languages and cultures are among the societal issues.

It is apparent that English in MENA has shifted from being taught as a foreign language to becoming an important medium of instruction in burgeoned off-campus and satellite universities in the region. However, grounded language learning in EMI is not well-defined nor well-researched in MENA. Hence, this Research Topic examines how the current EMI scholarship interacts with governmentality and neoliberalism in the higher education contexts of MENA. It builds on current EMI work that explores issues related to EMI implementation in MENA higher education institutions, policies, and classroom practices.

In this Research Topic, we are eager to receive theoretical papers, original empirical studies, critical commentaries, mini-reviews, mini-empirical papers, and systematic reviews on the topic. We also appreciate studies that attempt to push the boundaries of EMI research concerning the rights of multilingual education in the MENA regions. With regards to research design, we are looking for large-scale quantitative studies, in-depth qualitative investigations, and mixed methods research. Experimental studies focusing on exploring the effectiveness of EMI interventions are also of interest and will be accepted. In the studies proposed for this Research Topic, researchers may utilize data collection instruments (but are not restricted to) such as questionnaires, interviews, observation checklists, narrative writing, journal writing, and/or reflective diary writing. Finally, cross-cultural, cross-country comparative studies on this topic are also welcomed.

Possible themes related to EMI in MENA that we welcome:
• Teacher Continuing Professional Development
• English Language Proficiency
• Success in Higher Education
• The role of EFL / EAP in EMI higher education
• Teacher Collaboration
• Englishisation
• Internationalisation in English Medium higher education
• Translanguaging in EMI classrooms of Higher Education
• English-only versus Translanguaging pedagogies

Keywords: English Medium Instruction, English language proficiency, success, governmentality, neoliberalism, EMI/EFL teacher collaboration, EMI Teacher Continuing professional development (CPD)

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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