Negotiating meaning in the Lebanese EMI classroom: teachers’ and students’ preferences, perceptions, and practices

Abstract

With English viewed as the global language of education and research, universities around the world are increasingly adopting English as the medium of instruction (EMI). One context in which EMI has long been adopted is Lebanon. Despite this lengthy history, many Lebanese EMI students and teachers continue to struggle teaching and learning advanced content in an additional language, primarily due to students’ inadequate proficiency in the language of instruction. To overcome this challenge and ensure content is effectively accessed by students, teachers often employ a range of accommodation strategies. To date, very little research has examined how exactly teachers respond to the language needs of their students through their use of accommodation strategies and how students perceive these strategies. The dearth of research into the Lebanese EMI context is in sharp contrast to the popularity of this educational policy. The present study expands this research by investigating which accommodation strategies Lebanese instructors employ in their EMI classrooms and which of these strategies students value most. 63 instructors and 158 students from two Lebanese universities were surveyed about their experiences; a further eight instructors were interviewed to elaborate on these responses. Findings suggest that instructors primarily rely on rephrasing and reformulation, followed by repetition, translanguaging, and slowed speech. Students assessed these strategies as useful but emphasized the importance of instructors’ strategic competence. These perspectives contribute to our understanding of how Lebanese EMI teachers use accommodation strategies to ensure content learning is achieved and students’ perceptions of their teachers’ pedagogical practices to inform future EMI practice and teacher training.