Abstract:

In a bid to attract more international students, the Japanese government has announced initiatives aimed at promoting the globalization of higher education. As such, more universities are offering degree programs in English (MEXT, 2012, p.7). While this selling point may attract non-Japanese speakers desiring to study in Japan, the impact English Medium Instruction (EMI) will have on the quality of education remains to be seen. Accordingly, “it is time to look at internationalization and multicultural education with an integrated approach that incorporates them more directly into the student learning experience” (Krutky, 2008, p. 1). Moreover, as Rose and McKinley (2017) point out, there is a lack of research on the impact of policy “on language planning in higher education in Japan” (Rose & McKinley, 2017, p. 1). As such, it is time to investigate teaching methodologies and approaches to incorporate the views of all stakeholders in the multicultural classroom. This research focuses on the EMI teachers’ perceptions and experiences of the EMI classroom, which is populated by native and non-native English speaking students. Drawing on teacher interviews and classroom observations, the research offers insights into teacher attitudes and student challenges from the perspective of the teacher.

Keywords:

English Medium Instruction, Internationalisation, Multicultural Classroom, Education Policy, Higher Education, Language Competency, Classroom Management.