Publications

Publication details [#63013]

Worp, Karin van der. 2017. English Medium Instruction: a way towards linguistically better prepared professionals in the Basque Autonomous Community? The International Journal of Multilingualism 14 (1) : 53–68.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
Routledge

Annotation

In the Basque Autonomous Community, besides the official languages Spanish and Basque, English is regarded an important third language for internationally operating companies. However, employees are not believed to be linguistically well enough prepared, due to shortcomings in English language learning in the Basque educational system. The introduction of English Medium Instruction (EMI) might ameliorate the situation. Therefore, this inquiry explores the relation between the experience of future professionals with EMI at one point in their educational career and their experience as language learners, their self-reported proficiency and competencies in English, the exposure to English in their daily lives, and their expectations about English in their future workplace. A quantitative approach was adopted, by means of questionnaires amid 194 students of Business Administration at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). The data disclose that students who have taken EMI classes report higher skills in English (especially in oral skills and at higher level tasks), have generally more exposure to English and would feel more comfortable employing English in their future job. The results propose that EMI might help to prepare the future professionals linguistically better in this third language.