Translanguaging in EMI higher education in Taiwan: Learner perception and agenc

Abstract

Although English-medium instruction (EMI) has attracted considerable attention in higher education, it has not widely addressed the notion of learner agency. Through a qualitative case study exploring the perspectives of local and international students in an English-taught program in business in a private university in Taiwan, this chapter explores the use of native languages in classroom interaction in translanguaging practices as well as learner perception and agency in an English as a lingua franca (ELF) context. Data, gathered from interviews and supplemented by observations, weekly journals, and artifacts, were initially analyzed based on (Carspecken in Critical ethnography in educational research: a theoretical and practical guide. Routledge, 1996) reconstructive analysis and later through (Larsen-Freeman in Modern Lang J 103:61–79, 2019) Complex Dynamic Systems Theory on learner agency. This chapter shows the EFL context in the target programs affords translanguaging as a natural yet limited practice and that the use of different resources reflects learner enactment of their agency. The positive consequence of students’ translanguaging motivates them to continue to engage in translanguaging practices. As such, creating an encouraging environment is a necessary condition for students’ translanguaging. This chapter hence concludes by highlighting the primacy of raising professors’ and policy makers’ awareness of translanguaging pedagogy.