Towards deeper learning in EMI lectures: the role of English proficiency and motivation in students’ deep processing of content knowledge

Abstract

Internationalisation trends in higher education have catalysed the rapid growth of English medium instruction (EMI). A central question in EMI research is whether students can process content knowledge in depth when it is taught through a language that they have limited proficiency in. Previous studies have primarily examined the impact of EMI on content learning products (e.g. academic grades) with few investigations into learning processes. The present study explores the extent to which students report using deep-level strategies (e.g. elaboration, organisation, and critical thinking) for processing content knowledge in EMI lectures, and whether such strategy use is related to students’ English listening proficiency and motivational beliefs. A mixed-methods design was used, collecting questionnaire responses from 316 students and conducting semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 35 students at an EMI university in China. The findings highlight students’ self-efficacy and intrinsic learning goals as stronger predictors of deep processing strategy use than listening proficiency. Low-proficiency students were found to engage in more laborious previewing than their highly proficient peers. Such previewing appeared to help them develop schemata for activating in-class deep processing of content. The study offers implications for programme designers and lecturers on scaffolding meaningful content learning in EMI settings.