Language-related perceptions: how do they predict student satisfaction with a partial English Medium Instruction in Higher Education?

Abstract

This study investigated language-related predictors of satisfaction with a partial English Medium Instruction (EMI) programme in teacher education at a Spanish university. More specifically, it explored the impact on programme satisfaction of students' perceptions of language improvement, of opportunities to use English, of lecturers' English proficiency, and language improvement as a motivation for enrolling in the programme. Additionally, it examined how self-rated proficiency affects the association between these language-related variables and satisfaction. Results show that students were more satisfied than they were dissatisfied, that they acknowledged having made an improvement in their English skills, and that the lecturers' English proficiency was below their expectations. Most importantly, the language-related variables under study were found to be significant predictors of student satisfaction with EMI, and each of them explained a high percentage of the variance in programme satisfaction. It was also found that these variables impacted student satisfaction differently across different self-rated proficiency groups. The article discusses that, at a time when competition among universities is taking a global dimension and students’ general English proficiency is getting progressively higher, most attention needs to be paid to the language when designing and resourcing EMI initiatives in order to make them competitive and sustainable.