Content knowledge attainment in English medium instruction: Does academic English literacy matter?

This study investigates the relationship between students’ English language proficiency, their reported levels of academic English literacy, prior content knowledge and their attainment of content knowledge in English medium instruction (EMI). The study also examines students’ perceptions of difficulties with academic English literacy at different levels of English language proficiency. Pre-course and post-course content tests were administered to 27 EMI students in an introductory Chemistry course at a university in Tokyo, Japan. The test results were triangulated with data from a quantitative measure of reported academic literacy and follow-up interviews to explore perceptions of ease and difficulties for academic language skills (i.e. reading, listening, speaking and writing). The quantitative findings indicated that students’ proficiency statistically significantly predicted post-test scores. Interviews with students corroborated this finding, illustrating the specific difficulties in academic language literacy faced by students with lower proficiency. However, proficiency alone did not determine success as other factors, such as previous exposure to EMI and prior content knowledge, played significant roles. The study found a non-linear relationship between reported difficulties with academic English literacy and test outcomes, indicating that students who reported fewer academic difficulties were not necessarily more successful in gaining content knowledge than those facing significant challenges in academic language tasks. The findings emphasise that academic support in EMI programs should not solely focus on test outcomes but also address the broader challenges students face with academic English literacy. Implications are discussed regarding language support, EMI curriculum planning and future research directions.