Use of the First Language in an Undergraduate English-Medium Seminar Class : An EMI Case in a Japanese Context

湯川, 笑子

母語・継承語・バイリンガル教育研究会（MHB研究会）

English-medium instruction

招待論文

English-medium instruction (EMI) has been implemented at universities widely in the world. This paper reports the case of a seminar class (a class whose main purpose is to conduct graduation thesis research) for Japanese undergraduate third and fourth year students which is taught in English with occasional use of Japanese, i.e., a variation of the method known as translanguaging. The study investigated: (1) functions of the Japanese (students’ Ll) used in class, (2) the relationship between Ll use and students' existing academic knowledge in the field, and (3) students' attitude toward EMI and translanguaging. The following results were found: (1) there were eight types of Ll use, (2) there were differences in Ll use between seniors’ presentation sessions and juniors’ presentation sessions, which implies that Ll use was related to students’ academic and English levels, and (3) students' attitudes were positive especially because graduation theses needed to be written in English. Lastly, the limitations of the study will be discussed.