This book offers new insights into the language gains of adult learners enrolled in an English-medium instruction (EMI) degree programme. It provides longitudinal empirical evidence of the phonological gains of the learners; discusses which individual factors contribute to the changes in the learners' pronunciation and investigates whether and to what extent increased exposure to the target language in EMI classrooms leads to incidental learning of second language pronunciation. Furthermore, it expands on the discussions surrounding the Critical Period Hypothesis, the native-speaker norm, foreign language accent and the role of English as a Lingua Franca. The comparative and longitudinal design of the research study fills a significant gap in the literature and the book offers considerable original and important research-informed insights into the fields of EMI, bilingual education and second language acquisition. As such, it is a valuable resource and must-read book for researchers, practitioners and policymakers in these areas.

First longitudinal study to combine the much-discussed areas of pronunciation and English-Medium Instruction

About the Author

Karin Richter is Senior Lecturer at the University of Vienna, Austria. She has been working in the field for over 15 years and her research focuses on English-medium instruction, teaching speaking skills and pronunciation learning and teaching.

Reviews

This book not only effectively demonstrates that long run EMI instruction can improve students' pronunciation, it also shows that the critical period is not absolute - adults can improve their pronunciation. The impressive literature reviews of EMI in Europe, of language learning in the EMI classroom, and of factors influencing L2 pronunciation mastery, are in themselves are compelling reasons to read the book.

* Glenn Ole Hellekjaer, The University of Oslo, Norway *

Those interested in pronunciation will find this volume most enlightening. At a time when EMI programmes are burgeoning, pronunciation has unfortunately been largely disregarded by researchers, although both teachers and students are very concerned about its role in EMI. This study successfully manages to bridge this research/concern gap.

* David Lasagabaster, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain *

The book is well written, highly informative, and of high interest to anyone interested in either EMI research or accent attainment research.

-- Clay Hunter Williams, Akita International University, Japan * LINGUIST List 32.3036 *

...this book is a bridge between EMI and L2 speech learning, to which little attention has been devoted so far. If readers are experts in EMI but novices in L2 pronunciation and/or L2 speech learning, this book takes the first step toward understanding this area.

-- Keiko Hanzawa, Tokyo University of Science, Japan * Journal of Second Language Pronunciation, Volume 5:3 (2019) *

I am deeply convinced that the study will pave the way for similar empirical investigations in the future and will set standards for how similar research should be executed.

-- Miroslaw Pawlak, Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz and State University of Applied Sciences, Konin, Poland * SSLLT 9 (2) 2019 *

The book provides a useful overview of EMI in Europe and how it is developing. By undertaking research into the case of a UAS in Austria it sheds a significant amount of light on how such courses are and should be run.

-- Graeme Couper, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand * Journal of English for Academic Purposes 41 (2019) *



Book Information
ISBN 9781788922456
Author Karin Richter
Format Hardback
Page Count 224
Imprint Multilingual Matters
Publisher Multilingual Matters
Weight(grams) 480g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 16mm