WHAT DO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT ENGLISH MEDIUM INSTRUCTION UNIVERSITIES TELL US ABOUT EAP COURSES?

Abstract

This study aims to understand whether EMI students considered EAP courses as helpful in promoting their academic achievement and to unearth their ideas about the qualities of an ideal EAP course. Data were collected from 563 undergraduate students enrolled at three EMI universities in Turkey. Results indicated that students found EAP courses effective in enabling them to improve their academic skills, academic language and content knowledge, and provide them with personal benefits. However, students expressed their dissatisfaction with EAP course designs and their improvement level of speaking, vocabulary, reading and writing. EMI students suggest that an ideal EAP course should be conducted 2 or 3 hours a week either by faculty members or English instructors. The expectations that EMI students mentioned in this study point at the need for a skills-based EAP course design for which they also pinpointed several essential sub-skills to be covered. The study concludes with a discussion of challenges encountered by EMI students and some recommendations for the improvement of EAP courses.