Can Pupils Retell Concepts in English? An Analysis of How to Use EMI in Science Class

Abstract

British Council for East Asia reported that the level of English competency of Indonesian pupils in primary and secondary education in English lessons and other scientific disciplines was very concerning. They did not use English as Medium Instruction (EMI) in Science class well. Besides, pupils need to have English communication skills in the 21st century. Because of that, the research aims to investigate how EMI should be applied in Science class. The purposive survey method was used in this study involving the process of data triangulation from tests, questionnaires, unstructured interviews, and observations of learning. The research subjects were selected by a purposive sampling technique involving 172 pupils aged 11-13 years from several secondary schools in four major cities in Indonesia which use English as the medium of instruction in Science class. The results showed that EMI can be applied in Science class by bilingual strategies. Most of the pupils understood the teachers' instruction, scientific terms, even scientific concepts but they felt safer using both Indonesian and monolingual languages to avoid some errors e.g. misconceptions when teachers explain fundamental science concepts. Introducing keywords in the form of bilingual terms related to the fundamental concepts of science helps pupils to understand science concepts more deeply and develop pupils' ability to speak English actively. These findings are expected to become a reference for how to use EMI in science class.

Learning expectations, challenges, and strategies of university students on English-medium instruction

“…An agreement was reached by most students with regard to the English performance of many of their lecturers, which often created confusions and difficulties to understand due to localized English accents and grammatical inaccuracies, as also found by Chen et al (2020). Due to students' limited English, the lecturers also often had to repeat their explanations, which is like what Sukardi et al (2021) found among science students. This phenomenon thus places more urgency on focusing on professional development (Fenton-Smith et al, 2017), to assure adequate pedagogical, linguistic, and communicative competence of the lecturers in order not to sacrifice students' knowledge construction (Aizawa & Rose, 2019).…”

Trends of English as medium instruction in science learning: Review and bibliometrıc analysis

“…The use of English as the language of instruction in schools aims to support the development of a generation of Indonesians who are reliable, competitive, and able to collaborate globally (DEPDIKNAS, 2006). This happens because most of the literatures and academic articles from around the world are generally available in English, one of which is material for the field of education (Sukardi et al, 2021). Patonah and Irawan (2020) revealed that the use of English as the language of instruction in schools is one of the reforms in the field of teaching that has a futuristic mission in equipping the young generation of Indonesia with subject competence and language competence.…”

“…The results of an investigation conducted by the British Council show that the mastery of English for primary and secondary school students in Indonesia is very concerning (Sukardi et al, 2021). Further investigation showed that most schools that offer science teaching with EMI generally adopt a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) approach.…”

“…Meanwhile, science as a scientific discipline has some unique characteristics such as scientific terms that can only be understood by people who have scientific background. It can lead to misunderstandings about the meaning of some scientifc terms if science is taught in a foreign language (Giles & Yazan, 2020;Sukardi et al, 2021). Moreover, data published by the British Council shows that the English language skills of primary and secondary school students in Indonesia need to be seriously improved.…”

“…This is one of the factors that make it easier for students who study Science with EMI. The results of the research by Sukardi et al (2021) show that the keywords to understand the explanation of Science in English are simple and often spoken vocabulary in everyday life, for example, evaporation, condensation, and melting point. Understanding Science keywords are expected to reduce anxiety in understanding Science instructions and explanations with EMI.…”