English-Medium Instruction for International Students from the Belt and Road Countries: Necessity, Challenges, and Countermeasures

Abstract

Remarkably comprehensive economic and social outcomes have been achieved since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was unveiled in 2013. With the RRI being well under way, an ever increasing number of students from the Belt and the Road (B&R) countries are flowing to China to pursue undergraduate or postgraduate degree programs, which calls for large-scale implementation of English-medium instruction (EMI) across Chinese universities. As a new thing, however, EMI for students from the B&R countries is facing a host of problems and even controversies. This paper, by drawing upon the authors’ personal EMI teaching experiences and taking global EMI tendency into consideration, discusses the necessity as well as the major challenges for EMI programs in Chinese universities, and finally puts forward the corresponding countermeasures. In the contemporary globalization and internet era, it is imperative to use English as a major teaching language. Chinese universities should push forward EMI courses for the B&R students in spite of the difficulties. Keywords—English-medium instruction (EMI); International student; the Belt and Road (B&R)