Success of EMI in higher education and its key components: A meta-analytic structural equation modelling approach

Abstract

The increasing global demand for English Medium Instruction (EMI) in higher education (HE) highlights the need for empirical research to contribute to its success and suggest ways of mitigating the diverse challenges faced by students and institutions. Identifying the key factors that contribute to successful EMI is critical for improving both content and language learning outcomes for students. In the wake of the recent surge in EMI research, more research synthesis is needed to understand how these factors interact to influence EMI success rather than focusing solely on their isolated, bivariate relationships. To address this gap, we conducted meta-analytic structural equation modelling (MASEM) to examine the structural relationships among the key factors affecting the success of EMI. Synthesising data from 50 studies (N = 15,032), our analysis demonstrates that learners’ engagement and English proficiency are pivotal for both content and language learning, with English proficiency being more important for language learning outcomes, although itself considerably also influenced by learners’ anxiety and motivation. Additionally, the moderator analysis shows that learner engagement plays a more significant role in partial EMI contexts, leading to our recommendation for differentiated institutional support in full and partial EMI settings. However, owing to the limited availability of correlation coefficients, some key factors and moderators were excluded, prompting the need for further empirical research to explore these relationships in greater depth.