Exploration on New Communication Issues and Styles
that English-medium Instruction Brings in to
Japanese Business Education
Sato Kenichi（Faculty of Commerce, Doshisha University）
Abstract
The wave of higher education globalisation sweeps the coasts of many countries, which in turn try to respond to it for a variety of reasons. Since Japan is not an exception, the Japanese government and universities have attempted to internationalise their higher education system
through multiple strategies, the major one being the adoption of English-medium instruction （EMI).
However, a simplistic view that EMI can be realised through a simple swap of languages of instruction from Japanese to English, as evident in Japanese press publications and government documents, can pose problems for Japanese teachers and students. This is because most of the EMI classes in the Japanese are carried out by Japanese teachers and students combined with international students from non-Anglophone countries, to many of whom English is a second or foreign language. The fact that English is ’ nobody’ s first language’ in the classroom makes pedagogy in EMI vastly different from that in traditional settings.
Therefore, this research aims to depict the new communication styles emerging in Japanese business education in the light of ELF/BELF studies through investigation on what is happening in EMI classrooms. It also aims to provide researchers and practitioners engaging in EMI in the Japanese context with practical guides to improving their research approaches or teaching practices. More precisely, this explores the experiences of teachers that have been assigned to teach classes in EMI in business-administration faculties in two Top Global Universities（Global Traction Type）selected by the Japanese Government for Top Global University Project that was launched in 2014.