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Speaker's Abstract

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Slobodanka Dimova
Professor 
Centre for Internationalisation and Parallel Language Use (CIP)
University of Copenhagen
Title:
"Theoretical and methodological considerations: Multilingual communicative competence and disciplinary knowledge development "
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There is a growing awareness of multilingual and multicultural communicative practices in research on translanguaging in English-medium instruction (EMI) in higher education (Jiang & Zhang, 2023; Kuteeva et al., 2020). However, research continues to suggest that high English proficiency remains a strong predictor of students’ academic success, i.e. their ability to display their disciplinary knowledge (Lee et al., 2025). In order to understand the role of students’ multilingual competence, not only in relation to their knowledge display but also their knowledge, we need new, or extended, theoretical models and methodological approaches. This paper explores new theoretical and methodological considerations to explore multilingual language use in student engagement in disciplinary tasks and activities in EMI science courses.

 

Given that capturing students’ underlying multilingual competence during task engagement has been a challenge, I discuss a methodological approach suitable for appropriate data elicitation and analysis that is grounded within the theoretical framework of the project. Drawing on findings from preliminary analyses of recordings of classroom interaction, learning materials and tasks, and student interviews, I trace the role of multiple languages in disciplinary literacy development from the perspective of both the process (i.e., knowledge development) and the product (i.e., knowledge display) of individual student engagement with learning activities in the EMI classroom.

 

The presentation concludes by outlining the implications of these theoretical and methodological innovations for reconceptualizing language proficiency and disciplinary literacy in relation to educational policy, as well as teaching, learning, and assessment practices.

 

 

References

 

Jiang, A. L., & Zhang, L. J. (2023). Understanding knowledge construction in a Chinese university EMI classroom: A translanguaging perspective. System, 114, 103024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2023.103024

 

Kuteeva, M., Kaufhold, K., & Hynninen, N. (Eds.). (2020). Language perceptions and practices in multilingual universities. Palgrave Macmillan.

 

Lee, H., Rose, H., Macaro, E., & Lee, J. H. (2025). Success of EMI in higher education and its key components: A meta-analytic structural equation modelling approach. Educational Research Review, 100684. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2025.100684

Slobodanka Dimova is a Professor of Multilingualism and Language Testing at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She is the President of the European Association of Language Testing and Assessment (EALTA), member of the editorial board of the Journal of English-Medium Instruction, and a co-editor of the Routledge Studies in English-Medium Instruction.  Her current research interests include policies and practices related to the internationalization and implementation of English-medium instruction (EMI) programs at non-English-dominant universities, performance-based testing, and the use of technology in language testing and assessment. 
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