A Rhizomatic Analysis of the Korean EMI Experience: A Report on Shifting Attitudes towards English as a Medium of Instruction in South Korea

Abstract

This study investigates the EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) experience of nursing students in South Korea. From a questionnaire, two-thirds of the participants reported that English should be the primary language of instruction, even when the same number of students preferred L1 as their collaboration medium. In response to the current literature on the Korean EMI experience, this paper adopts an original application of Deleuze and Guattari's ideas in its qualitative analysis of Korean EMI to understand better why students would choose English over their L1. Instead of explaining the contradictions in EMI learning with neoliberal and capitalist critiques, the contribution of this paper is to illustrate the heterogeneity and the transformative shifts in Korean higher education and the specific function that students have in engendering new forms of identities through EMI praxis.

Received: 21 December 2022 / Accepted: 3 February 2023 / Published: 5 March 2023