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Description
This study investigates the challenges encountered by international students, with a focus on Vietnamese students, within English-Medium Instruction (EMI) classrooms in the contemporary higher education landscape. Utilizing a rigorous qualitative approach, the research meticulously conducts and analyzes open-ended interviews with a carefully selected sample of 10 international students enrolled in EMI programs in Taiwan. Furthermore, employing Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a probabilistic topic modeling technique widely used in Text Analysis, the study aims to uncover the nuanced complexities of the edges then challenges faced by these students during their academic journey. The findings interpret several key hurdles, including language barriers hindering the comprehension of specialized terminology and concepts, cultural disparities impacting social interactions, and diverse levels of engagement among the student body. Additionally, varying teacher management styles within EMI classrooms emerge as influential factors shaping the learning environment. Drawing from these insights, the study provides recommendations aimed at enhancing support services and encouraging a more insightful and conducive learning environment for international students and furnishes some empirical screenplays for higher education’s classroom development, in EMI programs.
