First-year Students in an EMI Program: Developing International Mindsets?

Abstract

Developing international and intercultural competences is often considered one of the benefits of studying in English-medium Instruction settings, but how students perceive universities’ attempts to internationalize and how much importance they place on internationalization activities, including curricular internationalization, is not yet fully clear. This paper presents the results of part of a questionnaire for first-year students in an English-taught Psychology bachelor’s degree program in Italy regarding conceptions of internationalization. The single case study design, using mixed methods, allows an in-depth, micro-level analysis. It sheds light on how students perceive pedagogical, curricular and knowledge construction aspects in EMI settings. In this section of the questionnaire, students (n=52) ranked nine dimensions relating to internationalization and responded to an open-ended question about what internationalization of the curriculum (IoC) means to them. Statistical analysis of the ranking showed students associated internationalization most frequently with preparing for employment in a globalized world, followed by putting students from different backgrounds together and studying international content in the discipline. Thematic analysis of answers to the open-ended question revealed students held multi-layered conceptions and engaged with the intercultural and epistemic aspects of Leask’s definition of IoC (2015).