ABSTRACT
Internationalization has for decades ranked high among the most significant influences on the reform of higher education around the world. Many higher institutions in South Korea have competitively implemented English Medium Instruction (EMI) courses to increase their international index with divergent understandings and interpretations of EMI across campus. This study reports the results of a case study on the internationalization of Korean higher education and its effect on language use at two Korean universities. The examination of language use in four EMI courses and two non-EMI courses at these two universities reveals that instructors of those courses implement flexible Medium-of-Instruction policies, employing divergent forms of Korean-English bilingual practices. The practices and policies concerning internationalization and the increasing use of English in these courses serve to blur the boundaries between EMI and non-EMI courses. That is, both EMI and non-EMI courses incorporate English as either a primary or a secondary medium of instruction through English-Mixed instruction. The results illuminate how English expands into the local, non-EMI classrooms, by playing a predominant role in academic success.
