ABSTRACT
‘You people have silenced my voice’ – a PhD student at an English-medium university in Pakistan once complained. Similar experiences are shared by students at EMI tertiary institutions in Kachru's outer and expanding Circle countries in general, and from public Urdu-medium or low-income EMI schools in Pakistan, in particular. EMI is considered essential to improve students’ proficiency in English, and educational standards more generally. What are the ‘dreams and realities’ of EMI in the context of the socially divided (and divisive) and ‘fractured’ system of education in Pakistan? Can EMI help students’ access ‘quality education’ in Pakistan and internationally? Is EMI a marker of quality in education? How does EMI impact the learning outcomes of students from different educational and socio-economic backgrounds? Can EMI serve as a social and economic equaliser in Pakistan? These questions will be unpacked in this chapter in relation to the recent policies and practices of language-in-education in Pakistan and South Asia. An intersectional lens will be used to locate the issues and perceived benefits around EMI within the broader framework of linguistic rights, and social and educational equity. Finally, translanguaging, a recent trend in varied EMI contexts, will be discussed as a way forward.
