ABSTRACT
There has been a significant increase in the number of higher education institutions in Korea that offer courses and programs through English. The major move towards English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in Korea was initially reinforced by the 2004 Korea Study Project, the primary aim of which was to boost Korean universities’ internationalization by helping them attract more number of international students and faculty. The scale of EMI implementation in Korean universities ranges from only a few of courses to be taken as graduation requirement to all the courses offered by the university. However, as English is not a first language for the majority of university professors and students in Korea, this innovative language policy has brought in lots of controversies in terms of the educational effects, stakeholders’ attitudes towards EMI and its prospects. This chapter aims to analyze the current state of EMI in Korean universities from an English as a lingua franca (ELF) perspective and to make some suggestions for a future direction of EMI and language policy in Korea and other countries and regions.
