How Do Tertiary Lecturers and Multilingual Students Manage the Multiple Discourses within English Medium Instruction (EMI) Engineering Courses in Thailand?

<p><strong>English Medium Instruction (EMI) in tertiary education has been growing globally. It is seen as a way to enhance countries’ economic competitiveness. Studies have revealed challenges as well as benefits for students and lecturers. However, there is limited empirical research on EMI in remote areas of Thailand. This study investigated how multilingual lecturers and students prepared for, perceived, and adapted to EMI implementation in four engineering courses at a Thai university. Data were collected from interviews with four lecturers and 18 students, four classroom observations, and four sets of teaching-related documents. The data were analysed thematically and discussed using the ROAD-MAPPING theoretical framework (Dafouz & Smit, 2016, 2020) to examine the complex scenarios of English-Medium Education in multilingual university settings through its six components, with discourses as a central idea. The findings revealed influences on the teaching and learning practices of multilingual students and lecturers in these EMI classes. The four key themes were: Preparing for EMI Teaching and Learning, Using Languages to Facilitate Learning, Lecturers’ Teaching Strategies in Action, and Dealing with Challenges in EMI Classes. These themes illustrate how different discourses played out in these EMI classrooms, and revealed social practices that constructed and shaped the discourses of engineering. The participants’ practices included embracing diverse languages including English and developing teaching and learning strategies to manage challenges arising from their engagement in EMI. The lecturers and students valued interactions in classes. Lecturers valued interactions with students therefore, most lecturers designed activities in which students were required to collaborate. Students also valued interactions, so they used every feasible way to communicate with their classmates including using English as well as their home languages. The lecturers did not stop students from using home languages for class work. Therefore, English and home languages (Thai, Isan, Tagalog and Bisaya) supported each other rather than competing. The findings also suggested that forces like globalisation influenced the university and lecturers to prepare graduates to be competent both in content and language skills through the medium of EMI. The local context led to specific practices for engineering EMI. The synergies between global and local influences developed into contextualised EMI practices at University X. These findings from the unique context of University X together with the ROAD-MAPPING framework (Dafouz & Smit, 2016, 2020) evolved into a localised teaching and learning approach in this EMI context where increasing numbers of lecturers and learners did not share a first language. This is conceptualised as a Lotus model which represents components influencing the specific discourses of engineering, both the observable and unobservable. The lotus also reflects the relationships among these components. The Lotus model offers a glocalised roadmap for teaching and learning in other multilingual EMI contexts. This model may assist higher education institutions in other contexts in developing guidelines to ensure that EMI is transformative and sustainable.</strong></p>