ETHODOLOGY FOR DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ INTEGRATED PROFESSIONAL-COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN EMI (ENGLISH-MEDIUM INSTRUCTION) SETTINGS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57033/mijournals-2026-9-0169Keywords:
English-Medium Instruction, EMI, professional-communicative competence, content-language integration, higher education, CLIL, curriculum design.Abstract
This study investigates a methodology for developing integrated
professional-communicative competence among university students in English-Medium
Instruction (EMI) settings. As the global expansion of EMI programs in higher education
accelerates, the dual challenge of simultaneously mastering disciplinary content and
developing advanced English-language proficiency has become a critical pedagogical
concern. Employing a quasi-experimental design, this research involved 80 third-
year undergraduate students at a university in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, divided into an
experimental group (n = 40) receiving an integrated Content-Language-Professional
(CLP) instructional methodology and a control group (n = 40) following conventional
EMI instruction. Data were collected through pre- and post-tests measuring disciplinary
knowledge, communicative competence, and professional-communicative task
performance over one academic semester (16 weeks). Results demonstrated that the CLP
methodology produced statistically significant gains across all three dimensions, with
the experimental group outperforming the control group on the integrated competence
measure (t(78) = 4.62, p < 0.001, d = 1.03). Qualitative interview data revealed that
students in the experimental group reported greater confidence in using English for
discipline-specific professional communication. These findings suggest that purposefully
designed integrative methodologies can effectively address the content-language gap in
EMI programs and have implications for curriculum design, teacher training, and EMI
policy in expanding-circle contexts.
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