Student perceptions of an engineering course co-taught by an English Instructor at an EMI university in the UAE

Nader Ayish
Khalifa University, United Arab Emirates

The way engineering students perceive an engineering course that is co-taught between an English instructor and two engineering faculty at an English medium instruction (EMI) university has not been studied. In order to better understand how students perceive such a course, a survey consisting of 12 items with a 5-point Likert-scale and two open-ended questions was distributed to 45 Emirati male and female sophomore engineering students at a UAE university. Ten semi-structured interviews were also conducted. Three themes were identified from the interviews: writing and research skills, language and communication support, and distribution of responsibility. Results also indicate that most students found that having an English instructor co-teach their course was beneficial and made a meaningful impact on their learning and language development. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed, along with the role instructors from different disciplines can play in developing an effective co-teaching course.
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Author: Nader Ayish is an assistant professor in the Department of English, College of Arts & Sciences, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He has taught and developed a range of courses at George Mason University, American University, and George Washington University in Washington DC, USA. Much of his research has examined the use of language as both a teaching and persuasive tool. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0229-1820 Email: nader.ayish@ku.ac.ae Please cite as: Ayish, N. (2022). Student perceptions of an engineering course co-taught by an English Instructor at an EMI university in the UAE. Issues in Educational Research, 32(1), 16-35. http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/ayish.pdf