Issues in Formative Assessment and Feedback in EMI Classrooms

Abstract

It is quite sensible to outline the definition of EMI espoused in this chapter before we talk about formative assessment and feedback strategies in EMI classes. This chapter adopts the definition of Macaro et al. (2018) of EMI as “The use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in coun tries or jurisdictions where the first language of the majority of the population is not English” (p. 37). Thus, it is important to know that formative assessment and feedback described here relate to academic subjects (called content subjects in this chapter) conducted in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. The ceaseless spread of EMI, mainly due to “the requirement of a shared medium in the wake of globaliza tion” (Siddiqui et al., 2021), has become an undeniable fact, has maintained a high rate of influence and demand (Siegel, 2022) and has sparked an unprecedented need to train teachers, lecturers and professors to run EMI classrooms effectively (Huang & Singh, 2014). While the use of EMI in classrooms to teach content subjects has been justified by policymakers, curriculum designers, and researchers in different parts of the globe, it has been concomitantly acknowledged that EMI houses a number of challenges that permeate classrooms at all levels. Siegel (2022) sums up the source of these challenges as he states.