VietTESOL International Convention 2026

Against the backdrop of the National Foreign Languages Project and the growing internationalization of higher education in Vietnam, English-Medium Instruction (EMI) has emerged as a significant educational phenomenon in Vietnamese universities. Despite the rapid expansion of EMI, research on how students strategically cope with learning disciplinary content through English remains limited, particularly in the Vietnamese context. Drawing on the EMI-specific strategy framework proposed by Macaro (2021), this study explores the strategies Vietnamese undergraduate students employ to navigate EMI learning environments. The study focuses on four dimensions of coping strategies, including content comprehension, listening and classroom interaction, note-taking practices, and vocabulary management. Adopting a qualitative approach, the study collects data from semi-structured interviews and reflective journals involving twelve undergraduate students enrolled in English-medium disciplinary courses at a Vietnamese university. The findings reveal that students primarily prioritize disciplinary content comprehension over language development and employ a range of compensatory strategies to overcome linguistic and psychological challenges in EMI classrooms. Students also strategically utilize technological tools, contextual inference, and first-language (L1) support to facilitate understanding and participation. The study contributes to the growing body of EMI research by offering context-specific insights into students’ strategic adaptation in Vietnamese higher education and providing pedagogical implications for EMI teaching and learning in similar EFL contexts.
Keywords: English-Medium Instruction (EMI), coping strategies, Vietnamese higher education, qualitative research