Comparing motivations and satisfaction levels of international and home students in an EMI context

EMI is gaining more ground in different parts of the world, including Turkey, and recent reviews of the previous research (Kuteeva, 2018; Macaro et al., 2018; Williams, 2015) demonstrate that some of the questions about EMI have not been fully answered. Macaro et al. (2018), in their systematic review, state that there are several variables that require further research in the field of EMI and one of these variables is "the beliefs expressed by international and home students in EMI programmes" (p. 56). Understanding motivation and satisfaction levels of home EMI students as well as of international students may help understand the globally growing EMI phenomenon. With these implications in mind, this study aimed to examine the motivation and satisfaction levels of international and home students in the EMI context, conveniently sampling eight Turkish EMI universities (three state and five private universities), in which both international and home students receive lectures in English. The participants were 232 international students from 24 countries and 248 Turkish students. All were from a large variety of academic programs, with 11 departments in total. To collect the students' motivation and satisfaction levels, the questionnaire developed by Macaro and Akincioglu (2017) was used. Preliminary analysis of the data revealed that international and home students had quite different motivational attitudes and satisfaction levels about EMI and its implementation in Turkey. A series of suggestions were made for further research.