Facilitative Effects of Feedback Delivered via a Social Q&A Platform in the English-Medium Instruction Context

Abstract

English is becoming the global language of business, education, science and scholarship, and English- medium instruction (EMI) in higher education is a rapidly growing, multidimensional global phenomenon. Previous research on EMI has predominantly highlighted the forces driving this phenomenon, implementation challenges, and stakeholders’ language proficiency and attitudes, while very few studies have discussed changes in pedagogical practices to improve the quality of EMI at the micro level, particularly in the Asian context. This article investigates the effects of formative feedback delivered via a social Q&A online platform on learners’ performance and motivation and explores students’ perceptions of the use of the platform. It analysed pre-test, post-test, and questionnaire data from 130 students enrolled in an English-mediated business course at an EMI university in South Korea. These data were supplemented by the focus-group interview with eight students. The findings suggested that the application of the platform was viewed favourably by the students and that technology-mediated feedback significantly enhanced their writing performance and motivation, increased their language and content knowledge, and supported their active engagement. The findings have several pedagogical implications for other EMI contexts.