Student preferences and practices regarding first language use in English medium education: A scoping review across Southeast Asian universities

Although contextually diverse, English medium education (EME) in Southeast Asian higher education frequently involves domestic students actively engaging their first language (L1) to achieve academic success. To date, research has focused primarily on teachers’ L1 practices; however student perspectives are also needed to inform EME policies and pedagogies. This paper reports a scoping review to identify recent empirical studies offering student perspectives on L1 use in EME in Southeast Asian higher education. The review located 11 papers providing data from six countries on student preferences and practices regarding L1 use. These papers were analysed using the six dimensions of EME in the Dafouz and Smit ROAD-MAPPING framework (2020, 2023). Across the sample most students advocated L1 use whenever necessary for fully engaging with content. Students’ L1 practices were primarily for three purposes: independently accessing and making meaning of academic content, engaging others in making meaning of academic content, and socialising with peers. Variation in preferences and practices broadly reflected differences in national sociolinguistic context and the recency of EME, whilst more directly reflecting six student-experienced factors: challenging academic content, institutional policy, students’ English proficiency, teachers’ L1 practices, a shared L1 among peers, and students’ employment expectations. Linking these factors to students’ purposeful practices suggests several criteria for principled L1 use in EME, as well as further implications for policy and pedagogy to facilitate EME as a multilingual enterprise, where English and other languages work in tandem to achieve intended academic outcomes.