English medium instruction as a multiscalar language policy process: Capturing neoliberal motives, English-only implementation and multilingual realities

This study investigates how English medium instruction (EMI) is conceptualised, organised, and implemented at national, institutional, and classroom levels. Drawing on a multi-level, multi-dimensional policy framework, we examine Bangladesh as the macro-level context and focus on one university and its classrooms as meso- and micro-level cases. The study utilised multiple data sources, including policy documents, interviews, classroom observations, and stimulated recall. Across the levels of policy implementation, the findings point to three common ideological drivers: employability, internationalisation, and English proficiency as capital. In terms of language management, bilingualism is encouraged in national policy documents and by macro-level actors, although it remains largely symbolic. At the meso level, institutional actors translate national goals into English-dominant policies through their recruitment preferences, English-only requirements, and admissions thresholds. At the micro level, however, teachers intentionally employ translanguaging to support student learning, thereby counterbalancing the top-down emphasis on English. These discrepancies highlight EMI as an ongoing, negotiated process. By foregrounding teachers’ translanguaging as a principled form of policy enactment rather than a deviation from policy, the study offers practical guidance for national authorities and universities seeking to develop EMI models that are both pedagogically sound and equitable.