Classifying the writing assessment tasks of English as the medium of instruction programs using latent class analysis

Abstract

This study developed a frame to characterize writing tasks required by English as the medium of instruction (EMI) programs and tested it with 55 writing tasks from two EMI programs (creative arts and environmental studies). Results of latent class analysis (LCA) showed: (1) three classes were salient: response-oriented class, argument-oriented class, and description-oriented class; 2) response-oriented tasks dominated creative arts tasks, argument-oriented tasks dominated environmental studies tasks, whereas description-oriented tasks were used as complementary tasks by both programs; and 3) from foundation stage to advanced stages of study, the use of two dominating classes decreased while the use of the complementary class increased. Implications for analyzing EMI writing tasks and for developing language curriculum are discussed.