Asian Social Science; Vol. 10, No. 16; 2014 ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 123 Dialogic Interactions in the English-Mediated Classroom: A Case Study of a Social Science Class for Engineering Students in Korea Jinsook Choi 1 , Bradley Tatar 1 & Jeongyeon Kim 1 1 Division of General Studies, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea Correspondence: Jinsook Choi, Division of General Studies, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, South Korea. Tel: 82-52-217-2014. E-mail: jschoi@unist.ac.kr Received: May 27, 2014 Accepted: June 30, 2014 Online Published: July 24, 2014 doi:10.5539/ass.v10n16p123 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n16p123 Abstract In this paper, we explore the role of dialogic interactions in enhancing L2 undergraduate students’ classroom participation at a university in South Korea. Previous studies on English-mediated instruction (EMI) have focused primarily on the efficiency of instruction, as evaluated in terms of the skills and proficiency levels of the students or instructors, based on the assumption that L2 linguistic competence is the primary prerequisite for successful EMI classes. However, drawing upon survey and interview data of students’ perceptions of dialogic teaching and classroom observation data, we demonstrate the success of dialogic teaching. Our findings suggest that L2 speakers can participate effectively in interactions in English when the class is designed systematically to allow multiple responses built upon their previous knowledge. Keywords: dialogic interaction, authentic discussion, English-mediated instruction (EMI), collaborative learning, South Korea 1. Introduction English-mediated instruction (EMI) has been practiced in many Asian countries due to the promotion of the internationalization of higher education. Numerous studies have examined both positive and negative effects of EMI on students’ learning processes and outcomes. Positive perspectives of EMI have a great bearing on the internationalization of the campus, as universities have attracted more international students on this basis (Hou et al., 2013; Manakul, 2007; Tsuneyoshi, 2005). Negative perspectives of EMI have centered mainly on ineffective delivery of course content and little evidence of improvement in English language abilities (Chang, 2010; Cho, 2012; Kang, 2012; Oh & Lee, 2010; Tsuneyoshi, 2005). Moreover, difficulties which have been reported in the interactions between instructors and students are believed to result in inefficient education, particularly in cases in which EMI courses are taught by non-native speakers (NNS) (Klassen & Graff, 2001; Yip et al., 2007). In Kang and Park’s study (2005), Korean engineering students showed avoidance of EMI because they perceived English as a barrier to comprehension of lectures. However, in a comparative study of EMI and Korean classes for medical students, Joe and Lee (2013) discovered that there was not much difference in students’ test scores, which proves that EMI is not necessarily a barrier to lecture comprehension. These studies of EMI have focused primarily on the efficiency of instruction, as evaluated in terms of the skills, competencies, and proficiency levels of the students or professors. Thus, these studies treat English skill, i.e., L2 linguistic competence, as the primary prerequisite for successful EMI classes. However, little empirical research has been conducted on actual classroom discourse, and none of the studies have dealt with non-major courses. Further, many have focused on “lecture comprehension” (Joe & Lee, 2013; Kang & Park, 2005; Park, 2006), which denotes instructors’ monologic instruction of students. In contrast to the claims made in the educational studies mentioned above, in this paper we hypothesize that NNS students are able to interact with the instructor and other students if the instruction is designed systematically to facilitate and encourage students to participate in classroom interaction. We demonstrated the success of dialogic teaching through survey data of students’ perceptions of dialogic teaching and two examples of classroom discourse in which dialogic interactions were found.