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. 2025 Oct 9;25(1):1392.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07966-2.

Understanding the learning experience of Chinese nursing students in an English-medium instructional program: growth and challenges

Qianyu Liang #  1 , Jiaqi Zheng #  1 , Weichen Zhang  1 , Qingxian Liu  1 , Xiaodan Lin  1 , Miaolan Guo  1 , Jing Su  2
Affiliations

Understanding the learning experience of Chinese nursing students in an English-medium instructional program: growth and challenges

Qianyu Liang et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: English has served as the predominant language for academic communication on a worldwide scale. There is a growing demand for nursing professionals that possess international competency. However, the experience of utilizing English as a medium of instruction (EMI) for teaching nursing academic courses in mainland China is inadequate.

Purpose: In depth explore the Chinese nursing students' learning experience under EMI teaching mode.

Methods: Thirty-two undergraduate students from Nursing EMI program were selected using convenience sampling to participate in Focus Group Discussion (FGD).

Results: Three major themes have been extracted: advantages of English Medium Instruction, challenges encountered during the process of EMI learning, students' suggestions on Nursing EMI program. These three major themes encompass fifteen sub-themes.

Conclusion: The Nursing EMI program has improved students' comprehensive professionalism and international competency, however, coping with using English as the medium of instruction in China's Nursing education remains in exploratory stage, and requires further educational reform.

Keywords: Educational reform; English-medium instruction; Nursing education; Qualitative research; Undergraduates.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval was gained by the Shantou University Medical College (SUMC-2024-001). During the research process, we obtained informed consent from all participants, ensuring they were fully aware of the study’s purpose, methods, potential risks, and benefits. We are committed to protecting participants’ privacy and data security, and to ensuring the transparency and compliance of the research process. Consent for publication: All presentations of case reports have consent for publication. Although this study involves the collection of data from nursing EMI students, all participant information has been anonymized to protect their privacy. Therefore, no identifying images or other personal or details that compromise anonymity are included in the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Themes and sub-themes identified from focus group analysis on nursing EMI experiences
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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