NEGOTIATING FORMS OF CAPITAL IN ENGLISH MEDIUM INSTRUCTION: INSIGHTS FROM BUSINESS LECTURERS OF A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN VIETNAM

Abstract

As English Medium Instruction (EMI) expands across Vietnamese universities, lecturers face the dual challenge of maintaining disciplinary expertise while navigating the linguistic demands of a foreign tongue. This study utilises Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital to explore the professional experiences of eight lecturers at a public university in Ho Chi Minh City specialising in different disciplinary areas, including Finance, Banking, Business Administration, Accounting, and International Economics. Through semi-structured interviews, the research investigates how these lecturers accumulate, negotiate, and convert cultural, symbolic, social, and economic capital within the EMI contexts.

The findings indicate that lecturers perform intensive "invisible labour" to develop embodied cultural capital (linguistic fluency and EMI pedagogy), which they safeguard through the strategic use of objectified capital (digital resources) and bilingual mediation. While EMI provides significant symbolic capital, positioning lecturers as global experts, this prestige remains fragile and dependent on classroom interaction. Economically, EMI offers lecturers higher pay and career marketability but imposes a significant "time cost" that threatens professional sustainability. Crucially, a lack of social capital - specifically, institutionalised peer networks – leaves lecturers feeling like "lonely wolves" in their practice. The study concludes that the quality and sustainability of EMI depend on shifting the focus from individual language proficiency thresholds to institutionalised support systems. Recommendations are made for universities to better support faculties in coping with the demands of EMI teaching and in enriching their capital.