Toward an Equitable EMI: Creating Collaborative Relations of Power for English-Disadvantaged Students in Pakistan: Creating Collaborative Relations of Power for English-Disadvantaged Students in Pakistan

Situating the challenges of English-disadvantaged students in the EMI context in one public/government sector university in Pakistan, this study uses semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers to show how teachers understand equity in the EMI context, what challenges they encounter in accounting for an equitable and socially just EMI policy and practice, and the way forward for an equitable and socially just EMI in the context. Findings suggest that in its current form, the EMI policy and practice fails to provide a level-playing field to all students, as it creates challenges for a large segment of the English-disadvantaged students, who largely belong to the remote villages/districts, and who come from the Urdu-medium government schools and other low-cost English-medium schools. Using Cummins’ (2010) concepts of ‘coercive relations of power/collaborative relations of power’ as a conceptual framework for data analysis, data suggest that institutional, ecological, and sociocultural constraints keep teachers from creating a collaboration of power in the classrooms. The language choices teachers make in the classrooms are intricately implicated in equity, justice, and inclusivity. We conclude that critical language awareness is needed at the institutional and classroom levels to create an equitable learning environment for the English-disadvantaged students.