Medium of Instruction

A medium of instruction is the language used to teach in a classroom, which may or may not be the same as a country's official language. Because students' first languages often differ from the official state language, some education systems use students' native languages for part or all of their schooling, and the policy framework can also extend to bilingual or multilingual instruction. UNESCO has emphasized that teaching a child in their mother tongue is a critical issue for their development. In higher education and specialized training, instruction commonly takes place in a language students do not use at home, a practice known as content and language integrated learning, and when English is the teaching language for non-native speakers specifically the practice is called English-medium instruction. Choosing a medium of instruction means balancing linguistic access, national identity, and educational outcomes. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/