English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI)
Reading 3.3: Case Study: Students as Authors and Peer Readers
Students have many opportunities to read in English. They can read a textbook, a course packet, or
online sources. But there is another type of reading they can do. They can read each other’s writing, and
then they can write their own comments and ideas. First of all, having students read each other’s ideas
is useful because it shows you as an instructor what problems they might be having with understanding
material. Secondly, this activity helps keep students interested in the class. Having students write on
topics and then comment on each other’s ideas allows them to choose ideas that they care about and
find interesting. They can also relate stories or examples from their own lives into what they write. And
it helps keep them interested because they can get to know their peers better and make connections in
class. This type of reading and writing is real communication, in addition to adding to students’ learning
of course content and providing a sense of class community.
The following case study highlights a strategy to have your students read and comment on each other’s
work. This Dean from Foreign Languages in Ho Chi Minh City shares his ideas for involving students and
his analysis of the different ways this activity helps them get engaged. As you read this, consider how
you might implement any of these strategies in your situation.
Case Study
• Tin T. Dang, PhD, Dean, Faculty of Foreign Languages
• University of Education and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMUTE),
Vietnam: HCMUTE has 13 Faculties and 1 Institute, with strengths in
science, engineering, and technology. They have bachelor’s, master’s,
and doctoral programs, as well as joint international programs. They
offer over ten programs taught in English.
• Student entry requirements: EMI programs require Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages level B2
“Tin T. Dang” by Dawn Bikowski is
Steps to Help Students to Read and Respond to their Classmates’ Work: licensed under the CC0 license.
1. Use your university’s course management system.
Using your university course management system (CMS) is useful because it is free, students
and instructors have access to it, and it is stable. If you don’t have a university CMS, other options are
social media (such as Facebook) or free CMSs (such as Edmodo or Schoology). Before you assign this
online discussion activity, assign smaller tasks to complete in the CMS so that they can become used to
it.
2. Create case studies or questions for students to discuss and ask students to comment on them in the
online discussion forum area of your course management system. Also ask students to write a
response to a classmate. The case study or question you write should have these characteristics:
© 2022 by Ohio University. English as a Medium of Instruction MOOC Reading 3.3 Case Study:
Students as Authors and Peer Readers for the Online Professional English Network (OPEN),
sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government and 1
administered by FHI 360. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
License, except where noted. To view a copy of this license, visit
[Link]
• Questions should be interesting to students. Questions should be related to their lives or future
careers. For example, if you are teaching a unit on Ethics in an Engineering or Technology
course, then you can write case studies or questions that are related to interesting topics from
class but that also relate to their lives.
• Directions and grading should be clear. Tell your students what you expect them to do,
specifically. Also be sure you include grading criteria.
Sample case study question: “You are on a team working on a new project related to facial recognition;
you realize that your team members are gathering data and images of faces from shoppers in a nearby
store without asking them for their permission. What would you do in that situation? Would you report
your teammates to a supervisor? Would you forget about it and assume it is fine? Would you tell a co-
worker? State what you would do and explain your answer in at least 50 words. Also, use at least one
source from class (the textbook or a reading) in your answer. Post a comment of at least 3 sentences on
a classmate’s post. You will receive full credit if your answer is related to the question, the length is at
least 50 words, you include at least one source with the citation, and you post at least 3 sentences on a
classmate’s post.”
3. Extend this activity by inviting students to write questions or case studies. Ask students to volunteer
to write questions for the class to answer. It is a good idea to check their questions before they post
them to the group, to make sure their questions make sense and are related to class content. Then be
sure to go online yourself and post some comments to student questions so that the whole class can see
how important it is to join this online conversation.
4. Lead in-class discussions with students about the online discussions. In class, you can answer any
questions that students have and periodically explain to them why it is so important to reply to other
classmate’s comments. Students who are only focused on the content and task need to remember that
when they participate in online discussions, they are building a feeling of community in the course,
which helps all of them learn. Also, discussing the topics in both the class and online helps ensure that
students with different communication styles feel connected. Some like to discuss more online and
others like to discuss more in class. This way, everyone gets a chance. Finally, you can point out to your
students that their reading is improving.
This case study from Dr. Tin shows how reading can be used in class to build connections and as real
communication. Students can see that reading is not just a boring school activity—it is an important way
to learn content and connect with others.