English Subject As An EMI Support Ecosystem: A Bibliometric Synthesis Of EAP, Academic Literacy, and Classroom Discourse Within EMI Studies

Abstract

English-medium instruction (EMI) has expanded rapidly as part of the internationalization of higher education, yet its effectiveness depends on sustained language support and classroom practices that enable meaningful academic participation. This study maps the research landscape of EMI and synthesizes the role of English subject as an EMI support ecosystem through three domains: EAP or academic language, academic literacy, and classroom discourse. Bibliographic data were retrieved from Scopus using the query TITLE-ABS-KEY (English-medium instruction for English subject), with limits on publication year, subject area (ARTS), document type (article), and language (English). The final dataset comprised 139 articles indexed in Scopus for 2015-2025. The analysis combined descriptive bibliometric indicators, citation-oriented reading, normalized author-keyword frequency, and keyword co-occurrence mapping using VOSviewer (density, network, and overlay visualizations). The results show sharp publication growth after 2021, peaking in 2025, with International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism and System as the leading publication venues. EMI appears as the central thematic node, while translanguaging emerges as a major and relatively recent hotspot. Related terms such as assessment, vocabulary, English proficiency, and classroom interaction indicate that pedagogical support is integral to EMI research. The synthesis suggests that English subject can function as a strategic support infrastructure by strengthening academic language, genre-based academic literacy, and interactional competence while accommodating multilingual scaffolding. These findings offer a bibliometric basis for designing more effective and equitable EMI support.