Embodied lecturing in engineering in English-Medium Instruction (EMI): exploring the interaction between gestures, (Dis)Fluencies, and pragmatic challenges

This study investigates the communicative challenges faced by an Italian first language (L1) lecturer delivering engineering courses through English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in an international master’s program in Italy. Using a case study approach, the research explores how variations in speech rate, disfluencies, and the lecturer’s use of verbal and non-verbal strategies influence the teaching and learning experience. Data were triangulated from a video-recorded lecture, student feedback, and the lecturer’s reflections, with the analysis centered on student perspectives to address their pressing challenges in EMI classrooms. The findings highlight significant variations in the lecturer’s speech rate, particularly during the explanation of complex technical content. Higher speech rates are associated with straightforward explanations, while slower rates occur during more conceptually challenging segments. Additionally, the study examines the relationship between speech rate and the lecturer’s pragmatic functions to understand the causes behind these fluctuations. Disfluencies were analyzed to differentiate between pauses caused by communication breakdowns and those used deliberately as communicative strategies to engage students or give them time to process complex material in their second language (L2). Gestures were also scrutinized to assess their role in either facilitating understanding or compensating for challenges in lexical retrieval and complex explanations. Although the lecturer’s technical expertise supports content mastery, rapid speech during explanations, issues with lexical retrieval, and occasional misalignment between gestures and speech contribute to students’ challenges in understanding vocabulary, particularly in STEM fields. While the study reinforces that both students and lecturers cooperate effectively to achieve communicative goals in English as a Lingua Franca in Academic (ELFA) contexts, it also emphasizes the need to further empower EMI lecturers by providing research-based evidence to improve specific areas of communication. From a methodological perspective, this study expands the scope of EMI research beyond traditional focuses on English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) and English Language Teaching (ELT) by integrating Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and Conversation Analysis (CA) approaches. It also contributes to the growing interest in applying a multimodal lens to the analysis of EMI. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of viewing verbal and so-called non-verbal resources, such as gestures, as integral communicative tools. This study further provides evidence that gestures are not mere accessories to speech but meaningful tools that may reveal challenges lecturers and students face in EMI settings, which may not be expressed through words. Given the embodied nature of teaching, the findings reinforce the value of studying gestures as playing a key role in either facilitating or hindering comprehension. The results support the need for EMI-specific training programs that enhance communicative strategies tailored to the disciplinary needs of both international and domestic students, particularly in technical fields like engineering.