Enactment of English medium instruction in under-resourced educational contexts: A case of multilingual public secondary schools in Nepal

English as a medium of instruction (EMI) policy has shown substantial growth in all levels of education, driven by diverse aspirations such as raising individuals’ global competitiveness and internationalization of education. Such a growth of EMI has been questioned from equity perspective. However, they largely draw on perception-based evidence, and do not capture exactly why and how the EMI has arisen and been practiced at the school and classroom levels, against the official, multilingual policy. This paper explores the practiced EMI policy through a qualitative multi-case study, involving in-depth interviews, focus groups and classroom observations in three Nepalese public secondary schools. The data were analysed thematically drawing on the theory of policy enactment and translanguaging. Findings showed that schools consciously chose EMI in full or part for practical reasons (e.g., career prospect) opening some equity-related issues, but teachers and students commonly adopted translanguaging strategies to deal with language and content-related problems and to level the ground for students with limited English proficiency. The findings ask critical language policy researchers to seriously consider the context in theorising equitable language policy. Practical measures to increase educational equity, such as legitimising the use of community languages in class, are also proposed.