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Explore the growing trend of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in higher education and the role of EAP practitioners in supporting non-native English speaking academics. Discover the benefits of EMI, challenges faced, and the opportunity for EAP practitioners to play a central role in this educational shift.
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EMI: why EAP practitioners should engage BALEAP Biennial Bristol Mary Page 9April 2017
CLIL Content and Language Integrated Learning CLIL has 2 functions: • to teach both content and a language at the same time, equally and in parallel; • the teacher can be seen to be a teacher of content and a language teacher; • mostly secondary school level. BUT: some universities DO undertake a CLIL approach.
EMI • “[t]he use of the English language to teach academic subjects in countries or jurisdictions where the first language (L1) of the majority of the population is not English” (Dearden 2015: 2).
My understanding • tertiary level; • (English) is the vehicle through which content is delivered; • academic is not a language teacher; • any improvement in language skills is a by-product.
Wider context • increasing number of distance taught programmes and modules; • MOOCs; • the reality of UK experiences.
EL Gazette: this week’s edition • In one Italian university international student numbers gone up from 17% (2012/2013) to 30%; • “English-medium courses must now also be offered in Italian, and universities will only be able to offer single units taught solely in English if the subject matter requires it”; • Italian simply ‘didn’t have the words’ to teach some technical courses and that teaching in English had become vital to what they offer….. • ‘I teach advanced computer architectures, and in Italian I simply don’t have the words to teach it’.
EMI growth in Europe (Wächter and Maiworm 2014)
Local interpretations of EMI No single, standard “model”: • widespread use of English throughout campus to include administrative and support staff; • bi-lingual / tri-lingual campuses; • selected programmes delivered through English; • some use of English in class because of discipline/texts.
Personal context • Began UoS Pre-sessional in 2002, and stayed; • 2007! • Professor Jennifer Jenkins arrived: ELF! • founded “Centre for Global Englishes”; • Largely ELF, but increasingly EMI; • I taught our first EMI course at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Southampton EMI courses • Aarhus, Denmark; • UAEM Toluca, Mexico; • Nizhny Novgorod, Russia; • Tomsk Polytechnic University, Russia; • Malmo University, Sweden; • EMN, France; + colleagues have taken my materials to run a short course in China.
EMI course content • Language used in lectures and seminars; • Good practice with communication in international settings; • Confidence building; • Pedagogical issues. In the UK: a “slice of life”
Guesstimate of NNES academics in UK Academic year 2005/06 Percentage of academic staff in UK universities not UK nationals: • In post: 19.1% • Appointed that AY: 27% (Universities UK Policy Briefing, 2007)
Academic year 2011/12 Academic staff at UK higher education institutions not UK nationality • Full-time: 28% • Part-time: 18% Average: 24% (Higher Education in Facts and Figures , 2013)
Current “hot topics” • Which English? • ELF and/or English as a (multi) lingua franca; • Multi (pluri) lingualism; • “Ownership” of English now it is the world’s academic lingua franca; • Status of NES and NNES (NaSLOTE?); • Intercultural (Transcultural?) communication; • recent BALEAP thread “teacher” or “academic”.
Who are the people best placed to aid NNES academics both in the UK and globally to deliver through the medium of English?
Conclusion • detected some feelings that EAP practitioners are not “real” academics; • involvement in EMI – in its widest interpretation – is an opportunity to function at the heart of our universities and not on the periphery