Conferences and workshops 

The International Conference on English Medium Instruction 
held November 24, 25 and 26, 2018 at South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China, with the theme of “EMI: Defining teacher competencies and student needs”

The ideal competencies of the English Medium Instruction teacher 

Ernesto Macaro, University of Oxford (Keynote speaker)

The growth in academic subjects taught, in universities, through the medium of English, in non-Anglophone countries (English Medium Instruction, EMI) has been matched by a growth in research into its practice and desirability. Much of this research indicates that EMI teachers need professional development if they are to teach effectively. Although some professional development programmes in EMI are available, there appears to be no consensus as to the competencies needed of an EMI teacher, nor is there an existing international certification of those competencies. In this presentation I will propose that EMI teacher competencies must ideally include the knowledge and understanding of the linguistic challenges faced by their students. That knowledge and understanding can only come about if they are prepared to consider themselves even to a limited extent as language teachers. I will present initial findings from an international research project investigating EMI teacher attitudes to competencies and to certification.

More information, conference schedule and workshop programme (scroll down for the English version): https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/SRkZ97yCFZDDBN9oLIbHKg

Recorded presentations from EMI Oxford Symposium
held July 5, 2017 at The University of Oxford

A systematic review of EMI research

Ernesto Macaro (with Samantha Curle, Jiangshan An, Jack Pun and Julie Dearden),
University of Oxford

The rapid growth of EMI in the tertiary sector raises some interesting questions for the Applied Linguistics and TESOL communities. For example, how and to what extent are English-medium lectures in Anglophone and non-Anglophone contexts comparable? If an L2-English user decides to study at an English-medium university, will their academic achievement be a ected if they choose an EMI setting over an L1-English setting? Crucially, without big data on EMI classroom practices we are unable to provide a rm basis on which future research into EMI can be built.
In this talk I will be presenting findings from a corpus-based research project which sought to open the door to the EMI lecture room to determine whether there are differences in the vocabulary usage pro les of EMI and L1-English lectures; to pinpoint where those differences lie; and to draw implications for students, researchers and practitioners who are engaged in English-medium tertiary education.

Lexical diversity and coverage in tertiary-level STEM: a corpus-based comparison of English-medium lectures in Anglophone and non-Anglophone contexts​

Jessica Briggs Baffoe-Djan, University of Oxford

The rapid growth of EMI in the tertiary sector raises some interesting questions for the Applied Linguistics and TESOL communities. For example, how and to what extent are English-medium lectures in Anglophone and non-Anglophone contexts comparable? If an L2-English user decides to study at an English-medium university, will their academic achievement be a ected if they choose an EMI setting over an L1-English setting? Crucially, without big data on EMI classroom practices we are unable to provide a rm basis on which future research into EMI can be built.
In this talk I will be presenting findings from a corpus-based research project which sought to open the door to the EMI lecture room to determine whether there are differences in the vocabulary usage pro les of EMI and L1-English lectures; to pinpoint where those differences lie; and to draw implications for students, researchers and practitioners who are engaged in English-medium tertiary education.

Language and disciplinary learning combined: CLIL challenging conceptions of language skills

Tarja Nikula
Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä

This presentation is concerned with content and language integrated learning, CLIL. While research on CLIL and other forms of content-based instruction has revealed a great deal about benefits and challenges in teaching through the medium of a second/foreign language, the notion of integration itself and its impact on how language and learning are approached has only recently started to attract more attention (e.g. Llinares, Morton & Whittaker 2012; Nikula et al. 2016; Lin 2016). This presentation will argue that focus on integration invites a re-orientation to language and language skills as area-specific. Firstly, the implications of this at the conceptual level will be discussed. Secondly, how discipline-specificity is brought into being in processes of classroom interaction will be explored by examining data extracts from secondary level CLIL classrooms in Finland. It will be argued that approaching language skills as disciplinary has implications not only for academic research but also for teacher education in ways that extend well beyond CLIL to any educational context.