A sneak peek at training English-medium instructors in China

Abstract

English-medium Instruction (EMI) has become increasingly common in non-English speaking countries such as China. EMI instructors’ inadequate English proficiency has been reported as a major hindrance to successful EMI. This study examined EMI instructors’ perceptions on the effectiveness of overseas training programs. The participants of the study were 75 instructors from 20 universities in a big metropolis in China who were engaged in a four-month international assignment in one of the universities in Australia, Canada and the US between 2009 and 2010. Data sources included survey and written reports. Constant comparison was applied to generate common themes. Results indicated that the instructors regarded the training programs that focused more heavily on pedagogy as more effective and hoped for more context-specific pedagogy applicable to Chinese educational systems. They perceived the training programs with an emphasis on supervised teaching practices as more effective. Implications are provided for EMI instructors and administrators.