Accommodating to English‐medium instruction in teacher education in Finland

Abstract

This study analyses teacher educators' and student teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning situations in an international English as a lingua franca (ELF) context in an English‐medium instruction (EMI) teacher education programme in Finland. The analysis of semi‐structured interviews revealed that the participants perceived a partial reversal of traditional teacher and student roles; students assisted voluntarily and teaching became reciprocal. Some teachers reflected on having used typical strategies in ELF context, such as code‐switching, to further communication and engage students. However, teachers' lack of fluency was sometimes considered causing frustration among students and affected negatively their feeling of being professional teacher educators. Nevertheless, by increasing more learner‐led activities, ELF can positively affect teacher education pedagogy.