EMI for Universities: How to Benefit from Embodying It into Educational Process

Abstract

The article considers the role of the English language in global tertiary education (ESP/EAP, Adjunct ESP, EMI and ICLHE) and use a critical approach to analyze the current state of EMI integration into the educational process and tensions that arise due to conceptual gap in its adaptation to existing education policy. Applying a critical theory framework, the authors study the differences between EMI and internationalization that both instructors and university management adopt to curriculum design and pedagogy development. The research examines the ways internationalization and the EMI strategy affect curriculum design in universities; the ways university management incorporates global trends into curriculum design; the impediments that discourage the implementation of these programs identified by both educators and students. The researchers examine the EMI implementation under three dimensions: epistemology, teaching praxis, and ontological elements of students’ development and use document analysis related to the administration, curriculum, and course syllabi of EMI programs, followed by interviews with actors of the international classroom to outline the most challenging issues tertiary teachers, students, and university management face in EMI programs implementation. Moreover, the article examines evolving EMI perspectives as a means to boost internationalization and to improve teaching quality via integrating the best practices into the local context, including the expansion of teaching competence in both English language and pedagogy, introduction of language prerequisites for applicants, a constant adaptation of the curriculum to meet competence requirements.