Abstract
English-medium instruction (EMI) is a relatively new phenomenon that has come to the fore in most higher education institutions (Dafouz and Smit 2019). It is spreading in an unprecedented manner and increasingly gaining ground globally. At the micro-level, lecturers are key stakeholders since they are the driving force in implementing EMI in the classroom. EMI lecturing involves more than delivering content through English; it is a complex process that requires pedagogical and methodological attention (Cots 2013; Fortanet-Gómez 2013; Morell 2018). Thus, to lecture successfully in EMI contexts, it is important to provide lecturers with specific training. Against this backdrop, the present study addresses EMI lecturers’ training needs, a relatively unexplored aspect (Fenton-Smith et al. 2017; Macaro 2018; Beaumont 2020). This study reports on the adequacy of a survey to explore lecturers’ EMI training needs and on the preliminary results derived from its administration to a group of EMI lecturers at a Spanish university. Findings revealed the suitability of the survey items to identify EMI lecturers’ training needs. Specifically, the findings indicated that, in general, EMI training courses should deal mainly with communication and language use, and pedagogy.
Highlights
As a response to the internationalisation agenda of higher education (HE) institutions, most universities are increasingly implementing new educational programmes which, broadly speaking, has resulted in the implementation of English-medium programmes in non-Anglophone countries (Dearden 2015; Macaro 2018; Dafouz and Smit 2019)
This study has shown that the selection of the items used in the survey served to uncover lecturers’ English-medium instruction (EMI) training needs
Each category included a set of specific items that were considered important for EMI lecturers to effectively orchestrate their lecturing
Summary
As a response to the internationalisation agenda of higher education (HE) institutions, most universities are increasingly implementing new educational programmes which, broadly speaking, has resulted in the implementation of English-medium programmes in non-Anglophone countries (Dearden 2015; Macaro 2018; Dafouz and Smit 2019). The implementation of EMI in HE has contributed to posing new challenges at various levels: macro- (national policy), meso- (university policy) and micro- (students and lecturers) (Hult 2010). Considering this threefold level distinction, this work focuses on the micro-level, and more precisely on lecturers, who represent the main driving force behind the implementation of EMI. The use of English to instruct academic content subjects implies a significant pedagogical and methodological shift that requires urgent research attention (Ball and Lindsay 2013; Cots 2013; Fortanet-Gómez 2013, 2020; Mancho-Barés and Arnó-Macià 2017; Dafouz 2018; Macaro 2018; Morell et al 2020)
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