Teacher preparedness for English-medium instruction

Abstract

Abstract This paper focuses on lecturers’ preparedness to teach EMI courses. Although many higher education institutions worldwide have rushed to jump on the EMI bandwagon, a strikingly low percentage of them have deemed it necessary to organise pre-service or in-service courses to help practitioners tackle this new teaching scenario. As a result, some potential teachers are reluctant to take part in EMI programmes, while some in-service EMI teachers complain because of a feeling of helplessness that arises from what they feel as lack of assistance from their institutions. In this article, after reviewing recent surveys on current practices in the training and accreditation of university teachers in EMI, I will examine what skills EMI teachers consider essential to deliver their classes effectively, whether they believe those can or even should be accredited, and, last but not least, how universities could support EMI teacher preparation. This analysis will allow us to reach EMI stakeholders by sharing research findings with them. Finally, a research agenda for future work on teacher preparedness for EMI will be put forward in an attempt to fill the gaps found in the review of the literature on the topic.