Internationalization is listed as one of the main goals of the Federal University of Santa Maria in its Institutional Development Plan for the period of 2016-2026, and the use of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) is pointed out in the document as one of the strategies to achieve this goal. Although it is unofficially known in the institution that graduate classes in some areas are already taught in English, there is no systematic information about these experiences nor an official policy about EMI. The present work attempts to contribute to fill this gap as it reports the main results of an online survey about interests, perspectives and needs in relation to EMI at the university. The survey included professors and students and the data were mainly analyzed quantitatively, in order to establish general patterns within each group and comparisons across groups. The results showed that both professors and students express interest in engaging in EMI classes, but that policy regulation and language support programs are seen as necessary measures to implement it.
We aim at identifying how the English language and the EMI professor are representedin an interview witha lecturer practitioner of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) and a syllabus of an EMI lecturer training course, and identifying how the syllabus projectsthe teacher as reader-in-the-text by overlappingideational and interpersonal aspects. The words of interest were manually identified and classified according to the TRANSITIVITY(FUZER; CABRAL, 2010; HALLIDAY; MATTHIESSEN, 2014)system of Systemic-Functional Grammar. We observed the lecturer reflected upon his language use in class to justify his choice, while the syllabus conceives the language as a tool and does not disclose whether it critically discusses this use.
This work aims at investigating Brazilian students’ views on English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) from a pre-implementation standpoint so that their interest, linguistic and pedagogical needs, concerns and suggestions are identified. Through online questionnaire, we identified a significant interest in EMI, associated to concerns with language support and the preference for a flexible regulation, considering the interest and needs of each area and department. Most envisage EMI as an opportunity to prepare for mobility and to compensate part of the experience to those who would not be able to afford it. The results contribute to an assessment of the feasibility of EMI and a local language policy aware of the necessary language support, professional development and offer regulation.
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