English-medium instruction in higher education and the ELT gaze: STEM lecturers’ self-positioning as NOT English language teachers

Abstract

This paper explores how three Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lecturers working in English-medium instruction (EMI) grapple with the prospect of self-positioning as English-languageteachers (ELTs), drawing on interviews in which they explicitly deny acting in this way. It begins with essential background, first discussing key concepts such as EMI, internationalization, Englishization in higher education and 'CLIL-ised EMI', the latter understood as what happens when EMI is reframed as sharing key characteristic with Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) -language teaching. The paper then outlines the main focusthe notion that STEM specialist EMI lecturers might, on occasion, act as ELTsexamining selected findings from previous research exploring this topic. This discussion is followed by further background information about the context and the methodological framework adopted here, a revised version of Positioning Theory. These preliminaries aside, the paper presents a series of excerpts from interviews with informants, which then serve to construct a narrative about EMI lecturers as ELTs. In the face of informants' resistance to this identity, the paper ends with some thoughts on what has been learned, both in this context and further afield.

Emergent STEM lecturer identities: The shaping effects of EMI in action in an internationalised and Englishised HE context

“…Foucault focused above all on the discursive formations of the medical and psychiatric professions, but his ideas apply to the context that concerns us here: HE, and more specifically EMI in a Catalan university. In short, there is an EMI gaze cast by the university administration on EMI lecturers, as can be seen in the university's language policy and statements made by those with responsibility for the introduction of EMI in the university (Block & Moncada-Comas, 2019).…”

“…Indeed a perusal of the document reveals little more than a very vague reference to ‘the coordinated action of the Institute of Languages … and the Department of English and Linguistics … [which] must support teachers to facilitate teaching in English’ (UdL, 2013, p. 15; translated from the original in Catalan). Meanwhile, beyond extoling the virtues of internationalisation and Englishisation as part of it, those responsible for the organisation and ongoing administration of EMI showed little knowledge or awareness of what EMI entails in terms of support for staff (Block & Moncada-Comas, 2019).…”

“…All researchers who came into contact with these three lecturers agreed that Raquel was the most competent user of English as well as the most confident. Jaime and Isabel showed considerably more modesty about their linguistic abilities and Isabel on occasion used what she saw as her deficiencies, such as difficulty pronouncing a key term, as a way of injecting humour into her classes (see Block & Moncada-Comas, 2019 for a discussion).…”

“…Firstly, I wanted to discuss my views on identity and ways of exploring it in informant narratives, introducing a version of positioning theory to deal with the latter purpose. Secondly, my intention was to bring together a selection of findings from several publications that I had recently authored or co-authored (Block, to appear; Block & Khan, to appear a; Block & Moncada-Comas, 2019; Block & Mancho-Barés, to appear; Moncada-Comas & Block, 2019). These publications are based on an in-depth ethnographic study of the experiences of six EMI lecturers working in STEM disciplines at a Catalan university.…”

“…I say essential because space does not allow for an in-depth discussion of all aspects of the research or all of the antecedents to the events and phenomena that it focuses on (see Block & Moncada-Comas, 2019; Moncada-Comas & Block, 2019 and contributions to Block & Khan, to appear b). The paper then moves to a consideration of identity as the central construct, along with a Foucauldian-inflected version of positioning theory which is employed as a means of understanding the construction of EMI STEM lecturer identities (see Block, to appear; Block & Moncada-Comas, 2019). In the second half of the paper, there is a discussion of three case-studies of EMI STEM lecturers, which shows how each orientates to his or her subject discipline and the role of English language teacher.…”