How to kill two birds with one stone: EMI teachers’ needs in higher education in China

Abstract

Since their implementation in China’s tertiary education system two decades ago, EMI programmes have been reported largely less successful and more problematic than envisioned. Although portrayed as killing two birds with one stone, whereby both subject content learning and English language proficiency can be achieved in the same classroom, EMI has in reality been revealed to present a series of thorny problems, from teaching quality to learning achievements, from teachers’ insufficient language proficiency to students’ unsatisfactory academic outcomes. This paper addresses one of the critical issues in EMI implementation: what teachers need in order to bring about successful language learning as well as adequate subject content learning. Data sources include a questionnaire collected from different disciplinary programmes across universities in China (n = 158), and interviews of nine lecturers from both key and non-key universities. The results suggest that the needs of these EMI lecturers cover a variety of areas, including institutional support as well as needs for professional and pedagogical training. Our findings indicate that there are similarities and differences in teacher needs between key and non-key universities with regard to institutional support and training programmes. The findings suggest that epistemic environments as well as goal-oriented pedagogical activities and adequate discourse strategies are necessary to enhance the learning experience of the students, facilitate the integration of content and language learning, and empower teachers and students to identify the best classroom practices. The needs analysis is instrumental for developing both in-service and pre-service training programmes for EMI implementation in higher education and crucial if the goal of ‘killing of two birds with one stone’ is to be achieved.

Lecturers’ readiness for EMI in Malaysia higher education

“…Furthermore, lecturers’ training and experience in teaching students through the EMI exhibited a significant difference in respective EMI skills and abilities, contrary to lecturers’ age, gender, and general inculcation experience which did not uncover significant differences. The current results were consistent with past researchers [ 27 , 63 ] who unveiled higher EMI efficacy of lecturers who were trained previously than their counterparts who were not. The findings thus postulated that lecturers without adequate EMI training and preparation would be less knowledgeable, skilful, and responsive to students’ different learning environments in content knowledge and the English language [ 64 ].…”

“…Concurrently, the findings also demonstrated the importance of lecturers’ professional and pedagogical training to enhance their EMI knowledge and understanding in higher education. Nonetheless, Fenton-Smith, Stillwell, and Dupuy ([ 27 ], p. 197) opined that professional development programmes, such as “short-term training in an overseas Anglophone locale” would not be highly effective in enhancing lecturer competence, compared to holistic training programmes with systematic professional development in producing a sustainable knowledge of the higher education EMI implementation [ 33 , 62 , 63 ].…”

Error Analysis of Non-English Students in English Presentation: Its Evidence and Perception

“…Plotting teachers are able to communicate in both written and spoken English. Among the most important aspects influencing the quality of EMI implementation is the ability to use English for academic purposes (Curdt-Christiansen et al, 2021;Ekoç, 2020;Margić & Vodopija-Krstanović, 2018).…”