English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI)

Module 1: Task 2 – Read 5 Articles

Article 1.2: The Roles and Responsibilities of the EMI Instructor

The teacher’s role in an EMI course is crucial. EMI courses will be less effective if teachers simply take
their existing practices and behaviors and teach their classes the same way as they always have, but
simply switching out the native language for English. Teaching in English gives you an opportunity to
improve your teaching style and the tasks you assign to students. For example, when you teach in
English you will find that your students are able to learn more material and succeed in the course when
lessons are interactive; you will want to reduce the amount of time that you lecture and increase the
amount of time you ask students to be more actively involved, such as with discussions, presentations,
or group work. Teaching in English also allows you to continue to strengthen your own proficiency in the
language, which can be professionally and personally satisfying. In fact, taking a moment to reflect on
our own teaching can be very rewarding, as we see how even small changes in our teaching can lead to
improved learning and outcomes for our students and increased student motivation.

Looking forward to the opportunities that EMI offers you is a great first step in keeping your motivation
high for this exciting yet demanding task.

EMI Instructor Roles

Teaching your content in English will require roles that are new or expanded for most instructors. One of
the most important considerations when you begin planning for how you will develop and teach a
course in English is your role as teacher. In some content areas or in some cultures, instructors are
expected to spend the majority of class time lecturing so that they can cover a large amount of material
in a short amount of time. Students are expected to sit passively and take notes, perhaps answer a
question or two during class, and then do their homework largely without assistance from the professor.
This structure can be called a “teacher-fronted classroom” because the focus is on the teacher, who
makes the decisions and leads all aspects of the class. With EMI, more successful roles for the lecturer
are as a Facilitator, Content Expert, Support Coach, Bridge Builder, and Role Model:

1. Facilitator: In this role, the lecturer is still in control of planning the class, but more control is
given to the students. For example, instead of lecturing for most of the class period, start your
class with a mini-lecture of about 15 minutes, and then ask students to analyze a case study in
groups based on the lecture content. Next, students can discuss the topic in the large class
before moving to another mini-lecture. You can also add student presentations or in-class
reflective writing to allow students to be more engaged with the course material. For many EMI

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 instructors, this new role of facilitator is one of the most challenging parts of their course
development and delivery.
2. Content Expert: Even though students in EMI courses are generally more involved in active
learning than they are in traditional class formats, you as the instructor will still be the content
expert. What will shift is how the students learn the content. Instead of only lecturing, you will
identify strategies for students to learn the content in a more active way—but you will still be
the one who identifies what content students need to know, who guides learning, and who
assesses students.
3. Support Coach: Another new role in EMI
courses is instructor as Support Coach. This
means that you will assume that students
will be challenged by learning the content
in English, anticipate the difficulties they
have, and plan ways to support them along
the way. For example, when students read
in English, they will likely have difficulties in
identifying the main idea of the text and
focusing on that main idea instead of
reading every word carefully and getting
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distracted with too many small details. To under the Pexels license.
help them, at the beginning of the course
you can give them brief training sessions on how to read their English texts in a way that is
efficient and focuses on main ideas. You can ask students to reflect on the strategies they use
and share with a peer in order to learn from each other.
4. Bridge Builder: Many EMI instructors look to their larger field in order to connect their students
to professionals in their career. These connections can be crucial for helping students realize the
importance of English and find jobs after graduation. If you work in Computer Science, for
example, you can connect students with a computer programmer in the area. The professional
can visit class to speak about current topics or to answer students’ questions. Professionals or
content area experts can even attend student presentations and give field-based feedback.
5. Role Model: You will be a powerful role model for your students, as you demonstrate
confidence and professionalism in your EMI course. Students will build their own confidence as
they see examples of instructors from their own country who are taking risks in trying new ways
of teaching. Remember to stay positive and focused on the goal of helping your students
succeed with the course content but also in their communication of that content in English.
These communication skills will give your students many more opportunities once they leave
the university.

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Responsibilities of EMI Instructors
Your responsibilities when you teach in English will be similar to when you teach in your native
language. But pay attention to these areas when you teach EMI courses, as responsibilities can differ.

1. Plan your course based on your students’ needs: Obviously you will have curriculum
requirements for the material that you cover in class. However, you will have many options in
how students can demonstrate that they have learned that content. If your students will need to
be able to speak clearly in English for their future career, then assignments that require them to
speak in English will be most useful for them. If they will need to be able to read technical
manuals in English, then reading will be important. If they will need to write reports in English,
then writing assignments are a good idea. In addition to curricular requirements, consider your
students’ language proficiency in English, their intercultural competencies (or abilities to
communicate with people from different cultures), and any cultural considerations from the
situation you are in. It can be difficult to prioritize what students will need, since you cannot do
everything in one class. Work with your department to identify how each course will contribute
to students’ overall development in communicating in English within their field.
2. Give authentic assignments and assessments: EMI courses rely on a strong connection between
the content area and the English-speaking world, particularly the English-speaking careers that
students may join. This means that assignments must not only be connected to the core content
goals, but also be related to “real life.” Authentic assignments will be more motivating to
students and help them put in the extra effort that it takes to learn and communicate in English.
Assessments should also be authentic whenever possible. Instead of giving students long
multiple-choice tests, assessments can be presentations, reports, or portfolios. Choosing the
right assessments for your course will of course also depend on class size and other factors.
3. Prepare and reflect: Preparation for teaching an EMI course includes both content and delivery.
Content is likely the area of preparation that you are most comfortable with. You are an expert
in your field and know the content that you need your students to learn. Delivering an EMI
course can be more challenging. If you can, find a group or other EMI instructors who you can
meet with regularly in order to share challenges and strategies for success. Building a
community of EMI professionals can be very rewarding. Professional support is particularly
important given that, for many instructors, teaching in English can be intimidating and
exhausting. Delivery concerns not only your teaching style and methods, but also your use of
English. Many professionals suggest that a CEFR rating of C1 provides instructors with the
English proficiency they need to feel comfortable teaching an EMI course. A C1 level means,
according to the Council of Europe (2018), a proficient user who:

can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit
meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious
searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic
and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex

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 subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive
devices.

Being at a C1 level is not required for teaching EMI courses, but you can use this description to guide you
in your own development of English and areas you might want to focus on as you prepare to teach in
EMI. Of course, you will want to pay the most attention to English as it relates to your content area, but
you will also want to learn useful phrases for teaching in English as well. And you might want to look at
more informal English for socializing with students before or after class. After you begin teaching your
EMI course, you will want to reflect on your lessons and how students are responding to them. You
might consider asking a colleague to observe your class and give feedback, or keep a journal of
successes and challenges as you teach. Gaining exposure to other teaching methods and receiving
feedback on your own teaching are crucial components to preparation and reflection for EMI courses
(Fenton-Smith, Stillwell, & Dupuy, 2017).

References1

Fenton-Smith, B., Stillwell, C., & Dupuy, R. (2017). Professional development for EMI: Exploring
Taiwanese lecturers’ needs. In B. Fenton-Smith, P. Humphreys, & I. Walkinshaw (Eds.), English
medium instruction in higher education in Asia-Pacific: From policy to pedagogy (pp. 195-217).
Dordrecht: Springer.

Council of Europe (2018). Global scale - Table 1 (CEFR 3.3): Common Reference levels. Retrieved from
https://www.coe.int.

1 (This content is copyrighted, and cannot be adapted in any way, or distributed after the end of this course. It is not Public Domain or Creative
Commons-licensed, and therefore not for public use.)