Lecture on Friday 7th December 2018 at 3pm.
Room 116, Wennanlou Tsinghua University
Chair: Prof. Zhongshe Lu
Abstract In recent years we have witnessed a rapid growth in the number of academic subjects in universities being taught through the medium of English rather than through the language of the majority of people of the home country. The growth is attributed primarily to a desire for universities to “internationalise” by attracting international students and also to a desire to ensure that home students are advantaged on the global job market. In this growth there are a number of assumptions that are not necessarily supported by research evidence, for example that students’ proficiency in English will improve as a result of immersion through EMI; that the transition from lecturers teaching in their first language to teaching through their second language (English) will be smooth and not problematic. Importantly, there has been little consideration as to what will become of the many English language specialists in universities who have hitherto been teaching general English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or English for Specific Purposes (ESP).
Julie Dearden – Bio
I am the Director of Oxford EMI which supports universities which are internationalising. I became the Senior Research Fellow in EMI at the Department of Education at the University of Oxford in 2013 where I set up a research centre into EMI where we conducted and collated research into English Medium Instruction. I specialised in EMI in Higher Education settings. Before that I was the Director of International Programmes at Hertford College, University of Oxford for many years. I am very interested in what happens when universities internationalise as 'going international' invariably involves teaching academic subjects through the medium of English with the implication that the pedagogy needs to change.
My publications include English as a Medium of Instruction: a Growing Global Phenomenon (2015) which was the first global overview of EMI in 55 countries. I have written articles on teacher beliefs and attitudes in EMI: Higher Education Teachers’ Attitudes towards English Medium Instruction (2016) and EMI: Comparing teacher beliefs in secondary and tertiary education (2018). I have written on the student perspective (EMI in Turkish universities: Collaborative planning and student voices, 2016).
I co-authored the Systematic Review EMI in HE (2018) which is a summary of 83 research studies.
I am also interested in the changing roles of academics in an EMI world. In my publication The changing roles of EMI academics and English language specialists (2018) I propose that English teachers should play an increasingly important role in universities which are internationalising.
I have been fortunate to travel widely speaking at academic conferences and training EMI academics in Japan, Korea, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Turkey, Morocco, Russia and China.
