Module overview
This module explores sociolinguistic and pedagogical dimensions of English Medium Education and CLIL classrooms around the world. EME/I is an umbrella term for multilingual education programmes where English is used as a medium of instruction to teach and learn content subjects. While the focus is often on learning content through English, many educational institutions are resorting to EME/CLIL to promote English language learning too. EMI education is spreading at significant rates in Higher Education settings all across the world, including countries like China or Spain where English is not spoken as a first language or is known to have postcolonial ties. Drawing from cutting-edge research on the subject, the course investigates the explicit and hidden motivations behind the spread of EMI (e.g. language learning, student recruitment); it examines the promises, opportunities and challenges associated to EMI policy-making and its implementation; and it scrutinises situated language practices, beliefs and outcomes emerging across a wide range of international HE settings. The course invites you to reflect on your own learning experiences and consider what pedagogical and linguistic choices you would make as an EMI/CLIL educator, without losing sight of the need for context-dependent analyses when approaching EMI.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- the position and nature of English as a global language and other languages in relation to EMI
- how different dimensions in EMI education may be described, designed and theorised by academics and practitioners in the field
- how to analyse current research in EMI, drawing also on other forms of bilingual education, such as CLIL, in order to reflect on the implications of such research for EMI/CLIL practitioners and students
- issues of implementation and adaptation that may emerge in diverse EMI contexts, and how we may be able to interpret and tackle them
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Conduct guided analysis of EMI-related language policy and language practices
- Critically assess the applicability of EMI in diverse contexts
- Communicate about EMI in a global context in a range of formats and registers, and for a range of audiences
- Select and evaluate relevant academic publications and discuss them critically
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Demonstrate ability to draw from interpersonal, reflective and collaborative experiences developed during interactions with tutors and peers to enhance own understanding of the subject
- Develop skills to plan and develop concrete, well-focused and suitable research projects to answer specific questions and to assess strengths and limitations of the analysis.
- Monitor your own progress and evaluate your understanding of key concepts
- Access theoretical and research materials and assess relative strengths and weaknesses
Syllabus
The module will focus on key issues in English Medium Instruction (EMI) as well as on the cognitive and practical skills associated to analysing EMI-related data. Topics dealt with in the sessions will include:
- English Medium Instruction: Discussion of key concepts and definitions in the field, including delimitations and overlaps with related phenomena (immersion, CLIL, etc.).
- How we understand English in EMI: Discussion of the relevance of English as Lingua Franca, WE and English as Foreign Language in debates around how to approach 'academic' and 'disciplinary' English in EMI.
- Evidence emerging on the effects that EMI/CLIL may have for students' content and English language learning, teacher and student classroom-based practices, the role and shape of interaction in such settings, and wider educational and sociolinguistic effects.
- Language Policy in EMI with sample analyses of overt policies in EMI contexts.
- Stakeholder beliefs and their relevance for EMI/CLIL implementation and policy design.
- The role of multilingualism and translanguaging practices in EMI/CLIL programmes.
- Models proposed to theorise EMI and its relation with other multilingual forms of education.
- Assessment in EMI (language and content)
- Issues of implementation: what may count as 'appropriate' pedagogy in EMI
- Case studies from a diverse range of international settings.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include
- A mix of lectures(to deliver content knowledge and highlight key areas of study) and seminars to enable you to further explore and discuss issues brought up in lectures or independent study
- Discussion of d articles and book chapters;
- Group activities and exercises.
- Independent study to provide you with the necessary background knowledge to fully engage with the course content and also to further explore issues within the subject which are of particular interest to individual students
Learning activities include
- Reading of key texts;
- Presentations;
- Analysis of policy documents relating to teaching
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Wider reading or practice | 30 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 40 |
| Lecture | 12 |
| Seminar | 12 |
| Completion of assessment task | 36 |
| Follow-up work | 20 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
Journal Articles
Coleman, James A. (2006). English-medium teaching in European higher education. Language Teaching, 39(1), pp. 1–14.
Dafouz-Milne, Emma & Perucha Begoña-Núñez (2009). CLIL in higher education: devising a new learning landscape. CLIL across Educational Levels, pp. 101–112.
Hellekjær, Glenn O. (2010). Assessing Lecture Comprehension in English-Medium Higher Education: A Norwegian Case Study. Language Use in Content-and-Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)..
Textbooks
Prof Jennifer Jenkins and Anna Mauranen (eds) (2019). Linguistic Diversity in the EMI Campus. Abingdon: Routledge.
Jenkins, J. (2014). English as a Lingua Franca in the International University. The politics of academic English language policy. London: Routledge.
Emma Dafouz and Ute Smit (2020). ROAD-MAPPING English Medium Education in the internationalised university. Palgrave.
Mauranen, A. (2012). Exploring ELF: academic English shaped by non-native speakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Assessment
Assessment strategy
Assessment Method
A critical essay exploring the themes covered in the module regarding the role of English in education globally and relating this to the theoretical and/or practical implications for education.
A data analysis task of either policy documents related to one specific EMI context presented OR of language practices (teacher, student language use, metalinguistic practices) in an EMI context. This assessed piece of work aims to show your ability to undertake a small-scale analysis of data as part of team.
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Data Analysis | 45% |
| Critical essay | 55% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Data Analysis | 45% |
| Critical essay | 55% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Data Analysis | 45% |
| Critical essay | 55% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External