Supporting University Faculty to Improve English-Medium Instruction (EMI) Teaching

What is it about?

Universities worldwide are increasingly offering courses taught in English, but many teachers struggle to make these classes engaging and effective. Most professional development programs offer short workshops or training camps that teach general techniques, but research shows these approaches have limited impact on actual classroom practice. This study developed and tested a different approach at a technical university in Taiwan. Instead of brief, generic training, the researchers created a five-month program built around three key principles: local (tailored to specific classroom conditions), longitudinal (sustained over time), and responsive (adapted to individual teacher needs). The program was grounded in educational theory that emphasizes how teachers develop new ways of thinking about their practice. Rather than simply learning new techniques, teachers worked with coaches to fundamentally rethink how they could use English as a tool for student engagement and learning, not just content delivery. Through an in-depth case study of one faculty participant, the researchers tracked how individualized coaching sessions led to concrete innovations in course design and classroom activities. The teacher developed new ways of reasoning about instruction and implemented sustainable changes that significantly increased student participation and engagement. The findings challenge the current model of teacher preparation and argue for a development-focused approach that prioritizes meaningful, lasting changes in teaching practices. This research offers an alternative framework for supporting university teachers that could help institutions achieve the educational goals of English-medium instruction programs.

Featured Image

Photo by Shubham Sharan on Unsplash

Photo by Shubham Sharan on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article offers a new model for effective, change-based professional development programs for EMI faculty, and offers a concrete case study of what such change looks like in practice.