Ben Fenton-Smith

Implementing a university-wide credit-bearing English language enhancement programme: issues emerging from practice

Many nations now enrol large numbers of tertiary students with English as an additional language, raising concerns over academic literacy standards. As a result, calls for whole-institution approaches to enhance language proficiency have grown. This paper describes the issues faced by one university that attempted such an approach. We first outline three theoretical assumptions, that is, that academic literacy is facilitated by (1) the attention to discourse at the discipline-specific level, (2) the engagement of students with their social, institutional and cultural surroundings, and (3) the provision to students of the tools for self-directed, ongoing learning. The paper then explains how one Australian university implemented a mandatory programme of credit-bearing discipline-specific English language enhancement courses as foundational units across all degree programmes. Describing the first programme of its kind in Australia, the paper focuses on the issues emerging from practice identified from the first five years: (1) stakeholder perceptions, (2) student reception, (3) materials development, (4) programme management, (5) assessment and (6) measuring outcomes. Rather than a panacea for a notoriously complex issue, the paper presents strategies for dealing with the challenges that emerge for other institutions that might be contemplating reform of a similar magnitude.

Actors and agency in academic language policy and planning

Nearly two decades have passed since Kaplan and Baldauf [1997. Language planning from practice to theory. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters] drew attention to the dearth of language policy and planning (LPP) in higher education. Despite the continuing inflow of English as an additional language students into Anglophone universities, and a boom in English-medium instruction policies in non-Anglophone tertiary institutions [Dearden, J. (2014). English as a medium of instruction: A growing global phenomenon. British Council], LPP research remains relatively underdeveloped in higher education. We suggest that current understandings of academic language policy and planning in higher education would benefit from contextualised analyses of actors and agency [Chua, C. S. K., & Baldauf, R. B. (2011). Micro language planning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 936–951). New York, NY: Routledge; Zhao, S. H., 2011. Actors in language planning. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (Vol. II, pp. 905–923). New York, NY: Routledge; Zhao, S. H., & Baldauf, R. B. (2012). Individual agency in language planning: Chinese script reform as a case study. Language Problems & Language Planning, 36(1), 1–24]. In order to address this gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 academic language program planners at different universities across Australia. We examined how the micro-level processes of program development and implementation were both constrained and enabled by the participation of different actor groups, operating at different levels (micro, meso, macro) and each with their own capacity to influence change. We conclude by arguing that coherent university-wide language policies, formulated by decision-making bodies representative of a variety of stakeholder groups and sensitive to program implementation needs at the micro level, represent a step towards improving the current situation.

Professional Development for EMI: Exploring Taiwanese Lecturers’ Needs

Taiwan, like many Asian nations, has been an active promoter of EMI as part of a drive to internationalize its higher education sector. The push to implement EMI at a quick pace creates a need for teacher support, as lecturers adapt their courses to the new medium of instruction. This situation presents an opportunity for Anglophone nations to provide EMI teacher training within a fully immersive environment. This chapter provides an analysis of the current state of EMI in Taiwan and the place of the lecturer within it, as well as common solutions and professional development responses to the challenges posed by EMI. The chapter then examines the case of a professional development program for Taiwanese university lecturers at an American university, examining the preparatory work undertaken to ascertain the participants’ views on EMI as a policy (both institutional and national) and practice in the context of Taiwanese higher education, and to understand their perceived needs in relation to short-term training in an overseas Anglophone locale.

Orienting EFL teachers: Principles arising from an evaluation of an induction program in a Japanese university

Despite the ubiquity of teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) globally and the weight of evidence about the importance of training for new expatriate staff in international settings, the process of orienting EFL instructors to new workplaces and unfamiliar cultural surroundings has yet to be researched. This article presents the results of a program evaluation of a two-week induction for 22 new English teachers at a private foreign languages university in Japan. The views of a range of stakeholders were obtained (beginning teachers, experienced teachers and management), as were perspectives at different points in time (before and after induction, one semester later, one or more years later). The evaluation resulted in a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the orientation program, which in turn led to the implementation of a range of measures to improve current practice. The findings also gave rise to the proposal of a framework outlining the major areas that all EFL orientations need to consider.

Research in the School of Languages and Linguistics at Griffith University

Griffith University is set across five campuses in south-east Queensland, Australia, and has a student population of 43,000. The School of Languages and Linguistics (LAL) offers programs in linguistics, international English, Chinese, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, as well as English language enhancement courses. Research strands reflect the staffs varied scholarly interests, which include academic language and learning, sociolinguistics, second language learning/acquisition and teaching, computer assisted language learning (CALL) and language corpora. This report offers a summary of research recently published or currently underway within LAL.

EMI Issues and Challenges in Asia-Pacific Higher Education: An Introduction

This chapter makes the case for a research focus on English medium instruction (EMI) in Asia-Pacific higher education. Three key reasons are provided: (i) the rise in the geopolitical status of English as a lingua franca; (ii) the expansion of higher education in the region; and (iii) the boom in large-scale internationalisation education policies by Asia-Pacific governments. In this context, the very meaning of ‘EMI’ is problematized, with the binary ‘it is or it isn’t’ distinction eschewed in favour of more nuanced, situated conceptualisations, and extending to EMI in Anglophone contexts. The paper then outlines some of the key challenges relating to EMI at the governmental, institutional and classroom levels, as well as considering issues of language assessment and content outcomes. Finally, an overview of work by key researchers on EMI in Asia-Pacific is provided, focussing on: (i) EMI policies and practices in various Asia-Pacific polities; (ii) issues affecting EMI instructors; and (iii) multiple language use among learners in EMI contexts.