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Presenter
: Dr. Chun-Chun Yeh,
Assistant Professor,
National Chung Cheng University

 
Title:
English as Medium of Instruction in Taiwanese Universities  

Abstract:
In the recent decade, university internationalization has become a trend and a government policy in Taiwan. Two measures adopted by many universities to promote internationalization are recruiting international students and teaching in English, the de facto language for international communication. There has been a body of literature on English as medium of instruction (EMI) teaching in university settings; however, most of the research has been conducted in post-colonial regions, such as Malaysia and Hong Kong. The effectiveness of EMI teaching has not received much attention in Taiwanese settings. This study aims to explore the perceptions of EMI teaching from the instructors’ perspectives. Individual interviews were conducted with 22 university instructors who were currently teaching subject courses in English. The analysis focuses on three aspects of EMI teaching: instructors’ motivation for offering EMI courses, their perceptions of the effectiveness of EMI teaching and their views of the current EMI policy in Taiwan. It was found that instructors differed in their perceptions of EMI teaching, and the difference seemed to be related to their disciplines, teaching methods and seniority status.