Challenges of Teaching EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) at Russian Universities

Dr. Olga Mironova, State Pedagogical Minin University of Nizhny Novgorod

In the context of diverse social, economic and political changes Russia is moving towards wider implementation of Bologna statements. With the process of internationalization and integration into world educational environment Russian universities are facing new trends. Both content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English as a medium as instruction (EMI) are challenging for higher education in Russia. There is a discrepancy between students' needs and teachers' opportunities. Many students who are proficient in English tend to switch into it when doing research and planning further publication. On the contrary  teachers are not well prepared to deliver the material in a different (English) language and be involved in academic (classroom) research which requires reading in English. There is a growing need for efficient instructors’ preparation for EMI.

I will outline the strategies of tertiary level teachers’ preparation which is increasingly relevant within Russian national framework of education.

References

Galloway,N. (2017) How effective is English as a medium of instruction (EMI)? https://www.teachenglish.org.uk/article/internationalisation-higher-education-growing-demand-english-investigation-english-medium

Odell, A., Wiseman, A. (2014) Should non-English-speaking countries teach in English? https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/should-non-english-speaking-countries-teach-in-english

Trent, J (2017). “Being a professor and doing EMI properly isn’t easy”. An identity-theoretic investigation of content teachers’ attitudes to EMI at a university in Hong Kong. Fenton-Smith, B., Humphreys, P., & Walkinshaw, I (Ed.), English as a Medium of Instruction in Higher Education in Asia-Pacific: Issues and Challenges. Springer (219-239). Australia: Nil.