On Wednesday afternoon, during advising hour, professors and students of the English Department go in and out of the classroom FG302 in the CFLL building to hold a special English workshop for teachers from different departments at Fu Jen University. The workshop is designed and instructed by Professor Sherri Wei and Professor Paul Bellew for English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) training.

The FJU Bilingual Education Center reports that the EMI workshop not only provides an introduction to academic literacies, including four skills reading, writing, listening, and speaking, but it also includes teaching issues, such as digital-based learning, assessment design, and effective large-class management for teachers.

According to Professor Wei, “Teachers from different departments engaged in the EMI program through an online group at the very first start. The group was created at the suggestion of Professor Kate, the dean of the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures. It is the third year since the online group has evolved into a one-semester course, and teachers at FJU can receive a series of systematic training and gain support from the community of the EMI workshop.”

Globalization and technology have led to the popularization of bilingual education through different languages across the world. In December 2018, Taiwan released the Bilingual 2030 policy, which intends to facilitate the bilingual learning conditions in Taiwan to enhance its advantages as a Mandarin-speaking nation in the global market. This education policy aims to spur Taiwan’s internationalization, economics, and politics. English as a medium for instruction and communication, rather than a subject, has become a new focus for education.

As universities internationalize, the need for EMI courses is correspondingly rising. The EMI workshop aims to help teachers at FJU develop confidence in using English as a Medium of Instruction and acquire essential pedagogical skills to gain success in class. According to Professor Bellew, apart from introducing various applicable concepts and teaching skills in class, the workshop is designed to be very participatory. Participating teachers are encouraged to partake in activities in every meeting and also give teaching demonstrations. The sharing of different ideas and processes of participants’ teaching inspires everyone, including the instructors involved.

The trend of EMI courses results in new challenges for EMI teachers and promoters of EMI training and classes. Professor Sherri Wei said, “Over-preparing for the workshop could be an issue that brings about extra pressure for participating teachers. Often, the struggles come from psychological factors, so this workshop functions as community support to assist teachers with practicing English as a medium for instruction and boosting their confidence as EMI instructors. In addition, it takes time for teachers to find the balance between their expectations, their actual capacity, and students’ proficiency level to make the class feasible.”

Because teachers from distinctive departments with diverse professional backgrounds are recruited to join the next workshop, , the workshop analyzes the needs of participants signing up for the EMI workshop at the beginning for a clear understanding of each individual. Additionally, the workshop is divided into modules with different themes, so teachers can select the modules they want to join.

The implementation of EMI courses on campus is still in the experimental phase. Professor Wei mentions the possibility of a collaboration between EMI teachers and general English teachers. Interdisciplinarity helps to enrich resources to fulfill different aspects of students’ needs and to improve EMI learning outcomes. Additionally, with the increasing demand for and the utility of using English as a lingua franca for cross-culture international communication with non-English native speakers Professor Bellew suggests that being a good communicator will be a valuable skill to learn.