Plenary Sessions and Abstracts
Day 2
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Image Credit: 美術碩黃俊騰《靜謐時刻 》(第九屆師大之美得獎作品)
Plenary 4 Analysing the process and outcome of student-teacher interactions in understanding design concept in interior design
Abstract
This study focuses on an interior design course offered to second-year students at National Taiwan Normal University. It investigates the students’ learning progress and their challenges in understanding ‘design concept’ and expressing their specific design concepts during student-teacher interactions in English. The data collected comprises video recordings from six class meetings and interviews conducted with six students. Results indicate that the students encountered difficulties in grasping the ‘design concept’ due to its abstract nature, which proved to be a more significant issue than the language barrier. The students’ understanding was largely supported by the teacher’s comments on their designs and his demonstrations on paper or digital devices. However, they faced greater challenges in expressing their design concepts in English, often due to a lack of specific vocabulary and an inability to describe their ideas precisely. Pedagogical implications will be discussed regarding how to support students’ learning in EMI classes.
Daisuke Nagatomo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Design at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). He is also a design practitioner recognized internationally, including the iF award from Germany, Muse Design Award from the USA, A'Design Award from Italy, and Golden Pin Award from Taiwan. Before his position at NTNU, he taught at Chung Yuan Christian University (2016 - 2020), National Chiao Tung University (2012 - 2014), and Tokyo Denki University in Japan (2011). His research interests include design thinking with virtual reality technology, sustainability in design education, circular economy and design, and bilingual education in design practice. For more information, see https://scholar.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/en/persons/daisuke-nagatomo.
Robert Wilkinson is currently visiting research fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Maastricht University, Netherlands. He helped establish the first complete English-medium instruction degree programme in the mid-1980s and has been involved in many other EMI programmes since then. Previously, he worked in France, Czechoslovakia, and Scotland, and has run training or advisory programmes for universities in many countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Japan. He also worked for many years in the commercial world, especially with manufacturing firms, banks, and in air traffic control. For more information, see https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/en/persons/robert-wilkinson.
Hung-Chun Wang is an associate professor in the Department of English at National Taiwan Normal University. His research primarily focuses on creativity in English language education. His work has been published in various international journals on creativity and English language education, including Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, Thinking Skills and Creativity, System, and Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching. In the past few years, with the promotion of bilingual education in Taiwan, he has also researched issues of bilingual education and English as a Medium of Instruction, and participated in various professional development activities for bilingual teachers. For more information, see https://scholar.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/en/persons/hung-chun-wang.
Plenary 5 Language and conceptual change: The construction of ethnomusicology knowledge
Abstract
This presentation reports on a study on the teaching of key concepts in ethnomusicology through EMI at two universities in Taiwan. Guided by Bernstein’s theory of knowledge structures and adopting a sociocultural view of learning as conceptual change mediated by language, the study addresses the question of whether and how the introduction of “new specialized languages” through EMI in the teaching of ethnomusicology brought about conceptual change in students’ understanding of four key concepts, “music”, “musicking”, “soundscape” and “bimusicality”. The findings suggest that the new terminologies in English provided broader and different perspectives on music and encouraged students to rethink their prior knowledge and construct a relational perspective towards the world. The findings further show that while students found the learning of these new concepts through English challenging, they did not find the use of Chinese translations of these terminologies helpful. Rather, it was the opportunities for peer learning and peer scaffolding, facilitated by the use of L1, and the well-designed pedagogical strategies that helped to bring about conceptual changes.
Pei-Ling Huang is Assistant Professor at the Center for General Education, National Taiwan University. She holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from Harvard University. Her teaching focuses on English as Medium of Instruction Gen-Ed courses on cultures of sound and music. She specializes in South Asian musical performance, and her current research project explores the institutional production of knowledge on “Sindhi music” and how it intersects with changing contexts of Shah Jo Rāg, a devotional singing practice at a Sufi shrine in Sindh, Pakistan. For more information, see https://cge.ntu.edu.tw/001/Upload/1057/relfile/63339/211652/cfddf6dc-17b1-44ec-bcc6-386018a7ac9b.pdf.
Hsin-Wen Hsu is Associate Professor in Ethnomusicology in the National Taiwan Normal University. He earned his doctoral degree from Indiana University Bloomington. His research centers on issues of music making as embodied experience and identity performance. He has conducted extensive fieldwork and archival research on the institutionalization of Taiwanese Hakka music and Finnish pelimanni music. His works could be found in edited volumes and periodicals such as Taiwan Journal of Anthropology, Global Hakka Studies, and Journal of Chinese Ritual, Theatre and Folklore. In addition to academic knowledge production, he has been engaged in musical activism, organizing events for promoting cultural diversity. For more information, see http://www.giem.ntnu.edu.tw/web/faculty/faculty_in.jsp?fp_id=FP1603531140763&dm_no=DM1600411221512.
Amy B. M. Tsui is Yu-Shan Fellow and Chair professor of the English Department at National Taiwan Normal University and Professor Emerita at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). She is also former Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President at HKU during which she led the historic reform of undergraduate education across the university. She has published extensively on language policy, classroom discourse, conversational analysis, teacher development and teacher expertise. She obtained her PhD in linguistics at Birmingham University (U.K.) and was awarded Doctor of Education (honoris causa) by the University of Edinburgh (U.K.) in 2015, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to teaching and learning in higher education and her research excellence. For more information, see https://web.edu.hku.hk/faculty-academics/bmtsui.
Amy B. M. Tsui is Yu-Shan Fellow and Chair professor of the English Department at National Taiwan Normal University and Professor Emerita at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). She is also former Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President at HKU during which she led the historic reform of undergraduate education across the university. She has published extensively on language policy, classroom discourse, conversational analysis, teacher development and teacher expertise. She obtained her PhD in linguistics at Birmingham University (U.K.) and was awarded Doctor of Education (honoris causa) by the University of Edinburgh (U.K.) in 2015, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to teaching and learning in higher education and her research excellence. For more information, see https://web.edu.hku.hk/faculty-academics/bmtsui.
Plenary 6 Teaching university chemistry in English: A flipped classroom approach
Abstract
In this presentation, we discuss preliminary findings from a study of the introduction of EMI into a university spectroscopy course at National Taiwan Normal University. Earlier work has suggested that EMI requires either more teaching time than L1, or a reduction in content (Airey, 2015). In this particular instantiation of EMI, however, the same content is covered in the same time, by adopting a flipped classroom approach. We describe the initial choices made, the data collected, and the benefits and challenges we observed for both teacher and students. Students were, on the whole, happy with their learning although they did report spending more time working outside class. Unsurprisingly, we find that the lecturer needs to invest a large amount of time in making the videos and planning how to use the flipped classroom time effectively. Moreover, the lecturer needs to have a good, spontaneous command of disciplinary English in order to cope with student questions as they arise “on-the-fly.”
I-Jy Chang received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Michigan State University in 1988. She has been an Associate Professor and Professor at National Taiwan Normal University since 1993. Professor Chang’s research focuses on photoenergy conversion. She is also dedicated to teaching and received the Outstanding Teacher Award from NTNU in 2022. For more information, see https://www.changijy-ntnu.org/changijyengweb.html.
John Airey is Professor of University Science Education at Stockholm University and Reader in Physics Education Research at Uppsala University. In his PhD work, John examined the consequences for student learning of the two languages (Swedish and English) that are used in teaching undergraduate physics in Sweden. Today, his research work deals with the teaching of physics through the medium of written and spoken languages, mathematics, diagrams, graphs, simulations, hands-on experimentation, observation, etc. By understanding how these various semiotic systems work together to create physics knowledge, we can better understand how to teach physics to undergraduate students. For more information, see https://www.su.se/english/profiles/joair-1.319032.
Plenary 7 The impact of questions on disciplinary knowledge construction: A focus on history EMI classes
Abstract
This presentation is aimed at analysing how the collaboration between a history teacher and an applied linguist can help to foster disciplinary knowledge construction in an English-medium instruction (EMI) setting at tertiary level. The history teacher was video-recorded during six two-hour-long sessions and clinical supervision was implemented, a model of supervision that shifts the focus from the supervisor to the teacher being observed. Clinical supervision consists of three steps, to wit: planning conference, classroom observation and, last but not least, feedback conference. By giving the content teacher the opportunity to participate in the supervision process, both types of teachers will analyse and interpret some extracts taken from the recordings in which disciplinary knowledge construction is conspicuous. This teacher collaboration fosters the reflection of the content teacher on how he approaches disciplinary knowledge, while he is encouraged to reach his own conclusions in order to make his teaching more effective.
Óscar Álvarez-Gila is Professor of History at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Center for European Studies at the University of Oxford, W. Douglass Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Nevada-Reno, Elena Díaz-Verson Amos Eminent Scholar in Latin American Studies at Columbus State University, Magnus Mörner Memorial Professor at Stockholm University and Jon Bilbao Chair at the University of Nevada-Reno. His field of research focuses on the study of international migration, the links between religion and emigration, the institutionalization of migrant communities, and the construction of identities in diaspora communities. For more information, see https://presdeia.wordpress.com/oscar-alvarez-gila/.
David Lasagabaster is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain. He has published on EMI, CLIL, attitudes and motivation, and multilingualism. He is “Extraordinary Professor” in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the Faculty of Education (Stellenbosch University, South Africa). He has published widely in international journals, books and edited books. Among others, he has co-edited “English-medium Instruction at Universities: Global Challenges” (Multilingual Matters, 2013), and “Language Use in English-medium Instruction at University: International Perspectives in Teacher Practice” (Routledge, 2021). He is the author of “English-medium Instruction in Higher Education” (Cambridge University Press, 2022). For more information, see https://laslab.org/staff/david/.
Plenary 8 Work in progress
● The teaching of historical concepts through EMI
● The teaching of natural resources through EMI online cross-border grouping
Sheng-Yen Lu, currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, National Taiwan Normal University. My research focuses on the intersection of gender and law, with particular emphasis on the impact of legal systems on women's rights. My doctoral dissertation explored the evolution of women's property rights in medieval England through investigating court records, law reports, and various administrative legal documents. My recently published work investigates sex discrimination stemming from the Small House Policy and how women's rights have been marginalised and contravened within the framework of the legal system. For more information, see https://scholar.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/en/persons/sheng-yen-lu.
David Lasagabaster is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain. He has published on EMI, CLIL, attitudes and motivation, and multilingualism. He is “Extraordinary Professor” in the Department of Curriculum Studies at the Faculty of Education (Stellenbosch University, South Africa). He has published widely in international journals, books and edited books. Among others, he has co-edited “English-medium Instruction at Universities: Global Challenges” (Multilingual Matters, 2013), and “Language Use in English-medium Instruction at University: International Perspectives in Teacher Practice” (Routledge, 2021). He is the author of “English-medium Instruction in Higher Education” (Cambridge University Press, 2022). For more information, see https://laslab.org/staff/david/.
Meng-Wan (Mary) Yeh is Professor in the Institute of Marine Environmental Science and Technology at National Taiwan Normal University. She is a structural geologist by training. For the past few decades, my research has primarily focused on the structural and tectonic evolution of major shear zones and orogenic belts in the southeastern region of Asia. Regarding English-Medium Instruction (EMI), I began teaching EMI courses related to Earth Science in 2007. Additionally, I have conducted online international EMI courses for the past three years. For more information, see https://scholar.lib.ntnu.edu.tw/en/persons/meng-wan-yeh.
Cindy Sin-Yi Chang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan University. Her research interests lie in the field of educational linguistics, with a focus on critical perspectives on English-medium instruction, language policy, and bi/multilingual education. Some of her publications can be found in English Teaching & Learning, System, Teaching in Higher Education, and TESOL Quarterly. Sin-Yi’s recently completed project, funded by the National Science & Technology Council, looked into EMI professional development from a decolonial lens. Before her academic career, Sin-Yi was a secondary school English language teacher in Taipei, Taiwan. For more information, see https://sinyichang.weebly.com/.
Nicole Judith Tavares (FHEA) is a Senior Lecturer in the Academic Unit of Language and Literacy Education at the Faculty of Education, the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Her expertise is in English language teaching (ELT) methodology and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). Her research interests range from ELT and CLIL to online teaching and learning, technology-enhanced good ELT practices, 21st century Skills, and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). She has received multiple teaching awards, notably the HKU Teaching Innovation Award (2020), her Faculty’s Emergency Remote Teaching Award (2020), and the HKU Outstanding Teaching Award (2015). For more information, see https://web.edu.hku.hk/faculty-academics/tavaresn.
Amy B. M. Tsui is Yu-Shan Fellow and Chair professor of the English Department at National Taiwan Normal University and Professor Emerita at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). She is also former Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President at HKU during which she led the historic reform of undergraduate education across the university. She has published extensively on language policy, classroom discourse, conversational analysis, teacher development and teacher expertise. She obtained her PhD in linguistics at Birmingham University (U.K.) and was awarded Doctor of Education (honoris causa) by the University of Edinburgh (U.K.) in 2015, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to teaching and learning in higher education and her research excellence. For more information, see https://web.edu.hku.hk/faculty-academics/bmtsui.
Amy B. M. Tsui is Yu-Shan Fellow and Chair professor of the English Department at National Taiwan Normal University and Professor Emerita at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). She is also former Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President at HKU during which she led the historic reform of undergraduate education across the university. She has published extensively on language policy, classroom discourse, conversational analysis, teacher development and teacher expertise. She obtained her PhD in linguistics at Birmingham University (U.K.) and was awarded Doctor of Education (honoris causa) by the University of Edinburgh (U.K.) in 2015, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to teaching and learning in higher education and her research excellence. For more information, see https://web.edu.hku.hk/faculty-academics/bmtsui.
Round-table & closing : Disciplinary teachers as participant co-researchers in EMI research
Abstract
Participant as co-researchers is an research approach that is increasingly being adopted in qualitative research, especially in the social sciences. In traditional research, research participants (referred to formerly as “subject”) are researched on with the outsider researcher(s) as the expert(s). The engagement of research participants as collaborators and experts induces a sense of ownership and investment in terms of time and effort in data collection and data analysis. In research EMI content teaching, this approach is particularly productive as disciplinary teachers are the experts in content knowledge. In this round-table session, the disciplinary teachers and the applied linguists who have been involved in the studies reported in this symposium as participant co-researchers will share their experiences and perspectives on the research processes.
Disciplinary specialists
Óscar Álvarez-Gila, I-Jy Chang, Hsin-Wen Hsu, Pei-Ling Huang, Daisuke Nagatomo, Pei-Jen Lee Shaner, Chao Wang
Language/education specialists
John Airey, Samantha Curle, Miya Komori-Glatz, David Lasagabaster, Ute Smit, Amy B. M. Tsui, Hung-Chun Wang, Robert Wilkinson
Moderators
Amy B. M. Tsui & John Airey
(The speakers’ names are listed in alphabetical order)
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