Bridging EMI and ESP: Rethinking Disciplinary Literacies and

Professional Development through the Lens of Multimodality

As Taiwan has advanced its Bilingual 2030 Policy in response to globalization, English-Medium Instruction (EMI) has expanded rapidly across higher education. This policy-driven development has brought renewed attention to how disciplinary knowledge is communicated, scaffolded, and learned through English in increasingly complex classroom environments. Viewed through the lens of multimodality, these developments make the bridging of EMI and ESP central to rethinking disciplinary literacies, classroom pedagogy, and lecturers’ professional growth.

This talk explores how a genre-based Unpacking–Repacking framework can bridge EMI and ESP in conceptually and pedagogically productive ways. It shows how structured ESP–EMI engagement can support students’ development of multimodal disciplinary literacies while also creating meaningful, context-embedded conditions for lecturers’ ongoing professional development. From this perspective, disciplinary literacies extend beyond disciplinary discourse to include the pedagogical and trans-semiotic practices through which knowledge is made meaningful in context.

Extending this discussion, the talk also considers how AI-teacher collaboration can support disciplinary teaching, pedagogical design, and professional learning. These emerging possibilities further strengthen multimodal pedagogy and open new pathways for bridging EMI and ESP in more responsive and sustainable ways. The talk concludes with institutional strategies for advancing such efforts through curriculum design and sustained professional support.