[英語教學資源中心] 放眼外界、接納觀點：泰國與臺灣的EMI探討
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政大英語教學資源中心及雙語及多元文化推動辦公室，於 2024年4 月 22 日（一）共同主辦國際演講活動，並於政大行政大樓七樓第三會議室進行演講，講題為「英語教育在泰國：教師教學經驗分享」。本活動由政大英語教學資源中心鍾曉芳主任引領，並邀請到泰國蒙庫國王科技大學的Rachanee Dersingh博士及Thanis Tangkitjaroenkun助理教授擔任主講嘉賓，以及政大的三位教授：資訊管理學系林怡伶副教授、國家發展研究所蘇昱璇副教授、創新國際學院呂欣澤助理教授進行教學經驗分享，以不同視角來為泰國及台灣的英語教學現況提供深刻的描述。本次活動除了政大不同學系的師生實體出席以外，還有台灣各大學的優秀學者們線上參與，為其注入更多學術能量。
英語教學在泰國已有超過七十年的歷史。Dersingh博士指出，由於有利於提升就業及教育的機會、支持經濟產業、改善語文的準確度，以及自1990年起推行的兩個15年計劃，因此英語教學在泰國的普及度不斷提升。截至目前，泰國全國共有超過400所雙語學校及國際學校，且當中國際學程的數目，從2018年至2024年間，更有著雙倍的增長。
即便英語教學在泰國廣泛推行，但仍有許多挑戰。這些挑戰包括教師的英語教學策略與期望，還有文化的考量。在泰國的英語課堂裡，母語仍然普遍地被使用，大部分的老師認為讓學生在課堂期間使用母語，會使學生在分享時更有信心，是因為英語並不常被使用於課堂以外的情境。
為了因應上述的挑戰，Dersingh博士表示教師與學生需相互學習與成長。在教師方面，泰國孔敬大學的學科教師與語文教師共同合作進行英語教學，此外，泰國孔敬大學與台灣國立屏東大學的教師也有進行這方面的合作。至於學生方面，尤其是修讀國際學程的學生，他們可以透過「寫作診療室」（writing clinic）的協助，以此提升總體英語寫作能力。與此同時，兩位主講嘉賓強調以「語言行為課程」（languaging curriculum）在英語學習的重要性，並以此為基礎，在兩位講者任教的大學裡，他們推出了三個相關課程。在「語言行為課程」中，過程與意義上的溝通（而非成果與準確度）是語言學習之目標。學生期待在不被評價的真實語境中學習英語，以及有策略地利用手邊的工具與現實生活中的平台（例如：Reddit及維基百科），從而提升學生的自信、讓他們獲得成就感。
林怡伶副教授在政大商學院教授的程式語言課程是以英語授課。她發現雖然學生喜歡她的課，可是因為某些概念比較複雜，因此學生未必理解課堂內容。於是，她用英語介紹物件導向程式時，必須講解得非常清楚。為了讓學生更加明白，除了常規的課堂外，她還引進了翻轉教室（flipped classrooms）的概念：學生需要在上課前，先觀看以英文為內容的教學短片，並設計了一些課前活動，讓學生預先熟悉重要的概念。另外，她注意到台灣的學生在課堂比較害羞，所以她讓學生們在網路上匿名發問，也跟他們在課後討論期末作業。此外，她也鼓勵學生參與MIS Capstone的報告，使學生了解如何處理不同情境的挑戰。
蘇昱璇副教授曾在華盛頓大學任教，在不同領域的課堂授課，累積了豐富的英語教學經驗。而現在，她在政大教授三個英語教學的課程。此外，她也是政大社會科學學院英語教育專業發展團隊的成員之一，團隊裡的成員皆具備英語教學的經驗，並且邀請其他大學擁有英語教學經驗的教授前來分享，更進一步走進課堂，就英語教學的策略給予指導。除了跟林怡伶副教授一樣推行翻轉教室、給予預習作業外，蘇昱璇副教授也注意到學生在課堂裡專注度的問題，因此她把英語教學的課堂，切分為以每18分鐘為一單位的循環，從而讓學生的注意力更加集中，以達到事半功倍的效果。
呂欣澤助理教授從2020年開始英語教學，而他任職的創新國際學院，所有課堂皆為英語授課。由於沒有英語教學的經驗，因此在剛開始實施英語教學時，呂欣澤老師遇到了不少挑戰。為了增進自己英語教學的技巧，如同蘇昱璇副教授的學院一樣，創新國際學院邀請國外的教授前來觀課，並給予教學上的建議。呂欣澤老師也有跟蘇郁璇副教授相同的做法，把課堂切分成多個18分鐘的小節，每小節中間預留時間讓學生提出問題，這個方法十分有利於提升學生的專注力。此外，呂欣澤老師也跟林怡伶副教授一樣，鼓勵學生在網路上提問，更邀請他們共同設計英語教學的內容。而呂欣澤老師也跟台灣的學生在課堂以外講中文，這跟兩位主講者提及在泰國的課堂以外講母語的情形一致。在呂欣澤老師跟學生建立良好關係以後，有英文比較好的學生更大膽嘗試糾正他的英文。呂欣澤老師對此感到高興，因為這樣可以增進他英語教學的能力。
感謝兩位主講嘉賓以及三位教授的分享，擴展我們對於在台灣及泰國教室裡英語教學的狀況，以及有著更深入的認識，也為未來相關研究提供了更有價值的指引和啟發。政大英語教學資源中心也將會在2024年9月5至7日，前往泰國曼谷參與「DRAL 5 2024國際論壇」，藉由本次機會加深我們對英語教學的了解與認識，也讓世界各國更加了解台灣英語教學推行的決心。
活動相簿：https://photos.app.goo.gl/j66bSU7ss1mBHnxFA
Moving Out and Taking In: EMI Perspectives from Thailand and Taiwan
The EMI Resource Center and the Bilingual Education and Multicultural Promotion Office at National Chengchi University co-hosted an international talk on April 22nd 2024 (Monday), titled “EMI in Thailand”, featuring two keynote speakers: Dr. Rachanee Dersingh and Assistant Professor Thanis Tangkitjaroenkun from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand, along with the teaching sharing by three professors from NCCU: Associate Professor Yi-ling Lin from the Department of Management and Information System, Associate Professor Yu-Hsuan Su from the Graduate Institute of Development Studies, and Assistant Professor Owen H.T. Lu from the International College of Innovation. The event took place in the Conference Room No. 3 of the Administration Building on the NCCU campus, attended by both faculties and students from NCCU and attendees from other universities online, providing an insightful account of the EMI (English as the medium of instruction) contexts in Thailand and Taiwan from various perspectives. The hybrid event, led by Professor Siaw-Fong Chung, the center director, saw participation from both NCCU faculties and students as well as attendees from other institutions online.
EMI has been in existence in Thailand for over seven decades, and has become increasingly prevalent, owing to factors such as enhancing career and educational opportunities, supporting the economy sector and improving language accuracy, along with the two 15-year plans starting in 1990, according to Dr. Dersingh. Nowadays, there are at least 400 bilingual schools and international schools all over the nation, in which the number of international programs was doubled from 2018 to 2024.
Despite the widespread prevalence of EMI in Thailand, it does not mean that there is no challenge ahead, namely teachers’ proficiency levels and qualifications, the approaches and expectations in pedagogy, and cultural considerations. In EMI classrooms in Thailand, first language is still commonly used since it is regarded to be necessary to let students understand, and they feel more confident in using their mother tongue in sharing, while the use of English is not commonly extended to outside classes.
In order to deal with such challenges, Dr. Dersingh pointed out that support for teachers and students is rendered. For the former, collaboration between content teachers and language teachers are adopted. For the latter, especially those taking international programs, support such as writing clinics is offered. At the same time, both keynote speakers emphasized the importance of the “languaging curriculum” to learn English, and already introduced three courses based on this curriculum. In the “languaging curriculum”, the process and the communication of meaning, rather than product and accuracy, are considered to be the goal of language learning. Students are expected to learn English in real-world contexts under a non-judgmental approach and do things with English through the strategic use of available tools and real-life platforms, such as Reddit and Wikipedia, boosting their confidence and creating their sense of achievement.
Associate Professor Yi-ling Lin has her Programming Language course in the School of Commerce taught in EMI. She finds that although her students enjoyed the classes, they may still not understand the concepts because some of them are complicated. Therefore, she has to be very clear when introducing object-oriented items in English. In order to further facilitate easy understanding among students, flipped classrooms are included in addition to regular lectures: students are required to preview English-taught teaching videos along with activities designed by her before class in order that they can familiarize themselves with the important concepts in advance. In addition, she notices that students in Taiwan are quite shy in class, so she asks them to raise questions anonymously online and discuss their final projects with her after class. She also encourages them to take part in MIS Capstone presentations so as to know how seniors solve real-world problems.
Associate Professor Yu-hsuan Su taught in the University of Washington before joining NCCU, so she has abundant experience in EMI teaching and now teaches three EMI courses. In addition, she is a member of the EMI Faculty Professional Development Community in the College of Social Sciences, whose members have their own experience in EMI teaching. The Community also invites professors from other universities with EMI teaching experience for sharing and they even enter the classes of local professors to see any improvement in EMI strategies. Besides introducing flipped classrooms and giving assignments beforehand like what Prof. Lin does, Prof. Su is aware of students’ attention span in EMI classes, so she has her EMI teaching in various 18-minute loops in every lesson, which is conducive to students’ focus.
Assistant Professor Owen H.T. Lu started teaching in EMI in 2020. In fact, all the courses provided by the International College of Innovation, where he is working, are EMI courses. At the beginning of his EMI teaching, he faced challenges because no one taught him how to teach in EMI. In order to improve his EMI competence, like Prof. Su, his College invites experts to oversee lessons and provide pedagogical tips, and he breaks up his lectures into several 18-minute chunks, with brief time in between for peer debriefing, which serves as a beneficial means to facilitate students’ focus. Also, same as Prof. Lin, he encourages his students to ask questions online and involves them to design EMI-teaching content. Furthermore, he talks with his Taiwanese students in Chinese, which is the same as what is highlighted by the two Thai keynote speakers. Later Prof. Lu developed an excellent rapport with students, and those who are good in English even try to correct his English, which he feels very happy about and made him improve his EMI competence.
We extend our gratitude to the two keynote speakers and the three sharing professors for their insightful contributions, expanding our understanding of EMI in real classroom contexts in both Taiwan and Thailand. The EMI Resource Center is co-hosting the DRAL 5 2024 International Conference to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on September 5th–7th 2024, so as to deepen our knowledge in EMI and exhibit the implementation of EMI in Taiwan all over the world.
For more photos：https://photos.app.goo.gl/j66bSU7ss1mBHnxFA
The EMI Resource Center：https://www.eminccu.com/
