Educators’ agency in implementing English-medium-instruction in Chinese higher education: a cultural-historical perspective

ABSTRACT

The internationalisation of higher education (HE) worldwide has led to an expansion of courses using English-as-a-medium-of-instruction (EMI) in non-native-English-speaking countries. Research has identified complex challenges facing EMI educators in implementing EMI policies and suggested separately the significant roles educators’ agency and perceptions of EMI play on their EMI practice. However, little is known about how individual educators exercise agency in response to the perceived demands of EMI teaching and the role of their interpretations and perceptions of EMI in the process. Adopting a cultural-historical theory perspective, this study explores how Chinese educators exercise agency to respond to perceived demands of EMI practice. Data included questionnaires and written interviews with ten academics teaching in EMI courses at three Chinese universities. Manifest in their engagement and commitment, deliberate actions and responsibilities towards themselves and students, their agency is unfolded in acts to improve their pedagogy and student learning of academic content, but not necessarily to develop students’ English proficiency. Educators’ perceptions of EMI appear to play a vital role in orienting their agency as they respond to demands from EMI practice when enacting EMI policies.

KEYWORDS:

• English medium instruction
• teacher agency
• internationalisation of higher education
• EMI in China
• cultural-historical theory
• sociocultural theory

Acknowledgements

This project was a research capacity building grant awarded to the first two authors. Sincere thanks to all the academics participating in this research. This project has received ethics approval from the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee with Project ID: 20430.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research project is funded by the Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia.

Notes on contributors

Thi Kim Anh Dang

Thi Kim Anh Dang is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL and Languages Education at the Faculty of Education, Monash University. Her research interests include English-Medium Instruction, teacher collaborative learning, teacher agency, professional identity, globalisation in teacher education, Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, and activity theory. She has published in high impact international journals, including Teaching and Teacher Education, Critical Studies in Education, and Current Issues in Language Planning. She has received research awards from the Australian Association for Research in Education, Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, and American Educational Research Association.

Gary Bonar

Gary Bonar is a lecturer in Languages and TESOL in the Education Faculty of Monash University (Australia). His research interests are in the areas of language teacher education, educator agency and identity in English Medium of Instruction (EMI) contexts, and Asia-related learning in Australian schools. His work has featured in Q1 journals such as TESOL Quarterly and Teaching in Higher Education.

Jiazhou Yao

Jiazhou Yao is a lecturer in the School of Foreign Languages at Southwest Jiaotong University. His research interests include bilingual education of ethnic minority groups in China, language shift, and linguistic landscape. He has published several papers in Q1 journals such as International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.