University lecturers’ experiences of teaching in English in an international classroom

ABSTRACT

Demand for English-taught courses (ETCs) is growing exponentially in non-English speaking universities. These courses require new teaching competences of lecturers, most obviously English language proficiency and intercultural skills. Given the high workloads academics are currently burdened with, it can be expected that this form of teaching is presenting them with a considerable challenge. Despite this, little is known about their ETC teaching experiences. This study addressed this issue by examining and comparing beginning and experienced ETC lecturers’ perspectives on their practices. The study was conducted at a university in Taiwan. Ten academics were interviewed in-depth, some two to three times over a two-year period. The study found the two groups’ experiences were polar opposites. This paper argues an awareness of English as a lingua franca accompanied by student-centered teacher concerns led to the senior cohort’s positive ETC teaching experiences, while a lack thereof gave rise to the beginning lecturers’ unfavorable experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• English-taught courses
• English as a medium of instruction
• English as a lingua franca
• teacher concerns
• novice teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Rainbow Tsai-Hung Chen http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8729-2429

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan [grant number NSC102-2410-H-004-205-MY2].