English-medium instruction in the Australian higher education: untold stories of academics from non-native English-speaking backgrounds

ABSTRACT

The literature on English-medium instruction (EMI) has predominantly focused on contexts where English is not the first language. Little is known about EMI in traditional English-speaking (Anglophone) contexts like Australia, where English is the first language. The highly internationalised Australian higher education has witnessed a growing cohort of foreign-born students and academics, many from non-native English-speaking backgrounds (NESB). Whilst the issue of EMI for NESB students has received increased attention, the EMI-related challenges facing NESB academics have been overlooked. This paper explores communicative and pedagogical challenges and associated strategies of NESB academics as they revealed untold stories about their teaching experiences in this EMI context. It adopts a Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theoretical perspective in conceptualising English as a tool academics appropriate to mediate their teaching. A modified EMI competence framework further elaborates the use of English as a pedagogical and communicative tool. Data were generated through individual interviews and survey questionnaire with NESB academics at an Australian university. Findings revealed multiple challenges facing the academics and strategies they applied to adapt English, as a mediational tool, to effectively mediate their teaching. The study has implications for EMI research in Anglophone contexts and professional development and institutional support for NESB academics.

KEYWORDS:

• English-medium instruction
• academic professional development
• language policy and planning
• higher education
• Australia
• sociocultural theory

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Monash University Office of Learning and Teaching for funding this project. We would also like to sincerely thank all the academics who participated in this study. Many thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Thi Kim Anh Dang is Senior Lecturer (TESOL and Languages Education) at the Faculty of Education, Monash University. She holds a PhD in teacher education from the University of Melbourne. Kim has received research awards from the University of Melbourne, Australian Association for Research in Education, Applied Linguistics Association of Australia, and American Educational Research Association. Her research interests include English-medium instruction, teacher collaborative learning, professional learning, higher education, educational policy, and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. Kim has published in high impact international journals, including Teaching and Teacher Education, Critical Studies in Education, and Asia Pacific Journal of Education.

Thao Thi Phuong Vu is an educational designer and educational researcher at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University. Thao is also a PhD student at the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education, the University of Melbourne. Thao’s research interests include Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Academic Profession and International Higher Education. Her professional experience involves teaching, educational design, educational research and delivering professional development to academic staff. Thao has received Teaching Excellence Awards from Vietnam National University, Hanoi, and the Vice Chancellor Teaching Excellence Award (Priority area) with her team at Monash University.

ORCID

Thi Kim Anh Dang http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9006-1477

Thao Thi Phuong Vu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8275-1083

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 See Moore and Harrington (2016) for the full policy framework for English language proficiency (ELP) in Australian higher education.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Monash University.