Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature straniere e Culture moderne

The background for the TAEC project can be found in the internationalization of European universities during the last 20 years which has led to a rapid increase of English-medium Instruction (EMI) programs and courses across Europe. 

Though EMI has been developed to increase student, teacher and researcher mobility, its fast growth has raised concerns regarding the oral English language competences of non-native English speaking lecturers and the implications for the quality of teaching and learning. Consequently, lecturers' English proficiency is under scrutiny and universities are developing policies for quality assurance, which are enforced by the implementation of internal language assessments procedures and EMI teacher training.

Thus far, assessment and EMI teacher training procedures such as these have been developed and used only locally, at the institutional level. Therefore, the innovative purpose of this project is to improve the transparency in terms of how to reach and assess lecturers' language competences and teaching qualifications in order to establish their transnational recognition. 

In other words, this project supports the implementation and development of a transparent, common framework, which can assure instructional quality and language support for lecturers in various EMI contexts across Europe. 

The project addresses the internationalization agenda of the Council of Europe which is mirrored at the universities across Europe. The internationalization in Higher Education (HE) has been implemented through a rapid increase in EMI programs and courses across Europe, which has raised concern among different HE stakeholders regarding the oral linguistic competences of non-native English speaking lecturers, the implications of teaching in English for the instructional quality, international faculty and student recruitment as well as local student retention at HE institutions in non-Anglophone countries. Consequently, lecturers' English proficiency is under scrutiny and universities are developing policies for quality assurance, enforced by the implementation of internal language assessment and teacher training procedures. 

However, the project partners are unsure about the transferability of language competencies and EMI teaching support programs across different European contexts since these contexts have not been examined comparatively. 

Therefore, TAEC seeks to undertake innovative approaches to the development of a common framework for EMI quality assurance and support on the basis of which we can adapt local EMI teacher training and language assessment instruments for transparency in transnational use. 

The objectives of the project are to:

1. identify and differentiate between the transnational and the local administrative, instructional and language needs of EMI programmes at partner universities
2. align a locally-used assessment scale (the TOEPAS at UCPH) with Council of Europe's CEFR, which will allow for standardization of results
3. develop an EMI handbook and
4. raise awareness among stakeholders.

(see outputs below)

The long-term objective of the TAEC project is to provide the groundwork for an EMI framework for quality assurance which could be applicable across European universities beyond the partner universities involved in the project. 

The TAEC project consists of seven inter-related work packages, all of which are integral parts of the project cycle. The project management and quality assurance are led by the UCPH while the partners are responsible for dissemination and sustainability. Each of the three work packages related to the three main outcomes of the project (EMI framework, alignment to the CEFR scale and EMI handbook) is managed by a different partner university, though supported by representatives from all partner universities.

During the project, the partners will host a series of local EMI workshops as well as arrange a conference on "EMI practices in Europe" in April 2019. 

Local EMI workshops

As part of the project, each partner will host a 3-day EMI workshop for local staff. The purpose of each workshop is to introduce the local participants to the basic characteristics of EMI and to provide them with opportunities to develop strategies to support teaching and learning in their local context. Furthermore, this is a way to try out and implement both the EMI framework and the EMI handbook into the institutional level of each partner university.

The workshops will take place in winter 2018/2019 and the partners will be responsible for the hosting of and invitations for the workshops. 

Conference on "EMI practices in Europe", 4-5 April 2019

This two-day conference will consist of presentations of current research into and experience from EMI practices as well as workshops sessions where practitioners, researchers and EMI trainers will share best practice concerning the methods related to teaching in a second language.

We invite proposals for papers and poster presentations. Anonymous proposals should be in English and comprise no more than 300 words (excluding the title, keywords and references). All proposals will undergo a double-blind peer-review process and will be assessed according to relevance and quality. 

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 14 October 2018 and for the notification of acceptance is 5 December 2018.

More information about the conference can be found at http://cip.ku.dk/english/projects/taec/activities-and-events/emi-conference/

The conference email is emipractices@uniri.hr