Journal of English-Medium Instruction - Online First

Responding to calls for greater attention to the structure, substance, and scope of English-medium instruction (EMI) faculty professional preparation programs and their impact on teacher instructional practices, this paper explores the design, implementation, and impact of a professional development initiative at a technical university in Taiwan. Based on needs analysis findings and grounded in Vygotskian sociocultural theory, the program was designed and implemented to support faculty development through engendering new forms of teacher reasoning and instructional action. Exemplifying this process of change, an in-depth case study of a faculty-participant’s learning shows how they developed new ways of reasoning about their instructional decisions and teaching their disciplinary content. Analysis of instructional coaching sessions, faculty-produced teaching artifacts, and classroom observations demonstrates how the faculty-participant translated individualized, concept-based instructional support into innovations in their course design and in-class engagement with students. The results foreground the value of conceptualizing EMI faculty development as an individualized, longitudinal process in which responsive instructional support is a catalyst for reasoned, pedagogically sound innovations. More generally, this study offers an alternative definition of EMI professional support that moves beyond preparedness and locates development-the process of creating qualitative change in teacher practices and reasoning-at its core.

Research on machine translation in language courses has proliferated over the last decade, yet few studies have considered use in English medium-instruction programs that aim to simultaneously develop student language ability and knowledge of content. This study therefore investigates student use and beliefs about machine translation at a transnational Chinese university. Interviews with twenty-one undergraduate students and fourteen instructors found that student use of machine translation is widespread, though variable. Students report using machine translation to increase reading comprehension, vocabulary, and speed; translate first language writing to raise target language writing quality and complexity; and decrease the amount of copied (though cited) content. Instructors report student use of simultaneous speech translation in class, mistranslations in student writing indicating a lack of engagement with English language texts, and cross-language plagiarism. Both students and instructors view machine translation as a tool: a potentially beneficial one that, if used uncritically and constantly, can stunt language development. Students are thus faced with a choice between developing their English and the expediency of quickly reading and writing in Chinese, a choice heavily affected by student workload, performance pressures, and, arguably, lack of machine translation literacy.