English as a Medium of

Instruction – What do I have to

do with it?

A Course at UFPR
Ane Cibele Palma
2
3
 What ◎ Share your ideas using individual
words to contribute to the Word Cloud
makes a on
good ◎ https://www.mentimeter.com/pt-BROr
Use the code 73131730
professor? ◎ 4
 Our Group´s
Word Cloud!

Put together on
November 1st,
2024
5
Analizing our
Group´s
Word Cloud

6
7
 INTERNATIONALIZATION

“The process of integrating an international,

intercultural or global dimension into the purpose,
functions or delivery of postsecondary education, in 8
order to enhance the quality of education and research
for all students and staff, and to make a meaningful
contribution to society.”

KNIGHT, 2004
 EMI
“The use of the English
language to teach academic

“
subjects in countries or
jurisdictions where the first 9

language (L1) of the majority of

the population is not English”.

DEARDEN, 2014
 The English “native speaker” has been seen as a
myth over the last decades (PENNYCOOK, 2007) –
a model of language competence to be followed,
which might reinforce the idea that native English
teachers would be better than the non-native ones 10

and lead to the valuing of the first ones and to the

discrimination of the last ones, as well as to feelings
connected to the Impostor Syndrome
(BERNAT, 2008; KRAMSCH, 2012).
 The belief in the mythical “native speaker” impacts
English non native teachers’ identity constructions and
their teaching practices.
Studies show that…
around 80% of English teachers worldwide
are non-native English speakers (NNESTs)… but…
72-88% of EFL jobs advertise for Native English 11

Speaking Teachers
(NESTs)
Imagine the impact on using English
for EMI purposes, when the professors are not
language teachers….
[…] It is not difficult to come across NNSTS who have been
literally brainwashed into believing that their highest goal
should be to be so proficient in the language as to be
welcomed into the community of native speakers as
'regular' members. (Rajagopalan, 2005, p. 286)

12
IMPACTS OF A Language as an abstract system of rules of a
MONOLINGUAL lingua cultura/nation to be decodified.
CONCEPTION
OF LANGUAGE
IN SOCIETY:

The native speaker phallacy (Phillipson, 1992) 13

holds that the ideal teacher is a native speaker,

somebody with native speaker proficiency in
English who can serve as a model for the pupils.
 We are all “Monolingualism is the world exception.
multilingual Multilingualism is the world norm”.
(JENKINS, 2015)

We are heteroglossic beings: we 14

constitute and we are constituted

by language/by others’ voices.
(BAKHTIN)
Who is the Which
mythical
native imagined
English culture/s does
speaker?
he/she 15
The
three concentric
represent?
circles
Kachru (1986)
Inner Circle The Inner Circle - native
countries – English speakers
“norm The Outer Circle -
providers”: English not native
the United speakers /second
States, language users
Canada, 16

Australia, The Expanding Circle –

United speakers of English as a
Kingdom, foreign or additional
New Zealand language
What makes a
language .... Native would be related to a
native or
foreigner?
person’s birth place...?
To a person´s family language? 17

To the language one learns at

school?...
 [...] what if one inherits a language from her
mother, another from her father, shares a
third one with her community, grows in a
place where all of the three are used in

“
negotiation, learns a fourth language at
18
school as a language of instruction and in
the schooling process has to choose a fifth
language to learn, additionally, as a foreign
language?

(Archanjo, 2016)
 Non-native:
It’s time for us ❏ non-adequate;
to stop ❏ non ideal;
defining ❏ non-competent;
ourselves and ❏ non-fluent;
other teachers Enough of all identities marked
by what we by “NONs” ….
are not, let´s Let´s leave the impostor syndrome behind us!
focus on what
Bernat, 2008
we are!
 IT’S TIME FOR US TO START IDENTIFYING OURSELVES
EMI
AND OTHER ENGLISH NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS AS:
Professors:

NORM CREATORS KNOWLEDGEABLE

20
INTELLIGIBLE FLEXIBLE

multilingual ADEQUATE
INTERCULTURAL
multicompetent
translingual CAPABLE
PROFESSIONAL
 ◎ Have you ever heard or read about any of the
Time to linguistics concepts we have seen here so
share: far?
Group
◎ Do these ideas make sense to you?
discussion 1
- separate ◎ Have you ever felt any of these
21
rooms doubts/fears/insecurities when using
English? Share.
◎ Have these feelings ever prevented you from
using English?
◎ Come back and report!
 o Institutional Prestige
Some o Personal and academic prestige
benefits o Professional opportunities at home and abroad
of EMI o Improvement of teaching skills (foreign
language and native language)
22
o Improvement of language skills
o Opportunity for students to improve their
communication skills within study area
o Internationalization of subject, research
findings, institution, others
 o Institutional Pressure
Some o Peer pressure
EMI o Exposure
Issues o Level of English in not enough for teaching
o Students´ levels of English might be better 23

o Not a native speaker – impostor syndrome

o Content expertise in English may not seem
the same in Portuguese – How this may affect
my professor identity
o Longer class preparation time
 EMI ...Beliefs within a socio-historical context
Emotions influence the construction of identities.
Beliefs
Identities
Identities influence the kinds of emotions
and beliefs that individuals attribute to 24
themselves and to others. Emotions, in
turn, can influence identities and how we
construct them.
(BARCELOS, 2015)
 “Emotions are socially constructed,
personally enacted ways of being that
emerge from conscious and/or
unconscious judgments regarding

“
perceived successes at attaining goals
25
or maintaining standards or beliefs
during transactions as part of social-
historical contexts”

Schutz, Hong, Cross, and Osbon (2006)

 ◎ Do you think your ◎ What factors
In the next
level of English is might influence
slides you
will find a enough to teach the importance of
bit of what classes in EMI proficiency in
participants contexts? Why English?
26
have said in (not)?
previous
EMI
Courses at
UFPR...
 Plant Biology Professor

Experience abroad - confidence booster

“I taught in English when I was in Montreal, and the feedback of

the students was good and nowadays I feel more confident”

Teaching EMI for Brazilians

“ I have a perception that Brazilians are always trying to be perfect
when we are speaking in other languages. We do not "respect"
our accent or we are more focused in do not make grammar
mistakes than to be able to establish a real and fruitful connection
with students.”
Marketing Professor
Perfectionism gets in the way
“Some time ago I was invited to give a course for exchange
students from South America, English was not their native
language. I thought I was prepared for it, I had studied the
subject of the course throughout my career! Well, after watching
the material that was recorded...Imagine a nervous teacher….”

Production Engineering Professor

Native speaker X impostor syndrome
Effects of the CEFR Table
“I had a opportunity this year to spend some days in USA and I
could see my English is poor. I don't think I am prepared to teach
In English now, mainly after see the table with the
classification.”
Information Technology Professor

Technical terms and content area knowledge boost confidence

“Last year I taught a 30h distance learning discipline in English.
I was able to use my technical knowledge about the subject.”

Face to face communication fear

Preparation time demands for EMI

“Readings and discussions happened in Moodle's environment.
There were only three face-to-face meetings in which everyone,
teacher and students, were afraid.”
“As for preparation, I spent much more time than for Portuguese
subjects, perhaps more than twice as long.”
Philosophy Professor

Preparation time and tools

“I think my proficiency will be enough if I spend time preparing
each class carefully. It is important to plan the class providing
videos, texts and activities in order to teach in EMI with
confidence.”
“In a well planned class with adequate content, appropriate use of
media and interaction activities, a not so good proficiency in
English will not impact in the learning.”

Content area and nature of subject

“I think that subjects related to technology, for example, can be
favorable for delivering classes in English because the students
are more familiar with English terms.”
Law Professor

Content area and nature of subject

Professor´s Identity as a Brazilian speaker X Language user

“I think my level of English is almost enough to EMI. I like to

explain many times the same concept and its application, using
different words and contexts, and I'm afraid my vocabulary is
limited. As "the leader" of a class,I'm really insecure.”

“Ron said we don't need to be the only voice at class, but it seems
impossible not to be protagonist, at least at the first class.”
Law Professor

Content area and nature of subject

Brazilians expectations of native-like proficiency

“When you are out, with people who know you are Brazilian, it's
easier to risk yourself. People tend to be kind and patient. But if
you are in Brazil and you take the initiative to offer a course in
English, the students may - legitimately - expect you to have very
good English proficiency. It's even worse when your area is
substantively language, like Literature, Sociology and, of course,
Law.”
 Keep in ◎ People do not learn languages and
mind for
EMI then use them, but learn languages
practice.... by using them. (Halliday, 1975)
33
 Just as an infant can have extraordinary
powers of communication with only a few
words, so our ability to communicate in a
language can be reasonably successful,
even if our grammar is faulty, knowledge of

“
words is weak, or pronunciation poor. We
34
should all challenge the idea of waiting
until ‘I think I am good enough in the
language to use it’. Rather, we should use
the language as a tool for communication
and learning as early as possible.
(Marsh, 2000)
 Time to ◎ What do you know about EMI?
share: ◎ Have you ever heard or read about any of the
Group theory of EMI?
discussion 2
◎ Do these ideas make sense to you?
(separate
rooms) ◎ Have you used EMI in your classes? Would 35

you like to?

◎ What has prevented you from adopting some
EMI in your classes? Share.
◎ Come back and report!
 ◎ In the assigned groups discuss the
What are the Opportunities and Challenges of EMI.
positive and ◎ Post the main ideas on a Padlet.
negative ◎ Go to:
aspects of ◎ padlet.com/anecibele/what-are-the-positive-
EMI in your
36
and-challenging-aspects-of-emi-
opinion? 3n0swr78iogy6ut
◎ Report back to the group
References

ARCHANJO, R. Moving globally to transform locally? Academic mobility and language policy in Brazil. Language Policy, 2016. DOI
10.1007/s10993-016-9408-0
BAKHTIN, M. (VOLOCHÍNOV, V. N). Marxismo e filosofia da linguagem: problemas fundamentais do método sociológico na ciência da
linguagem. 16. ed. São Paulo: Hucitec, 2004.
BARCELOS, A. M. F. Unveiling the relationship between language learning beliefs, emotions, and identities. Studies in Second Language
Learning and Teaching, v. 5, n. 2, p. 301-325, 2015.
BERNAT, E. Towards a pedagogy of empowerment: the case of ‘Impostor Syndrome’ among pre-service non-native speaker teachers in
TESOL. ELTED, v. 11, p. 1-8, 2008.
DEARDEN, J. English as a medium of instruction – a growing global phenomenon. British Council. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
HALLIDAY, M. A. K. Learning to mean: Explorations in the development of language. London: Edward Arnold, 1975. 37
JENKINS, J English as a Lingua Franca: Attitude and Identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
KACHRU, B. B. Standards, codification, and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In: Quirk, R. and H.
Widdowson, (eds.) English in the World: Teaching and Learning the language and the literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1985.
KNIGHT, J. Internationalization remodeled: Definition, Approaches, and Rationales. Journal of Studies in International Education, v. 8, n. 1,
p. 5-31, 2004.
KRAMSCH, C. J. Imposture: A late modern notion in poststructuralist SLA research. Oxford University Press: Applied Linguistics, v. 33, n.
5 p. 483–502, 2012.
MARSH, C. Innovation and change. Handbook for beginning teachers. (2nd ed.). NSW: Pearson Education, 2000.
RAJAGOPALAN, K. Non-native speaker teachers of English and their anxieties: ingredients for an experiment in action research. In:
LLURDA E. (Ed.). Non-native language teachers: Perceptions, challenges and contributions to the profession. New York: Springer, 2005.
SCHUTZ, P. A.; HONG, J. Y.; CROSS, D. I.; OSBON, J. N. Reflections on investigating emotions among educational contexts. Educ
Psychol Rev, v. 18, n. 4, p. 343-360, 2006.
 THANKS!

Any questions?
You can find me at
[email protected] 38