Main Challenges of EMI at the UCLM: Teachers’ Perceptions on Language Proficiency, Training and Incentives

Abstract

English-medium instruction (EMI) has become commonplace in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Spain and in many other countries, being implemented as a strategy to increase the competitiveness and attractiveness of universities at the international level. The present article investigates the stances of lecturers involved in various internationalization programmes in regard to the challenges that EMI inception and implementation entails, such as language and content integration, English proficiency of teachers and students, teachers’ drives, teacher training needs and institutional support, among other issues. To gain a more comprehensive insight into the development of EMI, data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews with three separate groups of lecturers: (i) EMI practitioners, (ii) lecturers interested in EMI and (iii) lecturers from the Department of Modern Languages, experts in second language acquisition (SLA) and bilingual education. The results showed that the implementation of EMI at the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) is still in its infancy and there are several areas for improvement such as (i) the approval of a multilingual language policy that includes a specific and legally-binding protocol for lecturer recruitment and commitment in the programme, and (ii) the design of a more comprehensive teacher training plan offering accreditation to enter EMI and supporting effective implementation by means of in-service courses.