Invited Speakers
Diane Pecorari
Department of English
City University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
Title:
What are the outcomes of English-medium instruction?
Abstract:
It has frequently been observed that English-medium instruction (EMI) has is not a planned pedagogical strategy, in the way that other multilingual pedagogies such as immersion are. EMI is, rather, a pedagogical situation, and one which governments or educational institutions promote and implement in order to create a set of circumstances which will allow the attainments of certain objectives. Perhaps the two objectives most closely linked with the implementation of EMI are internationalisation (in all its many forms); and the incidental acquisition of English.
There are also costs associated with EMI; for instance, the risk that students will master their subject content less effectively, because they are required to work through the medium of a second language. It is therefore important, and institutions increasingly face decisions about whether and how to implement EMI, to understand the net outcomes. This talk will address two key questions:
- What are the effects of EMI on students’ content learning?
- What are the effects of EMI on students’ English-language skills?
Brief Bio:
Diane Pecorari is Professor of English and Head of Department at City University of Hong Kong. Her research, situated in the broad area of educational linguistics, investigates the widespread and growing phenomenon of English as the medium of instruction, along with aspects of English for academic purposes and second-language writing, including source use and plagiarism. She is founding co-editor (with Hans Malmström) of the Journal of English-Medium Instruction.