EMI Teacher Training at the University of A Coruña

Abstract

[EN] The aim of this paper is to offer an overview of how an EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) programme was designed at the University of A Coruña (Spain) to implement courses taught in English by its teaching staff. The final goals of this initiative were twofold: to attract an increasing number of foreign students through mobility or as new admissions; and to promote internationalisation at home for both students and lecturers. Some of the steps taken in this process (from coaching to EMI) are explained as well as the principles on which a particular teaching methodology for non-native speakers of English is based. Content knowledge and a B2 level of English is presupposed, but a further level of teacher professionalism is aspired to, involving commitment, reflection, responsibility. A shift in focus, from teacher- to student-centred learning is required. Instructors should show their students how to learn and guide them along their learning paths. This implies a shift in the original mindset that is strongly rooted in particular teaching traditions. Communicative competence is also a key factor: knowing how to transmit and communicate is at least as important as the material content itself, and lecturers should be good communicators.