Emergent STEM lecturer identities: The shaping effects of EMI in action in an internationalised and Englishised HE context

Abstract

This paper examines the emergent identities of three STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) lecturers, focusing especially on how they construct themselves with regard to their disciplines and how researchers construct them as potential English language teachers. It begins with essential background information before discussing identity as a key construct. The paper then moves to the presentation of a Foucauldian-inflected version of positioning theory which is employed as a means of understanding the construction of English-medium instruction (EMI) STEM lecturer identities. In the second half of the paper, there is a discussion of three case-studies of EMI STEM lecturers, which shows how each orientates to his or her subject discipline, and the prospect of acting, on occasion, as an English language teacher. Specifically, there is a detailed consideration of how EMI lecturers position themselves in their contacts with researchers and in their teaching; how their self-positionings are consistent or not with how researchers position them; and how self-positionings are similar or different across EMI lecturers. The paper ends with a discussion of what conclusions can be drawn from the research findings.

Teaching and Learning of Mathematics through CLIL, CBI, or EMI—A Systematic Literature Review

“…In terms of research design, 32.7% (n = 17) used mixed methods [11,76,78,79,83,85,87,89,92,94,95,99,100,102,107,108,111]; 30.7% (n = 16) were qualitative [9,12,26,77,80,82,90,93,96,98,[103][104][105]110,112,116]; and 15.4% (n = 8) utilized a quantitative design [19,21,81,86,91,97,106,113,116]. Additionally, 13.5% (n = 7) were case studies [10,84,88,101,109,114,115], and 7.7% (n = 4) were scientific literature reviews [72]...…”

“…In addition, just three articles (n = 3, 5.7%) focus only on CBI without distinguishing between CLIL or EMI [111][112][113]. In addition, three of them (n = 3, 5.7%) address the interrelationship that is established in some contexts between the EMI and CLIL programs [9,114,115].…”

“…Besides, we have noticed that several investigations attempted to study mathematical competence and science competence separately without establishing connections among them [81,82,88,97,99,102,[108][109][110]. It is worth noting that some cases fit within the framework of the STEM approach [9,76,98,101,114].…”

“…On the other hand, a smaller number of investigations aim to inquire into STEM lecturers' beliefs and identities concerning the English Language Teaching (ELT) gaze [9,114], as well as secondary teachers' beliefs in mathematics following an EMI approach [96,108,109].…”

The Englishization of Higher Education in Europe

“…All these factors contribute to lower self-esteem and lack of confidence, which is why they demand more training in EMI-related skills that should go beyond the mere improvement of their English proficiency . When they talk about language, their interests are focused on grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary (Block, 2020; and appear unconcerned about other language aspects such as pragmatics or discourse. Their disciplinary identity prevents them from paying much attention to language issues, while they recurrently claim that language falls outside their remit because they see themselves as imperfect language users.…”