English as Medium of Instruction in Japanese Higher Education

Abstract

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Challenges in English‐medium instruction (EMI) at a Japanese university

“…As described in Toh (), the start of a new academic year one spring does not spell business‐as‐usual for the staff members of a liberal arts faculty pseudonymously referred to hereafter as Chishiki University's Faculty of Universal Leadership (FUL), located somewhere in Japan's Kanto region. The faculty is in its first weeks of existence when a group of 80 students come to campus for the start of lessons.…”

“…The faculty is in its first weeks of existence when a group of 80 students come to campus for the start of lessons. It would not have gone unnoticed by front office staff or casual observers, however, that the general mood among academic faculty was one of apprehension (Toh, ). The university had, never in its history, ever undertaken to offer any of its courses in English.…”

“…Consequences, outcomes and implications of different ways of understanding and/or conceptualizing the role of English in higher education and English medium instruction are considered critically. In particular, the observations and findings concerning the EMI program discussed in Toh () are given detailed attention as a matter of considering a case in point. In the book‐length study entitled English as a medium of instruction in a Japanese higher education situation: Presumption, mirage or bluff?…”

“…In the book‐length study entitled English as a medium of instruction in a Japanese higher education situation: Presumption, mirage or bluff? , Toh () describes the resultant impasse and confusion from a failed attempt to introduce and implement English medium instruction in the institution concerned. The thick description provided in the book attests to the fact that EMI initiatives in situations where English has traditionally not been the medium of classroom instruction cannot be treated reductively and, still less, directorially, but must be considered as reflexive matters that concern: (1) the confluences of language, knowledge, meaning making and the negotiated nature of disciplinarity; as well as (2) the cultural‐politics of language and ideology germane to the very locality and intersectionality of the particular initiative.…”

Translingual practices at a Shanghai university

“…290–291). As the number of international students on campus is a well‐recognized index of a university's degree of internationalization, universities around the world are increasingly launching English‐medium instruction (EMI) programmes to attract international students (Kuroda, 2014; Toh, 2016). Recent studies have defined EMI as ‘the use of the English language to teach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the first language of the majority of the population is not English’ (Macaro, Curle, Pun, An, & Dearden, 2018).…”