English as a medium of instruction and internationalisation in Higher Education Inglês como meio de Iinstrução e internacionalização na Educação Superior

Joyce Kling (JK), PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of English, Germanic, and Romance Studies at the University of Copenhagen. Her research focuses on the multilingual, multicultural classroom, with particular emphasis on foreign language use in English medium instruction (EMI) contexts. She has investigated non-native English speaking (NNS) lecturers’ professional identity in a Danish EMI setting from a teacher cognition paradigm. Since 2009, Dr. Kling has been active on the development and implementation of TOEPAS, the Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff. She draws on the TOEPAS in relation to her research and professional development training for NNS lecturers. She has published several articles and chapters on EMI and language assessment and is the co-author of English Medium Instruction in Multilingual and Mutlicultural Universities (Henriksen, Holmen and Kling, 2018) and co-editor of the recent edited volume, Integrating Content and Language in Multilingual Higher Education (Dimova & Kling, 2020).

The Language Strategy was initiated to meet some of the pressing needs facing the University, namely, to help students meet some of the challenges of globalization that they are facing. Increasing numbers of courses and full-degree programs at the Danish university taught in English, as well as increasing numbers of students studying in Danish as a second language, has resulted in more opportunities for students to develop and master foreign languages in connection with studies and fieldwork abroad. Through the Language Strategy, students received training to develop specific academic literacy skills to support their educational goals.
MDC: In the last years, Higher Education Institutions around the globe have been pressured to internationalize and this movement has resulted in the rapid development of courses being offered through English as a medium of instruction (EMI). There appears to be a spectrum of possibilities in which EMI may occur (Kling, 2019). What are these possibilities? JK: EMI courses are proliferating around the world. Many of these courses developed during early days related to internationalization and student exchange. To provide instruction for guest students at institutions in countries such as Denmark, universities began to offer courses in English. Since the turn of the century, this trend has extended to meet globalization goals and internationalization at home. Currently, EMI courses and degree programs can be found at institutions in traditional Anglophone settings, at Anglophone branch campus institutions in non-Anglophone contexts, as well as at a broad range of institutions in non-Anglophone context. MDC: Language proficiency has always been an issue when it comes to EMI. Students are unsure whether their knowledge of English is good enough to succeed academically in classes taught mainly in English. Professors, many times, do not feel confident to teach, interact with students and assess them in this language. You have helped develop the Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff (TOEPAS). Can you explain this test and why it has been developed? Also, what level of proficiency do you think professors should have for successful EMI classes? JK: When I began at UCPH, one of the projects I worked on was the development of a certification program for lecturers. UCPH was developing more and more EMI course offerings and wanted to support teachers who found themselves teaching through their foreign language and focus on quality assurance. Working in cooperation with lecturers and administration, a small team at CIP developed the Test of Oral English Proficiency for Academic Staff (TOEPAS). The TOEPAS is an oral proficiency test where lecturers receive extensive formative feedback based on a simulated lecture performance. This feedback consists of video supported written feedback and a private individualized oral feedback session. Based on our validation studies and alignment with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), we recommend that professors have a threshold level of B2+ in English for the purpose of teaching EMI courses.
MDC: How do you think the field of TESOL can contribute to deal with the challenges faced by EMI students and professors? JK: As the largest professional association related to the field of English language teaching (ELT), TESOL can provide a broad range of support for both students and teachers. TESOL has extensive resources that can help to inform those involved in ELT who face challenges of implementing EMI programs in their individual context. ELT professionals and TESOL can also provide advice and support for the development of local language policies, as higher education institutions determine how to navigate their expanding programming in English. My experience in June/July was my first opportunity to work as an English Language Specialist. I really enjoyed developing these workshops for Unisinos in Brazil. Through this project, I was able to consolidate a great deal of material that I have been working with in Europe for some time. This opportunity allowed by to reach a new audience and learn about the local context, including the opportunities and challenges for English medium instruction and the international classroom in another region of the world. I was impressed with the engagement of the participants, particularly given the fact that they were asked to join instruction during their only break in their day, while fighting the COVID-19 challenges and quarantine. The university showed a true sense of desire for sustainability, as well, by integrating colleagues from across disciplines. This provided great opportunities for discussion. Of course, while some of the challenges faced by these teachers are unique to the region, there was a great deal of overlap of experiences and reflections with those I have worked with in Europe. Overall, this was a very positive experience for me and I look forward to continued collaborative opportunities with individuals that I have met through this project.

MDC: What advice would you give to a Higher Education Institution which is willing to implement actions to enhance its internalization policies?
JK: My best advice for any institution is to consider both top-down implementation strategies, including discussion of an overall language strategy for both administration and education, and bottom-up initiatives developed by passionate individuals. For any new initiatives to be successful, there needs to be a buy-in from all stakeholders. And finally, internationalization needs to be viewed beyond simply providing courses in a foreign language, e.g., English. Internationalization needs to be represented in curricular goals and course offerings.

MDC: In your PhD you researched about Teacher Identity in English as a Medium of Instruction. Can you tell us what your main findings were concerning this topic?
My doctoral research focused on non-native English speaking (NNS) lecturers' professional identity in a Danish EMI setting from a teacher cognition paradigm. In my study I asked these NNS natural science lecturers to define their own teacher identity and their perceptions of any effects on their identity when shifting from Danish-medium instruction to EMI. The main findings of my study resulted in a model of teacher identity for lecturers in the natural sciences and documented evidence that experienced NNS lecturers of natural science EMI do not find that the identified challenges of teaching in a foreign language affect their personal sense of teacher identity. The lecturers highlighted teaching experience and pedagogic content knowledge as factors that are at the core of their teacher identity. While the lecturers expressed confidence and security in the EMI context, the results of my study also confirmed the instructional and linguistic challenges identified in other EMI research.

MDC: You are a member of the Integrating Content and Language in Higher Education Association (ICLHE). Why is it called Integrating Content and Language, rather than EMI in Higher Education? What is the aim of this association? Can anyone join it? What does it take to become a member?
JK: ICLHE is used as an umbrella term to encompass the movement beyond English-medium instruction, which typically does not include focused foreign language instruction. ICLHE pushes the focus beyond content focused EMI courses to include discussions related to student and teacher perceptions, teacher training (competence development) for supporting student English language development, staff effectiveness, learning effectiveness, and program development.
I am not only a member of the ICLHE Association (iclhe.org). I have actually served on the Board of this young association since 2017. The ICLHE association provides opportunities for networking and serves as a clearing house for resources related to the integration of content and language in higher education. The aim of the association is to promote exchange of ideas and opinions, initiative, experiences and research in this realm.
The Association is open to individuals working in higher education with an interest in ICL-HE -this include language professionals and disciplinary content teachers, as well as educational developers, policy makers and other stakeholders. ICLHE holds a series of webinars, symposia and conferences that are open to both members and non-members. The next conference is scheduled to be held at Maastricht University in the Netherland in October 2021. The conference theme is EMI and Englishization: Reflecting on the changing university. The call for papers will be announced soon on the website.

MDC: You and Slobodanka Dimova have just published a book called Integrating Content and Language in Multilingual Universities.
Can you tell us how this book can help professors who are willing to integrate content and language in their teaching practices in higher education? JK: Slobodanka and I are very excited about our recent publication. The book provides conceptual syntheses of diverging multilingual contexts, research findings, and practical applications of integrating content and language (ICL) in higher education in order to generate a new understanding of the cross-contextual variation. We are so pleased to be able to present contributions from leading authors from such a broad geographic spread. The volume offers comparison of contextualized overviews of