原文書教學授課技巧English-medium instruction (EMI) for Subject

Courses: Concepts and tips

英文系副教授 兼 外語教學中心主任周惠那

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If a teacher is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

– Kahlil Gibran

Contents

原文書教學原文書教學• 目的目的• 概念概念• 原則原則• 技巧技巧• Q&AQ&A

原文書教學原文書教學• 目的目的• 概念概念• 原則原則• 技巧技巧• Q&AQ&A

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ForewordForeword

• Why EMI?• 一魚兩吃 or 兩敗俱傷？

– Whether English-medium Instruction (EMI) effectively improves students’ proficiency of English, or

– Whether EMI impedes students’ learning of the content without or only slightly improving their proficiency in English?

• Professors’ oral English presentation skills: ability of using English effectively in EMI lectures (EAP)?

• Students readiness for receiving EMI?– Perceptions and strategies necessary for learning the content – proficiency in English

• Challenges for both professors and students:– Acquiring English language demands of specialized concepts and

skills such as vocabulary and language structures.

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一魚兩吃 or 兩敗俱傷？

www.teachers-corner.co.uk/what-is-clil

Research findings

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• Positive results about improving English proficiency of Engineering graduate students; – Disadvantages: EMI caused greater difficulties in understanding

the course content and inhibited students from expressing themselves fluently in the class (Wu, 2006).

• No significant difference in National Taiwan University students’ grades of Civil Engineering course between controlled and experimental groups; – the experimental group showed a more positive learning

attitude and felt that their proficiency in English for the four skills had been improved (Hsieh & Kang, 2007).

• Positive results about improving English language proficiency, especially listening (Chang, 2010).

Trend of Englishizationin Higher Education

• Academic internationalization• Two for One: facilitating content

knowledge and improving language proficiency – Promoting students’ interest and

motivation in learning the English language (Chang, 2010)

– Providing more opportunities for students to learn English through receiving and producing authentic English language in real communicative contexts

7Taiwan International ESP Journal, 2 (1), 55-84.

UNDERLYING CONCEPTS

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1. CBI / CLIL• 內容取向教學– CBI (Content-based Instruction) or CLIL (Content and

Language Integrated Learning) refers to the concurrent study of language and subject matter, with the form and sequence of language presentation dictated by content material. Through CBI, language becomes the medium to convey informational content of interest and relevance to the learner. Students are engaged in purposeful use of language, and not learning linguistic forms for their own sake.

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2. ESP (English for Specific Purposes)

• 專業英語– Teaching of a specific genre of

mostly technical English for students with specific goals, careers or fields of study. Students are practicing language in settings they may find themselves in.

– Examples of ESP include:• English for Academic Purposes

(students will enter an English-speaking university),

• English for Business & Management, or

• Hotel & Catering English (for hotel and tourism professionals).

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3. Instructional Scaffolding

• 教學鷹架• A strategy for teaching new concepts or skills by engaging students

collaboratively in tasks that would be too difficult for them to complete on their own. The instructor initially provides extensive instructional support, or scaffolding, to continually stimulate students’ active thinking and to assist them in building language fluency and understanding of subject content knowledge.

• Scaffolding strategies include:– Activating prior knowledge by first focusing on what students know and

understand;– Engaging students in interactive activities to discuss content points and real-

world applications;– Checking for student understanding and how to help them advance;– Using visual, tactile, and auditory supports to develop content concepts and

language.

11Source: Wikipedia

ENGLISH-MEDIUM INSTRUCTION

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Tips for EMI

• Modifying input– Slower rate of speech– Clear enunciation– Controlled vocabulary

• Using contextual cues– Gestures– Dramatization of meaning through facial expressions, pantomime, role play– Visuals, including pictures, photographs, slides, maps, graphs, diagrams.– Realia– Bulletin boards– Word banks– Building predictability into instructional routines such as opening and closing

activities, directions, and homework assignments– Building redundancy into lessons through repetitions, restatement, and

exemplification

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• Designing appropriate lessons– Vocabulary instruction: basic and specialized

vocabulary that characterizes academic texts• e.g. analyze, concept, define, factor, interpret,

principle, significant, variable, etc. – Prioritizing objectives: decide what key

concepts should receive the most attention– Providing schema-building activities:

reviewing previously covered materials, relating ideas to the students’ own experiences, using brainstorming or clustering activities; advance organizers such as outlines, charts, and study guides

– Learner grouping strategies• Students work in pairs or groups to increase

interaction

14Academic word list (AWL)

• Checking for understanding– Asking students to decide if information is true or false– Asking students to provide examples– Having students paraphrase important terms in their own

words– Having students summarize key information– Asking students both factual questions (e.g., Who? What?)

and referential questions (Why? What would you do if . . . ?)

– Pairing advanced learners with developing ones, having students ask each other questions

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TEACHINGWORDS, TERMS, & TEXTS

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WordWord-level clues to meaning• Explanation and examples.

– To know a word: recognizing, understanding what it means and how to use it, what other words are used with it.• love-lovely-lovable-loving-lovingly• occupy: to fill up time or space, to hold or fill an office or position

– Occupation (n): job of profession» Teaching is his occupation.

• When you find words that you don’t know, it is important to use strategies to help figure out its meaning.– If the purpose is only to get a general idea of the text, you can probably skip

over some unknown words, especially if they are not key words. Consider skipping over the word if:• The unknown word is an adjective or an adverb.• You can get the general idea of the sentence without knowing the word.

– If an unknown word is repeated several times, or if it is clear that it is a key word, try these three strategies:• Use the context surrounding the word to guess the meaning.• Analyze the parts of the word to guess the meaning.• Use a dictionary to look up the exact meaning.

17Upton, T. A. (2004).

Recognizing technical terms technical terms defined in context• Terms the authors do not expect the reader to know. Many are clearly

defined in the text.– Parentheses: parentheses can be used to define technical terms in two ways:

• The definition of the word is enclosed in parentheses immediately after the technical term.– “The muscles are primarily the intercostals (the muscles between the ribs) and the diaphragm

(the large sheet of muscle separating the chest cavity from the abdomen).”• The technical term itself is enclosed in parentheses following the introduction of the

concept.– “Phonetics is concerns with how speech sounds are produced (articulated) in the vocal tract (a

field of study known as articulatory phonetics).”

• Bold or italics: – “In Anderson’s view, declarative knowledge refers to facts and beliefs that we

have about the world.”• Defining verbs: to refer to, to be, to consist of, to be called, to be defined

as• Appositives: a group of words (often starting with the word which or that)

separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma, or sometimes dashes (-) that defines or clarifies a word or concept.– “This difference is an example of the typicality effect, which offers when

instances that are more typical of a category are recognized more quickly than instances of that category.”

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• Restatements: (that is, i.e., or)• Delayed definitions: the definition for the term is given in another

sentence, usually, the next one.• “The natural communication systems of other primates (monkeys and apes)

are call systems. These vocal systems consist of a limited number of sounds – calls – that are produced only when particular environmental stimuli are encountered.”

• Pronouns and restatement: identifying continuing ideas– A single pronoun can represent an idea that is one word, a sentence,

or even several paragraphs long.• This, that, these, or those• The/ this/that/these/those + (previously mentioned noun): a previously

mentioned noun is restated • The/ this/that/these/those + (new noun): restated using a synonym• The/ this/that/these/those + (general word/phrase): an idea is being referred

back to plus a general word or phrase that summarizes the idea.– All cognitive processes are invisible. This fact, though obvious, implies a basic difficulty in

the study of cognitive process.• Such (a) + (general word/phrase)

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Understanding expository text structurestext structures• Logical connectors: recognizing developing of ideas– Sentence and conjunctions: relationship between two

independent clauses. however, in fact– Coordinating conjunctions: two structures that are similar

or coordinated, and– Subordinating conjunctions: to put into a lower or inferior

class. It makes an independent clause (which can stand by itself) into a dependent clause (which must be connected to an independent clause). • While she was at the store (dependent clause), Naomi saw her

best friend (independent clause).– Prepositions: to show the logical structure of ideas in a

sentence. • Like Bob, I don’t plan to see the movie.

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• Determining main ideas– The key piece of information the author wants you to understand.– Important reasons why you need to figure out what the mean ideas of a text

are.• You have a purpose for reading, which helps you focus and concentrate.• Because the information and details in texts are used to explain or support ideas, you

will be able to remember more if you know what ideas are being explained.• Easier to take notes and to study when you can recognize the main idea.

– Textbooks are written so that the mean ideas are clearly stated. Good paragraphs usually have a topic sentence around which the whole paragraph is structured. It is in this topic sentence3 that the mean idea of the paragraph is stated.

– Ask yourself: what is the paragraph about, and what does the author want me to know about this topic? What is the one key idea that all the sentences in the paragraph explain or describe?

• Enumeration and classification organization– To make a list of points or present a series of ideas about a topic.

• Classifications: one idea is broken down into several types.• Common markers: first, second, third; to categorize, to classify, to divide.

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• Comparison-contrast organization– To emphasize the similarity or differences or both.

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Signals of ComparisonLike Just like Just asAlike Likewise EquallyResembles Also SimilarlyThe same Similar IdenticalParallel Comparable CommonEquivalent Resemble In commonIn the same way As (adjective) as

Signals of ContrastHowever In contrast InsteadOn the other hand As opposed to UnlikeDifferent Differently To differ fromTo distinguish Distinction DifferenceTo contrast with To oppose DifferenceTo contrast with To oppose WhileWhereas Rather than whileWhereas But YetConversely Unlike (noun

phrase)

• Time order and cause-and-effect organization– Time order: To indicate how ideas or events occur in

relationship to others. Two ways:• To present a series of events in the order in which they occurred.

(the earliest, then, eventually)• Steps in a process: first, gradually

– Steps, process, series, stages

– Cause-and-effect relationships: to describe how one event, occurring first, led to or caused another later event.

– Complex organization: combine both time order and a cause-and-effect structures

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Summary• A worthwhile payoff in four areas:

– Enhanced English language competence,– Enhanced subject matter knowledge,– Enhanced self-confidence in the ability to comprehend and use English,– Enhanced motivation to continue English study beyond the requirement.

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“CBI aims at empowering students to become independent learners and continue the learning process beyond the classroom. After all, the ultimate goal [teachers] should have for our students is that they spread their wings, leave the nest, and soar off on their own toward the horizon.”

(p. 3, Stryker & Leaver, 1997)

“CBI aims at empowering students to become independent learners and continue the learning process beyond the classroom. After all, the ultimate goal [teachers] should have for our students is that they spread their wings, leave the nest, and soar off on their own toward the horizon.”

(p. 3, Stryker & Leaver, 1997)

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.

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References• Anderson, R.C., & Pearson, P.D. (1984). A schema-theoretic view of basic processes in reading. In P.D. Pearson, R.

Barr, M.L. Kamil, & P. Mosenthal (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (pp. 255–291). New York: Longman.• Chang, Y.-Y. (2010). English-medium instruction for subject courses in tertiary education: Reactions from

Taiwanese undergraduate students. Taiwan International ESP Journal, 2 (1), 55-84.• Coggins, D., Kravin, D., Coates, D., & Carroll, D. (2007). English Language Learners in the Mathematics Classroom.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. • Hsieh, S.-H., & Kang, S.-C. (2007). Effectiveness of English-medium instruction of an engineering course and

strategies used by the teacher. Retrieved March 5, 2012, from http://www.tespa.org.tw/papers/02/03%20English-medium%20instruction%20for%20subject%20courses%20in%20tertiary%20education-Reactions%20from%20Taiwanese%20undergraduate%20students_Yu-Ying%20Chang.PDF

• Kasper, L. F. (2000). Content-based college ESL instruction. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.• Marsh, H. W., Hau, K.-T., & Kong, C.-K. (2002). Multilevel causal ordering of academic self-concept and

achievement: Influence of language of instruction (English compared with Chinese) for Hong Kong students. American Educational Research Journal, 39 (3), 727-763.

• Sarkisian, E. (2006). Teaching American students: A guide for international faculty and teaching assistants in colleges and universities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• Saroyan, A., & Frenay, M. (2010). Building teaching capacities in higher education: A comprehensive international model. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

• Scott, J. B., Straker, D. Y., & Katz, L. (2009). Affirming students’ right to their own language: Bringing language policies and pedagogical practices. New York, NY: Routledge.

• Stryker, S. B., & Leaver, B. L. (1997). Content-based instruction in foreign language education: Models and methods. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

• Upton, T. A. (2004). Reading skills for success: A guide to academic texts. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

• Wu, W.-S. (2006). Students’ attitude toward EMI: Using Chung Hua University as an example. Journal of Education and Foreign Language and Literature, 4, 67-84.

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