English as a Medium of Instruction: What about Pragmatic Competence?

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the importance of teaching pragmatic competence in English as a medium of instruction. In order to identify if teachers who use English as a medium of instruction use pragmatic strategies when explaining the key points of their subjects, 50 learning objects (digital recordings) were compiled and the English language used by teachers analysed. Some metadiscoursal strategies such as the use of hedges and boosters were identified and classified. A quantitative analysis as well as a qualitative analysis was carried out to identify if teachers used pragmatic strategies in their presentations and, from those results, some strategies that may be used by teachers involved in English as a medium of instruction (EMI) to improve pragmatic competence were described in detail.