Who owns English medium instruction?

Abstract

The steady increase in content courses being taught through the medium of English in non-Anglophone countries has been matched by a rapidly growing output of research and commentary on the topic. There are also a number of providers now offering professional development for English Medium Instruction (EMI) teachers. We carried out a systematic investigation into who is undertaking the research in EMI, in which journals it is being published, and the background of tutors who are offering professional development courses. Our findings suggest that the EMI research and development field has been appropriated by academics with an applied linguistics background even though the majority of EMI programmes are taught by non-linguists. We question whether this situation is likely to lead to research which is most incisive and sufficiently broad in scope such that it will lead to the best development of practice. We put forward suggestions for alternatives.