In Search of Internationalization: Changing Conceptions of EMI Among Mexican University Instructors

Abstract

I describe a professional development programme designed to prepare Mexican university instructors to use English as a medium of instruction (EMI). The programme includes an online introduction to EMI and internationalization and three weeks of face-to-face instruction in pedagogy and curriculum design. Using a critical theory framework, I analyse surveys and artefacts for how tension around the differences between EMI and internationalization inform instructors’ curriculum and pedagogy development. I examine instructors’ evolving perspectives of EMI and internationalization, from their initial conceptions of EMI as internationalization to their emerging understanding of English as a World Language and internationalization as cultural flows. Findings suggest that emphasis on curriculum and pedagogy development problematize policies that amalgamate EMI and internationalization and promote English as an add-on and cure-all.