EMI teacher training with a multimodal and interactive approach: A new horizon for LSP specialists

Abstract

Teresa Morell
Universitat d’Alacant, Spain

ABSTRACT

The growing use of English as the medium of Instruction (EMI) in non-Anglophone universities has provided specialists in Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) with a broader scope for research and teaching. ESP experts are now called upon not only to carry out research to support EMI teacher training, but also to be the teacher trainers. In this study, an ESP scholar explores what constitutes successful interactive lecturing according to academics who have taken part in her interdisciplinary EMI teacher training workshop. This was done by analyzing the engaging, verbal and non-verbal discourse of participants’ video recorded exemplary mini-lessons. It was found that the mini-lectures that had been voted as successful made greater use of questions and had a higher concentration of verbal and nonverbal modes of communication in comparison to the lesser effective ones. The findings lend support to EMI training with an interactive and multimodal approach.