ELT WTF

In this episode, Tim is reflecting based on an essay he wrote last year about English as a medium of instruction. He argues that this kind of approach is being taken without enough evidence existing that it is actually effective. He then goes on to look at how globalisation, neoliberalisation and internationalisation, rather than a belief in it as a teaching method, have driven EMI's rise. Finally, he argues that researchers and teachers should push back against this type of program instead of accepting it as inevitable. 

Books cited: 

Bernstein, K. A., Hellmich, E. A., Katznelson, N., Shin, J., & Vinall, K. (2015). Introduction to Special Issue: Critical Perspectives on Neoliberalism in Second / Foreign Language Education. L2 Journal, 7(3), 2–14.

Harvey, D. (2005). A History of Neoliberalism. 

Knight, J. (2013). The changing landscape of higher education internationalisation - for better or worse? Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 17(3), 84–90. 

Lei, J., & Hu, G. (2014). Is English-medium instruction effective in improving Chinese undergraduate students’ English competence? IRAL - International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 52(2), 99–126.

Macaro, E., Curle, S., Pun, J., An, J., & Dearden, J. (2018). A systematic review of English medium instruction in higher education.

Vinke, D. (1995). English as the medium of instruction in Dutch engineering education [Doctoral dissertation, University of Delft]. Delft University Press.

Welcome back to ELT WTF. The podcast where we explore what teachers feel about English language teaching. This month, I am (finally!) posting an interview I conducted with Dr. Heath Rose about a month before the whole world turned upside down.

Heath is an Associate Professor and Director of the Applied Linguistics for Language Teaching (ALLT) MSc at Oxford University. At the time of recording, he was also my tutor and (perhaps long suffering!) dissertation supervisor. It was great to have the chance to ask him his personal opinion of some of the things he had been teaching us about on the course. 

In the interview, we discuss his article 'Dismantling the Ivory Tower in TESOL: A Renewed Call for Teaching‐Informed Research'. If you want to find out more about some of the issues related to teacher research engagement, I'd strongly recommend taking a read.