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“Being a Professor and Doing EMI Properly Isn’t Easy”. An Identity-Theoretic Investigation of Content Teachers’ Attitudes Towards EMI at a University in Hong Kong

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English Medium Instruction in Higher Education in Asia-Pacific

Part of the book series: Multilingual Education ((MULT,volume 21))

Abstract

Recent research has documented the rapid growth in the number of universities offering degree courses using English as the medium of instruction (EMI) throughout Asia. While some of this research has considered the impact of EMI instruction on student learning, only limited attention has been given to the experiences of other stakeholders, such as academic staff who are expected to deliver EMI courses in tertiary institutions. Therefore, this chapter explores the perspectives and experiences of academic staff at a large EMI tertiary institution in Hong Kong. Using a framework of teacher identity, the chapter considers the role of EMI policy and practice in the ability of academic staff to negotiate multiple identities, including ‘academic economist’, ‘researcher’, and ‘teacher’, by revealing the dominant discourses that constrained and enabled their professional identity construction. The data describes the challenges that academic staff experience in constructing their preferred identities in an EMI environment and how they negotiated such challenges. Implications for policymakers wishing to support the identity construction of academic staff at EMI tertiary institutions throughout Asia and beyond are considered and suggestions for future research discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English Language Education, Hong Kong Institute of Education, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, Hong Kong

    John Trent

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  1. John Trent
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Correspondence to John Trent .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Ben Fenton-Smith

  2. Griffith English Language Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Pamela Humphreys

  3. School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Ian Walkinshaw

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Trent, J. (2017). “Being a Professor and Doing EMI Properly Isn’t Easy”. An Identity-Theoretic Investigation of Content Teachers’ Attitudes Towards EMI at a University in Hong Kong. In: Fenton-Smith, B., Humphreys, P., Walkinshaw, I. (eds) English Medium Instruction in Higher Education in Asia-Pacific. Multilingual Education, vol 21. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51976-0_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51976-0_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51974-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51976-0

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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