Introduction
As a resource basement of higher education bilingual education, National Sun Yat-sen University has established “Southern Regional Resource Center for Bilingual Education” ever since Sep. 27, 2021. The Center’s tasks lie in providing, integrating, and sharing resources for EMI (English as a medium of instruction). The Center is devoted to helping regional universities cultivate faculty members’ EMI proficiency, inclusive of 9 universities located in Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Taitung, Tainan, and Nantou. Consensus meetings are regularly arranged to exchange information about EMI with partner schools and listen to their needs. By establishing an EMI teaching resource network and offering teacher training courses, the Center assists teachers in developing and practicing teaching strategies to enhance their competency in EMI. A mechanism for the overall development of regional faculty’s EMI proficiency and a system of EMI resource sharing are expected to be established and reinforced so that the regional universities can all progress together under the bilingual program. To achieve these goals, the Center has developed the EMI Professional Development Program, which is a framework consisting of 3 stages of training that cover cultivation course, teaching practice, and community of practice.
The main aspects of resources provided by Southern Regional Resource Center for Bilingual Education cover:
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Courses and Activities for Faculty EMI Professional Growth
- Workshop: The Center organizes workshops based on the expected key teaching competencies, including EMI key concepts, English language skills, classroom activity design for EMI, assessment strategies, innovative instructional approaches, higher-order thinking guidance in EMI, discussion strategies, intercultural competence for EMI teaching, and so on. Another special feature is that the Center offers Senior level courses that are intended for cultivating EMI mentors capable of observing peer teachers’ classes and providing effective observation feedback.
- English Language Specialist Program: The Center cooperates with AIT inviting international scholars who provide EMI training services based on our needs and goals of a particular semester to help local teachers enhance EMI competency.
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Intercollegiate EMI Support System:
- Intercollegiate EMI Teacher Community: The Center funds regional school faculty to establish intercollegiate EMI Teacher Community, which can be implemented in the form of study group, class observation, seminar, workshop, experience sharing, and so on, where teachers can gain energy and confidence for implementing EMI through extensive exchange of relevant ideas and thoughts.
- EMI Class Observation Consultation Service: The Center has developed the directions relevant to the implementation of EMI class observation, devised the lesson plan and observation form templates, and regional EMI seed instructors were recruited to become EMI mentors who provide the service. Teachers are expected to refine the quality of their EMI courses through teaching practice, class observation, and serving as peer mentor, learning from peers’ feedback or giving feedback.
- International EMI Training Courses and Resources: The Center continues to launch and promote EMI courses and resources developed by international institutions. By integrating and providing these resources, regional universities could enhance faculty’s EMI quality effectively and more conveniently.
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Development and Inspection Service of Digital EMI Module Materials:
- Digital EMI Module Materials: The Center will share digital EMI module materials (five 9-hour courses completed in 2022) with regional schools. These digital courses will be effective in alleviating teachers’ burden when preparing for giving that particular EMI course and help achieve better student learning outcomes.
- Inspection Service of Digital EMI Module Material: The Center has developed a model for filming digital EMI module material and aims to provide regional schools with an inspection service that consists of 3 stages of examination done by experts of EMI, digital learning, intellectual property right, and domain expert to ensure the course quality.