Abstract
Summary of National Taitung University’s BEST Program
l. Features of NTTU’s BEST Program
As a premier center of higher education in Taitung, National Taitung University (NTTU) pursues the sustainable development of Taitung in tune with the Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College (BEST). In the process, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations are taken as the core values of NTTU, with special accent put on “health”, “wisdom”, “aesthetic”, and “sustainability.”
In order to organize bilingual teaching activities and EMI teacher enhancement workshops, Center for General Education (CGE) and Office for Bilingual Education (OBE) collaborate closely with administrative and educational centers such as Library and Information Center, Language Center, Center of International Affairs, and Chinese Language Teaching and Studying Center.
Two EMI courses have been offered by the Department of English for the sophomore and master level. Of the two courses, “New Materialism: Nature, Culture, and the Environment” corresponds with the core values of international green university.
NTTU’s BEST program aims to cultivate the students’ interdisciplinary competences and develop the network of bilingual education. To attain these goals, faculty and students from both NTTU and partner schools were required to participate in international green university activities, while teacher enhancement workshops for teachers from all teaching backgrounds were organized. The ultimate goal of NTTU is formulate the league of bilingual education in Taitung region.
II. Highlights
1.Key Performance Indicators (KPI):
The following is the key performance indicators set up by NTTU in conducting BEST:
10% English classes taught entirely in English, 3% sophomore students and first-year master program students take one EMI course, 6% school faculty participate in a series of teacher enhancement workshops, and 8% International Green University/SDGs events conducted in English. All of the indicators above have been achieved.
2.Organization
Office for Bilingual Education (OBE) was established with one contractual lecturer and a program assistant, and the chairperson of Center for General Education was appointed to be the office director. The office takes charge of providing EMI courses, implementing BEST as well as on-campus EMI related activities, integrating and offering necessary resources and support, and monitoring the implementation of the program.
3.Faculty Support
NTTU organized a complete series of teacher enhancement workshops (10 in total, including online and in-person workshops). OBE encourages English teachers and EMI teachers to form a teacher learning community. Four seminars were held in the 2022 academic year. What’s more, NTTU’s EMI teacher community visited National Pingtung University (NPTU), also a member of Southern Regional Resource Center for Bilingual Education, and exchanged experiences on conducting the EMI courses with teachers from there.
4.School Support System
Furthermore, in order to build up an EMI friendly environment, NTTU organized teacher enhancement workshops while simultaneously offering subsidies to teachers who teach entirely in English. Three teachers were rewarded in the 2022 academic year.
To prevent students from having difficulty understanding the lecture, teaching assistants (TA) have been assigned to courses taught entirely in English (including EMI and English language courses).
5.Source Sharing and Intercollegiate Cooperation
NTTU collaborated with partner school Far Eastern University (the Philippines) to co-host the 2022 Online Workshop of International Green University Interdisciplinary Achievement Outcomes. In the workshop, teachers and students from NTTU presented 25 works, 6 of which are in English, accounting for 24% of the presentation. During the preparations, foreign teachers were invited to lead English speaking and writing seminars to help students revise their drafts and improve their oral skills.
6.Public Information
In the 2022 academic year, the webpage for OBE was created as a part of the website of Center for General Education. NTTU plans to hire an information-major student to set up an independent website for OBE.
7.English Learning Activities and Contest
A high proportion of the students in NTTU reach only CEFR A1 and A2 level in English. Consequently, it is imperative that the students’ English abilities be improved as soon as possible. In addition to “Appointment with Foreign Teachers” arranged by the Language Center, NTTU established an English Corner in Jingsin Academy. 61 English learning workshops including “Daily Conversation”, “News English”, “Movie English”, “Writing Workshop”' were offered by the OBE in the English Corner. Also, the OBE organized “Picture & One English Sentence Contest” to encourage students to describe their own photos in plain English. 162 works were submitted.
III. Self-Evaluation
To ensure all the aforementioned events to be put into practice smoothly and firmly, six performance supervision meetings were held to examine and monitor the implementation of the program and course results. Advice as well as assistance have been offered by the committee. All expenditures of the program were handled in accordance with decisions of the monitor meeting the agreement of the committee.
