Summary of the Results

Supported by the Ministry of Education, as well as the assistance from the Office of Academic Affairs, Language Center, and academic departments, the first phase of the BEST project has been completed. The objectives and strategies have been proven to be effective. The characteristics of the BEST project of NCUT are shown as follows.

I. Characteristics

1. Offering EMI Courses to Meet the Needs of Corresponding Industries

EMI courses are offered to meet the needs of the current trends of the industries and to improve students’ English competence. In 2023, 43 EMI courses were offered, increased by 24 courses and 79.17%.

2. Implementing Teaching Observation

The implementation of teaching observation provides teachers to learn other teachers’ teaching practices. Not only can they learn new teaching strategies, but also retrospect their own teaching practices. By doing so, they can improve the EMI teaching strategies.

3. Providing an Environment for EMI Curriculum

Through the BEST project, there were 184 teachers who have received EMI training by 2023. This in turn facilitates the EMI courses in each department. So far, 23.73% of the day-school students have already taken EMI courses.

II. Results

1. The Percentage of English-only English Language Classes

In 2022 academic year, 29.45% of the English classes, including elective and required English classes, offered by the Language Center were English-only classes, which is higher than the expected result. 

2. The Percentage of EMI Classes Taken by Sophomores and Graduate Students

The percentage of the EMI courses taken by sophomores and graduate students was 21.46%, which is higher than the expected result.

3. The Results of the English Improvement for Vocational Purpose

The freshmen’s English proficiency is measured by a pretest prior to the freshman English classes, and their improvement in English proficiency is measured by official standardized English tests as the posttest. In the meantime, PVQC was added to measure students’ English ability for vocational purposes. In 2022 academic year, the number of students who improved by more than 50 points has increased by 53.91%. Also, there were 5,507 day-school students who received CEFR A2, which is 77 students more than last year.

4. Students’ International Mobility

In 2022, students have participated in many international events, including seminars (18), internship (14), volunteering (10), teacher-student visiting (2), international research and study (250), and teachers’ overseas study (30), which is 324 in total.

5. Students’ Ability of Technological Inquiry

When guiding students’ theses and graduation projects, teachers encouraged students to incorporate references written in foreign languages so as to develop the ability of technological inquiry. In 2022 academic year, 367 theses and graduation projects incorporated international references, such as articles of SCI, SCIE, and SSCI.

6. Students and Teachers’ Ability of Technological Innovation and Exchange

The statistics showed that 115 students and teachers participated in international conferences, 127 attended international exhibitions of inventions, 25 attended international contests, and 22 attended international conference.

III. The Self-assessment of the Project Implementation

1. The Institutional Level of Supportive Measurements

A. The Duties of EMI Teaching Development Center:

The EMI Teaching Development Center assists the implementation of the BEST project by offering administrative support, and by investigating the teachers’ and students’ feedback on the curriculum. Meanwhile, it integrates the resources and support in school to better achieve the expected results.

B. Improving Students’ English Proficiency by the Language Center:

The Language Center facilitates students’ English proficiency through the implementation of English-ability grouping teaching in order to better meet students’ needs.

C. Offering English Training Sessions for Teachers by the Language Center:

The Language Center offers workshops for teachers to gain a clearer understanding of EMI teaching strategies in a bilingual environment.

2. The Procedure of Self-assessment

EMI Teaching Development Center helped set up the objectives and the validity during the implementation of the project. The results were then reviewed by different levels of faculty members to validate the overall accomplishments. To see the self-evaluation results, please visit (https://reurl.cc/8j6Z9R).

3. Suggestions from the Review Committee

A. The Institutional Aspect: Constructing a Better Teaching Support System

(1) Constructing the support system and resources: Planning the process of improving students’ and teachers’ English competence, including the support system of English teaching and teaching evaluation.

(2) Expanding the recourse sharing and inter-school collaboration: The school can work with BEST resource center, which can include teacher training and the renovation of Freshmen English courses.

B. The Teachers’ Aspect: Enhancing Teachers’ Bilingual Teaching Training

(1) A gradual progress in teacher training: the school can work with BEST Resources Center in teacher training. The training sessions should be designed based on beginning level, intermediate level, and advanced level, and the objectives of each level should be set up accordingly. Teachers should also be encouraged to attend seminars and workshops.

(2) Subsidy for inter-school teacher training: Teachers are encouraged to participate in the training session offered by the BEST Resource Center. Subsidy can cover the expense on transportation. 

(3) EMI teaching community: Teachers can attend the teaching community held by the Language Center. They can also attend the communities offered by the BEST Resource Center. 

C. The Students’ Aspect: Working on the Basic English Competence and Advancing to English-mediated Professional Subjects

(1) Offering the EMI Course Maps: Before the course registration, students should see the different levels of EMI courses, which emphasize English speaking and writing. In addition, the course maps serve as a guide to lead students to choose the courses they can handle, in order to avoid frustration in learning content subjects in English. 

(2) Constructing EMI Course Specifics: Teachers should provide course outline and syllabus, so that students the decide whether they can register the course based on their current English ability.