EMI推動資源辦公室President Jeffrey J.P. Tsai of Asia University said it’s an honor that Asia University’s College of Management received a grant from Ministry of Education’s (MOE), Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College (BEST). It is the second year the College of Management implements the program, and over 83% of faculty members from the College of Management have been certified by EMI program. The faculty members were all enthusiastic about the EMI courses which enhanced their professional knowledge. Dr. Ying-Huei Chen, Dean of International College and Director General of CDLTR, pointed out that many countries have begun promoting the EMI projects due to globalization. Teachers attending the seminar are far-sighted that they have to enhance their teaching methods in advance. Dr. Chun-Wei Lin, Dean of the College of Management, said that English is a universal language. With the goal of improving employability, Asia University’s College of Management offers EMI courses to both domestic and international students of the Dual Degree Program.
The first keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Paula Weaver. She shared a principle of teaching method called I-CCE (Interaction-Connection-Culture-Expertise). Dr. Weaver stated that EMI also helped professors reflect on their own teaching. A lot of professors are rich with knowledge but instead of focusing on making a course full of learning contents, they can think about using tools, like technology to create more chances to interact (Interaction) and connect with their students (Connection). And immerse the variety of cultures in the classroom into the course (Culture), to be able to absorb knowledge from small to large (Expertise). Dr. Weaver emphasized that EMI teachers should not pursue perfection, but to encourages us to continue reflecting on our learning teaching.
Dr. Chu-Hua Wu, Director of EMI Resource Center, College of Management, Yuan Ze University (YZU) was invited to share the history and present developments regarding the promotion of EMI courses at YZU. Dr. Wu said that YZU has started promoting EMI since 2000. In 2007, YZU set up an EMI program in international business management for international students. In 2010, ZYU set up an English Bachelor of Business Administration (EBBA). In response to the trend of bilingual education, YZU established Global College in 2022, which offers comprehensive information and an EMI course map to students.
To encourage students to take EMI courses, the College of Management designed the IME Program with which students have more physical and virtual learning resources. In recent two year, more than 200 students took EMI courses. In terms of teachers, teachers taking EMI courses can have 1.5 hourly wages as incentives; moreover, all of teachers can participate in online training courses of University of Cambridge. With the learning resources and incentives, many teachers and students consider that EMI courses enhance teaching skills and competitiveness.
Dr. Chen-Yu Chester Hsieh, Assistant Research Fellow, Research Center for Compilation and Language Education, NAER, was invited to give the third speech, speaking about the direction of development for EMI learning in universities. Dr. Hsieh put it that the higher education institutions currently adopt four different strategies: pre-institution selection, preparatory year, institutional concurrent support, multilingual. Higher education institutions mainly adopt the latter two: institutional concurrent support and multilingual.
But how to enhance the effectiveness of EMI learning does not lie on the pedagogical strategies. The facts the EMI teachers concerned about are students’ lack of English abilities and teacher-centered teaching methods. If teachers are willing to allow students to have more interaction. For example, with PBL (problem-based learning) teaching method, it is helpful that students learn about a subject by working in groups to solve an open-ended problem. Moreover, it can help student understand if teachers set reasonable goals, use multimedia materials, and timely switch languages.
At the end of the seminar, as Dr. Li-Shiue Gau has taught with EMI methods for several years, he suggested that it can enhance students’ participation by using multimedia materials and online teaching resources; moreover, it is a good idea that teachers encourage domestic students to have a group discussion with international students. Professor Wei Mazhe pointed out that students must enhance their legal English abilities due to the demand of legal affairs of international business. However, many students were frustrated with how to speak proper English. It is essential that teachers design an environment of legal terms for students to understand a specific field. Professor Mu Masu shared cultural cases with students. As a polyglot, he also encourages students to share their opinions during the classes. Chen Xiujing, a professor from the Department of Social Work, said that today’s seminar made all of the participants feel more confident in EMI teaching.
Caption 1: Group Photo of the Offline Participants
Caption 2: Dr. Paula Weaver, Top Ranked EMI Facilitator for the University of Victoria, International Education Program.
Caption 3: Dr. Chu-Hua Wu, Director of EMI Resource Center, College of Management, Yuan Ze University
