English Medium Instruction in Higher Education: Maximising student success

Our contribution to the EMI debate and literature in this webinar concerns the importance of focusing our research attention  on the EMI student as one of the key players in making the EMI endeavour as successful as possible. Although past research literature has delved into the challenges faced by students in Higher Education (e.g. Evans & Morrison 2011; Kamaşak et al. 2021) studying their academic subjects through English as a second language (L2), few practical suggestions have been proposed and even fewer have been researched for their efficacy.

Ernesto Macaro will begin by discussing how the learning strategies that have for decades been documented in the L2 learning context can be transferred and/or modified for the EMI context. This transference and modification will depend on the model of EMI being offered and particularly on the transition aspects (e.g. secondary to higher education) of a particular context.

Mark Searle with then illustrate a selection of materials from the newly published ‘Navigating English Medium Instruction’ book (Macaro & Searle 2025) which is aimed directly at students and encourages them to be pro-active in their learning. Examples of student activities will focus on pre-lecture strategies, during the lecture strategies and post-lecture strategies.

Heath Rose will then bring the discussion back to the other key players in the EMI venture within a given institution – the English language specialists (EAP and ESP departments) and argue for a fundamental shift in the roles that these teachers need to make in order to provide targeted language support for EMI students. Additionally, he will propose that collaboration between language specialists and content teachers is necessary and, where possible, should be embedded throughout the curriculum planning process.

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Professor Ernesto Macaro is a Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Oxford.  He was the founding Director of the Centre for Research and Development in English Medium Instruction in the Department of Education, The University of Oxford, which was the predecessor to the Research Group EMI Oxford.  His current research focuses on second language learning strategies and on the interaction between teachers and learners in classrooms where English is the Medium of Instruction. He has published widely on EMI, including a recent monograph on the topic (Oxford University Press).
Faculty Profile

Dr. Heath Rose is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Oxford and an EMI Oxford convenor.  His research interest is in the ‘E’ in EMI, particularly exploring the type of English that is used in EMI, and the language needs of students learning in EMI settings. He is co-author of Introducing Global Englishes (Routledge, 2015), and is currently engaged in a number of projects that explore EMI in Japan.
Faculty Profile

Mark Searle is an Honorary Norham Fellow at the University of Oxford.  He is a freelance teacher trainer and materials writer in English Medium Instruction. He has been involved in the design and delivery of a number of EMI courses at EMI Oxford, including a  four-week course for South China Normal University (August 2017). He writes and delivers courses and workshops for the British Council on both EMI and EAP and has trained academics in Mexico, Brazil, Morocco, Germany, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic and Italy. He was among the first to be awarded the innovative MSc. in Teaching English in University Settings from the University of Oxford, Department of Education.

Works cited

Evans S, Morrison B. 2011. The first term at university: Implications for EAP. ELT Journal. 65(4):387–397. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccq072

Kamaşak R, Sahan K, Rose H. 2021. Academic language-related challenges at an English-medium university. J Engl Acad Purp. 49:100945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2020.100945

Macaro, E. & Searle, M. (2025) Navigating English Medium Instruction: A student handbook. London: Routledge.