Transnational Alignment of English Competences for University Lecturers Erasmus Project

Project Title

Transnational Alignment of English Competences for University Lecturers

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Assurance; Quality and Relevance of Higher Education in Partner Countries; Recognition, transparency, certification

Project Summary

As specified in the project application, the TAEC project specifically addresses the internationalization agenda of the Council of Europe with the underlying rationale to modernize higher education (HE) through design and implementation of innovative transnational practices, which will allow for transparency, transferability of academic staff qualifications, and mutual trust. The overall purpose of the project has been to develop a common framework for EMI quality assurance and support which will help both partners and HEIs across Europe to recognize the main language skills and teaching competencies needed to facilitate teaching and learning, as well as lecturer recruitment in EMI programs across different HE contexts.

The project aimed to lay the foundations for a common framework for EMI quality assurance and support, on the basis of which we could adapt local language certification and EMI training for transparency in transnational uses. The specific objectives of the proposed project were to (1) identify and differentiate between the transnational and the local EMI administrative and instructional needs of partner universities, (2) align a locally-used assessment scale with the Council of Europe’s CEFR, which will allow for standardization of results, (3) compare the characteristics of the language used in teaching across different EMI contexts in HE, and (4) use the results for policy negotiations regarding EMI lecturer requirements and support. The long-term objective of TAEC was to provide the groundwork for an EMI quality assurance framework which could be applicable across European universities beyond the partner universities involved in the project.

23 researchers and teacher trainers, and 1 administrator from 5 different universities participated in three teams, each working on activities associated with a specific intellectual output. A total of 1,018 participants have benefited from the project activities and results, covering teachers from observed classroom teaching, teachers participating in EMI workshops, management, policy makers and other stakeholders to participate in meetings and discussions, colleagues and network partners being involved in discussions on project activities, participants in the TAEC conference in April 2019, as well as participants in other conferences where the TAEC results have been discussed and disseminated. Finally, the two associated partner organisations were involved in both discussions of project activities and on dissemination of project results.

The project activities include 1) the development of an EMI framework also covering the production of an EMI literature database and corpus, 2) the development of joint assessment procedures and alignment of a local assessment procedure to the CEFR scale, 3) the development of an EMI handbook and hosting of a total of 4 EMI workshops, and 4) dissemination activities such as the arrangement of the TAEC conference in April 2019 as well as presentations, articles, newsletters, and talks on the project activities and results.

Results include the following: A large annotated and searchable EMI literature database that includes 205 resources, i.e. articles, books, book chapters, chapters in proceedings, handbooks, institutional documents was designed. The entries can be sorted according to one or more categories (e.g., research methods, focus, language). Thirty 90-120 minute EMI classes across five contexts (economics, law, IT/computer science, medicine and journalism) were observed and video recorded, and the lecturers of these classes were interviewed (see interview in Appendix). The video-recordings were transcribed, and an EMI lecture corpus was created. A panel of 12 judges participated in a three-day standard-setting workshop to align local assessment to the CEFR scale. Finally, 4 training workshops for EMI content teachers were organized at four different locations with a total of 40 participants.

The standard-setting allowed us to obtain concrete results about the minimum English proficiency level required for teaching EMI courses, as well as the linguistic and interactive skills required for successful communication. The results from the standard-setting already informed the policy development at UM. The EMI database and the EMI lecture corpus are available to researchers and practitioners who are interested in finding existing research or are willing to analyze EMI lectures. The workshops for EMI teachers were very successful. Both workshop materials and the EMI Handbook are available for future use. One of the workshop was held online with participants outside the partner universities. The multiplier participants showed great interest in using the EMI Handbook and obtaining access to the EMI database and the EMI corpus.

In our opinion the TAEC project has succeeded in developing and implementing a transnational and sustainable framework for a more qualified use of EMI practices across European HEIs.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 344629 Eur

Project Coordinator

KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET & Country: DK

Project Partners

• UNIVERSIDAD DE LLEIDA
• SVEUCILISTE U RIJECI, FILOZOFSKI FAKULTET U RIJECI
• UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TORINO