Translanguaging Strategies for EMI Instruction in Taiwanese Higher Education

Using English as the medium of instruction (EMI) in content areas has become popular in Asian universities to attract international students. EMI teachers in Taiwanese universities, typically with little EMI pedagogical training, need to cope with students speaking different native languages with mixed English proficiency levels. Using multiple languaging resources with other modalities, or known as translanguaging, seems a promising approach to deal with the current challenges. This study investigated how eight EMI university teachers in Taiwan used different language resources to assist content delivery, student comprehension, and teacher-student interaction. Two strategies were identified from the discourse data: instructional and interactional. The former was used to enhance student comprehension of the content materials through translation and paraphrasing. The latter was used to engage students’ participation and enhance communication fluency, but it may be less advantageous to students who are not competent in all the applied languaging resources. More instructional than interactional strategies were found in the data, though the difference between the two types was small. The study suggests that organizing in-service workshops for content teachers about the natures and effects of different translanguaging strategies may enhance EMI curriculum efficiency in higher education.