Workshops, these will deal with relevant topics and participants will be expected to share experiences.

Workshop 1

Translanguaging and EMI: approaching this controversial relationship

The role of the L1 in the bilingual education classroom is a matter of discussion, as it has always been in the EFL class. Moreover, the presence of the L1 and the foreign language can be controversial in programmes where there is a combination of the L1 and the foreign language as languages of instruction along the curriculum. In EMI, the excessive presence of the L1 reduces the use of the L2 and may have negative effects in the development of this language. Following this idea, a frequent, intuitive, non-systematic use of the L1, together with the lack of proficiency in the L2, are decisive factors for this overuse. However, the use of the L1 is also reported in bilingual environments as a pedagogical instrument, with an evident and potential use to help scaffold the content. Although in EMI contexts the situation may not be the same, there is a need to provide substantial empirical evidence of the practices in order to support the notion that employment of the L1 may be a factor of enrichment, especially with students exhibiting a low proficiency in the L2.

Chair: Víctor Pavón Vázquez. University of Córdoba

Workshop 2

Assessment in EMI environment: embracing multi- and pluri-lingualism

In this workshop we will look at the challenges of conducting assessments in a multilingual learning context within an EMI environment. We will explore and evaluate the kind of approaches to assessment, test format and tasks that can exploit the features of multi-and pluri-lingualism as described in the recently published Companion Volume to the CEFR (2018). We will consider how these tasks align with testing principles to ensure validity and reliability and how we might incorporate the principle of bias for best and reflect this in assessment criteria. We will also look at impact and how these assessment tasks might prepare students for communicative situations in the discipline they will operate in. Teachers will leave knowing how to embrace all the languages in their classrooms within a practical approach to assessment task design for EMI. 

Chair: Elaine Boyd. Institute of Education- University College London


Workshop 3

English as a medium of instruction: Facing the challenges

English as a Medium of Instruction has rapidly spread in most  European universities as a result of globalization, competitiveness and internationalization among other factors. However, both  teachers and  students have to overcome, on a daily basis,  challenges regarding the content and the language

The aim of this workshop is to provide participants with:

  • an approximation to the existing differences between EMI and CLIL,
  • the challenges that both teachers and students must face
  • the importance of learning to plan and planning to learn in the EMI classroom
  • strategies to facilitate the learning of content and develop the language

Chair: Virginia Vinuesa Benítez. Vicepresidenta de la Asociación de Enseñanza Bilingüe y co-editora de la revista americana NABE Journal of Research and Practice