A Study Of Chinese English-medium Instruction Teachers’ Oral Proficiency And Its Impact On Students’ Learning

At the beginning of the 21^stcentury,English as a medium of instruction（EMI）courses were frequently offered in some higher education institutions in Europe.In the recent 20 years,it has developed into a worldwide phenomenon and a number of exploratory studies on the EMI teachers and students have been carried out.Under an ELFA（English as a lingua franca in the academic settings）context,whether the teachers could guarantee the teaching qualities and whether the students will benefit from EMI teaching in the aspect of the basic content learning or not,have turned out to be a worthwhile research topic.In China,most studies in the EMI field have focused on the relevant policy making and theoretical reviews,the empirical research oriented to the Chinese EMI teachers’oral language proficiency assessment and the students’learning effectiveness remains scarce.With the purpose of making exploratory research of the Chinese EMI teachers’oral proficiency levels and its impact on the students’learning,the present study adopted a mixed method.The instruments include classroom recording,student-oriented questionnaire and semi-structured interview.Research questions are as follows:1.How is Chinese EMI teachers’oral proficiency?1)Based on TOEPAS analytic scales,how is Chinese EMI teachers’oral proficiency?2)Based on students’perception,how is Chinese EMI teachers’oral proficiency?2.What kinds of impact does Chinese EMI teachers’oral proficiency exert on the students’learning?The participants involved in the present study were 31 teachers and 82 students in Southeast University who were having EMI classes at the time.Among the teacher participants,15 came from schools of science and engineering and 16 came from schools of arts.With the purpose of assessing their oral language proficiency levels,6 raters from East China Normal University made the ratings of all the teachers’authentic classroom audio recordings based on the TOEPAS scoring rubric.With the purpose of evaluating the teachers’oral proficiency level and its impact from the students’perspectives,a questionnaire was carried out among 82 students.The student participants include 32 science students,23 engineering students and 27 arts students in terms of academic background;30 sophomores,45 juniors,2 seniors and 5 postgraduates in terms of grade;46 male students and 36 female students in terms of gender.With the aim of specifically exploring the impact that the teachers’oral proficiency could exert on the students’learning,an interview was conducted among 10 students,including 3science students,4 engineering students and 3 arts students in terms of academic background;3 juniors,2 seniors and 5 postgraduates in terms of grade;5 male students and 5 female students in terms of gender.Measurement of EMI teachers’oral proficiency was based on the TOEPAS scales and included 5 components:pronunciation,fluency,vocabulary,grammar and interaction skills.Impact of EMI teachers’oral proficiency was observed from 4 aspects:comprehension of classroom teaching,learning interest,class attention and after-class learning.The findings of the present study are summarized as follows:1)Based on the global scales in TOEPAS scoring rubric,the Chinese EMI teachers’general oral proficiency reached the level of 3.According to the global scales in the TOEPAS technical report（Kling&St（?）hr 2012）,they demonstrated good English language proficiency for university teaching.No extra training is required.In terms of the 5 components,Chinese EMI teachers excelled significantly in vocabulary than in fluency,pronunciation,grammar and interaction skills.Moreover,the arts teachers obtained higher general scores than the science and engineering teachers,which was mainly reflected in their better scores in vocabulary.2)Based on the students’evaluation,Chinese EMI teachers’general oral proficiency was 3.91,which is above the average and indicates the relatively positive responses from the students.In terms of 5 components,Chinese EMI teachers were evaluated as significantly better in the other 4 aspects than in fluency.Science,engineering and arts teachers had similar general language proficiency.However,science teachers acquired higher results in fluency than arts teachers.3)Based on the students’evaluations measured by the Likert scales,the Chinese EMI teachers’general oral proficiency level exerted evident impacts on the students’comprehension,learning interests,class attention and after school learning,with the average results of 4 aspects all above 3.50.Moreover,the impact on learning interests,class attention and after-class learning were regarded as more obvious than on comprehension.Practically,the findings of the study have provided reference for the development of training programs intended for EMI teachers,the EMI teachers and course arrangements in universities and the preparation of EMI teaching/learning materials.Moreover,the methodology adopted in the present study could be employed for further relevant research.