Future Human Image (Nov 2021)
English as a Medium of Instruction in Ukrainian Higher Educational Practices: Challenges and Suggestions
Abstract
This paper aims to analyze the current situation with EMI (English as a medium of instruction) teaching in Ukrainian universities. The author outlines the main challenges that teachers and students face and provides certain suggestions on how to address the existing challenges, preserve and improve the efficiency of EMI teaching in Ukraine. In the course of the research, the author relies on his own EMI teaching experience and describes and generalises the experience and solutions offered by the colleagues. The author claims that EMI teaching nowadays has become one of the key elements of the strategy for the internationalization of higher education in Ukraine. More and more Ukrainian universities offer EMI bachelor and master programs which are very popular among international students from various countries. However, effective and rapid switch to EMI teaching turns out to be problematic for most of the universities because they are lacking in teachers with sufficient English proficiency and academic mobility experience. To improve the quality of EMI teaching in the nearest future mentioned two features have to be prioritised and supported by the respective higher education institutions. The author also claims that another important factor that significantly influences the efficiency of EMI teaching is the low English proficiency of the international students. Most of the international students have CEFR level B1, which is consistent with the current enrollment requirements of most universities but turns out to be insufficient for the comprehension of most study materials. The author suggests that changing enrollment requirements to CEFR B2 and adding international language certification to it could help to avoid numerous challenges and complications. As the practical suggestion for teaching philosophical subjects in English, the author, generalizing his own EMI teaching experience, describes the possible strategy of curriculum development and provides some recommendations on topic choice and strategies for teaching philosophical courses in English.
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