Lecturers’ Experiences of EMI: Analysis of a Questionnaire on the Impact of a Training Programme at a Northern Italian University

Abstract

Over the past 15 years, English-Medium Instruction (EMI) courses have experienced significant growth. This expansion, driven in part by the increasing diversity of international students, has led to a growing need for lecturer training in EMI. Teaching in an EMI context demands a diverse set of competences, underscoring the importance of incorporating lecturers' perspectives into training programmes. This study investigates the responses to a questionnaire administered to 39 lecturers who participated in an EMI training programme at a university in northern Italy. The questionnaire focused on the lecturers' experiences, challenges, and preferences in delivering EMI courses, aiming to capture their post-training teaching habits to assess the impact of the training. The findings reveal that while the training effectively increased lecturers’ awareness of the interplay between content and language, areas related to fostering classroom interaction require further development. In particular, despite the training’s emphasis on interactive and student-centred approaches, many lecturers still predominantly use minimally interactive teaching methods. This suggests a need for ongoing enhancement of the training programme to better support lecturers in implementing interaction-fostering strategies.