【Article by EMI Resource Center 】

National Chengchi University (NCCU) advanced its English-medium instruction (EMI) initiatives through closer collaboration with Jye Smallwood, an English Language Fellow from the United States, during a meeting with Distinguished Professor Yi-Ning (Katherine) Chen, Executive Director of the Office of Bilingual Education and Multicultural Promotion, on November 11, 2025, to discuss teacher-training mechanisms led by the EMI Resource Center and strategies to better integrate administrative support, expert consultation, and classroom practice.

Smallwood, in Taiwan through the U.S. Department of State’s English Language Fellow Program, holds a master’s in Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching from the University of Oxford and is a PhD candidate in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. His work focuses on EMI effectiveness, classroom language support, and formative assessment. Since joining NCCU this semester, he has helped design lectures and workshops, trained teaching assistants, offered one-on-one consultations for faculty and students, and supported EMI course quality assurance—building hands-on experience across campus.

Recent activities include a campus lecture on the current landscape and challenges of EMI in Taiwanese higher education, an EMI TA Training Workshop introducing assessment for learning, and participation in class observation and recording projects to support reflective teaching and effective classroom language use.

Professor Chen noted that NCCU will expand its EMI Course Quality Assurance mechanisms next semester and aims to develop a professional learning community for EMI. Recognizing that first-time and early-career EMI instructors face distinct needs at different stages, NCCU will partner with Smallwood to roll out a scaffolded training pathway—from foundational concepts to applied classroom practice—to reinforce sustainable faculty development.

Smallwood emphasized that effective EMI centers on learning disciplinary knowledge through English, not on language alone. He highlighted the importance of intentional course design, well-structured activities, and continuous formative assessment to drive student engagement and comprehension. While his on-site hours are limited each week, he plans to conduct needs analyses and provide targeted support services, with further collaboration details to be refined over the winter break.

Concluding the meeting, Professor Chen affirmed a shared vision for next steps. Over the winter break, NCCU will finalize plans for a systematic, sustainable, and teacher-centered EMI support program to launch next semester—aimed at elevating the quality of bilingual instruction and improving student learning outcomes.