The Oxford EMI team were delighted to present on EMI and the changing role of EAP teachers at this one-day conference in March 2026.

Adventures in Yorkshire – from Leeds to Sheffield

Having presented at the University of Leeds in October 2025, the Oxford EMI team were pleased to return to their Yorkshire neighbours – the University of Sheffield – in April 2026 for the BALEAP PIM on The role of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in English Medium Instruction (EMI) and Transnational Education (TNE).    

This event brought together experts from the three fields to explore the roles and opportunities that EAP practitioners have in a world of rapid TNE and EMI expansion.

In this post, Tom Spain Head of Training at Oxford EMI, shares his impressions of a very thought-provoking event.

Redefining the role of EAP

The opening plenary was delivered jointly by Professor Nicola Galloway (University of Exeter), who joined online, and Professor Bee Bond (University of Leeds), who presented in-person. 

They highlighted key issues raised in recent research including:

• Lack of clarity about the qualifications an EAP practitioner should have
• Lack of status afforded to EAP teachers in the hierarchy of universities
• EAP professionals not having the time or incentives to produce research

The second issue stood out to me as this is something we have come across regularly in our work with over 100 universities across the world. However, as myself and other presenters made clear, EAP specialists have a crucial role to play when a university starts to offer English-taught programmes.

Academic literacy is key

It was a day of high-quality talks and I was particularly impressed by Catherine Journeaux (NYU Shanghai) who spoke about the importance of students developing academic literacy skills and outlined the innovative approach they have implemented at this major TNE. 

In the talk, entitled Bridging the gap: Content-based EAP for First-Year EMI Students, we were shown how this pioneering 15-week course uses a content approach to focus on exactly the kind of academic literacy skills students need to develop in order to be successful in EMI courses. 

The argument was that a skills-based EAP approach, devoid of context, is neither motivating nor authentic and that true academic literacy comes from practice, dialogue, collaboration and reflection. This all echoes with what we at Oxford EMI want to see students doing in EMI classes.

TNE and employability

Richard Silburn from Manchester Metropolitan University, in his talk Beyond language: EAP, employability and the future of TNE curricula, argued that TNEs – as relatively new institutions in the HE sector  –  will face increasing scrutiny. 

He mentioned three key areas: 

• Student experience
• Graduate experience in the labour market
• Programme coherence

The first two areas focused on the importance of appropriate and ongoing support for teaching and learning in EMI, which mirrored points that I made in my own talk.

EMI and the changing role of EAP teachers

In my presentation, I spoke about how the rapid expansion of TNE and EMI will lead to new roles for EAP specialists. However, in order to support teaching and learning effectively, EAP teachers must first familiarise themselves with the teaching contexts of their EMI colleagues, which can be very different. For example, EMI lecturers have to: 

• Teach complex concepts using technical terms unfamiliar to the students
• Work with with large classes – over 100 students is not uncommon
• Deal with a wide range of language proficiency levels among the students – from B1 to C2 in some cases
• Prepare students for the international labour market by ensuring they acquire the necessary soft skills

This is why we encourage both EAP and EMI teachers to join Oxford EMI training courses, through which they explore these issues, come to a better understanding of each others’ contexts and the teaching implications, and encourage continued cooperation beyond the course to develop and deliver effective support to EMI students.

If you’d like to know more about how our face-to-face and online courses could help support you and your colleagues in an EMI or TNE setting, please get in touch.

Blog writer

Tom Spain is the Head of Training at Oxford EMI. You can find out more about him and other team members on the Meet our team page.

References and further reading

Dearden, J. (2018). The Changing Roles of EMI Academics and English Language Specialists. In: Kırkgöz, Y., & Dikilitaş, K. (eds) Key Issues in English for Specific Purposes in Higher Education. English Language Education, vol 11. Springer. 323–338.

Wingrove, P., Zuaro, B., Yuksel, D., Nao, M., & Hultgren, A. K. (2025). English-medium instruction in European higher education: Measurement validity and the state of play in 2023/2024. Applied Linguistics,  https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amaf020

Zhou, J., & Delogu, P. (2026). Bridging EAP and EMI: Professional development for EAP teachers in Chinese higher education. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, Volume 79, 101623, doi: 10.1016/j.jeap.2025.101623