English-Medium Instruction and approaches to teaching: some reflections on experience at the University of Padova

After years of catering almost solely to the needs of students, in 2012, the University of Padova’s Language Centre was called upon to offer support for lecturers involved in or about to embark upon English-Medium Instruction (EMI). This article will describe the support now offered by the Centre on the basis of the findings of the LEAP (Learning English for Academic Purposes) project launched in 2013 and feedback received from lecturers and from the Centre’s language teaching staff. The Language Centre’s proposals will be placed within the wider context of internationalisation policies and the article will discuss the competences required to teach in a language which is not one’s own mother tongue at university level. After discussing EMI and presenting the LEAP project, it will reflect on whether the adoption of EMI may be a catalyst for change in approaches and attitudes to teaching, but argue for the importance of guaranteeing lecturers the freedom to choose their own individual style, without feeling that the use of English implies the imposition of classroom practices which are not relevant to their own teaching environment. It will conclude by offering some reflections on how language experts could collaborate with those in the field of education to ensure that the multilingual classroom is one in which high-quality university teaching can go hand in hand with inclusion and intercultural dialogue.