全英語教學推動中心全英語教學及學習組組長林銘輝

「現在世界是平的，你可以依靠各種語言能力，平行移動到任何地方，它是一項工具，也是打開國際視野的一種方式。」新任全英語教學推動中心全英語教學及學習組組長林銘輝，從自身英語教學經驗，說明「2030雙語國家發展藍圖」之全英語教學政策的實行困難與挑戰，分享淡江朝向雙語化大學發展的策略規劃。

自110學年度起，教育部推動「大專校院學生雙語化學習計畫」，希望培養重點產業的雙語專業人才，在教學方面推行EMI課程（English as a Medium of Instruction），主要以英語作為知識的傳播媒介，課堂上師生互動、教材使用和學習評量等，均以英語為主，期望將國外「全英語」的教學環境複製過來，讓學生們能自然而然說英語、適應雙語環境。

林銘輝表示，當初聽到政府要補助經費推行計畫時，心裡相當興奮，因年輕時在海外留學，也曾受語言溝通之苦，「通常我們想表達的層次較高，但語言能力有限，要如何應用有限的語言字彙，表達高層次的知識？」林銘輝認為，只有實際使用外語，間距才會縮小，全英語課程就是讓學生習慣英語環境的開始。

以林銘輝在全英語授課的經驗，學生們對「全英語上課」有兩極化反應，程度好的學生欣然接受，「哇！好棒喔！我賺到了。」程度稍差的學生則擔心害怕，「這樣我會聽不懂！會不會學不到東西？」林銘輝坦言，觀察大多數學生在語意表達上，關鍵用字不會錯，但語法卻沒那麼正確，他很遺憾臺灣的外語教育推廣這麼久，實質效果卻有限。

「推廣全英語授課最大困難為何？」林銘輝說明：「學生、教師和課程改革都是雙語化學習計畫成敗與否的關鍵。」首先，他認為學生是被動接收資訊的一方，若想適應全英語課程，就必須轉變成主動學習者，如事先「預習」專業英語知識，課後「複習」老師講授的內容，若學生未意識到需付出更多時間學習，那全英語授課很容易變成一個惡性循環，永無止盡地無法突破語言障礙。

其二教師教學的模式，如課前整理專業用字關鍵詞、影音教材與「Kahoot!」互動性學習遊戲，幫助學生聚焦課堂內容，透過發言、搶答的反應，判斷學生的學習效果。其三課程改革部分，由於工學、理學、商學有許多專業術語，林銘輝建議多開設ESP(English Special Purpose)和EAP(English Academic Purpose)課程，幫助學生認識專業領域上特殊用字、用詞，尤其EAP課程講求學術領域，更有基礎支架的概念，輔助同學專業知識的向上發展。

「記得高中老師曾說過，電腦跟英語是未來20年的趨勢，事實上過了30年，它仍是主流。」林銘輝說，現在大家不管在網路還是社群媒體上，都是資訊的平行移動，所以「語言能力」變得尤其重要，想成為國際村裡的村民，非學會英文不可。林銘輝表示，本學期學校針對EMI全英語課程有一系列規劃，學生端會舉辦各種上課心得徵文、教案設計比賽，希望各年級學生多多參與，歡迎修習EMI全英語課程，盡情使用學校教師資源、為未來打好英語基礎。

Introducing the new level 2 director – section chief John Ming-hui Lin of EMI teaching and learning section at the EMI Center

“The world is now flat. You can rely on various language skills and translocate yourself anywhere. It is a tool, but it is also a way to open up international perspective.” Says Associate Professor John Ming-hui Lin, the newly appointed section chief of EMI teaching and learning at the EMI Center, speaking from his own English teaching experience, about the difficulties and challenges of implementing the EMI teaching policies of the Blueprint for Developing Taiwan into a Bilingual Nation by 2030, and sharing on the strategic planning of Tamkang’s move towards developing into a bilingual university.

From the 2021 academic year, the Ministry of Education began to push the Bilingual learning program for college students, in the hope of nurturing bilingual professional talents for critical industries. The promotion of EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) courses in teaching form part of that effort, where English is used as the medium for transference of knowledge, and it is the main language used in class, whether it is for teacher-student interactions, teaching materials, or learning evaluations. It is hoped that the ‘All-English” teaching and learning environment abroad can be fully replicated in Taiwan, so that students can speak English without feeling like being forced to, and that they can adapt to a bilingual environment.

Section chief Lin indicates that when he initially heard that the government is going to provide subsidies to promote the program, he felt very excited, because he also suffered the pains of communicating in a foreign language when studying overseas in his younger days. “Usually the level of what we want to express quite high, but due to limited language abilities, how does one express high level of knowledge through the application of limited vocabulary and lexicon?” He believes that only through actual use of foreign language will this gap shrink, and EMI courses is the start of getting students use to an English environment.

In Associate Professor Lin’s EMI teaching experience, students’ responses to EMI classes are quite polarized. Students with a good grasp of the language are completely on board, and thinks “Wow! Fantastic! I’ve lucked out!” while those who are weaker are worried and afraid, thinking “I’m not going to be able to understanding! Am I going to learn anything?” He stated in quite an open fashion, that in his observation, most students when expressing themselves in a given context, their usage of critical words are fine, but the grammar is not that accurate. He feel it is a shame that despite the promotion of foreign language education has been going on in Taiwan for so long, the actual results and effectiveness is still rather limited.

“What is the biggest issues in promoting EMI teaching?” section chief Lin explains, “Students, faculties and course reform are all critical to whether a bilingual learning program succeeds or fails.” First, he believes that students, as the passive party accepting information, must become active learners if they are to adapt to EMI courses, like previewing the professional English knowledge before classes, and then reviewing the content taught of the teacher after class. If students do not become aware that they need to invest more time to their learning, then EMI teaching can easily become a vicious cycle, feeding back unto itself with no possibility of overcoming the language barrier.

Second is the teaching format of the teacher. Prepping the relevant professional keywords or terms, audiovisual materials and interactive learning games like Kahoot! can help to focus students’ attention on the teaching content, and through their verbal responses whether it is raising questions or answering one, the effectiveness of the student’s learning can be judged. Third, in terms of course reform, as there are numerous specialized terminology and terms in engineering, physical sciences, and business, section chief Lin recommends establish more ESP (English Special Purpose) and EAP (English Academic Purpose) courses, which can help student recognize terminology and phrases dedicated to certain specialized fields. This is particularly important for EAP courses that are geared toward academic disciplines as it can act as part of the basic framework for learning, thus help students to develop and grow in terms of their expert knowledge.

“(I) remembered my high school teacher said that computers and English are the trends for the next 20 years. In actuality, its been over 30 years now, and they are still the mainstream.” Associate Professor Lin says. Whether it is online or on social media, everyone is moving parallel to one another when it comes to information, and thus, language skills have become particularly important, and if one wants to be part of the global village, learning English is a must. Associate Professor Lin states that this semester, the University has planned a series of activities for EMI courses, and there are various competitions for students to enter, focusing on gathering their experiences for attending EMI classes, design of teaching programs, etc. It is hoped that students can participate in these events regardless of their year of study, and they are welcome to enroll in EMI courses and take as much advantage as possible of the University’s teaching resources, all to consolidate their foundation in English.