ABSTRACT
While students are usually required to prove their English language competencies (typically at the C1 level based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages [CEFR]) in order to be admitted into an English Medium Instruction (EMI) course of study, it has been widely assumed by universities that teachers inherently possess the necessary language skills to teach in these settings. To our knowledge, only a few systematic measures have been taken to certify the speaking proficiency of teachers in EMI degree programmes in Europe. These measures assessed the oral skills of EMI teachers in testing settings. Yet the most vital stakeholders, the students, were absent from these assessments. Consequently, crucial communicative competencies for teaching with a multilingual, multicultural student body were not certified. Research in EMI has shown, however, that teacher competencies such as student-oriented teaching, intercultural transparency, and accommodation strategies for English as a lingua franca are cited by students as helpful in facilitating their content learning through English. Drawing on these insights along with elements from a communicative competence model and threshold descriptors from the CEFR, the EMI team from the Language Teaching Centre at the University of Freiburg has developed EMI-specific assessment criteria. These criteria expand on perceived gaps in the aforementioned quality assurance measures monitoring the quality of the teaching staff’s language use in English-taught programmes. This chapter outlines these EMI-specific criteria and gives insight into their application based on quantitative and qualitative data from the assessment practice, with an outlook into implications for EMI practitioners.
