Introduction

English has become the hypercentral language at the top of the pyramid according to de Swaan’s well known language hierarchy, whereas other languages are classified as supercentral, some others as central and the remaining as peripheral languages. First, English-medium instruction (EMI) is a relatively new phenomenon and many universities had (or still have) other priorities to tackle such as the need to implement EMI programmes in a short time span and the urgency to design certification mechanisms to enable their teaching staff to deliver content in the foreign language. Second, the lack of linguistic aims may be due to the widely held belief that language learning will in any case take place implicitly just by being exposed to English during content teaching. Third, and more importantly, content teachers are reluctant to teach language in their classes. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.