EMI and CLIL in the context of Japanese national policy for internationalization of universities.

The current Japanese national policy for internationalization of universities has affected how English as a foreign language is used in university curricula. If previously the main emphasize was on language education, the recent decade has seen a major increase in the number of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) courses. However, by definition EMI is not a foreign language education strategy as it is a content-driven teaching approach. This talk will explore what is the purpose of EMI courses in Japanese universities curricula and how it is contributing to English as a foreign language education goal. The speaker will present the case of a national university approaches in using EMI and CLIL courses to advance its internationalization efforts. The talk will approach these developments from both university/government policies and also students’ point of view.