EMI Teachers’ Language Support Needs Across Contexts: Cause for Tensions and Opportunities for Inclusion

Other conference contribution, 2025

In many locations where English-medium instruction (EMI) has been implemented, there is a reported need for language support for EMI teachers. Interestingly, our research shows that the “reported need” often comes from EMI teachers in reference to their colleagues – not themselves. This disconnect between self-perception and peer-perception reveals how language support needs are understood differently across the EMI teaching community. Some teachers may feel confident in their academic writing but struggle with classroom interaction, while others might excel in spoken communication but desire support with formal academic genres. This complex landscape of varying needs and perceptions calls for language support systems that are both inclusive enough and customized to different teacher profiles to reach those who might otherwise resist seeking help. Based on open-ended responses (N = 400) to a survey, this qualitative study explores how EMI teachers position themselves towards academic literacy support in Brazil and Sweden. These two contexts differ regarding the state of implementation of EMI and the general utilization of the English language, making them compelling contexts to compare. The research combines different theoretical frameworks – academic literacy and positioning theory – to analyse the data, exploring the dynamics between teachers' perceptions of their own needs versus those of their colleagues. The findings reveal underlying language ideologies, social structures and interesting contextual differences that influence EMI teachers’ perceptions and feelings of inclusion/exclusion. Therefore, the cross-contextual nature of this study enhances our understanding of the complexities within these dissimilar EMI contexts. In addition, the results can contribute to the development of effective, inclusive and tailored academic literacy support for EMI teachers.