Linking Language Proficiency and Pedagogy in EMI: Evidence from Spanish Higher Education

Other conference contribution, 2026

The last decade has marked a period of major expansion of English-medium instruction (EMI) in Spain (Wingrove et al., 2025), yet concerns persist regarding the quality of EMI pedagogy. Research shows that EMI classrooms often remain teacher-centred despite calls for more student-centred approaches (Lasagabaster, 2022). While little is known about how teachers’ English proficiency may influence their teaching strategies, research suggests a potential influence of language proficiency on teaching approaches and self-efficacy (Wang, 2021), whereas others emphasize the potential stronger role of pedagogical training (Vander Borght et al., 2025). To address these mixed findings, this study builds on earlier work by exploring how EMI teachers’ English proficiency, teaching approaches and self-efficacy relate, while also incorporating a standardized language test as an objective proficiency measure. Starting in January 2026, teachers (n = 70) from various Spanish universities will complete a standardized English language test, self-assess their English proficiency, and respond to the Higher Education Approaches to Teaching inventory (Postareff et al., 2024), which measures variation in teaching approaches and self-efficacy. This study addresses two central questions: (1) To what extent does EMI teachers’ English language proficiency align with their self-assessed proficiency levels? and (2) How does English proficiency relate to their reported teaching approaches and self-efficacy? Planned analyses include correlational and regression models to assess alignment and predictive relationships. To our knowledge, this is the first study in Spain to evaluate the English proficiency of a large group of EMI teachers using standardized measures, thereby offering empirical evidence of EMI teachers’ actual linguistic competence. The findings have the potential to reframe how language proficiency influences teachers’ choice of instructional strategies and classroom practices, and to contribute to the broader discussion of quality in internationalized higher education in Spain.

References
Lasagabaster, D. (2022). Teacher preparedness for English-medium instruction. Journal of English-Medium Instruction, 1(1), 48–64. https://doi.org/10.1075/jemi.21011.las
Postareff, L., Lahdenperä, J., Hailikari, T., & Parpala, A. (2024). The dimensions of approaches to teaching in higher education: A new analysis of teaching profiles. Higher Education, 88, 37–59. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01104-x
Vander Borght, M., Malmström, H., Martinez, R., & Pecorari, D. (2025). English proficiency, pedagogy, and confidence: What really matters in EMI teaching? Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2025.2537740
Wang, C. (2021). The Relationship Between Teachers’ Classroom English Proficiency and Their Teaching Self-Efficacy in an English Medium Instruction Context. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.611743
Wingrove, P., Zuaro, B., Yuksel, D., Nao, M., & Hultgren, A. (2025). English-medium instruction in European higher education: Measurement validity and the state of play in 2023/2024. Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amaf020