English Medium Instruction and Transformative Learning Theory: the Teaching Context

Content-based English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction continues to undergo a process of evolution in line with changes in educational approaches, goals, and priorities. While English Medium Instruction (EMI) and translanguaging describe changes in foreign language teaching and learning, Mezirow’s (1997) transformative learning theory tries to account for the transformation of the instructor. In educational contexts, instructors are likely to rethink the ways they teach foreign languages as they gain experience and knowledge, developing their careers while interacting with colleagues and participating in ongoing professional development. It is not surprising that attitudes towards the pedagogy itself are challenged in line with new teaching convictions, realities, and behaviour. Recognizing the modes and complexities of the classroom (Rose, 2014) as described in learning theories is often a first step to addressing the issues, since the classroom is a highly complex environment within which numerous modalities of the pedagogy interact. With that in mind, the paper covers lesson planning and course considerations, the Council of European Frameworks (CEFRs) and their associated teaching focus on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) underpinned by the Genre-Based Approach (GBA), critical self-reflection as a principle of transformative learning, and the domains of learning derived from Bloom’s Taxonomy and developed (e.g. by Dettmer, 2005) into the cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling), psychomotor (sensing/moving), and interpersonal (interacting). These considerations open a window into the contemporary English Language Teaching (ELT) context.