In September 2021, the Ministry of Education of Taiwan launched the Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College, in a sincere effort to augment students’ English proficiency, increase the quality and quantity of English-Medium-Instruction (EMI) courses, and reinforce the international competitiveness of the higher education in Taiwan (MOE, 2021). To attain these goals, this year-long project has been applying the ADDIE model (Branch, 2009) to develop an EMI preparation course geared toward fostering enhanced English proficiency to ascertain the efficient taking of EMI courses. In accordance with this model, the Analysis phase conducted a needs analysis that surveyed 2,681 students and interviewed 11 EMI faculty members and as such revealed students’ needs for the cultivation of advanced receptive skills, integrated language skills, motivation, and confidence. With reference to these needs, the Design phase produced the course objectives that aim to foster these identified language skills as well as affective attributes. Capitalizing on these objectives, the Development phase has constructed the 32 lesson plans for this bi-semester EMI course based on the feedback of two scholars specializing in Curriculum Design and TESOL. The Implementation phase will see this course launched in the academic year of 2023/2024 and administered to 180 students (six classes) whose English proficiency will fall between CEFR A2 and B1 level. As the course draws to a close in June, 2024, the Evaluation phase will assess its effectiveness by performing a series of ANCOVAs to compare the pre- and post-course differences in English proficiency, confidence, and motivation. Semi-structured individual interviews with the instructors and students will be performed to bring to light their experience that helps interpret the statistical findings. Implications will be proposed based on the evaluation results.

Heng-Tsung Danny Huang currently works as an associate professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan University. His research interests lie in language testing, technology-enhanced language learning and teaching, and individual differences in SLA. His research works appear in such prestigious journals as TESOL Quarterly, Language Testing, Language Assessment Quarterly, Language Learning & Technology, System, Learning and Individual Differences, Interactive Learning Environments, and so on.

Li-Sheng Steve Lee holds a master’s degree in French Linguistics and has ample experience of teaching English to adult learners. He is currently a project manager for the Center for Bilingual Education at National Taiwan University.

I-Hsin Joy Luo, with a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures, had worked as a formal English teacher in junior high schools in Taiwan. Currently, she works for National Taiwan University as a project manager for the Center for Bilingual Education.

Increasing levels of collaboration between content specialists and language specialists in higher education is expected to both increase teacher professional development and student learning. This study sets out to examine the impact of such interdisciplinary collaboration between English for specific purposes (ESP) and English medium instruction (EMI) lecturers on ESP course design, materials development, and classroom pedagogy. Participants of this study are twelve lecturers, forming six teams of one EMI lecturer and one ESP lecturer. Based on a collaborative inquiry approach, each team collaborates independently with joint discussions, classroom observations, co-planning, and co-teaching classes during the one-semester program. A unit of learning materials for teaching disciplinary literacy is developed and used in their co-teaching sessions. Audio-recorded semi-structured interviews, video-recorded classroom teaching sessions and student presentations, and each lecturer’s individual reflective reports and related documents are analyzed. Throughout each stage of collaborative inquiry, from framing the problem to collecting, analyzing evidence and sharing, this multiple-case study identifies the various models of interdisciplinary collaboration and discusses how different models of collaboration contributes to different aspects of changes in classroom pedagogy, student perceptions and learning outcomes. As a result of increasing collaboration between these two otherwise independent parties, the approach has promoted ESP teacher professional development and student learning in disciplinary literacy. This presentation will provide pedagogical implications and insights into disciplinary literacy learning and teacher professional development for current and prospective ESP and EMI teachers to enhance bilingual education for students in college.

Eric Yen-liang Lin is currently a professor of applied linguistics, also serving as the Chair of Department of English at National Taipei University of Technology, the President of Taiwan ESP Association (TESPA), and the secretary-general of the English Teaching and Research Association (ETRA). He received his Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics in 2013 from the University of Nottingham, UK. He has taught EFL at secondary and university levels for over 18 years. His research interests include corpus linguistics, multimodality and gestures in SLA, EMI professional development, and language teaching research. Dr. Lin is also the Director of the MOE APEC Advisory Team for Education Network. He has actively participated in the APEC EDNET and overseen several APEC-funded projects since 2016.

How do we prepare and support students studying in EMI contexts? What challenges do students and teachers face and how can we start to address these through English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course design?

In this talk I will first outline principles for effective, constructively aligned EAP provision. To ensure meaningful and motivating EAP courses, whether standalone or embedded, course design starts with needs analysis (NA). I will draw on practical examples from an English for specific academic purposes course, showing how the learning from the NA can be leveraged to develop a range of EAP provision for EMI contexts.

Employing a variety of approaches to needs analysis and gathering data from a range of stakeholders, I will highlight the importance of drawing on the expertise of both content subject specialists and EAP teacher expertise. I will show how the needs analysis informed the articulation of course aims and intended learning outcomes and the selection and adaptation of content. Challenges that course designers and teachers may face include how to facilitate understanding of academic content and how to address academic skills, language and literacy needs for students with varying proficiency levels. To address these, specific examples of materials and tasks will be suggested. Relevant forms of assessment for and of learning will also be outlined.

Levels of collaboration or cooperation in course design and delivery will vary depending on context and so the talk will end by suggesting how the learning from needs analysis can be adapted to inform different types of provision, for example adjunct, embedded, or preparatory courses in EMI settings.

Carole MacDiarmid is a Senior Lecturer and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Manager Manager for Teacher Development in English for Academic Study at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Carole has extensive experience in EAP course design and teacher education. She has designed both general and specific EAP courses for students and for EMI lecturers, and induction and postgraduate programmes for teachers of EAP. Having led the two masters in TESOL, she is now concentrating on convening and developing the Teaching EAP online postgraduate course.

She is an active member of BALEAP, a ‘global forum for EAP practitioners’. This has included being an Assessor for the BALEAP accreditation scheme (institutional), and involvement in the development of the BALEAP TEAP fellowship scheme for individuals. She is BALEAP Senior Fellow, Mentor and Assessor and also co-leads the  BALEAP Teacher Education in EAP Special Interest Group. Her research interests include exploring EAP teacher competencies, pedagogies in EAP and spoken academic discourse. She has worked with colleagues in Brazil on researching EAP teacher needs, and both co-edited and contributed to Pedagogies in EAP: Teaching and Learning in International Contexts (2021, Bloomsbury).

In response to the significant growth of higher education institutions offering English-Medium Instruction (EMI) in Taiwan, instructors face the crucial task of preparing students for the transition into EMI discipline-specific courses. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses have played a vital role in the current EMI context, focusing on language skills and occupational needs. Consequently, schools have undertaken efforts to redefine educational structures, redesign teaching and learning processes, and reshape classroom practices to foster diverse learning experiences.

This presentation explores how instructors can bridge the gap between EAP/ESP and EMI courses through innovative curriculum design and effective utilization of technology, thereby enhancing learning outcomes. The emphasis lies in the design, application, production, and evaluation of information. Various types of EAP and ESP courses will be addressed, accompanied by observations of interactive classroom activities. Additionally, the integration of ChatGPT and online game-based platform will be discussed, aiming to provide students with instant support, guidance, and feedback, leading to adaptive and personalized learning experiences.

By employing innovative classroom activities and leveraging effective technical support, instructors can move beyond the “one-size-fits-all” model. This approach increases learners’ exposure to the target language, establishes connections between learning and real-life situations, offers immediate feedback, accelerates language processing, and enhances language proficiency, communication skills, and content-specific knowledge.

Virginia Shiang-lan Shen received her doctoral degree in Spanish with a concentration in Latin American Studies from Arizona State University. As an experienced academic professional with ample teaching and research attainments in the U.S., Dr. Shen’s academic expertise centers on Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, Cultural Studies, Hispanic Women Writers, Spanish American Literature and Culture, and U.S. Latinx Literature and Culture. During her tenure in the U.S., in addition to academic pursuits, Dr. Shen took on numerous leadership positions at national and regional scholarly societies and community organizations, lending her expertise in language, literature, and culture.

Dr. Shen joined the faculty of Si Wan College at National Sun Yat-sen University in 2020, where she designs and teaches varied EAP and ESP courses to enhance students’ language skills, global views, and international competitiveness. Currently, Dr. Shen is the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for EMI Teaching Excellence and Associate Dean of Si Wan College. In her capacity, she administers the General English curriculum, helps promote EMI general education courses, and oversees extra-curricular English enhancement activities in support of the University’s bilingual campus endeavor.

Rachel Jui-hua Chen obtained her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from the University of London, specializing in the linguistic manifestation of bilingual aphasic patients in Taiwanese and Mandarin. Her research interests lie in the domains of communication disorders, aphasia, bilingualism, and bilingual education. Dr. Jui-hua Chen is currently employed as an Assistant Professor at the Center for EMI Teaching Excellence of Si Wan College, National Sun Yat-sen University. She is dedicated to researching and promoting the EMI teaching approach in higher education, with the aim of enhancing students’ language proficiency and international competitiveness. Dr. Chen’s research and teaching achievements carry significant academic and practical implications for promoting bilingual education and improving communication disorders.

English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) has gained significant traction in higher education worldwide, including Taiwan, as universities embrace internationalization. However, limited research has been conducted on the comprehensive ecological impact of EMI on university students in Taiwan. This abstract proposes an ecological lens investigation as a research framework to explore the multifaceted effects of EMI on students’ experiences across diverse domains.

Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (2009), this investigation will adopt an ecological lens approach to examine the role of English experienced by students in different domains, including family, education, and public spheres. By viewing the impact of EMI through an ecological lens, we aim to gain a holistic understanding of how EMI influences students’ language use, interactions, and identity formation within their immediate environments.

The research will also explore the linkages and processes between these domains, acknowledging the interconnectedness of students’ experiences within the Mesosystem. Additionally, the Exosystem will be considered to examine indirect influences, such as language preferences in professional development and recognitions within students’ academic disciplines.

By proposing an ecological lens investigation, this research framework aims to provide policymakers and educators with evidence-based strategies to optimize the benefits of EMI and support students in their educational journey. Ultimately, the ecological lens investigation seeks to foster a holistic and sustainable approach to EMI implementation, ensuring positive outcomes for university students in Taiwan amidst the global pursuit of internationalization.

Hintat Cheung is currently a Chair Professor at the Department of Audiology and Language Pathology, Asia University. He has been conducting research in both first and second language acquisition and developmental language disorders. Additionally, he has been collaborating with researchers and professionals from different disciplines to investigate the language acquisition process in learners from diverse backgrounds, as well as those with special education needs. Before joining Asia University, he held several leadership roles at the Education University of Hong Kong, where he served as the founding head of the Department of Linguistics and Modern Language Studies and as the founding Director of the Centre for Research on Linguistics and Language Studies. Prior to his tenure at the Education University of Hong Kong, Hintat Cheung also contributed to the academic landscape at National Taiwan University, as the Director of the Audio-Visual Educational Center and Director of the Graduate Institute of Linguistics. Furthermore, he served the linguistics community of Taiwan as the President of the Linguistics Society of Taiwan from 2007 to 2009.

The Taiwan Ministry of Education launched the Programme on Bilingual Education for Students in College (BEST) in the Academic Year 2021 with the aim of developing students who are “bilingual professionals”.

In this talk we will look at the evidence from a large-scale project on EMI stakeholders and practice at universities in Taiwan. We will discuss why English proficiency is not enough and how we need to go much further if we really want to create students who are bilingual professionals and speak the language of their subject (engineering, science etc).

Henry Chang is an English language researcher at the LTTC. His work at the LTTC includes curriculum development, teacher professional development, and assessment in various areas, including TEFL, CLIL, EMI, EAP, and ESP. Chang has contributed to the LTTC’s teacher-training projects in collaboration with the Taipei City Government, the Ministry of Education, and universities around Taiwan.

Simon Pereira is a coordinator, ESP researcher, and curriculum designer at the LTTC. His work at the LTTC has included designing curriculum for multiple organisations in private industry, government departments, and collaborating with professors to build ESAP courses for multiple university departments. He also regularly gives workshops on aspects of CLIL and EMI at various schools and universities in Taiwan.

In Taiwan, bilingual education is rapidly emerging across different levels of education due to the driving force of the 2030 Bilingual Policy in response to the globalisation of the labour market and in the hope of increasing national competitiveness (NDC, 2018). As a result, EMI students are provided with a wealth of academic and linguistic support in various higher education institutions. However, the accessibility and availability of these external resources to learners is usually criticised. Self-regulated learning (SRL) skills have been shown to be positively related to EMI learning, helping learners to better transition from non-EMI to EMI settings in order to be well adjusted; however, studies investigating the awareness of self-regulated learning strategies in EMI classrooms are still significantly underrepresented. Therefore, our study attempts to validate an adapted SRL scale and then use it to investigate the SRL strategies used by Taiwanese EMI learners. We identify the five dimensions of SRL in Taiwanese EMI classrooms, i.e., Supportive adaptions, Intrinsic perseverance, Goal setting and task scheduling, Negative affection and Extrinsic expectancy. The results also show that proficient English users can be effective EMI learners and are also likely to be good self-regulators. We argue that it is essential to raise awareness of SRL among both EMI teachers and learners prior to EMI provision, and that EMI teachers should help learners, particularly low achievers, to develop individual SRL strategies to better cope in EMI classrooms.

Wen-hsien Yang, who holds a doctorate from the University of Exeter, UK, is currently Professor of Applied English and Dean of the International College at the National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism. His main research interests include ESP (English for Specific Purposes), CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), EMI (English Medium Instruction) and PD (Professional Development). He is also responsible for supporting the MOE and local governments in overseeing bilingual programmes at different levels of education in Taiwan.

In June 2023, the Japanese Ministry of Education released the “4th Basic Promotion Plan for Education” (BPPE), hereafter referred to as BPPE. BPPE outlines a comprehensive strategy for revitalizing education in Japan, addressing various perspectives, including issues related to all subject areas in the current educational policy. This plan is designed to guide educational development over the next five years, and the Ministry of Education will adjust the course of study and related policies based on its directives. Since each BPPE has a distinct focus, it significantly impacts teaching and learning at the school level.

Regarding English education, the most noteworthy difference between the current plan and the previous one (the 3rd BPPE) is the heightened level of achievement expected from both junior and senior high school students. Specifically, the goal is for 60% of third-year junior high school students to achieve CEFR A1 or higher, while 60% of third-year senior high school students are expected to reach A2 or B1, an increase from the previous target of 50%.

In this paper, the author revisits the previous BPPEs and examines the existing literature on education reform in Japan, including works by Sasaki (2008), Watanabe (2013), Allen (2020), and Saito et al. (2022). This analysis aims to assess the extent of changes in educational policy over the decades. Additionally, the author analyzes the results of the annual national survey on students’ English proficiency levels at elementary, junior high, and senior high schools across various years to gain a deeper understanding of the connection to BPPEs.

Finally, the author concludes by sharing the history of efforts made by the Eiken Foundation of Japan to support actual teaching and learning in Japanese English education. These efforts include the incorporation of EIKEN grades, expansion of assessed skills, diversification of assessment methods, development of assessments for specific purposes, and collaboration with municipal bodies.

Keita Nakamura holds a PhD in Language Testing and serves as a principal research fellow at Eiken Foundation of Japan. Since 2006, he has been dedicated to development and validation of localized assessments in Japan, including EIKEN, EIKEN Jr., the Test of English for Academic Purposes (TEAP), and Global Communication Assessment (GCAS). He was a former member of the Ministry’s board for utilizing standardized English tests at college entrance examination. He has served as one of the executive board members of the Asian Association for Language Assessment (AALA) since 2020. His recent research interests include the psychometric characteristics of learners’ language proficiency and its longitudinal change, the impact of lexical features on task difficulty.

The launch of Dr. GEPT in 2021 marked a significant milestone, as GEPT became the first large-scale English language proficiency test worldwide to offer test-takers personalised, automated feedback on its Reading and Listening papers.

Feedback is an important means of bridging assessment and learning, but its usefulness ultimately depends on how learners engage with and act on the feedback (Carless & Boud, 2018). Learners’ L2 learning motivation may interact with feedback in meaningful and consequential ways, yet there has been relatively little research exploring such a dynamic relationship (Turner & Purpura, 2016), particularly in secondary education (Boo et al., 2015). This study addressed this gap by exploring the relationship between learners’ motivation and their engagement with Dr. GEPT feedback.

Employing a mixed-methods approach, Phase 1 of this study aimed to gain an overall understanding of L2 motivation among senior high school learners of English in Taiwan (n=635), along with their general perceptions of assessment feedback. This was achieved through a questionnaire survey based on Dörnyei’s (2009) L2 Motivational Self System model, and the data was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. Phase 2 involved biweekly learning logs from test-takers for four months after receiving test results and feedback (n=14) as well as semi-structured interviews (n=10) for an in-depth qualitative inquiry into how learners engage with Dr. GEPT feedback, how their motivation may develop, and how the feedback may shape the learners’ learning activities over the course of four months.

The findings provided supporting evidence that Dr. GEPT offers useful information that shapes and motivates learners’ continued autonomous learning journey after assessment, although not all components of the feedback were perceived to be useful or easy to act upon. This presentation will end with a discussion on insights gained from these findings about how automated feedback such as Dr. GEPT can be further enhanced in learner-oriented ways to support individual learners’ language learning journeys.

Fumiyo Nakatsuhara is a Professor of Language Assessment at the Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA), University of Bedfordshire, UK. Fumiyo is an Expert Member of the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (EALTA), an Editorial Board member of Language Testing and Language Assessment Quarterly, and an Academic Advisor for the Eiken Foundation of Japan and for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. She guest-edited a special issue of Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice (2021) on the use of innovative technology in oral language assessment. Her primary research interests lie in the nature of co-constructed interaction in various speaking test formats, the impact of test-taker characteristics on test performance, task design, rating scale development, and the relationship between listening and speaking skills. She has carried out a number of international testing projects, working with ministries, universities and examination boards. In her role as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the British Council’s Future of English project, titled ‘Digitally-mediated EMI communication in Higher Education classrooms: Transforming evidence into practical resources,’ she currently leads an international team comprising five institutions: University of Bedfordshire UK, Reading University UK, Reading University Malaysia, UCL, and Waseda University Japan.

While it is expected that test users will recognise appropriate language tests and interpret test scores appropriately, they often do not have sufficient expertise or available information to do this with confidence. Thus, there is a risk that users may select tests which are not a good fit, either for their own needs or those of test-takers. Claims made about individuals’ language ability on the basis of inappropriate tests may well be misleading, with wider implications for decision-makers in education and employment, as well as national policy makers.

Although the Taiwanese Ministry of Education sets recommended language proficiency levels in line with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), there is no mandated list of recognised tests to provide evidence of CEFR levels. Instead, a number of local and internationally recognised tests are accepted by different institutions.

This presentation describes the DeFINE research project, which aims to help different organisations in Taiwan, namely higher education institutions, government departments and public/private employers, to make more informed decisions when recognising language proficiency tests. Through the use of an evidence-based evaluation framework, the aim of the project is to ensure that selected tests are fit for purpose and provide meaningful scores according to the context and needs of users. We will report on different stages of the project: first, we will present the results of a document search revealing the tests currently used by universities, the civil service and employers according to publicly available information; second, we will describe preliminary findings from questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders in these organisations concerning the test selection process; and finally, we will demonstrate a preliminary framework, grounded in the socio-cognitive model, for gathering evidence to determine the (in)appropriate use of proficiency tests, considering test design, technical properties, CEFR alignment, and information available to relevant stakeholders. The opportunities provided by such a framework are discussed, as well as the challenges experienced during its formulation.

Richard Spiby is a Test Development Researcher with the Assessment Research Group at the British Council, London, where he is involved in the development and validation of British Council tests. He has worked in teaching and assessment on a variety of assessment development and assessment training projects worldwide. His areas of interest include language assessment literacy, test-taker strategies, test analysis and inclusivity in language assessment.

Emma Bruce is a researcher with the Assessment Research Group at the British Council. Emma’s specific focus is on research and validation of IELTS. Research interests include online testing and assessment, integrated assessment and the impact of tests and assessment on stakeholders in different contexts of use. Emma is currently working on validation research into IELTS One Skill Retakes, an investigation into test score validity periods and the impact of different proficiency tests for university admissions purposes. Before joining the British Council Emma worked in the tertiary sector in the UK and Hong Kong as lecturer and head of assessment.

Shwu-Wen Lin is an assistant professor at the National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, where she teaches English at the General Education Center. Her research interests include the impact of tests and assessment on stakeholders and the incorporation of digital materials and multimodal approaches in language education.

The BEST Test of English Proficiency (BESTEP) has been developed by the Language Training & Testing Center (LTTC) in support of Taiwan’s Program on Bilingual Education for College Students (the BEST Program). Its goal is to bring about positive advancements in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) education at the tertiary level. This presentation centers on an ongoing validation study undertaken by LTTC in collaboration with two prominent universities in Taipei, involving a total of six classes and 200 students. Building upon our previous research, which primarily focused on creating performance descriptors that closely align with the requirements of university learning environments, the present study examines the relationship between BESTEP’s speaking and writing tests and EAP courses. We conduct a comprehensive analysis that compares both the design of the courses and tests, while also tracking changes in students’ speaking and writing abilities over two semesters.

This presentation is expected to shed light on the dynamic relationship between learning, teaching, and assessment in Taiwan’s English language education. With a specific focus on the connection between BESTEP and EAP courses, this study validates the intended uses of BESTEP while emphasizing the importance of integrated approaches in EAP education. Findings from this study will significantly contribute to the conference theme of “Rethinking English Language Education at the Tertiary Level Under Taiwan’s Bilingual Education policy,” offering valuable insights and recommendations to educational stakeholders for a more effective approach.

Jessica R. W. Wu holds a PhD in Language Testing and serves as Director General for R&D at the Language Testing & Training Center (LTTC) in Taipei, Taiwan. Her major projects have included overseeing the creation of the General English Proficiency Test (GEPT). Widely recognized in the testing community, Dr. Wu received the Alan Davies Lecture Award in 2022, becoming the first East Asian scholar and non-native English-speaking recipient to do so. She currently oversees the government-sponsored BEST Test of English Proficiency for College Students, as well as EAP, EMI, and CLIL training programs for teachers.

Anita Chunwen Lin is currently the Director of the Teaching and Training Department at the Language Training & Testing Center (LTTC) in Taipei, Taiwan. She has been closely involved in the research and development of English language tests developed by the LTTC. She has also participated in the center’s projects related to learning resources, enhancement programs for English language teachers and bilingual teachers at different education levels, and stakeholder communication.

Joyce Shao Chin is the Chief of the Academic Planning Division of the R&D Office at the Language Training & Testing Center (LTTC) in Taipei, Taiwan. Her professional experiences cover the fields of English language teaching and assessment. She has taught English to university and adult EFL learners, actively participated in various course design and test development projects at the LTTC, and conducted related research. Her research interests include English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI), and Learning-Oriented Assessment (LOA).

This study investigates text and speech features of GEPT listening prompts and examine how these features influence the psychometric quality of the items. The difficulty of second language (L2) listening test items is influenced by various linguistic features of the listening input, and researchers have identified a wide array of text and acoustic features that impact item difficulty (e.g., Blau, 1990; Brunfaut & Révész, 2015; Griffiths, 1992; Kostin, 2014; Nissan et al., 1996; Révész & Brunfaut, 2013). In this study, we apply ML algorithms in lieu of traditional statistical methods to examine the association between linguistic features and psychometric properties of GEPT listening test items. We first extracted both text and speech features from a total of 225 sets of listening input and items using a combination of Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools and acoustic analysis. These listening items spanned both intermediate and high intermediate levels of target proficiency. Next, we invited a group of applied linguists as domain experts to eliminate linguistic features that are irrelevant to the constructs of listening ability. Finally, we incorporated the selected features along with both target listening skill and task type in building a machine learning model to predict item difficulty and item discrimination for each item. The direct outcome of this study is the identification of text and speech features of listening input that can robustly predict the psychometric quality of GEPT listening items. In a broad sense, findings from this study provide validity evidence for evaluation, generalization, and explanation inferences of the GEPT listening test.

Xun Yan is an associate professor of Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education, and Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a faculty member in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. He received his PhD degree in second language studies from Purdue University and is a language tester by training. At UIUC, Xun is the director of the undergraduate program in Linguistics + TESOL and the supervisor of the English Placement Test and the English Proficiency Interview. Xun’s research interests include speaking and writing assessment, psycholinguistic approaches to language testing, and language assessment literacy. His work has been published in journals including Language Testing, TESOL Quarterly, Assessing Writing, System, Journal of Second Language Writing, and Foreign Language Annals. He is a co-editor of the Brief Research Reports for TESOL Quarterly. Xun was the recipient of the ETS TOEFL Essentials New Scholar award in 2022, UIUC’s Conrad Humanities Mid-Career Scholar Award in 2022 and Lincoln Early-Career (LEAP) Scholar Award in 2018. He is currently the president of the Midwest Association of Language Testers in the US.

The BESTEP assesses college students’ readiness in academic English speaking and writing for English-Medium Instruction (EMI) programs in Taiwan’s tertiary education. This paper reports on a study aimed at linking the BESTEP writing test to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). In the field of language assessment, numerous efforts have been made to align major international language tests to the CEFR levels, including the IELTS (Lim et al., 2013), TOEFL iBT (e.g., Fleckenstein et al., 2020; Papageorgiou, Tannenbaum, Bridgeman, & Cho, 2015), and Pearson Test of English Academic (De Jong & Zheng, 2016). Besides linking the BESTEP writing test to the CEFR, we also explored panellists’ mental processes while linking the BESTEP writing samples to the CEFR levels, particularly in terms of the challenges associated with specific writing tasks and performances at different proficiency levels.

We followed the four stages set out in the CEFR manual for aligning language examinations with the CEFR (Council of Europe, 2009; see also British Council, UKALTA, EALTA, & ALTE, 2022), including familiarization, specification, standardization, and validation. The participants of this study included 15 panellists, six of whom also participated in the think-aloud study. 80 BESTEP writing samples at different score levels were used in the two rounds of standard setting in this study. The Body of Work method (BoW, Kingston et al., 2001), which is widely used and suitable for holistic judgements of performance on different task types, was employed to set the cut scores at different CEFR levels. The findings of this study facilitate the interpretations and use of the BESTEP writing scores and offer insights into the challenges of aligning different writing task types and performances at different proficiency levels to the CEFR.

Jason Fan is Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics and Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow at the Language Testing Research Centre (LTRC), University of Melbourne. His research interests include (a) validity theory and validation of language assessments; (b) Rasch measurement theory; and (c) language assessment policy and practice. His recent books include Development and Validation of Standards in Language Testing (Fudan University Press, 2018), Fairness, Justice and Language Assessment (with Tim McNamara and Ute Knoch, Oxford University Press, 2019), and Working Towards a Proficiency Scale of Business English Writing: A Mixed-Methods Approach (with Li Wang, Springer, 2021). He is the 2^nd Vice President of Asian Association for Language Assessment (AALA, since 2022), and the co-editor (with John Read) of Studies in Language Assessment.

Ivy Chen is a Research Fellow at the Language Testing Research Centre, University of Melbourne. Her research interests include language testing, SLA, and corpus linguistics. Her PhD dissertation, A Corpus-driven Receptive Test of Collocational Knowledge, employed the argument-based approach to validation and modelled how properties of collocations affect item difficulty using multilevel path analysis. Ivy has lectured in applied linguistics and ESL at the tertiary level and has experience teaching ESL/EFL and test preparation in Australia, Taiwan, and the US. She is the Reviews Editor of Studies in Language Assessment (from 2020).

Ute Knoch is the Director of the Language Testing Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests are in the areas of policy in language assessment, writing assessment, rating processes, assessing languages for academic and professional purposes, test validation and placement testing. She is the author or co-author of ‘Fairness, Justice and Language Assessment’ (2019, OUP, with Tim McNamara and Jason Fan), ‘Assessing English for Professional Purposes’ (2020, with Susy Macqueen) and ‘Scoring Second Language Spoken and Written Performance’ (2021, with Judith Fairbairn and Jin Yan). She was the Co-president of the Association for Language Testing and Assessment of Australian and New Zealand (ALTAANZ) from 2015-2016 and currently serves as the Vice-President and has served on the Executive Board of the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) from 2011 to 2014 and from 2017 to 2019.

With the implementation of EMI in full swing, English teachers at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages have less struggle about this national policy, especially those using English as the media in the instruction. This report means to present the alignment of EGP curriculum with the CEFR at Center for English Language Teaching. This presentation focuses on the placement of students from the level they are at to the highest they can reach or to B2 level for further study in the EMI track on campus. Inside class, students apply their acquired knowledge, vocabulary, and grammar to complete project-based tasks, such as presentations. With technology-embedded instructional designs, students without B2 proficiency are guided to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) as their speech coach and mentor in self-learning after class. Furthermore, a practical demonstration presented by the co-presenter will show how ESP students experienced the stages from rookies to future potential professionals, including an extended career innovation. With B2 and higher proficiency, ESP students in journalism course learn to write hard news in print media while reporting campus events in broadcasting studios and eventually creating their own feature programs. Similarly, ESP students in business English course learn to utilize AI tools and software to support their marketing research, design consumer surveys, and video editing. Students from both ESP courses gain insights of how AI technology enhances their learning and offers them inspirations for greater creation. Hopefully, this presentation provides insightful viewpoints to interested lecturers in English language teaching as well as professional subject teaching.

Antonia Hsiu-chen Lin, owning an MA in TESOL and a PhD in Applied Linguistics, is an associate professor in the Department of English at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages. In addition to teaching language and professional English courses for more than three decades, she has been involved in the teacher training in EMI and TTE projects and administration missions (Dean of Language Teacher Training Center, Dean of the Instructional Media Center, Deputy Chair of the English Department: Junior College Division, Dean of Language Diagnostic and Consulting Center, and Center for English Language Teaching). Her research interests lie in genre-based writing instruction and computer applications in ELT.

Growing up as an athlete, Tina Hung-yu Chen was privileged to experience different cultures and meet people from diverse backgrounds. This journey led her to obtain a B.A. in Journalism and an M.Ed with a concentration in TESOL in America. Over the past 23 years, she worked as a reporter, coach, school teacher, and tutor. Eventually, she ran restaurants for Panda Express and owned a consulting business. With these experiences, she integrates multiple disciplines into curriculum development, instructional design, and student assessment. Incorporating technology, she’s committed to creating engaging and inclusive learning environments that foster critical thinking and creativity.

Natural Language Processing (or NLP) is the subfield of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that aims to understand and produce human language. Together with other general AI methods, it forms the basis of many modern technology-based approaches to learning and assessment, involving tasks such as automatic content generation, grammar checking and automated scoring.

Until now, most of these solutions have been based on feature-based models, where AI experts define the most relevant aspects of the input that the model will use to make its predictions. However, the emergence of more powerful “deep learning” methods has allowed the machine to identify these features automatically, greatly improving the quality of its output. Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are a prime example of this, showing great potential in educational domains without requiring technical expertise. When given a carefully designed set of instructions in human language, machines can now hold coherent conversations, assess our use of language and even provide personalised feedback.

This talk will show how all these models have been used for learning and assessment, compare their pros and cons, and explore how the newest developments could help shape the future of assessment. As an example, we will show how the British Council is harnessing the power of these technologies for the development of innovative products.

Mariano Felice is a Senior Researcher and Data Scientist for Language Assessment and Learning at the British Council. His work involves looking at how artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) can be used to improve learning and testing, from mining datasets and building models to supporting colleagues in the adoption of new technology. Mariano is also a Visiting Researcher at the University of Cambridge, where he completed his PhD in Computer Science and worked as a Research Associate before joining the British Council. Mariano has worked extensively on NLP for language learning and assessment and has published many scientific papers in top-tier NLP conferences.

The evolution of traditional literacy practices towards embracing multiliteracies has emerged as a focal point of scholarly inquiry in recent years, largely driven by the desire to investigate the potential for learners to engage in various modalities for expressing enriched communicative intent. Although digital technology advancements have significantly contributed to the proliferation of multimodal approaches, the integration of these tools has posed challenges to educational adaptation, especially in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL), due to the fragmented and receptive limitations inherent in conventional literacy instruction. This presentation will introduce multimodal projects that employed emergent technologies, wherein students created promotional content to assess the impact on their multiliteracy development. These studies involved advanced undergraduate students enrolled in a one-semester Multimedia English course at a university in Central Taiwan. The results revealed that students actively promoted their culture to a target foreign audience, utilizing their target language while taking ownership of their learning objectives through the affordances offered by digital technologies. The pedagogical implications for language educators will be discussed, highlighting how the integration of multimodal approaches can foster the cultivation of multiliteracies in learners.

Hui-Chin Yeh is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at National Yunlin University of Science and Technology. Her research interests center on EFL teacher education, computer-assisted language learning, and EFL multiliteracies. She published more than 50 SSCI-indexed papers. She received 2011, 2017, 2020, and 2022 distinguished young scholar awards from the National Science & Technology Council, a 2021 service excellence award, a 2016 Yunduo award in teaching and mentoring, a 2014 research excellence award, and a 2011 excellent mentor award from her university. Her “Multimedia English” course has been certified as a quality e-learning course form the Ministry of Education in Taiwan. In addition, in recognition of several different language systems developed and 5 patent achievements were honored with the TWPatentDB. She hopes her efforts in different aspects can make contributions to academia.

As the bilingual policy unfolds, the adoption of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) for various academic disciplines has become a practice that each university is trying to achieve in Taiwan. EMI programs exert a significant influence, not only on university instructors who are encouraged to teach in English, a foreign language, but also on students who are encouraged to enroll in EMI courses. This shift to teaching and learning in an EMI classroom presents challenges for both instructors and learners.

To address these challenges, Fulbright Taiwan, the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange (FSE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MOE), has established EMI Support Teams. Each team is composed of two EMI advisors and two English teaching assistants from the English Teaching Flagship (ETF) Program, serving five universities for EMI professional development. The primary objectives of the EMI Support Teams are to enhance the quality and environment of EMI instruction and to foster English language learning on the campuses.

This presentation will provide an overview of the professional development implemented by the EMI Support Teams at the five universities. The professional development targets professors, teaching assistants, and students and the details of the contents are presented. Additionally, we will present a preliminary analysis of the participants’ engagement in the professional development activities. Finally, we will discuss plans for future professional development implementations.

Elayna Ah Puck, a Hawai’i, USA native, is a second year Fulbright EMI Advisor at National Sun Yat-Sen University (2023-24) and National Central University (2022-23). She brings 10 years of international teaching experience from 7 different countries (USA, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Egypt, Taiwan) and has taught a diverse range of ages and learners. Elayna has hosted many EMI-related workshops for faculty, staff, teaching assistants, and students, as well as observations, consultations, and teacher communities for EMI instructors. Adjacent to EMI, Elayna also conducts nation-wide English teacher training in Taiwan, supporting both local and foreign teachers from the kindergarten to the junior high grade level.

Sarah Thomas is a second-year ETF Fellow in Taiwan. She received a bachelor’s in Psychology and a master’s in Teaching from the University of Virginia. She worked as a language consultant and conversation partner and conducted a research study at the University’s Social Emotional Development Lab looking at collective versus targeted consequences in a classroom context. After graduating, Sarah worked as a Special Education teacher (2020-2022). She then received a grant to teach English in Changhua County, Taiwan (2022-2023) and volunteered with a non-profit, MyCultureConnect. This year, Sarah works at National Sun Yat-Sen University to help support EMI efforts by hosting workshops, leading trainings, providing consultation services, and advising student-led initiatives.

A global phenomenon, English Medium Instruction (EMI) has fast become a critical feature in all levels of education (Dearden, 2015; Macaro et al., 2018). As EMI has figured prominently in several national language policies, higher education in East Asian countries is “ripe for a discourse on EMI” (Walkinshaw et al., 2017, p.2). In 2018, Taiwan announced the Bilingual 2030 initiative, aiming for a gradual increase of EMI classes in universities. Because the majority of instructors have had little or no experience in adopting EMI, there is an urgency to develop training programs in response to the mandate.

The presentation focuses on microteaching in a multi-tier EMI professional development program by a university in Taiwan. A training scheme for practice teaching skills, microteaching has been adapted to fit in various contexts (Hama & Osam, 2021). In this program microteaching was adopted and modified to meet multiple objectives simultaneously. To hone teaching skills, a U.S.-based teacher trainer, in collaboration with experienced instructors from the university, observed and provided feedback on the practice teaching of four instructors weekly over ten weeks. An additional objective to cultivate a learning community was accomplished through regular attendance at the weekly session by non-presenting participants who served as students, observed teaching, and joined discussions. This inclusive system of hands-on practice, peer observation, regular reflection was carefully fostered to achieve the third objective: nurturing homegrown trainers for future cohorts.

Three presenters will discuss their respective involvement in the microteaching program. The presentation will share the design, recruiting, and implementation stages of the program. Presenters will describe how they tackled challenges of the virtual microteaching model on the existing academic culture. Attendees will walk away with recommendations for an effective EMI training model for higher education in Taiwan.

Carolyn Ho is a professor of English for Speakers of Other Languages at Lone Star College-CyFair in Houston, Texas. She holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and was a certificated CELTA trainer. A former Fulbright Scholar in TEFL, she has recently served as Fulbright Specialist and English Language Specialist, providing training and consultation in EMI and CLIL for K-16 educators in Taiwan.

Shu-chen Ou holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics. She is currently a professor and is serving as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at NSYSU. Her specialties include linguistics, second language acquisition and language use in EMI.

Tong-yu Hsieh holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. He is currently an associate professor and is serving as the Associate Vice President of the Office of Academic Affairs at NSYSU. His specialties include VLSI design and testing. He has been awarded EMI PD certificates, and also offers several EMI courses.

This presentation elaborates on the course transformation from an English for General Purposes (EGP) course into an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course, considering the crucial aspect of a needs analysis of English-medium instruction (EMI) teachers. The process involves tailoring the curriculum, content, and teaching methods to meet the specialized language needs of university students. First, the content should be customized by selecting authentic materials that are directly related to the learners’ field, such as industry-specific articles, reports, case studies, and videos. The language skills should also be aligned with the learning outcomes and specified with the areas of language use, such as participating in discussions, reading specialized texts, and writing reports or emails. Second, the course should be restructured to integrate authentic, job-related tasks that require learners to apply language skills to real-life scenarios. Third, the course assessments are suggested to mimic the tasks students will encounter in their future EMI courses, such as oral presentations, simulations, and writing assignments. The instructors were also advised to provide constructive feedback that focuses on both linguistic accuracy and effectiveness in communicating within their profession. Lastly, the ESP course design could consider utilizing technology tools and platforms to enhance the learning experience. The transition from EGP to ESP courses emerges as a judicious response to university students’ linguistic demands in specialized domains. The confluence of relevance, efficiency, enriched communication, and precise vocabulary equips students with language proficiencies that are not only immediately practical but also pivotal in realizing their professional aspirations.

Yu-Ting Kao is an Associate Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Cheng Kung University. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the Pennsylvania State University, Stage College, U.S.A. Her research focuses on language testing and assessment, bilingual education, curriculum design and instruction, and teacher preparation. Recently, she has been involved in collaborative projects for EMI professional development in higher education in Taiwan.

Yi-Ping Huang is an associate professor in the Department of English at National Chengchi University. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Indiana University, Bloomington, U.S.A. Her research interests concern qualitative explorations of English-medium instruction (EMI) and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), with a particular focus on pedagogy, curriculum, teacher identity, and teacher agency. She was the editor-in-chief of the Taiwan Journal of TESOL and has participated in collaborative projects in bilingual education in Taiwan.

In today’s globalized educational landscape, English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) is becoming increasingly prevalent. To provide students with comprehensible instruction and quality learning support, it’s essential to enhance the efficacy and effectiveness of EMI teachers through teacher professional development (PD) programs. This presentation showcases the outcomes of the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools aimed at fortifying EMI teacher professional development and fostering student engagement as part of a nationwide EMI PD program for university faculty in Taiwan.

In this presentation, we emphasize the diverse benefits of AI and ICT tools in the context of EMI PD programs as well as EMI instruction. We outline the innovative strategies to tailor personalized learning experiences for EMI teachers. Through the strategic utilization of technology, the teacher participants were engaged in immersive, interactive environments that promoted reflective practice and fostered instructional dynamism. The preliminary results offer evidence of the transformative potential of AI and ICT tools. These findings indicate improvements not only in the pedagogical skills of EMI instructors but also in their awareness of language nuances, a vital aspect of effective content delivery in an EMI setting.

In conclusion, the strategic integration of AI and ICT tools into the EMI teacher professional development framework represents a promising trajectory. Their utilization offers tangible prospects for elevating the competencies of EMI instructors, enriching the educational experience for students, and transforming the landscape of EMI teaching. This innovative PD approach empowers EMI educators to create more interactive, adaptive, and effective learning environments.

Lu-Chun Lin is an Associate Professor in the Graduate Institute of TESOL at NYCU, Taiwan, and serves as the Director of the Center of Higher Education Accreditation for Teaching (HEAT). In 2020, she was awarded an HEA Senior Fellowship through U.K. Advance HE in recognition of her successful coordination, support, and mentoring of colleagues in teaching and learning. Additionally, she has served as the Co-PI in several Ministry of Education Bilingual and EMI teacher development projects. Her research centers on bilingual language development, EFL/EMI/bilingual teacher education, and professional development. Dr. Lin received the 2016 Outstanding Young Scholar Award from the Ministry of Science and Technology and is a three-time recipient of the NCTU Outstanding Teaching Awards (2011, 2012, and 2018) and the Graduate Mentor Award in 2010.

Shin-Mei Kao is a full professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). Currently she serves as the Dean of the Liberal Arts College of NCKU and has served as the Co-PI in several Ministry of Education Bilingual and EMI teacher development projects. Her research interests include discourse analysis, language assessment, course design, and material development. She is involved in building the NCKU EMI corpus, which contains EMI classroom data across disciplines. She is the co-editor of Exploring CLIL: A Resource Book, and English as a Medium of Instruction in Higher Education: Implementation and Classroom Practice in Taiwan.

Led by the central government’s 2030 Bilingual Policy, higher education institutes (HEIs) in Taiwan have experienced a drastic change from CMI (Chinese as a medium of Instruction) to EMI (English as a medium of Instruction). Although various universities had initiated EMI before the above-mentioned policy to establish a more internationalised campus and to attract international students, the impact of the ‘Program on Bilingual Education for Students in College, (BEST Program)’ on HEIs is vast. While implementing the BEST program, most HEIs encountered a crucial issue: a lack of competent EMI lecturers. Therefore, five resource centres are funded by the Ministry of Education to offer professional development for lecturers across Taiwan. The National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) is one of the four campus-wide ‘focused development’ universities. In 2022, the Resources Center for EMI (RCEMI) was set up to be a hub for other partner universities.

Among various tasks, the most significant is preparing lecturers for EMI across universities. This presentation will explicate the design of EMI professional development offered by RCEMI, NTNU. Based on the original four-phase certification model, more detailed training content will be explained together with hidden rationales. RCEMI attempts to develop a local PD training model with authentic Taiwanese EMI examples.

Tzu-Bin Lin has extensive academic work experience, especially in diverse cultural settings and high-level leadership positions. He works in the Department of Education and serves the role as the Vice President for Teacher Education at the National Taiwan Normal University. In the past seven years, he served in various leadership positions, including the associate vice president for Academic Affairs, head of the Center for Teaching and Learning Development (CTLD), deputy director of the Office of Bilingual Education (OBE) and the Ministry of Education Funded Resource Center for EMI, deputy head of the Department of Education and head of the Practicum Office at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). Before starting at NTNU, he worked at Bournemouth University UK and the National Institute of Education (NIE), Singapore. In 2018 and 2019, Prof. Lin was a visiting professor at the Faculty of Education, Kyushu University, Japan. Also, He was an adjunct professor at the Education University Hong Kong (2021 to 2023). In 2023, He became an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Education, University College London. His research interests include education policy and leadership, bilingual education and EMI, media literacy, comparative education, and multicultural education.