Analyzing EMI Lecturer Perceptions About the Self

Abstract

English-medium instruction (EMI) programmes are increasingly implemented in areas in which English is not an official language, hence lecturers have been required to teach in English. This new scenario can impact lecturers' identities and self-concepts, i.e., abstract, complex, and fluid constructs that refer to ideas about the self. While identity refers to the knowledge of who we are, self-concept refers to the evaluation that a person makes of oneself. This chapter focuses on the study of how two EMI lecturers (re)construct and (re)negotiate their professional identities and self-concepts through self-reported experiences by means of content analysis. This chapter reveals the differences in EMI lectures' identities and self-concepts by comparing their different backgrounds, experiences, emotions, and beliefs. Overall, it shows how self-beliefs about one's own linguistic knowledge/abilities are even more important than actual language proficiency and that identity and self-concept are overlapping constructs that cannot be separated.