Internationalisation and English medium education in Vietnamese universities: Professional role transformation among English language lecturers

This paper investigates an emerging professional role transformation in Vietnamese universities, whereby English language teaching (ELT) lecturers transform themselves into English medium instruction (EMI) lecturers in a discipline new to them. Through interviews with five ELT/EMI lecturers working in separate universities and different disciplines, the study investigates reasons for their decision to engage in such professional mobility, their role transformation experience, and its implications for educational quality. We argue that participants’ move into EMI was shaped by the strategic imperative for higher education internationalisation, and the mistaken belief that EMI alone can achieve the English language development students require for academic success. It is also argued that the transformation option made available to the participants was not the best use of their skills, and that a profound change of perspective is needed at the institutional level to most effectively use the strengths of ELT lecturers to support educational quality.