EMI 政策中的教師代理：不同的案例研究

Abstract

本研究探討在阿拉伯聯合大公國的一所大學與在卡達的一所大學，全英語授課（EMI）政策中的教師能動性（Teacher Agency）。該兩所大學採取不同的全英語授課政策。為瞭解兩所大學的教師行使或忽略其能動性的情形，本研究採用定性研究方法，針對多項全英語授課課程相關議題進行探討。本研究收集了阿拉伯聯合大公國與卡達兩地的教育部(Ministry of Education, MOE)及上述兩所大學對全英語授課政策的官方文件，並訪談了24位學科教師；透過官方文件和訪談資料的多重檢核（triangulate），以確保研究結果的可信度並防止偏差。研究結果呈現，兩所大學的學科教師對其學校的全英語授課政策有不同的理解與實行方式。經對照不同的教師能動性架構，本研究發現有些屬於教師全心全意執行全英語授課政策者、有些教師則藉由同時使用英語與學生母語（阿拉伯語）來順應全英語授課政策、而有些教師乃竭盡所能推動全英語授課政策，甚至遠超政策要求地設法確保學生成功完成全英語授課課程；但兩校都沒有教師表現出抗拒全英語授課政策的跡象。研究發現顯示，在阿拉伯聯合大公國的大學，中觀層級人員要求學科教師嚴格遵守既定的全英語授課政策；而卡達的大學，其管理層對授課教師採取自由放任的方式；但兩個大學的授課教師都被排除在此類政策的規劃和發展之外。這兩種中觀層級的政策實施方式，似乎都無法有效地幫助學生透過英語進行學科知識的學習。本研究之重要性在於其發現支持先前研究的呼籲─中觀層級的行動者應讓微觀層級的人一同參與討論課程相關議題，並將他們視為積極的合作夥伴，而不是成為去脈絡化現成政策的被動接受者。The current study explored teacher agency in English as the medium of instruction (EMI) policies at two different universities in the UAE and Qatar. The two universities had different policies regarding their EMI programs. Several course-related issues were examined to check the extent to which content teachers at both universities exercised or ignored their agency. A qualitative approach was used for the current study. Official documents analysis on EMI policies, from both MOEs and the two tertiary education institutes in both the UAE and Qatar, and 24 individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data from the two sources were triangulated to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings and prevent biases.Results demonstrate that content instructors at the two universities had varying interpretations and implementation of their institute’s EMI policies. The current study’s findings regarding teacher agency were matched against different frameworks of teacher agency. There were instances of wholehearted implementation of the EMI policy, instances of accommodation of the EMI policy, where content teachers used both English and students’ L1, Arabic in this case, and instances of dedication to the EMI policy, where teachers had gone above and beyond to ensure their students successfully complete their EMI courses. However, there was no sign of resisting the EMI policy at either institute.The findings show that the meso-level at the UAE institute requires content teachers to strictly adhere to the established EMI policy, whereas management at the Qatar institute follows a laisser-faire manner with content teachers. Neither policy seemed effective in facilitating students' content learning through English. Content teachers at both institutes were excluded from the planning and development of such policies. This study is significant because it supports calls from previous research for meso-level actors to engage micro-level people in their program-related issues and treat them as active partners rather than passive recipients of out-of-context ready-made policies.