
Howard BrownUniversity of Niigata Prefecture · Department of International Studies and Regional Development
Howard Brown
Doctor of Philosophy
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59
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Publications (59)
English-medium instruction (EMI) has become an important feature of higher education in Japan, driven in part by encouragement and tangible support from the government. However, the implementation of EMI has been criticized for a lack of integration and diffusion, leading to concerns about its long-term sustainability as funding for programs comes...
As English-medium instruction (EMI) programs at universities in Japan have grown and developed over the past 20 years, the approach to recruiting faculty members to teach classes in English has evolved. This project investigates that evolution, drawing on data covering more than 165,000 jobs advertised on the JREC-IN Portal since 2002. The data sho...
The need to support those teaching in English-medium instruction (EMI) classrooms is becoming increasingly acknowledged, and faculty professional development (PD) is recognised as an important element of that support. This study, a replication and localisation of an international study by Macaro et al. (2020. “English Medium Instruction in Higher E...
Read the full text here: https://www.cshe.nagoya-u.ac.jp/publications/journal/no22/04.pdf As English-medium instruction (EMI) takes on a more important role in higher education in Japan, there are ongoing concerns that faculty members lack the support they need to effectively teach in what may be their own or their students’ second language. In a r...
The number of degree programs and courses taught in English at Japanese universities has increased considerably over the past ten years. However, there are concerns about the sustainability of such programming. With government-supported initiatives ending, universities must now reflect on lessons learned and adapt accordingly. For English-medium in...
This study addresses the language-related difficulties experienced by foreign faculty members working at Japanese universities and their need for Japanese-language training. In order to develop a Japanese-language training curriculum, we conducted a needs analysis based on interview data from prospective course participants. Results of the needs an...
Using Dafouz & Smit’s (2016) ROAD-MAPPING framework as a guide, we conducted a systematic review of public-facing documents and highlight how Japanese universities market English-medium education (EME) programmes to their prospective students
English-medium instruction (EMI) is a growing trend in Japan, and one common challenge of EMI implementation is providing adequate language-proficiency preparation for students, including the development of general and academic vocabulary. This study used a corpus of approximately 500,000 words taken from reading texts used in EMI courses at one un...
Preservice training for secondary-school teachers in Japan has been criticized as inconsistent and ineffective and is seen to have little influence on their teaching repertoire. Early career teachers tend to be more strongly influenced by their experiences as students and their observation of senior teachers. However, they lack training in how to e...
The number of universities offering English-medium instruction (EMI) programs is growing steadily in Japan. As of 2015, more than 40% of Japanese universities had some kind of EMI program. While some of these programs are designed for incoming international students, the majority are implemented as part of a nationwide internationalization at home...
English-medium instruction (EMI) is a growing trend in Japan, and one common challenge of EMI
implementation is providing adequate language-proficiency preparation for students, including
the development of general and academic vocabulary. This study used a corpus of approximately
500,000 words taken from reading texts used in EMI courses at one un...
Preservice training for secondary-school teachers in Japan has been criticized as inconsistent
and ineffective and is seen to have little influence on their teaching repertoire. Early career
teachers tend to be more strongly influenced by their experiences as students and their
observation of senior teachers. However, they lack training in how to e...
English-medium instruction (EMI) is a growing trend in Japan but it is not entirely new. This paper surveys the history of EMI in Japan to provide insight into the current context. In the Meiji era, as Japan was establishing its first higher education institutions, EMI was the norm, with most university posts occupied by foreign academics. By the e...
http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/8324/
English-medium instruction (EMI) is a growing trend in higher education around the world. In Japan, EMI has recently expanded dramatically and over one-third of Japanese universities now have EMI programs serving both international and domestic students. Amid this rapid growth, much of the EMI development has been...
As English-medium instruction expands in the higher education sector in Japan, stakeholders are experiencing frustration. However, these are not new problems; we have seen these roadblocks before in the implementation of information technology in the 1990s.
As English-medium instruction expands in the higher education sector in Japan, stakeholders are experiencing frustration. However, these are not new problems; we have seen these roadblocks before in the implementation of information technology in the 1990s.
This book examines English-medium instruction (EMI) in Japanese higher education, situating it within Japan’s current policy context and examining the experiences of its stakeholders. Scholars and practitioners look at EMI from perspectives that include policy planning, program design, marketing and classroom practice.
The book is organized into si...
This book examines English-medium instruction (EMI) in Japanese higher education, locating EMI within Japan’s current policy context and examining the experiences of its stakeholders. The chapters are written by scholars and practitioners who have direct involvement with EMI in Japanese higher education. They look at EMI from the perspectives of po...
Around the world, the role of English in higher education is changing. Rather than just an object of study, English is now often the language of instruction. In Japan, universities are currently adopting content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English-medium instruction (EMI), alongside longstanding content-based instruction (CBI) appro...
English-medium instruction (EMI) of content classes is growing in Japan with nearly 1/3 of all universities currently offering some undergraduate EMI. These programs are developing in response to both national-level drives to internationalize higher education and local contextual factors motivating individual universities. This exploratory study se...
As Japan internationalizes its higher education sector, over 1/3 of Japanese universities offer undergraduate classes conducted in English. Often, these English-medium Instruction (EMI) programs are taught by Japanese faculty, primarily for domestic students. While the classroom language is English, implying some adoption of western pedagogy, the c...
English-medium instruction (EMI) of content courses is a growing trend in higher education in Japan. As of 2013, over 1/3 of Japanese universities offered EMI courses, mainly in humanities and social sciences, and this number has been steadily growing over the past 15 years. The timing of the growth in EMI can be tied to shifts in how international...
With the rise of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English-medium Instruction (EMI), the position of English in Japan is changing and students and teachers are engaging with English in new ways. However, a shared understanding of goals and outcomes for these approaches has yet to emerge. The presenters draw on the wide literature...
Over one-third of Japanese universities offer undergraduate content classes taught in English. These classes are often designed for domestic students and serve less than 10% of the student body in most cases. Generally, these classes do not form full-degree programs taught in English; rather, most English-medium Instruction (EMI) programs are a par...
Brown, H. (2016). Current trends in English-medium instruction at universities in Japan. OnCue Journal, 10(1) 3-20.
English-medium Instruction (EMI) of academic subjects is expanding rapidly at universities in Japan without a clear nationwide picture of the context. This study paints such a picture with findings from a nationwide survey of 258 univ...
CLIL is relatively new in Japan but growing in popularity, particularly in English language-learning contexts. Recent government figures show that as many as one third of all universities offer classes that may be considered CLIL. CLIL is being adopted both by individual teachers and in department or campus-wide programs. Teachers and administrator...
In Japan, offering English-Medium Instruction (EMI) content classes at university is a growing trend and at least 25% of universities make some English-medium courses available to undergraduates. Currently, there is a great deal of discussion of, and support for, the role of EMI in internationalizing Japanese universities and serving the needs of i...
English-medium content classes are becoming more common on Japanese university campuses. When taught by Japanese faculty, the language of instruction may be English but the classroom culture remains grounded in local academic norms. This has implications for EAP practice at such universities. This study looks at data collected from Japanese faculty...
English-medium instruction (EMI) of content classes at Japanese universities is growing; approximately 1/4 of universities offer undergraduate EMI classes, often in the humanities and social sciences. However, with individual programs developing to suit local needs and contexts, there is no overall picture of EMI and no clear sense of the direction...
The number of institutions offering English-medium content classes is growing in Japan. According to MEXT, as of 2006 at least 194 universities offer some undergraduate EMI courses, often in humanities and social sciences. However, individual EMI programs are developing to suit local needs and contexts. Currently there is no overall picture of the...
This study focuses on learner reactions to a discussion project based on student-generated materials (SGM). SGM are linked to authenticity, investment in learning, motivation, and posi-tive learning outcomes. However, SGM may represent a new and daunting experience for students unaccustomed to participatory learning. This study examines the reactio...
This study focuses on learner reactions to a discussion project based on student-generated materials (SGM). SGM are linked to authenticity, investment in learning, motivation, and positive learning outcomes. However, SGM may represent a new and daunting experience for students unaccustomed to participatory learning. This study examines the reaction...
This study reports on the steering of a self-access learning center (SALC) in a Japanese university by its “middle management” (Busher & Harris, 1999: 305) committee over the first years of its operation. Middle management practice was informed by an ethnographic archive of various facets of center use, particularly concerning language policy and c...
This paper outlines a proposed two-level perspective on EAP syllabus design in contexts where content courses are taught in English by local faculty. In English for Local Academic Purposes (ELAP), teachers should understand the academic norms of their local context to meet the needs of students studying in English-medium classes. In English for Spe...
This study has traced the growth of a new facility intended to promote independent language study in a Japanese university. The study traces this Self Access Learning Center (SALC) from its inception through the first two years of its development. It has revealed how key qualitative insights from an archive of semistructured interviews, conversatio...
This study has illustrated how a long-term ethnographic approach of archiving data and profiling its key participants represents an effective means of revealing perceptions of a new Self-Access Learning Center (SALC) within a university in Japan. This on-going process of conducting qualitative interviews and conversational narratives with center st...
This paper examines a year in the development of a Self Access Learning Center (SALC) at a small public university in Northern Japan. The SALC was established to support language learning as part of the institution's transition from a two-year junior college to a four-year university and as a recently-added part of the university community, its ide...
This case study re-envisions the objectives of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program as taught by expatriate staff in a Japanese university. EAP courses in Japan often assume students will study in English speaking countries and prepare them for a western academic experience. However, increasingly English medium content courses are offered...
As English medium content courses are increasing at Japanese universities, institutions struggle with how to best support content specialist faculty members who are required to teach content courses to L2 learners. This paper describes the early stages of a Teaching Lab that was established at small university in response to that situation. The Tea...
Bilingual education has a long, well studied history. Content education delivered in a learner’s second language shows clear benefits in the development of both the first and second languages as well as improvements in content learning and cognitive development. If, however, a bilingual education program is not well implemented, these benefits are...
This study has shown how stakeholders of a new Self Access Learning Center (SALC) co-construct views about the center’s development though conversational narratives. Conversational narratives are a means in this study to provide important insights into SALC’s growth and also represent sites of valuable social practice to strengthen collegiality amo...
In Japan, English classes are generally conducted in Japanese. This leads to a perception of English as a subject of study rather than a means of communication. In recent years, a great deal of research has been aimed at increasing the use of English by Japanese English teachers. But other members of the school faculty are also appropriate language...
Students in Japan are regularly exposed to subtextual messages about English and language learning both in school and in the popular media. Many of the role models in these contexts may not be a positive influence on learners’ attitudes towards English. The idea that English is remote, difficult, and irrelevant can be reinforced by the behavior and...
In EFL classes around the world, critical thinking is becoming more of a central theme and it is a goal of many language programs. This is
especially true in the popular field of global issues. A quick survey of any major publisher’s catalogue will show a number of titles dedicated
to developing English skills while learning about global issues. Th...
Due to differences in the syllable systems of Japanese and English, Japanese EFL learners often exhibit a distinctive accent due to the addition of vowel sounds creating extra syllables in English words. With its focus on the number of syllables used, formal haiku is a potential resource for consciousness raising activities aimed at reducing this a...
Interactional competence is a set of skills needed to manage the flow of a conversation. Managing the flow of a conversation can be a complicated and daunting task for EFL learners. Their deficiencies in this area may come about as a result of sociopsychological factors, deficits in sociocultural understanding or from a lack of appropriate linguist...