Training teachers of English as a medium of instruction: The use of metadiscourse devices

Abstract

This paper explores the outcomes of training pragmatics identifying the metadiscourse devices that are used by the content teachers enrolled on a course leading to a university qualification for teaching in English within the context of a Spanish-speaking country. Specifically, I focus on the analysis of the frequencies of the textual and interactional devices used by university lecturers during an online English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) course with the aim of identifying the use of devices and how it could affect in their profession. The method followed involved the analysis of one hundred teaching units. The first step of this analysis was to collect the final projects written during three academic years by EMI university lecturers who were enrolled on an online course at Universitat Politècnica de València. I then identified the frequencies of textual and interactional devices, analysed their functions in the teaching unit and compiled examples. The results were later compared with the pragmatic training received during the training course and I also proposed some guidelines to help EMI teachers improve the use of metadiscourse devices. Finally, conclusions that could be useful for EMI trainers and trainees were drawn.