Exploring Universal Instructional Design in English-Medium Instruction Programming in Japan: Innovating for the Future of Internationalization/Interculturalization in Higher Education

• In Event: Transitional and Mobility of Students

Proposal

OBJECTIVES & PURPOSES:
The burgeoning growth of higher education in non-Western and developing (largely non-Anglophone) countries today portends an incipient disruption of heretofore established global hierarchies and flows of study abroad students moving forward (Deardorff et al., 2012). With the potential to facilitate more diverse forms of globalization than currently exist, the success of higher education internationalization in these countries is pivotal for the creation of a more equitable world. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the complexities of teaching and learning in these environments where English proficiency acts as a gatekeeper for international/intercultural experiences. Even if students are able to enter into the increasingly popular English-medium instruction (EMI) programs in these countries, it is a challenge for teachers to provide lessons that are simultaneously inclusive of students with a wide range of English-language proficiency (Rose & McKinley, 2018). Therefore, there is a need for innovations in instructional practices that can respond to this challenge in order to foster better academic and socio-cultural outcomes by helping all students to be integrated within the same learning community. One underexplored resource for this endeavor is Universal Instructional Design (UID), which can guide teacher practices in EMI courses to help overcome language inequalities.

The study presented in this paper was conducted in 2022 to explore student experiences with some UID practices in one EMI undergraduate program in Japan. Specifically, the study looks at the complementary use of live subtitling and transcription software. The results show that students of varying levels of English-language proficiency (e.g. low, intermediate, advanced) reported that these practices were useful for their academic success and integration with other students in the multicultural/multilingual learning community. The discussion section of this paper expands its scope to examine how UID practices such as those in this study can help facilitate intercultural learning and better academic outcomes for students in EMI programs to support Internationalization of the Curriculum (IoC) (Leask, 2015) and Internationalization at Home (IaH) (Knight, 2006). Extending this conversation, the paper explores how such practices could be applied in Anglophone countries as well. Such insights and discussion are particularly important to the CIES 2023 conference theme of improving education for a more equitable world as institutions globally are increasingly placing focus on global citizenship education (Clifford & Montgomery, 2017) and there have been rising calls for a shift towards more critical higher education internationalization (Vavrus & Pekol, 2015) that contributes to society for the good of the global community (Brandenburg et al., 2020).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:
Originally deriving from disabilities studies, Universal Instructional Design (UID) is based on a fundamental objective to “expand institutional teaching methodologies so that students with disabilities and all students with diverse learning needs have equal access to classroom teaching and learning” (ibid, p.106). In this study, the concept is applied to the use of live slide subtitling and transcription software to manage diverse linguistic learning needs of students with varying English-language proficiency. The results of the study are subsequently considered in terms of their potential to address multiple dimensions of the Internationalization of the Curriculum (IoC) as defined by Leask (2015), who describes it as: “the incorporation of international, intercultural and/or global dimensions into the content of the curriculum as well as the learning outcomes, assessment tasks, teaching methods and support services of a program of study” (p.9). In particular, this paper argues that UID that supports IoC can facilitate Internationalization at Home (IaH), defined by Knight (2006) as the development of students’ international understanding and intercultural skills.

DATA SOURCES & METHODS:
This study was conducted at one semi-elite private university in Japan, renowned for its internationalization efforts and success with EMI programming development to support these efforts. Live slide subtitling (a function of Microsoft Office Powerpoint) and transcription software (Otter.ai) were utilized in lectures for four different undergraduate courses at three different levels along the academic pathway of courses (introductory, intermediate, advanced). Of the 82 students attending these courses, 10 students with a range of English-language proficiency (low, intermediate, advanced) volunteered to share their experiences with this novel teaching method. Data sourced from these students was gathered in semi-structured interviews with a focus on identifying how the students engaged with these methods and their impressions of the usefulness of the methods. This qualitative data was analyzed using MAXQDA software by way of multiple coding cycles.

RESULTS/FINDINGS:
The study results indicate that live slide subtitling and transcription software are useful for students at multiple points along the spectrum of English-language proficiency (i.e. low, intermediate, advanced) because (domestic and international) students used these tools in distinct ways to suit their own particular learning needs. The study also finds that there were both academic (e.g. easier participation in class activities) and socio-cultural (e.g. more interactions and intercultural learning with class peers) beneficial outcomes for students that resulted from the use of these tools. In particular, it is shown that these tools can help bridge language inequalities, as well as facilitate increased student engagement in class community practices and lead to more integration amongst students of varying backgrounds and English-language proficiency levels. It is from such findings that the paper concludes that these and other UID methods applied in EMI educational environments can support more critical forms of internationalization by helping to foster IoC and IaH to benefit both domestic and international students. Moreover, the author suggests that the insights gained from this study are not only relevant to non-Anglophone countries but Anglophone ones as well, because UID applied in the latter learning environments can promote equity, diversity, and inclusion by offering a way to simultaneously accommodate the needs of a diverse range of learners. At a time of ongoing massification and increases in non-traditional students in higher education, this diversity includes not only international students but also domestic students of diverse backgrounds, all with wide ranges of academic and English-language skills. Therefore, this paper argues that UID applied in Anglophone countries too can be an important pedagogical approach to promote internationalization/interculturalization in these environments.

Author

• Thatcher A. Spero, Waseda University