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Reframing EMI

From policy gaps to professionalisation and institutional transformation

 | University of Oxford
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Oxford.

Published online: 23 March 2026
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jemi.00012.aki
Abstract
[This keynote paper was presented at the International Multidisciplinary Conference on English as a Catalyst for Knowledge Transfer and Collaboration in European University Alliances, organised by AGH University of Kraków on 11–12 September 2025.]
This paper should be seen as a response to persistent fragmentation in English-medium instruction (EMI) policy, pedagogy, and scholarship. Rather than adding to the field’s growing “research noise”, it advances a solution oriented paradigm (SoP) grounded in a political — normative argument: EMI must be theorised and professionalised as an institutional practice rather than reduced to a linguistic or methodological problem. Anchored in critical social theory and sociocultural theory, and coordinated through an integrative program of epistemic coordination, the paper reframes EMI as a political choice, a culturally embedded practice, and an accountable professional domain. I argue that EMI quality can only be understood as alignment between policy, pedagogy, and student learning outcomes, and illustrate how this alignment can be operationalised through the EMI professionalisation framework (EMI ProF). Written in a keynote register adapted to journal convention, this paper aims to speak with, not just to, international EMI stakeholders, calling for collaboration, innovation, and transformation as necessary conditions for sustainable, equitable, and learning centred EMI futures.
Article outline
  • Introduction: Reframing the EMI university
  • From policy to practice: The gap and the paradigm
  • EMI as a political-theoretical project
  • Definitions and the scope of EMI
  • From orthodoxy to noise: Why EMI needs a paradigm shift
  • From cosmetic policies to accountable quality
  • Collaboration that counts: Beyond quick fixes
  • EMI professionalisation: A paradigm shift
  • The EMI ProF: A framework for professionalisation
  • The future of EMI: From fragmentation to professionalisation
  • Notes
  • References
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