This book provides critical insights into the English-medium instruction (EMI) experiences which have been implemented at a number of universities in countries such as China, Finland, Israel, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and the USA, which are characterised by differing political, cultural and sociolinguistic situations. In particular, it reflects on the consequences of implementing EMI as an attempt to gain visibility and as a strategy in response to the need to become competitive in both national and international markets. The pitfalls and challenges specific to each setting are analysed, and the pedagogical issues and methodological implications that arise from the implementation of these programmes are also discussed. This volume will serve to advance our awareness about the strategies and tools needed to improve EMI at tertiary level.

This book received the XV Research Award of the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics (XV Premio de Investigacion de la Asociacion Espanola de Lingueistica Aplicada) 2012. The present volume bears witness to the Europewide character of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) enterprise by featuring contributions from researchers and teacher-educators from a range of European countries spanning the geographical expanse of the continent from east (Estonia) to west (United Kingdom) and from north (Finland) to south (Spain, Italy). More importantly, the different national contexts are characterised by diverse cultural stances and policies vis-a-vis second and foreign language learning in general and learning specific languages in particular and it is evident that such contextual factors impinge on what are identified as central concerns both in CLIL implementation and research.