On 14-16 May, UM’s Centre for English Language Proficiency (CELP) provided training to 16 academics from eight . This training focused on the use of English for instructional purposes in a university setting.
English is the medium some universities around the world are introducing within existing academic conventions while preparing their national and international students for the contemporary professional and working world.
The Staff Week held at the University of Malta was designed to raise awareness of what is core to such approaches as ‘English Medium Instruction’, ‘English for Academic Purposes’, and ‘English for Specific Purposes’.
The workshops forming part of this Staff Week introduced lecturers to foundational intercultural principles, which were then applied to genre and discourse modes, assessment, dialogic and constructive feedback, and spoken delivery in a range of academic scenarios.
These workshops were organised in the form of input and practice sessions that allowed the visiting academics to start from key principles of academic literacy and move on to practising in a supportive environment.
The workshops were facilitated by Prof. Odette Vassallo, Dr Daniel Xerri and Ms Jeanette Theuma. The Staff Week was opened with some words of welcome by Prof. Godfrey Baldacchino, who is leading the task related to multilingualism within SEA-EU. The event was also ably supported by UM’s SEA-EU Office.
