Feature Article

Localizing EAP in Light of the Riseof English-Medium Instruction at
Japanese Universities

Howard Brown
University of Niigata Prefecture
John Adamson
University of Niigata Prefecture
English-medium content classes are becoming more common on Japanese university
campuses. When taught by Japanese faculty, the language of instruction may be English but
the classroom culture remains grounded in local academic norms. This has implications for
EAP practice at such universities. This study looks at data collected from Japanese faculty
working in an English-medium program in the social sciences. The study examines theirgoals, expectations for student performance and descriptions of classroom practice. Data
analysis shows important implications for change in four areas. EAP teachers preparing
students for work in a local English-medium program in Japan, rather than for study abroad,may need to reconsider their practice including longer-term focus on a single topic, more
one-on-one interaction with students, the addition of translanguaging and a greater focus
on academic skills rather than language. Although findings are limited to our local context,
some resonance may be found in similar Japanese universities offering English-medium
content instruction and EAP courses preparing students for that purpose.
日本の大学において、英語による専門科目の授業が一般的になりつつある。
しかし、日本人教員がそうした授業を担当する場合、使用言語が英語であるにもかかわらず、教室内の文化（カルチャー）は依然としてローカルな学術的規範に基づいている。このことは、学術的目的のための英語（EAP）の授業を展開する大学にとって重要な意味を持っている。本研究は、社会科学の分野で、英語による専門科目の授業を担当する日本人教員からデータを収集

5

Brown & Adamson
し、考察したものであり、授業の目標と予想される学生の成果、そして実際の授業内容について論じる。データ分析の結果、４つの分野において重要な変革の必要性が示唆された。学生の留学準備ではなく、日本国内での英語による専門科目の受講準備を目的とするEAPの教師は、単一のトピックを長期的に扱うこと、一対一による学生指導の増大、トランスランゲージ手法の導入、言語スキルよりアカデミックなスキルに焦点を当てるといった方法を含め、その授業内容を再考する必要があるかも知れない。本研究の知見は一大
学のコンテキストに限られたものであるが、日本で同様に英語による専門科
目の授業やそれらの受講準備を目的としたEAPのコースを提供する大学においては、共通点を見出すことができると思われる。

Around Japan, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes are becoming
more popular on university campuses. Many of these courses serve what can bethought of as a traditional need; preparing students who will study abroad or
use English as part of an international academic career. However, increasingly,
students will not be studying in English at foreign universities, but rather on
their own local campuses in Japan. English-medium instruction (EMI) of
content classes is a growing trend in at Japanese universities and has implications
for preparing students. In this “intrinsic” case study (Stake, 1995, p. 3), we reveal
how we reexamined our own EAP practice in terms of local needs and suggest
some implications based on our findings.

The context of EAP in Japan

Bruce (2011) sees needs analysis as a fundamental first step in EAP curriculum
design and includes location and context as key elements. Following Hutchinson
and Waters (1987), Bruce says that “Where will the language be used?” and“Who will the learners use the language with?” are two of the key questionsin preparing for EAP (Bruce, 2011, p. 39). While many EAP courses in Japan
prepare students for overseas study, more and more, the location and context may
be tied to local use of English. This can be attributed to the fall in the number ofJapanese students studying abroad and the growing popularity of EMI.
Looking at the first of Bruce’s (2011) key questions, location, we see a fall6

Localizing EAP..., OnCUE Journal, 6(3), pages 5-20

in the number of Japanese students who study abroad. The total number fell by
more than 20% between 2000 and 2010. In 2008, a total of 67,000 Japanese
traveled overseas for study (Tanikawa, 2011); however, most were language
students. Since then, interest in studying abroad has rebounded somewhat but
newer trends show more students travelling during high school or for short-term
language programs (ICEF, 2013). The number traveling to study non-language(content) courses abroad fell considerably and has not rebounded due to several
overlapping factors. First, study fees have risen in the west creating an economic
disincentive for Japanese students. Also, language study in Korea and Chinais growing in popularity and competing with western programs (Ford, 2010).
Another factor may be the pressure on students of job hunting which often
leaves little time for study abroad. Also, students may question whether credits
and qualifications earned abroad help job hunting (Koh, 2010). Together, thesetrends imply that fewer Japanese students need EAP for content study abroad.
A second key question in EAP needs analysis is context. In Japan, many
universities now offer EMI classes. A few are entirely English-medium, andmany others offer some courses in English. Government survey results show asof 2006, 46% of universities in Japan (318 schools) have content courses whollyor partially in a foreign language, a dramatic rise from 38% in 2000 (MEXT,
2003, 2008). Looking specifically at EMI, 227 universities (approximately one
third of the total) offer some courses wholly in English (MEXT, 2006), a trend
which is gaining attention nationwide (Hayashibe, 2009; Utagawa, 2011). In
many cases, universities have taken this direction out of a sense of competition
with rival universities (Brown, 2014; Taguchi & Naganuma, 2006), a desire to
improve the public image of the university (Brown, 2014), or on pedagogicalgrounds (Brown, 2014; Harshbarger, Morrell, & Riney, 2011; Sekiya, 2005).
While some EMI courses may be taught by international faculty, MEXT
(2009) urges universities to support Japanese faculty with training anddevelopment of locally produced English-language materials. So if EMI
is offered on a Japanese campus by Japanese faculty for Japanese students,
traditional EAP objectives lose some relevance on those campuses. The languageof instruction will be English, but faculty and student expectations will arise
7

Brown & Adamsonfrom local, Japanese academic culture. In this sense, Canagarajah’s “local normsof relevance” (2005, xxvii) take precedence. While seemly obvious, this has
profound implications for patterns of classroom interaction, learning events,
modes of expression, workload, and other pedagogical issues.
Considering this recent context shift, some re-examination of EAP in Japan
seems appropriate. EAP courses designed assuming students study abroad may
not serve their real needs or those of their institutions. There is a potential
mismatch between preparation in EAP classes and the actual demands of EMI.
Therefore, EAP classes may need redesigning to meet student and faculty needs
on Japanese campuses. This study looks at one such campus to learn more about
what students do in their EMI classes to inform our EAP program decisionmaking.

The Current Study

This case study is based on multimodal qualitative data collected in threestages at a small university in Japan. Formerly a junior college with a strong
English language and culture department, it became a university in 2009.
As part of the transition, the decision was made to teach some social sciences
courses, specifically in the Department of International Studies and Regional
Development, in English. Of 45 faculty members, seven (all non-native speakers
of English, six Japanese, one Chinese) currently offer content courses entirely inEnglish for second- and third-year students. Courses in economics, development
studies, finance, political science and peace studies are offered in English, andseveral more use some English language materials, though they are delivered inJapanese. The English-medium program is, as such, currently developing.
To support students entering these classes, the former English language
and culture department was converted to an EAP program taught by full-time
expatriate language-teaching specialists, with semi-intensive classes (10.5 hours
per week) for first-year students. The program initially focused on English forgeneral academic purposes ( Jordan, 1997) following commercial materials foracademic listening, reading, writing and discussion skills. However, EAP faculty
noticed the materials, and their own assumptions about preparation the students8Localizing EAP..., OnCUE Journal, 6(3), pages 5-20

needed, were not always aligned with EMI realities. Thus, we undertook amultistage project to determine our EAP students’ actual needs by eliciting
insights from key institutional voices at critical junctures in the EMI program
development.
In the first stage of the study, conducted prior to the formation of the EMI
program, the researchers looked into kiso semi classes, the fundamental seminar,a required class for all first-year students taught by Japanese faculty from a varietyof specialties. It is a one-semester class preparing students for the requirementsof university life. Though a Japanese-medium course and not part of the EAP
program, in some ways it parallels EAP classes in that both prepare students foracademic demands. Since kiso semi teachers are Japanese, we considered them
part of the local academic community with insights into student needs andfaculty expectations. We collected data on their insights into what it means to
be a “good student” and expected learning outcomes through written surveys,
follow-up interviews and on-going, informal communications, all of which wereconducted in Japanese or English.
In the second stage, the researchers investigated EMI classes during the firstyear of the program. The university supported EMI faculty with workshops
and support sessions for materials development, a program known as the
Teaching Lab (Iyobe, Brown, & Coulson, 2011), which was part of the Faculty
Development (FD) committee. Workshops and support sessions were facilitatedby expatriate EAP teachers five times during the first year of EMI classes. At
one Teaching Lab workshop, four Japanese EMI teachers participated in apanel discussion (in Japanese) sharing concerns and, importantly for this study,
expectations about students, materials and activities in their classes and initial
impressions of student performance. The audience was other faculty engaged in,or considering, EMI, along with EAP teachers. A video and transcript of thisworkshop, along with informal follow-up, became the basis of the second stageof data collection.
In the third stage of the study, all seven faculty members fully active in the
EMI program were surveyed and interviewed (in English) one-on-one following
one year of teaching in English. Interviews dealt with their classroom strategies,
9

Brown & Adamsonmaterials, experiences and their impressions of students’ work. An overview of
the three stages is presented in Table 1.
While the three stages are described here as distinct, there was in fact overlap.
In some cases, informal follow-up continued beyond initial data collection andinto the next stage. In other cases, people’s experience overlapped; for example,
one was interviewed as a kiso semi teacher, participated as an EMI panelist, andwas interviewed again following one year of EMI practice.
Throughout the study, we found it important to remain sensitive to theTable 1
Overview of Data Collection
Stage

Collection

Informants

TimingResearch Question

1

Open-ended
written survey,
follow up
semi-structured
interviews
and informal
communications

Faculty members
teaching kiso
semi (n=6)

During 1styear of EAP
program.
Before the first
EMI classes
startedWhat do faculty
members think it means
to be a good student?
What should the overall
learning outcomes of thefirst year be?

2

Video andtranscript ofTeaching lab
workshop session

Faculty members
active in EMI(n=4)

During thesecond yearof the EAP
program, thefirst year of
EMI classes

What is actually
happening in EMI
classes? What are thestudents expected to
be able to do? How areteachers challenging
students in EMI classes?
How well do students
meet those challenges?

3Interviews with
EMI teachers

Faculty members
active in EMI(n=7)

Following thefirst year of
EMI classes

What actually happenedin EMI classes? What
were the students
expected to be able todo? How did teachers
challenge students in
EMI classes? How well
did students meet thosechallenges? Do EMI
teachers notice anything
missing from students
EAP preparation?

10

Localizing EAP..., OnCUE Journal, 6(3), pages 5-20

institution’s social and political climate since we were acutely aware of potential
difficulties in negotiating what Arkoudis (2006) calls the “rough ground that cansometimes separate ESL and mainstream teachers” (p. 415). Content teachers
may view curriculum through the lens of their disciplinary culture focusing on
the scope of the content, while language teachers tend to focus on practice— theprocess of learning and teaching (Reid, 1992). This fundamental difference cansometimes make communication and collaboration problematic. In addition, incontexts where the institution undergoes major shifts, as ours has, faculty may
become uncertain of their role, competence and position. In cases where schools
adopt EMI, Mehisto (2008) refers to this uncertainty as “disjuncture” (p. 93) andwarns that teachers may be resistant to change due to a perceived threat, making
open communication for research purposes challenging. Finally, there was theissue of resistance to voluntary collaboration on matters of teaching practiceamong Japanese faculty (Takagi, 2002), along with their tendency towards
personal reflection rather than open collaboration (Okano & Tsuchiya, 1999;
Sato & Kleinsasser, 2004). This makes collecting data from colleagues somewhat
sensitive (Adamson, 2010), as it involves a potentially delicate investigation of
their beliefs (Sikes, 2008).
Keeping these issues in mind, all three stages of data collection were donewith sensitivity and patience. Data was collected over the course of three years,
starting with the unidirectional, non-face-threatening surveys of kiso semiteachers. The later stages of the study, based more on potentially face-threatening
sharing of practice, expectations and personal experiences, were only possible
due to long-term relationship-building (Iyobe, Brown, & Coulson, 2011).

Results and Discussion

Collection and analysis of data from the three stages of the project was done
through qualitative triangulation. This involved firstly identifying “natural
meaning units” (Kvale, 1996, p. 195) in the data which were clearly key points
for each participant, then noting similarity among informants' comments, andfinally making connections between them to identify overarching themes. Our
results imply that some elements of the EAP program do in fact meet students’
11

Brown & Adamson

needs and faculty members’ expectations. However, some results are indicative ofchange. Some ways in which English is used in EMI are not effectively supportedby the EAP program.
Firstly, results indicate that some elements of the EAP program areappropriate to the local context as is (see Table 2 for paraphrased representative
comments).
Table 2
Representative Comments from Informants
Research Question
Concerning papers and presentations:Students must gather information, write reports and seminar papers, make presentations.

··Concerning multimodality and intertextuality:
Students must manage and manipulate input and output for a composed, synthesizedwhole, take extensive notes on a presentation, ask questions, and combine information with
their own research.

··

Concerning summary:Students must read and summarize what they learned from their reading and debate, andshow correct understanding of expert ideas on various arguments.

··

Concerning discussion:
Students must communicate with other generations/ backgrounds, understand other views,
be active in class, and give good presentations.

··Concerning feedback and reflection:
Students need not wait for instruction or evaluation, must ask good questions, evaluate
others’ presentations and papers, and reflect upon their own work.

··

Concerning papers and presentations:Students must write a paper (1000-3000 words) from outside sources, understand thestructure of English academic writing, formulate a clear thesis, give academic presentations,and defend their ideas.

··

Concerning multimodality and intertextuality
Students must base written work on multiple sources both Japanese and international, apply
research skills, synthesize information, and understand differences between Japanese andinternational sources.

··

Concerning summary
Students must understand the main ideas of lectures and documentaries, and summarize themain ideas of an article, book or other sources.

··

Concerning discussion
Students must participate actively in class by speaking out and sharing their opinions··

12

Localizing EAP..., OnCUE Journal, 6(3), pages 5-20
Concerning papers and presentations:Students must write notes in English, submit homework, assignments and mid-term papers
in English.

··

Concerning multimodality and intertextuality
Students must engage in Immersion language education (not necessarily English) to gain abroader horizon (to understand, recognize and acknowledge different perspectives of thesame issue).

··Concerning feedback and reflection
Students must take turns preparing chapter summaries in collaboration with others,
learning in foreign languages to encourage reflection and change their way of thinking.

··

Data collected from kiso semi teachers showed that they value the ability
to write coherent academic papers and give formal presentations, both ofwhich are covered in the current EAP program. As one kiso semi teacher said,“good students are those who can write readable text following the manners ofwriting.” Kiso semi teachers also talked about the importance of multimodality
and intertextuality in students’ work and prioritized summary as a key skill inboth reading and listening comprehension, saying, “synthesizing and analyzing
a lecture and documents is important.” Again, these are skills covered in EAP.
Additional elements of the EAP program that were reinforced by messages fromthe kiso semi faculty included the value of class discussion, peer-feedback andreflective self-evaluation. These results were largely confirmed in the second andthird stages of research.
While the appropriateness of much current EAP practice was confirmed
through the study, other areas of practice were called into question by the results.
In addition, new ideas for change were introduced through the three stages ofthe study. These can be summarized into four recommendations for change in
our EAP practice, where the students will use English within the local, Japanese
academic community.
First, longer term work seems to be called for. Kiso semi teachers placed agreat deal of value on this. They spoke about single projects covering entire
15-week terms and the value of students preparing what one informant called
a “composed, synthesized whole”, in other words, a project that draws together
13

Brown & Adamson

many different threads and perhaps stretches across several courses. They
also said that students need time to “naturally develop their own ability tounderstand, read, write logical/coherent papers, [and] make presentations.”
This sustained contact with material was also perceived as being related togoing beyond “superficial and one-dimensional understanding” of content anddeveloping better understanding and critical thinking skills.
In short, the focus of Japanese faculty on our campus was on depth, rather
than breadth, of coverage and sustained contact with a single topic. However,the current EAP program, based on widely available commercial resources,changes topics quickly. Each skill set is covered through different content andtextbook chapters typically change topic, presumably to appeal to students of awide range of interests. As a result, this may not prepare students to develop theirideas through materials that focus on a single topic throughout a semester. With
this in mind, a move away from commercial texts may be necessary.
Second, patterns of classroom interaction may need rethinking. It became
clear in the Teaching Lab workshop that EMI classes were smaller than expected.
In our university, EAP courses have 20-25 students per class, one exceeding 180
students. This contrasts with class sizes in EMI with 5-10 students as a norm.
In addition, content faculty members spend much time in one-on-one tutoringwith students outside of class, making students feel “more free to ask questions,[and] come to [the teacher’s] office.” This individual attention is a key learning
event with Japanese faculty but remains unexplored in EAP classes. A move thentowards smaller classes and more direct contact with the EAP teacher may becalled for.
Third, the important relationship between the students’ L1 and L2 wasraised. Our EAP program, as in many language courses, follows an English-only
policy in class and for assignments. This may not reflect the actual context oflanguage use, typically characterized by intermingling ( Jacobson & Faltis, 1990)
and code-switching (Cummins, 2005). Discussions with EMI teachers revealed
they wanted students to develop skills for intertextuality and multimodality
across languages, termed as “translanguaging” (Blackledge & Creese, 2010,
p. 105), and defined as strategic code-switching in bilingual contexts. Faculty14Localizing EAP..., OnCUE Journal, 6(3), pages 5-20

members engaged in EMI expected students to “develop an awareness ofthe difference between” and synthesize “multiple sources, both Japanese andinternational”. One teacher explained this by noting that Japanese and western
scholars approach questions from different angles. Consequently, students needto have access to both academic traditions and to integrate them. This need fortranslanguaging can be thought of as an extension of Canagarajah’s (2006) ideas
about shifting speech communities.
Rather than simply joining a speech community, then, we should teachstudents to shuttle between communities…. Not only must we possess arepertoire of codes from the English language, we must also learn to use it in
combination with other world languages (p. 26).
In EAP courses, this implies a greater role for L1 source materials andactivities involving comparison and synthesis of L1 and L2 resources.
A fourth implication considers the institutional role of EAP. Surveys andfollow-up discussions with kiso semi teachers highlighted the overall lack ofacademic skills among students. While students performed well in high schooland entrance exams, many were unprepared for the creativity, flexibility andcriticality at university as they lacked higher-order thinking, independence, andparticularly critical-reading skills, even in their L1. One informant attributed thisto the teacher-centered approaches in high school, saying, “high school students
can succeed by conscientiously doing what they are told, whereas in university
they must think for themselves”, meaning students experienced a "difficulttransition" to meet unfamiliar university expectations. The Teaching Lab
workshop reinforced this message, highlighting for EAP faculty that the highschool to university shift requires development of new competencies regardlessof language. As one informant suggested of reading, “for first-year students, one’s
feelings of ‘I understood this topic’ and his/her actual level of understanding is
not always the same.”
This study highlighted the importance of first-year student experiencesin developing new competencies and stressed the engagement of all first-year15

Brown & Adamsonclasses in this transformation. The EAP program is a major part of students' firstyear experience, implying it is important in developing not only language skills,
but also academic competencies transferable across languages. As one workshop
participant said,
EAP isn’t only about the E anymore. The A is emerging as an importantfactor. It isn’t about English for Academic Purposes; it is more about academic
purposes in English. We cannot just teach them how to apply skills in English
when those skills are not even there in L1.

Conclusion

Amid a growing trend towards EMI at Japanese universities, this study exploredthe emerging role of an EAP program at one university. In this context, our EAP
program may need to change to better serve student needs using English in local
EMI. In this case study, changes in four important areas are recommended:
longer-term contact with topics for deeper rather than broader coverage;
more one-on-one interaction between faculty and students; the addition oftranslanguaging to multimodality and intertextuality; and focus on academic
competencies rather than language skills. Moving towards these changes willalign the EAP program with actual conditions under which students use English
on our campus.
The findings of this case study may resonate with experiences from othercontexts, particularly universities in Japan implementing EMI with Japanesefaculty. It may be that longer-term work, translanguaging, tutoring relationships
and transferable academic skills are important priorities for EAP at many such
universities in Japan. However, it is important to remember that our findings
remain particular to a certain context. Rather than applying them directly, we
recommend following our process in which we, as EAP practitioners, benefit
from closer communication with EMI faculty and from understanding their
expectations and teaching styles.

16Localizing EAP..., OnCUE Journal, 6(3), pages 5-20

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jisshi kanousei [Can we teach in English at a smaller college?], Journalof Hokkaido University of Education (Humanities and Social Sciences),61(2), 49-59. Retrieved from http://s-ir.sap.hokkyodai.ac.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/2308

Authors’ bios

Howard Brown is an associate professor and EAP teacher at the University of
Niigata Prefecture. His current research interests include EAP, CLIL and thegrowth of English-medium instruction at universities in Japan. brown@unii.ac.jp
John Adamson is a Professor at the University of Niigata Prefecture where heteaches EAP. He is Chief Editor of Asian EFL Journal and is interested in EAP,
interdisciplinarity, CLIL, and academic publishing. adamson@unii.ac.jp

Received: November 24, 2011
Accepted: March 14, 201420