University English-medium instruction in Türkiye – what instructors say

Abstract The rise of English-medium instruction (EMI) and the increasing number of international students in Turkish universities call for a change in the language support programs that prepare students for EMI. English as a lingua franca (ELF) is a promising perspective to achieve a more linguistically and culturally inclusive pedagogy. This paper reports the views of 10 English language instructors who took a teacher training course on ELF and experimented with ELF-aware teaching with several lessons in the classroom. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the instructors to explore how they conceptualized the relationship between ELF and their teaching context, and how they evaluated their teaching experiences. Results reveal that when preparing students for EMI, instructors saw ELF as a useful frame of reference that promoted students’ confidence, motivation, and critical thinking. Instructors’ teaching preferences were shaped by the curriculum they were supposed to follow, the materials at their disposal, and the characteristics of their learners. Findings highlight the need to equip students for the variability in the English language, and become more confident with their linguistic skills as multilingual speakers, as well as engage in critical thinking about English and its use in their context.