Report on Social Visit to the University of Oxford (2025)

The main team I visited was in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, led by Professor Heath Rose. Professor Rose heads the EMI research team at Oxford and is, in fact, one of the leading figures in EMI research in the United Kingdom. His work on English-medium instruction and the globalization of English has gained international recognition. It was truly a privilege to be invited to their department for this visit.

One of the highlights of this visit was the collaboration between the EMI Resource Center and Trinity College London. This visit was a continuation of the recent NTHU & NCCU EMI CertPT Workshop, held from June 9–13, 2025.

During the visit, I met with Dr. Benjamin Beaumont, Head of Teacher Education at Trinity College London, who is also a senior trainer, consultant, and researcher in teacher training qualifications. The visit was featured on Trinity College London’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

Following the meeting, I continued discussions with Mr. Terence Lam, South East Asia Regional Manager at Trinity College London, regarding potential future collaborations. Key topics included the expansion of CertPT delivery, the development of online training modules, and the possibility of co-hosting a virtual EMI-focused conference in 2026. In addition, we held productive discussions to explore long-term strategic opportunities for collaboration in EMI teacher training, with a shared vision of building sustainable and scalable professional development initiatives. This visit also initiated a connection with Dr. Eleanor Andressen, Chief Academic Officer at Trinity College London, through communications coordinated by Mr. Lam.

I’m also happy to share that my application for the Master Trainer certification in Trinity’s teacher education program is currently undergoing standardization (as of 2025.08.04). This will enable me to independently support and deliver CertPT training in Taiwan, similar to the Master Trainers we invited to lecture at the NTHU & NCCU EMI CertPT Workshop.  

In addition to Trinity College London, I also visited the Oxford EMI team. Oxford EMI is a prominent EMI-focused organization composed of EMI experts. During this visit, I met with several key research fellows and team members, including:

Dr. Julie Dearden, Senior Research Fellow in English Medium Instruction (EMI) at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, and Director of the Oxford EMI Team

Dr. Tom Spain, Head of Training and Consultant, Oxford EMI Team

Mr. Simon Dunton, Senior Trainer and Consultant, Oxford EMI Team

Mr. Ben Valbret, Design Manager, Oxford EMI

During our meeting, we discussed the challenges and difficulties faced by universities in implementing EMI. We exchanged strategies for addressing these issues, and I provided suggestions to help improve their program to better serve the needs of universities in Taiwan.

On this trip, I also had the opportunity to meet Mr. Jye Smallwood, a PhD candidate and President of the Girton MCR at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge. Mr. Smallwood is an AIT English Language Fellow and will be working closely with the EMI Resouce Center at NCCU in the 114 academic year. The center has applied to serve as the secondary host institution for his fellowship in Taiwan. Mr. Smallwood will support EMI-related initiatives at NCCU in the coming year. Thanks to Jenning King from the AIT for this arrangement!

Given my expertise in corpus linguistics, during my visit, I had the privilege of meeting several leading scholars in corpus linguistics at the University of Birmingham, a renowned institution in this field. The professors I met include:

Prof. Jeannette Littlemore, Professor of Linguistics and Communication, Department of Linguistics and Communication, University of Birmingham. She also serves as Chair of the international organization Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM), whose Executive Committee I may have the opportunity to join within the next two years. The announcement will be made at the RaAM AGM this Saturday (August 9), midnight Taipei time. I’ll be staying up for it! 

Dr. Paul Thompson, Reader in Applied Corpus Linguistics and Director of the Centre for Corpus Research, Department of Linguistics and Communication, University of Birmingham. Dr. Thompson is the Director of the Centre for Corpus Research. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Applied Corpus Linguistics, where I am currently a guest editor and a member of the editorial board.

Prof. Susan Hunston OBE, Professor of English Language, Department of Linguistics and Communication, University of Birmingham. Notably, Professor Hunston was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for her contributions to higher education and applied linguistics.