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Teaching Yoga in an EMI Setting: Bridging Communication Gaps between Teaching and Learning

This study aims at investigating the communication and language competences of teachers in an English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) context and examining how these competences influence teacher-student communication and subsequently impact students’ learning experiences. To reach this aim, the research questions focused on what teachers and students find necessary about EMI yoga teacher competences, how these affect students’ learning experiences, how the teachers adapt their teachings and what challenges they face. The study was qualitative and conducted with online interviews. As a result, teachers and students identified several competences to do with building rapport, creating an inclusive environment, language proficiency and language instruction pedagogy. Students state that teachers’ authenticity, adaptability, and ability to being open to non-judgemental communication alongside with other competences significantly affect their learning experience. There are four strategies which help teachers to adapt to the group, namely code switching, demonstration, asking students for help and slowing down the pace. Teachers encountered challenges such as translation issues, fears and lack of confidence, lack of general English proficiency and specialized vocabulary in the beginning of their careers, but over time these challenges were overcome. The study can be of help in yoga teacher training courses to help students master the communication and language competences quicker, or these can be used to create a self-study student book which can help teachers to improve their communication and language skills inteaching yoga using EMI.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-67461
Date January 2024
CreatorsBorodina, Karina
PublisherMalmö universitet, Institutionen för kultur, språk och medier (KSM)
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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