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The rapid expansion of English Medium Instruction (EMI) and Transnational Education (TNE) is reshaping higher education in non-Anglophone contexts. As English-taught programmes and cross-border partnerships proliferate, universities face heightened linguistic and academic demands, positioning English for Academic Purposes (EAP) as central to the university’s internationalisation agenda. Against this backdrop, understanding how language support is conceptualised and operationalised within EMI and TNE contexts is critical, given the increasing reliance on English as the medium through which these agendas are realised. However, there remains limited empirical understanding of how EAP teachers experience these shifting demands and how their roles are being reconfigured within EMI- and TNE-driven reforms. This study investigates professional development (PD) initiatives for EAP teachers in China, where EMI and TNE are rapidly expanding. Document analysis of teachers’ PD documents (n = 10) and interviews with EAP teachers (n = 20) and PD leads (n = 5) across 13 EMI institutions reveal a lack of EAP-specific training, persistent structural constraints, limited recognition within the institution, and uneven access to development pathways for EAP teachers. It highlights the need for systemic change to address the marginalisation of EAP expertise, amidst the changing higher education landscape. Positioning EAP practitioners as central to EMI and TNE policy implementation can help ensure higher education internationalisation initiatives do not remain superficial, largely symbolic and short-sighted.
Zhou et al. (Thu,) studied this question.