The Teaching-in-English competencies scale (TECS) is a validated instrument designed to assess higher education lecturers' perceived English-language competencies and teaching self-efficacy in English-medium instruction (EMI) settings.
TECS was developed to provide researchers, educational developers, teacher educators, and higher education institutions with a systematic tool for examining how lecturers perceive their ability to use English for teaching disciplinary content. The instrument focuses on the communicative demands of teaching through English rather than on general English proficiency and can be used in research, evaluation, and professional development contexts.
TECS is made available as an open resource for researchers and practitioners working with English-medium instruction. We encourage colleagues to use the instrument in diverse EMI contexts, contribute to the growing evidence base on EMI teaching, and help advance our understanding of the competencies, experiences, and support needs of lecturers teaching through English.
What does TECS measure?
TECS comprises two components:
Teaching-in-English self-efficacy, examining lecturers' confidence in using English for teaching, interacting with students, assessing learning, and preparing for classes.
Teaching-in-English language competencies, examining lecturers' perceived ease or difficulty when performing teaching-related communicative tasks involving speaking, writing, listening, and reading.
Together, these components provide a multidimensional picture of lecturers' perceived preparedness to teach through English.
Potential uses
TECS can be used to:
investigate EMI lecturers' perceived communicative competencies;
identify areas where lecturers may benefit from targeted support;
inform the design of EMI professional development initiatives;
evaluate the impact of EMI training programmes;
compare EMI contexts across institutions, disciplines, and countries; and
support research on the relationships between language, teaching self-efficacy, and EMI practice.
Validation
TECS was validated using data from 533 EMI lecturers in Sweden and Spain. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a robust four-factor structure representing speaking, writing, listening, and reading competencies, alongside a separate self-efficacy scale. The instrument demonstrated strong reliability and validity and is suitable for research, institutional diagnostics, and comparative analyses. You can read more about the instrument validation here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100326
Citation
Malmström, H., Rose, H., Shepard, C., & Dafouz, E. (2026). Introducing and validating the Teaching-in-English-Competencies-Scale (TECS) for English-medium instruction in Sweden and Spain. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 5, 100326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2026.100326