Abstract: With the increasing internationalization of higher education in China, English medium instruction (EMI) plays an increasingly important role in cultivating top-notch innovative talents. As one of the required courses for the undergraduates with the background of materials, functional polymers EMI course introduces the polymeric materials that can be applied in the fields of environment, information, medicine, biology and others. This article elaborates on the reforming methods in the EMI teaching from various aspects including significance, theoretical and practical foundations, textbook writing, and implementation of participatory teaching. Finally, the teaching practices show that the reforming measures have obtained good effects in cultivating top-notch innovative talents of undergraduates.

Key words: Functional polymers, EMI course, Innovation capacity, Teaching reform, Participatory teaching, Higher education