Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP): Making the

Meredith MacAulay

21 June 2017

Teaching English for Academic

Purposes (EAP):

Making the transition

EAP Teachers Required

Structure of webinar

1. What is EAP?

2. What characterises EAP

courses?

3. Tips

4. Professional Development

webinar content created by Meredith MacAulay 2017

GE vs. EAP - Methodology, Skills and Content

GE EAP

English FOR Academic Purposes


What is EAP?

English for Academic Purposes

“the teaching of English with the specific aim of helping

learners to study, conduct research or teach in that

language” (Flowerdew & Peacock, 2001, p. 8)

E.g. written assignments, research, participation in

tutorials, collaborative projects, etc…

Transfer is an underlying goal of EAP. (James, 2014)


Types of EAP Courses

Direct Entry Program (DEP)

or

Pathway Program Eg. EAP1 EAP2 EAP3 = university entry

*Students enter at different levels depending on English proficiency

General English for Academic

Purposes (GEAP)

Discipline-Specific EAP

E.g. EAP for Business, Nursing,

Human Sciences, Arts and

Science (HAS)

Assessments


The students: GE vs. EAP

GE (English for general purposes)

general aim-spoken and written communication for social

purposes, travel, work

Varied length of time, changing students

motivation

EAP (English for Academic Purposes)

Needs and aims of students=tertiary study

academic literacy + English competence (conditional offers)

Time for study- fixed, high stakes! $$$

motivation


Content and approach

GE

Four skills + grammar/vocabulary

Often language driven and level driven

Topics and texts

EAP

Four skills (emphasis on reading, writing, research)

simulation of learning and teaching at uni- culture of

learning in Australia/a specific university

field-specific topics, authentic academic texts and tasks,

emphasis on critical thinking


EAP mindset

What tasks will students

need to do at

university?

What skills or attributes

will they need to

succeed in these tasks?


Skills Approach of an EAP course

Speaking Tasks at uni

Presentations + leading a discussion

Tutorial discussions

Group projects

General social interaction

Transactions on campus

Communication with tutors and

lecturers MacAulay 2017

Why might students find these activities difficult?


How can we prepare students for these tasks

in an EAP course?

Communicative classroom

Simulations of these activities

Eg. task based projects, (task-based) discussions,

presentations, consultations

Identify sub-skills required of tasks

Analysis of task

Brainstorming of ideas, evaluating ideas

Discussion management strategies

Supporting opinions with evidence

Body language, eye contact

signposting


Listening-Tasks and difficulties

Differences between GE listening

Lectures-lengthier than GE listening

Note-taking

Difficulties?

EAP activities


Reading

What is the purpose of reading at university?

How do we read?

Why can reading be difficult for students at university?


Purpose of reading at university

Expand your information of a topic or develop your

understanding

To support your research (for a written assignment or

presentation)

Texts: course books, academic journal articles, case

studies, reports including graphs and other visuals, course

outlines, *newspaper and magazine articles


Working with written texts in EAP

Why may academic texts be difficult for EAP students?

Texts are longer than in GE

Denser language (complex sentences including noun phrases)

Use of referencing

Unknown vocabulary

Students have a slow reading speed

Knowing which reading strategy to use for different texts and

purposes

UNSWIL 2014

UEEC 10 Writing Workshop Unit 2, p. 2.44 (2014) UNSW Institute

of Languages

Water is a resource that is under current and increasing stress. A recent study by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) found that one-quarter of the world’s people live in areas of ‘physical water scarcity’ – that is, available water resources are not sufficient to meet all demands and one billion people live in basins with ‘economic water scarcity’ – that is, there is a lack of investment in water or lack of human capacity to keep up with growing water demand (IWMI 2006). In summary, around one-third of the world’s people exist with some form of water scarcity.

Working with written texts in the EAP classroom:

Beyond Comprehension

Reading subskills:

Surveying a text

Making predictions

Skimming for gist

Scanning

Interpreting visual information

Reading for detail

Inferring author’s view

Inferring authors’ purpose

Noting text organisation

(genre)

Use of cohesive devices

Looking at lexical chains

Summary

Text response (personal

evaluation)

*critical thinking

+ developing understanding of a

topic

Example text: Water quantity, uses and over-extraction


Exploiting a text for language and support for

writing

Inferring vocabulary

Example:

‘Changed climatic conditions … have led to discussion as to whether

Australia can continue to support the current forms of agriculture. The

consequent social and economic ramifications are obviously immense.’

Flow of ideas-theme/rheme

Noticing use of citation

Functional Language: cause/effect

‘For example, in the irrigation areas of the Murray-Darling in Australia,

drought in 2007 coupled with over-allocation led to inability to sow crops

and, in some cases, death of mature fruit trees.’

Building vocabulary on a topic-e.g. water scarcity, overallocation, drought

Exploiting a text for language and support for

writing

Text –exploitation for purpose/meaning

Text-exploitation for language

(Further language work and analysis of a model text-e.g.

problem solution essay)

Writing task: Students construct a text based on the

content of the reading or the language studied

(cause/effect) or both.


What types of writing will students need to do at

university?

essays or ‘essay-type’ assignments

Critical reviews

Literature reviews

Reports (e.g. engineering reports, business reports, lab

reports)

Annotated bibliographies

Short answer questions

What ‘general’ writing skills can we teach students which they

could transfer and transform to their written assignments?


Example of writing sub-skills

Awareness of purpose and genre

Analyse the question-determine topic and task, text-type, structure,

genre

Brainstorm, Plan (ideas!), Write, Edit

Sentence structure (control of sentence types)

Paragraph structure (topic sentence+ supporting details, concluding

sentence)

Cohesive devices (Transition signals and reference words)

Academic style

Appropriate vocabulary for the topic

Functional language for the genre (problem/solution-e.g. cause/effect

language)

+ Paraphrasing, summarising and referencing


Developing writing skills

Regular writing w/ formative feedback

Developing the writing process- understanding the

purpose for writing, brainstorming, planning, writing,

editing, redrafting

Targeted feedback-focus on areas of instruction-e.g

cause/effect

Peer and self-feedback, writing workshops

**Resource: Longman Academic Writing Series Levels 1-4


Fostering learner autonomy

EAP Tertiary

courses

Developing study

competence

Introducing students to

resources

Encouraging self-reflection

Gradually handing over

more control to students

Alexander, Argent, & Spencer (2008)

Tips

Know the materials, know the context of

the course.


Writing at university

https://student.unsw.edu.au/essay-and-assignment-

writing

Help students make connections.

How can we establish relevance?

First, make it relevant-content and

activities

(Teaching for transfer James, 2006)

Link to previous experience

Perceived present worth

Perceived future usefulness (Anticipate

applications!)

Present models of success

Adapted from the ARCs Model of Motivational Design Keller 2010


Mix it up (when appropriate)

Stick to the aims and content but occasionally…

vary presentation/activities.

Use …

academic warmers

visuals

technology (Kahoot,Quizlet, Socrative)

movement

student-generated content.

Photo used with permission. webinar content created by Meredith MacAulay 2017

Professional Development (Getting into EAP)

Observe an EAP course

Become familiar with EAP materials and resource books (E.g.

Longman Academic Writing Series Levels 1-4, Using English for

Academic Purposes www.uefap.com/)

Teach a pre-DEP course (e.g. Intermediate level EAP course)

Network and share current practice

E.g. #AusELT Facebook and Twitter chats, University English

Language Centre (UECA) PD Fests

http://www.ueca.edu.au/pdfest2017/index.php


http://www.uefap.com/

http://www.ueca.edu.au/pdfest2017/index.php

References Alexander, O., Argent, S., & Spencer, S. (2008). EAP essentials: A teacher’s guide to principles and practice. Reading, UK:

Garnet Education.

Alexander, O. (2007). ‘Groping in the dark or turning on the light: routes into teaching English for Academic Purposes’. In Lynch, T.

(ed.) Teaching Languages for Academic Purposes. Edinburgh: IALS, Edinburgh University.

BALEAP (2008). ‘Competency Framework for Teachers of English for Academic Purposes’ https://www.baleap.org/wp-

content/uploads/2016/04/teap-competency-framework.pdf

Brandon, K. & O’Keefe, S. (2017). Guide to best practice in direct entry programs. Best practice guides: English Australia.

Available from: https:// www.englishaustralia.com.au/best-practice-guides

Campion, G. (2012). The Learning never ends: investigating teachers’ experiences of moving from English for General Purposes

to English for Academic Purposes in the UK context; What are the main challenges associated with beginning to teach EAP, and

how can these challenges be overcome? Unpublished Masters Dissertation. University of Nottingham.

Flowerdew J. & Peacock M. (2001). Issues in EAP: A preliminary perspective. In J. Flowerdew, & M. Peacock (Eds.), Research

perspectives on English for academic purposes (pp. 8-24). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. James, M.A. (2006b).

Teaching for transfer in ELT. ELT Journal, 60 (2), 151-159.

Keller, J. M. (2010). Motivational Design For Learning And Performance: The ARCS Model Approach. New York: Springer.

MacAulay M (2017). Energising EAP the round minis.

MacAulay, M (2016). Transition and transfer: Effects of an EAP direct entry course on students’ discussion skills at university.

University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, vol 11, pp. 97-130. http://faculty.edfac.usyd.edu.au/projects/usp_in_tesol/currentissue.htm

UNSW Institute of Languages (2014). UEEC 10 Course Materials Reading Skills Unit 2, p. 2.8-2.11.

http://www.englishaustralia.com.au/best-practice-guides





http://faculty.edfac.usyd.edu.au/projects/usp_in_tesol/currentissue.htm

Please contact me if you have more questions.

Meredith MacAulay

[email protected]

Good luck!

mailto:[email protected]

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Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP): Making the