EAP Course Research Articles

TEACHERS AND LEARNERS PERCEPTION: CASE STUDIES WITH CLIL FOR MILITARY UNDERGRADUATES

This paper is a preliminary report on the teachers’ and learners’ perception on case studies with CLIL program carried out during an EAP course in the National Defense University of Malaysia (NUDM). Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) is relatively very little known in the military context. However recently researches have revealed that CLIL is becoming popular and widespread in many universities. Based on CLIL benefits and dual-focus approach, teachers and curriculum developers have adapted accordingly to their course objectives and requirements. On the other hand, the case study method is an active teaching and learning method which provides rich contextual information and opportunities for language learners to develop more possible ways to learn and use the language creatively and practically in various language situations. This paper discusses preliminary findings of an EAP course for undergraduates in NDUM where the case study method and Content and Language integrated Learning is collaborated. A total of 84 military cadets and 3 teachers from an EAP program participated in the study. The questionnaire items were structured for the students and semi-structured interviews were designed for the teachers. The overall results projected the students’ and teachers’ positive views about case study and CLIL pedagogy that contributed towards language achievement. The paper concludes with discussion highlighting key issues that remain to be addressed and outline direction for future research.

EFL Students in English-Medium and EAP Courses in Turkey

The present study aimed to determine university students’ perceptions regarding EM and EAP courses and how they studied EM and EAP courses and their exams. It was designed as a qualitative study. Eight students participated in the study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed by content analysis method. The findings of the study indicated that the students who perform well in EM and EAP courses and who perform well in EM courses but have difficulty in EAP courses are motivated to receive EM courses and have positive attitudes toward EM courses. Yet, the students who perform well in EM and EAP courses are more motivated to receive EAP courses and have more positive attitudes toward EAP courses. The findings also indicated that the ways the students study EM and EAP courses and for their exams have both similarities and differences. The findings were discussed. The pedagogical implications and limitations of the study were explained, and suggestions for further research were made.

Investigating the Perceptions and Practices of Iranian Language and Content Teachers in Teaching EAP Vocabulary

Standing at the cornerstone of discipline-based EAP courses, vocabulary teaching warrants attention from the EAP scholars and research mainstream. However, such a shift of attention, in theory, has lagged behind the practice in particular contexts such as EAP and EAP teachers are yet afflicted by pedagogical chaos in the Iranian academic context due largely to the inconsistencies between language teachers’ (LT) and content teachers’ (CT) cognitions and practices. Thus, this study was conducted in the EAP context to explore Iranian EAP teachers’ perceptions and practices of their vocabulary teaching. To this end, six EAP teachers (three LTs and three CTs) from three different disciplines (Electrical Engineering, Medicine, and Psychology) participated in this study, and their classes were observed for a semester. To thoroughly probe the teachers’ perceptions, semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers. The findings pointed to differences between the two groups of teachers in terms of their vocabulary teaching practices and perceptions. It was revealed that LTs focused on a more varied combination of aspects than CTs did. The findings of the study provide implications for EAP teacher education to colour current practices and perceptions of the two groups of teachers about vocabulary teaching and learning with fresh paint.

Freshman Students’ Motivated Behavior Indicators in EAP Courses

Attendance, L2 motivation, and language learning achievement indicators were pursued in a EAP course at a Civil Engineering Department for freshman students . Quantitative methodology via motivated behavior scale, first midterm grades and attendance was employed. The survey instrument was translated into Turkish, and both translation and back translation procedures were conducted to ensure the content validity of the instruments. The study was conducted at a state university in the North of Turkey, with 45 participants. These participants were 1st year students between the ages of 18 and 22. All of the participants -at the time of data collection- were A1 level students, as measured according to descriptors proposed in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001). The quantitative data were analyzed through SPSS Statistics. Parametric tests were employed as the data showed a normal distribution. Both descriptive statistics and inferential analysis including Independent Samples T-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson Correlation were applied and conclusions were drawn. The results demonstrated that the freshman learners in the educational context had medium level L2 learning motivation. Female students were a little more successful in their language achievement compared to male students. While motivation had a big impact on language learning achievement and was central in the interplay between the variables, absence had no effect at all. The higher was the motivation, the higher were the grades. This study concludes that achievement is stimulated by motivation

Content Analysis of an EAP Coursebook in an Islamic University

Evaluating a coursebook is necessary to find the strengths and weaknesses to improve the quality of sources and professional development. This study aimed to investigate the suitability of EAP coursebook materials with the criteria for good teaching materials and the English language needs of IAIN Purwokerto students. The study engaged 83 second-semester students at IAIN Purwokerto, who were randomly drawn from each study program at IAIN Purwokerto. The researchers employed a content analysis procedure: the unit of analysis covering places, actors, activities, research variables in the form of teaching materials in EAP courses, and data collection using a checklist. The analysis of the research is based on the criteria of good teaching materials and the students' English needs which cover the target requirement component for needs analysis, consisting of the students’ needs, shortcomings, and desires. The researchers found that the suitability of the coursebook with the criteria for good text teaching materials has average level of relevance of 50.13%, which is quite appropriate in the category. There were some weaknesses or shortcomings that made this EAP course book not classified as a high level of relevance. English language needs of IAIN Purwokerto students tend to learn integrated language skills, especially speaking and listening.

Comparing the Effect of Morphological Analysis and Incidental Learning on the Acquisition of TOEFL Vocabulary

Morphological analysis and incidental learning are two vocabulary learning strategies that language learners may use in order to acquire the meanings of new words. To date, however, few studies have compared the effectiveness of these two strategies. Hence, the current study was carried out to compare the effect of morphological analysis and incidental learning of words that appeared in ten actual TOEFL reading passages from 2010 to 2018 (henceforth, TOEFL vocabulary/words). Eighty upper-intermediate Iranian foreign language learners participated in the study. A pretest was administered to determine the TOEFL words the participants could not supply a synonym, a similar expression, or a translation for at the onset of the study. Next, the participants were randomly divided into two groups: the Morphological Analysis (MA) group, who learned the vocabulary through learning the meanings of Greco-Latin roots in the words, and the Incidental Learning (IL) group, who learned the TOEFL vocabulary through multiple exposures to the words in different contexts. Then, a posttest was administered to investigate the effect of each of these strategies on recognizing the meanings of the TOEFL words. Running a t-test, the groups' mean scores on the pretest and posttest were compared. The results of the study indicated that the MA had a more significant effect on vocabulary retention than the IL. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that MA be employed as a valuable source for TOEFL vocabulary learning and teaching by both teachers and learners, and as a strategy for vocabulary teaching in ESP or EAP courses as the vocabulary in such courses is heavily loaded with Greek and Latin roots.

Harnessing online course development skills: A crisis- prompted but carefully planned EAP course

This paper explores how lessons learned from developing blended and fully online courses were employed in the momentous move to online delivery in the late spring and summer of 2020. Our context was one in which, rather than having to get through to the end of semester, we were embarking on what would normally be large-scale intensive academic English courses which would run throughout the summer. While the pivot online did mean as Gacs et al. (2020, p. 380) says ‘crisis‐prompted remote teaching’, our previous experiences enabled us to provide effective, principled templates to support course designers, and teachers who would deliver courses. Drawing on principles of effective online learning, constructive and social constructivist pedagogies for both language and content learning, we show how these flipped courses were planned and scaffolded. We also illustrate how teacher induction incorporates not only pedagogical and content knowledge but also technical knowledge, thus starting to address aspects of Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) technical, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPCK) framework. Support for teachers was also provided by organising teams of teachers with a variety of experience. There was a deliberate emphasis on peer planning and discussions of lessons, thus ensuring opportunities to share expertise and to meet the need for social interactions for teachers.
 The resulting courses were quite different from the face-to face classroom-heavy immersive learning provision. Yet our reflection will show how the careful but essentially simple approaches used in course design afforded engaging and ultimately very successful outcomes. While we will reflect on aspects that need further development, these can be built on as colleagues develop the skills and confidence to continue online delivery. This paper, then, aims to show that essential skills sets can be developed with relatively minimal but carefully thought out principled, structured and streamlined support from the outset.

Retentional effects of notetaking instruction in EAP courses

AbstractPrevious research has shown that explicit notetaking instruction in EAP courses has positive effects on student notetaking. However, many studies limit measurement of notetaking ability to immediately after an intense period of instruction. Thus, the retentional effects of notetaking instruction have yet to be investigated in the longer term. To address this research gap, this paper reports on a study that assessed students’ notetaking performance prior to, immediately after, and then again four months after the notetaking instruction to examine the retentional value of notetaking instruction. Samples of student notes (n = 40) from these three time points were analysed through ‘information units’ to determine any changes. Results indicate that the instruction had a positive and significant effect on performance in the short term and that student performance lessened over time. Pedagogic implications stemming from these findings, including regular notetaking practice and consistently reviewing notetaking strategies, are discussed.

Investigating the Role of Google Classroom as an LMS in Tertiary Level EAP Classes

Using an online platform, such as Google Classroom to engage learners, is a recent practice in the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). It can be used to engage learners to learn academic English skills at the tertiary level in Bangladesh. This paper examines adoption of Google Classroom through the lens of Rogers’ (2003) diffusion of innovations to investigate learners’ experiences, attitudes, and perceptions towards Google Classroom as a Learning Management System (LMS) to engage students to learn the four skills of English. The researchers have undertaken a mixed methods approach to collect data from 105 tertiary level students who are taking EAP courses in a private university. The findings suggest that the participants have strong positive attitude towards the use of different features of Google Classroom due to the availability of training and technological tools. This study is crucial for understanding the importance of using instructional technology (IT) in reshaping English teaching practices in Bangladesh.

Academic vocabulary in an EAP course: Opportunities for incidental learning from printed teaching materials developed in-house

Teaching materials developed in-house are commonly used in EAP courses; however, research on their linguistic content, which can have important pedagogical implications, is scarce. This study examines the occurrence and repetition of general academic vocabulary, operationalised as the Academic Vocabulary List (AVL) (Gardner & Davies, 2014), in the printed teaching materials developed in-house and used in a presessional EAP course at a UK university. The course was divided into three modules and taught over five weeks. At the end of each week, teachers provided us with photocopies of the printed teaching materials they had used. A corpus was compiled from the printed materials of each module. The results show that 846 AVL lemmas (i.e., 28.07% of the lemmas in the AVL) appeared in the materials. They were not equally distributed among the three modules and only 90 AVL lemmas overlapped across modules. The results also show that the average repetition rate of AVL lemmas in the materials was unlikely to lead to the incidental development of recall knowledge from exposure to these materials alone. Recommendations are made for the development of in-house EAP materials and teaching activities that increase students' exposure to academic vocabulary and facilitate its learning.

Developing and integrating constructive CALL courseware for EAP in Chinese universities: a report on a case study

This paper reports on the development of constructive EAP CALL courseware, and its integration into blended learning contexts, as a solution to the problems in EAP courses in Chinese universities. A case study of a defining skills package, developed for undergraduates at the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), is used to illustrate the design and integration of the courseware. Guided by constructivist learning theory, the design draws on a synthesis of language-centered, academic skills-centered, content-based and task-based approaches. The integration is evaluated through the quality of students’ written work and evidence of their satisfaction with their defining skills improvement and the CALL courseware, based upon the data from a questionnaire survey. Web-based digital tools and multimodal media have been exploited to devise and produce CALL materials on defining skills. After three weeks of blended learning, students’ learning outcomes and satisfaction with the courseware and its integration were significantly positive. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2021.1895226 .

International students’ engagement with support in developing source use abilities: A longitudinal case study

<p class = "Abstract” style = "margin: 18 pt 1 cm 15 pt 0 cm; line-height: 22px; font-size: 11 pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; color: rgb (0, 0, 0); "><span lang = "EN-GB">Source use is an important yet challenging feature of academic writing. Students may receive academic literacy support in their universities, but little research has focused on the support available on source use. This study addressed this gap by investigating two Chinese students’ engagement with a range of support on source use in one UK university over one-year taught Master’s programmes, namely, the link between input, student perception and their source use performance in writing. Text analysis, discourse-based interviews and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant at four stages over the year. It was found that different focuses of source use were addressed in different ways through add-on support courses, yearlong in-sessional EAP courses, subject lecturer’s guidance and feedback. The two students varied in their ability to recall the input and the actions they took, resulting in differences in their source use practices in writing. Implications on providing international students with support on source use will be discussed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

Harnessing learner research agendas to continuously explore EAP learners’ needs

In this ‘Researching EAP Practice!’ paper, I reflect on the experience of embedding learner-initiated enquiry into an in-sessional EAP course and argue that the process can be viewed as a continuous exploration of learners’ needs. First, I explain the rationale for adopting Exploratory Practice (EP)-a form of practitioner research-to position EAP undergraduates at a UK university as learner-researchers. I then reveal why our EAP team harnessed EP’s central process of ‘puzzling’ to develop personalised research agendas and encourage student engagement, practitioner collaboration and novel learning. Finally, I outline how academic and practitioner research in EAP combined with our professional development experiences shaped the approach taken. I gathered a range of qualitative data, observing learners as they puzzled, analysing written summaries of their puzzles and cross-referencing these with my own reflective journal entries. This integration of research and pedagogy created several synergies: Through puzzling, learners better understood their academic journeys, and some highlighted the transferable potential of puzzling. The teaching team also benefited as we began to view learner-initiated puzzling as a continuous exploration, illumination and assessment of learners’ needs. This paper offers a practitioner’s perspective on continuous needs assessment with insights for EAP lecturers and those in adjacent fields.

Looking past limiting conditions: Prioritizing meaning in EAP

EAP courses by their very nature are designed to help students understand and engage with academic language. Yet what if EAP practices are too far removed from academic discourse that their relevance is compromised? For better or worse, EAP teachers in Content & Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) environments often draw on EAL grammar resources to supplement the development of their situated, content-reliant teaching resources (Harwood, 2005; Lorenzo, 2013). Unfortunately, typical form-focused grammar instruction that relies on idealized, formulaïc structures can result in EAP lessons glossing over crucial concepts in students’ authentic course readings. In this article, we recount our teaching context and the realization of the gap between traditional teaching and grammar reference texts, and the instantiations of various forms of conditional language in authentic academic texts across first year university Political Science, Psychology, Physics and Economics courses. We explore the importance of conditionals and how they are typically presented; the phenomena of grammatical and logical metaphor; and suggest pedagogical activities to facilitate students’ comprehension, application and manipulation of conditional logic in their academic work.

Students’ attention in class: patterns, perceptions of cause and a tool for measuring classroom quality of life

Constructs such as engagement and FLOW have been well-developed and studied in education contexts. Sustained attention, a distinct but related concept, has been less studied, particularly in the language classroom and foreign language medium education. In a case study involving mixed methods, predominantly structured qualitative data, student attention was measured repeatedly during a university pre-sessional EAP course. The aim was to compare with previous research on the relationship between attention and time/stages of lessons and reveal any additional attention patterns based on interaction types (group work, individual work, full class). In addition, repeated surveys were used to reveal what students perceived as damaging to attention and also the perceived value of exercise breaks. Results suggested significance in attention changes over time and between teacher talking time, group work and individual interaction types. The study design itself forms a simple and effective tool to improve classroom life including teachers’ monitoring of class dynamics and for students, a means of self-reflection to increase learning performance.

Situating Local Literacies at the core of ELT Curriculum in Higher Education

This qualitative interpretive study carried out with four EFL teachers in an EAP course at a private university in Bogotá, Colombia addresses the disconnection that exists between curricular content and the life of students in education. From our understanding of literacy as a sociocultural practice we proposed a pedagogy that immersed teachers and students in community explorations to study local issues informed by different disciplines. Therefore, this study describes the ways teachers designed and implemented curriculum using community assets (Kretzmann &amp; McKnight, 2003) to develop student agency. The issues addressed by students in their inquiries included improving civic practices in the cycling route; fostering river preservation; environmental issues with garbage in Bogotá; and possibilities to access higher education for young populations in Colombia. Using a grounded theory approach, we collected and analyzed data from class discussions, curricular units, semi-structured interviews and class observation. Findings reveal that community explorations fostered students’ agency towards studying social issues and promoted the construction of context-embedded opportunities for learning using students’ realities and topics of local relevance (Canagarajah 2005). The target language was used to reflect, pose problems, produce texts and participate in social reflections within an academic environment. &#x0D;

The university language centre as an open-badge issuer: New directions in ESP assessment and accreditation

Abstract In the present article, we demonstrate the utility of Open Badge certifications in documenting ESP, EAP and EMI courses. Open Badges are online records of achievement which document field-specific, soft and technical skills. They consist of a visual image and a set of embedded metadata, they are endorsed by the institution which issues them and are recognized at an international level. The information packaged within the badge image file is provided in an open source format and can be shared on social media platforms, as part of an online e-portfolio, as a link on an electronic CV, and on the platform which hosts the Badge. As of 2019, Turin University Language Centre offers Badges in “English for the Social Services” (B1 and B2), “English for Administrative Purposes” (A2, B1 and B2), “Academic Writing and Presentation Skills” (B2 and C1) and “English Medium Instruction” (B2 and C1). We will argue that Open Badge certifications are particularly suited to ESP, since they provide a record of specific hard and soft skills and of innovative teaching and learning practices which go undocumented in conventional certifications and on academic transcripts. We will emphasize the “glocal” quality of these certifications, inasmuch as they are internationally recognized awards tailored by local providers in response to local demands. We will suggest that this perspective is valuable for ESP training. Although ESP learners need to be able to share their credentials on international platforms, using a common language, it is important that we do not lose sight of the specific characteristics of professional activities at a local level. We will further argue that the University Language Centre is, in many ways, ideally suited to issue these kinds of certification.

Evaluating EAP notetaking textbooks: Eight key questions

The importance and presence of notetaking in L2 educational contexts has gradually increased to a point where many now recognize notetaking as an essential academic skill for EAP preparatory and EMI courses worldwide. In order to meet the increasing demand for notetaking, materials writers and commercial publishers have designed and produced a number of notetaking textbooks. Despite their availability on the market and frequent use in EAP and other L2 courses, the ability of the average teacher to discern the quality of materials for notetaking may be underdeveloped. This article presents a series of eight questions that can be used as a basis for evaluating and comparing the quality and content of notetaking textbooks with a view to better preparing teachers to understand what notetaking is, how it can be taught, and what materials can and do offer.

Exploring Wordless Feedback Mechanisms in an EAP course in an English-medium University: An Ethnographically-oriented Approach

Feedback is considered an integral part of the writing process. It has thus engendered the attention of scholars in discourse analysis, applied linguistics, language education, composition and rhetoric studies, and English for Specific Purposes. This attention, however, is heavily tilted towards worded feedback, at the expense of wordless feedback. Thus, this study explored the use of wordless feedback mechanisms in an EAP course in an English-medium university in Ghana. Thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine scripts of students’ essays, and interviews with academics and students constituted the datasets for the study. By doing a qualitative content analysis, we extracted wordless feedback codes from the scripts. The study yielded that teachers used tick, ring, vertical lines, arrows, question marks, carets, and underline as feedback mechanisms. The responses from the teachers and students on the use of these codes indicated that there were variations at three levels: inter-teacher, inter-student and teacher-student, which resulted to miscommunication in the feedback system. The study calls for a standardized feedback code, and education of teachers and students on this system of feedback for effective teaching and learning.

EAP Learners’ Perception of Language Needs and its Matches/Mismatches with Textbook Materials

Academic literacy is a transformative approach to EAP studies that highlight the backgrounds and needs of the EAP learners in order to empower them by participating in the social practices of the international research community. From this perspective, EAP textbook development research aims to find how textbooks could empower EAP learners though considering their real needs. Accordingly, this study aims to find how EAP textbooks match/mismatch with the EAP learners’ needs. The sample of the study included 40 participants who were selected through purposeful homogeneous sampling. All participants who had passed ‘English for the Students of Science (ESS)’ as the main textbook of the EAP course completed a structured interview questionnaire that its findings were gone under content analysis and a nonparametric test of rankings themes, i.e. Friedman test. Then textbook was evaluated in terms of the established frameworks. Finally, identified themes of the interviews were compared with the content of the textbook evaluation. Findings of the study showed that EAP learners prioritized reading, writing, listening, and speaking English language skills respectively as the main language needs in the EAP community of practice. The study also found that although the design of the EAP textbook matched learners’ needs at the macro-level of needs analysis, there was little enough evidence in the content of the book that could support and match these EAP learners’ needs. The findings might have many implications for EAP textbook developers, learners, and teachers.